India not present at signing ceremony of Trump's 'Board of Peace'
India was among the countries not present on Thursday at a ceremony in Davos where US President Donald Trump unveiled his "Board of Peace" that seeks to work towards bringing lasting peace to Gaza and possibly resolve other global conflicts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among numerous global leaders who the US president invited to join the board that was announced under the second phase of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip. Trump hosted the ceremony on the margins of the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain resort. India is yet to take a call on it, people familiar with the matter said when asked about Trump's invite to PM Modi. New Delhi is considering various aspects as the initiative involves sensitive issues, it is learnt.
India has been pushing for a "two-State solution" to the Palestine question with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within recognised borders.
The countries that have accepted Trump's invitation to join the board are Argentina, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, Mongolia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
France, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom are among those which will not join the board, at least for now.
The countries which have been invited but remained non-committal are: Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Paraguay, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and Ukraine.
"This isn't the United States, this is for the world," Trump said. "I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza." Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was among the leaders who attended the ceremony.
Trump's "Board of Peace" is being projected by Washington as a new international body to usher in peace and stability in Gaza and beyond, triggering speculations that it could throw a challenge to the United Nations.
Originally, the new body was to be tasked to oversee governance and coordinate funding for Gaza's redevelopment as the strip was devastated during the two years of Israeli military offensive.
New EC platform launched
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Thursday launched a new digital interface for voters, officials and political parties, describing it as a tool to counter misinformation. He also offered assistance to the election management bodies of countries attending an international conference here to help them develop a similar tool in their languages and in accordance with their laws. Kumar noted that the heads of various poll management bodies had expressed concern during the conference on misinformation. He described ECINET as another tool to counter misinformation, as all poll-related facts are available on it. The ECINET will integrate over 40 of its existing mobile and web applications and provide a singular platform for all electoral-related activities. The new platform will reduce the burden on users from downloading and navigating multiple apps and remembering different logins. Additionally, the ECINET will also enable users to access relevant electoral data on their desktops or smartphones. To ensure that data is as accurate as possible, the data on ECINET will be entered solely by the authorised EC official. Entry by the concerned official would ensure that the data made available to the stakeholders is as accurate as possible. However, in case of any conflict, the primary data as duly filled in statutory forms will prevail, the poll panel underlined. The ECINET will subsume existing apps like the Voter Helpline App, Voter Turnout App, cVIGIL, Suvidha, Saksham and KYC App, which together have clocked over 5.5 crore downloads.
Bangladesh refuses to travel to India for T20 World Cup
The Bangladesh cricket team has put the ball in International Cricket Council’s court on their participation after they have refused to travel to India for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for security reasons. This claim was rejected by the ICC on Wednesday. The ICC after a board meeting had announced that the tournament schedule will not be changed as “altering the schedule under the circumstances, in absence of any credible security threat could set a precedent that would jeopardize the sanctity of future ICC events”. But on Thursday Bangladesh’s sports advisor Asif Nazrul told the media in Dhaka that the team will not travel to India for the World Cup as they cannot risk the security of the players, journalists and fans. The decision means that Bangladesh is likely to be replaced in the 20-team tournament if the Bangladesh government does not budge from its stated position. “Security is the responsibility of that country’s police and security agencies. So what has changed since that incident that would make us believe that there will be no extremist flare-ups again? They could not protect Mustafiz (ur Rehman). So what has changed? How can we be convinced that they can protect our players, journalists and supporters?” Nazrul said. However, he kept a window for behind the doors negotiation with the ICC board.
