1.EC rejects AAP’s EVM tampering claim :-
(I)Hours after the Aam Aadmi Party government demonstrated in Delhi Assembly how an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) can be “tampered with”, the Election Commission on Tuesday dismissed the claim stating that it had no relevance as the machine was only a “look-alike”.
(II)The Commission said such “so-called demonstration” on extraneous and duplicate gadgets which are not owned by it could not be exploited to influence intelligent citizens and electorate to assail or vilify the EVMs used by the Commission in its electoral process.
2.International Court of Justice stays Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence, writes to Pakistan: Here’s what Happened:-
(I)In a reprieve for Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague on Tuesday acted on India’s petition and asked Pakistan to stay the exectution ordered by a Pakistan military court.
(II)Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was arrested by Pakistan and found guilty of being a spy for India’s intelligence agencies. He was awarded the death sentence in April.
(III)In his letter to the Pakistan government, President of the ICJ Ronny Abraham said: “In my capacity as President of the court, and exercising the powers conferred upon me under Article 74, paragraph 4 of the Rules of Court, I call upon your excellency’s government, pending the court’s decision on the request for the indication of provisional measures, to act in such a way as will enable any order the Court may make on this request to havejad its appropriate effects.”
3.Democrats slam Trump sacking of FBI chief :-
(I)US Democrats have reacted angrily to President Donald Trump’s decision to sack FBI Director James Comey, saying it raises serious questions as the agency is investigating his election campaign’s alleged links to Russia’s meddling in the US polls.
(II)“I told the president, ‘Mr President, with all due respect you are making a big mistake,’” the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, told reporters.
4.Supreme Court sends Justice Karnan to jail for contempt, gags press on him :-
(i)Stating that Calcutta High Court Judge C S Karnan had “committed contempt of court”, the Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced him to jail for six months and ordered that he should be taken into custody “forthwith”.
(II)This is the first time that a sitting high court judge has been sent to jail on charges of contempt.
(III)The seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar also barred the media from publishing or reporting the orders passed by Karnan.
(IV)“We are of the unanimous opinion that Justice C S Karnan has committed contempt of this court, of the judiciary and also the judicial process,” said CJI Khehar. The other judges on the bench are Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur, P C Ghose and Kurian Joseph.
5.FIBA allows players to wear turbans for basketball World Cup Qualifiers :-
(I)World basketball governing body FIBA has revised its earlier rule banning players from wearing headgear, a move that will enable India’s Sikh players to wear turbans and play in the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers in China.
(II)The decision to overturn the earlier controversial rule that forced India’s Sikh players – Amjyot and Amritpal Singh – to remove their turbans before the opening match at the FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China, in 2014, was taken at the FIBA’s first Mid-Term Congress on May 4, said a release from the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).
6.Triple talaq: Allahabad HC says personal law can’t infringe basic rights :-
(I)Rejecting a petition by a man who had given his wife talaq and wanted proceedings against him quashed in an alleged dowry harassment case, the Allahabad High Court has said that talaq “cannot be made in a manner” that it infringes a Muslim woman’s fundamental rights “under the garb of personal law” which “can always be superseded by legislation”.
7.Moon Jae-in elected South Korea President; begins duties :-
(I)Hours after celebrating his election win with thousands of supporters in wet Seoul streets, new South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday was quickly thrown into the job of leading a nation deeply split over its future and faced with growing threats from North Korea and an uneasy alliance with the United States.
(II)Mr. Moon, whose victory capped one of the most turbulent political stretches in the nation’s recent history and set up its first liberal rule in a decade, assumed presidential duties after the National Election Commission officially declared him as winner.
8.West Bengal RSS outfit to fete ‘nationalist journalists’ :-
(I)An RSS outfit will be awarding “nationalist journalists” of West Bengal as a “celebration of journalism” in the state.
(II)The ceremony will be held on Narada Jayanti as, according to the Sangh, the Hindu mythological figure was “the world’s first journalist”.
(III)Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi has been invited to attend the May 13 programme, which will also reward “a group admin in social media”.
(IV)However, it is unclear if Tripathi, who is unwell and in hospital, will be able to attend. Manmohan Vaidya, the RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh, is also scheduled to attend the programme.
9.Ex-French PM offers to back Macron in June polls :-
(I)French president-elect Emmanuel Macron won an offer of support from Socialist ex-Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday as he and his aides worked on strategy ahead of parliamentary elections that will be crucial to his ambitious reform plans.
(II)But once he has moved into the Elysee Palace next week, Mr. Macron faces the task of securing a second election victory in June for his start-up party, now renamed ‘En Marche la Republique’ or ‘Republic on the Move’, in order to get the majority needed to implement his plans for economic recovery.
10.RBI invokes corrective action against IDBI :-
(I)The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed sanctions on state-run lender IDBI Bank after its financial position weakened, a move which will restrict the lender from expanding its branches and distributing dividend among others.
(II)IDBI Bank is the first lender to attract sanctions from RBI after the banking regulator revised its prompt corrective action framework last month.
