Domicile based Reservation
Supreme Court held that domicile-based reservations in PG Medical seats are impermissible as it is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
- Article 16 (2) states that No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State.
- Article 16 (3), however, allows the Parliament to make any law prescribing residence within a State or UT in regard to a class or classes of employment under the Government of State/ UT or local authority.
ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States)
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have officially left ECOWAS, following diplomatic tensions.
- Established in – 1975, to promote economic cooperation among member states
- Citizens of ECOWAS countries have the right to live and work in all member states, along with free circulation of goods.
- Headquarters – Abuja, Nigeria
- Members – Currently 12 (Benin, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo)
Guantanamo Bay
US President orders setting up of migrant detention centre in Guantánamo Bay.
- Location – An inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting southeastern Cuba.
- According to the United States’ lease with Cuba, the U.S. retains jurisdiction while Cuba maintains sovereignty
Asteroid Bennu
According to Scientists, samples from Bennu Asteroid revealed building blocks of life.
- A small, near-Earth asteroid that passes relatively close to Earth about every 6 years.
- NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected samples and returned them to Earth in 2023 for analysis.
Kurdistan Region
Recently, India has sent humanitarian assistance to support residents of the Kurdistan region in Iraq.
- Location – A region spanning parts of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, western Iran, and smaller areas of northern Syria and Armenia.
- Predominantly inhabited by an ethnic group called “Kurds”.
- 4th largest Middle Eastern ethnic group without a nation state.