Notes:
Lebanon formed a new government recently under Prime Minister Hassan Diab amidst various economic and political crises. The country remained without an effective government, after the former Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri quit from his role in October 2019 under pressure from protests against state corruption and mismanagement.
The President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun nominated Hassan Diab as the new Prime Minister. Hassan Diab is a 60-year-old professor at the American University of Beirut, who heads a new cabinet of 20 members. The members were mostly backed by political parties while the protestors demanded a new government with independent technocrats.

Notes:
Bharti Airtel recently got approval from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to increase the FDI limit up to 100% of the paid-up capital from the earlier limit of 49%. The company already received permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for overseas portfolio investors to invest up to 74% in Bharti Airtel.
This DoT approval will help the tele-com company to source more funds from overseas investors. Singapore Telecommunications Ltd or Singtel, which owns a 35% stake in Bharti Airtel is expected to increase its stake in Bharti Airtel.

Notes:
The Ministry of Law and Justice recently issued a Gazette Notification, which declared the United Arab Emirates to be a “reciprocating territory” under Section 44A of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. The notification also declared a list of courts in the UAE to be ‘Superior Courts’ under the same section of CPC.
The orders passed by certain designated courts from a ‘reciprocating territory’ can be implemented in India, as if they were passed in India. Besides UAE, the other countries which were declared as reciprocating territories include United Kingdom, Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia and New Zealand among others. The decision is believed to help bring down the time required for executing verdicts between the two countries.

Notes:
Carbon Disclosure Project-India (CDP), an environmental non-profit organisation released its annual report of 2018, titled “Corporates #StepUp Climate Action”. As per the report, 25 companies committed to science-based targets in alignment with the Paris Agreement by December 2018. This has earned the 5th rank to India, which is only after the US, Japan, Britain and France in corporate climate action.
The report examines carbon reduction activities of companies and revealed that 58 Indian companies of the 59 firms surveyed between 2018 and 2019, have board-level oversight of climate-related issues.

Notes:
Famous Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone received the Crystal Award during the 50th Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The award was presented to her in recognition of her efforts to create awareness about the importance of mental health.
Hilde Schwab, Chairwoman and Co-Founder of the World Economic Forum’s World Arts Forum presented the award to the actor. Deepika Padukone runs a foundation named ‘Live Love Laugh’, which works towards conducting awareness programs in Indian schools. It also funds for free psychiatric treatment and medical education programs.