Following a year of devastating climate disasters around the globe, from California to Kerala, and Tonga to Japan, the annual UN climate change conference (COP24) opened in the Polish city of Katowice on December 3 with the goal of finalising the implementation guidelines for the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The guidelines will provide clarity on how to implement the landmark agreement fairly and transparently for all.

What is the COP24?
In 1992, the UN organised a major event in Rio de Janeiro called the Earth Summit, in which the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted.

In this treaty, nations agreed to 'stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere' to prevent dangerous interference from human activity on the climate system.

Today, the treaty has 197 signatories.

Every year since the treaty entered into force in 1994, a 'conference of the parties' -- a COP -- is held to discuss how to move forward and, since there have been 23 COPs so far, this year's will be the 24th, or COP24.

Train 18, the country’s first locomotive-less train on Sunday (December 2) clocked a top speed of more than 180 kmph during a trial run.

A senior railway ministry official confirmed that the first Train 18 will be made operational in January 2019. This indigenously manufactured train will replace the daytime Shatabdi Express.

 India on Friday presented a nine-point agenda to G20 countries, calling for “strong and active cooperation” among them to comprehensively deal with fugitive economic offenders.

Sunil Arora took charge as the new Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on Sunday, replacing O P Rawat. He was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner by President Ram Nath Kovind on November 26.

An IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre of 1980 batch, Arora was made the Election Commissioner in September last year to fill the vacancy created by former CEC Nasim Zaidi’s retirement.

Arora, 61, has previously served as the secretary of Information and Broadcasting and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He has worked in ministries and departments such as Finance, Textiles and Planning Commission. Arora also served as a secretary to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje from 1993 to 1998 and as Principal Secretary to the CM between 2005 to 2008.

Arora’s first major task as CEC will be overseeing the smooth conduct of the crucial Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

Goods and Services (GST) collection in November dropped to Rs 97,637 crore, lower than Rs 1 lakh crore collected previous month.

The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for October up to November 30, 2018, is 69.6 lakh, the finance ministry said in a statement. Compensation released to states for the August-September period stood at Rs 11,922 crore.

Also read: The fallout of deteriorating macros on required GST revenue run rate

Of the Rs 97,637 crore collected, central GST (CGST) collection is Rs 16,812 crore, state GST (SGST) is Rs 23,070 crore, integrated GST (IGST) is Rs 49,726 crore (including Rs 24,133 crore collected on imports) and cess is Rs 8,031 crore (including Rs 842 crore collected on imports).

The total revenue earned by the central government and state governments after regular settlement in November 2018 is Rs 35,073 crore for CGST and Rs 38,774 crore for SGST, according to the finance ministry.

The Indian armed forces received a shot in the arm as the Defence Ministry on Saturday approved military procurement worth Rs 3,000 crore, PTI reported.

The procurement includes Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles for Navy’s two stealth frigates and Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs) for the Army’s Arjun main battle tanks, a senior official told the news agency.

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the ministry’s highest decision-making body on procurement, gave the nod for both acquisitions, the senior official said. “The DAC chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accorded approval for acquisition of defence equipment worth about Rs 3,000 crore,” he said.

India is procuring two stealth frigates at a cost of USD 1 billion and both the ships will be equipped with indigenously developed BrahMos missiles. “The indigenously designed Brahmos missile is a tested and proven supersonic cruise missile and will form the primary weapon on-board these ships,” the official added.

India will play its “due and responsible” role at the climate change negotiations in Poland next week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured UN chief Antonio Guterres during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the main topic of Prime Minister Modi’s discussion with the UN chief was the forthcoming COP24 climate change meeting in Katowice, Poland from December 3.

“The Secretary General has said India plays a major role in climate change negotiations. He acknowledged that Prime Minister had taken a number of concrete steps towards addressing climate change,” Gokhale said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met US President Donald Trump during the G-20 Summit in Argentina. He is expected to voice India’s firm commitment to make the Indo-Pacific a region for shared economic growth during the first trilateral meeting between him, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The first of its kind meeting between Modi, Trump and Abe assumes significance against the backdrop of China flexing its muscles in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stated the trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi will be held towards the end of the Trump-Abe bilateral talks.

During the meeting, the three leaders are expected to share their views on progressing a free, open, conclusive and rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, based on respect for international law and peaceful resolution of all differences.

Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao on Friday signed the Maratha Reservation Bill which was passed by both houses of state assembly yesterday. The bill was passed by both the Houses of the state Assembly on Thursday after it was tabled by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Legislative Assembly. The bill was passed within half an hour of it being tabled by Fadnavis.

The bill, which was introduced following massive protests by the Maratha community in Maharashtra, gives 16 per cent reservation to the members of the Maratha community in government jobs and admissions in government institutions under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Citizens (SEBC).

It may be noted that the state already has 52 per cent reservation for SC, ST and OBC communities when it comes to government jobs and admissions in state colleges. The Maratha quota has thus taken the total reservation percentage in the state to 68 per cent- the highest in the country after Tamil Nadu, where the reservation percentage stands at 69 per cent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Argentina to attend the G-20 Summit, met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese premier Xi Jinping for a trilateral meeting aimed at addressing various areas of cooperation among the three nations. This was the second trilateral meeting between India, Russia and China, which took place after a gap of twelve years.

“President Putin, President Xi Jinping and I discussed a wide range of subjects that would further cement the friendship between our nations and enhance world peace,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter

Earlier, India, Japan and US held their first trilateral meet on the sidelines of the summit. Prime Minister Modi, his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump held talks over issues of global and multilateral interests, focusing largely on the strategic Indo-Pacific region. The talks gain importance in view of the Chinese attempts at imposing dominance in the region