By: D.K Choudhary
World’s highest bridge in China opens for traffic.
i. The Beipanjiang Bridge of China is now open for public travel. The height of the bridge is 1,854 feet(565 metres) above the sea level. It overtook the Si Du River Bridge of Hubei to become the world’s highest bridge.
ii. The Beipanjiang Bridge connects the two mountainous provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou in China and has tremendously reduced the travel time between the two places.
iii. The cost involved in the building of the bridge is about 1 billion yuan ($144 million).
iv. It must be noted that the world’s tallest bridge in terms of its own structure is Millau viaduct of France with a height of 343 meters.
China
♦ Capital: Beijing
♦ Currency: Renminbi
♦ President: Xi Jinping
Colombia Congress Amnesty Law for FARC Rebels
i. The Colombia’s Congress headed by President Juan Manuel Santos, in an historical move, passed a law on December 28 to grant amnesty to FARC rebels as part of the country’s peace deal.
ii. The Senate passed the bill 69-0, after the House of Representatives approved it 121-0. The amnesty bill is part of the November 24 pact aimed at ending five decades of conflict.
iii. The measure grants special legal treatment, amnesty and pardon to members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) accused of political and related crimes. Under the deal, the FARC must demobilize and surrender their weapons within six months.
iv. Launched in 1964, FARC is about to begin handing over its weapons under a UN-monitored demobilization process.
v. The new amnesty law does not apply to FARC rebels accused of offenses such as war crimes, rape, torture and extrajudicial killings.
vi. Those who confess to their crimes before a special court may avoid prison and instead receive alternative sentences. Others who do not confess and are convicted in court will receive sentences of eight to 20 years.
Colombia
♦ Capital: Bogotá
♦ President: Juan Manuel Santos
♦ Currency: Colombian peso
