Find the current affairs of 22 January 2026. Stay updated with the most important news and events that have occurred on this day. Our daily current affairs updates are carefully curated by GK and Current Affairs experts, ensuring that you receive accurate and relevant information to enhance your competitive exam preparation.
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Highlights of 22 January 2026 Current Affairs
- Diego Garcia, a coral atoll in the central Indian Ocean and part of the Chagos Archipelago, has regained strategic attention after US President Donald Trump criticised the UK’s proposed return of the island to Mauritius due to concerns over a key US military base.
- Historically, the Chagos Archipelago was separated from Mauritius in 1965 by the UK, leading to the forced displacement of indigenous Chagossians to facilitate military use of Diego Garcia.
- International legal pressure has mounted on the UK following the 2019 ICJ advisory opinion declaring British administration unlawful and a UN General Assembly call for decolonisation through the return of Chagos to Mauritius.
- Under the UK–Mauritius agreement of May 2025, Mauritius is recognised as sovereign over the entire Chagos Archipelago, while the UK retains a 99-year lease over Diego Garcia to ensure continuity of UK–US military operations.
- Diego Garcia hosts a joint UK–US military base that functions as a forward operating hub for the US Navy and Air Force, supporting logistics, surveillance, and power projection across the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.
- Global politics is increasingly marked by neo-royalism, characterised by personalised leadership and concentration of power in single leaders, weakening institutionalised and rule-based international decision-making.
- Alongside neo-royalism, neo-feudalism is emerging through the rise of private and transnational actors such as technology corporations that exercise quasi-sovereign influence over data, communication, and geopolitical narratives.
- The erosion of the rule-based international order is evident in the weakening of multilateral institutions, increased weaponisation of economic tools like sanctions and tariffs, and declining bureaucratic and legislative autonomy.
- Contemporary US foreign policy under Donald Trump has been likened to a “Donroe Doctrine,” echoing the Monroe Doctrine’s emphasis on regional dominance, unilateralism, and reduced tolerance for external powers in the Western Hemisphere.
- In India, initiatives such as One Station One Product, which has expanded to over 2,000 railway stations and empowered more than 1.32 lakh artisans by January 2026, and conservation measures like declaring Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary an Eco-Sensitive Zone, highlight efforts toward inclusive development and sustainable environmental governance.
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