General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - October 2014

Oct 2014

Dec 30, 2020

Japan to Join 'Five Eyes' to Check China's Clampdown on Uyghurs

Amid calls within the Japanese government to join the 'Five Eyes' intelligence-sharing alliance, it provided key inputs to the US and the UK regarding Chinese clampdown on Uyghurs.
Five Eyes is a network of five nations -- Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US who collaborated to better respond to increasing threats by North Korea and China. Japan is on its way to become the 'sixth eye'.
As per reports, Japan had provided intelligence to the US and the UK last year on China's forceful detainment of Muslim Uyghur minority people on condition of keeping the source confidential.
The US as well as the UK stepped up their criticism against the Chinese severe crackdown on Uyghurs in the Xinjiang autonomous region.

UK Signs Free Trade Agreement with Vietnam

The United Kingdom and Vietnam signed an agreement on free trade.
Earlier this month, the country's government announced signing a free trade deal with Singapore and concluded negotiations with Vietnam.
The ceremony took place in London and involved the ambassadors as the Vietnamese trade minister and high-level officials were unable to visit the UK over the situation with COVID-19.
The agreement will come into force on Friday and stipulates elimination of 99 per cent of tariffs within seven years.
After the UK officially left the EU on January 31, it has been working to secure various bilateral economy-related deals with various countries amid the transition period, which will end on 31-12-2020.

Britain and Turkey Reach Post-Brexit Agreement

Turkey and Britain signed a free-trade agreement as the UK prepares to leave the European Union's economic orbit at the start of the new year.
The deal, which will come into effect on Jan. 1, aims to support trade between the two countries which was worth more than $25 billion in 2019. It is one of many post-Brexit trade deals the British government is pursuing with nations around the world and came days after it finalized a trade agreement with the EU.
Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and Dominick Chilcott, the British ambassador to Turkey, signed the British-Turkish agreement.
Pekcan hailed the deal as the most significant trade pact for Turkey since the signing of a customs union agreement with the EU in 1995.

Dec 29, 2020

Chinese Delegation Meets NCP's Prachanda

A high-level Chinese delegation led by a Vice Minister of the Communist Party of China met senior Nepal Communist Party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and discussed the political situation in the country, amid intensified efforts by Beijing to patch up differences between the two warring factions of the party.
Vice Minister of the International Department of the CPC Guo Yezhou, who arrived in Nepal in what is believed to be China's desperate attempt to avert a vertical split in the NCP, met Prachanda, who claims control over the ruling party after removing Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli from the posts of the party's parliamentary leader and chair.

New US Act Message of Hope

Tibetans in exile have welcomed the US President Donald Trump signing the Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA) into law.
This legislation sends a powerful message of hope and justice to the Tibetans inside Tibet and bolsters US support for the protection of Tibetan people's religious freedom, human rights, environmental rights and exile Tibetan democracy like never before.
The move strengthens US policy on Tibet and reaffirms its government's steadfast support for the Dalai Lama and the CTA.
Interestingly, the Bill called upon the US Secretary of State not to authorise any new Chinese consulate till a US Consulate is established in Lhasa. The signing came after days of delay though the US Congress had approved the omnibus spending bill, which had the TPSA attached earlier this month.

Economic Aggression of CCP Fails Miserably

In a new development, China is suffering from one of the worst blackouts in the past few decades. Though the Chinese economy is currently trying to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but it appears that its attempts have come to a grinding halt. Power generation in China during the wintertime has not been able to keep up with demand. There are several factors why China is currently facing shortages in energy supply. One of the major factors is the fact that China has decided to ban coal imports from Australia after they asked for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 virus.
Australian coal was not the only thing that Beijing decided to ban. Back in May, China imposed an 80% tariff on Australian barley and added restrictions on the import of Australian beef.
Despite the crippling energy shortages, the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have not lifted the ban on Australian coal.

Dec 28, 2020

Brexit Trade Deal Published

Britain published the text of its narrow trade agreement with the European Union just five days before it exits one of the world's biggest trading blocs in its most momentous global shift since the loss of empire.
The text includes a 1,246-page trade document, as well as accords on nuclear energy, exchanging classified information, civil nuclear energy and a series of joint declarations.
The "Draft EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement" means that from 2300 GMT on December 31, when Britain finally leaves the European Union's single market and customs union, there will be no tariffs or quotas on the movement of goods originating in either place between the United Kingdom and the EU.

Trump Signs Relief and Spending Package into Law

US President Donald Trump has signed into law a coronavirus relief and spending package bill, averting a partial government shutdown.
Mr. Trump had initially refused to sign the bill, saying he wanted to give people bigger one-off payments.
The delay meant that millions of Americans temporarily lost unemployment benefits.
The relief package worth $900bn (£665bn) was approved by Congress after months of negotiation.
It is part of a $2.3tn spending package that includes $1.4tn for normal federal government spending.
Had Mr. Trump not signed the bill into law by midnight on Monday, a partial government shutdown would have begun unless legislators passed a stopgap bill.
About 14 million Americans faced a lapse in unemployment benefit payments and new stimulus cheques. Unemployment benefits will now be restored.

Dec 27, 2020

Nepal SC Notice to Oli Govt. over Parliament Dissolution

Nepal's Supreme Court issued a show-cause notice to the KP Sharma Oli-led government, asking it to submit a written clarification over its decision to abruptly dissolve parliament.
The notice was issued after a preliminary hearing at the five-member Constitutional Bench, headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, on the writ petitions filed against the government's decision to dissolve the 275-member House of Representatives. The Bench sought the written clarification from the office of the Prime Minister, Council of Ministers and the President as they are made defendants in all writ petitions.
The court has also asked the government to submit an original copy of the recommendations made by the government to dissolve the House and the decision made by President Bidya Devi Bhandari to authenticate the government's recommendations within 10 days.

Dec 26, 2020

UK clinch Narrow Brexit Accord from European Union

Britain clinched a narrow Brexit trade deal with the European Union, just seven days before it exits one of the world`s biggest trading blocs in its most significant global shift since the loss of empire.
The deal, agreed more than four years after Britain voted by a slim margin to leave the bloc, offers a way out of a chaotic finale to a divorce that has shaken the 70-year project to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two.
It will preserve Britain`s zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the bloc`s single market of 450 million consumers, but will not prevent economic pain and disruption for the United Kingdom or for EU member states.

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