General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2015

May 2015

Jun 03, 2021

Herzog Israel's 11th President

Veteran Israeli politician Isaac Herzog will be the Jewish nation's new President after his overwhelming victory in a secret ballot held in Parliament.
The 60-year-old former Labour leader will be the first Israeli President who is the son of a former President. His father Chaim Herzog served as Israel's head of state between 1983 and 1993.
Herzog won the support of an overwhelming 87 lawmakers in the 120-member Knesset (parliament) to defeat his rival Miriam Peretz and become the 11th President of Israel. Herzog will succeed Reuven Rivlin when the latter's term ends on July 9.

Palestine Flays India's Abstention at UNHRC

Palestine expressed disappointment over India's abstention from a UN Human Rights Council vote that called for a probe into Gaza violence. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki wrote to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expressing concern over the position taken by India at a special session of the UNHRC.
India's abstention did not eventually matter as the resolution was passed with 24 countries voting in favour and nine against. The Palestinians felt disappointed over the Indian stand as they felt the resolution was the product of extensive multilateral consultations.

US Ends Migrant Protection Protocols

United States has ended Migrant Protection Protocols which are also dubbed as "Remain in Mexico" policy.
This policy forced several Central American asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for US court cases.
Now, Joe Biden administration has paused this programme called known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) in January 2021.
Since January 2021, about 11,000 migrants have enrolled in it and have been allowed to enter US to seek asylum claims.
However, Republicans have criticised reversal of this policy, because it encouraged huge migrant arrivals at US-Mexico border.
The international border separating Mexico and United States extends from Pacific Ocean in west to Gulf of Mexico in east. It traverses different terrains, from urban areas to deserts. This border is considered as most frequently crossed border across the world with about 350 million documented crossings each year.

Dr. Patrick Amoth of Kenya Appointed as Chair of WHO Executive Board

Dr. Patrick Amoth, the acting Director-General for Health, Ministry of Health of Kenya has been appointed as the Chairman of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board, for a period of one year. The announcement was made during the 149th session of the WHO Executive Board, on June 02, 2021, by the outgoing Chair Dr Harsh Vardhan.
Mr. Amoth replaces Union Health Minister, Government of India, Dr Harsh Vardhan, who completed his tenure as Chairman of WHO Executive Board on June 02, 2021. Dr Vardhan will continue to be a member of the Executive Board of WHO till 2023. The chairman's post is held on a rotation basis for one year among regional groups.

China Leads Key Afghanistan Peace Talks

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will host a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday to discuss the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, as Beijing stepped up its diplomacy with the two nations in the wake of the US troops withdrawal from the war-torn country.
Wang will chair the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral foreign ministers meeting, the fourth such talks, via video link in which his counterparts from Pakistan and Afghanistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Mohammad Haneef Atmar, would take part.
Last month, China offered to host peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban militants to forge peace in view of the US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan by September.

Jun 02, 2021

Mali Leader Appoints New Prime Minister

Mali's transitional president Colonel Assimi Goïta has named Choguel Kokalla Maïga as new Prime Minister.
Mr. Maïga is a leader of the 5 June-Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5-RFP) movement.
The movement took part in the overthrow of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta last year.
The former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and former transitional president Bah Ndaw resigned last week after another coup.
Colonel Goïta who was the vice-president at the time accused them of violating the transitional agreement after a cabinet reshuffle.
The regional bloc Ecowas has suspended Mali and asked the military to adhere to the transition timelines towards elections next year.
The Africa Union has also suspended Mali and called for a return to civilian government.
Mali has had two coups in the last nine months.

U.S. President Suspends Trump-era Oil and Gas Leases in Alaska Refuge

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said that it would suspend oil and gas leases that had been handed out in an Alaska wildlife refuge during the final days of the Trump administration pending an environmental review.
The action reverses one of former President Donald Trump's signature efforts to expand fossil fuel development in the United States, and delivers a setback to the Alaskan state government which had hoped opening the enormous refuge would help revive its declining oil industry.
Mr. Trump's Interior Department sold the leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in January over the objections of environmentalists and indigenous groups.

Angola President Replaces Head of Security

Angola's President Joao Lourenco has replaced his head of security and a slew of generals, after several army officials serving the presidency were dismissed on graft allegations.
Lourenco has been targeting members of his close entourage as part of a crackdown on rampant corruption that took root under his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
Angola's presidency announced that Lourenco had replaced Pedro Sebastiao, a minister of state leading the president's security team since he took power in 2017.

Germany, United Nations to Host Conference on Libya in Berlin in June

Germany and the United Nations plan to host a conference on Libya in June with an aim to bring together powers with interests in the North African country and its transitional government.
The agenda will include discussions for preparations for elections in December and the withdrawal of foreign forces.
The meeting is expected to take place at the level of foreign ministers and follows up on a first Berlin conference held in January 2020 at which leaders agreed to respect an arms embargo and push Libya's warring parties to reach a full cease-fire. Germany has been trying to act as an intermediary.
The countries that have been involved in the process include the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Italy, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The Berlin conference will mark the first time that the Libyan transitional government is represented at such an event.

Jun 01, 2021

Kuwait Resumes Visas for Pakistani Citizens after ten-year Suspension

After a ten-year of suspension, Kuwait announced the resumption of visas, including in family and business categories for Pakistani citizens.
This decision was taken after a meeting between Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah.
It further reported that Kuwait had banned work visas for Pakistan in 2011 and despite attempts by previous governments the restrictions could not be lifted.

May 31, 2021

New Zealand Hosts Australia PM in First Meeting since Covid Outbreak

Growing friction with China and how to reopen borders after the pandemic will likely be among the topics discussed by the leaders of Australia and New Zealand in their first face-to-face meeting since the coronavirus outbreak prompted both countries to close their borders.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrived in the tourist resort of Queenstown for an overnight visit.
Morrison is the first major world leader to visit New Zealand since both countries shut their borders last year to contain the virus.
The neighbours opened a quarantine-free travel bubble last month, although a recent outbreak of the virus in Melbourne has prompted New Zealand to suspend the arrangement with Victoria State.

Opposition Nears Deal to Oust Bibi

The head of a small hard-line party said he would try to form a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents, taking a major step towards ending the 12-year rule of the Israeli leader.
Following the development, Netanyahu, as known as "Bibi" across Israel, said that a coalition government without him was a "danger" for Israel's security.
Yamina Party leader Naftali Bennett said that he has decided to join forces with the country's opposition leader, Yair Lapid. The pair has until Wednesday to complete a deal in which they are expected to each serve two years as prime minister in a rotation deal.

Israel and Egypt Hold High Level Talks on Truce with Hamas, Rebuilding Gaza Strip

Egypt and Israel held high-level talks in both countries Sunday to shore up a fragile truce between Israel and the Hamas militant group and rebuild the Gaza Strip after a punishing 11-day war that left parts of the seaside enclave in ruins.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry received his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, in Cairo. The meeting is part of an effort to build on an Israel-Hamas cease-fire reached May 21 and to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which have been dormant for more than a decade, Shukry's office said. Egypt has not said how it would be able to restart talks.
The hours-long visit was the first public one by an Israeli Foreign Minister to Egypt since 2008.
They also discussed the release of Israeli soldiers and citizens being held by Hamas.

China Lifts Cap on Births per Family

China said that married couples may have up to three children, a major policy shift from the existing limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world`s most populous country.
Beijing scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit that failed to result in a sustained surge in births given the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities - a challenge that remains.
To further optimise the birth policy, China will implement a one-married-couple-can-have-three-children policy.
The policy change will come with "supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country`s population structure, fulfilling the country`s strategy of actively coping with an ageing population and maintaining the advantage, endowment of human resources", Xinhua said.

May 30, 2021

US Senate Confirms Christine Wormuth as First Female Army Secretary

Christine Wormuth was confirmed unanimously by the Senate to be the first female secretary of the Army. Wormuth, who led President Joe Biden's transition team at the Pentagon, got an overwhelmingly warm reception from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing this month. Her confirmation sets her up as one of the more powerful officials in a defence establishment long dominated by men. She is the second woman named to a top Pentagon role by Biden. The deputy secretary of defence is Kathleen Hicks.

UK PM Boris Johnson Marries Fiancée

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds married in a small private ceremony in London, his Downing Street office.
Johnson, 56, and 33-year-old Symonds, an environmental advocate, announced their engagement in February 2020.
The marriage is Symonds' first and Johnson's third. He has at least five other children from previous relationships.

Biden's USD 6 Trillion Budget

President Joe Biden unveiled a USD 6 trillion budget for next year that's piled high with new safety net programs for the poor and middle class, but his generosity depends on taxing corporations and the wealthy to keep the nation's spiking debt from spiralling totally out of control.
This year's projected deficit would set a new record of USD 3.7 trillion that would drop to USD 1.8 trillion next year — still almost double pre-pandemic levels. The national debt will soon breach USD 30 trillion after more than USD 5 trillion in already approved Covid-19 relief. As a result, the government must borrow roughly 50 cents of every dollar it spends this year and next.

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