General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2016

Feb 2016

Mar 12, 2023

Union Minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh Participates in 19th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting

Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh participated in the 19th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting virtually from Bangkok. The meeting was hosted by Chair Thailand.
During the meeting, the Ministers approved several documents including rules of Procedure for Core BIMSTEC Mechanisms, Sectoral BIMSTEC Mechanisms and BIMSTEC's External Relations for submission to the 6th BIMSTEC Summit. The meeting also approved the draft Host Country Agreement between India and the BIMSTEC Secretariat for establishing BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate in India.
The meeting also approved the Terms of Reference for an Eminent Person's Group on the Future Directions of BIMSTEC. The Terms of Reference were finalized under the special scheme for institution building announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 5th BIMSTEC Summit in Colombo. Besides BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision 2030 was also approved and will be launched at the 6th BIMSTEC Summit.

China's Parliament Endorses President Xi Jinping for Rare 3rd Five-year-term

China's Parliament unanimously endorsed an unprecedented third five-year term for President Xi Jinping.
Xi was re-elected by the once-in-a-five-year Congress of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) as its leader in October 2022, becoming the first Chinese leader after the party founder Mao Zedong to continue in power beyond the two five-year terms.
China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) often described as the rubber stamp Parliament, for its mechanical and routine endorsement of the decisions of the CPC voted on the expected lines ratifying Xi's third term.

Mar 11, 2023

Amir Tamim Appoints Sheikh Mohammed as Qatar's New Prime Minister

Qatar's Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani appointed Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani as the country's new Prime Minister. The decision to appoint Sheikh Mohammed, who was the Deputy Prime Minister, came after the amir accepted the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani. Sheikh Khalid was appointed as Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Interior in January 2020.
Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, made the appointment. In Gulf Arab countries, the appointments of higher offices are held by members of the ruling family. Sheikh Mohammed has served as Foreign Minister since 2016.

Mar 10, 2023

Pakistan's Chief Justice to Skip SCO Meeting in India

Pakistan will not be participating in the meeting of Chief Justices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), scheduled to be held in New Delhi from March 10 to 12, 2023.
As per Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, as one of the active members of the SCO, Pakistan regularly participates in all SCO activities and constructively contributes to their outcomes. But due to his unavoidable commitments on the scheduled meeting dates, the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan will not be able to participate in the SCO meeting of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Courts scheduled from 10-12 March 2023. He has accordingly conveyed his regrets to his Indian counterpart, who is the current chair/host of the meeting.

Ram Chandra Paudel is New Nepal President

Ram Chandra Poudel of Nepali Congress was elected as the third President of Nepal.
Poudel, a common candidate of eight-party alliance that included Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Center), received the vote of 214 lawmakers of parliament and 352 provincial assembly members.
The total number of voters for the election of the President is 882, consisting of 332 Members of the Parliament and 550 members of the provincial assemblies of the seven provinces.
This is the third presidential election in Nepal since the country became a republic in 2008.

Mar 09, 2023

WHO Fires Director in Asia Accused of Racist and Unethical Conduct

The World Health Organization fired its top official in the Western Pacific after the Associated Press reported in 2022 that dozens of staff members accused him of racist, abusive and unethical behaviour that may have compromised the U.N. health agency's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Dr. Takeshi Kasai's appointment had been terminated after an internal investigation found findings of misconduct.
It is the first time in WHO's history that a regional director has been dismissed.

Mar 08, 2023

Qatar's Top Diplomat Takes Oath as New Prime Minister

Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was sworn in as the country's new Prime Minister, replacing another member of the ruling family who had held the post since 2020.
Sheikh Mohammed has served as Foreign Minister since 2016 and was the public face of Qatar as it navigated a 3 1/2-year economic boycott by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt that only came to an end in January 2021.
He replaced Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, who had served as Prime Minister and Interior Minister.

Indian-American Woman Judge Named First Justice of a District Court in the US

Tejal Mehta, an Indian-American woman judge who promised to make a real impact to the community and treat people with compassion, has taken oath as the first justice of a district court in the US state of Massachusetts.
Mehta will serve as the first justice of the Ayer District Court.
She has served as an associate justice with the same court and was unanimously selected and sworn in by Judge Stacey Fortes, chief justice of the District Court.

India Ranks 108th on Electoral Democracy Index 2023

India ranked 108th in the Electoral Democracy Index of the V-dem Democracy report 2023. The country ranked way below countries such as Tanzania, Bolivia, Mexico, Singapore and Nigeria. India was also named in the top 10 autocratising countries in the last 10 years in the report released. India's ranking dipped from the 100th position in 2022 to 108th this year (2023) in the report's Electoral Democracy Index (EDI) while it was 97th in the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI). Pakistan slipped two steps lower at 106th in the LDI and 110th in the EDI. The Liberal Democracy Index captures both liberal and electoral aspects of democracy based on 71 indicators such as free and fair elections, political and civil rights and more.
Denmark was ranked first with the highest comprehensive score of 0.89 in the LDI. The government of Denmark respects free speech and the citizens hold full civil liberties, political rights, and voting in an environment of free and fair elections.

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