General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2016

Mar 2016

Apr 07, 2021

Netanyahu Gets Official Nod to Form Govt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a new lease on his political life, receiving a mandate from Israel's President to form a new government after an inconclusive election.
Israel's longest-serving leader, in power consecutively since 2009, now faces the tough task of breaking an unprecedented political stalemate and enlisting enough allies for a governing coalition.
Under law, Netanyahu will have 28 days to do so, with the possibility of a two-week extension before President Reuven Rivlin picks another candidate or asks parliament to choose one.

Bezos Tops Forbes' Billionaire List

Forbes' annual world's billionaires list includes a record-breaking 2,755 billionaires, with Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos topping it for the fourth consecutive year.
The ranks of the ultra-wealthy are expanding after a year in which the coronavirus pandemic upended world economies and threatened the livelihoods of people across the globe.
This year's billionaires are worth a combined $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion last year.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk jumped into second spot on the list, up from 31st last year.
Bernard Arnault, chief executive of luxury goods firm LVMH, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg round out the top five of the world's richest billionaires.
With an estimated net worth of $84.5 billion, Reliance Industries' chairman Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, is ranked at number 10.

Ukraine Urges NATO to Speed up Membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO to speed up his country's membership in the alliance, saying that it was the only way to end fighting with pro-Russia separatists.
Zelensky spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after an increase in clashes and Russian military movements on the border raised fears of an escalation of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky said it was time for NATO to move forward with Ukraine's longstanding desire for membership.

Egypt Seeks Settlement Out of Court for Suez Canal Blockage

The Suez Canal chief said that authorities are negotiating a financial settlement with the owners of a massive vessel that blocked the crucial waterway for nearly a week.
Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie hoped talks with Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the Japanese owner of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given, will conclude without a lawsuit.
The canal chief said last week the Suez Canal Authority was expecting more than $1 billion in compensation, warning the ship would not be allowed to leave the canal if the issue of damages turns into a legal dispute.
That amount takes into account the salvage operation, costs of stalled traffic and lost transit fees for the week that the Ever Given blocked the canal. He did not specify then who would be responsible for paying the compensation.

No Progress in Talks over Ethiopia's Dam

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia failed to make progress in the latest round of African Union-led talks to resolve their years-long dispute over a controversial dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile River.
Foreign and irrigation ministers of the three nations met in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the current chair of the African Union. That round of talks sought to find an agreed-on approach to resume negotiations on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam.
However, the four days of meetings concluded without a breakthrough after Ethiopia rejected a Sudanese proposal, backed by Egypt, to include international mediators in the talks, Egypt and Sudan said. Egypt's top diplomat said they would again take the dispute to the U.N. Security Council.

Apr 06, 2021

Netanyahu's Former Ally Nominates Self for Post of Israel PM

A former right-wing ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recommended himself as the next prime minister, deepening Israel's political deadlock.
Naftali Bennett's Yamina party nominated him to form the next government in consultations with Israel's President.
Yamina had been in a position to serve as a kingmaker between the two major blocs of supporters and opponents of Netanyahu. But instead, it declined to take sides.

Pham Minh Chinh New Vietnam PM

Vietnam's National Assembly confirmed Pham Minh Chinh, a career security official, as the Asian country's next Prime Minister at an official ceremony.
The move completes the five-yearly renewal of Vietnam's top four positions, as it looks to maintain economic growth, keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay, and balance relations with Beijing and Washington.
China has been asserting its authority in the South China Sea, while the US Treasury Department labelled Vietnam a currency manipulator in December due to its trade surplus with the United States and heavy foreign exchange market intervention to hold down the value of its dong currency.
Chinh, 62, was the sole nominee put forward by the ruling Communist Party for the post at a congress earlier this year. He won 96.25% of the vote at the National Assembly vote.

Kenyans Petition IMF to Stop Loaning the Country

Kenyans have began signing an online petition asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) not to give the government any more loans citing corruption.
Through the hashtag #StopLoaningKenya, Kenyans have circulated the online petition link while also giving more reasons why no more lending should occur.
The discussion started days after IMF approved a 257bn Kenyan shillings ($2.4bn;£1.7bn) loan for Kenya to aid in Covid-19 response.
Kenya's public debt has grown by more than 1 trillion shillings in the last one year.

Apr 05, 2021

Nepali Congress Initiates Move to Topple K.P. Sharma Oli

Nepal's main opposition party Nepali Congress has initiated a move to topple Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli and form an alternative government under its leadership with the support of the CPN-Maoist Centre and other parties.
The Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress (NC) decided to take an initiative to form a new government under its leadership. The NC will ask Prime Minister Oli to step down and allow formation of a new government. If he does not resign, the NC will move a no-trust motion against him in the House of Representatives and take initiative to form a new government under its leadership to save the democratic achievements of the past.

Sri Lanka Aiming to Host BIMSTEC Summit in August

Sri Lanka is planning to host the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in mid August.
This will be the 5th such summit of the grouping. The last summit took place in Kathmandu in 2018, with PM Modi attending the meet.
BIMSTEC has 7 members- India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The grouping is more than 20 years old and was formed in 1997.

Japan PM to Take up China-Taiwan Tension on US Visit

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that Taiwan's peace and stability was key to the region and that Japan would cooperate with the United States to calm rising tensions between China and Taiwan.
Suga is set to meet with President Joe Biden in Washington next week, the US leader's first in-person summit since taking office in January.
Tokyo considers its US alliance to be the cornerstone of its diplomatic and security policies, and is eager to develop close relations with the new US administration.

Kosovo Gets New President

Lawmakers in Kosovo elected and swore in a new President for a five-year term, the Balkan nation's second female leader in the post-war period.
The 120-seat parliament, which convened in an extraordinary session for two days, gave 71 votes for Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, the former parliament speaker, in the third round of voting, while 11 votes were invalid.
Two opposition parties and the ethnic Serb minority party boycotted the voting.
In November, the 38-year-old Osmani-Sadriu temporarily replaced former President Hashim Thaci, a guerrilla leader during Kosovo's war for independence from Serbia in the late 1990s, who resigned after facing charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity at a special court based in The Hague.

Seoul Calls on China to Play Role in North Korea Peacemaking Process

South Korea's Foreign Minister said that he expected China to play a role in peacemaking between South and North Korea, inviting China's President to visit as the United States and its allies agreed to continue pushing Pyongyang to denuclearise.
"South Korea and China share a common goal toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and toward permanent peacemaking policies," Chung Eui-yong said. Chung extended the invitation to President Xi Jinping to visit when Covid-19 stabilises.
Chung met with State Councillor Wang Yi, the Chinese government's top diplomat, in the Chinese city of Xiamen, as part of the first visit of a South Korean foreign minister to China since 2017. Wang said China and South Korea had agreed to promote the process to politically resolve issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

Singapore Joins Interpol-led Crime Task Force to Look into Covid-19 Scams

Singapore is joining an Interpol-led global financial crime task force, comprising the US and UK, which will be looking into a number of areas, including COVID-19-related scams.
The situation has visibly worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic with more people working from home and transacting online.
Cyber criminals have taken advantage of this opportunity.
The task force, initially comprising Singapore, the United States, UK and Ireland, will look at illicit money flows in transnational financial crimes and how countries can combat these crimes more effectively.

Apr 04, 2021

Niger's Mohamed Bazoum Sworn in as President

Niger has had its first democratic transfer of power after Mohamed Bazoum was sworn in as President.
It comes just days after the government thwarted an attempted coup by parts of the military.
The West African nation is facing increasing attacks by jihadist groups and political tensions in the country since the election in February.
The inauguration marks the first time one elected leader has handed power to another since independence in 1960.
There was tight security in the capital, Niamey, ahead of the ceremony, two days after soldiers opened fire on the presidential palace in a foiled coup attempt.
Niger is the world's poorest nation, according to the UN's development rankings for 189 countries.

US and Iran Indirect Nuke Talks Next Week

Iran and the United States said on Friday they would hold indirect talks in Vienna from Tuesday as part of broader negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and global powers.
Tehran has ruled out face-to-face bilateral discussions, but the presence of both Iran and the United States in the Austrian capital — welcomed by Washington as a "healthy step forward" —will help to focus efforts to bring all sides back into compliance with the accord. The aim is to reach an agreement within two months, said a senior official with the European Union, the coordinator of the deal. Iran holds elections in June.

Apr 03, 2021

Iran, World Powers to Discuss US Return to Nuclear Deal

Officials from Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany and Britain will meet virtually to discuss a possible return of the United States to the 2015 nuclear deal, the European Union said in a statement.
The Biden administration has been seeking to engage Iran in talks about both sides resuming compliance with the deal, under which U.S. and other economic sanctions on Tehran were removed in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear program to make it harder to develop a nuclear weapon - an ambition Tehran denies.
U.S. President Joe Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed U.S. sanctions, prompting Iran, after waiting more than a year, to violate some of the pact's nuclear restrictions in retaliation.

Joe Biden Lifts Sanctions on International Criminal Court Officials

US has lifted sanctions and visa restrictions imposed by Donald Trump's administration on officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who are investigating American military and intelligence officials for potential war crimes in Afghanistan and had also opened a probe against alleged crimes by American ally Israel in Palestinian territories.

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