General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2016

Mar 2016

Feb 11, 2021

New Zealand Severs Diplomatic, Military Ties with Naypyidaw

New Zealand has officially suspended all diplomatic ties with Myanmar as it does not recognise the legitimacy of the new military-led government.
According to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, these ties include aid and funds that were intended for the country.
Meanwhile, U Maung Maung Lay, the vice president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry raised concerns that New Zealand could impose economy-related sanctions and potential blocks in the exchange of payments, which might result in investors pulling out of Myanmar.

Biden Orders Sanctions against Myanmar after Military Coup

President Joe Biden ordered new sanctions against the military regime in Myanmar, taking action after the military this month staged a coup in the Southeast Asian country and arrested de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior politicians.
Biden said he was issuing an executive order that will prevent Myanmar's generals from accessing USD 1 billion in assets in the United States. Biden added that more measures are to come. "The military must relinquish the power it seized and demonstrate respect for the will of the people of Burma," Biden said.
Biden said that the new sanctions will allow his administration to freeze US Assets that benefit Myanmar's military leaders while maintaining support for health care programs, civil society groups and other areas that benefit the country's people.

FATF Meets to Assess Pakistan's Actions on Countering Terror Financing

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will begin a series of meetings that will review Pakistan's actions to counter terror financing amid signs that Islamabad is yet to completely implement the multilateral watchdog's action plan.
There will be eight meetings of FATF's working groups between February 11 and 19 before the crucial plenary meeting during February 22-25 that will take a final call on Pakistan's case. All the meetings are being held virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the conclusion of its last plenary in October, the FATF had given Pakistan time till February this year to address what it described as "very serious deficiencies" in efforts to counter terror financing. The watchdog also retained Pakistan in the "grey list", in which it was placed in June 2018.
FATF president Marcus Pleyer last year cautioned Pakistan that it would not be given a chance "forever" to address outstanding issues and that repeated failure to deliver on the action plan would result in a country being put in the "black list". Pleyer also said Pakistan had fully complied with 21 of 27 points in the action plan.

Feb 10, 2021

India to Overtake European Union as World's Third Largest Energy Consumer by 2030

India will overtake the European Union as the world's third-largest energy consumer by 2030, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said as it forecast India accounting for the biggest share of energy demand growth over the next two decades.
In its India Energy Outlook 2021, IEA saw primary energy consumption almost doubling to 1,123 million tonnes of oil equivalent as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expands to USD 8.6 trillion by 2040.
India at present is the fourth-largest global energy consumer behind China, the United States and the European Union.

El Salvador Opposition Proposes President's Removal

Opposition lawmakers in El Salvador proposed starting a process that could lead to the removal of President Nayib Bukele from office just two weeks before his party is widely expected to win a majority in legislative elections.
El Salvador's historical parties from the left and right appeared poised to unite against Bukele who ran an outsider's campaign that carried him to the presidency less than two years ago. He maintains broad popular support, but has battled against the opposition-controlled legislature at every turn.
The proposal has the support of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or FMLN, and the Christian Democrat Party. The proposal goes to the Legislative Assembly's political committee, which is controlled by those parties. Eventually, the proposal would need the support of at least two-thirds of the body's members and the unanimous support of a five-doctor panel appointed by the assembly.

Feb 09, 2021

Sudan Prime Minister Picks Former Rebel Leaders in New Cabinet

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has named a new cabinet which includes seven former rebel leaders who were part of a peace deal signed in October.
Mr. Hamdok dissolved the previous cabinet to form a more inclusive government.
Two ministers were selected from the military. Many are from the Forces for Freedom and Change which led the protests that saw Omar al-Bashir ousted from power.
The Prime Minister gave the role of finance minister to the veteran rebel leader and economist Gibril Ibrahim.
Being Sudan's Foreign Minister in a volatile region will also be a major test. That job has gone to Mariam al-Sadiqal-Mahdi- the daughter of Sudan's last democratically elected Prime Minister, Sadiqal-Mahdi.

China Bolstering Tibet Military Infrastructure

There is mounting evidence that China has sped up work to build and expand military and civilian facilities in Tibet and surrounding areas that will enhance its military posture along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) amid the stand off with India in the Ladakh sector.
These new developments come on the back of China more than doubling the total number of airbases, air defence positions, and heliports near the LAC during 2017-20, as detailed in a report issued last year by Stratfor.
There is also growing evidence of the build-up of People's Liberation Army (PLA) and civilian facilities in sectors other than Ladakh, such as along the disputed border in Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. In these areas, China has embarked on an extensive campaign of building villages in disputed regions with the intention of settling thousands of people in hitherto uninhabited areas.

Head of Singapore's $230bn State Fund Temasek Steps Down

The head of Singapore's giant $230bn (£167bn) state-owned fund is stepping down after 17 years at the helm.
Ho Ching joined Temasek in 2002 as executive director, and was appointed chief executive two years later.
Temasek is ranked among the world's biggest investors although the fund's value has dropped during the pandemic.
Ms. Ho, the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will be succeeded by Cambridge-educated lawyer Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara.

Feb 08, 2021

Joe Biden Refuses to Lift Sanctions to Get Iran Back to Negotiate Nuclear Deal

US President Joe Biden said that he will not lift sanctions on Iran to re-engage Tehran in negotiations over the 2015 nuclear deal.
Biden indicated that he would only lift sanctions if Iran stops enriching uranium beyond the limits of the nuclear deal.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a speech reiterated that the US itself must lift sanctions and come back in compliance with the nuclear deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Biden's new administration does not have much time for taking positive steps towards re-joining the JCPOA.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, stipulating the removal of international sanctions from Tehran in exchange for it scaling down its nuclear program.

Pope Francis Appoints First Woman Under-Secretary with Right to Vote in Synod of Bishops

For the first time, Pope Francis has appointed a female Under-Secretary with a right to vote in Synod of Bishops.
French Sister Nathalie Becquart is the first woman to be appointed to the position and will have voting rights in the synod.
French Sister Nathalie Becquart will now be able to make key decisions in the Catholic Church.
As per Cardinal Mario Grech, who heads the Synod, a door has been opened for the possibility of more women being able to vote.

UN Yemen Envoy Makes First Visit to Iran to Push for Peace

The United Nations special envoy for Yemen arrived at his first visit to Iran for talks on the grinding war in the Arab world's poorest country.
Martin Griffiths was set to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and other officials during his two-day visit. The sessions are part of a broader effort to negotiate a political solution to the nearly six-year conflict pitting Iran-allied Houthi rebels against Yemeni government forces supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.
The trip comes just days after President Joe Biden announced that the US will end its support, including some arms sales, of the Saudi-led coalition's war against the Houthis. The long-awaited move refocused a spotlight on the world's worst humanitarian crisis and was welcomed by many Yemeni's and aid groups that hope the policy change might add to momentum for peace talks.

Chinese Firm Wins Contract for Sri Lanka Wind and Solar Energy Projects

A Chinese company has won a contract to set up hybrid wind and solar energy projects on three Sri Lankan islands off the northern Jaffna peninsula 45 km from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
The US $12 million project was awarded to Sinosar-Etechwin, and will be implemented as a joint venture with the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board as part of the Sri Lankan government's Supporting Electricity Supply Reliability Improvement Project.
Etechwin is a subsidiary of the Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind.
Asian Development Bank will fund the project, which will come up on Delft, Nainativu and Analativu, three islands in the Palk Strait off Jaffna peninsula. Delft, the largest of the three islands, is the closest to Rameswaram, which lies to the island's south-west.

Sudan Prime Minister Dissolves Cabinet

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok dissolved the cabinet.
In a statement, the prime minister's office said that the ministers would remain in office until the new ones take office and full handover done.
Sudan has been under a transitional council since 2019 when former President Omar al-Bashir was ousted.
The country is moving towards democratic rule after the removal of al-Bashir who had been president for nearly 30 years.

Biden Administration Moves to Reverse Trump's Migration Agreements with 3 Nations

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that President Joe Biden's administration has begun the process to terminate migration agreements from former President Donald Trump's administration with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
As per reports, the US signed agreements with Guatemala in July 2019 and with El Salvador and Honduras in September 2019 that would have limited the ability of some asylum seekers from those countries to claim asylum in the US and would instead have had them seek protection in their countries of origin.
Blinken mentioned that transfers under the US-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement had been paused since mid-March 2020 due to COVID-19, and the Agreements with El Salvador and Honduras were never implemented.

Feb 07, 2021

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Set to Make History at WTO

Having survived the murky waters of politics in Nigeria, where her mother was kidnapped to send her a message, and rising to number two at the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala should have no trouble dealing with international trade negotiators in her new job at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
She will be the first woman and the first African to occupy the position.
Despite recently taking out US citizenship, she revels in being Nigerian and is fiercely patriotic - flaunting her African identity in her African-print tailored outfits.
The Harvard-educated development economist is seen as a down-to-earth, hard worker, who told BBC HardTalk in July that what the WTO needed was a shake-up.
During her 25 years at the World Bank, she is credited with spearheading several initiatives to assist low-income countries, in particular raising nearly $50bn in 2010 from donors for the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the poorest countries.

Yemen Government Willing to Work with Biden

As per Yemen's Foreign Minister, his government will work with President Joe Biden's administration to end the war in the Arab world's poorest country. Still, Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak insisted the country's Houthi rebels and their Iranian backers remain the main obstacle to peace - an apparent defense of Saudi military involvement in Yemen.
Biden announced the U.S. was ending support for the grinding Saudi-led war in Yemen. The five-year conflict has killed some 130,000 people, including over 13,000 civilians, and resulted in the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemen's war began in September 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and began a march south to seize the entire country. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, entered the war alongside Yemen's internationally recognized government in March 2015.

Libya Crisis: Vote to Unite Splintered Nation

A Libyan interim unity government has been chosen to replace the war-torn country's rival administrations and oversee elections in December.
Delegates at a UN-led forum voted for a three-member presidential council and a prime minister at the end of five days of talks in Geneva.
It is a key step in a peace process that builds on last year's ceasefire.
Libya has been in chaos since long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed in 2011 by Nato-backed forces.
The turmoil in the North African nation, which has one of the continent's biggest reserves of oil and gas, has had repercussions for the whole region with Gaddafi's looted arsenal fuelling a variety of militants and groups.
It has also allowed the country to become a key trafficking point for migrants seeking to reach Europe across the Mediterranean.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

September GK, August GK, July GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services And Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26