General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2016

Mar 2016

Jan 27, 2021

Trump Likely to be Acquitted in Impeachment Trial

Former US President Donald Trump is likely to be acquitted in his impeachment trial as the Democrats failed to garner enough support required from Republican Senators.
The Democrats who have impeached Trump in the House charging him with "incitement of insurrection," needs two-thirds of the vote for the Senate impeachment. Currently, both the Democrats and the Republicans have 50 members each in the 100-seat Senate.
The Democrats need the support of at least 17 Republican Senators to reach the two-thirds majority mark.
Trump is the first US president who facing an impeachment trial after he left the presidency.

Joe Biden Signs Order to Reverse Trump's Transgender Military Ban

President Joe Biden signed an executive order that brought in a policy of including all qualified Americans to serve in the US military, effectively overturning a ban on transgender persons that was introduced by the former Trump administration.
The Defense Department said that it was ready to immediately implement Biden's Executive Order.
Transgender people were officially allowed to serve in the military by the Obama administration in 2016. However, in 2017 former President Donald Trump said transgender individuals would not be allowed to serve in any capacity in the US military. Trump explained he introduced the ban because the military could not be burdened with the tremendous medical costs of transgender persons undergoing sex-change operations.

Pakistan Urges FATF for Grey List Removal

Pakistan has asked the global watchdog on money laundering and terror financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove the country from the grey list, after it claimed to have seen the exposure of Indian propaganda by the European Union (EU) DisinfoLab.
Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior Senator Abdul Rehman Malik wrote a letter to the FATF President Marcs Pleyer, requesting him to remove Pakistan from its grey list, stating that Islamabad's position has been vindicated and the Indian propaganda was exposed by the EU Disinfolab.
Malik pleaded to the FATF President to either remove Pakistan from the grey list permanently or have the grace period extended in order to have all pointers of the 27-point action plan implemented.

K.P. Sharma Oli Expelled from Nepal Communist Party's General Membership

Nepal PM K.P. Sharma Oli has been expelled from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) over his decision to dissolve the Parliament.
Nepal's Caretaker PM K.P. Sharma Oli was removed from ruling Nepal Communist Party by a Central Committee Meeting of the splinter group of the party.
The decision comes amid repeated threats by the rival faction leaders who had said that they would revoke Oli's membership over his decision to dissolve the Nepal Parliament. The rival faction spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha said that the party leaders are planning further action against Oli after his ouster from the party.
The splinter group of the party was led by former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar.
Both the members had earlier asked PM Oli for explanation for his unconstitutional decisions. They sent letter to seek clarification. But the PM Oli failed to do so.

Joe Biden Signs "Buy American" Executive Order

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday that will strengthen the rules surrounding government procurement in a bid to shore up domestic manufacturing and encourage the federal government to buy more products made in the United States.
Biden's "Buy American" plan will make it more difficult for federal agencies to contract with companies overseas to purchase foreign products by reducing loopholes and waivers in existing Buy American rules and changing the definition of an "American-made" good.

Jan 26, 2021

World leaders cheer US return to climate fight under Biden

World leaders breathed an audible sigh of relief that the United States under President Joe Biden is rejoining the global effort to curb climate change, a cause that his predecessor had shunned over the past four years.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron were among those welcoming Biden's decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord, reversing a key Trump policy in the first hours of his presidency.
The Paris accord, forged in the French capital in 2015, commits countries to put forward plans for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is released from burning fossil fuels.

Biden Administration Appoints Indian-Americans to Key Posts in Energy Dept

The Biden Administration has appointed four Indian-Americans to senior positions in the crucial Department of Energy.
The administration appointed Tarak Shah as the Chief of Staff, making him the first Indian-American to serve in that position.
Tanya Das has been named as the Chief of Staff to the Office of Science, Narayan Subramanian will occupy the position of Legal Adviser in the Office of General Counsel, and Shuchi Talati has been appointed as Chief of Staff in the Office of Fossil Energy.

Jan 25, 2021

Biden and Macron to Work Closely

After increasingly strained U.S.-France relations under Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to work closely together to fight the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.
Their first conversation since Biden's inauguration aimed at mending frayed ties between the historic allies. Biden "stressed his commitment to bolstering the transatlantic relationship" via NATO and the EU. Macron pledged his "determination to work at the side of the U.S."
After four years of "America First" under Trump, the new U.S. President and French leader see eye-to-eye on the importance of international cooperation to fight climate change and COVID-19 and in negotiating with Iran.

Prachanda-led Faction Expels Oli from Party

The Nepal Communist Party's splinter faction led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' expelled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party's general membership.
The decision was taken at the Standing Committee meeting of the faction led by former PMs Prachanda and Madhav Kumar Nepal after Oli failed to produce explanation to his recent moves as sought by party leadership, the Himalayan Times reported. Earlier, the splinter group removed Oli as the party chair.

Jan 24, 2021

China Backs Guterres for Second Term as UN Secretary-General

China announced its backing for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who is seeking a second five-year term as the chief of the world body.
Guterres whose current term ends on December 31, in a letter to General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir has expressed his wish to continue for another five years.
Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on January 1, 2017. Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from June 2005 to December 2015, heading one of the world's foremost humanitarian organisations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades.

McConnell Seeks to Push Donald Trump Impeachment Trial to February

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is proposing to push back the start of Donald Trump's impeachment trial to February to give the former president time to prepare and review his case.
House Democrats who voted to impeach Trump last week for inciting the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot have signaled they want to move quickly to trial as President Joe Biden begins his term, saying a full reckoning is necessary before the country — and the Congress — can move on.
But McConnell suggested a more expansive timeline that would see the House transmit the article of impeachment next week, on Jan. 28, launching the trial's first phase. After that, the Senate would give the president's defence team and House prosecutors two weeks to file briefs. Arguments in the trial would likely begin in mid-February.

Jan 23, 2021

European Union Leaders Agree to Keep Borders Open, Want to Limit Travels

European Union leaders agreed that borders should remain open and assessed more measures to counter the spread of coronavirus variants during a video summit as the bloc's top disease control official said urgent action was needed to stave off a new wave of hospitalizations and deaths.
Expressing great concern about the virus' mutations, the 27 leaders looked at further border restrictions like limits on all non-essential travel, better tracking of mutations and improving coordination of lockdowns.
Though worried that another surge of deaths across the EU was imminent, they could not immediately agree on whether to halt non-essential travel.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen insisted on the importance of keeping borders open to ensure that goods continue to move smoothly.

Mongolian Prime Minister Submits Resignation

Mongolia's Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa submitted his resignation to parliament after protests in the capital Ulaanbaatar over the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Khurelsukh said in his resignation statement that he should "assume the responsibility upon himself and accept the demand of the public." His resignation needs to be approved by parliament.
The protests erupted over what some Mongolians saw as the inhumane treatment of a Covid-19 patient and her newborn baby.
The protests triggered the dismissal of senior health officials. Mongolia's deputy prime minister and health minister also tendered their resignations.

Joe Biden Announces US Will Rejoin Paris Climate Accord

President Joe Biden returned the United States to the worldwide fight to slow global warming in one of his first official acts and immediately launched a series of climate-friendly efforts that would transform how Americans drive and get their power.
Biden signed an executive order rejoining the Paris climate accord within hours of taking the oath of office, fulfilling a campaign pledge.
The move undoes the US withdrawal ordered by predecessor Donald Trump, who belittled the science behind climate efforts, loosened regulations on heat-trapping oil, gas and coal emissions, and spurred oil and gas leasing in pristine Arctic tundra and other wilderness.

Joe Biden's US Revives Support for WHO, Reversing Donald Trump Retreat

President Joe Biden's top adviser on the pandemic said the United States will resume funding for the World Health Organization and join its consortium aimed at sharing coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globe, renewing support for an agency that the Trump administration had pulled back from.
Just hours after Biden's inauguration, Dr. Anthony Fauci wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres saying the US had reversed the planned pull out from the WHO that was expected to take effect in July.

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