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INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2016

Mar 2016

Oct 01, 2020

Pakistan Opens All Educational Institutions

Pakistan opened all the educational institutions which remained shut for nearly six months due to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 3 lakh people in the country.
Both private and public schools were opened under strict restriction and were told by the authorities to follow the standard operating procedures to contain the spread of the contagious coronavirus.
Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said that the maximum number of students was enrolled in the primary schools and they suffered most due to the closure of the institutions.
The decision was taken to open all the educational institutions after analysing the coronavirus situation comprehensively.
"Only 1 per cent infection was detected in educational institutions after the authorities performed 171,436 coronavirus tests in the education sector since the institutions reopened on September 15 under the phase 1 of the reopening of the institutions.

Trump Signs Temporary Government Funding Bill

President Donald Trump has signed a Bill to fund the government through December 11, averting the possibility of a government shutdown when the new fiscal year starts Thursday.
Trump signed the Bill, which was approved by sweeping bipartisan agreement, into law shortly after returning from campaigning in Minnesota.
The temporary extension will set the stage for a lame-duck session of Congress later this year, where the agenda will be largely determined by the outcome of the presidential election.
The measure would keep the government running through December 11 and passed by a 84-10 vote. The House passed the Bill last week.
The stopgap spending Bill is required because the GOP-controlled Senate has not acted on any of the 12 annual spending bills that fund the 30 per cent of the government's budget that is passed by Congress each year.
If Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the White House in November, it's likely that another stopgap measure would fund the government into next year and that the next administration and Congress would deal with the leftover business.

Seven Parties Agree on Belgian Coalition Government

Almost 500 days after Belgian parliamentary elections, seven parties from both sides of the linguistic aisle agreed on forming a fully functioning majority government that will center on dealing with the pandemic and its devastating economic impact.
A final negotiating session found agreement on a common budget and had only one issue left to decide: who would succeed Sophie Wilmes as Prime Minister.
The seven parties consist of Liberals, Socialists and Greens, divided into separate linguistic entities, and the Dutch-speaking Christian Democrats.
Since the May 26, 2019 elections, Belgium has been led by a caretaker government, and, for the past half year, by a minority coalition with widespread support from the opposition to deal with the pandemic, the last one led by francophone Liberal Wilmes.

Sep 30, 2020

Taliban and Pakistan Interested in Withdrawal of International Forces

The Taliban and Pakistan are interested in the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan more than a peace settlement, a former Pakistani diplomat has said, warning that the ongoing peace talks in Doha were headed towards failure.
Pakistan's former Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said that I am not optimistic about the outcome of the talks. The US has made all major concessions up front. The Taliban know that the US is eager to withdraw from Afghanistan. As they see it, they are just negotiating the withdrawal of foreign forces and the restoration of the status quo ante, when they ruled Afghanistan as its Islamic Emirate.
The Afghan government could prove stronger than the US-backed South Vietnam government and might fight on for a pluralist Afghanistan with the support of other countries, including India, he said. The US withdrawal was a function of America's tendency to lose interest in wars that go on too long, he added.

Sep 29, 2020

Pakistan Court Indicts Former President Zardari in Money Laundering Case

An anti-corruption court in Pakistan indicted former President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in a money laundering case, a move described by his party as "victimisation" of opposition leaders.
The development comes just ahead of the planned protests next month by Opposition parties to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The case is about the alleged use of fake accounts by the former president and other accused to park and launder the allegedly ill-gotten wealth.
The 63-year-old husband of the country's first woman Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and his 62-year-old sister Talpur were present in the court.
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan of the accountability court in Islamabad indicted them.
The court also indicted Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani Majeed.
The development comes just ahead of the planned protests next month by Opposition parties to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The case is about the alleged use of fake accounts by the former president and other accused to park and launder the allegedly ill-gotten wealth.
The 63-year-old husband of the country's first woman prime minister Benazir Bhutto and his 62-year-old sister Talpur were present in the court.
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan of the accountability court in Islamabad indicted them.
The court also indicted Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani Majeed.
All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

EU, Britain Far Apart as Key Week of Brexit Talks Begins

The European Union and Britain both said that a post-Brexit deal was still some way off as they began a decisive week of talks in Brussels.
Britain left the EU last January and is locked in negotiations on a new trade deal from 2021, as well as on implementing its divorce agreement with the bloc.
EU national leaders are scheduled to assess the state of play at a summit next month, with a no-deal Brexit still possible.
Negotiations have stumbled over fisheries, fair competition and settling disputes, and Brexit talks descended into chaos this month when London proposed draft laws that would undermine its earlier EU divorce bill.
Britain's Brexit supremo Michael Gove held talks with Maros Sefcovic, a deputy head of the bloc's executive Commission.
The UK's positions are far apart from what the EU can accept. I have repeated the EU's request to withdraw the contentious part of the draft Internal Markets Bill by the end of September.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels are expected to authorise more negotiations before their next summit on October 15-16.
They will then assess whether to focus on pushing for a deal or preparing for a hard Brexit at the end of the year.

Amnesty International to Halt India Operations

Amnesty International said that it has been forced to halt its India operations due to "reprisals" from the government.
The watchdog has also accused the government of indulging in a witch-hunt of human rights organisations.
Amnesty said that its bank accounts have been frozen and it's been forced to lay off staff in the country, and suspend all its campaign and research work.
The government is yet to respond to the allegations.
According to Rajat Khosla, the group's senior director of research, advocacy and policy said that we are facing a rather unprecedented situation in India. Amnesty International India has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner.
This is all down to the human rights work that we were doing and the government not wanting to answer questions we raised, whether it's in terms of our investigations into the Delhi riots, or the silencing of voices in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a report, the group said police in the Indian capital, Delhi, committed human rights violations during deadly religious riots between Hindus and Muslims in February.

Sep 28, 2020

Afghanistan's Abdullah Abdullah Arrives in Pakistan for Talks on Peace Bid

Senior Afghan peace official Abdullah Abdullah arrived in Pakistan for meetings in a country seen as vital to the success of Afghan talks aimed at ending decades of war.
During his three-day visit to Islamabad, Abdullah, a former Foreign Minister and chairman of Afghanistan`s High Council for National Reconciliation will meet Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as Pakistan`s Foreign Minister.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have long been rocky. Afghanistan and its international allies have for years accused Pakistan of backing Taliban insurgents as a way to limit the influence of old rival India in Afghanistan.

Jacinda Ardern on Course for Election Victory

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is poised to retain power at next month's election, a widely watched poll showed, although it said a recent COVID-19 outbreak has dented her support slightly.
A Newshub-Reid Research Poll released showed support for Ardern's Labour Party to 50.1%, though this is down from the record 60.9% recorded earlier this year when New Zealand was widely lauded as a world leader in battling COVID-19.
Support for the main opposition National Party was at 29.6%, up 4.5 percentage points.
Should the poll findings materialise, Ardern would govern without relying on any coalition partners.
New Zealand was COVID-free for 102 days until a second wave hit Auckland last month.

Fighting Erupts between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Fighting erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, while Azerbaijan's president said his military has suffered losses.
Armenia also claimed that two Azerbaijani helicopters were shot down and three Azerbaijani tanks were hit by artillery, but Azerbaijan's defense ministry rejected that claim.
Heavy fighting broke out in the morning in the region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since 1994 at the end of a separatist war.
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities reported that shelling hit the region's capital of Stepanakert and the towns of Martakert and Martuni. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that Azerbaijani shelling hit within Armenian territory near the town of Vardenis.

Sep 27, 2020

Russia and China Block Release of UN Report Criticising Russia

Russia and China blocked the official release of a report by UN experts on Libya that accused its warring parties and their international backers -- including Russia -- of violating a UN arms embargo on the conflict-wracked country. Germany's deputy UN ambassador, Gunter Sautter, brought the issue to the Security Council after the two countries blocked the report's release by the committee monitoring sanctions on Libya, which Germany heads. Many delegations have asked for the publication of the panel of experts' interim report.
This would create much needed transparency. It would contribute to naming and shaming those who continue to blatantly violate the arms embargo in spite of agreements that have been made.
The report, seen by The Associated Press earlier this month, said the arms embargo was being violated by Libya's UN-supported government in the west, which is backed by Turkey and Qatar, and by rival east-based forces under commander Khalifa Hifter, backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Jordan.

Malaysia's Sabah State Holds Election in Key Test for PM

Malaysia's 7-month-old ruling alliance triumphed in its first electoral test in eastern Sabah state, a major victory for embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin amid challenges to his leadership.
Sabah was ruled by the opposition and the state poll was seen as a referendum for Muhyiddin's unelected government. As per analysts, the victory could push Muhyiddin to call for early national elections to bolster his coalition that has a thin two-seat majority in Parliament.
The win could also help Muhyiddin thwart a challenge from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who declared he has secured majority support in the national Parliament to oust Muhyiddin and form a new government.
Sabah and neighboring Sarawak on Borneo island hold about a quarter of the seats in Parliament and are seen as crucial for political leverage. The two states are rich in oil and timber, but are among the poorest in Malaysia. They have a greater level of autonomy in administration, immigration and judiciary.

Donald Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Judge

Ending all speculation, US President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett as the new judge for the Supreme Court on Saturday. The nomination was made to fill up the vacancy following the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Notably, Donald Trump has nominated three judges on the non-member bench of the US Supreme Court. The other two being justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
The nomination was made 40 days prior to the US Presidential election which is scheduled to be held on November 3. Donald Trump was highly critised by the opposition for hurrying the process. However, he justified it saying this is his highest and most important duties under the United States Constitution.

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