General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2016

Mar 2016

Jul 04, 2020

Nepal PM KP Oli Faces Heat from Party Colleagues

There has been a growing rift in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in Nepal over demands of resignation of Prime Minister KP Oli, who has been facing heat from his party colleagues for straining ties with India and reports of China encroaching almost 33 hectares of Nepalese land through road construction in Tibet.
A crucial meeting of Nepal ruling party NCP Standing Committee to decide the fate of KP Oli, has been postponed. The meeting has now been postponed till July 6, thus giving a 2-day breather to PM Oli.
In the midst of the political crisis in Nepal, Chinese Ambassador in Nepal Hou Yanqi met Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari. A meeting between Hou Yanqi and Nepali President was held in the President House in Kathmandu. As per reports, China once again has been intervening in the political crisis in Nepal. Chinese ambassador Hou Yanqi is seen as a key factor behind PM Oli's unexpected move to amend a map which includes disputed territories with India.

Macron Picks Jean Castex as PM after Philippe Resigns

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe tendered his resignation after heading President Emmanuel Macron's government for three years.
The President swiftly named centre-right mayor Jean Castex to lead a new team of ministers after a reshuffle.
Although Mr. Philippe was considered more popular than the President, the ruling party had poor local election results at the weekend.
Mr. Philippe met the President and they agreed the government would resign.
A reshuffle had been expected for some time, and it is common practice for a French President to replace a Prime Minister during the five-year term in office known as the "quinquennat".
Mr. Castex is little known in France, but he is a senior civil servant and has played a key role in the government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jul 03, 2020

Russians Clear Way for Putin to Extend His Rule

Russians have granted President Vladimir Putin the right to stay in power until 2036 by voting overwhelmingly for constitutional changes that reset the clock on the longtime Russian leader's tenure to zero, but critics said that the outcome was falsified on an industrial scale.
As per official results, after 99.9 per cent of ballots had been counted, showed that the former KGB officer who has ruled Russia for more than 20 years as President or Prime Minister had won the right to run for two more six-year terms after the current one ends in 2024.
According to the The Central Election Commission, 77.9 per cent of votes counted across the world's largest country had supported changing the constitution. About 21 per cent had voted against.

Britain Recognises Juan Guaido as Venezuela's President

Britain recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's President, the English High Court ruled, in a case over whether Guaido or Nicolas Maduro should control $1 billion of its gold stored in London.
A four-day hearing last week had been the latest part of a tug-of-war over the gold reserves held in the Bank of England and centered on which of the two rival Presidents Britain now views as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
In early 2019, the British government joined dozens of nations in backing Guaido, head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress, after he declared an interim presidency and denounced Maduro as an usurper who secured a fraudulent re-election.

Jul 02, 2020

New Zealand Cancels the 2021 APEC's Auckland Summit and Opts to Virtual Summit

New Zealand cancelled the 2021 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that was scheduled to be held in Auckland, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is opting to lead a virtual summit.
The 2019 leaders' meeting was cancelled by Chile due to violent anti-government protests and the virtual APEC meeting of 2020 is being hosted by Malaysia.
Members of APEC are: Canada, United States of America, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Republic of Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong (China), The Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, People's Republic of China, Viet Nam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore.

UN Raises $7.7 Billion in Humanitarian Aid for Syria

The United Nations raised $7.7 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria, where nine years of war has displaced millions in a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by soaring food prices and the coronavirus crisis.
While less than the almost $10 billion sought by U.N. agencies, the pledges were higher than expected, given the economic shock of COVID-19 on many governments and shortfalls in other aid appeals, notably for Yemen this month.
Pledges came from countries including Qatar, which has promised $100 million, and Germany, which offered 1.58 billion euros ($1.78 billion) in what Berlin said was the single biggest country donation.
The United Nations, which last year raised $7 billion, said this year it needs $3.8 billion for aid inside Syria where 11 million people require help and protection, with more than 9.3 million of them lacking adequate food.
Another $6.04 billion is sought to help the 6.6 million Syrians who have fled, in what is the world's biggest refugee crisis.
U.N. officials will still press for more pledges throughout the year, and have time as the money is split between 2020 and 2021.

Jul 01, 2020

India Accounts for 45.8 Million of the World's 'Missing Females': UN Report

According to a report by the United Nations, India accounts for 45.8 million of the world's 142.6 million "missing females" over the past 50 years, noting that the country along with China form the majority of such women globally.
As per the State of World Population 2020 report, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the world organisation's sexual and reproductive health agency, the number of missing women has more than doubled over the past 50 years - from 61 million in 1970 to a cumulative 142.6 million in 2020.
Of this global figure, India accounted for 45.8 million missing females as of 2020 and China accounted for 72.3 million.

U.S. Ends Defense Exports to Hong Kong

The Trump administration placed new restrictions on U.S. exports of defence equipment and certain high-technology products to Hong Kong on Monday, in response to a new Chinese law aimed at tightening Beijing's control over the territory.
The administration determined in late May that Hong Kong no longer had significant autonomy under Chinese rule, and promised to begin stripping away Hong Kong's privileged status with the United States if Beijing continued to crack down on civil liberties in Hong Kong.
The Commerce Department said that Hong Kong would now be subject to the same types of controls on certain technology exports that apply to China. Those controls block American companies from selling certain types of sensitive, high-technology products that could threaten national security to China, Russia and other countries deemed to be a security risk.
The effect of the new restrictions announced appear to be relatively limited in scope, given the small volume of trade the United States does with Hong Kong.

China to Join UN Arms Trade Treaty, 'Enhance' World Peace

China will join a global pact to regulate arms sales that has been rejected by the United States, with Beijing saying that it is committed to efforts to "enhance peace and stability" in the world.
The Communist Party leadership's top legislative body voted to adopt a decision on joining the UN Arms Trade Treaty that is designed to control the flow of weapons into conflict zones.
It comes after US President Donald Trump announced plans last year to pull the United States out of the agreement -- which entered into force in 2014.
The US Senate never ratified the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty after former President Barack Obama endorsed it, and Trump said that he would revoke his predecessor's signature.
It is among a number of international agreements reached under the Obama administration that Trump has moved to pull out of.
The treaty requires member countries to keep records of international transfers of weapons and to prohibit cross-border shipments that could be used in human rights violations or attacks on civilians.

Jun 30, 2020

Iran Seeks Interpol's Help to Arrest Trump

Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining President Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad.
While Trump faces no danger of arrest, the charges underscore the heightened tensions between Iran and the United States since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said that Trump and more than 30 others whom Iran accuses of involvement in the January 3 strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad face "murder and terrorism charges," the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
Alqasimehr did not identify anyone else sought other than Trump, but stressed that Iran would continue to pursue his prosecution even after his presidency ends.
Interpol, based in Lyon, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is unlikely Interpol would grant Iran's request as its guideline for notices forbids it from undertaking any intervention or activities of a political nature.

Baloch Separatists Attack Pakistan Stock Exchange

Security forces killed four gunmen who attempted to storm the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi. Four security guards, a police sub-inspector and a civilian were also killed in the attack.
According to Sindh Rangers Director General Umer Ahmed Bukhari, a tweet had been posted in which the attack has been attributed to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The BLA is one of several insurgent groups fighting primarily in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province.
The building, which is in a high-security zone, also houses the head offices of many private banks.

Government Lifts Ban on PPE Exports

The Government has decided to lift the ban on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) medical coveralls with a monthly quota of 5 million units.
According to the Ministry of Commerce notification, a firm applying for permission to export should be a manufacturer of PPE coveralls (Certification of registration from concerned Department/ Authority to be supplied).
Welcoming the Government's decision, Apparel makers said that this would open the entire global market for Indian players who were fast enough to seize this opportunity of producing and supplying PPE kits as the world struggles to control coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), the production of PPE is more than sufficient to cater to the needs of the country and allowing exports of PPE items will not only help the health workers across the world but also support the revival of the apparel industry in the country.
Today, from zero production of PPE in early March, India produces more than 8 lakh PPE pieces per day – the second largest producing country in the world.

President of Serbia Declares the Victory of the Ruling Party

Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia declared the victory of the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka – SNS) with more than 63% vote in the Parliamentary election held earlier this month (June 2020) which was boycotted by most of the opposition parties.
Most of the opposition parties boycotted the election considering the current pandemic situation which does not provide free and fair environment to conduct elections.
The SNS hrld about 189 seats in the 250 member General Assembly.
The Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička Partije Srbije – SPS), the junior coalition partner of the SNS, secured the second position predicted to take around 32 seats.
The Serbian Patriotic Alliance (Srpski patriotski savez – SPAS) is the only opposition party with votes to pass the 3% threshold to enter parliament with around 12 seats.

FATF's First Global Report on Illegal Wildlife Trade

In accordance with the first ever report on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) titled "Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade" report by Financial Action Task Force (FATF), illegal wildlife trade is a global threat which generate estimated revenues between $7to $23 billion a year. This crime could lead to more zoonotic diseases in the future.
The report is based on the inputs of 50 jurisdictions across the FATF global network, as well as expertise from the private sector and civil society.
During the study, 22 of the 45 respondent countries considered themselves as source for wildlife crime, 18 as transit countries and 14 as destination countries. All but nine reported to be impacted by the risks from financial flows linked to the trade, with the majority of exceptions being European countries.
FATF is an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Mississippi Votes to Remove Confederate Icon from State Flag

The last state flag in the nation to prominently feature the Confederate battle emblem is poised to come down across Mississippi, after state lawmakers voted to replace the 126-year-old design.
Amid a national reckoning over racial injustice, the state House, and then the Senate, approved the measure. The bill was then headed to Gov. Tate Reeves (R), who indicated previously that he would sign it. With his approval, the flag must be removed from government buildings within 15 days through a process that is prompt, dignified and respectful.
Before this month, the flag faced its most serious challenge in 2001, when a referendum offered voters a choice of whether to replace it. They voted 2 to 1 to keep it. That same year, the only other state whose flag bore the Confederate battle emblem, Georgia, changed it after a legislative showdown.

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