General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2016

Mar 2016

Dec 08, 2019

U.S. Resumes Talks with Taliban

Washington resumed talks with the Taliban in Qatar, three months after President Donald Trump abruptly halted diplomatic efforts that could end America's longest war.
In September 2019, the United States and the Taliban had appeared on the verge of signing a deal that would have seen Washington begin withdrawing thousands of troops in return for security guarantees.
It was also expected to pave the way towards direct talks between the Taliban and the government in Kabul and, ultimately, a possible peace agreement after more than 18 years of war.
But that same month, Trump abruptly called the year-long effort dead and withdrew an invitation to the insurgents to join secret talks at his US retreat at Camp David after the killing of an American soldier.

Iran Releases US Student in Prisoner Swap

An American graduate student, who had been held for three years in Iran on suspicion of espionage, was freed and shifted to an American military base in Europe.
Chinese-born Xiyue Wang, a Princeton University PhD student, was conducting research in Tehran when he was arrested there on espionage charges in August 2016.
Wang was sent to Iran's notorious Evin Prison and sentenced to 10 years.
As per Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Wang's release comes as a prisoner swap between the two countries.
In exchange for Wang's release, the US freed Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani.
Soleimani, an Iranian stem cell scientist, was arrested by the US law enforcement upon landing in Chicago in 2018.

Amna Nawaz Selected to Moderate US Presidential Debate

Amna Nawaz, a Pakistani-American journalist, became the first South Asian American scribe to be selected to moderate a US Presidential debate.
Nawaz works as a senior national correspondent for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) news programme News Hour and will co-moderate the sixth Democratic primary debate on December 19, 2020 at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California along with PBS managing editor Judy Woodruff.
Nawaz, who was born in the US state of Virginia, joined PBS News Hour in April 2018. Prior to joining the News Hour, Nawaz was an anchor and correspondent at the ABC News, where she covered the 2016 US Presidential election.
Nawaz was also a foreign correspondent at the NBC News, reporting from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, and the broader region.

Trump Hits Out at World Bank

US President Donald Trump called for the World Bank to stop loaning money to China, one day after the institution adopted a lending plan to Beijing despite Washington's objections.
The World Bank, whose president David Malpass is a former Trump administration official, had clear between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in low-interest loans to China, which caught Trump's attention.
The World Bank agrees in principle and said that lending to China has fallen sharply and will continue to reduce.

Dec 07, 2019

Merkel Makes Her First Visit to Auschwitz

German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced a feeling of "deep shame" during her first-ever visit to the hallowed grounds of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Adolf Hitler's regime murdered more than a million people.
Ms. Merkel is only the third Chancellor ever to visit the Nazi German camp, where a million Jews were killed between 1940 and 1945 and which has come to symbolise the Holocaust as a whole.
Her trip, which comes ahead of the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation by Soviet troops on January 27, is being seen as an important political message.

Cash-strapped Pakistan Gets $1bn Lifeline

Cash-strapped Pakistan availed a $1.3-billion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the country's public finances and shore up the slowing economy.
Pakistan is facing a serious economic crisis with short supplies of foreign currency reserves and stagnant growth in recent years.
The ADB's quick dispersing special policy-based loan is part of a multi-donor economic reform programme led by the IMF to stabilise Pakistan's economy after a major deterioration in its fiscal position in 2018.
According to ADB director general for Central and West Asia Werner Liepach, ADB is committed to providing wide-ranging support to strengthen Pakistan's economy and reduce the risk of external economic shocks.

China Imposes Reciprocal Restrictions on U.S. Diplomats

China took reciprocal measures against U.S. diplomats in the country, ordering them to notify the Foreign Ministry before meeting with local officials.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China had notified the U.S. embassy of the new measures, which were a countermeasure to Washington's decision in October to restrict Chinese diplomats.

French Government Sticks by Pension Reforms

The French government expressed determination to plough ahead with far-reaching pension reforms in the face of the biggest strikes in years, which have brought public transport in much of the country to a standstill.
With Macron not yet speaking publicly about the strikes and seeking for now to rise above the fray, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe insisted that the government would not abandon a plan which would require the French to work a bit longer.
He pledged to work with trade unions to introduce a single fairer, points-based pension scheme for all, scrapping the 42 more advantageous plans currently enjoyed by train drivers, soldiers and a host of other workers in the process.

Dec 06, 2019

Maldives Wants to Restructure Debt to China

According to Maldives Foreign Minister, his country needs to restructure its massive debt to China, which has put the Indian Ocean archipelago in a difficult situation.
As per Abdulla Shahid, the country's Chinese debt currently totals about $1.4 billion.
The Chinese loans were given for housing projects, a bridge connecting the airport island with the capital island, Male, and for some state-owned enterprises.
As per Shahid, the loans were unreasonable borrowings by the previous government.
Since the government of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came into power last year, Maldives has begun a shift away from China toward traditional ally India.

Sajith Premadasa Named Leader of Opposition

Sajith Premadasa, the United National Party (UNP) leader who lost to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the presidential election, was named the Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament.
Following a meeting of the party's parliamentary group, the party leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to nominate Premadasa in his place.
Wickremesinghe would thus leave the job he had continuously held since 1994 barring short periods between 2001-2004 and 2015 to November this year, his two prime ministerial stints.

Offer of North Province Governor Post A Rumour

Sri Lankan cricket star Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed reports that he was offered the post of governor of Sri Lanka's Northern Province.
As per Muttiah, it is a rumour that was first floated on Facebook. I was not offered that post and in any case have made it clear that I am not interested in politics. I am a sportsman, a cricket player, not a politician. My Foundation for Goodness has already been helping 60000 fellow citizens ever year.

US Indicts Hackers Linked to Russian Intel Agencies

The US justice department unveiled indictments of two Russians with ties to their country's intelligence services, who ran a major global cyber theft operation under the name Evil Corp.
An indictment unsealed in Pittsburgh named Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev as the main figures in a group which inserted malware on computers in dozens of countries to steal more than $100 million from companies and local authorities.

Dec 05, 2019

US to Name Sudan Envoy after 23 Years

As per secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the US plans to boost diplomatic relations with Sudan by exchanging ambassadors. Pompeo said that the two nations would initiate the process of exchanging ambassadors after a 23-year gap and adding that the decision is a meaningful step forward in strengthening the US-Sudan bilateral relationship, particularly as the civilian-led transitional government works to implement vast reforms.

Pakistan Submits Report to FATF

Seeking to escape the black list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan submitted its compliance report to the terror funding watchdog, hoping for another extension till June 2020 as the present deadline of February is too short for the country to comply with all 27 action plans sought by the group.
FATF has already granted an extension till February 2020, and kept the country on its grey list till then. It warned that Islamabad would be put on the blacklist if it did not comply with the remaining 22 out of 27 points related to anti-money laundering and terror financing.
The first formal response from the FATF is awaited till this December-end, said economic affairs minister Hammad Azhar. A meeting is likely in Sydney in January, 2019 in which the Pakistani delegation will be given an opportunity to defend the compliance report. The FATF's plenary review meeting will take place in February 2020 in Paris to decide the fate of the country.

China Fumes over US House Bill on Uighurs

As per China, the bilateral cooperation with Washington will be affected in important areas after the US House of Representatives passed a bill that called for targeted sanctions against Beijing for the arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Beijing's reaction came after the US House passed the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act 2019, which seeks to sanction Chinese government officials including the Xinjiang Communist Party of China (CPC) secretary Chen Quanguo.
More than a million Uighur Muslims are said to be held in re-education camps in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwest, many without having committed any crime.

France Braces for Severe Disruption Amid Strike

France is preparing for severe disruption as millions of workers go on strike in protest at being forced to retire later or face reduced pensions.
School and transport workers will join police, lawyers and hospital and airport staff in a general walkout.
France's largest nationwide strike in years was agreed by unions unhappy with President Emmanuel Macron's plans for a universal points-based pension system.
Authorities have been trying to put in place plans to mediate the disruption.
The industrial action is expected to last beyond Thursday and some trade union leaders have warned they will continue their industrial action until Mr. Macron abandons his campaign promise to overhaul the retirement system.
One opinion poll put public support for the strikes at 69%, with backing strongest among 18-34 year-olds.
The Macron administration will hope to avoid a repeat of the country's general strike over pension reforms in 1995, which crippled the transport system for three weeks and drew massive popular support, forcing a government reversal.

India and US to Talk Emerging Threats, Challenges

India and the US will further cement their special strategic relationship with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meeting their US counterparts, Mark Esper and Mike Pompeo, for the two-plus-two dialogue in Washington on December 18, 2019 with the focus being on Indo-Pacific and the early conclusion of India's hardware purchases from the US.
The only other country with which India holds a dialogue in the two-plus-two format is Japan.
According to reports, the forthcoming dialogue will be important as it will synergise positions and views of the foreign and defence ministries of the two countries and try and achieve convergence in terms of a common view on emerging global threats and challenges.

Dec 04, 2019

Ex-minister Roopun is Mauritian president

Lawmakers in Mauritius picked former arts and culture minister Pritivirajsing Roopun (61) as a president of the island nation, a largely ceremonial post. His predecessor Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned in March 2018 after being embroiled in a scandal over her use of a credit card to buy luxury personal items. She denied wrongdoing.
In Mauritius, the prime minister is head of the government and holds most political power while the President is head of the state but has no executive role and is considered the guardian of the Constitution. — AFP.

Finland's PM resigned after losing trust of coalition partner

Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne resigned after a member of the ruling coalition, as it had lost confidence in him following a series of disruptive strikes. The Center Party asked Rinne to step down after a more than two-week strike at Finland's state postal service, Posti, spread to the national airline, Finnair, and to other industries before being settled last week.
Center Party chairwoman Katri Kulmuni questioned Rinne's role in handling the strike but she wanted the same five-member coalition to continue under an unspecified new prime minister.
President Sauli Niinisto accepted Rinne's resignation and asked the centre-left cabinet to continue in a caretaker role pending the formation of a new one.

Swedish King held extensive talks with President, PM to expand bilateral cooperation PTI

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf held extensive talks with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expand overall bilateral cooperation in diverse areas.
These included trade and investment, innovation and culture.
Welcoming King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at Rashtrapati Bhawan last evening at a banquet in their honour, President Ram Nath Kovind said that India-Sweden bilateral trade and investment relations are gaining strength.
He said that India sees Sweden as a key partner in its Make in India, Start-up India, Clean India, Digital India and Smart City programmes. He invited Sweden to join the International Solar Alliance.
Later, the two sides inked three pacts providing for cooperation in polar science, innovation and research and in maritime spheres.

European Commission President Juncker handed over to Ursula von der Leyen

Former head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker officially handed over his function to Ursula von der Leyen during a ceremony.
A portrait of Juncker was unveiled next to the other former presidents.
Giving a short speech afterwards, a joking Juncker expressed his gratitude for the years in service and also had some advice for von der Leyen, wishing her "great ears" to interpret the whispering in Brussels, the members states and the European Parliament.
He then symbolically gave her a ceremonial bell but said it was "absolutely useless".
Von der Leyen, as the head of the EU executive, will be in charge of trade negotiations, and economic and climate policy for 500 million Europeans and antitrust rulings.
Her five-year Commission, which began on December 1, is composed of the College of Commissioners from 27 EU countries.

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