General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2016

Sep 2016

Apr 09, 2021

Carl Bildt New WHO Special Envoy for ACT-Accelerator

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), appointed Carl Bildt as WHO Special Envoy for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator). Bildt succeeds Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Andrew Witty in the special envoy role. He will help lead the collective advocacy for the ACT-Accelerator in his new role, mobilising support and resources so it can deliver against its strategy for 2021.
The ACT-Accelerator is a groundbreaking global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests, treatments and vaccines, according to the WHO website.
It brings together governments, scientists, businesses, civil society, and philanthropists and global health organisations.
Bildt has served as both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden and is a renowned international diplomat, having been the European Union Special Envoy to erstwhile Yugoslavia; High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina; UN Special Envoy to the Balkans and Co-Chair of the Dayton Peace Conference, according to a press statement by the WHO.

U.S. Restores Assistance for Palestinians, to Provide $235 Million in Aid

US President Joe Biden's administration plans to provide $235m (£171m) of aid to Palestinians, restoring part of the assistance cut by Donald Trump.
Two-thirds will go to the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, which has suffered a financial crisis since it lost $360m of US funding in 2018.
Mr. Biden wants to restore credible engagement by the Palestinians in long-stalled peace talks with Israel.
Palestinian leaders accused Mr. Trump of being heavily biased towards Israel.
They rejected a peace plan he unveiled last year that envisaged recognising Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley, and Jerusalem remaining Israel's undivided capital.
Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Voting in Djibouti

Voting started in Djibouti where President Ismail Omar Guelleh is seeking a fifth term.
More than 200,000 voters are expected to cast the ballots before polls close.
President Guelleh has led the country for 22 years.
President Guelleh is projected to win in a landslide.
His sole competitor is a little known former army officer turned businessman, Zakaria Ismael Farah.
The strategic tiny nation in the Horn of Africa has a population of less than a million people and hosts several military bases for world powers including US and China.

Apr 08, 2021

Global Powers Urge Somali Leaders to Compromise

Somalia's international partners including UN, the US, Canada, the African Union and several European nations have called on leaders to compromise to allow elections to take place in the country.
As Somalis prepare for the Holy Month of Ramadan, the international partners appeal to federal and regional leaders to reach agreement and make necessary compromises to ensure elections can be held without further delay, to allow Somalia to move forward.
The Somali government is committed to making fruitful consultations between the government and member states of the federal government possible.

Turkey Summons China's Ambassador over Twitter Posts

Turkey summoned China's ambassador after the embassy suggested on Twitter that it could take action against two Turkish politicians who criticised Beijing's treatment of its Muslim Uyghur community.
The Chinese Embassy tagged Meral Aksener, the head of the opposition Good Party, and Ankara's mayor, Mansur Yavas, in two Twitter posts in which it defended Beijing's policies and said "the Chinese side reserves its right to a rightful response." The comment was widely interpreted as a threat against the two politicians and caused a social media outrage in Turkey.
The embassy tagged Ms. Aksener and Mr. Yavas after the two marked with Twitter posts the killing of Uyghurs by Chinese forces during an uprising in 1990.

Apr 07, 2021

Netanyahu Gets Official Nod to Form Govt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a new lease on his political life, receiving a mandate from Israel's President to form a new government after an inconclusive election.
Israel's longest-serving leader, in power consecutively since 2009, now faces the tough task of breaking an unprecedented political stalemate and enlisting enough allies for a governing coalition.
Under law, Netanyahu will have 28 days to do so, with the possibility of a two-week extension before President Reuven Rivlin picks another candidate or asks parliament to choose one.

Bezos Tops Forbes' Billionaire List

Forbes' annual world's billionaires list includes a record-breaking 2,755 billionaires, with Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos topping it for the fourth consecutive year.
The ranks of the ultra-wealthy are expanding after a year in which the coronavirus pandemic upended world economies and threatened the livelihoods of people across the globe.
This year's billionaires are worth a combined $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion last year.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk jumped into second spot on the list, up from 31st last year.
Bernard Arnault, chief executive of luxury goods firm LVMH, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg round out the top five of the world's richest billionaires.
With an estimated net worth of $84.5 billion, Reliance Industries' chairman Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, is ranked at number 10.

Ukraine Urges NATO to Speed up Membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO to speed up his country's membership in the alliance, saying that it was the only way to end fighting with pro-Russia separatists.
Zelensky spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after an increase in clashes and Russian military movements on the border raised fears of an escalation of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky said it was time for NATO to move forward with Ukraine's longstanding desire for membership.

Egypt Seeks Settlement Out of Court for Suez Canal Blockage

The Suez Canal chief said that authorities are negotiating a financial settlement with the owners of a massive vessel that blocked the crucial waterway for nearly a week.
Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie hoped talks with Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the Japanese owner of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given, will conclude without a lawsuit.
The canal chief said last week the Suez Canal Authority was expecting more than $1 billion in compensation, warning the ship would not be allowed to leave the canal if the issue of damages turns into a legal dispute.
That amount takes into account the salvage operation, costs of stalled traffic and lost transit fees for the week that the Ever Given blocked the canal. He did not specify then who would be responsible for paying the compensation.

No Progress in Talks over Ethiopia's Dam

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia failed to make progress in the latest round of African Union-led talks to resolve their years-long dispute over a controversial dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile River.
Foreign and irrigation ministers of the three nations met in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the current chair of the African Union. That round of talks sought to find an agreed-on approach to resume negotiations on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam.
However, the four days of meetings concluded without a breakthrough after Ethiopia rejected a Sudanese proposal, backed by Egypt, to include international mediators in the talks, Egypt and Sudan said. Egypt's top diplomat said they would again take the dispute to the U.N. Security Council.

Apr 06, 2021

Netanyahu's Former Ally Nominates Self for Post of Israel PM

A former right-wing ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recommended himself as the next prime minister, deepening Israel's political deadlock.
Naftali Bennett's Yamina party nominated him to form the next government in consultations with Israel's President.
Yamina had been in a position to serve as a kingmaker between the two major blocs of supporters and opponents of Netanyahu. But instead, it declined to take sides.

Pham Minh Chinh New Vietnam PM

Vietnam's National Assembly confirmed Pham Minh Chinh, a career security official, as the Asian country's next Prime Minister at an official ceremony.
The move completes the five-yearly renewal of Vietnam's top four positions, as it looks to maintain economic growth, keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay, and balance relations with Beijing and Washington.
China has been asserting its authority in the South China Sea, while the US Treasury Department labelled Vietnam a currency manipulator in December due to its trade surplus with the United States and heavy foreign exchange market intervention to hold down the value of its dong currency.
Chinh, 62, was the sole nominee put forward by the ruling Communist Party for the post at a congress earlier this year. He won 96.25% of the vote at the National Assembly vote.

Kenyans Petition IMF to Stop Loaning the Country

Kenyans have began signing an online petition asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) not to give the government any more loans citing corruption.
Through the hashtag #StopLoaningKenya, Kenyans have circulated the online petition link while also giving more reasons why no more lending should occur.
The discussion started days after IMF approved a 257bn Kenyan shillings ($2.4bn;£1.7bn) loan for Kenya to aid in Covid-19 response.
Kenya's public debt has grown by more than 1 trillion shillings in the last one year.

Apr 05, 2021

Nepali Congress Initiates Move to Topple K.P. Sharma Oli

Nepal's main opposition party Nepali Congress has initiated a move to topple Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli and form an alternative government under its leadership with the support of the CPN-Maoist Centre and other parties.
The Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress (NC) decided to take an initiative to form a new government under its leadership. The NC will ask Prime Minister Oli to step down and allow formation of a new government. If he does not resign, the NC will move a no-trust motion against him in the House of Representatives and take initiative to form a new government under its leadership to save the democratic achievements of the past.

Sri Lanka Aiming to Host BIMSTEC Summit in August

Sri Lanka is planning to host the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in mid August.
This will be the 5th such summit of the grouping. The last summit took place in Kathmandu in 2018, with PM Modi attending the meet.
BIMSTEC has 7 members- India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The grouping is more than 20 years old and was formed in 1997.

Japan PM to Take up China-Taiwan Tension on US Visit

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that Taiwan's peace and stability was key to the region and that Japan would cooperate with the United States to calm rising tensions between China and Taiwan.
Suga is set to meet with President Joe Biden in Washington next week, the US leader's first in-person summit since taking office in January.
Tokyo considers its US alliance to be the cornerstone of its diplomatic and security policies, and is eager to develop close relations with the new US administration.

Kosovo Gets New President

Lawmakers in Kosovo elected and swore in a new President for a five-year term, the Balkan nation's second female leader in the post-war period.
The 120-seat parliament, which convened in an extraordinary session for two days, gave 71 votes for Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, the former parliament speaker, in the third round of voting, while 11 votes were invalid.
Two opposition parties and the ethnic Serb minority party boycotted the voting.
In November, the 38-year-old Osmani-Sadriu temporarily replaced former President Hashim Thaci, a guerrilla leader during Kosovo's war for independence from Serbia in the late 1990s, who resigned after facing charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity at a special court based in The Hague.

Seoul Calls on China to Play Role in North Korea Peacemaking Process

South Korea's Foreign Minister said that he expected China to play a role in peacemaking between South and North Korea, inviting China's President to visit as the United States and its allies agreed to continue pushing Pyongyang to denuclearise.
"South Korea and China share a common goal toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and toward permanent peacemaking policies," Chung Eui-yong said. Chung extended the invitation to President Xi Jinping to visit when Covid-19 stabilises.
Chung met with State Councillor Wang Yi, the Chinese government's top diplomat, in the Chinese city of Xiamen, as part of the first visit of a South Korean foreign minister to China since 2017. Wang said China and South Korea had agreed to promote the process to politically resolve issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

Singapore Joins Interpol-led Crime Task Force to Look into Covid-19 Scams

Singapore is joining an Interpol-led global financial crime task force, comprising the US and UK, which will be looking into a number of areas, including COVID-19-related scams.
The situation has visibly worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic with more people working from home and transacting online.
Cyber criminals have taken advantage of this opportunity.
The task force, initially comprising Singapore, the United States, UK and Ireland, will look at illicit money flows in transnational financial crimes and how countries can combat these crimes more effectively.

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