General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2016

Sep 2016

Mar 25, 2021

Niger Court Upholds Bazoum's Win

The runner-up in Niger's recent election has denounced a court ruling that upheld Mohamed Bazoum as the winner.
Mahamane Ousmane - who was President in the 1990s before being overthrown in a coup - still maintains he won.
He's called on people throughout the country to take part in a peaceful protest march.
With President Mahamadou Issoufou stepping down after two terms, the swearing in of Mr. Bazoum next month will be the first ever democratic transfer of power in Niger.

Ethiopia PM Ahmed Abiy Admits Eritrea Forces in Tigray

Ethiopia's Prime Minister has acknowledged for the first time that troops from neighbouring Eritrea have been in the Tigray region following the outbreak of conflict in November.
For months both countries have denied that troops crossed the border.
Abiy Ahmed told MPs that Eritrean forces came fearing they would be attacked by Tigray's regional fighters.
The conflict began after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) captured military bases in the region.
The TPLF had been the ruling party in the northern Ethiopian region, but had a massive fall-out with Mr Abiy over the future of Ethiopia's ethnically based federal system and its role in government.

Senate Confirms Dr. Vivek Murthy as U.S. Surgeon General

Indian-American physician Vivek Murthy has been confirmed by the Senate as President Joe Biden's surgeon general, a role in which his top priority would be responding to the coronavirus pandemic that has severely hit the country.
Dr. Murthy would occupy the position of America's Surgeon General for the second time. In 2011, President Barack Obama tapped him to serve on the advisory group on prevention, health promotion, and integrative and public health.
In 2013, Obama nominated Dr. Murthy to be the surgeon general. He was the youngest ever to hold the office at the age of 37. However, he had to abruptly leave the position during the Trump administration.

Mar 24, 2021

Exit Polls Indicate No Clear Winner in Israeli Elections

Israeli parliamentary elections resulted in a virtual deadlock for a fourth time in the past two years, exit polls indicated, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an uncertain future and the country facing the prospect of continued political gridlock.
The exit polls indicated that both Netanyahu and his religious and nationalist allies, along with an anti-Netanyahu group of parties, both fell short of the parliamentary majority required to form a new government. That raised the possibility of an unprecedented fifth consecutive election later this year.
The election was seen as a referendum on Netanyahu's polarizing leadership style, and the initial results showed that the country remains as deeply divided as ever, with an array of small sectarian parties dominating the parliament.
The results also signaled a continuing shift of the Israeli electorate toward the right wing, which supports West Bank settlements and opposes concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians. That trend was highlighted by the strong showing of an ultranationalist anti-Arab religious party.

UNHRC Adopts Resolution against Sri Lanka's Human Rights Record

India abstained from a crucial vote on Sri Lanka's rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The resolution on 'Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka' was, however, adopted after 22 states of the 47-member Council voted in its favour.
Sri Lanka, which had earlier deemed the resolution "politically motivated", was quick to reject the UN move to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes in the country, committed by the armed forces and the LTTE.

Libya's Rebel Administration Hands over Power

The rebel administration in eastern Libya has officially handed power to the country's new interim government, based in Tripoli.
A handover ceremony took place in Libya's second city, Benghazi, headquarters until now of the eastern administration.
A new Government of National Unity, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and backed by the UN, was sworn in last week in Tripoli to replace the two rival administrations which have been fighting for control of Libya.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris will reopen its embassy in Tripoli next week, which was closed in 2014, as violence spread in the country.
Libya has been beset by violence since forces backed by NATO overthrew its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011.

Mar 23, 2021

Yemen Conflict: Saudi Arabia Puts Forward Peace Plan

Saudi Arabia has proposed a new peace plan to end nearly six years of war in Yemen.
It suggests an UN-supervised ceasefire between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran.
The plan also includes the reopening of vital air and sea links, and the start of political negotiations.
Houthi rebels said that the offer did not appear to go far enough to lift the air and sea blockade in place.
The proposal was announced in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, who called on the Houthis, who control large swathes of Yemen, to accept it.

EU and China Impose Tit-for-Tat Sanctions

The EU imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials, including a top security director, for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to which Beijing responded by blacklisting Europeans in a rare escalation of diplomatic tensions. The EU has sought to avoid confrontation with Beijing, but a decision to impose the first significant sanctions since an EU arms embargo in 1989 has inflamed tensions. Accused of mass detentions of Muslim Uighurs in China, those targeted by EU include Chen Mingguo, director, Xinjiang Public Security Bureau.

Vote on Resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHRC Postponed

The vote on a critical resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva has been postponed, as Colombo stepped up efforts to garner international support ahead of the voting which is being seen as an acid test for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The vote on the draft resolution titled 'Promotion of Reconciliation Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka' was to be taken on Monday but officials in Geneva said that it has been postponed to Tuesday owing to some scheduling issues.
Sri Lanka was defeated at three consecutive resolutions at the UN rights body when Mr. Gotabaya's elder brother and incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was the country's president between 2012 and 2014.
Sri Lanka has been assured of support from China, Russia and several Muslim countries including Pakistan.

Mar 22, 2021

North Korea Closes its Embassy in Malaysia

North Korea closed its embassy in Malaysia after announcing that it is cutting ties with Kuala Lumpur over the extradition of its citizen to the United States for alleged money laundering.
A North Korean diplomat called the extradition an "unpardonable crime.
As per reports, the North Korean businessman living in Malaysia is accused of supplying prohibited luxury items from Singapore to Pyongyang, in violation of UN sanctions.
Malaysia's top court ruled that the businessman can be extradited to the US, rejecting his appeal challenging the extradition request.

Mauritania and Qatar Resume Diplomatic Ties

Mauritania has resumed diplomatic relations with Qatar after a four-year freeze.
Foreign ministers from both countries held talks in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday, on the resumption of ties.
After intensive contacts over the past week and with much appreciated support from the Sultanate of Oman, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Qatar decided to resume diplomatic ties.
The West African country cut links with Qatar in 2017, over allegations that it supported terrorists, following on the lead by other Arab powers, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates that had done the same.

Iran in No Hurry to Revive Nuclear Deal

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that his country was in "no hurry" to revive the nuclear deal and warned the U.S. its current policy toward the Islamic Republic was doomed to fail unless sanctions are effectively and fully removed. Khamenei's speech, marking the Persian new year in Iran, highlighted his impatience with the Biden administration's decision to maintain sanctions and continue a standoff that started almost three years ago when former President Donald Trump abandoned the multilateral, 2015 nuclear deal.
Khamenei dismissed the dispute between Washington and Tehran over which country should make the first move to return to its obligations in order to revive the accord that meant to limit the country's nuclear program to peaceful means.

Mar 21, 2021

Bill Nelson Nominated to Lead NASA

President Joe Biden has nominated his longtime colleague, former Senator Bill Nelson (D–FL), to lead NASA, the administration announced today. If confirmed, Nelson will be tasked with leading the country back to the Moon, while also developing an ambitious project to recover the rock samples drilled by the Perseverance rover on Mars.
Nelson has a long history with the agency. He first entered national politics as a representative for the district that is home to Florida's space coast and flew as a civilian on the space shuttle in 1986. As a senator, he was a lead author of the law that created NASA's new Moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which yesterday saw the first successful test of its engines.

Tanzania Swears in First Female President

Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as Tanzania's first female President after her predecessor, John Magufuli, died suddenly.
Hassan, a soft-spoken ruling party stalwart from the island of Zanzibar, will finish Magufuli's second five-year term, set to run until 2025.
She becomes the only other current serving female head of state in Africa alongside Ethiopia's Sahle-Work Zewde, whose role is mainly ceremonial, whereas the president in Tanzania is also head of government.
Hassan was little known outside Tanzania until she appeared on state television on Wednesday night to announce that Magufuli, absent from public view for three weeks, had died from a heart condition.

World Happiness Report

India has been ranked 139 out of 149 countries in the list of UN World Happiness Report 2021, which is topped by Finland.
The World Happiness Report 2021, issued by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared.
It ranks the world's 149 countries on "how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be".
Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world. The Nordic nation is followed by Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Norway.
The happiness study ranks the countries of the world on the basis of questions from the Gallup World Poll. The results are then correlated with other factors, including GDP and social security.

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