General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2016

Dec 2016

Mar 26, 2024

Simon Harris Becomes Irish PM-in-waiting

Simon Harris became Ireland's Prime Minister in waiting after he was elected unopposed to succeed Leo Varadkar as leader of the governing Fine Gael party.
Harris best known for helping steer the country's initial response to COVID-19, set out some of his priorities to party members at an event in the Irish midlands town of Athlone.
He will be voted in as Ireland's youngest ever Prime Minister when parliament next sits on April 9, 2024 thanks to support from Fine Gael's coalition partners.

UN Security Council Demands Immediate Gaza Ceasefire after US Abstains

The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas after the United States abstained from the vote, sparking a spat with its ally Israel.
The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution - proposed by the 10 elected members of the body - that also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the failure of the U.S. to veto the resolution was a "clear retreat" from its previous position and would hurt Israel's war efforts and bid to release more than 130 hostages still held by Hamas.

Mar 24, 2024

Rata NZ's New Envoy to India

Career diplomat Patrick John Rata, who is currently serving as the Acting High Commissioner in Colombo, was named the next High Commissioner of New Zealand to India at a time when Auckland expressed strong interest in improving its political, trade, economic, social and cultural ties.
Rata's appointment was among a clutch of crucial diplomatic posts announced by New Zealand. Besides replacing Rata in Colombo with David Pine, Andrew Needs was named the High Commissioner to Australia, and Mark Trainor Ambassador to Russia.

Mar 23, 2024

India Elected Co-Chair of ITU's Digital Innovation Board

Neeraj Mittal, Secretary of India's Department of Telecommunications, led a significant delegation to Geneva for strategic meetings at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Headquarters. The aim was to enhance collaboration and explore innovative initiatives in telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors.
Neeraj Mittal was unanimously elected as the co-chair of the Digital Innovation Board of ITU, which operates under the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development.
The Digital Innovation Board comprises ministers and vice ministers of telecom/ICT from 23 member countries of ITU, with a mission to foster innovation and entrepreneurship for a more inclusive digital future.
The alliance aims to address significant unmet needs of ITU Membership in innovation, as outlined in the Kigali Action Plan and outcomes of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022.
It operates through three main vehicles: the Digital Transformation Lab, Network of Acceleration Centres, and the Digital Innovation Board.
Meetings with ITU officials, including Dr. Cosmos Zavazava, focused on scaling up ITU Area Office India, Digital Transformation Lab, Acceleration centres, and the Global Innovation Centre in India.
Mittal proposed hosting the next meeting of the Digital Innovation Board in India alongside the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) 2024.
Bilateral discussions with Japan and Bahrain emphasised collaboration on AI, 5G use cases, cybersecurity, and mutual revisiting of MOUs on ICT.

Mar 22, 2024

United Nations Unanimously Adopts First Global Resolution on Artificial Intelligence

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) unanimously adopted the first global resolution on artificial intelligence (AI). The resolution is aimed at encouraging personal data protection, monitoring AI for risks, and safeguarding human rights.
The nonbinding resolution was proposed by the United States and co-sponsored by China and 121 other nations.
As per the officials, it took three months to negotiate and advocate the strengthening of privacy policies.

Mar 21, 2024

Portugal's President Names Centre-right Leader Montenegro as PM

Portugal's President named Luis Montenegro, head of the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), as the country's new Prime Minister and invited him to form a minority government after eight years of Socialist rule.
The AD won a parliamentary election by a slim margin, far short of a working majority. Montenegro has repeatedly said that his party is prepared to govern on its own and will not negotiate a broad formal agreement with the far-right party Chega to work together.
Chega emerged as a political force after quadrupling its parliamentary representation - a first for a far-right party since the fall of a fascist dictatorship 50 years ago.
An AD government will be dependent on piecemeal deals in parliament with Chega or the left wing to pass legislation, making it potentially unstable.
Overall, the AD won 80 seats in the 230-seat legislature, followed by the Socialists at 78 seats and Chega, which was founded just five years ago, with 50.

Indonesia: Prabowo Subianto Confirmed as President-elect

Indonesia's Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto was declared the winner of last month's (February) presidential election in the world's third largest democracy.
Prabowo appealed for unity as his two rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, vowed to contest the result.
The former general, who had been dogged by allegations of human rights abuse for decades, won 58.59% of the votes.
He will assume office in October, taking over from President Joko Widodo, who is more popularly known as Jokowi.

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