General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2017

May 2017

Apr 05, 2019

MPs Pass Legislation to Rule out No-deal Brexit

British MPs, by a majority of one vote, passed emergency legislation that instructs Prime Minister Theresa May to seek an extension to Article 50 that triggered the Brexit process.
The Bill, which was opposed by the government, received support from 313 MPs with 312 voting against it. It was put forward by Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Conservative MP Oliver Letwin in an attempt to rally MPs across the political spectrum.
It comes as Ms. May and the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, embarked on a second day of talks to try to find the road ahead. The Bill will still have to pass through the House of Lords before it comes into force.

Brunei's LGBT Community

Transgender woman Zoella Zayce fled her native Brunei last year as the country shifted towards hard-line Islam, and thinks more of the LGBT community will follow after the death penalty for gay sex was introduced.
The absolute monarchy on tropical Borneo Island, ruled by a sultan who has been on the throne for over five decades, implemented tough new Islamic laws, including death by stoning for sex between men, and adultery.

Apr 04, 2019

Chicago Chooses Black, Gay Woman as Mayor

Chicago became the biggest U.S. city to elect a black woman as its Mayor, as voters put their faith in an openly-gay political novice to tackle difficult problems of economic inequality and gun violence.
Lori Lightfoot a former federal prosecutor and practising lawyer who has never before held elected office, won the Midwestern city's mayoral race in a lopsided victory. She beat out Toni Preckwinkle, a career politician who is also black, by a wide margin of 74% to 26% with most ballots counted.
Ms. Lightfoot will become Chicago's first openly gay Mayor as well as the first African-American woman to hold the post.
Since 1837, Chicago voters have elected only one black Mayor and one woman Mayor.

Brexit Delay Law Approved

The lower house of the British parliament approved a legislation which would force Prime Minister Theresa May to seek a Brexit delay to prevent a potentially disorderly departure on April 12 without a deal. The legislation, put forward by opposition Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, was rushed through all of its stages in the House of Commons in less than six hours. It was approved at the final stage by 313 votes to 312. It now has to pass the upper chamber, the House of Lords.

China Protests Parallel Initiative to Block Azhar

China raised its pitch against Washington's parallel initiative to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, insisting that its diplomacy within the 1267 committee of the Security Council was yielding positive results.
In response to a question on Washington's attempt to designate Azhar as an international terrorist through a separate resolution, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that most countries within the Council were not supporting the U.S.'s move.

Apr 03, 2019

FATF May Blacklist Pakistan

Pakistan could be blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) due to lobbying by India, as Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi estimated that the country could suffer a loss of $10 billion annually if it remains in the watchdog's grey list.
In June last year, the Paris-based FATF had placed Pakistan on the 'grey list' of countries whose domestic laws are considered weak to tackle the challenges of money laundering and terrorism financing.
A group of experts from the FATF recently visited Pakistan to review whether Islamabad had made enough progress on global standards against financial crimes to warrant its exclusion from the grey list.

May Calls for another Brexit Extension

British Prime Minister Theresa May will ask the European Union for a further, short extension to Article 50 to avoid the U.K. crashing out of the EU on April 12, and has said that she wants to sit down with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in an effort to thrash out a solution and break the log-jam.
This would potentially allow for a joint approach to the declaration on future relations, which forms part of the withdrawal deal but which would keep the legal treaty governing the U.K.'s relations intact.

Algerian President Steps Down

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped down after 20 years in office, and six weeks of massive nationwide protests aimed at pushing him and his much-criticised inner circle from power to create a real democracy in the gas-rich nation.
The announcement followed soon after a sternly-worded call from the powerful army chief for Bouteflika to immediately bow out.

AKP Appeals Istanbul and Ankara Results

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP appealed against results in Istanbul and Ankara, following a weekend election after tallies showed that the ruling party lost both key cities.
Mr. Erdogan's AKP and coalition partner won more than 50% of votes nationwide in local ballot, but defeat in both Turkey's capital and its economic hub would be a setback after the party's decade and a half in power.
The AKP appeals with electoral authorities, who have two days to decide whether the claims of irregularities have merit, may signal more ruling party challenges to the surprise Opposition victories.

Apr 02, 2019

Erdoğan Loses Ground

Turkey's Opposition dealt President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a symbolic blow by gaining ground in key cities in the country's local elections.
The Opposition won the capital, Ankara, a ruling party stronghold for decades, and was leading a tight race for Mayor in Istanbul. The leader, who has dominated Turkish politics for 16 years, declared victory despite the Opposition gains.
According to Behlul Ozkan, an associate professor at Marmara University, Mr. Erdoğan's loss of ground in Ankara and Istanbul indicated that his socially conservative and construction-driven policies no longer resonated in the cosmopolitan cities.

Military Courts in Pakistan

Pakistan's special military courts, which were set up in 2015 to try civilians on terrorism charges, have ceased to exist after the government failed to get the support of the Opposition to extend their tenure.
The government wanted to give another two-year extension.
The courts were set up weeks after the Peshawar school attack on December 16, 2014, for speedy trial of hardcore militants.

Apr 01, 2019

Bouteflika Announces New Government

Protest-hit Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika named a new government headed by recently appointed Noureddine Bedoui.
Armed forces chief Ahmed Gaid Salah, who has called for Bouteflika to step down, remained as deputy Defence Minister.
Ailing Bouteflika has come under mounting pressure to quit power since his decision to seek a fifth term sparked huge demonstrations.

Maldives Lifts Freeze on Yameen's Bank Accounts

A Maldivian court ordered the authorities to lift a freeze on former President Abdulla Yameen's bank accounts holding about $6.5 million but said a money laundering case against him would proceed.
The High Court overturned the Criminal Court's earlier decision to freeze the eight accounts over allegations that Mr. Yameen had received illicit payments just before he lost his re-election bid in September.
Mr. Yameen's chief lawyer and former Justice Minister Azima Shakoor are also facing charges of embezzlement and helping her boss to launder money.

Slovaks Elect First Woman President

The election of Zuzana Caputova as Slovakia's first woman President was greeted as a vote for change, with the anti-graft activist expected to provide a check on a government tarnished after last year's murder of a journalist.
The environmental lawyer's clear victory over the ruling party's candidate was a blow to the populist-left Smer-SD, the largest grouping in Parliament, and could spell trouble for them in the EU elections and next year's general vote.
Ms. Caputova won 58.4% of the vote according to a final tally of, compared with 41.6% for her ruling party rival, EU Energy Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

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