General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - October 2017

Oct 2017

Jul 09, 2021

Fourth Rajapaksa Sibling Joins Govt.

Basil Rajapaksa, the youngest of the four Rajapaksa siblings, was sworn in as Sri Lanka's Finance Minister, marking the further consolidation of political power by the powerful clan in the island nation.
Basil became the fourth Rajapaksa brother after President Gotabaya, Prime Minister Mahinda, and Agricultural Minister Chamal to enter the Cabinet. He took the oath before President Gotabaya. With the entry of Basil in the Cabinet, there are as many as seven family members in the top echelons of the government.
The Finance Ministry was under Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Mahinda has now been given a new portfolio of economic policy and plan implementation.

Sri Lanka Issues Gold Coins to Mark Chinese Communist Party's Centenary Anniversary

As China's ruling Communist Party turned a century old, Sri Lanka issued two gold and one silver coins to commemorate the occasion and mark 65 years of its ties with Beijing. The move assumes significance as this is first time Sri Lanka has minted coins to honour a political party of another country.
The coins were minted by Sri Lanka's Central Bank. "The coins have been issued at the request of the government as an accolade for long-standing friendship and mutual trust between the two countries", the bank stated. The commemorative coins are of rupees 1,000 denominations.
The last time the island-nation minted a gold coin was in 1998 to celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.
In 2012, the Central Bank had issued a nickel-plated silver coin to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Japan.

Jul 08, 2021

Haiti President Jovenel Moise Assassinated

Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated after a group of unidentified people attacked his private residence.
Interim Premier Claude Joseph condemned what he called a hateful, inhumane and barbaric act, adding that Haiti's National Police and other authorities had the situation in the Caribbean country under control.
The nation of more than 11 million people had grown increasingly unstable and disgruntled under Mose's rule. Its economic, political and social woes have deepened, with gang violence spiking heavily in the capital of Port-au-Prince, inflation spiraling and food and fuel becoming scarcer at times in a country where 60% of the population makes less than USD 2 a day.
Moise had been ruling by decree for more than two years after the country failed to hold elections, which led to Parliament being dissolved.

Iran Hosts Afghan Peace Talks

Iran hosted the first significant talks in months between Taliban and Afghan Government representatives, a surprise meeting that comes as the US completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan and districts fall to the Taliban across the country.
The high-level peace talks between the warring sides follow months-old discussions in Qatar that have been stalled by a diplomatic stalemate and escalating violence. Even as officials faced each other across vast tables in Tehran and Iran's top diplomat pledged to end the crisis, fighting surged in Afghanistan's Badghis.
The Taliban political committee, led by chief negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, met Afghan government officials, including former Vice-President Younus Qanooni and others from the High Council for National Reconciliation.

Jul 07, 2021

New York Governor Declares Gun Violence a Health Emergency

New York has become the first US state to declare a disaster emergency order to address rising gun violence.
New York State saw 51 shootings over the 4 July holiday weekend, Governor Andrew Cuomo said as he signed the executive order.
The directive will funnel $138.7m (£100m) towards gun violence intervention and prevention programmes.
It comes amid reports of a rise in gun deaths countrywide, including nearly 200 over the past weekend.
In March, the FBI released preliminary 2020 statistics showing a significant jump - 25% - in murders from the year before. So far, the upward trend has continued into 2021. In the US, the majority of homicides are gun-related.
US President Joe Biden unveiled a White House strategy to combat the rise in homicides in late June, which includes curtailing rogue gun dealers and firearms trafficking. It also delegates more funding for personnel - including law enforcement.

Trudeau Names Indigenous Leader in 'Historic' First

Canadian Prime Minister has named Mary Simon as governor general, the first indigenous person to hold the post.
The former diplomat and advocate for Inuit rights will represent Canada's head of state, Queen Elizabeth II.
The announcement comes nearly six months after the former governor general, Julie Payette, resigned amid accusations of bullying.
While the role is largely ceremonial, the governor general presides over important state duties.
Ms. Simon's appointment follows a national reckoning over Canada's legacy of residential schools. These government-funded boarding schools were part of policy to attempt to assimilate indigenous children and roll back indigenous cultures and languages.

Jul 06, 2021

Nepal's Election Commission Announces Schedule for Mid-term Polls

Nepal's Election Commission announced the schedule for upcoming mid-term elections despite the uncertainty over polls due to the petitions in the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the House of Representatives.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the Lower House for the second time in five months in May at the recommendation of Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19.
Prime Minister Oli is currently heading a minority government after losing a trust vote in the 275-member House.

Pakistan Establishes Anti-money Laundering Cell

Pakistan's anti-corruption watchdog has established an anti-money laundering and terror financing cell to check financial crimes and illegal transfer of resources as the country struggled to exit from the FATF's grey list.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019 but the deadline was extended later on due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Putin, Bennett Agree to Meet

Israel's new PM spoke for the first time with his Russian counterpart and the two have agreed to meet soon. Bennett's office said that he thanked Vladimir Putin for Russia's contribution to stability in the region and that the two spoke of the bridge between the two countries represented by Russian immigrants to Israel.
It was the first time the two had spoken since Bennett took office last month at the head of Israel's new coalition government. After two years, Bennett is to step aside while Foreign Minister Yair Lapid rotates into the premiership.

Jul 05, 2021

Tokyo Election Tests Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga Ahead of Olympics

Residents headed to the polls in Tokyo for a metropolitan assembly vote that could provide clues to how Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his ruling party will fare in a general election expected after this month's Olympics.
The election comes less than three weeks before the opening of the games, which are strongly backed by Suga, despite widespread concern about staging the global sports spectacle during a pandemic.
Suga's Liberal Democratic Party currently has 25 seats in the assembly, compared with the 45 held by Tokyoites First, a local party formed by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, who now serves as an adviser. The Constitutional Democratic Party, the main opposition force at national level, controls eight seats.

Jeff Bezos Steps Down as Amazon CEO

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, will step down as Amazon CEO on July 5, 2021. Bezos chose July 5 as it was exactly 27 years ago on that date in 1994 when he founded Amazon.
However, he won't be going far from Amazon and will be the executive chair. The American business magnate will also focus on new products and initiatives.
Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person for the fourth year running with a net worth over 20,180 crores USD, now plans to focus on his other ventures that include his rocket ship company, Blue Origin, and his newspaper, The Washington Post.
The former head of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Andy Jassy officially took over as the CEO of Amazon.com after the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, stepped down as the e-commerce giant's boss.
Jassy joined Amazon in 1997.

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