General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2017

Nov 2017

Jan 19, 2021

US Designates UAE and Bahrain as 'Major Strategic Partners'

The United States has designated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain as its major strategic partners, the White House announced, amid preparations for a transition from the Donald Trump administration to that of President-elect Joe Biden.
The announcement was made by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
This decision demonstrates a new level of partnership between the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom Bahrain, and represents an enduring commitment to economic and security cooperation. It also reflects their extraordinary courage, determination, and leadership in entering into the Abraham Accords.

PM Giuseppe Conte Wins Lower House Confidence Vote

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte won a crucial confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies, hanging on to power after a junior partner quit his coalition and opened a political crisis amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Had he lost the vote, Conte would have been forced to resign.
After his appeal to opposition and non-aligned lawmakers to back him following last week's walk-out by former premier Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva party, Conte's government won the lower-house vote by 321 to 259.
The margin was wider than expected and gave the government an absolute majority in the 629-seat chamber.
Conte will face a tougher test in the Upper House Senate, where the government had only a slim majority even when Italia Viva was still part of the coalition.

Jan 18, 2021

United States National Rifle Association

The United States National Rifle Association filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. The association filed for bankruptcy in order to avoid being investigated by New York Attorney General.
The New York Attorney General had sued the National Rifle Association in August 2020 based on allegations that the association top executives diverted millions of dollars for their personal trips.
United States National Rifle Association is a non-profit organisation formed by the civil war veterans General George Wingate and Colonel William C Church in 1871. The organisation was formed to promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis. It is considered as the most influential pro-gun organisation in the US. The critics believe that the organisation is an enabler of gun violence in the country.

South Korea's President Urges Biden to Learn from Trump's North Korea Diplomacy

South Korea's President urged the incoming Biden administration to build upon the achievements and learn from the failures of President Donald Trump's diplomatic engagement with North Korea.
A dovish liberal and the son of northern war refugees, Moon Jae-in had lobbied hard to help set up Trump's three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but their diplomacy stalemated over disagreements over easing crippling US-led sanctions for the North's disarmament.
Biden has accused Trump of chasing the spectacle of summits rather than meaningful curbs on the North's nuclear capabilities. North Korea has a history of staging weapons tests and other provocations to test new US presidents, and Kim vowed to strengthen his nuclear weapons program in recent political speeches that were seen as aimed at pressuring the incoming Biden administration.

UN Rights Body Elects Fiji in First Ever Presidential Vote

The UN Human Rights Council elected Fiji's ambassador as its 2021 president in an unprecedented secret ballot after a diplomatic stand-off blocked the usual consensus decision. Fiji's ambassador in Geneva, Nazhat Shameem Khan, who served as the council's vice president in 2020 and is considered a rights champion, won with 29 out of 47 votes.
She ran against two other candidates from the UN's Asia-Pacific regional group of countries: Bahrain's ambassador Yusuf Abdulkarim Bucheeri and his counterpart from Uzbekistan, Ulugbek Lapasov, who received 14 and four votes respectively.
The president mainly oversees council meetings but is also in charge of appointing the independent experts who investigate countries' alleged rights abuses and can determine how hard to crack down on cases of state intimidation against those who cooperate with the body

UK Invites PM Narendra Modi for G-7 Summit

The United Kingdom has extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the G7 summit to be held in the country's Cornwall region in June, 2021.
Like India, Australia and South Korea to have been invited to what would be the G-7 summit's first in-person meeting in two years.
The annual G-7 gathering of leaders from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union will start on June 11 at the English village on the coast of Cornwall. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will use the June event to promote a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jan 17, 2021

Biden Taps Former Deputy CIA Director Cohen for Spy Agency

President-elect Joe Biden named former Deputy CIA Director David Cohen to reprise his role at the US intelligence agency as he continued to fill out top roles for his administration.
Cohen previously served as the deputy director for the Central Intelligence Agency from 2015 to 2017 under Democratic then-President Barack Obama, when Biden served as vice president. Cohen would serve under longtime US diplomat William Burns, Biden's nominee for CIA director.
The former lawyer also previously served as Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury Department, where he dealt with terrorism financing and oversaw sanctions against countries such as Iran, Russia and North Korea.
Biden also picked one of his closest confidants from his presidential campaign, Anita Dunn, to join the White House as a senior adviser.

Dutch Government Resigns

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his entire Cabinet resigned to take political responsibility for a scandal involving investigations into child welfare payments that wrongly labelled thousands of parents as fraudsters.
In a nationally televised speech, Rutte said that he had informed King Willem-Alexander of his decision and pledged that his government would continue work to compensate affected parents as quickly as possible to battle the coronavirus.
The move was seen as largely symbolic; Rutte's government will remain in office in a caretaker mode until a new coalition is formed after a March 17 election in the Netherlands.
The resignation brings to an end a decade in office for Rutte, although his party is expected to win the election, putting him first in line to begin talks to form the next government. If he succeeds in forming a new coalition, Rutte would most likely again become Prime Minister.

Jan 16, 2021

US Rejects UN Plea to Reverse Yemen Rebel Terror Designation

The UN chief and top officials urged the United States to reverse its decision to declare Yemen's Iran-backed rebels a terrorist group to prevent massive famine and death in the conflict-torn Arab nation — but the Trump administration in its final days stood by its action.
US deputy ambassador Richard Mills told the Security Council that the US had listened to the warnings of the terrorist designation's humanitarian impact and would take measures to reduce the impact on aid deliveries and commercial imports.
In 2014, the rebel Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of Yemen's north, driving the government into exile. A US-backed, Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try and restore the internationally recognised government but years of UN efforts to get both sides to agree to a cease-fire and start peace negotiations have not succeeded.

Sadyr Japarov Wins the Presidential Election in Kyrgyzstan

The frontrunner in Kyrgyzstan's presidential election, Sadyr Japarov, has won by a landslide. According to the Central Election Commission, Mr. Japarov had won 79% of votes cast. Mr. Japarov, who served time in jail for taking a rival hostage, will also have sweeping new presidential powers after voters by a similar margin opted to amend the Constitution in a referendum.
Kyrgyzstan has been in crisis since parliamentary elections last October. The results of those elections were disputed, leading to protests and the resignation of then-President Sooronbay Jeenbekov.

Jan 15, 2021

Trump Administration Takes Final Swipe at China

The Trump administration in its waning days took another swipe at China and its biggest firms, imposing sanctions on officials and companies for alleged misdeeds in the South China Sea and imposing an investment ban on nine more firms.
The moves will further increase tensions with China, Washington's strategic rival in Asia, days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The Biden transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Executives of state-owned enterprises, officials of the Chinese Communist Party and military, along with oil giant CNOOC will face new restrictions for allegedly using coercion against states with rival South China Sea claims.

Kuwait's Government Quits

Kuwait's Cabinet submitted its resignation, the latest development in a cycle of clashes between the government and lawmakers that long has convulsed the sheikhdom with the strongest parliament in the Gulf.
The move, while not a surprise after some 30 lawmakers backed a no-confidence motion against the government this month, reveals how the country's politicking has caused instability, diminished public confidence and aggravated the oil-rich state's worst economic crisis in decades.
The ministers quit after the recently elected members of parliament, more than 60 per cent of them new faces, grilled the prime minister to protest his new Cabinet appointments. The decision to reinstate the old parliament speaker who hails from an elite merchant family stirred anger among new lawmakers skeptical of corruption and the country's patronage system.
The Prime Minister must now submit the resignations to the country's ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who is widely expected to accept them.

In First, UN Rights Body to Vote on President after Standoff

The UN Human Rights Council will this week hold an unprecedented secret ballot to pick its President after China and others blocked a candidate from Fiji considered a rights champion.
The dispute could underscore growing jostling in the top UN rights body by countries intent on steering it away from criticising nations over alleged abuses of individual rights and towards focusing on advances in economic and social rights.
The council's presidency rotates each year between regions and is typically agreed by consensus within each regional group.
This year, though, the Asia-Pacific group (APG) due to take the helm failed to agree on a candidate -- or even on holding a vote within the group.
That means the council, which for the first time in its 15-year history began the year with no President, will hold an unprecedented vote among all 47 members.

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