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INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2017

Nov 2017

Feb 27, 2020

Embattled Governor Signs over Nairobi to Kenya's Leader

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta took over key functions of the Nairobi county government in what his office described as "a landmark agreement".
The law allows for transfer of functions between the national government and county governments after an agreement.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko handed over control of transport, health, public works and planning functions. He signed the agreement in the presence of President Kenyatta at State House.
Governor Sonko is facing corruption charges and has been barred from accessing his office until his case is heard. He is accused of irregularly awarding tenders to his close aides, forging documents and misappropriating county funds. He denies any wrongdoing.
Nairobi county lawmakers are also expected to debate a motion to impeach him, which was tabled in the local assembly last week.
The agreement for the national government to take over the functions of the county government has attracted criticism, with some saying it is unconstitutional.

Slovenia President Names Centre-right Janez Jansa as PM Candidate

Slovenia's President named former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the head of the largest party in parliament, as a candidate for Prime Minister and asked the parliament to confirm him.
The parliament is expected to confirm Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) head Jansa in a secret vote next week. He will replace center-left Prime Minister Marjan Sarec, who resigned last month.
The nomination came a day after the SDS agreed a majority coalition with the center-left Party of Modern Centre (SMC), the conservative New Slovenia and the pensioners' party Desus.

Iger Steps Down as Disney CEO

Bob Iger abruptly stepped aside as Walt Disney Co.'s chief executive officer (CEO), handing the reins to theme-parks head Bob Chapek after years of speculation over who would succeed the long-time CEO of the world's largest entertainment company.
Chapek who led Disney's theme parks and consumer products businesses, took over immediately. Iger will stay to direct the company's creative endeavours as executive chairman through 2021.

Sri Lanka Notifies UN its Withdrawl from War Crimes Resolution

Sri Lanka notified the UN about its withdrawal from a UNHRC resolution that called for accountability to human rights abuses committed during the nation's civil war with the Tamil separatists and pledged to appoint a new committee to review the reports of the previous probes which investigated alleged war crimes.
Sri Lanka co-sponsored the United Nations Human Rights Council''s 2015 resolution along with 11 other countries, including the US and Britain, calling for an investigation into alleged human rights violations during the island nation's civil war, which ended in 2009 with the killing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran by the Lankan army.
The resolution 30/1 on promotion on reconciliation in Sri Lanka was co-sponsored by the Lankan government headed by then President Maithripala Sirisena.
Dinesh Gunawardena, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, in his address to the 43rd session of the UNHRC in Geneva announced the withdrawal while accusing the previous government in erring with co-sponsoring the resolution.
He declared a commitment to achieve sustainable peace through an inclusive, domestically designed and executed reconciliation and accountability process, including through the appropriate adaptation of existing mechanisms.

Amal Clooney to Fight for Rohingya at UN

The Maldives hired prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent it at the UN's highest court in seeking justice for Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims.
The government said that it will formally join the mainly Muslim African state of the Gambia in challenging Myanmar's 2017 military crackdown that sent around 740,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh.

South Korea's Birth Rate Falls to All-time Low

South Korea's birth rate hit a new low as authorities announced barely 300,000 babies were born in 2019 in the nation of 51 million people. The country has one of the world's longest life expectancies and one of its lowest birthrates. A total of 303,100 babies were born in 2019, down 7.3 per cent from the previous year.

Feb 26, 2020

Malaysia PM Proposes Unity Government

Malaysia's Mahathir Mohammed is trying to form a national unity government under his personal authority, drawing together rival parties, following his shock resignation as Prime Minister. Mahathir stepped down, but Malaysia's king immediately named him interim Prime Minister. Mahathir proposed the idea of a grand coalition at meetings with leaders of parties, including with his protege Anwar Ibrahim and those defeated in polls.

World's Oldest Man Dies Aged 112

The world's oldest man died at the age of 112.
Chitetsu Watanabe, from Japan, died just days after claiming his Guinness World Records certificate.
Mr. Watanabe was born in Niigata, in northern Japan, in 1907.
According to the Guinness World Record, he was born in Niigata and later moved to Taiwan to work on a sugar cane plantation. He returned to Japan and worked as an employee at an agricultural office in Niigata until his retirement.
Watanabe died before he could claim the title of the oldest man ever. He was just four years shy of the record, which is held by Japan's Jiroemon Kimura, who was born on 19 April 1897 and passed away aged 116 years and 54 days on June 2013.

Qatar Postal Blockage Ends

As per the UN postal agency, a postal blockage against Qatar ended with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt restoring services after mail links were severed in 2017 as part of a campaign to isolate Doha.
The restoration of postal services is a small step towards normalisation as talks to resolve the wider rift have stalled, Qatar said earlier this month, after a flurry of diplomacy late last year raised hopes of a breakthrough.
The three nations, along with the United Arab Emirates, severed all diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017. The bloc accused Doha of supporting "terrorism" and seeking closer links with Saudi regional rival Iran - allegations Qatar denies.
Representatives of the four boycott countries met a Qatari delegation at the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) headquarters in the Swiss capital Bern in January 2020 to discuss the re-establishment of postal links.
The UAE had already resumed services to Qatar earlier this month, according to the UPU, the UN agency responsible for coordinating global postal services.

Feb 25, 2020

Malaysian PM Mahathir Submits Resignation

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, at 94 the world's oldest leader, submitted his resignation to the king, after a bid by his political partners to bring down the government.
Malaysian politics was in turmoil after leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim denounced a betrayal by coalition partners he said were trying to bring down the government, two years after it stormed to victory.

Libya's Warring Sides Agree to Ceasefire: UN

The UN mission in Libya said that the country's warring sides agreed to turn a shaky ceasefire into a lasting deal, stirring modest hopes after weeks of sporadic violence that derailed negotiations. As the latest round of UN-mediated talks between rival military leaders wrapped up in Geneva, both sides reached a draft deal "to facilitate the safe return of civilians to their areas.

Saudi Arabia Hosts G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting

The G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors Meeting was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in February 2020 on the theme "Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All". The meet was chaired by the Saudi Arabia's finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan and central bank governor Ahmed al-Kholifey.
The objective of the meet was to enhance economic growth through financial mechanisms and to discuss the risks from the coronavirus epidemic.
It should be noted that Saudi Arabia is the first Arab nation to hold the G20 presidency and will hold the fifteenth meeting of Group of Twenty (G20), i.e. G20 Leaders Summit 2020 from 21-22 November 2020, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the EU.
The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US.

President Faure Gnassingbé Wins Fourth Term

Togo President Faure Gnassingbe won a fourth term in power, the national electoral commission declared, as his main rival accused authorities of fraud.
The incumbent leader took 72 per cent of the vote share in the first round of the presidential election, far ahead of former Prime Minister Agbeyome Kodjo, with 18 per cent.
The widely expected win extends more than a half century of dynastic rule over the former French colony by Gnassingbe's family despite broad disillusionment over its failure to drag many out of poverty.
Gnassingbe has led the country of eight million people since taking over in 2005 following the death of his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled with an iron fist for 38 years.

Feb 24, 2020

Sanders Secures Big Win in Nevada Round

Senator Bernie Sanders secured an emphatic win in Nevada, consolidating his status as the front-runner in the 2020 Democratic nomination race. Former US vice-president Joe Biden finished a distant second.
The win in Nevada was crucial for Sanders as it is racially and ethnically more diverse than predominantly white Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states in the 2020 nomination race that he tied and then narrowly won. It demonstrated his expanding base and appeal, which will be tested in the coming contests.

Largest Public Health Crisis since 1949: Xi

Chinese President Xi Jinping called the novel coronavirus epidemic the largest public health emergency since the founding of the country under Communist rule in 1949.
The outbreak has killed over 2,400 people and slowed down the world's second largest economy in just a few weeks' time.
Millions of people in China are currently facing restrictions on their movement in some way or the other and the epicentre - Hubei province - is under a lockdown.

FAFT Continues Pakistan in Grey List

Global terror financing watchdog FATF decided continuation of Pakistan in the 'Grey List' and warned the country of stern action if it fails to check flow of money to terror groups like the LeT and the JeM.
The decision was taken at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary in Paris.
The FATF decided to continue Pakistan in the 'Grey List' The FATF has also warned Pakistan that if it does not complete a full action plan by June, it could lead to consequences on its businesses.
The plenary noted that Pakistan addressed only a few of the 27 tasks given to it in controlling funding to terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and the Hizbul Mujahideen, which are responsible for a series of attacks in India.
The FATF said Pakistan has to swiftly complete its full action plan by June.
With Pakistan's continuation in the 'Grey List', it will be difficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank, the ADB and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the nation which is in a precarious financial situation.

Feb 23, 2020

India ranks 77th in Terms of Sustainability & 131st in Flourishing Index:UN Report

According to the report, "A future for the world's children? A WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commission" commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal, India ranks 77^th in terms of Sustainability Index and 131^st in the Flourishing Index of Children's Survival, health, education and well-being.
Sustainability index is associated with per capita carbon emissions and ability of children in a nation to live healthy lives.
A commission of more than 40 child and adolescent health experts funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) from around the world has released the report, where the capacity of 180 countries has been assessed whether they are able to ensure that their children grow and prosper.

Sweden Creates USD 1 mn Prizes for Food Solutions

Sweden created two USD 1 million prizes for solutions to feed billions of people, as climate change threatens the world's food supply. "The new Food Planet Prize is designed to contribute to this goal," Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany who will co-chair the prize jury.

S. Sudan President and Rebel Leader Agree to Form Unity Government

South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar agreed to form a unity government, a long-delayed step towards ending six years of war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Kiir said that the new government will be formed on Saturday and he will appoint Machar as his first vice president, or top deputy.
The President also said that security arrangements, one crucial issue, will be resolved after the government's formation. He said the protection of Machar and others with the opposition will be under his responsibility.

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