General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2017

Dec 2017

Oct 19, 2021

Russia to Shut NATO Mission in Response to Expulsion of 8 Staff Members

Russia will suspend the activities of its mission to NATO starting next month in response to the alliance's expulsion of eight Russians, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Lavrov said staff at NATO's military mission in Moscow would be stripped of their accreditation from Nov. 1, and that NATO could interact with Russia via its embassy in Brussels if needed.
NATO this month expelled eight members of Russia's mission to the alliance who it said were "undeclared Russian intelligence officers".

French Ambassador Leaves Minsk

France's ambassador to Belarus has left the country after the Belarus government ordered him out.
An embassy spokesperson confirmed that ambassador Nicolas de Lacoste left the country.
France, like other EU countries, has not recognised Mr Lukashenko's claim to a sixth presidential term after last August's elections amid widespread claims of voting fraud.

Jaishankar Unveils Plaque at 'Bhoodan Grove' in Israel

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar unveiled the "Bhoodan Grove" plaque at the Jerusalem Forest, bringing out lesser-known aspects of Indo-Israel relations before the establishment of full-fledged diplomatic ties between the two countries.
With an objective of keeping Mahatma Gandhi's concept of the village as the basic unit of development, Indian leaders who were exploring ways to implement the socialist ideals of the Sarvodaya movement namely, 'Bhoodan and Gramdan', made several visits to Israel to study the social structure of different forms of Israel's communal and cooperative institutions -- 'Kibbutzim and Moshavim'.
Jayaprakash Narayan, the leader of the Sarvodaya movement, visited Israel in September 1958 on a nine-day visit as the guest of Histadrut, the Israel Federation of Labour.
Mr. Jaishankar also called the unveiling of the plaque very "timely" as last year was the 125th birth anniversary of Acharya Vinoba Bhave.

Oct 18, 2021

Germany Remains EU's Main Migrant Destination with 100,000 Annual Requests

Germany remained the most popular European destination for migrants, with more than 100,000 asylum bids recorded for nine years in a row.
The federal migration office received 100,278 requests from first-time seekers as of late September 2021, which saw the second-highest monthly tally since 2017.
France came far behind with 54,105 asylum applications fielded between January and September 2021, followed by Spain with 41,799 requests, Italy with 37,492 requests and Austria with 22,928 requests.

Hungary: Mayor Marki-Zay Wins Run-off to Challenge Orban

A conservative provincial mayor has been chosen to face off against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in next year's election.
Peter Marki-Zay, a political outsider with no party affiliation, won an opposition run-off primary.
He will now lead a united opposition into the parliamentary elections.
Opinion polls suggest he has the best chance of ousting the right-wing Prime Minister, whose Fidesz party took office in 2010.
For years Fidesz has benefited from the fragmentation of opposition parties.
But for the first time since he came to power, Mr. Orban will now face a united front of opposition parties that also includes the socialists, liberals and the formerly far-right, now centre-right, Jobbik.

Oct 16, 2021

U.S. Allies Step up Pressure on Iran to Return to Nuclear Negotiations

The United States and its closest partners are stepping up pressure on Iran to return to stalled nuclear negotiations, warning that it will face greater international isolation, new economic penalties and possibly military action if it forges ahead with its atomic programme.
In a series of high-level diplomatic meetings in Washington, U.S., European, Israeli and Arab officials agreed on the need to make clear to Iran that its continued resistance to rejoining the talks in Vienna will not be ignored or left unpunished.

Oct 15, 2021

Japan Dissolves Parliament, Paves Way for Election

Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved the Lower House of parliament, setting the stage for national elections later this month.
Kishida, who formally took over the reins from Yoshihide Suga, will be seeking to maintain a Lower House majority for his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
The Prime Minister also enjoys reasonable public support, according to opinion polls.
Voters in Japan will head to the polls on October 31 to choose a new parliament, and indirectly elect the country's next government.
The last Lower House election was held in 2017 under Shinzo Abe, who pulled the long-ruling LDP further to the right while serving as Japan's longest-serving Prime Minister.

Global Hunger Index Ranks India at 101 Out of 116 Countries

India slipped to 101st position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries, from its 2020 position of 94th and is behind its neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Eighteen countries, including China, Brazil and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI score of less than five.
The report, prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe, termed the level of hunger in India alarming.

Oct 14, 2021

Chile's President Sebastián Piñera Faces Impeachment Bid

Chile's opposition has launched a bid to impeach President Sebastián Piñera over possible irregularities in the sale of a mining company, after details emerged in the Pandora Papers leak.
Mr. Piñera used "his office for personal business", congressman Tomas Hirsch said as he presented the accusation in the Lower House of Congress.
The President is accused of selling the firm to a friend in a deal contingent on a favourable regulatory decision.
The revelations come from the Pandora Papers, a leak of 11.9 million documents. The files say President Piñera sold the Dominga mine, a copper and iron project in an environmentally sensitive area, to a childhood friend in 2010, nine months after he had taken office.
The leaks suggest the last payment in the deal was conditional on not establishing an area of environmental protection where the mining company operated, a demand of environmental groups.

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