General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - December 2017

Dec 2017

Oct 01, 2021

North Korea's Kim Jong-un Offers to Restore Inter-Korean Hotline

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that he is willing to restore a vital communication hotline with South Korea, in a possible offer of reconciliation.
He also accused the US of proposing talks without changing its hostile policy towards the North.
Pyongyang severed the hotlines in August this year in protest against South Korea-US military drills.
Mr. Kim's latest comments came during Pyongyang's annual parliament session.

European Union's General Court Annuls EU-Morocco Deals

A European Union court declared that EU-Morocco trade deals covering farm products and fish were invalid because they were agreed without the consent of the people of Western Sahara.
The ruling could damage the EU's relationship with Morocco, although the court said the effects of the 2019 agreements would be maintained over a certain period to preserve the European Union's external action and legal certainty over its international commitments. The EU is Morocco's leading trade partner and the biggest foreign investor in the North African kingdom, according to the 27-nation bloc.
The case was brought to the court by the Polisario Front, the movement seeking Western Sahara's independence from Morocco.

Sep 30, 2021

Tunisia's First Woman Prime Minister

Tunisia's President named Raoudha Boudent Ramadhane as nation's first woman Prime Minister, appointing her to lead a transitional government after her predecessor was sacked.
President Kais Saied named Ramadhane, a professor at a prestigious engineering school, to the PM's post in a surprise decision.

Fumio Kishida to Become Japan's Next PM

Fumio Kishida won a race to lead Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), putting him on course to become the next Prime Minister of Japan.
Mr. Kishida will succeed Yoshihide Suga, who decided to step down after just one year in office.
His first mission as Prime Minister will be to lead the LDP to victory in an upcoming general election.
The party's popularity fell after it pushed to host the Tokyo Olympics despite public opposition.
Mr. Kishida, a former Foreign Minister, beat out Taro Kono, who was widely regarded as the most popular candidate.
Given the LDP's majority in parliament, Mr. Kishida's position as Prime Minister has been all but cemented.

Sep 29, 2021

Singapore's Population Sees Biggest Fall in 70 Years

As per official data, the total population in Singapore has shrunk by 4.1% to 5.45 million in June 2021, indicating the sharpest fall since the government began collecting such data in 1950.
For the second consecutive year the city-state saw its population shrink and the third time it witnessed negative growth since 1950, according to an official annual population report.

Iceland Misses Out on Europe's First Female-majority Parliament

Iceland's claim of electing Europe's first female-majority legislature was retracted due to a miscalculation after the centrist ruling coalition added to its majority.
While initial data showed that some 33 of 63 seats in Iceland's parliament, the Althingi, were won by women in the ballot, it later emerged that a handful of votes had been miscounted, affecting the distribution of so-called "compensatory" seats. This means there will be 33 men and 30 women in parliament.
The change doesn't affect the overall distribution of seats showing Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir's bloc, which unites three parties from left to right, boosted its representation by two to a combined 37.

Three Polish Regions Scrap Anti-LGBT Resolutions

Three Polish regions voted to scrap resolutions that declared them free of "LGBT ideology".
It comes after the European Commission threatened to pull funding.
The resolutions were first passed in 2019, with local authorities viewing campaigns for gay rights as an attack on traditional, Catholic values.
Almost 100 other regions passed similar anti-LGBT resolutions that year, drawing ire from the EU, which said that it violated discrimination laws.
The European Commission later urged five large regions to scrap them. If they were kept in place, the commission threatened to block up to €126m ($147m) in funding for their local governments.
In response, Podkarpackie, Lubelskie and Malopolskie cancelled their declarations, following the lead of another region, Swietokrzyskie, which did so last week.

Sep 28, 2021

UAE Picks New Finance Environment Ministers

United Arab Emirates Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced ministerial changes.
Sheikh Mohammed's son and the current deputy ruler of Dubai, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. Mohammed bin Hadi Al Husseini replaced long-serving Obaid Humaid Al Tayer as the Emirates' minister of state for finance, while Maryam Al Muhairi became the minister of climate change and environment.

Afghanistan, Myanmar Will Not Address UN General Assembly

Afghanistan and Myanmar did not address the UN General Assembly's high-level General Debate.
According to the latest list of speakers for the last day of the high-level General Debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Afghanistan and Myanmar were not listed as speakers to address the session.
Afghanistan representative inscribed on the list for the debate was H E Mr Ghulam M. Isaczai.

Sep 27, 2021

Centre-left Wins against Merkel's Party

According to preliminary results, Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have narrowly won the country's federal elections, beating the party of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The SPD secured 25.7% of the vote, while the ruling conservative bloc gained 24.1%.
The Greens achieved the best result in their party's history, coming in third with 14.8% of the ballot.
SDP leader Olaf Scholz earlier said his party had a clear mandate to rule, as his party started to edge into the lead.
Exit polls predicted a dead heat, but this election has been unpredictable from the start, and the result was never going to be the end of the story. For one thing, the outgoing chancellor is going nowhere until the coalition is formed - and that may have to wait until Christmas.
The successor's task is to lead Europe's foremost economy over the next four years, with climate change at the top of voters' agenda.

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