General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2018

Mar 2018

Feb 26, 2021

Australia Passes Landmark Law Requiring Tech Firms to Pay for News

Australia's parliament passed landmark legislation requiring global digital giants to pay for local news content, in a move closely watched around the world.
The law passed easily after a last-gasp deal that watered-down binding rules Facebook and Google had fiercely opposed in return for the tech giants agreeing to pay local media companies.
The new law paves the way for Google and Facebook to invest tens of millions of dollars in local content deals, and could prove a model for resolving the firms' tussles with regulators worldwide.
Google will now pay for news content that appears on its "Showcase" product and Facebook is expected to pay providers who appear on its "News" product, which is to be rolled out in Australia later this year.

Oli Refuses to Quit as PM, Prachanda Seeks Consensus Candidate

Nepal Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli has signalled that he has no intention of resigning his post, a day after the country's Supreme Court reversed his decision to dissolve Parliament.
Instead, Oli mocked his opponents, Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Madhav Kumar Nepal who jointly head a rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, for distributing sweets after the court verdict.
His rivals have, however, already begun exploring the formation of an alternative government, assuming that Oli's exit is unavoidable.
Prachanda and Madhav Nepal had a meeting with Sher Bahadur Deuba, chairman of the Nepali Congress party and leader of the Opposition, with a proposal to form the government jointly.

Jasmine Harrison from UK Becomes Youngest Woman to Row Atlantic Ocean

A British woman, Jasmine Harrison of England has become the youngest woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The 21-year-old from Thirsk, North Yorkshire in the UK, achieved the feat by finishing top in the 2020 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, organized by Atlantic Campaigns.
Harrison, who is a swim instructor and bartender by profession, travelled 3,000 miles (4,828 km) across the Atlantic Ocean in 70 days, 3 hours and 48 minutes. Harrison began her journey in Spain's Canary Islands in December 2020, and arrived in Antigua in February 2021.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Appeals for Rejection of UN Rights Body Resolution

A top Sri Lankan minister has made a fervent appeal to the member states of the UNHRC to reject the impending resolution on the island nation's human rights accountability and reconciliation, terming it a "pure political move" against the country.
Addressing a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session virtually, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena urged that the resolution be rejected by the council and brought to a closure.
The minister described the impending resolution as unsubstantiated and a pure political move against Sri Lanka.
Gunawardena's remarks followed the country's rejection of the UN rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet's report which had called for drastic measures such as targeted sanctions and international criminal court procedure against those allegedly responsible for rights violations during the last phase of the armed conflict with the LTTE in 2009.

Feb 25, 2021

Iran Stops Sharing Nuclear Site Footage

Iran said that it would stop handing over footage of nuclear sites to the UN's nuclear watchdog in response to a US refusal so far to lift sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump.
Iran's move underlines the task facing US President Joe Biden as he tries to reverse Trump's decision to withdraw from a historic 2015 deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran would stop the daily and weekly handover of recordings.
Tehran's civilian nuclear agency the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has promised to preserve the tapes for three months.
The AEOI said that it would then hand the recordings over to the AEOI – but only if Iran is granted sanctions relief. Otherwise, the recordings will be deleted – narrowing the possibility of any diplomatic breakthrough.

FATF Commends Mauritius for Progress on Action Plan

Mauritius has provided clarifications to the queries posed by the assessors of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body which sets anti-money laundering standards.
The assessors commended the island nation for the sustained progress made in implementing the FATF action plan despite the pandemic. This has raised hopes that the country will be able to come out of the grey list sometime this year.
The observations were made during a virtual meeting held last month between Mauritius and the FATF African Middle East Joint Group.
The next FATF plenary session will be held this month during which the second progress report will be considered along with the report of the assessors.

Feb 24, 2021

Japan Appoints Minister of Loneliness

Japan has appointed a Minister of Loneliness to take try and reduce loneliness and social isolation among its residents.
The decision has been taken by the government as the country is now dealing with rising suicide rates.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, earlier this month, appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto as the Minister of Loneliness to tackle the rising suicide rates for the first time in 11 years.
Sakamoto is already a minister in charge of dealing with Japan's declining birthrate and promoting regional revitalisation, and will now also oversee government policies to deal with loneliness and isolation.

Nepal's Supreme Court Reinstates Dissolved House of Representatives

Nepal's Supreme Court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to embattled Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli who was preparing for snap polls.
A five-member Constitution bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR annulled the government's decision to dissolve the 275-member lower house of parliament and ordered the government to summon the House session within the next 13 days.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 after President Bidya Dev Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling party.
As many as 13 writ petitions, including the one by the ruling Nepal Communist Party's Chief Whip Dev Prasad Gurung were filed at the apex court seeking the restoration of the lower house parliament.

Philippines Offers Nurses in Exchange for Vaccines from Britain and Germany

The Philippines will let thousands of its health-care workers, mostly nurses, take up jobs in Britain and Germany if the two countries agree to donate much-needed coronavirus vaccines.
The Philippines, which has among Asia's highest number of coronavirus cases, has relaxed a ban on deploying its health-care workers overseas but still limits the number of medical professionals leaving the country to 5,000 a year.
Alice Visperas, director of the labour ministry's international affairs bureau, said the Philippines was open to lifting the cap in exchange for vaccines from Britain and Germany, which it would use to inoculate outbound workers and hundreds of thousands of Filipino repatriates.

Feb 23, 2021

Russia Welcomes Iran-IAEA Deal

The Russian Foreign Ministry welcomed the agreement reached by Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to continue "essential verification" for up to three months.
"We hope that this step will help improve the general political situation regarding Iran and its nuclear program," the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
The IAEA and Iran have made a "tangible" contribution to the formation of conditions for the start of "a substantive conversation" between the current participants in the Iran nuclear deal and the US.

Justin Trudeau and his Cabinet Abstain from China Genocide Vote

Canada's House of Commons has voted to declare that China is committing genocide against more than 1 million Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet abstained from the vote.
The non-binding motion passed 266-0 as virtually all but Trudeau and his cabinet voted for the measure that also called on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing.
As per reports, Canada's foreign minister will make the government's position clear but said declaring something in Parliament is not going to adequately get results in China and that work with international allies and partners is needed.

Sri Lanka Seeks India's Support Ahead of UNHRC Session

Sri Lanka has sought India's support ahead of the March session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva during which Colombo's record in human rights and related accountability will be probed.
As per reports, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking support during the upcoming session of the UNHRC.
Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage said that it was part of the President's efforts to secure the support of the member states.
The core group of countries that work on Sri Lanka's issue at the UNHRC has indicated that it will move a resolution this time, but the Sri Lankan side is yet to see the draft of it.
The core group includes five countries—the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Macedonia and Montenegro.

Italian Ambassador to DR Congo Dies

The Italian ambassador to Congo, an Italian carabineri police officer and their Congolese driver were killed in an attack on a U.N. convoy in an area that is home to Myriad rebel groups.
The ambush occurred as the convoy was travelling from Goma, Congo's eastern regional capital, to visit a World Food Program school feeding project in Rutshuru.
Ambassador Luca Attanasio, Italy's ambassador to the country since 2017, carabinieri officer Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver were killed.

Panel to Vet Chinese Investment

The government has set up a coordination committee comprising officials from the Ministries of Home, External Affairs and Commerce, besides the Niti Aayog, for case-by-case vetting of Chinese foreign investment proposals stuck for nearly a year.
The plan is to divide the proposal into sensitive and non-sensitive categories. There could be faster clearances for proposals from automobiles, electronics, chemicals and textile sectors while the ones in sensitive categories, such as data generation and finance, may see slower clearances.
Among the proposals is a car plant to be set up by US giant General Motors in collaboration with Chinese firm Great Wall ($1 billion investment). SAIC, owner of UK brand MG Motor, plans to invest $250 million.
In April last year, the government had amended the FDI policy to keep out China. The approach was in line with Germany, Italy and Australia to safeguard Covid-hit industries that could be soft takeover targets.

Feb 22, 2021

US Won't Bow to Pressure from Iran

The United States plans to take no additional actions in response to pressure from Iran before talks with Tehran and major powers about returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Tehran and Washington have been at odds over who should make the first step to revive the accord. Iran says the United States must first lift former President Donald Trump's sanctions, while Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the deal.
The United States said that it was ready to talk to Iran about both nations returning to the deal that aimed to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, which Trump, a Republican, abandoned nearly three years ago.

Trump Ally, UAE Firm Violated Libya Sanction, Planned Executing Targets

American security contractor Erik Prince, a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, violated the U.N. arms embargo against Libya along with three United Arab Emirates-based companies and their top managers during an operation to help a rebel military commander take the capital Tripoli.
In a key section of a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained by a panel of experts, the panel of experts outlined a well-funded private military company operation called Project Opus designed to provide military equipment to eastern-based commander Khalifa Hifter.

India and Ethiopia Sign Agreements

India and Ethiopia signed two agreements on visa facilitation and leather technology. Demeke Mekonnen Hassen, Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister is on a four-day visit to India.
The agreements between both the countries were signed in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia, Demeke Mekonnen Hassen, and the External Affairs Minister of India S. Jaishankar.
The two ministers, while signing the agreement, also agreed on expanding the bilateral agenda of India and Ethiopia especially on economic, defence, digital, Science and Technology, and cultural cooperation. The Ethiopian Minister also briefed in detail about the ongoing situation in the region.

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