General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2018

Mar 2018

Jul 15, 2020

Merkel Declines to Endorse Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder as Successor

Angela Merkel, asked if she thought Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder was a strong candidate to succeed her as German chancellor, declined to comment directly, saying only that Bavaria is a good leader.
Soeder and Markus Laschet, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, are seen as leading candidates for the conservative chancellor ticket.
Merkel's visit was widely presented as a symbolic coronation of Soeder, but Merkel said she would accept invitations from other state premiers.

US Carries out First Federal Execution in Nearly 2 Decades

The US government carried out the first federal execution in almost two decades, putting to death a man who killed an Arkansas family in a 1990s in a plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.
The execution came over the objection of the victims' family.
Daniel Lewis Lee died by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The decision to move forward with the execution—the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 -- drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lee's victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision to move forward with the execution—and two others scheduled later in the week—during a global health pandemic that has killed more than 135,000 people in the United States and is ravaging prisons nationwide, drew scrutiny from civil rights groups as well as family of Lee's victims.

Trump Signs into Law Hong Kong Autonomy Act

US President Donald Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and also signed an executive order ending US preferential treatment for Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Autonomy Act was passed unanimously by the Congress. The law gives his administration powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals in the entities involved in extinguishing Hong Kong's freedom.
Now, Hong Kong will now be treated the same as in mainland China. No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies. In addition to that, as you know, we are placing massive tariffs and have placed very large tariffs on China. The first time this has ever happened to China, billions of dollars have been paid to the US, of which I have given quite a bit to the farmers and ranchers of our country because they were targeted, and that has been going on for three years.

Jul 14, 2020

Malaysian PM Unseats House Speaker

Malaysia`s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin cleared a major hurdle in parliament, as lawmakers narrowly approved a motion to remove the Lower House Speaker, in a vote seen as an important barometer of his support.
While not officially a confidence vote, the outcome was the first real measure of how much legislative backing Muhyiddin could muster to push through policies and government business.
A total of 111 lawmakers supported Muhyiddin`s bid to remove Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who was appointed by the previous administration led by Mahathir Mohamad, while 109 voted against the move.

China's Laser Weapon Capable of Destroying Indian and US Satellites

The Indian and US satellites are vulnerable to China's ground-based lasers as according to some analysts China has acquired the full capability to destroy the enemy's satellite sensors through its lasers. China can cause great damage to Indian and US satellites during wartime. In January 2019, the Pentagon's Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), in a report on space threats, had disclosed and warned that China's military is expected to deploy a laser weapon capable of destroying or damaging US military satellites in low earth orbit next year (2020).
Experts have identified one such laser station is Xinxiang, which has four buildings. While one of these buildings has satellite tracking systems and the other three could have been used to damage satellite sensors. China has also established five fixed ranging stations which are Shanghai, Changchun, Beijing, Wuhan and Kuming and the other two are mobile raising stations which can be transported from one place to another, as per their operational requirements. The ranging stations are mainly used for tracking satellites and space debris but it can also be used for damaging enemy satellites.

Poland's Duda Beats Trzaskowski in Presidential Vote

Poland's incumbent President Andrzej Duda narrowly beat challenger Rafal Trzaskowski in the presidential vote.
According to the National Electoral Commission, Mr. Duda had won 51.2% of the votes.
It is Poland's slimmest presidential election victory since the end of communism in 1989.
One of the major issues of the election was the future of the country's strained relations with the European Union.
Mr. Duda is a social conservative allied with the government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, while Mr. Trzaskowski is the socially liberal mayor of Warsaw.

Iran Drops India from Chabahar Rail Project

Four years after India and Iran signed an agreement to construct a rail line from Chabahar Port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, the Iranian government has decided to proceed with the construction on its own, citing delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project.
Last week, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami inaugurated the track-laying process for the 628 km Chabahar-Zahedan line, which will be extended to Zaranj across the border in Afghanistan. As per reports, the entire project would be completed by March 2022, and that Iranian Railways will proceed without India's assistance, using approximately $400 million from the Iranian National Development Fund.
The development comes as China finalised a massive 25-year, $400 billion strategic partnership deal with Iran, which could cloud India's plans.

Nepal Urges India to Take Steps against Broadcast of Anti-Nepal Materials

Nepal sent a 'diplomatic note' to India, urging New Delhi to take steps against the broadcast of materials what it called "fake, baseless and insensitive as well as abusive" to the country and its leadership by a section of the Indian media.
The move came days after Nepal stopped the transmission of all Indian private news channels except Doordarshan, accusing them of airing reports hurting the country's national sentiment.
There was no immediate reaction from India on the issue.
According to an aide of the Nepal Prime Minister, in the diplomatic note to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) via the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the materials disseminated by a section of the Indian media are fake, baseless and insensitive as well as abusive to Nepal and Nepali leadership.

Jul 13, 2020

Commercial Farming of Endangered Species in Myanmar may Boost Demand for Rare Animals

Wildlife and environmental conservation group WWF and Fauna & Flora International (FFI) have warned that the change in the Myanmar law allowing for commercial farming of endangered species may boost the demand for rare animals in the world.
The organisations in a joint statement cautioned that commercial trade has been shown to increase trade in wildlife by creating a parallel market for these products, according to sources.
The government of Myanmar in June passed a law allowing private zoos to breed 90 wildlife species out of which more than 20 are endangered. The list of wildlife animals allowed for commercial farming include Tiger, Pangolin, Siamese crocodile and Ayeyarwady Dolphin which are among endangered species in the world.
Myanmar is considered to be a major hub of illegal trade in wildlife driven by demand from neighbouring China.
Experts also fear that it may lead to the spillover of diseases from animals to humans as Myanmar lacks the capacity to regulate the trade.
However, the Forest Department of Myanmar maintains that the list of wild animals allowed for commercial farming was drawn after consultation with conservation groups, academics, and experts in the field.

Jul 12, 2020

Mali's President Keita Dissolves Constitutional Court

Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the dissolution of the constitutional court in an attempt to calm unrest that saw four people killed in street protests.
The President said that he would not tolerate such violence.
The court has been at the centre of controversy after it overturned provisional results for parliamentary elections in March.
There are growing calls for President Keita to resign.
Opponents are unhappy with his handling of Mali's long-running jihadist conflict, an economic crisis and the disputed elections.

Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong Returns to Power

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong secured a clear mandate with his ruling People's Action Party (PAP) winning 83 of the 93 contested parliamentary seats in the general election held amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, with the opposition gaining ground by winning a record 10 seats.
The ruling party, in power since independence in 1965, secured 61.24 per cent of the total votes cast in the election, down from 69.9 per cent in 2015. About 2.6 million Singaporeans voted in this election.
The opposition Workers' Party secured 10 seats and defeated a team in the Group Representation Constituency of Sengkang led by former Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Ng Chee Meng who is also the Secretary-General of the power National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

Hagia Sophia: Turkey Turns Iconic Istanbul Museum into Mosque

The world-famous Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul - originally founded as a cathedral - has been turned back into a mosque.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the decision after a court annulled the site's museum status.
Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.
In 1934 it became a museum and is now a Unesco World Heritage site.
Islamists in Turkey long called for it to be converted to a mosque but secular opposition members opposed the move. The proposal prompted criticism from religious and political leaders worldwide.
Defending the decision, President Erdogan stressed that the country had exercised its sovereign right in converting it back to a mosque.
He told a press conference the first Muslim prayers would be held inside the building on 24 July.
The doors of Hagia Sophia will be wide open to locals and foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims.

Bosnia Marks 25 Years since Massacre

Nine recently-identified victims of the massacre at Srebrenica have been buried during a ceremony in Bosnia marking 25 years since it took place.
Burials were held at a nearby village as part of the event commemorating the mass killing - Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two.
Bosnian Serb forces killed a total of 8,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica in 1995.
The massacre took place during the Bosnian War (1992-1995). Thousands of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) had sought safety in the town, which the UN was protecting with Dutch forces, but the area fell during a Serb offensive in July.

Jul 11, 2020

France Asks Israel to Drop West Bank Annexation Plans

Emmanuel Macron asked Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from annexing Palestinian territory in the West Bank and elsewhere during a telephone call between the two leaders.
Macron emphasised that such a move would contravene international law and jeopardise the possibility of a two-state solution as the basis of a fair and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
It was the latest move by European leaders pressing Netanyahu to drop plans to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley.
The controversial move was endorsed in a Middle East plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump in January.
Israel's government had set July 1 as the date when it could begin taking over the Palestinian areas, where the population of Israeli settlers has grown since the 1967 Six-Day War.
The foreign ministries of France and Germany, along with those of Egypt and Jordan -- the only Arab states to have peace deals with Israel -- warned this week that any annexation could have consequences for relations.

France's Notre Dame Cathedral to be Rebuilt the Same as Before

As per reports, Paris' centuries-old Notre-Dame Cathedral will be rebuilt as it was before being engulfed in a fire last year.
On April 15, 2019 a blaze destroyed the Gothic landmark and major tourist attraction, destroying the spire and roof in a disaster that stunned the nation.
A national heritage and architectural commission approved plans to restore the cathedral to its last "complete, coherent and known" state, including the spire.
President Emmanuel Macron promised after the fire to rebuild Notre-Dame within five years, and later suggested that a contemporary design could be used for the spire.
Church officials hope Notre-Dame will be open for mass by 2024, when Paris is due to host the Olympic Games.

China Rejects New US Invite to Join Nuclear Talks Along With Russia

China rejected a new US invitation to join arms control talks with Russia, complaining that Washington had continued to pester Beijing over the issue.
President Donald Trump's administration has demanded that China take part in talks on a successor to the New START treaty, which caps the nuclear warheads of the US and Russia. Beijing said it would only join the talks if the US reduced its arsenal to match China's much smaller nuclear deterrent, prompting Washington to again issue a fresh invitation to the talks.

US Envoy, after Seoul Visit, Reassures Japan of Alliance

A U.S. envoy reassured top Japanese officials of the importance of their alliance in dealing with regional security threats, just as the North Korean leader's sister expressed low expectations of a summit between her brother and President Donald Trump this year.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun was in Tokyo after his visit to Seoul where he discussed nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, which refused to resume talks due to what it calls hostile American policies.
Kim Yo Jong said that her brother will not be meeting Trump because there is no need for the North to gift Trump meetings when it's not getting any reward in return. In her statement she called for major concessions from Washington to keep alive the nuclear diplomacy.
Kim Yo Jong is seen as her brother's closest confidant and was recently confirmed as his top official for inter-Korean affairs.
South Korea asked Biegun to try to revive the talks with the North. He stressed during his meetings in Seoul that resuming the diplomacy with the North was important.

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