General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2018

Mar 2018

Mar 02, 2020

Slovakia Election: Anti-corruption Party Takes Lead

The opposition Ordinary People party (OLaNO) won a resounding victory in Slovakia's parliamentary election on a wave of anti-corruption sentiment.
With nearly all results counted, the party has secured almost 25% of votes.
The popularity of the Ordinary People party soared in recent weeks, thanks to its anti-corruption agenda.
The election campaign was dominated by public anger over the 2018 murder of an investigative journalist, Jan Kuciak, and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova.
The result has unseated the centre-left Smer-SD party, which dominated Slovak politics for a decade and garnered just over 18%.
Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini has admitted defeat.
Kuciak had been investigating high-level corruption when he was killed.
The shooting shocked the nation and toppled PM Robert Fico, but his Smer-SD party remained in office.

Luis Lacalle Pou Uruguay's New President

Luis Lacalle Pou was sworn in as Uruguay President to herald a new era in the South American country following 15 years of left-wing rule that brought important social reforms but left a stagnated economy and soaring crime. The 46-year-old leader of the center-right Partido Nacional was elected in November after winning a run-off against the incumbent Broad Front's candidate Daniel Martinez by just 37,000 votes in the country of 3.4 million people.

Malaysia Gets New PM

Malaysia's former Interior Minister Muhyiddun Yassin was sworn in as the Prime Minister after being appointed by the Malaysian King. This came after a week of uncertainty, following Mahathir Mohamad's resignation.
Mahathir said that he would call for an urgent parliamentary sitting to determine who had majority support.
Mahathir boycotted the swearing in ceremony, but held a press conference an hour before, flanked by his supporters.
The Malaysian palace announced that King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah believed Muhyiddin had the support of a majority of lawmakers. But Mahathir insisted that he had the support of at least 114 out of the 222 lawmakers.
Muhyiddin started his political career in the 1970s with the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). He served as deputy prime minister under Najib Razak, who was removed from office due to the 1MDB scandal. He then left UNMO and joined forces with Mahathir under the Pakatan Harapan coalition, which rose to power in 2018.

US Urges Ethiopia to Sign Nile Dam Deal

The United States says Ethiopia must, in the shortest possible time, sign a deal with Egypt and Sudan about a giant dam it is building on the River Nile.
Steven Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, said that the final testing and filling of the dam should not take place without an agreement.
Ethiopians have reacted angrily on social media, calling on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to resist US pressure.
Earlier this week Ethiopia failed to attend what was meant to be the final signing of an accord. Egypt and Sudan fear the $4bn (£3bn) dam will deprive their populations of water.
The Grand Renaissance Dam is at the heart of Ethiopia's manufacturing and industrial dreams. When completed it is expected to be able to generate a massive 6,000 megawatts of electricity.

Mar 01, 2020

Pakistan Says US Invited to Invest in China Pakistan-Economic Corridor

In an interesting move, cash-strapped Pakistan has invited the US to join the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an ambitious infrastructure project looked with suspicion by the Trump administration for being non-transparent.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's adviser on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood on Thursday said the government made the offer during a meeting with the US trade delegation led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, The Express Tribune reported.
Interestingly last month, senior US diplomat Alice Wells said that there is no transparency in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the firms blacklisted by the World Bank have got contracts under the project, which will increase Pakistan's debt burden.
Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia made the remarks while speaking at a think tank event during her four-day visit to Pakistan.
Khan's commerce advisor Razak said that the US has shown interest in (Pakistan's) energy, oil and gas, agriculture and food processing.

Feb 29, 2020

USCIRF Condemns Violence in New Delhi, Calls for Swift Action

Expressing concern over the violence in New Delhi, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the Government of India to take swift action for the safety of its citizens.
Expressing "grave concern" over it, the USCIRF said the Indian government should provide protection to people regardless of their faith amid reports of attack on Muslims.
"We urge the Indian government to make serious efforts to protect Muslims and others targeted by mob violence," USCIRF Chair Tony Perkins said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
At least 27 people have been killed and over 200 injured in the violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act in the Indian capital.

Feb 28, 2020

Mahathir: Parliament Will Pick New PM

Malaysian interim leader Mahathir Mohamad said that Parliament will pick a new prime minister next week following the collapse of the ruling alliance, and that snap elections will be called if the vote ends in an impasse. Mahathir, who met the king earlier, said the monarch couldn't find a candidate with a clear majority to lead the nation after consulting all 222 lawmakers.

IAEA: Release Fukushima Water

The world's nuclear watchdog IAEA gave its backing to Japanese plans to release contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean. Japan has around a million tonnes of contaminated water stored in tanks at the site of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, whose reactors went into meltdown after a huge tsunami in 2011. A government panel last month recommended the water be released into the ocean or vaporised, but no final decision has been taken.

Mitholz: Swiss Town Faces 10-year Evacuation

A Swiss village may have to evacuate for over a decade while authorities clear a huge World War Two arms dump.
The Defence Ministry concluded in 2019 that the cache posed an "unacceptable" risk to the nearby people of Mitholz.
Now, authorities say residents may have to leave while they clear the site.
Depending on how the work develops, residents should expect the evacuation to last up to more than 10 years.
Residents would have to approve the plan to leave the area. A public consultation is under way to see how best to proceed.
The depot partially exploded in 1947, killing nine people and destroying the nearby train station.
But more than 70 years later, about 3,500 tonnes of ammunition remain buried under rock at the site.

Putin Dismisses Rumours He Uses Body Double for Security

Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that he was offered the chance to use a body double for security purposes, but rejected the idea.
He said that the plan was tabled in the early 2000s, when Russia was fighting a war against separatists in Chechnya.
A 67-year-old former KGB agent, Mr. Putin made several trips to the region during the conflict.
For years he has been the subject of conspiracy theories online, including that he uses lookalikes for security.
But Mr. Putin, who has been in power since 2000, declined these body double on every occasion he was offered.

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.

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