General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - June 2018

Jun 2018

Jan 29, 2021

Estonia's New Government Sworn in with First-ever Female PM

Estonia's new two-party coalition government was sworn in with the first female Prime Minister in the Baltic country since it regained independence in 1991.
The 15-member Cabinet of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas — a 43-year-old lawyer and a former European Parliament lawmaker — was approved in the 101-seat Riigikogu legislature, after President Kersti Kaljulaid had first appointed it.
The centre-right Reform Party, chaired by Ms. Kallas, and the left-leaning Centre Party, which are Estonia's two biggest political parties, clinched a deal to form a government replacing the previous Cabinet led by Centre leader Juri Ratas that collapsed this month due to a corruption scandal.

World Economic Forum Launches Global Artificial Intelligence Alliance

The World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the Global AI Action Alliance (GAIA), an initiative to accelerate the adoption of inclusive, transparent and trusted artificial intelligence.
The GAIA is a multi-stakeholder collaboration platform designed to accelerate the development and adoption of such tools globally and in industry sectors.
It brings together over 100 leading companies, governments, international organisations, non-profits and academics united in their commitment to maximising AI's societal benefits while minimising its risks.
A Steering Committee consisting of top global leaders from industry, government, academia and civil society will guide the alliance.
The committee is co-chaired by IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, and Patrick J McGovern Foundation's President Vilas Dhar. The foundation is a global AI and data philanthropy.

India Slips Six Places to Rank 86 in Transparency International's Corruption Perception index 2020

India's rank has slipped six places to 86^th among 180 countries in a corruption perception index (CPI) in 2020.
For 2020, Transparency International (TI)'s corruption perception index was released.
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
India's rank is 86 out of 180 nations with a score of 40.
India was ranked at 80th position out of 180 countries in 2019. The CPI score for India is constant this year as well as the previous year's score.
This year, New Zealand and Denmark were ranked at first position with scores of 88. Somalia and South Sudan were ranked lowest at 179th position with scores of 12.

Jan 28, 2021

Russia Okays Extension to Arms Control Pact with US

Russian lawmakers quickly approved the extension of the last remaining nuclear Russia-US arms control treaty, a fast-track action that comes just days before it's due to expire.
Both the Houses voted unanimously to extend the New START treaty for five years, a day after a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin said they agreed to complete the necessary extension procedures in the next few days.
Putin hailed the decision to extend the treaty as "a step in the right direction", but warned of rising global rivalries and threats of new conflicts. The pact's extension doesn't require congressional approval in the United States.

Tunisia's Parliament Approves Cabinet Reshuffle

Tunisia's parliament approved a Cabinet reshuffle that deepened the conflict between the Prime Minister and the President, as hundreds protested outside the heavily barricaded parliament over social inequality and police abuses.
Hundreds of protesters had marched from the Ettadhamen district of the capital, Tunis, where young people have clashed with police several nights this month, and were joined by hundreds more near the parliament.
Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi named 11 new ministers and said he hoped it would inject new blood into his government.
President Kais Saied indicated he would reject the Cabinet reshuffle, condemned the absence of women among the new ministers and said some likely new Cabinet members may have conflicts of interest.

Biden Signs Order to Ensure Racial Equity

US President Joe Biden has signed a series of executive orders to ensure racial equity across the country, acting on one of his core campaign promises to dismantle "systemic racism" that has plagued America far too long.
While announcing the four presidential actions at the White House, Biden cited the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer last May, which touched off demonstrations across the country. "In my campaign for President, I made it very clear that the moment had arrived as a nation where we face deep racial inequities in America and systemic racism that has plagued our nation for far, far too long," Biden said.

Jan 27, 2021

Trump Likely to be Acquitted in Impeachment Trial

Former US President Donald Trump is likely to be acquitted in his impeachment trial as the Democrats failed to garner enough support required from Republican Senators.
The Democrats who have impeached Trump in the House charging him with "incitement of insurrection," needs two-thirds of the vote for the Senate impeachment. Currently, both the Democrats and the Republicans have 50 members each in the 100-seat Senate.
The Democrats need the support of at least 17 Republican Senators to reach the two-thirds majority mark.
Trump is the first US president who facing an impeachment trial after he left the presidency.

Joe Biden Signs Order to Reverse Trump's Transgender Military Ban

President Joe Biden signed an executive order that brought in a policy of including all qualified Americans to serve in the US military, effectively overturning a ban on transgender persons that was introduced by the former Trump administration.
The Defense Department said that it was ready to immediately implement Biden's Executive Order.
Transgender people were officially allowed to serve in the military by the Obama administration in 2016. However, in 2017 former President Donald Trump said transgender individuals would not be allowed to serve in any capacity in the US military. Trump explained he introduced the ban because the military could not be burdened with the tremendous medical costs of transgender persons undergoing sex-change operations.

Pakistan Urges FATF for Grey List Removal

Pakistan has asked the global watchdog on money laundering and terror financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove the country from the grey list, after it claimed to have seen the exposure of Indian propaganda by the European Union (EU) DisinfoLab.
Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior Senator Abdul Rehman Malik wrote a letter to the FATF President Marcs Pleyer, requesting him to remove Pakistan from its grey list, stating that Islamabad's position has been vindicated and the Indian propaganda was exposed by the EU Disinfolab.
Malik pleaded to the FATF President to either remove Pakistan from the grey list permanently or have the grace period extended in order to have all pointers of the 27-point action plan implemented.

K.P. Sharma Oli Expelled from Nepal Communist Party's General Membership

Nepal PM K.P. Sharma Oli has been expelled from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) over his decision to dissolve the Parliament.
Nepal's Caretaker PM K.P. Sharma Oli was removed from ruling Nepal Communist Party by a Central Committee Meeting of the splinter group of the party.
The decision comes amid repeated threats by the rival faction leaders who had said that they would revoke Oli's membership over his decision to dissolve the Nepal Parliament. The rival faction spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha said that the party leaders are planning further action against Oli after his ouster from the party.
The splinter group of the party was led by former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar.
Both the members had earlier asked PM Oli for explanation for his unconstitutional decisions. They sent letter to seek clarification. But the PM Oli failed to do so.

Joe Biden Signs "Buy American" Executive Order

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday that will strengthen the rules surrounding government procurement in a bid to shore up domestic manufacturing and encourage the federal government to buy more products made in the United States.
Biden's "Buy American" plan will make it more difficult for federal agencies to contract with companies overseas to purchase foreign products by reducing loopholes and waivers in existing Buy American rules and changing the definition of an "American-made" good.

Jan 26, 2021

World leaders cheer US return to climate fight under Biden

World leaders breathed an audible sigh of relief that the United States under President Joe Biden is rejoining the global effort to curb climate change, a cause that his predecessor had shunned over the past four years.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron were among those welcoming Biden's decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord, reversing a key Trump policy in the first hours of his presidency.
The Paris accord, forged in the French capital in 2015, commits countries to put forward plans for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is released from burning fossil fuels.

Biden Administration Appoints Indian-Americans to Key Posts in Energy Dept

The Biden Administration has appointed four Indian-Americans to senior positions in the crucial Department of Energy.
The administration appointed Tarak Shah as the Chief of Staff, making him the first Indian-American to serve in that position.
Tanya Das has been named as the Chief of Staff to the Office of Science, Narayan Subramanian will occupy the position of Legal Adviser in the Office of General Counsel, and Shuchi Talati has been appointed as Chief of Staff in the Office of Fossil Energy.

Jan 25, 2021

Biden and Macron to Work Closely

After increasingly strained U.S.-France relations under Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to work closely together to fight the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.
Their first conversation since Biden's inauguration aimed at mending frayed ties between the historic allies. Biden "stressed his commitment to bolstering the transatlantic relationship" via NATO and the EU. Macron pledged his "determination to work at the side of the U.S."
After four years of "America First" under Trump, the new U.S. President and French leader see eye-to-eye on the importance of international cooperation to fight climate change and COVID-19 and in negotiating with Iran.

Prachanda-led Faction Expels Oli from Party

The Nepal Communist Party's splinter faction led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' expelled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party's general membership.
The decision was taken at the Standing Committee meeting of the faction led by former PMs Prachanda and Madhav Kumar Nepal after Oli failed to produce explanation to his recent moves as sought by party leadership, the Himalayan Times reported. Earlier, the splinter group removed Oli as the party chair.

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