General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - June 2018

Jun 2018

Nov 01, 2020

Merkel's Party to Decide on Her Successor in January

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) will choose a new leader in mid-January, the party's general secretary said after a December 4 party congress was postponed due to the resurgent coronavirus pandemic.
The decision to postpone the choice of a new leader had stoked internal divisions in the party, with one candidate - Friedrich Merz - accusing some in the CDU establishment of opposing him for the job.
The party's three leadership candidates - Merz, Armin Laschet and Norbert Roettgen - have agreed to hold the congress in mid-January.

Migration and Development Brief Report of World Bank

The World Bank released the migration and development brief report. According to the report, the remittances of India will fall by 9% by the end of 2020. India's remittances will drop down to 76 billion USD due to covid-19 crisis and the Global economic recession.
As per the report, the top five countries that will receive lowest foreign remittances will be India, China, Mexico, Philippines and Egypt. The amount of money the migrant workers sending home is expected to reduce by 14% in 2021 as compared to that of 2019.
Remittance flows to the low income and middle income countries are predicted to fall by 7% in 2020. This will be around 508 billion USD. Further remittance is to decline by 7.5% in in 2021. This has been predicted as 470 billion USD.

Singapore Can be Centre for Research in Ayurvedic Medicines

According to health experts, Singapore with growing number of pharmaceutical multinationals, has the potential of becoming a centre for further research in Ayurvedic medicines for the benefits of diabetic patients globally including more than 100 million in India.
More Ayurveda medicine research can be done in Singapore to establish the phytochemical components of such herbs to enhance the efficacy in herbal production and storage.
Export-oriented Ayurvedic pharmaceutical companies from India can be a good source of higher-grade herbs for use in research work.
Treatment processes can be administered by prescribed ayurvedic practitioners approved by the health authorities in Singapore.

Oct 31, 2020

President Magufuli in Landslide Win Amid Fraud Claims

Tanzania's President John Magufuli has won re-election with a landslide victory in a poll that the opposition has described as fraudulent.
Mr. Magufuli's main rival, Tundu Lissu, said that his party's agents were prevented from entering polling stations during the election.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has dismissed the claims of fraud.
In its final results, the NEC said that the President took 84% of the vote, while Mr. Lissu received 13%.

Trump and Biden in Final Quest for Votes

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will barnstorm across battleground states in the American Midwest where the coronavirus pandemic has exploded again, as they head into the final weekend before Election Day.
Trump will hold rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while Biden planned stops in Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as Iowa on his busiest day of campaigning yet.
Michigan and Wisconsin were two of the three historically Democratic industrial states, along with Pennsylvania, that narrowly voted for the Republican Trump in 2016, delivering him an upset victory.
Minnesota, which has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, is one of the few Democratic states that Trump is trying to flip this year. Biden has held a steady lead in opinion polls in Minnesota.

India Bid to Prevent Pakistan from Taking IPU Post

India will be manoeuvring to ensure that Pakistan does not win the elections to the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) that will take place in a virtual session during the meeting of its Governing Council from November 1 to 4.
The candidates for the election of the new IPU president, through remote electronic secret ballot, include Muhammad Sanjrani (Pakistan), Akmal Saidov (Uzbekistan), Salma Ataullahjan (Canada) and Duarte Pacheco (Portugal).
But for the Uzbek nominee, the others are formidable public figures in their own right.
Sanjrani is the Chairman of the Pakistan Senate and has headed the international affairs committee.
Ataullahjan is a candidate reluctantly put up by the liberal Ottawa government as she belongs to the Conservative camp but has had long innings in public life.
Pacheo is well versed with the politics in the IPU, Geneva, and has in the past headed the "12 plus geopolitical group" of the IPU.
The term of the new President of IPU will be from 2020-23.

Oct 30, 2020

UK's Labour Party Suspends Former leader Jeremy Corbyn

The UK's Opposition Labour Party suspended former leader Jeremy Corbyn from its ranks after a report by the country's human rights watchdog held the party responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination during his time in charge.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which had launched an investigation into antisemitism within the party following a string of complaints, found that Labour had broken the law in its failure to handle antisemitism, or anti-Jewish, complaints and there were serious failings by its leadership at the time.

India and US Agree to Work Closely at UN Security Council

India and the US held consultations on issues related to the UN Security Council and agreed to work closely during India's upcoming term as a non-permanent member of UNSC during 2021-22.
Both sides held a wide-ranging discussion on issues on UN Security Council agenda and recent developments. They agreed to work closely together during India's upcoming term as a non-permanent member of UNSC during 2021-22.
The two countries also agreed to work closely together given their shared values of democracy, pluralism and rule-based international order.

US and China Launch First Crisis Communications Working Group

Amid the growing tensions, US and China completed two-day virtual conference to inaugurate the first Crisis Communications Working Group between the two nations.
US and Chinese defense officials convened the first Crisis Communications Working Group by video teleconference to discuss concepts of crisis communications, crisis prevention, and crisis management.
The meeting provided an opportunity to build mutual understanding between the US military and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on principles to prevent and manage crisis and reduce risk to forces.
The two sides agreed on the importance of establishing mechanisms for timely communication during a crisis, as well as the need to maintain regular communication channels to prevent crisis and conduct post-crisis assessment.

Two Prominent Indian-Americans among Joe Biden's Core Advisers

Two prominent Indian-Americans are among Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden's core advisers who have been guiding him on issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic, economic recovery to foreign policy and climate change.
Among those advising him on the pandemic are Dr. Vivek Murthy, former US Surgeon General who was appointed by President Barack Obama and Harvard economist Raj Chetty is among those who have briefed Biden on economic issues.

Oct 29, 2020

Senegal's President Dissolves Government

Senegalese President Macky Sall dissolved his government. President Sall has signed four decrees to that effect.
No reason was given for the move or when the new cabinet is likely to be formed. The dissolved government had 32 ministers and three state secretaries.
While awaiting the putting in place of a new government, outgoing ministers and secretaries of state are charged with carrying out their ongoing affairs.
President Sall won a second term of five years in March 2019.

India Deplores Personal Attack on French President

India displayed solidarity with France and deplored personal attacks on President Emmanuel Macron by terming it as violation of the most basic standards of international discourse.
France is one of closest strategic partners of India and is expanding strategic partnership across Indo-Pacific region.
His criticism of Macron follows days after the French President dedicated a high-level ceremony to Samuel Paty, a teacher who was beheaded for showing students caricatures of the Prophet.
Earlier Erdogan slammed France and Europe over what he saw as rising Islamophobia.

US Tries to Block Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The appointment of Nigeria's Ex-Finance Minister to lead the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been thrown into doubt after the US opposed the move.
A WTO nominations committee recommended the group's 164 members appoint Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
She would be the first woman and first African to lead the WTO.
But the US, critical of the WTO's handling of global trade, wants another woman, South Korea's Yoo Myung-hee, saying she could reform the body.
The four-month selection process to find the next WTO director-general hit a road block when Washington said that it would continue to back South Korea's Trade Minister.

Indian Expats Can Give UAE Address in Passport

According to an official at the Indian Consulate in Dubai, Indian expats in the UAE and elsewhere can now provide their local address abroad in their passports.
The Indian Government has decided to allow its overseas citizens to add their local address mainly to aid those who do not have permanent or valid addresses in India.
Many people who have been staying for a long time in the UAE do not have a valid address in India. They may add their local UAE address in their passports.

Oct 28, 2020

Mateusz Morawiecki Defends Abortion Ruling

Poland's Prime Minister defended the tightening of the country's abortion law and condemned massive nationwide protests led by women's rights activists, and said that they should not be happening amid heightened coronavirus restrictions and decrying acts of aggression.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki reacted to five days of massive protests across Poland against a ruling by the country's top court that declared abortions due to fetal congenital defects unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Tribunal's ruling tightened what was already one of Europe's most restrictive abortion laws. When it takes effect, abortion will be permitted only when a pregnancy threatens the woman's health or is the result of crime like rape or incest.

US Urges Diplomacy as Nagorno-Karabakh Fighting Rages

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to pursue a diplomatic solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as fighting in and around the mountain enclave entered a second month, defying a ceasefire brokered in Washington.
Armenia acknowledged overnight that Nagorno-Karabakh forces had withdrawn from a strategic town between the enclave and the Iranian border, an apparent military gain for Azerbaijan.
World powers want to prevent a wider war that might suck in Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has a defence pact with Armenia. The conflict is also close to pipelines that carry oil and gas from Azerbaijan to international markets.
Azerbaijan's military gains could make a diplomatic solution more difficult: it rejects any solution that would leave Armenians in control of an enclave that is part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians.

Saudi Arabia to Reform Kafala Worker Sponsorship System in 2021

Saudi Arabia plans to cancel a foreign worker sponsorship system, known as kafala, and replace it with a new form of contract between employers and employees.
Saudi Arabia, which this year is chairing the Group of 20 major economies (G20), seeks to boost the private sector, and make it more attractive to foreign talent - under an ambitious plan to diversify its oil-based economy.
The kafala system, which has been in place for seven decades in Saudi, generally binds a migrant worker to one employer. Rights groups criticised the system and said that it leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation.
The initiative will be implemented in the first half of 2021.
Currently more than 10 million foreign workers live in Saudi Arabia under the kafala system that requires them to be sponsored by a Saudi employer and be issued an exit/re-entry visa whenever they want to leave the country.

Sixth BRICS Parliamentary Forum

Indian Parliamentary delegation under the leadership of Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla attended the sixth BRICS Parliamentary Forum. It was chaired by the Chairman of State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia.
The speakers and members of other BRICS parliaments such as Brazil, China and South Africa participated in the meeting. The forum was held virtually under the theme 'BRICS Partnership in the interest of Global Stability, Innovative Growth and General Safety: Parliamentary dimension'.
The forum discussed improvement in quality of life of people in BRICS countries, social protection of citizens during COVID-19 pandemic, preparation of legislative initiatives in the area of public health care and economic rehabilitation in the post COVID-19 period. This includes support measures to MSMEs and development of future Parliamentary cooperation among BRICS countries.

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