General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - June 2018

Jun 2018

Feb 06, 2019

BRICS under New Brazilian President

In 2019, Brazil takes the rotating presidency of the BRICS group, the club created in 2006 that also includes Russia, India, China and South Africa. In the new administration, the BRICS have become nearly invisible.
In the last days of his term, in December 2018, then President Michel Temer did convey indirectly a message from Bolsonaro to Brazil's partners of the Brics during a summit in Argentina.
The new president will be "honored" to host the forthcoming Brics summit in the middle of the year, according to Temer.

Trump Praises Legal Immigrants

Making yet another strong pitch for people to come into the US based on merit, US President Donald Trump said that tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate, it is cruel.
Trump, in his annual State of the Union address, said "We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens".
The lawless state of the southern Mexico border is a threat to the safety, security and financial well-being of all Americans.
Trump's administration has sent to Congress a commonsense proposal to end the crisis on the southern border.
It includes humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, drug detection at our ports, closing loopholes that enable child smuggling, and plans for a new physical barrier, or wall, to secure the vast areas between our ports of entry.

Taliban Demands New Afghan Constitution

The Taliban demanded a new Constitution for Afghanistan and promised an inclusive Islamic system to govern the war-torn country at a rare gathering with senior Afghan politicians in Russia that excluded the Kabul government.
The manifesto, outlined in Moscow, comes a week after the Taliban held unprecedented six-day talks with U.S. negotiators in Doha about ending the 17-year war.
The Moscow meeting, the Taliban's most significant with Afghan politicians in recent memory, saw the insurgents praying together with sworn enemies, including former President Hamid Karzai, as they discussed their vision for the future.

Feb 05, 2019

US Troops in South Korea

The US and South Korea have reached a preliminary agreement of keeping nearly 30,000 troops in Seoul, alleviating fears that President Donald Trump could move to withdraw American troops from the country.
Under the revised Special Measures Agreement, South Korea would boost its financial contribution to nearly $1 billion. That`s an increase on the about $800 million South Korea had been paying per year during the previous five-year commitment.
The most recent agreement lapsed at the end of last year. Since then, Trump had been pressuring South Korea to double its financial support to $1.6 billion.
The US appreciates the considerable resources South Korea provides to support the Alliance, including its contribution towards the cost of maintaining the presence of US forces in Korea through the Special Measures Agreement.

EU Nations Back Guaido as President

Eleven European nations joined the U.S. in recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim President, heightening a global showdown over Nicolas Maduro's socialist rule.
The EU members' coordinated move followed the expiry of an ultimatum for Mr. Maduro to call a new election and aligned them with Washington against Russia and China.
The sitting Venezuelan leader has defied European heads of state and called them sycophants for following President Donald Trump.
Mr. Guaido, who leads the National Assembly, declared himself caretaker leader last month in a move that has fed into a global geopolitical divide and brought Venezuelans onto the streets. Mr. Trump quickly recognised him, but Europe had been hesitant.

Taliban Confirms Participation in Intra-Afghan Talks

The Taliban will participate in what they call "intra-Afghan" talks in Moscow, designed to bring together prominent Afghan figures, including former President Hamid Karzai, Opposition figures and tribal elders but no Kabul government officials.
The two-day meeting in the Russian capital is seen as another step in a process aimed at resolving Afghanistan's 17-year war, a process that has accelerated since the appointment in last September of U.S. peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad.
The Afghans attending the Moscow meeting described it as "the first step toward intra-Afghan dialogue."

U.K. Seeks to Reassure Foreign Investors

Britain will seek to reassure foreign investors worried about Britain leaving the EU after Japanese automaker Nissan said that it was scrapping a major planned investment less than two months before Brexit.
Britain is on course to crash out of the bloc on March 29 after MPs last month voted massively against a divorce deal struck between May and EU leaders in December.

Pope Francis Calls for End to Wars

Pope Francis called for an end to wars in West Asia during the first ever visit by the head of the Catholic Church to the birthplace of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula.
The pope held talks in Abu Dhabi with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's prestigious seat of learning, before delivering an address at an interfaith meeting.
In his address, the pontiff pushed the need for justice, equality of citizens' rights and an end to all wars, including in Yemen.
UAE and Saudi Arabia are key allies of the Yemeni government, which is locked in a war against Iran-backed rebels that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

Feb 04, 2019

Egypt unveils ancient burial site, home to 50 mummies

Egyptian archaeologists uncovered a tomb containing 50 mummies dating back to the Ptolemaic era (305-30 BC), at an archaeological site, 260km south of Cairo.
They are more than 2,000 years old but remain in "good condition". The mummies were discovered inside four, nine metre-deep burial chambers at the Tuna El-Gebel site.
Archaeologist Rami Rasmi said that 12 children and six animals were among the mummies, while the rest were adult men and women.
The identities of the mummies were still unknown.

India warns US on Af

As the Donald Trump administration seeks to unilaterally cut a deal with the Taliban, the Indian government has conveyed to the US that any such agreement must safeguard the existing political and constitutional structure in Afghanistan and that India doesn't favour installation of any interim government in the country which goes to elections in July.
India is looking to open a dialogue with China on the crisis-like situation in Afghanistan, brought about mainly by what is seen by many as a hasty and irresponsible attempt by the Trump administration to declare victory and get out of the country, almost half of which is now controlled by the Taliban.
The government expressed its reservations before US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who visited India last month.
While even Army chief General Bipin Rawat has spoken about the need for India to join the "bandwagon'' of countries who are engaging the Taliban, the government clearly has no intention of wading into what may turn out to be another Afghanistan quicksand.

Feb 03, 2019

India issues demarche to US on arrest of students

India and the United States stumbled into the most serious spat since the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York in 2013, with New Delhi making known its displeasure over the incarceration of scores of Indians who were ostensibly entrapped by the US authorities in a sting operation aimed at uncovering an employment and immigration racket.
From issuing a demarche — a note of protest — to the US government via its embassy in New Delhi to establishing a hotline for the alleged victims in Washington and offering legal counsel, the Indian government initiated a series of measures that left no doubt that it felt the purported students have been victimised.
The Indian Embassy in Washington DC also appointed a nodal officer to supervise assistance to the victims and their families.

Feb 02, 2019

U.S. to Pull Out of INF Treaty

According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the U.S is suspending its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty effective February 2.
The treaty, signed during the Cold War in 1987, bans ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 km-5,500 km.
It was key to ending the arms race between the (then) two superpowers and helped protect the U.S.'s NATO allies in Europe from Soviet missile attacks.
The U.S. will formally give Russia and the other treaty parties a formal notice that it is withdrawing under Article XV of the Treaty.
Article XV mandates a six-month notice period before withdrawal.

Indian Embassy Opens Hotline for Students

The Indian embassy in the US has opened a 24/7 hotline to assist 129 Indian students arrested by the American authorities in the "pay-and-stay" university visa scam.
As many as 129 Indians are among the 130 foreign students arrested for enroling at a fake university allegedly to remain in the US.
The university in Detroit's Farmington Hills was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed to expose immigration fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case.

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