General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - August 2018

Aug 2018

Mar 16, 2020

Gantz to Form New Israeli Govt.

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin decided to give opposition leader Benny Gantz the first opportunity to form a new government following an inconclusive national election this month. President Reuven Rivlin's office announced this decision after consulting with leaders of all of the parties elected to parliament. The decision raises questions about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political future as he leads the country's battle against the coronavirus threat and prepares to go on trial for corruption charges. Netanyahu's Likud emerged as the largest party in the March 2 election, Israel's third in under a year. But with his smaller religious and nationalist allies, he received the support of only 58 lawmakers during consultations, leaving Likud three seats short of the required majority in parliament.

Slovakia Poll Winner to Form 4-party Govt.

The chairman of the winning party in Slovakia's parliamentary election told the country's President that he has agreed to form a coalition government with three other parties. Igor Matovic and his centre-right populist opposition group Ordinary People captured 25% of the February 29 vote. It has 53 seats in the 150-seat parliament. President Zuzana Caputova asked Matovic in March 2020 to lead the efforts to create a new government. After their meeting, Matovic said that he presented the details of his Cabinet to the President. It is not clear when the new government might be sworn in.

Mar 15, 2020

Bill Gates Quits Microsoft Board

Microsoft announced that co-founder Bill Gates left its board of directors to devote more time to philanthropy.
Gates served as chairman of Microsoft's board of directors until early in 2014 and has now stepped away entirely.
Microsoft would continue to benefit from Gates' "technical passion and advice" in his continuing role as a technical advisor.

Europe Now the Epicenter of the Coronavirus Pandemic

As per World Health Organization officials, Europe has become the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases in China slow and the deadly coronavirus runs through Italy and nearby countries.
More cases are now being reported (in Europe) every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic.
Italy currently has the most cases outside of China with at least 15,113 infections, followed by Spain at 4,334, Germany at 3,156 and France at 2,882, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Other countries in Europe are seeing cases soar. Switzerland currently has 1,125 cases, followed by Sweden at 809, the Netherlands at 804 and Denmark at 788.

Mar 14, 2020

Bombardier CEO Alain Bellemare to Step Down

Canada's Bombardier Inc said that Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare would step down and be replaced by former company executive and Hydro-Quebec CEO Eric Martel.
Bellemare, who took over the top job at Bombardier in 2015, has steered the company through some of its biggest challenges, including a brush with bankruptcy due to its costly C Series jet program.
Under his watch, the company has narrowed its focus on making business jets, after offloading its stake in the A220 passenger jet program - formerly known as the C Series - to Airbus SE and selling the rail division to France's Alstom SA earlier this year.
Martel had worked with Bombardier for 13 years and was the president of its business aircraft unit before joining the hydropower producer as CEO in 2015.

India 2nd Largest Arms Importer in 2015-19

In accordance with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) annual report titled "Trends in international arms transfers, 2019" released in 2020, India is the world's second largest arms importer during 2015-19 with its global share of 9.2% after Saudi Arabia, who has topped the ranking with global share of 12%. On the other hand, India ranked 23rd in terms of world's largest arms exporters with global share of 0.2% and its main clients being Myanmar (46%), Sri Lanka (25%), and Mauritius (14%). United States (US) topped the list in this section with a share of 36%.
On the global front, the volume of international transfers of major arms in 2015–19 has increased by 5% as compared to 2010–14.
Largest suppliers of arms to India: Russia is largest supplier of arms to India; however, share of weapons purchased has declined from 72% to 56% during 2015-19, which accounted 25% of total Russian arms exports. Contrarily, Israel and France's share increased, by 175% and 715% respectively, which have become second and third largest suppliers to India during 2015-19.

US Congress Approves to Limit Trump's War Powers against Iran

The United States House of Representatives approved a War Powers Resolution aimed at limiting President Donald Trump's ability to wage war against Iran.
The passage of the resolution was yet another rebuke of the President over his decision to order the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020 amid escalating tensions with Tehran.
The Senate voted 55 to 45 - with eight Republicans joining Democrats on February 13 - to approve the resolution. The House action sends the measure to Trump, who has threatened to veto it. A two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate would be needed to override a veto.

Mar 13, 2020

Italy Orders Shutting Down of All Shops

Italy added new restrictions to a lockdown imposed to fight the coronavirus, ordering bars, restaurants and beauty parlours to close after the highest daily increase in deaths of any country since the outbreak began.
In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that all shops would be shuttered except supermarkets, food stores and chemists, and companies must close all non-essential departments.
On Wednesday the death toll in Europe's worst affected country jumped by 196 in 24 hours to 827. Confirmed cases across Italy rose to 12,462 from a previous 10,149.

WEF Launches 1st Global COVID Action Platform for Private-sector Businesses to Fight against Coro...

The World Economic Forum (WEF) initiated the creation the COVID Action Platform with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Wellcome Trust. This first of its kind platform, operating globally, is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, for integrated and collective business action to mitigate the risk and impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). The Forum has established a special team to support the platform's work.

Report Finds Widespread and Systemic Forced Uighur Labour in China

US lawmakers have pushed for a ban on imports from a vast area of northwestern China because of the widespread use of forced labour in a region where the communist government has detained more than a million people in a campaign against ethnic minorities.
The US already bans imports made with forced labour, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers said virtually anything coming from Xinjiang, including goods sold by major American and global consumer brands, should be considered tainted by the mass detention and repression of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities.
McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is co-chairman of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which released a report that documented forced labour. It found it in the mass internment camps, on farms in Xinjiang that produce cotton for the global market as well as factories elsewhere in the country.

Trump Suspends Travel from Europe to US

US President Donald Trump announced sweeping travel restrictions on 26 European countries in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
The ban applies to travellers from countries which are members of the Schengen border-free travel area.
The UK, Ireland and other non-Schengen countries are unaffected. US citizens are also exempt.
The EU condemned the measures, which it said were taken "unilaterally and without consultation".
There are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths so far.

Mar 12, 2020

WEF Launches COVID Action Platform

With the coronavirus epidemic hurting economic activities globally, the World Economic Forum launched a new platform with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to convene the global business community for a collective action on the COVID-19 response.
This is the first initiative of its kind that aims to convene the business community for collective action, protect people's livelihoods and facilitate business continuity, and mobilise support for the COVID-19 response.
The ''COVID Action Platform'' has been created with the support of the WHO and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders including the governments, aiming to integrate their efforts for a joint action.
The new platform is intended to catalyse private-sector support for the global public health response to COVID-19, and to do so at the scale and speed required to protect lives and livelihoods, aiming to find ways to help end the global emergency as soon as possible.
The three priorities for this platform would be to galvanise the global business community for collective action; protect people''s livelihoods and facilitate business continuity; and mobilise cooperation and business support for the COVID-19 response.

Australia Unveils $11.4 billion Stimulus to Curb Coronavirus Impact

Australia's government said that it would pump A$17.6 billion ($11.4 billion) into the economy to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from pushing the country into its first recession in nearly 30 years.
The country's first stimulus package since the 2008 global financial crisis, which helped Australia avert a recession then, illustrates the lengths the government will take to pare the economic impact of the outbreak. Despite only affecting about 120 people in Australia so far, economists are expecting the widening epidemic to cause a recession in the second quarter.
The package will subsidise the wages of 120,000 apprentices, offer one-off cash payments for welfare recipients and deliver payments of up to A$25,000 ($16,160) for small businesses.

Malaysia Wants to Resolve Palm Oil Spat with India within a Month

According to the south-east Asian nation's new Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Malaysia aims to resolve its palm oil spat with India within a month.
Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali added that he wanted to send a delegation to India as soon as possible in an effort to improve ties between the two countries.
India, the world's biggest consumer of edible oil, this year set curbs on palm oil purchases from Malaysia in retaliation for comments by then Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, criticising New Delhi's policy on the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

US Most Promising Source of Disruptive Technologies: KPMG 2020

Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler's (KPMG) global Technology (Tech) industry innovation survey ranked India in 2nd position which is shared with China as the most promising country for developing globally impactful disruptive technologies. The United States (US) topped the survey.
According to the survey findings, India dropped a rank last year, but now it is tied up to China in the 2nd position.
The potential innovation is faced reversely by China & US policies encouraging more tech professionals to return or remain in India, this is suitable for future innovation in India.
This is further increased by urbanization & younger demographic trends moving in the right direction, this is further compounded by the increase in the venture capital of India over the last 2 years.
KPMG's also surveyed which cities in addition to global leader Silicon Valley/San Francisco, will be leading technology innovation hubs over the next 4 years. Bengaluru ranked 9th and Singapore topped the position. Bangalore last year was at the 18th position.

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