General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

Jan 24, 2020

U.K.'s Brexit Bill Clears Final Hurdle in Parliament

Britain's Brexit bill passed its final hurdle in Parliament after the House of Lords abandoned attempts to amend it, leaving the U.K. on course to leave the European Union next week.
The bill was approved by Parliament's upper chamber after the House of Commons overturned changes to the government's flagship Brexit bill made a day earlier by the unelected House of Lords.
The bill will become law when it receives royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II.

Trump Warns of Trade War with EU Nations

U.S. President Donald Trump relaunched a major trade offensive against Europe, threatening to hit the EU with damaging auto tariffs if Europeans failed to agree a long-delayed trade deal.
The EU is tougher to deal with than anybody. They've taken advantage of our country for many years," Mr. Trump said. "Ultimately, it will be very easy because if we can't make a deal, we'll have to put 25% tariffs on their cars," he added.
Mr. Trump said that his attention would now to turn to Europe, after he sealed a trade truce with China after a bitter trade war that destabilised the world economy.
Mr. Trump's comments followed a warning by the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that Washington would proceed with long threatened auto tariffs if Europeans go through with a digital tax that mainly affects US firms.

Jan 23, 2020

Al-Salbi Is New IS Chief

Intelligence services have identified the new leader of the Islamic State (IS) group as Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi.
Officials from two unnamed spy services, described him as one of the terrorist group's founding members and said that he had led the enslavement of the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

US and Britain Ratify Treaty to Protect Wreck from Titanic

Britain hailed a new treaty with the United States that seeks to protect the wreck of the Titanic from damage by explorers and tourists.
The remains of the ship lie largely intact 4 km below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean, after it hit an iceberg in 1912.
But there have been growing concerns about visitors taking artefacts, leaving rubbish and even placing plaques in memory of the 1,500 people who died.
An international treaty to limit access was signed by Britain in 2003 but only ratified by the US in November 2019.

Jan 22, 2020

Iran MP Offers $3mn to Kill Trump

An Iranian lawmaker offered a $3 million reward to anyone who killed US President Donald Trump and said Iran could avoid threats if it had nuclear arms.
Tensions have steadily escalated since Trump pulled Washington out of Tehran's nuclear agreement with world powers in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions. The stand-off erupted into tit-for-tat military strikes this month.

Senate Trial on Bid to Oust Trump Begins

The US Senate started the impeachment trial of Donald Trump with a contentious debate on rules and procedures, as the President continued to rail against it from some 4,000 miles away in Davos, calling it a disgraceful hoax.

Lebanon Forms Government with Backing of Hezbollah and Allies

Lebanon formed a new government under Prime Minister Hassan Diab after the Shi'ite group Hezbollah and its allies agreed on a cabinet that must urgently address an economic crisis.
The heavily indebted state has been without effective government since Saad al-Hariri quit as premier in October, prompted by protests against politicians who have collectively led Lebanon into the worst crisis since the 1975-90 war.
New Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said Lebanon needed foreign aid to save it from an unprecedented situation that had forced people to "beg for dollars" at the banks and fear for their deposits. He also described forthcoming foreign currency sovereign debt maturities as "a fireball".

Nepal PM Calls for Resolving Pending Issues

Nepal Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli called for dialogue to resolve differences and pending issues with India as he and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated the second integrated check post (ICP) along the border.
The two premiers opened the ICP at Jogbani-Biratnagar, built with Indian aid to facilitate trade and people's movement across the border, through video conference. Jogbani-Biratnagar is an important trade point and the ICP is equipped with modern facilities for customs, immigration and quarantine.
Though Oli didn't specify the pending issues, he was apparently referring to the disputed border area of Kalapani, which came to the forefront last year after India issued new maps following the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir that showed the region as part of Indian territory, and Nepal's demand for a review of the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

Pakistan Backs Afghan Peace Talks

Pakistan's foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood told US acting assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Alice Wells that Islamabad would continue to support the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan.
The two officials discussed a range of bilateral issues, including political engagement and economic partnership, and exchanged views on recent developments regarding the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.

Jan 21, 2020

Billionaires Have More Wealth Than 60% of the World's Population

The world's 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than 4.6 billion people, underscoring the degree of global inequality.
The Oxfam International study, and dubbed "Time to Care," shows that the number of billionaires has doubled in the past decade. The authors add that these fortunes have largely been amassed while everyday people, especially poor women, continue to struggle.
The gap between rich and poor can't be resolved without deliberate inequality-busting policies, and too few governments are committed to these. "Our broken economies are lining the pockets of billionaires and big business at the expense of ordinary men and women. No wonder people are starting to question whether billionaires should even exist."
The report finds that women are most impacted by the growing equality gap — the 22 richest men in the world have more money than all the women in Africa, for example. Also, 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work is done by women and girls every day, which contributes $10.8 trillion dollars a year to the global economy, the report found. Women also do more than three-quarters of all unpaid care work and make up two-thirds of the paid 'care workforce.

India ranks 76th on WEF's Social Mobility Index, Denmark tops the list

India has been ranked very low at 76th place out of 82 countries on a new Social Mobility Index compiled by the World Economic Forum, while Denmark has topped the charts.
The report, released ahead of the 50th Annual Meeting of the WEF, also lists India among the five countries that stand to gain the most from a better social mobility score that seeks to measure parameters necessary for creating societies where every person has the same opportunity to fulfil his potential in life irrespective of socioeconomic background.
Increasing social mobility, a key driver of income inequality, by 10 per cent would benefit social cohesion and boost the world's economies by nearly 5 per cent by 2030.
But, few economies have the right conditions to foster social mobility.

Pakistan seeks US help to get off FATF grey list

Pakistan is lobbying with the United States to remove it from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organisation that combats terror financing and money laundering, which has impacted the country's sagging economy.
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in Washington last week and had expressed hope that the US would back its efforts to get it off the grey list at FATF's review meeting in Beijing this week.

Jan 20, 2020

Tehran Warns IAEA over N-deal Dispute

As per parliament speaker Ali Larijani, Iran will review its cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog should it face unjust measures, after EU powers last week triggered a dispute mechanism under Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal.
The move by France, UK and Germany amounts to formally accusing Iran of violating the terms of the deal and could lead eventually to reimposing UN sanctions that were lifted under the pact.
Tehran said last week it would abandon limits on enriching uranium, though it would continue to cooperate with IAEA, which is policing the nuclear pact.
The dispute mechanism involves a Joint Commission, whose members are Iran, Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and the European Union, seeking to resolve the dispute.

World Powers Seek Elusive Libya Peace in Talks

World leaders were poised to commit to ending all foreign meddling in Libya's war at a Berlin summit, but calls were growing for an international force to ensure that pledges are put into action.
The Presidents of Russia, Turkey and France were among global chiefs at the talks held under the auspices of the United Nations, which wants foreign powers wielding influence in the region to stop interfering in the war - be it through weapons, troops or financing.
Leaders of both warring factions - strongman Khalifa Haftar and the head of Tripoli's UN-recognised government Fayez al-Sarraj - were also in Berlin for the first such gathering since 2018.

China, Myanmar Ink 33 Deals To Accelerate Bri

China and Myanmar inked dozens of deals on Saturday to speed up infrastructure projects in the Southeast Asian nation, as Beijing seeks to cement its hold over a neighbour increasingly isolated by the West.
But no major new projects were agreed during the two-day visit by President Xi Jinping, the first of any Chinese leader in 19 years. Analysts said Myanmar was generally cautious of investments by Beijing and was also being careful ahead of elections later this year.

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