General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

Oct 01, 2019

China Celebrates 70 Years of Communist Party Rule

At Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a huge military parade to celebrate 70 years of Communist Party rule, as a day of protest began to unfurl in seething Hong Kong.
A phalanx of tanks and other military hardware would roll across Tiananmen Square under the gaze of President Xi Jinping, the country's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
New weapons -- including a hypersonic drone and an intercontinental ballistic missile whose range encompasses the United States -- are expected to make their public debut, according to Paris-based analysts.

Pakistan to Invite Manmohan Singh for Opening Ceremony of Kartarpur Corridor

Pakistan is scheduled to open the Kartarpur corridor for Indian Sikh pilgrims on November 9, 2019.
Pakistan decided to invite former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend the inaugural ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor.
The Corridor would connect Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian pilgrims, who would only have to obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib.

Sep 30, 2019

India Opposes Pakistan Propaganda at Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference

India strongly opposed Pakistan's propaganda on Kashmir at General Assembly of Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.
According to an official statement issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Pakistani Parliamentary Delegation raised the issue of Kashmir saying that "Indian military forces had seized Kashmir".
Opposing the Pakistani propaganda, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Roopa Ganguly hit back saying that the tradition of military rule is prevalent in Pakistan and that Islamabad had been under Army rule for 33 years.
An Indian parliamentary delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla participated in the 64th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held in Kampala, Uganda from September 22 to 29.
The delegation is comprised of Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Roopa Ganguly, MP (Rajya Sabha); L. Hanumanthaiah, MP (Rajya Sabha), Aparajita Sarangi, MP (Lok Sabha) and Snehlata Shrivastava, Secretary General, Lok Sabha.

Sep 29, 2019

Austria Votes In Snap General Election

In Austria, people voted in a snap general election after a scandal caused the previous coalition government to fall.
According to the exit polls released after voting ended this evening, the conservative People's Party, led by former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, is projected to come top with 37 per cent of the vote, but would again need to form a coalition.
Social Democrats are projected to get 22.5 per cent with the far-right Freedom Party on 16.7 per cent.
Other parties involved are the Greens (projected to get 13.1 per cent) and the liberal Neos party (7.8 per cent).
In the election, 183 delegates would be chosen to represent eight parties in the parliament. The scandal toppled Kurz's government, and the former leader of his coalition partner the Freedom Party (FPÖ), Heinz-Christian Strache.

NPM Names Former Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake as Presidential Candidate

Sri Lanka's former Army Commander General Mahesh Senanayake joined the Presidential race after being named candidate of the National People's Movement (NPM).
The NPM is a collective of civil organisations and was created last year in order to promote national unity, achieve religious and ethnic harmony and reconciliation, develop a new political leadership and identify the most suitable individuals to lead the country.
It announced its candidate during a special summit held at Colombo. General Senanayake became the 22nd Commander of the Army in June 2017 and retired last month from nearly 38 years of service in Sri Lanka Army.

Voting In Afghanistan's Presidential Elections

Almost 9.6 million people have registered to vote in the election, according to the Independent Election Commission.
The polls come following a bloody two-month election campaign that was marred by repeated attacks across the war-torn country.
Almost 445 polling centres out of 5,371 centres would close on the election day but the Ministry of Interior assured that a safe environment would be provided to the voters, according to Tolo News. Taliban threatened voters to stay away from the election or face dire consequences.

India Hands Over Rs. 2.41 Crores School Building to Nepal

India handed over a new school building costing Rs. 2.41 crores to the Nepal government that would boost the learning environment of students from the marginalised sections in the Himalayan nation.
The new building of Kuleshwor Awas Secondary School in Kathmandu city was jointly inaugurated by Ajay Kumar, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India in Kathmandu, in the presence of several senior officials from the Nepal government.
Established in 1989, Kuleshwor Awas Secondary School currently has 800 students and is run with community support. Over 50 per cent of the students in the school are girls and most of the students come from the marginalised section of the society.

EU and Japan Ink Plan to Bypass China's Belt and Road Strategy

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and European Commission (EU) President Jean-Claude Juncker arrived for a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels on Sept. 27, 2019.
The EU and Japan signed an infrastructure agreement to link Europe and Asia as a counter to China's ambitious "Belt and Road" strategy.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker inked the accord to coordinate infrastructure, transport and digital projects.

Saudi Arabia to Impose Fines for 'Immodest Dress', Public Display of Affection

Saudi Arabia would issue fines for 19 offences related to public decency, such as immodest dress and public displays of affection, as the Muslim kingdom opens up to foreign tourists.
The Interior Ministry decision accompanies the launch of a visa regime allowing holidaymakers from 49 states to visit one of the world's most closed-off countries. Till now, most visitors have been Muslim pilgrims and business people.
Violations listed on the new visa website also include littering, spitting, queue jumping, taking photographs and videos of people without permission and playing music at prayer times. Fines range from 50 riyals ($13) to 6,000 riyals ($1,600).

Sep 28, 2019

Modi Address to UN General Assembly

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 74th session of the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2019.
The focus of his speech, delivered in Hindi, was on development in the country and climate change. India is an example to the world and the world could seek motivation from the developing country.
He called for the world to come together in the fight against terrorism.

Bougainville Independence Vote from PNG Scheduled For Nov 23 to Dec 7

Voting in the Pacific island of Bougainville's referendum on independence from Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be held between Nov. 23 and Dec. 7, 2019.
The referendum would decide whether Bougainville becomes an independent nation or has greater autonomy within PNG.
The chair of the commission, former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, said that the world is watching the voting and he wanted the process to be a joyful celebration.

Pakistan Stops Postal Exchange with India

Amid the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan following the scrapping of special status for Jammu & Kashmir, Islamabad has now stopped the postal mail exchange between the two countries.
People in Punjab on the Indian side have stopped receiving regular mails such as magazines, publications, and even letters which they use to get regularly earlier from Pakistan via post.

Thailand, India Sign Trade Agreements for Rs. 2,400 Crore

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi first docked in England as a student just days before his 19th birthday in 1888 in pursuit of a law degree and is known to have fully immersed himself in London life.
The connect of that teenager who went on to become the leader of the Indian national movement can be found in many areas of the British capital, something the Indian High Commission in London will be using as a starting point for its celebrations to mark his 150th birth anniversary year.

Sep 27, 2019

Beijing's Starfish-Shaped Futuristic Airport Opened By Xi Jinping

A futuristic airport that resembles a giant starfish opened in Beijing, as China unveils another massive infrastructure project just days before it celebrates 70 years of Communist Party rule.
Located 46 kilometres (29 miles) south of Tiananmen Square, Beijing Daxing International Airport will operate at full capacity in 2040, with eight runways and the potential to receive 100 million passengers per year.
The airport was opened by President Xi Jinping, but had an immediate hitch when its maiden commercial flight - an A380 superjumbo heading to the southern city of Guangzhou was delayed by nearly 30 minutes.

PM Modi Announces $14 Million Grant, $150 Million Line Of Credit To Caricom

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a $14-million grant for community development projects in a grouping of Caribbean nations and another $150 million Line of Credit for solar, renewable energy and climate-change related works as he hosted the first ever India-Caricom leaders' summit.
St Lucia Prime Minister and current CARICOM Chairman Allen Chastenet co-chaired the meeting held on the margins of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly.

PM Modi, Iranian President Rouhani Exchange Views

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discussed bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest during their bilateral meeting in New York.
Modi met Rouhani on the sidelines of the high-level 74th Session of the General Assembly. Noting that India and Iran shared old and civilization ties, the two leaders assessed the progress in bilateral relations since their first meeting in Russian city of Ufa in 2015.

India Rises 4 Places To 44th Rank In World Digital Competitiveness Rankings

India has advanced four places to 44th position in terms of digital competitiveness in the world as the country has made improvement in terms of knowledge and future readiness to adopt and explore digital technologies, according to a global report.
India rose from 48th place in 2018 to 44th rank in 2019 as the country has improved overall in all factors -- knowledge, technology and future readiness -- as compared to the previous year's ranking.
The US was ranked as the world's most digitally competitive economy, followed by Singapore in the second place.
Sweden was ranked third on the list, followed by Denmark and Switzerland in the 4th and 5th place, respectively.
Others in the list of top-10 most digitally competitive economy include Netherlands in the 6th place, Finland (7th), Hong Kong SAR (8th), Norway (9th) and Republic of Korea (10th).
The largest jump in the overall ranking was registered by China, moving from 30th to 22nd, and Indonesia, from 62nd to 56th.

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