General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

Jul 31, 2019

Nirav and Mallya Extradition Cases Pushed to Next Year

The trial in the Westminster Magistrates Court on India's request to extradite fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi will be held in May next year while the High Court of England and Wales is scheduled to hear businessman Vijay Mallya's appeal against his extradition in February 2020.

Boris Johnson Waits for EU to Move on Brexit

New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is waiting for EU leaders to agree to renegotiate their Brexit deal before he meets them as the government stepped up "no deal" planning.
Johnson, who took office last week, wants to change the exit terms struck by his predecessor Theresa May but insists he will leave the European Union without any agreement at all if necessary on October 31.

Muslim Ministers Rejoin Sri Lankan Govt.

Four Sri Lankan Muslim Ministers, who resigned following the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 258 people, rejoined the government after investigators found no link in their alleged involvement with a local islamist extremist group.
Two senior Muslim leaders Rauff Hakeem — the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Rishad Badiyudeen, the leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress — were sworn in by President Maithripala Sirisena.
Along with them, two more Muslims, a State Minister and a Deputy Minister rejoined the government.

Iran, UAE Begin 1st Maritime Talks Since 2013

Iran received a coastguard delegation from the United Arab Emirates aimed at reviving maritime security talks that were cut off in 2013.
The sixth joint coastguard meeting between Iran and a visiting seven-member delegation from the UAE will be held in Tehran in order to discuss border cooperation between the two countries," state news agency IRNA said, citing a statement from Iran's foreign ministry.
Illegal trafficking and shared maritime borders are among the topics to be discussed, according to the report. The meeting is the first between the coast guards of the two nations since 2013.
It comes after the confrontation between Iran and the US sent tensions in the Persian Gulf soaring, with American officials blaming Iran for recent attacks on oil tankers off the UAE coast.

Jul 30, 2019

Pakistan Opens Historic Hindu Temple after 72 Years

Pakistan opened a 1,000-year-old Hindu temple in eastern city Sialkot for worship for the first time since partition on the demand of the local Hindu community.
The Shawala Teja Singh temple, located in city's congested Dhaarowal locality, some 100-km from Lahore, is more than 1,000 years old, according to the book 'History of Sialkot' by the late Rashid Niaz.
The Evacuee Trust Property Board, which looks after the holy places of minorities in Pakistan, opened Shawala Teja Singh.
The temple was partially damaged during attacks on temples here in reaction to Babri Mosque in 1992. The ETPB carried out restoration work of the temple on the direction of Board chairman Dr. Amir Ahmed.

Donald Trump Appoints New Intelligence Czar

US intelligence boss Dan Coats, who once publicly acknowledged being blinded by White House invitation to the Russian president, is stepping down and would be succeeded by Republican congressman John Ratcliffe, who reportedly impressed President Donald Trump with his aggressive grilling of Special counsel Robert Mueller, clinching the job.
Coats's tenure as Director of National Intelligence, an agency created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to oversee and coordinate the work of 16 intelligence services, had been in jeopardy for a while, specially after he admitted being kept out of the loop on the invitation to President Vladimir Putin.

Jul 29, 2019

Iran Slams a British Proposal

Iran slammed as provocative a British proposal for a European-led naval mission to escort tankers in the Gulf, amid soaring tensions over the seizure of ships.
Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said that we heard that they intend to send a European fleet to the Persian Gulf which naturally carries a hostile message, is provocative and will increase tensions.
Britain said last week it was planning a European-led force to escort tankers through the world's busiest oil shipping lane in response to Iran's seizure of a U.K.-flagged vessel on July 19.
The seizure of the Stena Impero by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came two weeks after British authorities detained an Iranian tanker — the Grace 1 — off its overseas territory Gibraltar on allegations it was breaching EU sanctions on Syria.

Jul 28, 2019

Trump can Use Pentagon Fund for Border Wall

The US Supreme Court cleared the way for Donald Trump to use billions in Pentagon funds to build a border wall.
The decision allows the Trump administration to redirect approximately $2.5bn approved by the Congress for the Pentagon to help build his promised wall along the US-Mexico border even though lawmakers refused to provide funding.
The Trump administration planned to use the $2.5bn on four contracts to replace existing sections of barrier in Arizona, California and New Mexico with more robust fencing.
The Supreme Court's five conservative justices agreed to block a ruling in lower courts that barred Trump from spending the money on the wall contracts on the basis that Congress did not specifically authorise the funds to be used that way. The court's four liberal justices wouldn't have allowed construction to start.
The justices' decision to lift the freeze on the money allows Trump to make progress on a major 2016 campaign promise.

US Satisfied with Taliban's Guarantees

President Donald Trump's special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said that he's satisfied with the Taliban's commitment to prevent international terrorist organisations from using Afghanistan as a base to plot global attacks.
Earlier this month Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad said the world needs to be sure that Afghanistan would not be a threat to the international community. He also said that we are satisfied with the commitment that we have received (from the Taliban) on counterterrorism.
As per Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, such guarantees would be written into law once U.S. and NATO troops leave the country.

Asylum Deal between the US and Guatemala

President Donald Trump announced that a landmark asylum agreement was reached with Guatemala, as the United States ratcheted up pressure on its southern neighbours to stem the flow of migrants towards its border.
The White House said that Guatemala would now be considered a safe third country, meaning that U.S.-bound migrants who enter Guatemala would be required to seek asylum there instead. Mr. Trump said that the deal would provide safety to legitimate asylum seekers and stop asylum fraud in the region.
The asylum agreement with Guatemala comes days after Mr. Trump threatened tough retaliation against the small Central American country if it did not sign on to an asylum deal.
The agreement, signed in the Oval Office by Guatemala's Interior Minister, Enrique Degenhart, and U.S. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, would apply to Salvadoran or Honduran migrants passing through Guatemala towards the United States.
Their asylum claims should now be filed in Guatemala, Mr. McAleenan said.
If Central American migrants instead "make a journey all the way to the U.S. border, they would be removable back to Guatemala if they want to seek asylum. The deal is expected to be up and running in August.

Jul 27, 2019

Johnson Putting U.K. on Collision Course

According to Ireland's Foreign Minister, new Prime Minister Boris Johnson has deliberately set Britain on a collision course with the EU over Brexit negotiations.
In his maiden parliamentary speech as Prime Minister, Mr. Johnson promised to press ahead with plans to reopen the deal agreed with the EU — despite firm pushback from other EU leaders. Tension around the withdrawal deal centres on the so-called backstop — a mechanism designed to preserve the EU's single market and prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.

Pakistan to Allow Dual Nationals to Contest elections

In what can be called another U-turn, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, decided to allow dual nationals to contest in Pakistan's elections. It is hard to believe that this is the same party that has previously criticised its political opponents for keeping dual nationalities and for having vested business interests abroad.
Imran, during his dharna (protest) days and throughout his time as a member of the opposition, had told the nation that when elected representatives stash their wealth abroad, have dual nationalities and/or business in other countries, they cannot serve the nation effectively due to a "conflict of interest".
Ms. Awan said the PM had issued directives to the relevant ministries as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan to come up with a comprehensive programme for giving voting rights to overseas Pakistanis. The decision, if implemented, will require an amendment to the Constitution as its Article 63 (c) reads: "A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state."

Iran Tests Medium-range Missile

As per reports, after openly breaching the terms of the nuclear deal, Iran this week also conducted a medium-range ballistic missile test in violation of Security Council resolutions.
The country tested a Shahab-3 missile.
It was launched from southern Iran and flew some 1,100 kilometers, landing east of Tehran.
The military source said the missile did not pose a threat to US or Western assets in the region, and that US officials had closely monitored the activity that preceded the launch.

Over 4 Lakh Displaced in Syria

According to David Swanson of the United Nations humanitarian affairs agency OCHA, more than 400,000 people have been displaced in northwestern Syria over the past three months, as the government presses an intensified bombardment of the rebel-held region.
The region under attack is home to some three million people, nearly half of them already displaced from other parts of the country.
It covers nearly all of Idlib and parts of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia provinces.
Most of the displacement is from southern Idlib and northern Hama, the two areas that have been hit the hardest by the flare-up.
The majority of those fleeing have displaced within Idlib governorate while a smaller number have moved into northern Aleppo governorate.
Roughly two-thirds of people displaced are staying outside camps.
The region is controlled by jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate.

Russian Broadcaster Fined

Britain's media watchdog fined Russia's state-funded RT broadcaster £200,000 for serious failures in its coverage of last year's Salisbury nerve agent poisoning and the Syria conflict. RT immediately denounced the penalty as astonishing.
Ofcom said that RT failed to follow Britain's impartiality laws in seven news and current affair programmes aired between March 17 and April 26 of 2018.
The fine was levied on RT's parent company TV-Novosti. "Taken together, these breaches represent serious and repeated failures of compliance of our rules," Ofcom said.

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