General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

Jul 03, 2019

US Passes Provision to Give India NATO Ally-like Status

The US Senate passed a legislative provision that brings India at par with America's NATO allies and countries like Israel and South Korea for increasing defence cooperation.
The National Defense Authorisation Act or NDAA for the fiscal year 2020 that contained such a proposal was passed by the US Senate.
Introduced by Senate India Caucus Co-Chair Senator John Cornyn with the support of Senate India Caucus Co-Chair Senator Mark Warner, the amendment provides for increased US-India defence cooperation in the Indian Ocean in the areas of humanitarian assistance, counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and maritime security.

China blames the US and UK

China warned the US, the UK and the EU against sending any misleading signals to the ultra-radicals who violently attacked the legislature in Hong Kong, saying Beijing strongly opposes their gross interference in the country's internal affairs.
A group of protestors broke through the legislative council (LegCo) building in Hong Kong and occupied it for several hours.
They damaged the building and the furniture inside.
The violence followed weeks of mass protests over a controversial extradition law, which the locals apprehend could be used to send political dissidents from Hong Kong to mainland China for prosecution.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, became a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997, when Britain's 99-year lease expired.
The city is governed under the principle of "one country, two systems".
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam had put off plans to pass the controversial legislation and apologised but the protests continued, calling for her resignation.
July 1 marked the 22nd anniversary of the handing over of Hong Kong to China by the UK in 1997.

U.S. brands Balochistan Liberation Army Terrorist Group

The US designated Baloch Liberation Army as a terror organisation blaming it for attacks on Chinese assets amid ongoing civil war like situation in Balochistan, Pakistan's biggest province.
BLA is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan. BLA carried out several terrorist attacks in 2018, including a suicide attack in August 2018 that targeted Chinese engineers in Balochistan, a November 2018 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, and a May 2019 attack against a luxury hotel in Gwadar, Balochistan.
Since 2004 the BLA has waged an armed struggle against Pakistan demanding equal rights and self-determination for the Baloch in Pakistan.

Pakistan Tries to Block Extradition of Dawood's Aide

Pakistani diplomats in London are making all-out efforts to prevent the extradition of D-Company's top lieutenant Jabir Motiwala to the United States.
Hearing the extradition plea of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the Westminster Magistrates' Court, the D-Company's defence lawyer, backed by Pakistani diplomats, said that Motiwala was suffering from acute depression and cannot be flown to the US to face money laundering, drug trafficking and underworld crime charges.
Motiwala, one of the trusted aides of Dawood Ibrahim, was arrested in London in August 2018 on money laundering and drug trafficking charges, following a tip-off from the FBI.
In fact, Pakistan fears that once Motiwala is extradited to the US, the close aide of D-Company can reveal the entire nexus between Dawood Ibrahim's underworld network (being operated from Karachi) and the don's connection with Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
The US has already declared Dawood Ibrahim a global terrorist running an international drug syndicate and sharing the gang's routes with Pakistan-based terror outfits.

Jul 02, 2019

Iran Breaks Uranium Enrichment Limit

Iran acknowledged it had broken the limit set on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by the 2015 nuclear deal, marking its first major departure from the agreement a year after the US unilaterally withdrew from the accord.
Iran had been expected for days to acknowledge it broke the limit after earlier warning it would do so.
Iran threatened to increase its enrichment of uranium closer to weapons-grade levels by July 7.
Under terms of the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to have less than 300kg of uranium enriched to a maximum of 3.67%. Previously, Iran enriched as high as 20%, which is a short technical step away from reaching weapons-grade levels. It also held up to 10,000 kg of the higher-enriched uranium.

Sirisena Rejects Appeal on Death Penalty

Sri Lanka's President rejected a telephone appeal by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to reconsider his push to reintroduce the death penalty after 43 years.
Antonio Guterres had telephoned him after Sirisena signed four death warrants.
He accused the European Union of interfering in the internal affairs of his country, and said that EU diplomats had threatened him with tariffs if Sri Lanka went ahead with the executions.

Jul 01, 2019

Trump Offers Kim Weekend Meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a weekend meeting with Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
If Trump and Kim do meet, it would be for the third time in just over a year, and four months after their second summit broke down with no progress on U.S. efforts to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
North Korea said that it had not had an official proposal.
Trump made the offer in a tweet about his trip to South Korea, where he landed after the Group of 20 Summit in Osaka, Japan.

Jun 30, 2019

China Proposes 5G Tie-up

The rift between China and the United States over 5G technology exports to India sharpened, when Chinese President Xi Jinping pitched for a partnership with New Delhi and Moscow for expanding a joint footprint in cyberspace.
In his remarks at the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, President Xi urged the three countries, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin, to expand cooperation in 5G network, high technology, connectivity, energy and other areas.
He also called for reforming the World Trade Organisation (WTO), based on consensus.
Analysts say that Mr. Xi's advocacy for a trilateral cyber-partnership follows the Trump administration's campaign to discourage India and other countries from importing Chinese 5G technology, led by Huawei Technologies, the Shenzhen based telecom heavyweight, on security grounds.
The 5G technology, can interlink the mobile internet with manufacturing. It is at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution, which would result in factories being run by robots, driverless vehicles and enabling remote surgeries.

UK human Rights Body Wants to Revive Caste Law

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) comprising MPs and members of the House of Lords wants the Theresa May government to reconsider its July 2018 decision not to legislate to ban caste-based discrimination, calling it a real issue in the UK.
The 1.5 million-strong Indian community was deeply divided on the issue, with influential lobbies denying caste-based discrimination exists, stating that enacting such a law would entrench ideas of caste where none exist, while Dalit and other groups insist it exists.
Harriet Harman, JCHR chair, wrote to Penny Mordaunt, minister for women and equalities, insisting that legal prohibition from such racial discrimination is needed to provide real protection. Reviving the debate has been welcomed by the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance that campaigns for the law.
After years of consultations, research and debate inside and outside parliament on the sensitive issue, the May government decided in July 2018 not to legislate but rely on emerging case law in courts to deal with cases of caste-based discrimination.

Jun 28, 2019

Iran on Brink of Nuclear Deal Breach

Iran appeared to have at least temporarily backed away from an ultimatum on breaching the 2015 nuclear deal, as European nations made last-ditch efforts to salvage what remains of the multilateral accord and avert a slide toward war.
Iran's atomic energy organization had said the country would probably exceed the cap on stockpiles of low-grade uranium, as it pushes back against crippling US economic sanctions imposed after the Trump administration unilaterally exited the agreement more than a year ago.
A European Union diplomat said remaining parties to the deal were "scrambling" to find a solution.
Whether they had been successful could become clear after a meeting in Vienna, of the commission that governs the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.
Unnamed diplomats were cited by other media as saying that Iran was still short of the 300-kg cap on stockpiles of low grade enriched uranium that would put it in violation for the first time of the accord designed to prevent it developing a nuclear weapon.

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