General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

May 17, 2019

Technology Ban Escalates U.S.-China Tensions

China warned the U.S. against further harming trade ties after President Donald Trump effectively barred Chinese telecom giant Huawei from the U.S. market, escalating tensions between the world's top economic powerhouses.
The spat over Huawei adds to the uncertainty over efforts to revive a deal that would end a bruising U.S.-China trade war after the two sides hiked tariffs in recent days.
This has caused the China-U.S. economic and trade talks to suffer a serious setback.
Mr. Trump stepped up the U.S. battle against Huawei when he signed an executive order prohibiting the purchase or use of equipment from companies that pose "an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States" or the safety of the American people.

Saudi Warplanes Bomb Yemeni Capital

Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed Yemeni rebel targets including in the capital following insurgent drone strikes on a key oil pipeline that Riyadh said were ordered by its arch rival Tehran.
The new bombardment came after the UN envoy, who has been spearheading efforts to end more than four years of conflict in the Arab world's poorest country, warned it still faced the threat of plunging into all-out war.
The Saudi Deputy Defence Minister warned that the attack by Yemeni rebels on a major pipeline in the kingdom was tightening the noose around peace efforts.

May 16, 2019

Alabama Passes Toughest Abortion Bill

The Alabama Senate has passed the most restrictive abortion Bill in the U.S., which places a near-total ban on the termination of pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest, and could punish doctors who perform the procedure with life in prison.
The text passed by the Republican-led Senate has been sent to Governor Kay Ivey's desk for signature into law and, if approved, is expected to trigger a legal battle.
Under the Bill, performing an abortion is a crime that could land doctors who perform it in prison for 10 to 99 years.
Abortions would only be legal if the life of the mother is in danger or the foetus has a fatal condition.
The largest human rights defence organisation in the United States, the ACLU, promised to file a lawsuit to block its implementation.

San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Tech

San Francisco, a city at the heart of the technology revolution, has banned the use of facial recognition software by police and other agencies.
Civil liberties groups have expressed concerns over the technology's potential abuse by government amid fears that it may shove the US towards becoming an overly oppressive surveillance state.
The action, which came in an 8-1 vote by the board of supervisors, makes San Francisco the first major American city to block a tool that many police forces are turning to in the search for both small-time criminal suspects and perpetrators of mass carnage.
Similar bans are under consideration in Oakland, California, and in Somerville, Massachusetts, outside of Boston.
The ban prohibits city agencies from using facial recognition, or information gleaned from external systems that use the technology.

Brexit Bill to be Tabled in June

British Prime Minister Theresa May is set for a new political showdown in Parliament as MPs across the political spectrum expressed their intention to oppose her Brexit plans, when she attempts to gain their support through legislation set to be put to MPs in early June.
Following the latest instalment of cross-party talks with the Labour Party, Ms. May said she plans to bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in the first week of June, thereby setting a tangible deadline for the talks that have continued with little outcome so far.

'Christchurch Call' Adopted

A dozen countries and global tech giants including Facebook, Google and Twitter pledged to find ways to keep internet platforms from being used to spread hate, organise extremist groups and broadcast terror attacks.
But White House said the US will not sign the "Christchurch Call to Action" against online extremism discussed at the meeting led by French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The call is a set of guidelines named after the New Zealand city where 51 people were killed in a March attack on mosques.
Part of the attack had been broadcast live on Facebook, drawing public outrage and fuelling the debate on how to better regulate social media.
The agreement, which was drafted by the French and New Zealand governments, aims to prevent similar abuses of the internet while insisting that any actions must preserve "the principles of a free, open and secure internet, without compromising human rights and fundamental freedoms."
The call was adopted by Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube, along with France's Qwant and DailyMotion, and the Wikimedia Foundation.
The countries backing it were France, New Zealand, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Jordan, Norway, Senegal, Indonesia and the European Union's executive body.
Facebook is tightening its livestreaming rules with a "one strike" policy applied to a broad range of offences.
Sharing extremist groups' statements without context will result in temporary blocking.
The most serious offences will result in a permanent ban.

U.S. Orders Staff to Leave Iraq Embassy

The State Department ordered a partial evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, responding to what the Trump administration said was a threat linked to Iran, one that has led to an accelerated movement of U.S. ships and bombers into the Gulf.
The department ordered "non-emergency U.S. government employees", at both the Embassy in Baghdad and the Consulate in Irbil, to leave the country.
The order applies primarily to full-time diplomats posted to Iraq by State Department headquarters in Washington, and an Embassy statement said that visa services in Iraq would be suspended as a result.
Contractors who provide security, food and other services will remain in place for now.

China Blocks all Language Editions of Wikipedia

Beijing has broadened its block of online encyclopedia Wikipedia to include all language editions, reported an internet censorship research group, ahead of the country's most politically explosive anniversary.
According to a report by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), China started blocking all language editions of Wikipedia in April.
Previously, most editions of Wikipedia, besides the Chinese language version, were available, OONI said in its report.
China's online censorship apparatus blocks a large number of foreign sites in the country, such as Google, Facebook and The New York Times.

May 15, 2019

U.K. Eyes July Brexit Deal

British Prime Minister Theresa May's government said that it was aiming to agree to a Brexit deal by July, making it likely that Britain's MEPs elected in European elections will take their seats.
At a cabinet meeting, ministers agreed to continue talks with the Labour Party on how the Parliament might accept the divorce deal that Ms. May agreed with the EU in 2018.

May 14, 2019

CTBTO Invites India

The executive secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Lassina Zerbo, has invited India to be an observer in the CTBT.
He said that he is not asking India to ratify [the treaty], he knows that is not possible now, but he thinks giving India the opportunity to join as an observer could be a good starting point.
Being an observer would give India access to data from the IMS, a network which when complete will consist of 337 facilities (321 monitoring stations and 16 radionuclide labs) located in 89 countries.
This system can detect even small nuclear explosions using seismology, hydroacoustics, infrasound and radionuclide technology.

British Citizens to Vote for EU Parliament

Just under three years since the Brexit referendum that irrevocably changed British politics, another election is set to take place later in May that could fundamentally impact the political landscape again.
In the third week of May, British citizens and European and Commonwealth citizens resident in the U.K. will vote to select 73 candidates for the European Parliament, who will take up their seats in July for a five-year term.

May 13, 2019

Hodeidah Pullout

The UN said that a Yemeni rebel withdrawal from key Red Sea ports was proceeding as planned, after the government accused insurgents of faking the pullout.
The port of Hodeidah serves as a lifeline for millions in the country.
Yemen's government had earlier accused rebels of a policy of deception after they announced the withdrawal in a long-delayed move agreed under a ceasefire deal in 2018.
But the UN said that it had teams monitoring the Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Issa ports, later reported that the pullout had gone in accordance with established plans.

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