(General Awareness For Bank's Exams)

International

September - 2014

Another American journalist ‘beheaded’

• An Internet video posted purported to show the beheading of another U.S. journalist, Steven Sotloff, by Islamic State, which called it “retribution” for U.S. airstrikes.

U.N. troops’ captors set demands

•  Al-Qaeda-linked Syria rebels who are holding more than 40 United Nations peacekeepers hostage in the Golan Heights are demanding they be expunged from a U.N. terror blacklist, Fiji revealed.

•  The Pacific nation’s Army chiefMoseseTikoitoga said the rebels also wanted humanitarian aid sent to a small town which is an Al-Nusra Front stronghold just outside Damascus. They are also seeking compensation for three of their fighters who were wounded in recent days.

UNICEF helps Sierra Leone combat Ebola

•  With funds from the World Bank, UNICEF has facilitated the delivery of medicines and other supplies worth over $825,000 for the treatment of people who have contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone.

•  A chartered UN cargo aircraft landed at the Lungi International Airport with the drugs and medical supplies, Ximhua reported.

•  The supplies include latex gloves, intravenous fluids, assorted antibiotics and personal protective equipment, all of which are urgently needed to fight the Ebola epidemic.

•  “The World Bank is committed to improving the health of the people in Sierra Leone and eliminating Ebola,” said Ato Brown, World Bank’s country manager in Sierra Leone.

•  The funding from the World Bank comes from its $200 million pledge last month to help Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to contain the spread of Ebola, help their communities cope with the economic impact of the crisis, and improve public health systems in West Africa.

•  The supplies have been transferred to the Central Medical Store in Freetown for immediate dispatch to different Ebola treatment centres,

•  The Ebola outbreak has claimed over 2,000 lives in West African countries this year.

North Korea test-fires more tactical missiles

•  North Korea test-fired three missiles into the sea , South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

•  The launch occurred at a site in the North’s border town of Wonsan, it said.

•  The missiles were presumed to have landed about 210 kilometres out in the East Sea.

•  “The military is staying vigilant and paying attention to movements of the North Korean military in case of an additional launch,” an officer was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

•  The officer said it was presumed to be a new type of tactical missile.

South Africa ‘refuses’ Dalai Lama visa for Nobel summit

•  South Africa has refused to grant a visa for the Dalai Lama to attend the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Cape Town next month, his representative said.

•  The government “conveyed by phone to me they will not be able to grant the visa for the reason that it would disturb relations between China and South Africa,” NangsaChoedon told AFP.

•  The refusal could provoke a boycott of the 14th annual peace summit, according to a spokesman for South African laureate and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Asian Games contingent referred to the PMO

•  Unable to declare the pruned list of athletes and officials for the Asian Games, the Union Sports Ministry opted to send the file to the Prime Minister, even as it faced considerable pressure from all sides.

•  It was learnt that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had recommended a list of nearly 400 athletes, as against an overall list of 950 members, including 24 per cent officials.

•  The argument was to keep a possible proportion of a medal for every three sportspersons.

•  The SAI was pleased with the improved strike rate of a medal for every 3.41 athletes in the recent Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

China to develop industrial parks

•  China will set up two industrial parks in India, one each in Gujarat and Maharashtra, and the two countries are expected to sign agreements for this soon.

•  Chinese Consul-General in Mumbai, Liu Youfa, told presspersons that a park would come up near Pune on about 5 sq. km and another near Ahmedabad on about 10 sq. km.

•  The park in Maharashtra will be focussed on automobile sector and that in Gujarat on the power sector.

•  The Pune park will be completed in about 12 years in three stages and is likely to see total investment of $5 billion.

•  The first phase will be completed in three years.

Chinese railway plans for Tibet on track

•  China’s railway plans for Tibet are firmly on track with two new rail lines going west and east from Lhasa.

•  The ambitious railway line from Beijing to Lhasa was began seven years ago.

•  The extended lines — 251 km from Lhasa to Shigatse on the west and 433 km to Nyingchi (still under construction) in the east — will effectively link Tibet to India, Nepal and Bhutan.

•  These are part of the Chinese government’s mission 2020 for infrastructure in Tibet.

•  The lines are also seen as a “triangular defence” for China, allowing it to rush troops and military hardware to its sensitive southern borders with India at short notice.

WHO: Ebola death toll hits 2,400

More international medical workers are needed to fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, where more than 2,400 have died from the disease, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan said in Geneva.
The WHO Director-General welcomed an announcement by Cuba to send 165 doctors, nurses and infection specialists to Sierra Leone for half a year. Some 170 international medical staff are already active in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the countries at the centre of the epidemic. The number of people infected with the deadly haemorrhagic fever virus has risen to 4,784, according to the UN health agency. Health services in West Africa have been strained, partly because many health professionals have become infected.  Many of them have also stayed away from work because of lack of hygienic protection equipment, security measures and pay.  Need to examine ‘MH370 objects’ The Australia-led search team for the missing Malaysian flight MH370 has discovered 58 hard objects inconsistent with the Indian Ocean seabed, raising hopes of solving the over six months-long aviation mystery. Transport Minister LiowTiong Lai said the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) which is leading the search for the plane is currently in the midst of retrieving the objects to be analysed. Naipaul dropped by an international literary festival in Bali Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul has been dropped by an international literary festival in Bali after the event refused to meet his “eleventh-hour request” for a $20,000 fee to appear, its organiserssaid . The Trinidad-born British writer had been one of the biggest names booked for this year’s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF). However the event’s founder and director, Janet DeNeefe, said they had decided to cancel his appearance after he asked for the fee.

Sweeping a historic vote

• Coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama was on the verge of sweeping a historic vote to become Fiji’s first elected leader in eight years, as international observers gave the ballot a stamp of approval.

• With 70 per cent of the vote counted following poll, Mr. Bainimarama’s Fiji First Party had 60.1 per cent, well clear of its nearest rival, the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) on 26.7.

16th Amendment to the Constitution

• The JatiyaSangsad — national Parliament of Bangladesh — has passed a Constitution amendment bill empowering it to remove Supreme Court judges for misconduct and incapacity.

• In a unanimous vote, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was passed .

• The amendment was passed amid objection from senior lawyers and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which had stayed off the general election and is now out of Parliament.

• The Parliament got back this power after nearly four decades.

• The bill, placed by Law Minister AnisulHuq, was passed in the night session with Speaker ShirinSharminChaudhury in the chair.

• According to Deadline.com, the awards, which honour the individuals who have devoted their careers to advancing the entertainment arts, would be hosted by Rob Brydon on October 30 at the Beverly Hilton.

Obama to nominate Verma to the post of Ambassador to India

The White House confirmed that U.S. President Barack Obama intends to nominate Richard Rahul Verma to the post of Ambassador to India, said an official .

If confirmed, Mr. Verma will be the second Indian-American in a top State Department role directly responsible for Washington’s diplomatic engagement with India, alongside NishaBiswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

Alex Salmond resigned as first minister and leader of his political party

•  Scotland’s pro-independence leader Alex Salmond resigned as first minister and leader of his political party, hours after Scots voted to remain in the United Kingdom.

•  Salmond’s impassioned plea to launch a new nation fell short, with Scots choosing instead the security of remaining in union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• The referendum’s result prevented a rupture of a 307-year union with England, bringing a huge sigh of relief to Britain’s economic and political establishment.

Citizenship to some Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

•  Myanmar gave citizenship to 209 Muslims displaced by sectarian violence, after the first phase of a project aimed at determining the status of about a million Rohingya whose claims to nationality have been rejected in the past.

•  Meanwhile Myanmar government’s chief negotiator said that efforts to secure a historic ceasefire agreement with ethnic armed groups are “at a crucial moment” at the start of a fresh round of negotiations

•  The Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State need permission to move from their villages or from camps, where almost 140,000 remain after being displaced in deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012.

•  Some of the 209 who received citizenship were members of the Kaman Muslim minority, who are recognised by the government as indigenous to Myanmar, but there were also Rohingya.

Climate gathering: focus will be on “Right to grow”

•  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the UN Climate Summit on 23rd september, as world leaders and several business executives gathered to announce their commitments to reduce the effects of climate change.

•  The summit is not part of the negotiations that are taking place in the build up to a 2015 summit in Paris in 2015, in which a comprehensive deal is set to be decided. Mr. Ban has instead convened the event to build political momentum in favour of an agreement.

•  The UN chief called on governments and private institutions to invest in climate solutions designed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. He also urged the implementation of carbon taxes.

US responsible for the delay in India Japan nuclear deal

•  India's nuclear deal with Japan is not going to happen in a hurry. Neither will its nuclear agreement with Australia which was signed just weeks ago. The reason lies in Washington.

•  India and the US are yet to complete the last bit of their nuclear deal, known as "administrative arrangements." This is necessary to operationalize the deal, but has been hanging fire.

•  India says the US is responsible for the delay, but US officials say they are holding firm on their demand for end-user verification visits to Indian nuclear plants and more important, to track externally sourced fuel through Indian plants.

•  This demand is at the heart of Japanese refusal to sign the nuclear agreement with India. Before Modi's visit, MEA had put a lot of pressure on the Japanese side to complete the deal.

•  Japan has indicated clearly that it would wait for India to complete administrative arrangements with the US before they would consider the Indian deal.

PM announces lifelong visas for Indian Diaspora

•  Amid cheers from thousands of Indian-Americans, Prime Minister NarendraModi announced several measures to ease travel to their motherland including life-long visas.

•  “There is even more to come,” he said smilingly as he announced that People of Indian Origin (PIOs) in staying in India for long would not have to report to police. “There is no need for them to do that anymore.”

•  Currently PIO cards, given to those who themselves, their parents or grandparents or their spouse, were one-time Indian citizens, allow for visa-free travel to and from India. However, a PIO card is only valid for 15 years.

•  On the other hand, the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card given to only those who themselves or their parents were one time citizens, has lifelong visa-free travel and does not require the holder to register with any office regardless of the length of their stay.

•  Eventually the PIO and OCI schemes will be combined in a new scheme and also cover spouses.

Ashraf Ghani as the next Afghan President

•  Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani was declared Afghanistan’s next President on Sunday, hours after signing a power-sharing deal with his rival Abdullah Abdullah that ended a prolonged standoff over the disputed result.

•  Mr. Abdullah will now nominate his choice for the new post of “Chief Executive Officer” (CEO), which will be similar to Prime Minister — setting up a tricky balance of power as Afghanistan enters a new era.

•  The White House welcomed Sunday’s power-sharing deal, which it said “helps bring closure to Afghanistan’s political crisis”. “We look forward to... the conclusion of the Bilateral Security Agreement,” it added in a statement. Gaza truce talks with Hamas on September 23rd

•  Israel said it would send a delegation to attend indirect Gaza truce talks with Hamas in Cairo next week, although a Minister said they would likely achieve nothing.

•  Egypt, which has played a key role in the talks, had initially invited both sides to resume talks on September 17 but it was pulled forward
   

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