(Current Affairs) International Events | June: 2016

International Events

Sri Lankan Govt to tone down emphasis on Eelam war

  • The Sri Lankan government, in continuation of its policy of de- emphasising the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has decided not to have any military parade this year at an event to mark the conclusion of the Eelam War.
  • Last year, after MaithripalaSirisena became President, the government renamed the Victory Day as Day of Remembrance, marking the shift from triumphalism to commemoration.
  • Since the end of the civil war in May 2009, military parades constituted an important element of the celebration on May 19.
  • Between 2010 and 2015, such parades were held either on the Galle Face Main, Colombo, or in Matara, a city in the Southern Province. Even last year, the southern city witnessed one such event.
  • Instead, on May 18, a function would be held at the War Memorial near the Parliament, which would be attended by the President. A cultural show would take place at the Independence Square in the evening.
  • The statement said that as the Independence Day was celebrated in a grand manner, the funds that would have otherwise been spent for “lavish shows” would be used for welfare schemes of war heroes and their families.
  • The government also clarified that as in the previous year, there would be no bar on remembering those who died during the civil war but the authorities would not allow any event to hail the LTTE.

Venezuela declares emergency

  • Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a three-month state of emergency to face “threats from abroad”, as his emboldened foes geared for a vote to oust him.
  • In an address to the nation, Mr. Maduro said he had signed a new state of emergency decree “to neutralise and defeat foreign aggression”, which he says is closing in on the country. Mr. Maduro said the measures will likely last through 2017.

Belgium to take fight against IS into Syria

  • Belgium will extend its F-16 air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq into Syria, Belgium grapples with the aftermath of deadly IS-claimed bomb attacks in Brussels.
  • In accordance with UN Resolution 2249, the engagement will be limited to those areas of Syria under the control of IS and other terrorist groups.
  • The objective will be to destroy these groups’ refuges,”, Govt also said that the strikes would begin on July 1.
  • Belgium launched its first attacks against IS in Iraq in late 2014 as part of the U.S.-led coalition, but decided against strikes in Syria amid public fears over getting dragged into a wider conflict.
  • However, the November 13 Paris attacks which left 130 people dead brought home the IS threat to the heart of Europe and changed sentiment sharply.
  • Earlier, Belgian Foreign Minister said the government was reconsidering its position, as it did not make sense to attack IS in Iraq but not in Syria.

Nepal on turmoil again

  • Madhesi protesters under the leadership of the United Madhesi Democratic Front (UMDF) of Nepal declared that they would start a new round of agitation and enforce a blockade on the capital Kathmandu.
  • The protest comes three months after the end of a crippling economic blockade that the UMDF had launched demanding citizenship rights for the Madhesis of Nepal.
  • “We will not let the government function unless it carries out amendments to the Nepali Constitution guaranteeing citizenship rights.” UMDF said
  • May 13th declaration of protest was made exactly a week after Nepal cancelled the visit of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to India and recalled its ambassador.

China opens its first deep-sea research institute

  • China has opened its first deep-sea research institute, which experts said will be useful to identify marine resources and to improve naval technology.
  • The Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE) located in Sanya, Hainan province passed an acceptance inspection and began official operations.
  • It is the first scientific research base for study of the deep seas and is also China’s first public platform for deep-sea research.
  • The deep sea has a wealth of resources including mineral, biotic and petroleum resources, and there are more than 40 billion tonnes of petroleum in the South China Sea alone.

Brazilian President suspended

  • Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was suspended to face impeachment, ceding power to her Vice President-turned-enemy Michel Temer in a political earthquake ending 13 years of leftist rule over Latin America’s biggest nation.
  • Defiant to the end, Ms. Rousseff denounced a “coup” aimed at driving her from power, and urged her supporters to mobilise as she braces for an impeachment trial that is set to drag on for months.
  • Hours earlier, a nearly 22-hour debate in the Senate closed with an overwhelming 55-22 vote against Ms. Rousseff.
  • Only a simple majority of the 81-member Senate had been required to suspend Ms. Rousseff for six months pending judgment on charges that she broke budget accounting laws.
  • A two-thirds majority vote will be needed at the end of the impeachment trial to force Ms. Rousseff (68) from office altogether.

Meeting between India and Bangladesh Foreign Secretary

  • Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said that India and Bangladesh will “work together” to combat terrorism.
  • After a meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart, the Indian foreign secretary told reporters that the two countries would “further strengthen their existing counter-terrorism structure.
  • He also said that the government of India is strongly in support to Bangladesh as it is battling terrorism and extremism. He said “This is an issue of direct concern for us as a neighbour.”
  • In a separate development, India came out with open support for Bangladesh’s ongoing war crimes trial, which has sentenced several Islamist leaders to death.
  • India has also been supportive of a judicial process to address pending issues of retributive justice for war crimes committed during the movement for the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
  • Meanwhile, Dhaka handed over a protest note to Pakistan in response to Islamabad’s condemnation of Nizami’s execution. For the second time this week, Shuja Alam, the Pakistani envoy, was summoned to the foreign office and handed over the note.
  • Pakistan’s Parliament had passed a unanimous resolution on Wednesday condemning the execution. In another incident of protest against the hanging, Turkey has reportedly recalled its Ambassador to Bangladesh.

Trail for impeachment of Dilma Rousseff began

  • Brazil’s Senate opened debate ahead of a vote on suspending President Dilma Rousseff and launching an impeachment trial.
  • Debate was expected to last all day with a vote during the night or early hours of 12th May. A simple majority in the 81 member Senate would be enough to trigger Ms. Rousseff’s six-month suspension pending judgment, in which a two thirds majority would force her from the office of President permanently.
  • Ms. Rousseff’s government lawyer lodged a last-ditch appeal with the Supreme Court to block the vote, but the court had not even responded before Senators sat down in their futuristic building in the capital Brasilia.

Tension in Bangladesh after Jamaat leader hanging

  • Activists from the Islami ChatraShibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, clashed with police in parts of Bangladesh after their party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami was hanged for 1971 war crimes.
  • They also organised funeral prayers for Nizami. As part of their countrywide plan, the Jamaat activists held prayers at the BaitulMukarram national mosque in Dhaka and at the port city of Chittagong.
  • Clashes erupted at the Parade Grounds near the Chittagong College when activists from the Bangladesh Chaatra League, student wing of the ruling Awami Party, tried to stop the prayers.

Obama to become the first US president to visit atomic bomb site

  • Barack Obama will become the first U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, the first target of an atomic bomb 70 years ago, the White House announced..
  • Mr. Obama will fulfil a desire he had expressed in 2009 — to travel to either of the two Japanese cities on which the U.S. dropped atomic bombs in 1945. Many historians believe it was necessary to end the Second World War. Jimmy Carter visited Hiroshima in 1984, after he had left the White House
  • President Obama will be travelling to Japan for his final G-7 summit.
  • Only months ahead of the November presidential election, Mr. Obama’s trip to Hiroshima is fraught with serious risks — to his own legacy and the chances of the Democratic nominee.
  • The Republicans have accused Mr. Obama of being on a perpetual global apology tour — referring to his various remarks that sought to recalibrate U.S. positions towards Europe, the Muslim world and the war on terror.
  • In a preemptive move, the White House said the President would not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb.
  • The Hiroshima bombing and America’s relations with Japan have cropped up in the ongoing presidential campaign.
  • Mr. Trump has said he would rather allow Japan and South Korea to develop their own nuclear arsenals than having U.S. deployment in the region to provide them protection.
  • Mr. Obama’s visit to Hiroshima will highlight America’s commitment “to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” Mr. Rhodes said.

Bangladesh is working on a strategy to fight extremism with US

  • The U.S. and Bangladesh are working out a strategy to fight violent extremism in the South Asian nation, which saw a number of killings in recent months of activists and writers by alleged Islamists.
  • The plan, mooted by the U.S., is currently being discussed. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal had visited Bangladesh on May 5 following the recent murder of a USAID employee and his friend in Dhaka.
  • Another U.S. delegation is expected to visit Dhaka soon to discuss the counter-terrorism plan.
  • Ms. Biswal had met Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla and reportedly discussed security issues when she was in Dhaka last week.
  • The U.S. envoy’s comment came two days ahead of Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar’s visit to Dhaka.
  • Indian officials denied the reports of a trilateral counter-terror partnership saying that Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Dhaka would discuss a “range of issues”, but they would be “strictly bilateral”.
  • Officials also pointed to the fact that there are many “divergences” between the American and Indian positions on extremism in the region, most notably over the ongoing war crime trials, as well as the groups responsible for the killing of bloggers.

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