(Current Affairs) International Events | November + December: 2015

International Events

UN to allow Palestine flag to fly at United Nations headquarters

  • The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to allow Palestine flag to fly at United Nations headquarters.
  • Of the 193 UN members, 119 voted in favour.
  • The flag will be hoisted at the UN headquarters on Sept 30 when Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas will come to address the general assembly.
  • The United States and Israel were among eight countries that voted against the resolution, which says the flags of non-member observer states like Palestine “shall be raised at (UN) headquarters (in New York) and United Nations offices”.
  • Most of the 28-nation European Union was among the 45 nations that abstained from voting. However, France and more than half a dozen others voted in favour of the Palestinian resolution after the EU split on the issue.
  • The Palestinians initially presented their initiative as a joint effort with the Holy See, but the Vatican said it would not co-sponsor the resolution and requested that its name be removed from the text.

Key reasons why opponents hate the Iran nuclear deal

  • Even though opponents of the Iran nuclear deal can’t win in Congress, they aren’t going to go quietly.

  • Conservative Republicans are vowing to take President Barack Obama to court, claiming he has broken the law by not providing Congress with all relevant documents pertinent to the deal.

  • Republicans in the House claim that the Obama administration has not provided Congress with the text of two so-called “side agreements” that the International Atomic Energy Agency negotiated with Tehran. The law that gave Congress a chance to review the agreement for 60 days required the president to give lawmakers all relevant documents.

  • The conservative Republicans claim the 60-day clock never started and that they can’t cast votes on the deal because they are still waiting for all the documents.

  • The administration says it doesn’t have the separate agreements, and the nuclear inspection agency says confidentiality agreements prevent it from releasing them.

  • Opponents are outraged that Iran, a country that the State Department has labeled a state sponsor of terrorism, will be getting at least $100 billion in relief from economic sanctions that have choked Iran’s economy for years.

  • They worry that Iran will use the money to ramp up its weapons programs and expand military assistance to forces in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and elsewhere that oppose the U.S. and its allies

Taiwan might Elect Its First Woman as President

  • The people of Taiwan appear poised to elect their first female president. Two of the three leading candidates in the January election, including the nominees of both major parties, are women.

  • Women have led other Asian nations, but they have largely followed in the footsteps of male relatives. Not in this case. Rather, analysts say, the race reflects the fact that Taiwan does a better job of putting women into political office than just about anywhere else in the world.

  • The front-runner in the current campaign is Tsai Ing-wen, 59, of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. She lost her first bid for the presidency in 2012, but has maintained a strong lead in polls this time. Her chief contender, from the long-powerful Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, is Hung Hsiu-chu, 67, the vice president of Taiwan’s legislature.

  • The contest contrasts sharply with the situation scarcely more than 100 miles away in mainland China, which considers the self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory.

  • The mainland has had a dearth of female leaders despite a Communist Party ideology that emphasizes the importance of women to society. Only two of the country’s 25 Politburo members are women, and none has reached the top echelon of political power, the Politburo Standing Committee.

On Tibet anniversary, China amplifies Marxist pitch

  • China on Tuesday celebrated the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Tibet Autonomous Republic (TAR) by sending a powerful visual message of unity, along with an advocacy of fusing religious and socialist values.
  • In the backdrop of the imposing Potala palace — once home of the Dalai Lama — thousands gathered on Tuesday morning to listen to Yu Zhengsheng, a top Chinese official who had flown in from Beijing.
  • A spectacular parade that followed, including soldiers in full uniformed regalia, goose-stepping marchers and flag-waving schoolchildren, reinforced the message of Tibet’s role, as a frontier state, in safeguarding China’s security.
  • Among them was the rejection of the 14th Dalai Lama’s role in shaping modern Tibet.
  • President Xi had pointed out that stability in Tibet would resonate in a much larger territorial swathe, as ethnic Tibetans and other ethnic minorities were residing in strength in neighbouring provinces, such as Sichuan and Yunnan.
  • Though China has been focusing on a cultural renaissance based on the revival of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, President Xi had made it plain that Marxist values should be promoted in shaping people’s views on ethnicity, religion and culture.

Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest-reigning UK monarch

  • Queen Elizabeth II becomes Britain’s longest-reigning monarch later when she passes the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria.
  • The Queen will have reigned for 63 years and seven months - calculated at 23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes at about 17:30 BST.
  • The exact moment the Queen reaches the milestone is not known because her father, George VI, passed away in the early hours of 6 February 1952.

North-South Korea agree to family reunions

  • North and South Korea have agreed to host family reunions for families separated by the Korean War, according to media reports.
  • The reunions for 100 separated families will be held Oct. 20-26 at Mount Kumgang, a resort on the North’s east coast., South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.
  • They will be the first reunions since February 2014 and only the second in the past five years.
  • The BBC reported that the talks were being held by Red Cross officials from both sides.
  • The two countries remain technically at war as the Korean War only ended in an armistice.
  • The discussions come after tense weeks on the Korean peninsula, which included exchanges of fire at the border and the evacuation of thousands of South Koreans from the border region.
  • Tensions began when a border landmine injured two South Korean soldiers. South Korea responded by broadcasting propaganda messages into the North.
  • The two sides reached an agreement to defuse the situation after marathon talks, the BBC reported.

Shinzo Abe Re-elected as Leader of Ruling Party

  • Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party re-elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as its president on Tuesday after his potential rival, Seiko Noda, failed to achieve enough support from lawmakers to contest the post. Mr. Abe will remain party leader for a second three-year term.
  • Mr. Abe also pledged to push forward with his plan to permit Japan’s military to be dispatched to conflicts abroad, which has been banned for 70 years under the pacifist Constitution.
  • Legislation allowing that change is expected to be enacted next week, despite rare large-scale protests across the country.

Denmark: launches anti-migrant ad campaign

  • The Danish immigration ministry has placed adverts in leading Lebanese newspapers to discourage refugeesfrom heading to Denmark.
  • They warn that benefits have been cut by up to 50% for asylum seekers. 20,000 refugees are expected in Denmark this year, compared to 14,000 in 2014.
  • Lebanon, with a population of four million, is sheltering 1.1 million people.

UPDATE 1-China monthly copper imports flat in August

  • China’s copper imports were flat in August from the previous month despite weak international prices, hit by slowing growth in the world’s No.2 economy.
  • Imports of anode, refined copper, copper alloys and semi-finished copper products stood at 350,000 tonnes in August, little changed from July and June, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.
  • The inflows rose 2.9 percent from a year ago. In the first 8 months of this year, arrivals stood at 2.94 million tonnes, down 8.1 percent from the same period last year, after many importers cut term shipments for 2015 on worries over the slowing domestic economy.
  • He said the demand for fresh arrivals would rise as the supply of bonded copper stocks was drying out, which could push up imports in September.
  • Copper touched a six-year low of $4,855 a tonne last month.

Germany allots refugee funds, speeds up asylum procedures

  • The German government earmarked additional €3 billion ($3.35 billion) for federal states and municipalities to help cope with this year’s record influx of refugees, said a joint statement by the ruling coalition issued on Monday.
  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that there was no need to hike taxes to cope with the migrants’ influx.
  • Leaders from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition also agreed at a marathon high-level meeting on other measures such as speeding up asylum procedures and facilitating the construction of asylum shelters.
  • The government is also planning to free up an additional €3 billion to fund its own expenses, such as paying benefits for asylum seekers, the joint statement said.
  • Germany expects a record influx of 800,000 migrants and refugees this year, by far the most in the European Union. In August alone, more than 100,000 asylum seekers were registered in Europe’s largest economy.

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