International Polity - Current Affairs for April, 2015

A royal decree removed Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud as next in line to the throne and replaced him with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, who headed a crackdown on al-Qaeda in the country a decade ago.

The final vote on the 19th Amendment of the Constitution was taken after the Committee stage of the legislative process. Two hundred and twelve Members of Parliament voted in favour while only one parliamentarian opposed the reform bill.

With this win, Omar al-Bashir extends his 25-year rule. Omar faces war crimes charges and is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The operation was launched shortly after the 7.9-magnitude quake hit Nepal at 11.56 am on 25th Apr’15, and the first military plane carrying relief materials and Indian experts landed in Kathmandu before 6pm. The Indian Air Force has mobilised its Il-76, C-130J Hercules and C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft and Mi-17 helicopters for Operation Maitri, the name for the relief efforts in Nepal.

The scope of Exercise VARUNA includes the entire gamut of maritime operations from Aircraft Carrier Operations, Anti Submarines Warfare Exercises, Maritime Interdiction Operations to multi-ship replenishment exercise.

Murthy has become the youngest-ever in-charge of the country's public health. He is now the highest ranking Indian-American in the Obama Administration.

Mr Cuomo led a delegation of businessmen from his state, New York, to the island where he held talks with Cuban minister of external trade. Mr. Cuomo said that the 50 years of isolating Cuba have been unsuccessful. Relations between Havana and Washington have improved since December, when President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro announced their intention to normalise diplomatic ties.

Initially executions were limited to terrorism offences but on March 10 the government decided to implement death penalty in all cases following the Peshawar school massacre on December 17 last year.

The foreign ministry said Mr Comey had suggested in a Washington Post article that some Poles were accomplices. After the summons US envoy Stephen Mull said he made it clear the US believed Nazi Germany alone was responsible.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Ban Ki Moon in a letter that Tehran stands ready to help the United Nations restore peace to Yemen, where the rebels have taken over the capital and driven President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi into exile.

Pakistan and Russia on 16 April 2015 agreed to hold first-ever joint military exercises as a part of their enhanced defence cooperation.

The sculpture of Parrot Lady was found in Canada in 2011 when it was seized under the Cultural Property Export and Import law from a person who did not have proper documentation. Parrot Lady is a life-sized, sandstone sculpture and is said to be around 900 year old. The sculpture of a Naayika or Heroine has a parrot on her back. It was carved for placement in one of the Khajuraho temples that form a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Madhya Pradesh.

In his article, US president said that Mr Modi, laid out an ambitious vision to reduce extreme poverty, improve education, empower women and girls and unleash India's true economic potential while confronting climate change. Mr Obama also describes, Mr Modi as the leader of the world's largest democracy, and writes that his life story from poverty to Prime Minister reflects the dynamism and potential of India's rise.

Siti Zainab was beheaded on 14th Apr’15 in Medina after being convicted of stabbing and beating to death her employer, Noura al-Morobei, in 1999.

The two countries met their French and German counterparts in Berlin and agreed to support international monitors and establish four working groups to address the most pressing issues faced by people in the embattled region, where Russian-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian government forces.The meeting took place on 13th Apr’15 amid fresh clashes in the Donetsk area.

PM Narendra Modi’s trip to Canada will be the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 42 years. The Prime Minister will meet his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper in Ottawa to advance prospects of a free trade deal.

He also said the world should collectively put pressure on countries which provide shelter to terrorists, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.