International Polity - Current Affairs for April, 2016

Lobsang Sangay was re-elected as the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile on 27th April 2016 for the second consecutive time.

• 48-year-old Sangay who has been the Prime Minister since 2011 defeated his only rival - Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament Pempa Tsering by 9012 votes.
• Chief Election Commissioner of the Tibetan government-in-exile Sonam Chhopel said, the names of all the 45 elected members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile have also been declared.
• He said the election to the post of Prime Minister started on 18 October 2015.

Sweden has pledged support to Sri Lanka to get back to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences plus which provides concessional access to the EU

• EU in 2010 temporarily withdrew the facility of GSP plus given in Sri Lanka after a year long exhaustive investigation.
• Shortcomings” in respect of Sri Lanka's implementation of three UN human rights conventions – International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child – were cited for the action.

The Saudi Arabian kingdom on 25th April 2016 approved the Vision 2030 which is a broad based economic reform plan. Vision 2030 maps the path for diversifying Saudi economy within the next one and a half decades and ensure that Saudi Arabia lives without oil by 2020.

• Vision 2030 involves forming public investment fund, increasing affordable housing and providing expats with long term residence rights

• Saudi Arabia is at heart of Islamic and Arab worlds
• Determination for becoming an international investment powerhouse
• Turning Saudi Arabia into a hub connecting three continents

Bangladesh has introduced a law with the provision to impeach SC judges if allegations of misconduct or incapacity are proved

• The Cabinet, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, approved in principle a draft of the ‘Supreme Court Judge (Investigation Act) 2016’, that, once passed, will empower the Parliament to impeach a judge.
• The approval was made under a constitutional obligation as Parliament in September 2014 had unanimously passed the 16th constitutional amendment bill, empowering the Parliament to remove Supreme Court judges.
• A 10-member parliamentary body will investigate allegations. The Speaker will then form a high-powered committee with former a Supreme Court judge, a former Attorney-General and noted jurists to review the primary report.
• The committee’s findings will be placed before Parliament which will forward its recommendations to the President for necessary action.

Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich have said they will coordinate with each other in an effort to stop frontrunner Donald Trump from becoming the party nominee which the real estate tycoon dismissed as an act of “desperation”.

• Texas senator Cruz and Ohio governor Kasich issued statements that they would not compete with each other in several states to try and stop Mr. Trump from securing the necessary 1,237 delegates before the Cleveland convention in July which they hope would make it a contested convention and thus open up their paths to the White House.
• Currently, Mr. Trump had 845 delegates to Mr. Cruz’s 559.

Mouamba Clement, the former Congolese Finance Minister, has been appointed as the Prime Minister of Congo.

• He was appointed to the post by Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso. Clement will be responsible for forming a government in consultation with the president in accordance with the 25 October 2015 constitution.
• Also, his major task after being appointed as Prime Minister would be to help in creating jobs for the youth

US Treasury Department announced on April 20, 2016 that the image of an American abolitionist and anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman will appear on a series of USD 20 bills.

• Tubman because the first African-American and the first woman in more than a century to appear on US paper currency.
• Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist, humanitarian and armed scout and spy for US Army during the American Civil War
• She will replace Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the US to appear as the portrait in a USD 20 bill.

Deblyidress Debby was on 21st April 2016 elected as President of Chad, and has become the incumbent president with fifth term in office in a victory which was lopsided. In the 2016 election, Idriss Deby of the Patriotic Salvation Movement party secured 61.56 percent of the vote in the first round runoff. Opposition leader Saleh Kehzabo finished in second place, followed by Laokein Kourayo Mbahiherem.

• Deby is also the AU chairperson and was elected by the Assembly of Heads of State of AU in January 2016 for a single year term.

The royal palace on April 21 said the newborn prince's full name will be Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil.

• He will also receive the title of the Duke of Sodermanland, a province south of Stockholm.
• The prince is fifth in the line of succession for Sweden's royals.

Ongoing military restructuring in China has appeared with President Xi Jinxing assuming the role of Commander-In-Chief of the Joint Battle Command of the PLA.

• Move showed the President has developed personal authority over troops at par with late leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
• The new title adds to the other three that President Xi holds— general secretary of the Communist Party of China , President, and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).

S. Davis Iran on 17th April 2016 unveiled S-300 missile system parts at army parade in Tehran. It was a long-awaited air defence system ordered from Russia.

• A deal between Iran and six world powers over its nuclear activities which caused lifting of sanctions in January 2016 removed the barriers to delivery but the fully operational system is still awaited.
• Iran insists the system is necessary to protect itself from threats of attack, including possible bombing of its nuclear facilities, and the S-300 would allow early detection of approaching aircraft.
• The S-300 is a series of Soviet-Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems produced by NPO Almaz, based on the initial S-300P version.
• It was first deployed by Russia in the year1979.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump easily won New York state's presidential nominating contest on 9th April, moving closer to capturing enough delegates to win the party's White House nomination

• The New York City billionaire's big win pushed him closer to the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination.
• Meanwhile among the Democrats, Hillary won with ease beating sanders
• New York voting was marked by irregularities called the Brooklyn purge

Brazil's lower house of Congress voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, delivering a major blow to a long-embattled leader who repeatedly argued that the push against her was a "coup."

• Rousseff is accused of using accounting tricks in managing the federal budget to maintain spending and shore up support.
• The needed two-thirds of lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies voted to oust her.

Nepal’s first woman acting Chief Justice Sushila Karki has assumed office after the country received its first woman President and Speaker. Karki is the senior most judge in the Nepalese SC. She has done Masters in Political science from BHU, Varanasi. She is known for her zero tolerance approach towards corruption.

• She succeeds CJ Kalyan Shrestha
• Her formal appointment to the post was not announced through the Parliamentary Hearing Committee due to technical reasons
• She is yet to take both of office and secrecy.
• She is known for judgements allowing women to pass citizenship to children, previously open to only men.

Pakistan and China on April 14, 2016 began their fifth joint air exercise, Shaheen-V, at an operational base in Pakistan

• “A contingent of People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) comprising combat pilots, air defence controllers and technical ground crew and a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) contingent are participating in the exercises,” a PAF spokesman told the press.
• Last exercise Shaheen 4 was conducted in Beijing in October 2015
• PAF has regularly participated in several air force exercises including US Air Force, Italian Air Force, Turkish Air Force and other allied nations.
• Partnership will boost the CPEC as well as joint infrastructure development.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev resigned on 11th April 2016, after several parliament members made accusation of corruption against his cabinet. Government’s work has stalled at this time because of these accusations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the creation of a powerful new National Guard security force, a move to ward off unrest over the economic crisis in the country. Putin said that the force will merge with the country’s interior ministry troops with riot police as well as swat teams.

Myanmar's president signed a bill giving Aung San Suu Kyi a new role of state adviser, shoring up her influence across all branches of government despite vehement opposition from the still-powerful military.

• She is already the foreign minister
• She will occupy a post called state counsellor

Johnson has been appointed as new prime minister, Progressive Party MP Hoskuldur Thorhallsson told reporters in parliament on April 6, 2016.

• Johannsson, of the Progressive Party, is the minister of fisheries and agriculture.
• The appointment comes after former Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped aside after the alleged Panama Papers leak of documents showed his wife owned a firm with claims on the island's collapsed banks, sparking wide-spread protests.

Vietnam’s national assembly swore in Tran Dai Quang as the 9th president of the nation. He was formally Minister of Public Security.

• From 481 valid votes, 452 choose him as the new president
• A resolution approving the presidency of Quang was also backed by NA deputies to the tune of 93% in the plenary session
• Truong Tan Sang was the 8th president of this nation

Central African Republic’s newly elected president has appointed his campaign manager as the PM of the country

Simplice Sarandji will be the new PM of the CAR

• Touadera, a Christian has vowed to unify CAR torn by violence between Christians and Muslims
• Sarandji was a professor and the secretary-general at the University of Bangui, and has few political ties.