International Polity - Current Affairs for June, 2016

Israeli cabinet ministers on 29th June 2016 approved a deal with Turkey at the weekend on normalising relations after years of acrimony over a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza bound aid flotilla

• Security cabinet approved the deal 7-3 after four and a half years of debate giving the final Israeli government approval
• PM Benjamin Netanyahu and others promoted economic benefits with talk of creating the pipeline to Turkey to export Israeli gas and the need to find allies in the Middle East
• Turkey will be allowed to provide aid for Palestinians in Gaza as part of the deal, but Netanyahu has stressed the Israel blockage on the enclave to remain in position

Gudni Johnnesson on 26th June 2016 won the Iceland presidential elections

• History professor who ran as an independent in the election was able to secure 39.1 percent of the vote
• He will succeed Olafur Ragnar Grimsson who served 20 years as head of the state
• Elections were against the backdrop of the Panama papers controversy.
• Halla Tomasdottir, a business woman came in second with 27.9 percent while David Odds-on a former conservative PM and central bank governor won 13 percent of the vote

British Labour Party lawmakers voted massively against their leader on 28th June amidst political turmoil in Britain after the vote to leave the EU was a candidate to succeed PM David Cameron voted for power

• Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lost the non binding confidence motion with 172 voting against him of a total of 229 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons Lower House
• Pro-EU finance minister George Osborne ruled himself out on Tuesday when British media said that the Work and Pensions Minister Stephen Crabb, unknown to the British public is said to put his name forward
• Former London mayor Boris Johnson is also a crowd favourite with Theresa May reportedly seeking support for a rival bid that has been called the “Stop Boris”campaign

China and Russia have signed a draft of agreements from food and energy security to military with over 30 such agreements being signed during Russian President Putin’s whirlwind visit to Beijing

• Agreements covered joint development of long range civilian aircraft
• The two nations are also developing a heavy lift helicopter in relation to Chinese specifications and it will have maximum take off weight of 38.2 tonnes and fly at speeds of 300 km/hour.
• During the talks, a discussion for dovetailing China’s Belt and Road connectivity initiative with Russian led EEU plan was also explored
• Two leaders signed a joint statement on strengthening global strategic stability and promoting development of cyberspace.

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Arjuna Mahendran has decided to resign following a long and sustained campaign by civil society activists and political parties

• Mahendran who was made Governor after the current government took over is also serving the reminder of the term of his predecessor
• Ajith Nivard Cabraal was the predecessor for this post
• Governor has informed the Monetary Board of the CBSL that he would not seek reappointment till the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises will make its findings known on issuance of treasury bonds in 2015, 2016.

Colombian government and FARC rebels signed a ceasefire and disarmament agreement ending conflict that has killed many people.

• Deal brings an end to Latin America’s longest civil war that had torn apart the country with shootings and bombardments.
• Deal established bilateral ceasefire and ends hostilities and marks a historic day for the country
• As per the agreement the FARC must hand over weapons to UN monitors within 6 months

A shocked EU on 24th June urged Britain to leave as soon as possible amidst fears that Brexit could spark further referendums.

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande had led calls for EU to reform following a parting with Britain
• The stance to give effect to the decision of the British people asap however painful the process may be came after PM David Cameron announced he would resign and leave negotiations on British departure to the successor named in October.
• European Commission Chief Jean Claude Juncker said it was sad that Britain had voted to leave, but there would be no renegotiation regarding British membership.
• Juncker, a former Luxembourg premier and strong federalist indicated that Brexit did not spell the end of EU

Close to two million people have signed a petition in the UK calling for the second referendum over the EU membership of the country.

• Petition will now be discussed in the British Parliament having crossed 100,000 signatures required to trigger a House of Commons debate
• UK voted to leave the EU by 52 to 48 per cent on 23rd June referendum
• A majority of voters in Scotland, London and Northern Ireland backed the remain side in a 72 percent turnout
• The petition calls upon the British government to implement a rule if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 percent based on a turnout less than 75 percent, another referendum should be held.
• It is currently unclear if changes to the rule demanded by the petition came into force and were inserted into UK legislation can be retrospectively applied.
• Scottish independence hopes were revived following the Brexit vote and 45 percent of the voters who lost started a campaign for another vote.
• Parallel petition calling for Londependence or British capital an independent after the UK voted to quit the EU has been signed by many people
• Meanwhile British Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a possible coup from within his party for not being able to prevent Brexit.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on 22nd June 2016 named electricity minister Imad Khamis as the new prime minister of the war-ravaged country.

• Mr. Assad tasked Mr. Khamis with forming a new government, according to the official news agency SANA.
• The 54-year-old engineer replaces Wael al-Halqi who had held the post since August 2012.
• Mr. Khamis had served as Syria's minister of electricity since 2011 and is an electrical engineer by trade.

Following resignation of Maldives’s Home Minister, Umar Naseer, President Abdulla Yameen on Wednesday reshuffled his Cabinet and made Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad the country’s Vice-President.

• Mr. Jihad is the third person to occupy the post in less than a year.
• Mohamed Jameel Ahmed (November 2013-July 2015) and Ahmed Adheeb (July-November 2015) were his predecessors.
• Cabinet reshuffle

Virginia Raggi a leading member of populist anti corruption movement M5S or Five Star Movement was on June 20, 2016 elected as Rome’s first female mayor

• She is the first candidate from that party, M5S to be elected to Rome’s mayorality
• Raggi who will turn 38 in July is also the youngest mayor in the country’s history
• M5S is a political party founded by comedian turned political leader Beppe Grillo
• With this win, the party emerged as main opposition to centre-left PM Matteo Ranzi

Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman and Joo Hyunghwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Government of Republic of Korea launched a special initiative to facilitate Korean investments in India

• It is called Korea Plus
• MoU for the same was signed between Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Govt. of the Republic of Korea and Invest India, the National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency of India in January 2016. This MOU came as an outcome of the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to South Korea in May 2015.
• Korea Plus was operationalised on June 18, 2016

Moscow is aiming to create “zone of influence” through military means according to NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg

• There has been large scale militarisation at NATO borders in Arctic, Baltic from the Black Sea to the Mediterraenean
• Large scale manœuvres are in place on the Russian side, NATO said
• Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its support for Ukraine separatists has been viewed as an offensive by NATO

Norway in the first week of June 2016 became the first country to prohibit deforestation. On 26th May 2016, the Norwegian Parliament has pledged to ensure government’s public procurement policy is deforestation free.

• This was taken by the government to ensure the parliament will no longer award government contracts to companies that cut down and destroy forests.
• Norwegian lawmakers have committed to find a way to source essential products such as palm oil, beef and timber so there is little impact on the ecosystems.
• Norway has pledged to do that at the UN Climate Summit in 2014 as well.
• A natural rainforest emits and absorbs vast quantities of CO2 and is also called the lungs of the earth.
• They also help to maintain the water cycle.

Pedro Pablo KuczynskiPeruvian economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski defeated his rival Keiko Fujimori with a thin margin to become Peru’s next President.

• The National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) on 9 June 2016 announced that the Peruvian political organization Peruanos Por el Kambio received the most votes representing 50.12% of valid votes.
• The difference in the total votes was of 41438 with 8580474 votes for Kuczynski and 8539036 for Fujimori.

Hillary Clinton has cemented her position as the presumptive Democratic nominee, seizing her place in history as the first woman to contest a US presidential election at the head of a major political party.

• The former Secretary of State cruised to victory in four of the week’s six state primaries including, crucially, California – where her rival, Bernie Sanders, had hoped to fuel his flagging campaign.
• When she conceded defeat to Barack Obama at the end of a long and gruelling primary season in 2008, Ms Clinton expressed regret that she had been unable to “shatter that highest and hardest glass ceiling”, the presidential nomination.
• Reaching for history, Mrs. Clinton pledged to build on the achievements of pioneers like the 19th-century leaders at Seneca Falls, N.Y., who began the fight for women’s rights in America.

John Kerry said on Sunday that US would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defence zone over the South China Sea provocative and destabilising. Taiwan’s new defence minister also said island would not recognise any air defence zone declared by China over the South China Sea, as the island's top security agency warned such a move could usher in a wave of regional tension.

• China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
• The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with Washington.

Swiss voters rejected by a wide margin on June 5 a proposal to introduce a guaranteed basic income for everyone living in the wealthy country after an uneasy debate about the future of work at a time of increasing automation.

• Supporters had said introducing a monthly income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,563) per adult and 625 francs per child under 18 no matter how much they work would promote human dignity and public service.

The Philippine president-elect said on Tuesday he will pay bounties to police or military officials who capture suspected drug lords "dead or alive", adding that there is enough reward money to leave "100 persons dead”.

• Rodrigo Duterte said he will pay up to 3 million pesos ($64,000) for every drug lord that officials turn in, adding that the bounties would be financed by left-over campaign contributions.
• Targets, will include anti-narcotic agents who are secretly involved in the drug trade and jailed crime suspects who manage to continue their drug dealing. Any crime suspects who put up a resistance would be killed.