Page 51 - English Tehelka Issue 6 - March 31, 2018

around the w rLd Here is a round-up of international news to update our readers on everything

important that’s happening in different parts of the world.

Raising global concerns, China changes originally envisioned. After a week of furious lobbying injuring more than 150, the
and a burst of last-minute internal debates and confusion,
United Nations Commis-
Trump agreed to exempt, for now, Canada and Mexico, sion of Inquiry on Syria
Constitution and becomes autocracy and held out the possibility of later excluding allies like said. The strikes may not
Australia. Trump presented the move as a way to rebuild
have specifically targeted
vital industries decimated by foreign competition, though civilians, the panel ruled,
foreign leaders warned of a trade war that could escalate but the use of unguided
to other industries and take aim at American goods. The blast bombs in a densely
China’s lawmakers who have traded threats orders were Trump’s most expansive use of federal power populated area could
passed a historic consti- of war, US President to rewrite the rules of global trade since he took office and amount to a war crime on
tutional amendment that Donald Trump accepted upended the prevailing consensus on free markets that the part of Russia, which
abolishes term limits and the invitation of his has largely governed Washington under administrations has played a crucial role in
will enable President Xi bete noire Kim Jong-un, of both parties for decades. backing the Syrian government. The finding formed part
Jinping to rule indefinitely. North Korea’s leader, to of the panel’s 15th report on the conflict in Syria, which
The National People’s meet for negotiations also said that the Syrian government had used chemical
Congress’ nearly 3,000 over the isolated nation’s weapons in rebel-held areas of Damascus and that the
hand-picked delegates nuclear programme. a former Russian spy United States-led coalition had inflicted heavy casualties
endorsed the constitu- Trump expressed his and his daughter were in airstrikes aimed at Islamic State forces.
tional amendment, voting optimism about the poisoned in Britain by
2,958 in favour with two meeting on Twitter, a military-grade nerve
opposed, three abstaining and one vote invalidated. saying that Kim had “talked about denuclearization with agent of a type developed
The move reverses the era of ‘collective’ leadership and the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze.” He by Russia, British Prime the united states Holocaust Memorial Museum
orderly succession that was promoted by Deng Xiaoping added, “Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this Minister Theresa May told has revoked a prestigious human rights award it had
to ensure stability following the turbulent one-man rule of period of time. Great progress being made but sanctions the Members of Parlia- given to the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, now
Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong. The presidency will remain until an agreement is reached. Meeting being ment of her country. May Myanmar’s civilian leader, faulting her for failing to halt
is a largely ceremonial office, but the constitutional limits planned!” The message was conveyed by Chung Eui-yong, said it was “highly likely” or even acknowledge the ethnic cleansing of her
meant 64-year-old Xi would have had to give it up in a South Korean official, who told the American media that Russia was respon- country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Suu Kyi, who en-
2023. The first constitutional amendment in 14 years that the meeting between the two leaders would be held sible for the attack that dured 15 years of house arrest for taking on the military
had been expected to breeze through the legislature, within the next two months. took place in Salisbury, England, and that the chemical dictatorship in Myanmar, was only the second person
which has never rejected a Communist Party diktat used in the attack had been identified as one of a group of to receive the award, in 2012. It was named after Elie
in its half-century of existence. The slide toward one- nerve agents known as Novichok. The British Foreign Of- Wiesel, a fellow recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and a
man rule under Xi has fuelled concern that Beijing is fice summoned Russia’s ambassador to provide an expla- Holocaust survivor who was one of the museum’s found-
eroding efforts to guard against the excesses of autocratic defying opposition from his own party and nation. Retired military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, ers. Wiesel was the first
leadership and make economic regulation more stable protests from overseas, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33, were found slumped on a recipient. The award, ac-
and predictable. While criticism of the decision to remove US President Donald bench in Salisbury city centre on March 4. cording to the museum,
the two-term presidential limit was heavily censored at Trump signed orders is given annually “to an
home, anti-Xi posters, featuring phrases such as “not my imposing stiff and internationally promi-
president” and “I disagree” written in Chinese and English, sweeping new tariffs nent individual whose
appeared in several Western universities. on imported steel and united nations investigators have linked Russian actions have advanced
aluminium. He, how- forces to a possible war crime in Syria for the first time, re- the Museum’s vision of
ever, sought to soften porting that a Russian plane was responsible for airstrikes a world where people
the impact on US’ on a market last year that killed scores of civilians. The confront hatred, prevent
in an audaCious diplomatic overture that would closest allies with a plane carried out a series of attacks in November on the genocide and promote
bring together two strong-willed and outlandish leaders more flexible plan than town of Al Atarib of Aleppo, killing at least 84 people and human dignity.”

Tehelka / 31 march 2018 50 www.Tehelka.com Tehelka / 31 march 2018 51 www.Tehelka.com

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