Nepal Inked Fuel Agreement with China to chi Ease Crisis
- Nepal signed its first ever fuel agreement with China on October 28. 2015 for Beijing to supply petroleum to ease a crippling shortage after protests blocked imports from sole supplier India. In this regard a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with China National United Oil Corporation to supply the petroleum products that Nepal needs.
- Beijing has already agreed to donate 1.3 million liters of petrol to Nepal but the two countries have never commercially traded oil or gas. Kathmandu is exploring the possibility of transporting fuel via its Northern land crossings with China.
- Nepal has traditionally relied on its border crossings with India for trade, with the flat plains easing the transport of imports and exports, while avoiding the mountainous terrain of the northern routes.
US Senate Passed Cyber Security Bill Despite Privacy Concerns
- The US Senate passed the cyber security bill on October 28, 2015. The Senate passed the bill by 74-21 votes and now the bill heads for reconciliation with the earlier-passed House cyber security bill. In this regard, the US Senate ignored the privacy concerns.
- It is being considered as a critical step forward in addressing cyber threats and ensuring tools are in place to deter future cyber attacks. The proponents of the bill said will help prevent cyber attacks by facilitating a common awareness in the cyber realm.
- The USA was under pressure to act in the wake of recent high-profile cyber-attacks against multiples private companies. The passage of legislation comes just after US Congress had voted to rein in the powers of the National Security Agency following revelations of vast surveillance programmes in leaked documents.
Poland Parliament Elections 2015
- Euroskeptic Jaroslaw Kaczynski. leader of Poland’s conserv ative Law and Justice (PiS) party, won an absolute Parliamentary majority in the elections on October 25, 2015.
- This victory ended eight years of centrist rule and give a clear victory to Eurosceptic conservatives who fought against refugees and welfare promises.
- The PiS picked up 242 out of 460 seats in the lower house of Parliament and securing 39.1 % of the votes, ousting the governing Civic Platform (PO) liberals who had 133 seats, by securing 23.4% of the votes With this victory’, the deputy leader of PiS Party Beata Szvdlo is set to become the next Prime Minister of Poland, succeeding Ewa Kopacz.
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China and UK Signed Landmark Deals
- Beijing and London secured deals worth about £ 40 billion ($ 62 billion) on October 22, 2015 i.e , during President Xi Jinping’s first state visit to the UK. Beijing will partly linancc $ 28 billion major nuclear power plant in Britain to supply electricity to 6 million homes.
- It is the first major and historic Chinese investment in a Western nuclear facility. The cash generated by the new deals will help to create WOO jobs across the UK.
- Britain had also sealed oil and gas deals with China worth more than £ 12 billion, including with BPPLC. It also landed a £ 2.6 billion deal to make new cruise ships. China’s General Nuclear Corp will take a one-third stake in the planned $ 28 billion Hinkley Point nuclear plant owned by France’s EDF.
China Rebuked US for Warship Sailing Past Islands in Disputed Sea
- A US Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed close to China’s man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea on October 20, 2015 drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing, which said its warships tracked and warned the American vessel.
- The patrol by the USS Lassen was the most significant US challenge yet to the 12-nautical-mile territorial limits China asserts around the islands in the Spratly archipelago and could ratchet up tension in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
- The US patrol was a “coercive action that seeks to militarise the South China Sea region” and an ‘abuse’ of freedom of navigation under international law. China is claiming its full sovereignty over these disputed islands and its adjacent waters in South China Sea.
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