INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2011

INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2011

• Uganda’s long-time president Yoweri Museveni has won another term; this allowed him to extend his 25-year hold on power. But the top opposition leader Kizza Besigye alleged the election was fraudulent and vowed to reject the results. Foreign election observers said there had been serious flaws with the voting process and the campaign. They said state resources were used to skew the elections in Mr. Museveni's favour.
• One of New Zealand's biggest cities, Christchurch lay in ruins on 22 February after a powerful earthquake toppled buildings and churches, killing at least 65 people in the country's worst natural disaster in decades. 
• The extraordinary International Energy Forum (IEF) meeting was held in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S. Jaipal Reddy was participated from India. 
• Russia has successfully launched a next-generation navigation satellite for its Glonass Global Communication System. The Glonass-K satellite was hauled into orbit on 26 February from the Northern Plesetsk Space Centre by the upgraded Soyuz 2-1b launcher. This launch will increase the deployed Glonass grouping to 23 satellites, one short of the minimum needed to provide 100-per cent global coverage. Glonass will be integrated with the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), as well as with the European Union's Galileo system and China's Compass network when they are deployed. Under a 2007 accord, Russia agreed to share the Glonass signal with India. India will be the only country to have access to the military segment of the Glonass system, which will enable the Indian military to greatly improve the accuracy of its land-, sea-, air and space-launched weapon systems. In September the two countries signed a deal to jointly manufacture Glonass/GPS twin system receivers and other navigational equipment. 
• Egypt's new military rulers have suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament and have set a six-month timeline for holding fresh parliamentary and presidential elections. 
• Gay couples in Britain are to be allowed to “marry” and given the right to hold traditional weddings under unprecedented reforms that would end the historic legal definition of marriage. 
• Burma’s parliament on 16 February agreed to form a New Supreme Court with seven members. Burma started its First Three chamber Parliament sessions simultaneously on January 31 with The House of Representatives (lower house) and the House of Nationalities (Upper House) going in to sitting in Nay Pyi Taw, Burma’s new Capital city. 
• Pro-democracy activists in Libya, inspired by democratic transitions in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, are facing a harsh crackdown. Around 84 people were died in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi which is said to be the epicenter of the revolution. 
• Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on for allegedly carrying a huge sum of undeclared foreign currency. 
• A new organisation, Anti-Corruption Citizen's Forum (ACCF), an initiative by a group of concerned citizens including former judges and former IAS officers was formed in Hyderabad on 13 February with the objective of curbing the menace, build pressure groups and urge the government to take action. Among those in the core group that worked to form the ACCF were former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court A. Lakshmana Rao, former Supreme Court judge B. P. Jeevan Reddy, former High Court Judge Reddappa Reddy and former Lok Ayukta Justice Ramanujam, former IAS officers K. R. Venugopal, K. Padmanabhaiah and C. Umamaheswara Rao.
• A.P.Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy performed the ‘ground breaking' ceremony for three Tata Group projects in Hyderabad on 14 February promoted Hyderabad onto the global aerospace map.Involving an investment of Rs. 1,000 crore and providing direct and indirect employment to 9,000 persons, the three aerospace manufacturing projects at Adibhatla village in Ranga Reddy district are Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructure, (joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems (TAS) and Lockheed Martin), Tata Aerospace Systems (JV of TAS and Sikorsky Aircraft) and Nova Integrated systems (Tata enterprise). They are expected to go on stream by 2011 end.
• The A.P State Legislative Assembly has set a record of sorts by becoming the first in the country to digitise video records of all the debates in the House from 1996.The debates, digitised in DVD format, will shortly be uploaded on the Internet. Members can now take a copy of some of the historic debates or the debates in which they took part and upload it on YouTube or any other site on the Net.
• Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had given the conditional clearance for the 4000-MW Ultra-Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19 February laid the foundation stones of the country's second National Institute of Design (NID) at Jorhat,Assam and the Assam centre of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) at Sivasagar.The first National Institute of Design was set up in Ahmedabad 50 years ago.
• Giving in to opposition demands, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced government’s decision to set up a JPC into the 2G spectrum scam, saying the country could "ill afford" disruption of the crucial Budget session of Parliament.
• Axis bank has formally launched the first ETM (Enywhere Teller Mechine)service in Vijayawada on15 february with the bank already tying up with over 120 merchants as POS(Point Of Sale) terminals to provide its new service to its customers. The bank has plans to extend this service all over the State by March next year by roping in nearly 500 merchants as POS terminals by that time.ETM service is more convenient as the card holder need not look for a bank' ATM.
• The expert group of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the task force of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) broadly agreed to settle their turf war over the jurisdiction of medical education. The National Commission for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) will get to lay down the minimum standards of medical education, while all health-related research will come under the purview of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), promoted by the HRD Ministry.
• The First Urine Bank in India has started in a village Musiri near Tiruchi,Tamil Nadu.
• A group of naval divers on board INS Nireekshak, the Navy's only diving support and submarine rescue vessel, set a new national record last week by diving to a depth of 233 metres in the seas off Kochi coast, bettering a record of 218 metres attained by Navy divers in March 2007.INS Nireekshak, a 3,600-tonnes ship that was commissioned into the navy in 1995, is capable of diving up to 300 metres.
• The Centre on 18 February annulled the controversial deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation's commercial arm Antrix Corporation and Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia.The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, paved the way for annulling the agreement by declaring that the government will not be able to provide the orbit slot in S-Band to Antrix for commercial purposes, including for its existing contractual obligations, in view of strategic requirements. 
• Japan is to extend an aid of Rs.2, 557 crore (Yen 46.401 billion) to India for three projects through its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) programme. The projects pertain to cleaning the Yamuna in the national capital, crop diversification promotion in Himachal Pradesh and biodiversity conservation and greening in Tamil Nadu. The current aid quantum is part of the 2010 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ODA loan package.
• The 71 st session of the Indian History Congress was held at the Gaur Banga University in Malda,West Bengal.
• The two day Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) was held in New Delhi.
• The Andhra Pradesh’s 12th annual Nandi Drama Festival got off to a colourful start at Nandyal on19 February. C. Pardhasaradhi, Commissioner, Information and Public Relations and Managing Director of AP State Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation, formally inaugurated the festival.
• The Supreme Court has stated in a case that -If a sessions judge passes an erroneous or patently unjustified order, the High Court concerned can suo motu question its correctness by an administrative decision.
• Jordan's king Abdullah II sacked his Government in the wake of street protests and asked an ex-Prime Minister Marouf-Al-Bakhit to form a new cabinet, ordering him to launch immediate political reforms. The Jordanian more follows several large protests across the country-inspired by similar demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is flamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms. 
• In a response of unrest in Egypt, the Palestinian Government in the west bank said it would hold local council elections as soon as possible. 
• India donates huge $ 2,50,000 towards the setting up of an Anti-slavery memorial which will be located in the lawn of the U.N's head quarter in New york. This amount was handed over by India's permanent representative to the U.N., Hardeep Puri towards the trust fund for the permanent memorial to honour the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. 
• Ennise Sanborn (115), worlds oldest person died at Texas, United States. Since the death of Ennise Sanborn has occurred the oldest documented living person is 114 year old Besse Cooper of Georgia, U.S.A. who was born on August 26, 1896. 
• In a response to the opposition's call seeking his immediate exit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has agreed to quit in September this year, but on his own terms which include steering an orderly political transition in Egypt. 
• Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh under opposition pressure to stepdown, said, he would not be president for life and would stepdown in 2013.
• Jhalanath Khanal, Chairman of the communist party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) has become a new Prime Minister for Nepal, after 7 months of uncertainity over selecting the Prime Minister post.
• Australia's biggest cyclone in a century named Yasi shattered entire towns, terrifying locals but causing no confirmed fatalities hit mainly in the Queensland State.
• Thein Sein, a military general-turned-civilian leader was elected as Myanmar's first President under its 2008 constitution on 4th February.
• The world's oldest woman 'Eunice Sanborn' has died in Texas on (31/1/2011) aged 115, 
• King Abdullah-2 of Jordan dismissed Jordanian government on (2/2/2011). 
• India has not invited China, Pakistan and Iran for the biggest-ever airshow in this region, Aero-India 2011, which was conducted in Bangalore with official representation from as many as 60 countries. 
• In a major breakthrough that put an end to more than a month of uncertainty, India and Iran arrived at a settlement and agreed to use 'euro' to pay for Iranian crude oil through a german bank.