INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2014

INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2014

• The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced on 29th January, that it was adding the Indian Rupee to the basket of currencies to be circulated in the country. This it said was in view of the growing trade between the two countries. In addition to the Botswana Pula, British Sterling Pound, Euro, South African Rand and United States Dollar, the central bank also added the Australian Dollar (AUD), Chinese Yuan (CYN), Indian Rupee (INR) and Japanese Yen. The addition of four Asian currencies to the multi-currency system, brings to nine the international currencies circulating in the country. Zimbabwe abandoned the use of its own currency in 2009 after world record inflation levels precipitated an economic collapse under the Zanu PF government. It was a coalition government in 2009 that introduced the multi-currency system that brought stability. 
  
  
• The U.S. warned China on 31 January, against any move to declare a new air defense zone over parts of the South China Sea including disputed islands. Japan media reported that Chinese air force officials have drafted proposals for the next Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that could place the Paracel Islands at its core. Beijing claims the South China Sea almost in its entirety.Late last year, it caused a storm when it abruptly declared an ADIZ above the East China Sea.
  
• Russia and China have begun their first naval war games in the Mediterranean in what is seen as preparation for joint military operations in the world ocean far away from their territorial waters.The Russian Defense sources said that the joint naval drill, which began on 25 January, involves Russia’s heavy nuclear missile cruiser Peter the Great and Chinese frigate Yancheng, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The warships will also conduct air-defense training, using their helicopters as mock targets, the statement said. “It is for the first time that the two countries are holding such training for operational teamwork of their navies,” the Russian Defense Ministry noted. The main purpose of the drill is to enhance the interoperability of Russian and Chinese combat ships for joint operation in the Eastern Mediterranean.”Earlier this month, Russian and Chinese warships escorted the first consignment of Syrian chemical weapons materials transferred on a Danish ship. This became the first practical interaction between the Russian and the Chinese navies. Experts said Russia and China may be training for larger-scale joint naval operations. Last July, Russia and China held their largest joint naval war in the Sea of Japan, in which a total of 23 warships took part.
  
• Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych has signed into law repeal of anti-protest laws and a controversial amnesty for protesters. Mr. Yanukovych, who is in hospital with a respiratory ailment, signed the bills on 31 January, as part of his concessions to the opposition. The opposition supported the bill scrapping harsh anti-protest laws which had triggered violent clashes with police last week, but rejected the amnesty bill because it was conditional on protesters vacating government offices they seized in the capital Kiev and other cities. Protesters refused to clear the buildings and vowed to continue their vigil till Mr. Yanukovych agrees to curbs to his sweeping powers and calls snap elections. As talks with the government reached a stalemate, Ukraine’s military urged the President, who is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, to take “urgent steps” to resolve the political crisis. In a statement posted on its website the Ministry of Defense blasted as “unacceptable” the seizure of government offices, and warned that “further escalation of the confrontation threatens the country’s territorial integrity.” The statement does not necessarily mean that Ukraine’s army is ready to intervene in the two-month-long crisis. Meanwhile, the United States is stepping up pressure on Mr. Yanukovych to meet the opposition demands.
  
• India on 30 January 2014 pledged Nepal to grant assistance of Rs. 44.12 million for the construction of Nepal Academy’s library building in Kathmandu. Nepal Academy, established in 1957, is a premier national institution devoted to the promotion of language, literature, culture, philosophy and research activities. Various projects being implemented under the programme will help the Nepal people in their strides of attaining peace and prosperity. India underlined the importance of Nepal –India economic cooperation programme as a cornerstone of the development partnership between the two countries.
  
• The U.N. Security Council on 28 January unanimously approved a resolution allowing European troops to use force in the Central African Republic and threatening sanctions against those blamed for the country’s strife. The European Union is to send up to 600 troops to help African and French forces already in the country trying to end clashes between rival Christian and Muslim militias. The resolution allows the reinforcements to use “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in the country.
  
• Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on 28th January tendered his resignation in order to facilitate “peaceful settlement” of the political crisis even as the Parliament repealed the harsh anti-protest laws that triggered violent anti-government protests two weeks ago. President Viktor Yanukovych accepted the resignation of the Prime Minister and the government, but the concessions failed to appease the opposition, which is also demanding amnesty to all protesters and constitutional changes to curtail the sweeping powers of the President. It was not immediately clear who could fill the vacant post of Prime Minister. While the opposition leaders turned down Mr. Yanukovych’s offer of the posts of Prime Minister and deputy Prime Minister. Analysts say that the resignation of the Prime Minister does not change anything because under the current power-sharing system the President has total control of the government. The entire political system needs to be reformatted. Opposition leaders have demanded a return to a 2004 constitutional reform that transformed Ukraine from a presidential to parliamentary-presidential republic. As Mr. Yanukovych continues bargaining with the opposition over the terms for ending protests, he is coming under growing pressure from the West to yield more ground. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Mr. Yanukovych on 27 January, to urge him to pull back riot police and work with the opposition on immediate measures to de-escalate tensions between protesters and the government.
  
• Tunisia’s new technocratic government headed by Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa was sworn in on 29 January, replacing an Islamist-led administration under an accord to end political turmoil and prepare for fresh elections.The formal transfer of power took place at the presidential palace after an overnight parliamentary session in which 149 of the country's 193 lawmakers finally approved Mr. Jomaa’s line-up. The new ministers took the oath of office in front of President Moncef Marzouki at a ceremony also attended by members of the former cabinet. The dominant Islamist party Ennahda agreed to relinquish power under the hard-fought political accord reached late last year. The political agreement also required the adoption of a long-delayed new constitution and called for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held by the end of 2014.
  
• The US military is easing its uniform rules to allow religious wear including turbans, skullcaps, beards and tattoos, sources said on 22nd January. Muslim, Sikh, Jewish and Wiccan soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen can now request exemptions to strict military uniform and grooming policies. Requests will be evaluated individually and can be denied if they hinder military readiness. Previously, at least three Sikhs had won specific accommodation. Service members' requests for a religious accommodation will be weighed on a case-by-case basis to ensure they do not impact "mission accomplishment, unit cohesion, and good order and discipline”, officials told the media. And appeals to be allowed to wear beards or special apparel, for example, may be denied if they hinder the safe operation of weapons or military equipment, such as helmets or protective masks. An accommodation will only apply to the service member's current assignment, requiring him or her to obtain new exemptions with every transfer. The new policy, in effect, will extend to all religions recognized by the US military across all branches.
  
• South Sudan government and rebels on 23 January, signed a ceasefire agreement, pledging to halt fighting within 24 hours and end five weeks of bitter conflict that has left thousands dead. The agreement was signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa by representatives of South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel delegates loyal to ousted vice president Riek Machar.US President Barack Obama, whose country provided crucial backing on South Sudan’s path to statehood, described the deal as “a critical first step toward building a lasting peace”. Mediators from the East African regional bloc IGAD, which has been brokering the peace talks, said the deal will put in place a verification and monitoring mechanism for the truce and allow unrestricted access to aid workers. South Sudan’s government also agreed to free 11 officials close to Machar who were detained after fighting between rival army units broke out on December 15, although no timeline for their release was given. The status of the detainees had been a major sticking point in the talks and Obama stressed that their participation would be “critical” to any future dialogue. The fighting has been marked by atrocities committed by both sides, and more than half a million people have been forced from their homes during a wave of ethnic violence in the impoverished nation. Aid workers and analysts believe up to 10,000 people have died.
  
• 60-day state of emergency has been imposed in Bangkok by the Thailand government on 21st January 2014. The emergency has been imposed in the province to suppress the anti- government protest that has blocked the parts of the capital and to take care of the situation and to enforce the law. The emergency decree bans public gatherings, censor the news reports and imposition of curfew for next 60 days. The emergency measure came into effect from 22 January 2014.Emergency was announced by the Deputy Interior Minister, Visarn Techateerawat after a cabinet meeting. The government has also said that it has no plan to disperse the protest movement that is led by the opposition Suthep Thaugsban. To suppress the unrest of the country, the Prime Minister has already called-in for elections on 2 February 2014. To issue a ruling on how and whether the ballot can be delayed the Election Commission is expected to request the constitutional court. Bangkok is witnessing anti-government protests with the demand to force Yingluck Shinawatra, the Prime Minister of Thailand to step down. The protests of the country started in November 2013. The protesters claim that Yingluk Shinawatra government is influenced by her brother Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was the prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006 and was ousted by a military coup in 2006. He exiled himself in 2008 to avoid the two- year prison sentence.
  
• Iran has halted its most sensitive nuclear operations under a preliminary deal with world powers, winning some relief from economic sanctions on 20th January, in a ground-breaking exchange that could ease a threat of war. The United States and European Union both suspended some trade and other restrictions against the OPEC oil producer after the United Nations' nuclear watchdog confirmed that Iran had fulfilled its side of an agreement made on November 24.The announcements, which coincided with a diplomatic row over Iran's role at peace talks on Syria, will allow six months of negotiation on a definitive accord that the West hopes can end fears of Tehran developing nuclear weapons and Iran wants to end sanctions that are crippling its economy. Iran should be able to recover US $ 4.2 billion in oil revenues frozen in foreign accounts over the six months of the interim deal, as well as resume trade in petrochemicals and gold and other precious metals. But EU and U.S. officials stressed that other sanctions will still be enforced during the six months of talks and that reaching a final accord will be difficult. Israel, which has called the interim pact a "historic mistake" and has repeatedly warned it might attack Iran to prevent it developing nuclear arms, said any final deal must end any prospect of Tehran building an atomic bomb - something Iran insists it has never had any intention of doing. The interim accord was the culmination of years of on-off diplomacy between Iran and six powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. It marks the first time in a decade that Tehran has limited nuclear operations that it says are aimed mainly at generating electricity and the first time the West has eased its economic pressure on Iran.
  
• Ahead of the drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, US President Barack Obama has announced to establish an Af-Pak Strategic Partnership Office (APSPO) to oversee smooth transition and promote normalized diplomatic presence in both the countries. In an executive order on 17th January, Obama said the APSPO has been tasked to perform the specific project of supporting executive departments and agencies in facilitating a partnership with the two South Asian countries. Obama said this is a temporary office and would be based in Washington, Islamabad and Kabul. It would promote security and stabilization and transitioning to a normalized diplomatic presence in both the countries, Obama said in his executive order. Meanwhile, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki reiterated that the Afghanistan Government needs to sign the bilateral security agreement as soon as possible.
  
• Hery Rajaonarimampianina, a former Finance Minister of Madagascar on ++17th January 2014 was declared as the new President of the nation. His election as the President came as the result of the elections conducted on 20th December 2013 with an aim to restore democracy in the nation. Hery Rajaonarimampianina was officially declared as the president of the country by Francois Rakotozafy, the president of the electoral court. The announcement of the results was delayed due to a pending court ruling over the allegations of irregularities in voting. The allegation was made by his rival Robinson Jean Louis, who was the candidate of the ousted President Marc Ravalomanana. Louis has won 46.51 percent of the votes. About half of eight million eligible voters were successful in casting their votes. Hery is backed by Andry Rajoelina, who staged a coup in 2009 against the then president Marc Ravalomanana. This coup attempt pushed Madagascar into a political and economic crisis. The ousted President Ravalomanana has gone to South Africa into an exile. Madagascar was suspended by the African Union and Southern African Development Community.
  
• The United Nations on 16 January launched the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, with senior officials urging that the observance be used to redouble efforts to achieve a durable peace between Israel and Palestine."The coming year will be crucial to achieving the two-State solution," Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said in his remarks to the UN General Assembly's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Eliasson said Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are working hard towards a peaceful, comprehensive settlement of all permanent status issues. That means a settlement that ends the occupation that started in 1967 and which would end the conflict. It also means securing an independent, viable and sovereign State of Palestine living alongside a secure State of Israel, where each side recognizes the other's legitimate rights, he added. Last November, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and requested the Committee to organize activities around the observance. UN officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have noted that 2014 could be an important year in the Middle East peace process, if both sides are willing to take bold steps and refrain from actions that undermine progress in the peace talks that resumed last year.
  
• Ukraine’s pro-government lawmakers on 16 January, pushed through parliament tough legislation in an apparent bid to suppress protests against President Viktor Yanukovych. The opposition, which has been spearheading nearly two months of rallies against Mr. Yanukovych over his decision to ditch a key pact with the EU, branded the vote “a power grab.” As per the new law, a blockade of public buildings was punishable by up to five years in prison. Protesters wearing masks or helmets will face a fine or an administrative arrest. ‘Slander’ on the Internet was also banned and punishable with a fine or corrective labor of up to one year.
  
• Russia has persuaded Syria to agree to a prisoner swap and a local ceasefire in an effort to rescue a crucial peace conference plan. After talks in Moscow with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on 17th January, he had handed Mr. Lavrov a plan for a ceasefire in Syria’s biggest city, Aleppo, and was ready to exchange lists with rebel forces for a possible prisoner swap. Mr. Lavrov praised Syria’s readiness, “in response to our appeals,” to take “a series of humanitarian steps” to allow speedy delivery of assistance to “Eastern Ghuta and other areas, including the suburbs of Damascus and Aleppo.” The Syrian opposition has been demanding the end of government bombardment, the release of prisoners and relief aid to besieged areas as a precondition for its participation in the Geneva-2 international conference opening in Switzerland on 22 January. If the proposed prisoner exchange comes through it would be the first one in nearly three years of fighting in Syria. Syria’s offer of concessions is another win for Russia’s steamroller plan to prevent a violent change of regime in Syria. The initiative came hours before the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), an umbrella group of several opposition groups, met in Turkey to vote on whether to attend Geneva-2. Several rebel groups, opposed to peace talks with Damascus, have recently split from the SNC.
  
• The United Nations and its humanitarian partners on 7 January, appealed for $1 billion to save millions of Syrian children from becoming a “lost generation,” doomed by the civil war in their country to a life of despair, diminished opportunities and broken futures. "The future for these children is slipping away, but there is still a chance to save them," UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said at the unveiling of the “No Lost Generation" initiative in Geneva, one week ahead of a major donor conference in Kuwait for humanitarian aid for Syria. Launched by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Save the Children, World Vision and other non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, the initiative calls for Governments, aid agencies the ordinary public to champion the children of Syria, where well over 100,000 people have been killed and 8 million others driven from their homes, 2 million of them as refugees in neighboring countries, since the conflict erupted in March 2011.Over 1 million refugees are children, more than 425,000 of them under the age of five, the vast majority of them in to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq. Nearly 8,000 of these children have been identified as separated from their immediate families. The situation is even more dire for the over 3 million displaced children inside Syria, where much of the country has been consumed by bloody fighting since the conflict first erupted between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and initially peaceful opponents seeking to oust him. The UN agencies and their partners said they would channel the $1 billion into programmes that, in partnership with Governments and local communities, deliver safe education, protection from exploitation, abuse and violence, psychological support, and offer more opportunities for social cohesion and stability in an already volatile region.
  
• Thailand opposition protesters have stepped up their rallies, gathering in thousands in seven major intersections in the capital on 12 January, in their attempt to "shutdown" of Bangkok to ultimately unseat Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The demonstrators want the embattled prime minister to step down to make way for an appointed government that would oversee electoral reforms to curb the political dominance of her billionaire family and tackle a wider culture of money politics. Thousands of flag-waving protesters, some wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Bangkok Shutdown", massed at strategic points in the city on Monday, including outside a major shopping mall that was set on fire during deadly political unrest in 2010.Authorities say they are ready to declare a state of emergency if there is fresh unrest, and roughly 20,000 police and soldiers will be deployed for security. But they have not tried to stop the demonstrators taking over parts of the city in the run-up to the February 2 elections, which they have set out to disrupt.
  
• Weather records have tumbled across North America, with freezing temperatures even in the southern US. The most extreme arctic blasts, blamed on a weather pattern known as the polar vortex, were said to have affected nearly 190 million people. Some parts of the Midwest hit -26C (-14F), as low as the Antarctic coast in winter, and much colder than the inside of a domestic freezer. Temperature records were shattered in states across the US, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Michigan, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. It was -17C (1F) in the small town of Hell, Michigan, prompting online jokes that the weather was so bad even hell had frozen over. But it was Embarrass, Minnesota, that experienced the lowest temperature in the nation on 7 January: -37C (-35F).That was colder than readings recently recorded on the Red Planet by the Mars Rover. The extreme weather resulted in the usual travel chaos - nearly 2,700 US flights were cancelled on 8 January.
  
• Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon died at 85 on 11 January, after eight years in a coma,.Mr. Sharon, one of the country’s most prominent military and political leaders for decades, served as prime minister between 2001 and 2006. He suffered a massive stroke while campaigning for re-election on January 4, 2006, in a race he had been tipped to win. Being Israel’s prime minister from 2001-06, he courted controversy and defied critics throughout a long military and political career that had a profound impact on the Middle East. He was felled by a massive stroke on January 4, 2006 while campaigning for re-election. He had been tipped to win. Small in physical stature but forceful in personality, Israelis called him the “bulldozer.” In the Arab world he was labeled the “Butcher of Beirut” for leading Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon when he was defense minister. At the creation of the Jewish state he earned a reputation in the military for tactical brilliance on the battlefield and outspoken insubordination. As a lawmaker he championed Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As prime minister in 2005 he initiated Israel’s first-ever removal of settlers from the Palestinian territories. His critics would later charge that the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 opened the way for Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel. No peace agreement was in place when the coastal enclave came under the control of the Islamist Hamas movement in 2007.Mr. Sharon was popular at home but criticized abroad for his tough crackdown against Palestinian militants during the second Intifada. Mr. Sharon retired from the army in 1973, entered politics and helped found the Likud. In October of that year, he was recalled to command a reserve division in the Yom Kippur War.
  
• Latvia officially adopted the Euro on 1 January, making the former Soviet state of two million people the 18th member of the crisis-hit euro zone. According to a recent SKDS poll, half the population opposes the third currency switch in just over two decades, fearing price hikes and infuriated by the draconian austerity cuts made to get the country into the club.
  
• Bangladesh's ruling Awami League has won a violent general election whose outcome was never in doubt, after a boycott by the main opposition party. Fewer than half the 300 parliamentary seats were contested - reports say on 6 January, that the Awami League has a two-thirds majority. At least 18 people died on 5 January's polling. Voter turnout appears to have been particularly poor, with just over 20% reportedly taking part. More than 70% voted in the 2008 parliamentary elections, with officials saying the fear of violence and the boycott kept many away this time.
  
  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was swift to claim her party had won fairly. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led a nationwide 48-hour strike beginning on 4 January; after its leader Khaleda Zia urged supporters to "completely boycott" what she called a "scandalous farce" of an election. Ms Hasina had rejected the opposition's demands for her to step down and set up a neutral government to oversee the poll.
  
• International Petroleum Conference 2014 (PETROTECH-2014) will be held in New Delhi from 12th – 15th January 2014. It is being organized under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Oil and Natural gas Corporation Limited and PETROTECH. The conference will offer world-class facilities to showcase the entire gamut of opportunities in the hydrocarbon industry at one place.
  
  The Theme of the conference is - Vision 2030: Emerging Global Energy Basket - Challenges and Opportunities. PETROTECH-2014 is planned as a 'Carbon Neutral' event. The Conference will aim for tangible contributions to the issues of -Shaping an Equitable and Sustainable Energy Basket, Diversifying the Global Energy Basket, Creating Capacity to Service the Emerging Energy Basket, Aligning Policy with the Emerging Energy Basket and Global partnerships for a Sustainable Energy Basket.