INTERNATIONAL JULY 2010

INTERNATIONAL JULY 2010

• President Barack Obama made sweeping reform of Wall Street institutions a reality by signing into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The reform bill intends to crack down on abusive practices in the mortgage industry, provide students taking out college loans with clear and concise information about their obligations and supply more information to ordinary investors about the costs and risks of mutual funds and other investment products. 
• For the prime ministerial election of the new Nepal government, the two candidates, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) and Nepali Congress vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel did not get a simple majority and the poll would be held again. As per the interim constitution, a candidate must acquire a simple majority of 300 votes from the 599 Constituent Assembly members to be declared winner. 
• The 18th International AIDS Conference of scientists, policymakers and grassroots workers was held in Vienna, Austria. 
• Reliance Industries Limited chiefMukesh Ambani has been chosen by the United Nations as a member of a key advocacy group on Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Mr. Ambani is the only Indian to be a part of the MDG Advocacy Group that comprises eminent international personalities including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, philanthropist Ted Turner and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, among others. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all the 192 United Nations member States and at least 23 global organisations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.These include reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS and developing a global partnership for development. 
• The Sixth international Annual meeting of women speakers and chairs of legislatures was held in Berne, Switzerland. 
• The United States Senate passed a historic Wall Street reform bill on financial reforms that will bring greater economic security to families and businesses across the country. 
• Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalise same-sex marriage. 
• The U.N. rejected to reopen the probe into the assassination of the former Premier, Benazir Bhutto by a U.N.-appointed three-member headed by Chile's former U.N. ambassador Heraldo Munoz, as Pakistan had raised objections to the report. 
• According to the report by the ‘Janasankhya Sthirta Kosh’ under the Union ministry of health and family welfare, while India’s population grew by 1.4% over the last five years, China saw only a 0.6% population growth for the corresponding period. India’s total population in 2009 was 119.8 crore, China’s 134.5 crore and Pakistan’s 18 crore. While India’s population will increase to 161.38 crore by 2050, that of China will only reach 141.7 crore. 
• The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support reveals that there are more ‘MPI poor’ people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).
• The Chinese government signed a $525-million deal to help Pakistan build two highways namely, 165-km-long highway between Jaglot and Skardu, and a 135-km highway between Thakot and Sazin in the disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) region of Gilgit-Baltistan. 
• The International Monetary Fund has raised its world economic growth forecast from 4 per cent to 4.5 per cent. 
• Ms. Rosa Otunbayeva (59), the first woman President in Central Asia was sworn in Kyrgyzstan. 
• Bronislaw Komorowski of Civic Platform party won the Poland's presidential elections. 
• During the sidelines of a summit of the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec) in Astana, Kazakhstan, the three countries Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed a declaration to launch a customs union as a first step towards forming a broader EU-type economic alliance of former Soviet states.