INTERNATIONAL JULY 2013

INTERNATIONAL JULY 2013

• Kate, Prince William’s wife, has given birth to a boy, a child now third in line to the British throne. The child was born on 22nd July, after many Britons woke up to the news that Kate had gone into labor with the couple’s first child. The birth announcement, via a press release from Kensington Palace, said the boy was born at 4:24 p.m. weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces.
  
• The royal birth recalled that of the baby’s father, William, in 1982, at the same Central London hospital. Many remember the moment when he was carried out in his mother Princess Diana’s arms with proud father Prince Charles at their side.
  
• William and Kate’s son is expected to follow Charles and William to the throne. No one can tell what political and personal changes the intervening years will bring, but the baby can be expected to become the head of state of 16 countries, including Britain, Australia and Canada, and possibly the head of the Commonwealth, which covers 54 nations. The child will also eventually become Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
  
• A team of Israeli archaeologists believes it has discovered the ruins of a palace belonging to the biblical King David, but other Israeli experts dispute the claim.Archaeologists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel's Antiquities Authority say on 18 July, the large fortified complex west of Jerusalem is the first palace of the biblical king ever to be discovered. One of the archeologists who led the dig says the site revealed the best example exposed to date of a fortified city from the time of King David, suggesting that David himself would have used the site. He says his team found "unequivocal evidence" that David and his descendants had ruled at the site, such as cultic objects typically used by Judeans, the subjects of King David. Critics say the site could have belonged to other kingdoms of the area. The consensus among most scholars is that no definitive physical proof of the existence of King David has been found.
  
• In a bid to make sanitation for all a global development priority, the United Nations General Assembly on 24 July, designated 19 November as World Toilet Day, urging changes in both behavior and policy on issues ranging from enhancing water management to ending open-air defecation.
  
• Adopting a new resolution, the Assembly urged UN Member States and relevant stakeholders to encourage behavioral change and the implementation of policies to increase access to sanitation among the poor, along with a call to end the practice of open-air defecation, which it deemed “extremely harmful” to public health. The resolution also recognizes the role that civil society and non-governmental organizations play in raising awareness of this issue. It also calls on countries to approach sanitation in a much broader context that includes hygiene promotion, the provision of basic sanitation services, and sewerage and wastewater treatment and reuse in the context of integrated water management.
  
• Of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have mobile phones. However, only 4.5 billion have access to toilets or latrines – meaning that 2.5 billion people, mostly in rural areas, do not have proper sanitation. About 1.1 billion people still defecate in the open. The countries where open defecation is most widely practiced are the same countries with the highest numbers of under-five child deaths, high levels of under-nutrition and poverty, and large wealth disparities. World Toilet Day has previously been marked by international and civil society organizations all over the world. However, it was not formally recognized as an official UN day until today.
  
• Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on 25 July 2013 officially launched his political party to contest Australian elections this year. According to him, the new party i.e. Wikileaks Party would be fielding seven candidates including Assange for upper house Senate seats in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. It is important here to note that the two Indian-origin persons are among the seven candidates who will contest elections on Wikileaks Party ticket in Senate polls in Australia. Indian-origin academician Binoy Kampmark, who was born in Malaysia and has Bengali heritage, will stand for the Upper House election from Victoria whereas Suresh Rajan, who is based out of Kerala, will stand for the party in Western Australia. The core value of Wikileaks Party's is transparency, accountability and justice are the template against which we will examine any important issues for Australians: tax reform, asylum-seekers, climate change policy and more. Australia will be going into polls in November 2013 where the ruling Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labour party is up against Tony Abbott-led conservatives. Julian Assange is held up at Ecuador's embassy in London since June 2012 where he demanded refuge during his legal battle for exile from Britain to Sweden.
  
• A senior United Nations team tasked with investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria's civil war began a mission to Damascus on 24 July, trying to hammer out with Syrian officials the terms for its investigation. It is the first such trip by international experts, and the talks were expected to be thorny - focusing on about a dozen incidents in which chemical arms were allegedly used.
  
• The rebels, the United States and others have accused the government of using the weapons of mass destruction, while Damascus and its ally Russia have blamed the rebels. The team was invited by the Syrian government to discuss the terms of a possible inquiry. Damascus agreed that the UN investigate only one of the reported attacks - a March 19 incident in the northern village of Khan al-Assal in which rebels and the government accuse each other of using chemicals weapons - but rejected inquiries into other alleged attack sites in the central city of Homs, Damascus and elsewhere.
  
• The U.S. and UN have called on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime to grant the United Nations team unfettered access to investigate all allegations of chemical weapon use. Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom and UN disarmament chief Angela Kane arrived from neighbouring Lebanon for a two day visit, during which they are set to meet with senior Syrian officials, the UN said in a brief statement issued in the Syrian capital.
  
• The US, UK and other western countries and a section in the UN leaving no stone unturned to prove the existence of chemical weapons in Syria, but only want to establish such proof against the government. They have conveniently forgot the evidence submitted by Russia on alleged use of chemicals by the terrorist forces that are ransacking the country with support of Saudi, Qatar and the West. On 23 July, UN Mideast envoy Robert Serry said in the Security Council that the UN has received 13 reports of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria. He said Sellstrom's team is studying this and other material. Russia, Syria's close ally, has called the chemical weapons allegations against Assad's regime groundless, claiming Russian experts determined that Syrian rebels made sarin nerve gas and used it in the Khan al-Assal attack, in which 31 people died.
• Gay marriage to become legal in England and Wales soon, as the lower house of the British parliament approved the final changes here on 16th July. The law has Prime Minister David Cameron's backing, but split his ruling Conservative party.The law also had the support of Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Britain's two other main political parties, but damaged Cameron's standing within his own party with many of his own lawmakers criticising him for being too liberal. His own MPs had previously twice voted against it. Gay marriage will be declared legal as soon as the final assent given by Queen Elizabeth, which is a mere formality.
  
• The writings of Cuban Revolution leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara are to be included in the Uited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Memory of the World Register on 19 July. The documents include original manuscripts from his youthful Motorcycle Diaries days and his diary from the mountains of Bolivia where he was executed by that nation's military in 1967.They will now be protected and cared for with the help of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The Memory of the World Register comprises nearly 300 documents and collections from five continents. Guevara's works are among 54 new additions this year.
  
• European Union (EU) has issued a directive that will bar all 28 member states from funding projects connected to Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, including annexed east Jerusalem. The guidelines, adopted by the European Commision (EC) on June 28 and are due to be published on 12 July, will affect all EU grants, prizes and funding from 2014 onwards, with no further funding available to Israeli entities beyond the 1967 Green Line, a spokesman said. The new rules require that a clear distinction be made in all signed agreements between Israel and the territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war — including the Golan Heights as well as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including east Jerusalem.
  
• Israeli officials slammed the directive. A high-ranking official described it as a disproportionate “attack” on Israel. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin told army radio the Europeans had made a “mistake” and that the directive would undermine any return to peace talks with the Palestinians. Direct peace talks have been on hold for nearly three years, with the Palestinians refusing to return to the table without a freeze on settlement activity and Israel’s acceptance of the 1967 lines as the basis for final status negotiations. Israel says it wants to resume talks, but without such “preconditions”.
  
• Nelson Mandela International Day was observed across the world on 18 July 2013 to earmark freedom, justice and democracy. In November 2009, the UN General Assembly declared 18 July as the Nelson Mandela International Day to recognize the former South African President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom. United Nations General Assembly Resolution, recognizes Nelson Mandela’s values and his dedication to the service of humanity, in the fields of conflict resolution, race relations, the promotion and protection of human rights, reconciliation, gender equality and the rights of children and other vulnerable groups, as well as the upliftment of poor and underdeveloped communities. It acknowledges his contribution to the struggle for democracy internationally and the promotion of a culture of peace throughout the world.
  
• The committee in charge of international book industry named the South Korean city of Incheon the "World Book Capital" for the year 2015, announced the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 19 July. The nomination was made by an international committee of experts representing the book industry and UNESCO, who met on July 16 at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO.UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova endorsed the committee's decision and welcomed the number and quality of applications received by UNESCO for the title of World Book Capital 2015.
  
• Since 2001 when Madrid was the first to win the title, UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry -- the International Publishers Association (IPA), International Booksellers Federation (IBF) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) -- select every year the World Book Capital for a one-year period. This initiative, in addition to the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day, represents a collaborative undertaking by key stakeholders in the publishing world and cities to promote books and literacy. Incheon comes as the 15th city to be to crowned with "World Book Capital," after Bangkok in 2013 and Port Harcourt in 2014.
  
• Opposition party, The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won the National Assembly elections in Bhutan on 14 July, by having secured a majority of thirty two seats. The Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) won fifteen seats and was elected as the opposition party. In 2008, the DPT had won the election by a landslide and won the first round of this year's polls with 45 percent of the vote. Bhutan's king had given up the monarchy's centuries-old absolute power in 2008 and allowed the introduction of democracy to the Himalayan kingdom.
  
• World's largest building opens in west China. China now has what is billed as the world's largest building — a vast, wavy rectangular box of glass and steel that will house shops, hotels, offices and a faux ocean beach with a huge LED screen for video sunsets. The mammoth New Century Global Center that opened last month in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu has 1.7 million square meters (19 million square feet) of floor space — or about 329 football fields — edging out the previous record-holder, the Dubai airport. The structure is half a kilometer long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high. The New Century project is a sign that China's growth has spread from the country's more prosperous eastern and southern regions to the west, where wages are lower and the central government has encouraged development with subsidies and tax breaks. With its booming economy, China has become home to some of the largest and tallest buildings in the world. The building also has a 14-screen movie theater and an ice rink.
  
• Irish lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favour of a groundbreaking law that will allow abortion in limited cases in the predominantly Catholic country on 11th July, following an outcry over the death of an Indian dentist after a miscarriage last year. Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his coalition government pushed through the protection of life in pregnancy bill, which will allow for abortions only when a woman's life is under threat if her pregnancy continues or if she is suicidal. The bill was voted through by 127 to 31 against after marathon discussions on 165 amendments. Ireland was forced to review its abortion law in cases where the mother's life is at risk following the death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar in a Galway hospital last October after she was denied an abortion.
  
• China has cancelled the construction of a USD six billion nuclear procession plant in Guangdong province apparently due to public concerns over its safety. The planned nuclear fuel processing project in south China's Guangdong Province has been cancelled, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on 13 July. The planned Longwan Industrial Park project under China National Nuclear Corporation, located in Zhishan Township in Heshan City, was cancelled, the report said. The planned industrial park, with a designed capacity of 1,000 tonnes of uranium in 2020, was to feature facilities for uranium conversion, enrichment and manufacturing of nuclear fuel equipment, involving a total investment of 37 billion yuan (USD 6 billion). The brief report did not mention why the project was cancelled. This is the first nuclear project cancelled by China, which is embarking on a massive expansion of nuclearpower projects. Earlier reports said local people had expressed concerns over the safety of the processing plant handling such large quantities of uranium. Public protests which are rare in China are now becoming common specially when it comes to preservation of the environment.
  
• Hazem El-Beblawi on 9 July 2013 was named as the new Prime Minister of Egypt by the Interim President Adly Mansour. A leading economist, Beblawi will form a caretaker Government that comprises technocrats from different walks of life. The caretaker government would play a major role in steering away Egypt through the transitional period. The interim President Adly Mansour also named Mohammad ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate and former IAEA chief as the new Vice-President of the country. In a gesture of reconciliation, the new designated prime minister of Egypt declared that his government will offer cabinet posts to the leaders of Muslim Brotherhood of the ousted President Mohammed Morsi’s Government. Earlier, Mohammed Morsi, the first democratically elected President of Egypt was ousted from his office following a military coup conducted by the Army Chief Abdel Fateh Al Sissi. The coup was conducted following the mass protests by the nationals of the country against Morsi and his Government.
  
• 12 July 2013 was observed as Malala Day across the World and by United Nations. The day is being observed by the United Nations to highlight the fight of education of the Pakistani child activist Malala Yousafzai. Seminars, conferences and other ceremonies were held across Pakistan wherein scholars, educationists and analysts participated to pay tribute to Malala, who fought for girl's education in Swat valley against the Taliban. 12 July, the day of Malala’s Birth was declared as Malala Day by UN General Secretary Ban-Ki-Moon on her 16th Birthday. Malala is the girl from Pakistan, who was shot in head and neck by the terrorists of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on 9 October 2012 for advocating girls for their right to education and speaking against Taliban. On Malala Day, UN awarded the United Nations' Special Envoy for Global Education's Youth Courage Award for Education to Razia Sulatana, a teenager from a Nanglakhumba village of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, India. Razia was opted for the award for her efforts to motivate 48 children to go school after freeing them, from child labour bondage.
  
• India and Iraq signed a pact to enhance co-operation in energy security, bilateral trade commerce, infrastructure and others on 8th July. The agreement was signed by the Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and his counterpart from Iraq, Abdul Karim Luaibi at the end the India-Iraq Joint Commission on technical co-operation in Baghdad.
  As per the agreement, in energy sector, Iraq will supply more crude oil to India to meet the growing needs of energy in the country. Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily is leading a 28-member delegation to Iraq to participate in the 17th India-Iraq Joint Commission meeting in Baghdad. Delegation reached Baghdad on 6 July 2013.
  Earlier, Salman Khurshid, the Union External Affairs Minister was on a two-day visit to Iraq from 19 to 20 June 2013, which was the first visit of an Indian Minister to Iraq after 1990 visit of Inder Kumar Gujral, during his tenure as Union External Affairs Minister.
  
• North and South Korea on have agreed in-principle to resume work at the Kaesong Business Park, a joint venture at the border between the two states. The deal was reached after 15 hours of talks held at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone. As part of the deal, both sides agreed to allow South Korean company managers to inspect their factories, as well as retrieve finished goods and raw materials.
  
• The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma has, co-chaired the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) Economic and Business Conference in Port Louis, Mauritius. Member States and Dialogue Partners of IORARC, met in the Mauritius, for the First Economic and Business Conference on July 4-5, 2013, under the theme of ‘Deepening Economic Linkages for Balanced, Inclusive & Sustainable Growth’.
  
• The meeting was co-hosted by the Governments of Mauritius and India and brought together Ministers and business representatives from across the Indian Ocean Rim. First IOR-ARC Economic and Business Conference was in keeping with the decisions taken by the IOR Business Forum held in Gurgaon, India, during the IOR-ARC Council of Ministers and Related Meetings in October-November 2012,which recommended that business-to-business meetings have an important role to play for expanding trade and commerce between Member States.
  
• Discussions took place in the four panel sessions, namely:1).Unlocking the Potential of the Services Sector in the IOR-ARC (ICT, Tourism, Financial Services), 2).Enhancing Trade and Investment in the IOR-ARC, 3).Creating Agri-business linkages, addressing Food Security and Sustainable Development’, 4).Ocean Economy/Blue Economy. The conference encouraged the concept of ‘Open Regionalism’ and identifies trade as an integral factor in promoting economic cooperation and development.
  
• The Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), initially known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative, is an international organization with 20 member states. It was first established in Mauritius on March 1995 and formally launched on 6–7 March 1997. In 2011 six priority areas of cooperation were identified for IOR-ARC, which include - Maritime Safety and Security, Trade and Investment Facilitation, Fisheries Management, Tourism and Cultural Exchanges, Academic and Science and Technology Cooperation, and Disaster Risk Management. Its full members are – India, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
  
• China and Russia kicked off their largest-ever joint naval drills on 5 July, in the Sea of Japan, a further sign of the broad-based progress in ties between the former Cold War era rivals. Eighteen surface ships, one submarine, three airplanes, five ship-launched helicopters and two commando units were taking part in the “Joint Sea-2013” exercise that runs through July 12. The drills will cover anti-submarine warfare, close maneuvering, and the simulated take-over of an enemy ship. The drills are bigger than anything China’s navy has previously held with a foreign partner. China has long been a key customer for Russian military hardware, but only in the last decade have their militaries begun training jointly. The naval drills are to be followed by another round of anti-terrorism joint drills in Russia’s Ural Mountain region of Chelyabinsk.
  
• Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected President was ousted from his office in a military revolt on 3 July 2013. After the revolt, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Adli Mansour has sworn in as the interim President on 4 July to oversee early Presidential elections of the country. Mansour will get the support of national unity government in running the country until the elections are held.
  
• The ousted President, Mohamed Morsi has been moved to an undisclosed location and a travel ban has been imposed on him from going abroad. After the revolt, the new military rulers of Egypt have issued arrest warrants for up to 300 members of Muslim Brotherhood .Leading liberal opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei on 6 July was named as Egypt's new Prime Minister to head a caretaker government.
  
• ElBaradei leads an alliance of liberal and left-wing parties, the National Salvation Front. He was named as Prime Minister after interim President Adly Mahmud Mansour held talks with the army chief and political leaders. The 71-year-old Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei is an Egyptian law scholar. He was the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations, from 1997 to 2009. He and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. ElBaradei also played an important role in recent politics in his country, particularly the 2011 revolution which deposed President Hosni Mubarak, and in the 2013 revolution that ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
  
• The World Health Organization announced on 5 July that it had convened emergency talks on the deadly MERS corona virus for on 2 July, but said the move did not mean it was hiking its global alert level. The first recorded MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) death was in June 2012 in Saudi Arabia. The number of infections stands at 79, with 43 dead — an extremely high rate of 54 per cent, compared to nine per cent of the 8,273 recorded patients with SARS. Like SARS, it has flu-like symptoms but causes kidney failure.