INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2011

INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2011

• The United Nations is establishing its Humanitarian Response Depot in Subang, west of the capital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The depot, located inside the Royal Malaysian Air Force base, will be completed in December. The Malaysian hub is the U.N agency's first humanitarian response depot in Asia and fifth in the world. It will stock generators, tents and high-energy biscuits which can be delivered quickly to disaster areas in the region. 
• Thein Sein was sworn in as Myanmar's new president in a ceremony held in Naypyitaw, the country's capital since 2005. He replaces Senior General Than Shwe, Myanmar junta chief since 1992, as the new head of the state. Myanmar has been under the Junta's rule since 1988 when the army crushed a pro-democracy movement, killing up to 3,000 people. 
• Tanks were deployed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, as top Generals pledged allegiance to the “revolution” and the country's main tribal leaders demanded President Ali Abdullah Saleh's exit. Sadiq al-Ahmar, who leads the Hashid tribal federation, the largest in deeply tribal Yemen and a crucial source of Mr. Saleh's power, told that it was time for the embattled President to make a “quiet exit”. 
• Operation Odyssey Dawn is the US code name for the international military operation in Libya by a coalition that is enforcing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. It implements a no-fly zone that was proposed during the 2011 Libyan uprising to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on rebel forces. The US passed complete military command of the operation to NATO and took up a support role on March 27, 2011.The British name for their military support of Resolution 1973 is Operation ELLAMY, the Canadian participation is Operation MOBILE, and the French participation is operation Harmattan. NATO's military activity is Operation Unified Protector. 
• A powerful earthquake that toppled homes in north-eastern Myanmar has killed more than 70 people 25 March. The earth quake, measured at magnitude 6.8 by the U.S. Geological Survey, was centred just north of Tachileik town in Shan State near the Thai border. It was felt hundreds of km away in Bangkok and Hanoi. 
• Japan is facing an unprecedented nuclear crisis, it struggled hard to avert multiple meltdowns at three reactors of Fukushima Daiichii nuclear power plant damaged by the devastating earthquake and tsunami. The Kyodo news agency said 1.80 lakh people were evacuated from a 20-km radius of the Fukushima nuclear plant. Already over 3.5 lakh people have already moved out of the region. Meanwhile, Scientists said Japan's strongest earthquake on record that triggered a destructive tsunami appears to have moved the main island by 2.4 meters and shifted the Earth on its axis. 
• Fighting has been taken place in the West African state of Ivory Coast with thousands of people fleeing across the border to Liberia. The country has been in political turmoil ever since outgoing President Laurant Gbagbo refused to recognise his electoral defeat in the presidential poll held on November 28. Mr. Gbagbo's rival Allassane Ouattara 
• To mark the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day on March8, UN Women announced a New Regional Programme to address the b widows of needsin India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The three-year programme, funded jointly by UN Women Swiss National Committee and Standard Chartered Bank, will be implemented in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to reduce social ostracism faced by widows. This will be done by collecting data and evidence to highlight the stigma faced by them, by working with widows' coalitions so they can speak up and access public services, and finally by guaranteeing that discrimination and social practices against widows are reviewed and repealed. India has an estimated 40 million widows 
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 8 gave its approval to a safeguards agreement for two new reactors chashma3 and chashma4 that Pakistan said China was building for it at Chashma. The ‘Type-66' agreement for the two reactors approved by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors was identical to similar agreements already in place for Chashma-1 and Chashma-2. 
• The Dalai Lama announced on 10 March that he would step down as “political head” of the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile but would remain as religious leader and continue to advocate “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet. The New “Parliament” will be elected when Tibetans across the world vote on March 20. By devolving his powers, the Dalai Lama hopes to give the “Prime Minister” a greater clout. 
• Mexican Billionaire, Telecom Tycoon Carlos Slim remained the richest person in the world with $74 billion in assets, while NRI steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal ranked sixth and Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani is placed ninth in the U.S. magazine Forbes annual list of world's top billionaires. Telecom tycoon Helu, whose worth increased by $20.4 billion from last year's $53.5 billion, is followed by Microsoft founder and now a full time philanthropist William Gates III (popularly known as Bill Gates) with a net worth of $56 billion. Investment guru Warren Buffet is at the third spot with assets worth $50 billion. Chairman of French luxury good outfit, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), Bernard Arnault has been placed at the fourth spot with net worth of $41 billion; he is the richest person in Europe. The fifth place has been taken over by Larry Ellison of Oracle. Mr. Mittal ranked sixth with $31.1 billion of wealth. Mr. Ambani, with net asset of value $27 billion, lost five places and was placed at the ninth position in this year's list.
  According to Forbes, the number of billionaires has increased from 49 to 55 in India, 69 to 115 in China, 25 to 36 in Hong Kong, and across Asia-Pacific it surged from 243 to 332. Other Indians among top 100 include, Wipro chief Azim Premji (36th spot with $16.8 billion), Shashi and Ravi Ruia (42nd place with $15.8 billion), Savitri Jindal (56th rank with $13.2 billion), Gautam Adani (87th spot with $10 billion) and K.M. Birla (97th spot with $9.2 billion) 
• A Ferocious Tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded (8.9) slammed Japan's eastern coast on11 March, killing thousands of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. The epicenter of earth quake was located at 130km from Japan’s Sendai city. Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.
  The catastrophe claimed probably more than 10,000 lives. The appalling loss of life kept emerging from the hard-hit east coast of northern Honshu Island, where the monster wave destroyed more than 3,000 homes. Explosions took place in the Fukushim Daiichi nuclear power station, destroyed a building housing the reactor, radiation leak was also occurring. 
• India voted in favour of sanctions against Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, his relatives and associates. This is the first major vote for India after joining the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the next two years. The Council unanimously approved curbs on travel, freezing of financial assets, weapon sales and a reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. 
• Tunisian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned on, as security forces clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some Ministers of his interim government. 
• The central bank of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Bank, has removed Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus as the Managing Director of Grameen Bank.The microcredit pioneer won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 along with the Grameen Bank, which he founded. However, Grameen Bank's General Manager Jannat-e-Kownine told a news conference that Dr. Yunus would continue in office and that he would challenge the central bank order.