INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2015

INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2015

• Pakistan told to pay £150k to India
  A UK court has directed it to pay £150,000 to India as legal fees in the 67-year-old Hyderabad Funds case involving the Nizam's money while terming Pakistan's behaviour as "unreasonable". Holding that Pakistan has no "sovereign immunity" in the case, the Judge ordered the Pakistan High Commissioner to pay legal costs incurred by the other respondents in the case relating to the 'Hyderabad Funds' which is currently valued at £35 million.
  
  It is understood that the legal costs of the respondents - Govt of India, the National Westminster Bank & the Nizam's heirs Mukkaram Jah & Muffakham Jah - are approx £400,000. Of this India has been paid £150,000, the National Westminster Bank £132,000 and the Nizam's heirs about £60,000 each respectively. The immunity waiver under the verdict, which has opened the doors for India to recover the frozen funds through legal process, is irrevocable.
  
  It is also reliably understood that the Indian government and the heirs of Nizam were holding consultations on the subject. This case, known as the 'Hyderabad Funds Case', relates to transfer of £1,007,940 and 9 Shillings to a London bank account in the name of the High Commissioner in the UK for the then newly formed state of Pakistan, Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, at the Westminster Bank (now Natwest) in 1948.
  
  The money was transferred by an agent who appeared to be acting on behalf of the the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad. Following the partition in 1947, the numerous princely states were permitted by the UK to elect to join either of the two new states, or to remain independent.
  
  The Nizam chose to remain independent. However, on September 18, 1948, Hyderabad was annexed to India. On September 20, 1948 the money was transferred to Rahimtoola by the agent. On September 27, 1948 the Nizam sought to reverse the transfer of money claiming that it had been made without his authority. The Bank was unwilling to comply with the Nizam's request without the agreement of the account holder. Such consent was not forthcoming.
  
  As the successor state to the Nizam's State of Hyderabad, India has all along sought its claim over the money maintaining that it was State monies. However, stuck in a legal battle, the Indian Cabinet had approved efforts to pursue an out-of-court settlement with Pakistan and Nizam's heirs to recover funds. With no State immunity for Pakistan, India has once again got the chance to get the money.
  
• Threat to Elephants: Botswana Summit
  African elephants could be extinct in the wild within a few decades, experts warned on 23rd March at a major conservation summit in Botswana. The alarming decline in numbers due to poaching was highlighted. The African Elephant Summit, held at a tourist resort in Kasane, gathered delegates from about 20 countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, including China which is accused of fuelling the illegal poaching trade.
  
  The conference heard latest figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which reported that the African elephant population had dropped from 5,50,000 in 2006 to 4,70,000 in 2013. East Africa has seen the worst decline, from 1,50,000 to about 1,00,000.
  
• US announces easing of process to obtain L-1B visas
  US President Barack Obama has announced an easing of the process to obtain L-1B work visas for corporate executives. This move could end the large scale harassment of IT professionals from India and make it easier for Indian companies to bring employees to the States.
  
  In an address to Select USA summit Obama argued that such a move would attract larger foreign direct investment to the US. Large scale decline of L-1 visas was a major hindrance in Indian companies investing in the US. The American President said this move will prove more attractive to businesses. He said this will also help bring about a comprehensive immigration reform package.
  
• Utah becomes first U.S. State to reinstate execution by firing squad
  Utah became the first U.S. State to reinstate execution by firing squad. According to Republican Governor Gary Herbert, who signed the law approving the use of the firing squad on 23rd March, the death penalty would be administered in this manner when no lethal injection drugs was available and the latter would remain the primary method of executing inmates. Under the law in Utah, inmates would be killed by a firing squad only if the State cannot acquire lethal injection drugs 30 days prior to the scheduled execution date.
  
  Since 2010, U.S. correctional facilities have struggled to procure a key drug in the three-drug lethal cocktail administered to death row inmates, sedative sodium thiopental, after its sole U.S. producer, Hospira, took its production plants offline in the face of anti-death penalty campaigns and other obstacles.
  
• India vote at U.N. not anti-gay, explains government
  Under criticism for voting against the U.N. Secretary-General’s decision to extend marriage benefits to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) couples or same-sex couples, India sought to explain that the vote was more about principle rather than its “anti-gay rights” content.
  
  The reason for India’s vote was that the decision to extend the benefit was taken by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of his own accord and without consultations with member States.
  
  India was among 43 countries, along with China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which voted for the Russian resolution to withdraw benefits to same-sex couples. The resolution was defeated by the UNGA vote on 24th March.
  
  Significantly, India had abstained from voting on a previous resolution against LGBT discrimination that was passed by the UNGA in September 2014. However, officials claimed that the current resolution was related to “sovereignty issues” over the U.N.’s administrative and financial functions.
  
  The resolution at the UNGA was proposed by Russia, a country that decriminalized homosexuality in 1993 but enforced a ban on gay propaganda. India and Pakistan were the only two South Asian countries to vote for the Russian resolution. While Sri Lanka voted against the resolution, along with the U.S. in a bloc of 80 countries, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives abstained and Afghanistan did not vote.
  
• India contributes $260,000 for memorial at United Nations
  India has contributed $260,000 for a permanent memorial unveiled at the UN headquarters, New York to honour the victims of slavery and transatlantic slave trade.
  
  The 'Ark of Return' was unveiled by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa. The memorial was unveiled on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade commemorated on March 25, with the theme this year being 'Women and Slavery
  
  Designed by American architect of Haitian descent Rodney Leon, the memorial aims to underscore the tragic legacy of the slave trade, which for over four centuries abused and robbed 15 million Africans of their human rights and dignity. With $260,000 India is the lead contributor to the trust fund among over 85 contributing countries and individuals.
  
• New Zealand agreement with the Maori
  The New Zealand’s Indigenous tribe has got a good news. 150 years later, the tribe Ngai Tuhoe in New Zealand is getting a new start. The government has apologized for its past atrocities, handed over 170 million New Zealand dollars ($128 million) and agreed the tribe should manage a sprawling, rugged national park it calls home.
  
  Last year’s settlement is one of dozens the government has signed with Maori tribes in a comprehensive, multi-billion-dollar process described in a U.N. report as imperfect but nevertheless important.
  
  The payouts have transformed some of the tribes into major economic players in a nation where Maori make up 15 per cent of the country’s 4.5 million people. They have also contributed to a broader cultural renaissance and improved prospects for Maori.
  
  Tamiti Kruger, who led the negotiations for the Tuhoe tribe, or “iwi,” said the settlement provoked great emotion, especially for older tribal members. The settlements are the result of legal claims brought by tribes against the government for breaches of the nation’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi.
  
  The 1840 agreement effectively handed Britain sovereignty of New Zealand while guaranteeing Maori certain rights over traditional land and fisheries. Versions in Maori and English stated different things, and the treaty’s implications, including whether Maori ever willingly ceded sovereignty, continue to be debated. Soon after the treaty was signed, conflicts between Maori and white settlers over who owned land escalated into a war that killed hundreds of Maori warriors and British troops.
  
  The government began settling claims a quarter century ago, apologizing for its past actions. Some whites argued the nation would go broke, and some Maori said it wasn’t fair the government, a party to the negotiations, also got to dictate the terms, something the U.N. report cited as a flaw.
  
• 15 dead in suicide blasts at two churches in Pakistan
  At least 15 people were killed and over 80 others injured on 15th March when Taliban suicide bombers attacked two packed churches during the mass in Pakistan's biggest Christian colony in Lahore, sparking mob fury in which two suspected militants were burned to death.
  
  In one of the worst attacks on the minority community in recent times, two attackers blew themselves up at the gates of Roman Catholic Church and Christ Church in Youhanabad area of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, causing stampede as panicked worshipers ran to save their lives.
  
  The attacks later triggered mob violence in which two suspected militants were lynched and then set ablaze, resulting in their deaths. The attacks were claimed by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. The same group had claimed the responsibility of a suicide attack on the Wagah border in September last year in which 60 people were killed.
  
• Vanuatu declares emergency; relief pours in
  Relief supplies began arriving in cyclone-devastated Vanuatu on 15th March as the Pacific nation declared a state of emergency amid reports entire villages were “blown away” when a monster storm swept through. The official death toll in the capital Port Vila stood at six, although aid workers said this was likely just a fraction of the fatalities nationwide.
  
  Communications were still down across most of the archipelago’s 80 islands, although the airport in Port Vila reopened with limited facilities, allowing much-needed aid in. The U.N. had unconfirmed reports that the cyclone had killed 44 people in one province alone and Oxfam said the destruction in Port Vila was massive, with 90 per cent of homes damaged.
  
• Half of Vanuatu's population affected by Cyclone Pam: United Nations
  More than half of the South Pacific island nation Vanuatu's population has been affected by Cyclone Pam, the UN said on 20th March. Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam barreled into the archipelago a week ago, bringing sustained winds of some 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour which devastated entire communities. The latest assessment found damage to food crops was extensive.
  
• Maldives: Nasheed sentenced to 13 yrs jail
  In Maldives, former President Mohammed Nasheed has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after he was found guilty of ordering the arrest of a judge while in office. Nasheed was cleared of the charges last month, but was re-arrested and charged under Anti-Terrorism laws.
  
  The ruling came four days after Nasheed's lawyers quit in protest against what they called a biased trial aimed at destroying his political career. The jail term will effectively prevent Nasheed running for president at the 2018 elections.
  
• China now third-biggest arms exporter
  China has eased ahead of Germany and France to become the world’s number three arms exporter after the United States and Russia, according to a Stockholm-based think-tank
  
  The volume of the multi-billion dollar world arms trade rose 16 per cent during the period 2010 to 2014 over the previous five years, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute added in its annual report. The figures show that the United States has taken a firm lead with 31 per cent of global exports of conventional weapons, SIPRI said, with Russia in second place at 27 per cent. The next three arms exporters are far behind with about five per cent each, and China is only slightly ahead of fourth-ranked Germany and fifth-ranked France.
  
• European powers, Iran make little progress in nuke talks
  European powers and Iran made little progress towards reaching an agreement to end the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program as an end of March deadline closes in.
  
  The talks were aimed at narrowing gaps in the positions between Iran and the world powers, as part of a 15 month negotiating process that could see Iran freeze its nuclear program for at least a decade in exchange for the gradual lifting of international sanctions.
  
  Iran says the program is aimed at generating electricity and at medical research, but many in the West fear the Islamic republic is trying to covertly build atomic weapons. The world powers and Iran have set an end of March deadline to reach a framework accord on the way ahead.
  
• Tata-funded automotive research center to come up in UK
  Tata Group unveiled the foundation stone of a £150-million center, targeting pioneering automotive research, in central England on 17th March, as part of efforts to enable the UK plug its development skills gap. Funding for the National Automotive Innovation Center has come from Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors and the University of Warwick, on whose campus the centre will be built, as well as from the British Government.
  
  Once built, it will provide 33,000-meter square space for 1,000 engineers, designers and academics. Facilities will include a design and simulation space, a laboratory focused on advanced propulsion systems, and a highly advanced drive-in car simulator. The center will also be used as part of Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors’ research into driver less cars.
  
• Pakistan Hangs 12 Men in Largest Execution since Moratorium lifted
  Pakistan hanged 12 male convicts on 17th March, the largest number of people executed on the same day since an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in December.
  
  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a de facto moratorium on capital punishment on Dec. 17, a day after Pakistani Taliban gunmen attacked a school and killed 132 students and nine teachers. The slaughter put pressure on the government to do more to tackle the Islamist insurgency. Twenty-seven people have been hanged since then, most of them militants. The moratorium on executions had been in place since a democratic government took power from a military ruler in 2008. There are more than 8,000 Pakistanis on death row.
  
• Netanyahu's Likud party storms to victory in Israel election
  In a dramatic victory against all odds, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 18th March secured a stunning win in Israel's closely-fought general election, as he appeared set to become the country's longest-serving premier
  
  Benjamin Netanyahu secured a third straight term. Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party confounded the polls to win 30 of the 120 seats in Parliament against 24 for the centre-left Zionist Union.
  
• Global conference on ‘Defending Dalit Rights’
  The first global conference on Dalit rights is being conducted to increase awareness about injustices faced by nearly 260 million people across the globe including people in India due to caste-based discrimination.
  
  The three-day conference on ‘Defending Dalit Rights’ entitled ‘Establishing Justice, Dignity, Equality and Humanity’ is being organized by the International Commission for Dalit Rights (ICDR) and Global Conference Organizing Committee (GCOC) from 19th March at Trinity Washington University.
  At the conclusion of the conference, GCOC will announce its strategy and the Declaration of Dalit Rights during a human chain demonstration in front of the White House.
  
  The demonstration will implore US President Barack Obama and Congress members to support Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s House Resolution that calls for Congress to condemn discrimination against Dalit people.
  
  While caste-based discrimination is widely practiced in South Asian nations like India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it can also be found in other parts of the world including Japan, Yemen, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Somalia.
  
• World will have only 60 pc of water it needs by 2030: UN
  the world could suffer a 40 percent shortfall in water in 15 years unless countries dramatically change their use of the resource, according to a U.N. report
  
  Many underground water reserves are already running low, while rainfall patterns are predicted to become more erratic with climate change. As the world’s population grows to an expected 9 billion by 2050, more groundwater will be needed for farming, industry and personal consumption.
  
  The report predicts global water demand will increase by 55 percent by 2050, while reserves dwindle. If current usage trends don’t change, the world will have only 60 percent of the water it needs in 2030, it said. Currently, about 748 million people worldwide have poor access to clean drinking water, the report said.
  
• China’s high priority to Russia
  China will set high priority to implement its Silk Road projects this year, with Russia as its core partner. According to National People’s Congress (NPC), Foreign Minister Wang Yi China’s diplomacy in 2015 will focus on making all around progress in the “Belt and Road” initiatives. China is aiming twin initiatives, they are the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road
  
  It would also be nourished by Indian Ocean ports, which would be linked to the Eurasian land route by designated economic corridors. China-Russia strategic cooperation will focus on the development of Russia’s Far Eastern region, the Foreign Minister observed.
  
  China and Russia will continue to intensify their cooperation in the financial, as well as nuclear power sectors as well. Both countries will hold a series of activities to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II with a view to reinforce the sentiment against war.
  
• Pakistan test fired missile test
  Pakistan on 9th March test-fired a ballistic missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to every part of India. According to Pakistani military leaders the Shaheen-III missile had a range of up 1,700 miles, which could enable it to reach deep into the Middle East, including Israel. The medium-range Shaheen-III is an updated version of the indigenously produced Shaheen-I and Shaheen-II
  
  In recent years, India has moved toward the creation of a missile defense system and is upgrading its air force and submarine fleet. In 2012, India test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, which it said has a range of more than 3,100 miles.
  
  Shaheen-III has a range greater than that of any other Pakistani missile. The maximum range of the earlier versions of the Shaheen missile was of about 1,500 miles, which meant it could not reach parts of India’s eastern frontier.
  
• French Olympians among 10 dead in Argentina air crash
  Two helicopters carrying French sports stars filming a popular European reality show crashed in a remote part of Argentina, killing 10 people, including two Olympic medal winners and a sailing champion, authorities. The helicopters apparently collided in midair near Villa Castelli in La Rioja province, about 730 miles (1,170 kilometres) northwest of Buenos Aires.
  
  Among the dead were French Olympic gold medal swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine and sailor Florence Arthaud
  
  Muffat, won gold in the 400-meter freestyle, silver in the 200-meter freestyle and a bronze, in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Vastine, won a bronze medal in the light welterweight division at the 2008 games in Beijing. Arthaud is considered one of the best sailors in the world.
  
• Shanghai is Most Attractive Chinese Cities for Expats
  Shanghai has topped the list of the 10 most attractive Chinese cities for expats for the third time in the ranking organized by International Talent magazine and China Society for Research on International Professional Personnel Exchange and Development.
  
  According to China Daily, the financial hub scored highest in the ranking's four important indexes for foreigners to evaluate cities, including the policies for foreign professionals, the living environment and the working environment.
  
  Other cities in order after Beijing were Shenzhen, Tianjin, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Xiamen and Kunming. This is the fifth time that this ranking has been released. Around 20,000 foreign professionals throughout China participated in the survey between July and December.
  
• US imposes more sanctions in Ukraine crisis
  The United States has imposed sanctions on another group of individuals and entities in Ukraine and Russia accused of undermining Ukraine's sovereignty and misappropriating Ukrainian state assets. The US Treasury Department released a list of 14 people, including eight Ukrainian separatists, and two entities, including Russian National Commercial Bank, a Russian bank operating in Crimea, the Black Sea-peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine last year.
  
  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia continues to maintain a presence in eastern Ukraine and give strong support, including equipment and training, to the separatists there. He called on Russia to withdraw all of its military forces from eastern Ukraine.
  
• Swedish prosecutors agree to question Assange
  In a move that may break the legal and diplomatic deadlock in the case involving alleged sexual assault claims against Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange, Swedish prosecutors have agreed to question him over the charges in London.
  
  This has been a long-standing demand of Mr. Assange and his legal team. Mr. Assange has refused to be questioned in Sweden as he fears extradition to the United States where he is wanted for the publication on Wiki Leaks of thousands of classified US military and diplomatic documents.
  
  Mr. Assange has denied all assault claims. Following an international arrest warrant against him issued by Sweden in 2012, he accepted Ecuador’s offer of asylum at their embassy, where he has been living under virtual house arrest since 2012.
  
• Britain marks end of Afghan war
  Queen Elizabeth joined army top brass of British soldiers who died in Afghanistan at a commemoration service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on 13th March, marking the end of 13 years of British military operations in the country.
  
  Also among the congregation was Tony Blair, who as prime minister in 2001 took Britain into the U.S.-led coalition that invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government in response to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
  
  Britain lost 453 servicemen and women in Afghanistan out of the 140,000 who served there over the years. The last combat troops left in October last year, leaving behind only about 500 trainers and advisers assisting the Afghan security forces.
  
  The government says the long war stopped Afghanistan from being used as a safe haven for militants to plan attacks on British streets, and that Afghanistan is now a safer and more prosperous country than it was before.
  
• Pakistan tests homemade armed drone, missile
  Pakistan successfully tested a homemade armed drone and a laser-guided missile on 13th March. The tests of the drone are called "Burraq", which translates as "flying horse", and the missile "Barq", or "lightning".
  
• Egyptian court declares Hamas as terrorist group
  An Egyptian court has listed the Palestinian group Hamas as a terrorist organization. Egyptian authorities have accused Hamas of meddling into the country's internal affairs and supporting insurgents in Sinai. The ruling comes a month after a different court labeled the armed wing of Hamas as a terrorist group. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood - itself designated as a terrorist organization in 2013.
  
• UN report on Libya
  According to a new UN report on Libya’s ability to prevent the flow of weapons into the chaotic country is “almost nonexistent,” and it calls for the tightening of an arms embargo that the government says must be loosened so it can defend itself
  
  The report by a panel of experts also recommends the creation of a maritime monitoring force to help Libya’s government prevent both the flow of weapons and the illegal export of the country’s oil.
  
  The international community is alarmed by the recent emergence of Islamic State group-affiliated fighters in the North African country, which is divided by two rival governments and multiple militias. But the United States and others worry that any weapons provided to the fragile Western-backed government would quickly fall into the wrong hand.
  
• Pak HC bars govt from booking Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Lakhvi
  In Pakistani, the Islamabad High Court has barred the government from booking Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind, in any other case without its permission after his counsel argued that false cases might be slapped against him to keep him in jail. The Court on 3rd March took up the plea of Lakhvi against his detention under a public security act and issued a notice to the government for a reply on 5th March.
  
  Lakhvi's counsel informed the court that the government was planning to register another case against his client like it did when he was granted bail in the Mumbai attacks case. Pakistan faced strong reaction from India following the bail order.
  
  Lakhvi and six others have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attacks in November, 2008 that left 166 people dead.
  
• World's most expensive country is Singapore: EIU
  Singapore has been named the most expensive city in the world for a second year in a row, according to a research by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The top five cities in the list remained unchanged from a year earlier with Paris occupying the second spot followed by Oslo, Zurich and Sydney, according to the BBC.
  
  The research surveyed 133 cities worldwide, using New York as a base. It analysed the costs of more than 160 products and services including, food, clothing and utility bills.
  
  The data showed that Singapore was about 11 percent more expensive in comparison to New York for basic groceries. Along with Seoul, it was also found to be the most expensive city in the world for clothes, with prices 50 percent higher than New York.
  
  The EIU said, "Singapore's complex Certificate of Entitlement system makes car prices excessive, with Singaporean transport costs almost three times higher than in New York.
  
• United Nations dismisses inquiry against R K Pachauri
  The United Nations has ruled out an inquiry into allegations against former chair of the UN’s panel on climate change RajendraPachauri and said a new head will be elected later this year to replace him.
  
  Pachauri resigned from his position as Chair of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on February 24 after a woman employee of his think-tank TERI in New Delhi accused him of sexual harassment.
  
• WHO to begin vaccination trials in Guinea
   The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that it will begin conducting Ebola vaccination trials in Guinea to test whether the vaccine is effective to prevent Ebola. The phase III trial in one of the world's most affected countries by Ebola will start on March 7 to test the VSV-EBOV vaccine for efficacy and effectiveness, based on data from initial clinical trials, Xinhua reported, citing WHO
  
  The objectives of the trial are two-fold: to assess if the vaccine protects the contacts who were vaccinated and if vaccinating the contacts will create a buffer - or ring of protected individuals - around the index case to prevent further spread of the infection
  
  According to the latest update on Ebola of WHO, 132 new confirmed cases had been reported in West Africa in the week leading up to March 1, an increase from the previous week of 99 new cases. And in Guinea, the weekly number of confirmed cases had also increased.
  
  WHO said the vaccination will take place in areas of BasseGuinee, the region that currently has the highest number of cases in Guinea.
  
  It added that the criteria included acceptable safety profile, induction of appropriate immune responses, including neutralizing antibodies, and the timely availability of sufficient supplies of vaccine doses.
  
  The agency also said the vaccines' manufacturers have assured that enough vaccine will be available in the coming months and that financial resources are in place to procure and make vaccines available in the affected countries.
  
• India, Bangladesh, China most at risk from river floods – study
  India, Bangladesh and China are most at risk from river floods, with an increasing number of people threatened because of climate change and economic growth in low-lying regions, a study said on 5th March. The U.S.-based World Resources Institute think-tank and four Dutch research groups estimated that some 21 million people worldwide were affected by river flooding in a typical year.
  
  People living in 15 emerging nations, led by India, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Pakistan, accounted for almost 80 percent of all those affected by floods in an average year, it said. In India alone, almost five million people were at risk.
  
  The United States had 167,000 people exposed to floods in a average year, the most for any developed nation, putting it 18th on a ranking of more than 160 nations.
  
  The U.N. panel of climate scientists said last year that global warming would lead to more risks of floods, heatwaves, storms, downpours, landslides, air pollution, water scarcity, sea level rise and storm surges.
  
  The study estimated that $96 billion of annual global gross domestic product was exposed to river floods every year, led by India on $14 billion and Bangladesh on $5.4 billion. This amount could rise to $521 billion by 2030.
  
  Such flooding can also impact multinational companies which spread their production capacity -- monsoon floods in Thailand in 2011 killed more than 800 people and closed many factories -- including some making parts for firms such as Intel and Apple.
  
  Germany sets gender quota in company boardrooms
  
  Germany on 6th March became the latest and most significant country so far to commit to improving the representation ofwomen on corporate boards, passing a law that requires some of Europe's biggest companies to give 30 per cent of supervisory seats to women beginning next year
  
  Fewer than 20 per cent of the seats on corporate boards in Germany are held by women, while some of the biggest multinational companies in the world are based here, including Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler - the maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles - as well as Siemens, Deutsche Bank, BASF, Bayer and Merck. In passing the law, Germany joined a trend in Europe to accomplish what has not happened organically, or through general pressure: to legislate a much greater role for women in boardrooms.
  
  Norway was the first in Europe to legislate boardroom quotas, joined by Spain, France and Iceland, which all set their minimums at 40 per cent. Italy has a quota of one-third, Belgium of 30 per cent and the Netherlands a 30 per cent non-binding target.
  
  Britain has not legislated boardroom quotas, but a voluntary effort, known as the 30% Club, has helped to substantially increase women's representation. The group, founded by Helena Morrissey, a money manager, has used persuasion to help double the percentage of women on the boards of major British companies since 2010, to 23 per cent.
  
  The United States has also seen women's representation grow slightly, up to 17 per cent of board seats, without legislative mandates, though its growth has been extremely slow.
  
  Under the new law, some 100 of Germany’s best-known companies must give 30% of their supervisory board seats to women starting next year
  
  Another 3,500 companies have a deadline of September 30 to submit plans to increase the share of women in top positions
  
  Fewer than 20% of the seats on corporate boards in Germany are held by women
  
  Norway was the first in Europe to legislate boardroom quotas, joined by Spain, France and Iceland, which all set their minimums at 40%. Italy has a quota of one-third, Belgium of 30% and the Netherlands a 30% non-binding target
  
  Britain has not legislated boardroom quotas, but a voluntary effort, known as the 30% Club, has helped to substantially increase women’s representation
  
  The US has also seen women’s representation grow slightly, up to 17% of board seats, without legislative mandates, though its growth has been extremely slow
  
  In Silicon Valley, companies like Twitter have added a female director after criticism of their all-male boards.