INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2013

INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2013

• Global Gender Gap Report 2013, which was published on 25 October 2013 by World Economic Forum- India, was ranked 101 out of 136 countries on Gender Gap index. In 2012 Report, India secured 105th position in the Gender Gap Index of 135 countries. The Global Gender Gap Report 2013 Report revealed that world’s gender gaps narrowed slightly in 2013 on the back of “definite if not universal improvements” in economic equality and political participation between the sexes. The worst performing countries are Yemen (136), Pakisthan (135) and Chad (134).The Report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four areas:1)Economic participation and opportunity – salaries, participation and highly skilled employment.2)Educational attainment – access to basic and higher levels of education.3)Political empowerment – representation in decision-making structures.4)Health and survival – life expectancy and sex ratio. Iceland has the narrowest gender gap in the world, followed by Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Global Gender Gap Report, introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006, provides a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities around the world.
  
• India on 1 November won a crucial election to the UN Board of Auditors with its nominee Shashi Kant Sharma, the Comptroller and Auditor General, garnering the largest number of votes. Sharma won 124 votes out of the total 186 cast in the General Assembly's Fifth Committee on Administrative and Budgetary questions. India won by a comfortable margin against its closest contender the Philippines, which got 62 votes. With this, Sharma will be appointed to the UN Board of Auditors for a six year term beginning July 1, 2014.The General Assembly had established the UN Board of Auditors to audit of the accounts of the United Nations organization and its funds and programmes and to report its findings and recommendations to the Assembly through the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. The Auditors-Generals of UN member states are elected to the Board. India had last sat on the board in 1993 for six years.
  
• China on 31 October 2013 opened a new highway that links Medog to Zhamog-located near the border with Arunachal Pradesh. The highway linking Medog, the last roadless county in China, with neighboring Bome County in Tibet formally opened to traffic, ending the county's isolation from the outside world. The 117-km highway, which cost 950 million yuan (155 million U.S. dollars), links Zhamog Township, the county seat of Bome, and Medog in Nyingchi Prefecture in southeastern Tibet. The road will be accessible for 8 to 9 months per year, barring major natural disasters. The Zhamog-Medog starts along the Number 318 National Road in Zhamog Township in Bomi County. It goes through the 4400-meter high Galung La Mountain and cross 6 rivers, to reach Medog.
  
• The opening of the Medog road will greatly lower transportation costs and will also improve medical care and educational facilities. With this new highway, every county in Tibet is now linked through the highway network, underlining the widening infrastructure gulf across the disputed border, even as India belatedly pushes forward an upgrading of border roads in more difficult terrain. China first started attempting to build the highway to Medog – a landlocked county in Tibet’s Nyingchi prefecture – in the 1960s, in the aftermath of the 1962 war with India.
  
• Turkey opened the world’s first underwater rail link between two continents on 29 October, connecting Asia and Europe and allowing Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to realize a project dreamt up by Ottoman sultans more than a century ago. The engineering feat spans 13 km (8 miles) to link Europe with Asia some 60 meters below the Bosphorus Strait. Called the Marmaray, it will carry subway commuters in Europe's biggest city and eventually serve high-speed and freight trains. The 5.5 billion lira ($2.8 billion) tunnel is one of Erdogan's “mega projects”, an unprecedented building spree designed to change the face of Turkey. They include a 50-km canal to rival the Suez that would render half of Istanbul an island, an airport that will be the world's busiest and a giant mosque atop on Istanbul hill.
  
• Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana, a pension and life insurance fund scheme for blue-collar Indian workers in UAE was launched by the Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vyalar Ravi in Dubai on 28 October 2013.The scheme will cover 5 million overseas blue collar Indian workers who have the Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) category passports in 17 countries. ECR passports are issued to those workers who have not passed Grade 10. Around 65 per cent of more than two million Indians in the UAE are blue collar workers and most of them are in the ECR category.
  
• Blue collar jobs are pertaining to wage-earning workers who wear work clothes or other specialized clothing on the job, as mechanics, longshoremen and miners. Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY), a special social security scheme for overseas Indian workers on temporary work permits in 17 Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries. The MGPSY is aimed at helping the workers to save money for their retirement, their return to India and resettlement and provides life insurance cover against natural death during the period of coverage. It provides home and a life insurance cover for Rs. 1 lakh during their work abroad.
  
• Syria has destroyed all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a key deadline in an ambitious disarmament programme, the international chemical weapons watchdog saidon 31 October. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country. The other two were too dangerous to inspect but the chemical equipment had already been moved to other sites which experts had visited, it said.
  
• "The OPCW is satisfied it has verified, and seen destroyed, all declared critical production/mixing/filling equipment from all 23 sites," the document said. Under a Russian-American-brokered deal, Damascus agreed to destroy all its chemical weapons after Washington threatened to use force in response to the killing of hundreds of people in a sarin attack on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August. It was the world's deadliest chemical weapons incident since Saddam Hussein's forces used poison gas against the Kurdish town of Halabja 25 years ago.
  
• The United States and its allies blamed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's forces for the attack and several earlier incidents. Assad has rejected the charge, blaming rebel brigades. Under the disarmament timetable, Syria was due to render unusable all production and chemical weapons filling facilities by 1 November – a target it has now met. By mid-2014 it is to have destroyed its entire stockpile of chemical weapons. The next deadline is 15 November, by when the OPCW and Syria must agree to a detailed plan of destruction, including how and where to destroy more than 1,000 metric tones of toxic agents and munitions.
  
• The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development ( USAID), has announced a US $ 250,000 grant to the organization UN Women, which is a part of the United Nations' Women's Global Safe Cities Initiative. In a press statement on 30 October, the US embassy said that the grant is for the ongoing program "Delhi Safe City - Free of Violence against Women and Girls," that will be implemented in partnership with Indian civil society organizations.This announcement comes in the same month as the International Day of the Girl Child and on the eve of the international community's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence beginning late November. U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell said, "The United States recognizes gender-based violence as one of the most debilitating factors impeding a woman's active participation in any economy in the world and her ability to access resources and services. We are pleased to partner with UN Women to help promote safe cities and reduce gender-based violence, which plagues every country in the world."
  
• Australia on 29 October 2013 announced the winding down of its military mission in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of most of its troops by the end of 2014. Approximately, 1000Australian troops are posted at the International Force base in Tarin Kot, the capital of southern Afghan province Uruzgan. In 2001, the US-led war in Afghanistan started and 40 Australian soldiers killed and 260 were injured since that time. USA and other foreign combat troops from Afghanistan chalked out a plan to transfer security responsibilities to local forces by the end of 2014 and will go back to their countries. As of early June 2013 there were about 1,00,000 Nato troops serving in Afghanistan from 50 contributing nations. Australia is one among the leading nations who have contributed units of 550 or more.
  
• The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad chaired the session for launching of the “Global Commission on Ageing in Developing Countries” at Beijing, China. Azad said that the goal of the Commission is to enable gender, equity and rights based policies and programming that will improve the quality of life of the ageing population in developing countries including the 25 member countries of Partners in Population and Development (PPD). India is presently the Chair of PPD. Azad said that currently for most countries of the world the population aged 60 or over is growing at a rate faster than any other age group. United Nations has made projections that by 2050 there will be more people in the age group of 60 plus worldwide than children aged under14 years. What is also known is that about 80 per cent of these elderly citizens will be living in developing countries, he said. The Minister highlighted that 25 member countries of PPD constitute 48.6 per cent of the world population aged 60 and above, and this is projected to increase to 57.1 per cent by 2050. Moreover, in 2012, nine Asian member countries of PPD constituted over 76.4 per cent of over 60 years population in Asia, which is estimated to increase to 78.1 per cent by 2050. Azad expressed his concern that growing numbers of the ageing populations are posing challenges for existing health systems, social security and, in some cases, employment especially for developing countries as they are not fully equipped - either in terms of policy instruments or programmatic interventions to successfully meet the growing requirements of an aging population. But the Health Minister also expressed happiness that ageing populations present not just challenges but also opportunities. The contributions of an ageing population can be enhanced to create a second “Demographic Dividend” by adopting enabling polices for productive ageing and creating opportunities for extended economic life. For this investment in the ageing human capital and creating infrastructure and social support services is an imperative, he emphasized. The Minister urged PPD member countries and other developing nations to support the Commission in fulfilling its roles of guiding the countries to address gender, rights and equity based social protection, health care and income security of the growing ageing populations. Present at the occasion were H.E. Dr. Li Bin, Vice-Chair, PPD Board, Dr. John Beard, Director, Department of Ageing and Life Course, World Health Organization, Dr. Joe Thomas, Executive Director, PPD and various other dignitaries.
  
• The Second High Level Meeting (HLM) on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in Asia and the Pacific concluded in New Delhi on October 25th, 2013.The meeting has brought together delegates from 33 countries of the region to discuss and share the progress, experience, problems and challenges in the survival, protection, development and participation of the nearly 1.2 billion children in the region. The ‘New Delhi Declaration on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in Asia and Pacific’, has been adopted on October 25th.Speaking at the occasion Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Women and Child Development said that such high level meetings provide an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment towards child rights and recognizing that child rights are fundamental to all cultures and societies and are crucial to children’s growth and upbringing. It is also a reaffirmation of our belief that child survival, development, protection and participation are vital for the growth of the country. Smt. Tirath said that although this Meeting has focused on three crucial themes of adolescence, early child hood care and development and urban settings, we recognise that the rights of children are interrelated and interdependent and each one of them is equally important and fundamental to the well-being and dignity of the child. The application of child rights requires a multi-dimensional, integrated and inclusive approach for the overall and harmonious development and protection of children, she noted. Present at the occasion were Mr Sharudin S. Kashim, Deputy Director General Planning, Government of Malaysia , delegates from 33 countries, officials from UNICEF and various other dignitaries.
  
• The first nuclear power station in the UK in the last 20 years, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, is to be built in Somerset, in southwest England. After the March 2011 Fukushima, this is one of the first major nuclear power plants to be built in Western Europe. According to a release from the UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, Hinkley Point C “will begin the process of replacing the existing fleet of nuclear most of which are due to close in the 2020s”. The UK government and the French EDF Group have reached agreement on the key terms of the contract for the construction of the power station, which is expected to generate clean power that from 2023 will power nearly six million homes “or an area twice the size as London”. EDF and the investors it has rounded up, which includes the China National Nuclear Corporation and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (that will invest in the project as minority shareholders), will together put in a total investment of £ 16 billion into the construction of the plant. Construction will be undertaken by the French state-controlled company Areva. At a time when Germany is in the process of decommissioning its nuclear plants to a 2022 target, and France too is cutting back on the share of nuclear power in its overall energy package, the UK’s decision to actually enhance its nuclear energy capability comes as a contrast.
  
• Ethiopia's government on 24th October 2013 temporarily banned its citizens from travelling abroad to look for work. The government took this decision because many Ethiopians had lost their lives or undergone untold physical and psychological trauma due to illegal human trafficking. The Ethiopian government had taken various steps to limit the suffering of its citizens, including setting up a national council and a taskforce to educate them. The scarcity of work opportunities contributes mainly fuelling emigration from Ethiopia, which has Africa's second largest population. According to the official figures, Youth unemployment was estimated at more than 50 percent. Many Ethiopians migrate to Saudi Arabia, travelling via Yemen by sea and entering the country illegally. Thousands of others go to Israel, South Africa and Europe. Most of the migrants end up being smuggled, trafficked or subjected to mental and physical torture.
  
• Brunei’s on 22nd October sultan announced that a new Islamic criminal law that could include penalties like amputation for theft and stoning for adultery will be enforced in six months. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said the Shariah Penal Code, which would be applied to Muslims only, should be regarded as a form of “special guidance” from God and would be “part of the great history” of the tiny, oil-rich monarchy on Borneo Island. In Brunei, Muslims comprise about two-thirds of the population of nearly 420,000 people. The minorities are mainly Buddhist, Christians and people of local indigenous beliefs.
  
• Iran and P5+1 (Group of six major world powers comprising the US, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany) have agreed for the first time on 16th October to hold talks on Iran’s nuclear programme. TheP5+1 group was held two days intense, substantive and forward looking talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear program on 15 and 16 October 2013 in Geneva.
  
• According to the agreed plan between Iran and P5+1 Group, Iran ensured to the P5+1 group that it will use nuclear programme for peaceful purpose. According to the agreed plan all nuclear activities in Iran will supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The P5+1 Group, a group of six world countries (United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France plus Germany).
  
• It was formed in 2006 to resolve the nuclear programme in Iran. Iran and the P5+1 group were previously held talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan April 5-6 2012. The two sides had resumed negotiations in Almaty in February 2013 after a nine-month interval. Each side brought a proposal to the April talks, but failed to reach consensus on a way forward and no further meetings were scheduled. But Iran and P5+1 group were agreed first time to hold talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
  
• Syria officially joined the United Nations convention banning chemical weapons, the spokesman of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on 14th October. Around 60 members from the UN-backed OPCW is overseeing the destruction of Syria’s stockpile as well as some of its chemical weapons production equipment. The Norwegian Nobel Committee last week awarded the OPCW the Nobel Peace Prize for “its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.” In September, Syria said it would sign the Chemical Weapons Convention, following Russia’s proposal that it hand over its chemical weapons to international supervisors. The Syrian regime in August was accused by Western powers and the Syrian opposition of using sarin gas in areas near the capital Damascus. The United States said the attack killed 1,400 people. Created in 1997, OPCW’s job is to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty that requires all countries that join to eliminate their chemical weapons stocks and related facilities. Syria is the 190th country to join the convention.
  
• Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, will be granted honorary Canadian citizenship, the Canadian government announced on 16th October. She will join an elite group of foreign honorees who include South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi. After receiving death threats from the Taliban for defying the Islamist militant group with her outspoken views on the right to education, Yousafzai was shot a year ago while on a school bus near her village in Swat in northwestern Pakistan.
  
• Switzerland, the country which became notorious for its anonymous numbered bank accounts and tight banking secrecy became the world’s 58th nation on 15th October, to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The agreement prepared by taxation experts from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has led the war against tax havens in recent years, was signed by Switzerland’s ambassador to the OECD and the Organization’s Secretary-General Angel Gurria in Paris. This marks “the end of banking secrecy” in Switzerland, the head of tax issues at the OECD, Pascal Saint-Amans, said adding that the Convention “prepares the way for the automatic exchange of tax information.” The Swiss Federal Council gave its approval to the treaty on October 9.This is a momentous step for Switzerland because it means it will be breaking its own time-honoured and time-tested laws on banking secrecy.
  
• More than 90 per cent of people living in European cities breathe air that the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO) says leads to respiratory problems, heart disease and shortened lives, according to a study published on 15th October. But because EU legal limits or targets for some pollutants still lag well behind U.N. recommendations, most countries have been able to downplay the hazards of dirty air despite evidence that it leads to 430,000 shortened lives in Europe every year and costs governments tens of billions of pounds in hospital admissions.
  
• According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) study, the past 10 years have seen a steady decline in the emissions of most air pollutants, leading to “acceptable” levels across the continent for carbon monoxide and lead.“Nevertheless, road transport, industry, power plants and farming continue to emit significant amounts of pollutants which leads to acid rain, loss of biodiversity, reduction of visibility and damage to materials and buildings,” says the report. EU environment commissioner Janez Potocnik suggested he was ready to take countries to the European courts and fine them for consistently failing to meet targets.
  
• The WHO suggests 85-98 per cent of Europe’s urban population is exposed to dangerous levels of both but the EU says only 14-31 per cent of people are exposed. Countries, including Britain, have consistently argued that Europe should not raise air pollution standards and have actively tried to delay implementing EU legal limits to avoid having to remove cars from roads or force industry to invest in better technology. The study found that emissions had not reduced as much as expected in the past 10 years. “There have been several success stories in cutting emissions of air pollutants for example, sulphur dioxide emissions from power plants, industry and transport have been reduced over the last decade, reducing exposure.
  
• The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was observed on 17th October to promote people’s awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Theme for the year 2013 is: Working together towards a world without discrimination: Building on the experience and knowledge of people in extreme poverty. United Nations General Assembly in 1993 by resolution 47/196 designated International Day for the Eradication of Poverty to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries.
  
• Fighting poverty remains at the core of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 development agenda. The observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty can be traced back to 17th October 1987. On that date, more than 1,00,000 people gathered in Paris, France, to honor the victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger. Since that moment, individuals and organizations worldwide observed October 17 as a day to renew their commitment in collaborating towards eradicating poverty.
  
• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Dutch Mideast expert Sigrid Kaag on 16th October, to lead the team charged with destroying Syria's chemical weapons and announced stepped up efforts to hold a peace conference on Syria in mid-November. The UN chief appeared with Kaag shortly after UN spokesman Martin Nesirky announced her appointment and the official establishment of the joint mission of the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that she will lead. Its goal is to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, all chemical precursors, and the equipment to produce the deadly weapons by mid-2014.The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that inspectors have so far visited 11 of more than 20 sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons program. The team destroyed "critical equipment" at six sites as well as unloaded chemical weapons munitions, said the OPCW. The secretary-general said the U.N., the U.S. and Russia are "intensifying efforts" to hold a new conference in Geneva in mid-November to try to agree on a transitional government in Syria based on a plan adopted in that city in June 2012.
  
• The World Health Organization on 18th October, warned against devastating health consequences of lead poisoning, particularly for children, and called upon countries to strengthen national action to eliminate lead paint. Lead exposure is estimated to contribute to 6, 00,000 new cases of children with intellectual disabilities every year, it says. Overall, 99 per cent of the affected children live in low and middle income countries, the WHO said in a statement on the occasion of International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action. Lead paint may be found in home, on toys, furniture and on other objects.
  
• Decaying lead paint on walls, furniture and other interior surfaces creates contaminated dust that young children easily ingest. Mouthing lead-painted toys and other objects also exposes them to lead. The sweet taste of the paint means some children even pick off and swallow small chips of it. It is estimated that 1, 43,000 deaths every year result from lead poisoning and lead paint is a major contributor. Its use creates a health problem for many years into the future. Even in countries that have banned leaded paint decades ago, it will continue to be a source of exposure until it is finally stripped and replaced.
  
• The cost of replacing lead paint means people living in older, poorly maintained housing are particularly at risk, and this disproportionately affects economically-deprived communities. Worldwide, 30 countries have already phased out lead paint use. The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, co-led by the WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme, has set a target of 70 countries by 2015.At high levels of exposure, lead damages the brain and central nervous system to cause coma, convulsions and even death. Children who survive poisoning are often left with intellectual impairment and behavioral disorders. The WHO has identified lead as one of the 10 chemicals causing major public health concern, and lead requires action by member-states in order to protect the health of workers, children and women of reproductive age. It includes adopting regulations and procedures to eliminate the use of lead decorative paints and providing information to the public on renovation of homes where lead paint may have already been applied.
  
• Saudi Arabia has rejected a rotating seat at the Security Council, as a mark of protest against the perceived inaction by the world body against Syria. On 17th October, the kingdom had for the first time been elected by the General Assembly to become a non-permanent member. The Saudi monarchy, a staunch supporter of military action to topple President Bashar al-Assad said the Security Council is incapable of tackling international conflicts. Riyadh said the UNSC had also failed to settle the Israel-Palestinian issue. It also drew attention to the Council’s inability to turn West Asia into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction — an apparent reference to Israel’s alleged stockpile of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
• Ireland will become the first Euro zone country to exit its bailout in December, Prime Minister Enda Kenny said on 13th October, warning however there was still some way to go to full recovery. Ireland was forced to turn to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for an 85-billion-euro ($115 billion) bailout in 2010 after its banks collapsed and its overheated property market went into meltdown. Kenny told a conference of his Fine Gael party on 12th October, there were "fragile times" ahead and a budget due would be tough, but that Ireland was ready to leave the bailout.
  
• Ireland enjoyed double-digit economic growth for a decade from the mid-1990s, earning it the nickname of the "Celtic Tiger", but it was hammered by the 2008 global financial crisis. In return for the bailout, the government was forced to introduce stringent austerity measures. But it has been described as a "poster boy" for bailed-out EU economies, exiting recession in the second quarter of this year with growth of 0.4 percent thanks to solid expansion of its construction and export sectors. If Ireland does leave the scheme in December, it will be the first of the four bailed-out euro zone countries to do so. Financial packages have also been given to Cyprus, Greece and Portugal.
  
• International Finance Corporation (IFC) on 10th October launched a $1 billion offshore rupee bond in Washington, marking an important step forward in India's efforts to internationalize the currency. IFC has already raised local currency bonds in Chinese renminbi, Russia ruble and Brazilian real.IFC, the private finance arm of the World Bank, will use these funds to finance private sector investment in the country. "Vibrant domestic capital markets ensure access to long-term, local-currency finance for the private sector—the key engine of job creation in emerging markets," said Jin-Yong Cai, IFC's chief executive officer (CEO) announcing the bond offering.
  
• Under the programme, the IFC will issue rupee-linked bonds to global investors, providing another method of funding Indian corporate. "IFC's offshore bond programme will help bring depth and diversity to the offshore rupee market and pave the way for an alternative source of funding for Indian companies," International Finance Corporation said in a statement. In an offshore local currency bond, the foreign investor will first convert his currency into rupees and then invest in the bonds. His maturity proceeds would also be in rupees. The benefit to the issuer is that the currency risk is borne by the investor, unlike a hard currency like dollar denominated bond where the currency risk is with the issuer as he has to pay interest and principal in dollars. Investors in these bonds get the benefit of asset diversification and high yields, particularly in situations when the underlying currency is expected to appreciate.
  
• The bigger benefit of these bonds for India is that it internationalizes the currency. Indian government has been keen to internationalize the rupee as part of its plan to make the currency more acceptable. On the first day of taking over as the Reserve Bank of India governor, Raghuram Rajan had talked of the need to internationalize the rupee. The announcement coincides with finance minister P Chidambaram's US visit that also includes a meeting with the investor community here besides the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. Chidambaram is expected to tell the investor community about how the India story remains intact and an attractive investment destination.
  
• US President Barack Obama on 9th October 2013 nominated Janet L. Yellen as the new head of the Federal Reserve Board. Janet Yellen replaced Ben Bernanke as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Janet Yellen was previously vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Janet Yellen is the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve Board and also the first Democrat to head the Board since 1979. Janet Louise Yellen (born on 13 August 1946) is an American economist and professor who is the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Janet Louise Yellen took office as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on 4 October 2010, for a four-year term. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement monetary policy of the United States.
  
• Wilfred Martens, nine-time Prime Minister of Belgium and who led the European Union's Christian Democrat group, died on 9th October 2013 at Lokeren, in East Flanders. He was 77 years old. He served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 3rd April 1979 to 6th April 1981 and 17 December 1981 to 7 March 1992. He served as the PM in nine coalition governments during these tenures. He was the Chairman of Belgian Christian People's Party, which is now renamed as Christian Democratic and Flemish party from 1972–79. He was the co-founder of the European People's Party (EPP) in 1976 and remained its President since 1992. He was preceded by Jacques Santer. He was honored with Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon, Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Grand Cross of the Order of Christ and Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry.
  
• Ethiopia's parliament on 7th October 2013 elected Mulatu Teshome as the country's new president for a six-year term. Mulatu Teshome will replace Girma Wolde Giorgis, who first took the post in 2001 and was re-elected in 2007.Mulatu Teshome was elected at a joint session of the House of Peoples Representatives (HPR) and the House of Federation (HoF). Mulatu Teshome is the Fourth president of Ethiopia. Before being elected president, Mulatu also held government positions including that of speaker of the House of Federation, state minister of finance and economic development and minister of agriculture. In Ethiopia, the office of presidency is a largely symbolic and ceremonial post and real power rests in the hands of the prime minister. The present Prime Minister of Ethiopia is Hailemariam Desalegn.
  
• China on 10th October 2013 signed a 350 Billion Yuan (45 billion Euros) currency swap agreement with the European Union, marking a major step in internationalizing its currency. The agreement signed between the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the European Central Bank (ECB). The pact aimed to support bilateral trade and protect financial stability. The agreement lasts three years and can be extended if both parties agree. The new arrangement will provide more liquidity to the Renminbi market in the Euro area, promote overseas use of the Yuan, and help facilitate trade and investment.
  
• The U.N. Security Council on 11th October formally approved a first joint mission with the Nobel Peace Prize winning global chemical arms watchdog to destroy Syria's weapons. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the U.N. already have a team of 60 experts and support staff in Syria destroying Syria’s production facilities while the country’s civil war rages on. The 15-member Security Council sent a letter to Ban on 11th October, backing his plan on carrying out the full eradication of Syria’s banned chemical arms.“The Security Council authorizes the establishment of the OPCW-UN join mission as proposed,” said the sources. The formal backing was given as it was announced that the OPCW had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A chemical weapons attack in Damascus on August 21, which left hundreds dead, sparked an international crisis that led to threats of a US military strike against Syrian government targets. However the Security Council passed a resolution on September 27 backing a Russia-U.S. plan to destroy President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons. The team has been doubled to about 60 people in recent days, the UN said on 11th October.
  
• India on 10th October, signed agreements with seven countries, who pledged their commitment to the ambitious Nalanda University project being built near the ruins of the ancient academic institution. The Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed with Australia, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Lao PDR and Myanmar in Brunai. These agreements are key to India's plans to establish Nalanda University in Bihar as an institution of international repute. Addressing the East Asia Summit in Brunai, where these MoUs were signed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also expressed his gratitude to the countries supporting the project."I would like to thank the East Asia Summit participating countries for their support for the establishment of Nalanda University as an international institution of excellence.
  
• Prime Minister had arrived Brunai to participate in the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS), which is a forum for cooperation between various countries of this region with ASEAN and includes Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the US, in addition to the ten ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries. The 10 ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The idea to revive Nalanda University was first mooted in 2005 by then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The University is being built near the ruins of the historic academic place by the same name in Bihar and those involved with this project include Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. According to sources, China has already committed US $ one million for the project, Singapore has pledged US $ 5-6 million, Australia about US $ one million Australia dollar and all these funds have been committed on voluntary basis.
  
• India was re-elected in the new Council of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as one of the states making the largest contribution to the provision of facilities for international civil air navigation.The 38th session of the Assembly of ICAO completed the election of the Council in Montreal on 1October 2013. The 36- member Council is the governing body of the Organization and is elected for a three-year term. A specialized agency of the United Nations, ICAO was created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. It sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency, capacity and environmental protection, amongst many other priorities. The Organization serves as the forum for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 191 Member States.
  
• The Gambia on 2nd October 2013 announced that it is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect. Gambia, a West African country joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1965. The Gambia also stated that it will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism. The decision came after the Government rejected a proposal by the Commonwealth in 2012 to create commissions in Banjul (capital of Gambia) to protect human rights, media rights and fight against corruption. The last country to be withdrawn from the Commonwealth group was Zimbabwe in 2003. The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 54 countries, many of them former territories of the British Empire. It was established in 1949.
  
• The Maldivian government on 4th October has decided to sell of part of its gateway airport, the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, in capital Male, to its citizens. The airport was developed by Indian infrastructure major, GMR. A government source confirmed the development, and added that the process will be set in motion “sometime next week”. Asked if the people will hold majority stake, the official said that the modalities had to be worked out, but the government will hold most of the shares of the airport. The Waheed government, which was formed in controversial circumstances after former President Mohamed Nasheed resigned on February 7, 2012, cancelled the contract in December 2012.GMR handed over the airport to the Maldives Airports Company Limited on December 7, 2012, and launched arbitration proceedings in Singapore to the tune of $ 1.5 billion. Last month, Mr. Nasheed had declared that if elected President, he would invite back GMR, subject to conditions.
  
• The United Nations food agencies (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP)) released a report on The State of Food Insecurity in the World on 1st October 2013. It highlighted that about 842 million people or roughly one in eight suffered from chronic hunger in 2011-13 not getting enough food to lead active and healthy lives. It states that-atotal of 842 million people in 2011–13 or around one in eight people in the world were estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger, regularly not getting enough food to conduct an active life. The total number of undernourished has fallen by 17 percent since 1990–92.
  
• The vast majority of hungry people 827 million live in developing regions where the prevalence of undernourishment is now estimated at 14.3 percent where as 15.7 million people live in developed countries. While the estimated number of undernourished people has continued to decrease, the rate of progress appears insufficient to reach international goals for hunger reduction in developing regions the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) target, which is to halve the number of hungry people by 2015, and the 2001 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target, which is to halve the proportion of hungry people in the total population by 2015.
  
• While at the global level there has been an overall reduction in the number of undernourished between 1990–92 and 2011–13,different rates of progress across regions have led to changes in the distribution of undernourished people in the world. Most of the world’s undernourished people are still to be found in Southern Asia, closely followed by sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Asia. The regional share has declined most in Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia. Meanwhile, the share has increased in Southern Asia, in sub-Saharan Africa and in Western Asia and Northern Africa. Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment with more than one live in people estimated to be undernourished. Both the number and proportion of people undernourished have decreased significantly in most countries in Asia, particularly in South-Eastern Asia, but progress in Southern Asia has been slower, especially in terms of the number of people undernourished.
  
• The International Day of Non-Violence was observed on 2nd October across the world on the occasion of birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The International Day of Non-Violence is also known as Gandhi Jayanti in India. In the year 2004, Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel laureate took the proposal of International Day of Non-Violence to the World Social Forum in Bombay. On 15th June 2007 the United Nations General Assembly established 2nd October as the International Day of Non-Violence. The resolution of the UN General Assembly asked the members of UN system to commemorate 2 October as the International Day of Non-Violence and disseminate the message of non-violence through public awareness and education. People, NGOs as well as the Governments across the world observe this day through different activities as well as events. These activities and events include:
  
• India and United States of America (USA) signed a joint declaration on 27th September 2013 in defense cooperation in research in defense, defense technology transfer, co-development and co-production of defense articles and services and protecting each other’s sensitive technology and information. Highlights of the Joint declaration in defense cooperation -
  
  1) The United States and India share common security interests and place each other at the same level as their closest partners. This principle will apply with respect to defense technology transfer, trade, research, co-development and co-production for defense articles and services, including the most advanced and sophisticated technology.
  
  2) Both countries will work to improve licensing processes, and, where applicable, follow expedited license approval processes to facilitate this cooperation.
  
  3) The U.S and India are also committed to protecting each other’s sensitive technology and information.
  
  4) The two sides will continue their efforts to strengthen mutual understanding of their respective procurement systems and approval processes, and to address process-related difficulties in defense trade, technology transfer and collaboration.
  
  5) The two sides look forward to the identification of specific opportunities for cooperative and collaborative projects in advanced defense technologies and systems, within one year. Such opportunities will be pursued by both sides in accordance with their national policies and procedures, in a manner that would reflect the full potential of the relationship.
  
  6) The U.S. continues to fully support India`s full membership in the four international export control regimes, which would further facilitate technology sharing.
  
• The US government on 1st October has begun a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget. The Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying President Barack Obama's healthcare reform - dubbed Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill. More than 700,000 federal employees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over. It is the first shutdown in 17 years. Goldman Sachs estimates a three-week shutdown could shave as much as 0.9% from US GDP this quarter. On 1 October, Mr Obama blamed the House of Representatives for the stalemate and said he would "keep working to get Congress to reopen the government [and] restart vital services".
  
• The World Bank report entitledMigration and Remittance Flows: Recent Trends and Outlook-2013-16 released on 2nd October 2013 revealed that India emerged as the largest recipient of foreign remittances among developing economies in 2013. In 2013 Non-Resident Indians (NRI) sent a record US $ 71 billion home compared to US $ 70 billion in 2012. According to a Word Bank report NRIs are estimated to remit up to US $ 85 billion a year by 2015. World Bank in its report stated India and China will represent nearly a third of total remittances to the developing world in 2013. The surge in remittances continues despite the recent decline in Rupees against the Dollar. The gulf countries account for nearly 40 per cent of remittances in India while it was 48 percent to South Asian countries. The top recipients of officially recorded remittances for 2013 are India (with an estimated US $ 71 billion), China (US $ 60 billion), the Philippines (US $ 26 billion), Mexico (US $ 22 billion), Nigeria (US $ 21 billion), and Egypt (US $ 20 billion). Other large recipients include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Ukraine.
  
• In Tunisia, rival political groups arrived at an agreement to end the political crisis in the country on 5 October 2013. The ruling Islamist Ennahda-led Government will step down to allow the formation of a Government of independents in three weeks. It will be followed by the adoption of a new constitution and of holding elections in the country. Under the deal, an independent Prime Minister will be in place in Tunisia by the end of next week. He will have two weeks to form a new cabinet. The National Dialogue which began on 4 October 2013 will cover groups and parties across the political spectrum over the next four weeks. The new constitution will be adopted in this time and time table for elections will be decided. The political roadmap was prepared by four mediators led by Tunisia's powerful trade unions confederation, UGTT. The deal is expected to put an end to the simmering tension among the rival groups in the country which was sparked off by the assassination of a secular opposition leader Mohamed Brahimi in July 2013.