INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2011

INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2011

• Uganda’s long-time president Yoweri Museveni has won another term; this allowed him to extend his 25-year hold on power. But the top opposition leader Kizza Besigye alleged the election was fraudulent and vowed to reject the results. Foreign election observers said there had been serious flaws with the voting process and the campaign. They said state resources were used to skew the elections in Mr. Museveni's favour.
• One of New Zealand's biggest cities, Christchurch lay in ruins on 22 February after a powerful earthquake toppled buildings and churches, killing at least 65 people in the country's worst natural disaster in decades. 
• The extraordinary International Energy Forum (IEF) meeting was held in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S. Jaipal Reddy was participated from India. 
• Russia has successfully launched a next-generation navigation satellite for its Glonass Global Communication System. The Glonass-K satellite was hauled into orbit on 26 February from the Northern Plesetsk Space Centre by the upgraded Soyuz 2-1b launcher. This launch will increase the deployed Glonass grouping to 23 satellites, one short of the minimum needed to provide 100-per cent global coverage. Glonass will be integrated with the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), as well as with the European Union's Galileo system and China's Compass network when they are deployed. Under a 2007 accord, Russia agreed to share the Glonass signal with India. India will be the only country to have access to the military segment of the Glonass system, which will enable the Indian military to greatly improve the accuracy of its land-, sea-, air and space-launched weapon systems. In September the two countries signed a deal to jointly manufacture Glonass/GPS twin system receivers and other navigational equipment. 
• Egypt's new military rulers have suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament and have set a six-month timeline for holding fresh parliamentary and presidential elections. 
• Gay couples in Britain are to be allowed to “marry” and given the right to hold traditional weddings under unprecedented reforms that would end the historic legal definition of marriage. 
• Burma’s parliament on 16 February agreed to form a New Supreme Court with seven members. Burma started its First Three chamber Parliament sessions simultaneously on January 31 with The House of Representatives (lower house) and the House of Nationalities (Upper House) going in to sitting in Nay Pyi Taw, Burma’s new Capital city. 
• Pro-democracy activists in Libya, inspired by democratic transitions in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, are facing a harsh crackdown. Around 84 people were died in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi which is said to be the epicenter of the revolution. 
• Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on for allegedly carrying a huge sum of undeclared foreign currency. 
• A new organisation, Anti-Corruption Citizen's Forum (ACCF), an initiative by a group of concerned citizens including former judges and former IAS officers was formed in Hyderabad on 13 February with the objective of curbing the menace, build pressure groups and urge the government to take action. Among those in the core group that worked to form the ACCF were former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court A. Lakshmana Rao, former Supreme Court judge B. P. Jeevan Reddy, former High Court Judge Reddappa Reddy and former Lok Ayukta Justice Ramanujam, former IAS officers K. R. Venugopal, K. Padmanabhaiah and C. Umamaheswara Rao.
• A.P.Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy performed the ‘ground breaking' ceremony for three Tata Group projects in Hyderabad on 14 February promoted Hyderabad onto the global aerospace map.Involving an investment of Rs. 1,000 crore and providing direct and indirect employment to 9,000 persons, the three aerospace manufacturing projects at Adibhatla village in Ranga Reddy district are Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructure, (joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems (TAS) and Lockheed Martin), Tata Aerospace Systems (JV of TAS and Sikorsky Aircraft) and Nova Integrated systems (Tata enterprise). They are expected to go on stream by 2011 end.
• The A.P State Legislative Assembly has set a record of sorts by becoming the first in the country to digitise video records of all the debates in the House from 1996.The debates, digitised in DVD format, will shortly be uploaded on the Internet. Members can now take a copy of some of the historic debates or the debates in which they took part and upload it on YouTube or any other site on the Net.
• Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had given the conditional clearance for the 4000-MW Ultra-Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19 February laid the foundation stones of the country's second National Institute of Design (NID) at Jorhat,Assam and the Assam centre of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) at Sivasagar.The first National Institute of Design was set up in Ahmedabad 50 years ago.
• Giving in to opposition demands, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced government’s decision to set up a JPC into the 2G spectrum scam, saying the country could "ill afford" disruption of the crucial Budget session of Parliament.
• Axis bank has formally launched the first ETM (Enywhere Teller Mechine)service in Vijayawada on15 february with the bank already tying up with over 120 merchants as POS(Point Of Sale) terminals to provide its new service to its customers. The bank has plans to extend this service all over the State by March next year by roping in nearly 500 merchants as POS terminals by that time.ETM service is more convenient as the card holder need not look for a bank' ATM.
• The expert group of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the task force of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) broadly agreed to settle their turf war over the jurisdiction of medical education. The National Commission for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) will get to lay down the minimum standards of medical education, while all health-related research will come under the purview of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), promoted by the HRD Ministry.
• The First Urine Bank in India has started in a village Musiri near Tiruchi,Tamil Nadu.
• A group of naval divers on board INS Nireekshak, the Navy's only diving support and submarine rescue vessel, set a new national record last week by diving to a depth of 233 metres in the seas off Kochi coast, bettering a record of 218 metres attained by Navy divers in March 2007.INS Nireekshak, a 3,600-tonnes ship that was commissioned into the navy in 1995, is capable of diving up to 300 metres.
• The Centre on 18 February annulled the controversial deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation's commercial arm Antrix Corporation and Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia.The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, paved the way for annulling the agreement by declaring that the government will not be able to provide the orbit slot in S-Band to Antrix for commercial purposes, including for its existing contractual obligations, in view of strategic requirements. 
• Japan is to extend an aid of Rs.2, 557 crore (Yen 46.401 billion) to India for three projects through its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) programme. The projects pertain to cleaning the Yamuna in the national capital, crop diversification promotion in Himachal Pradesh and biodiversity conservation and greening in Tamil Nadu. The current aid quantum is part of the 2010 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ODA loan package.
• The 71 st session of the Indian History Congress was held at the Gaur Banga University in Malda,West Bengal.
• The two day Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) was held in New Delhi.
• The Andhra Pradesh’s 12th annual Nandi Drama Festival got off to a colourful start at Nandyal on19 February. C. Pardhasaradhi, Commissioner, Information and Public Relations and Managing Director of AP State Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation, formally inaugurated the festival.
• The Supreme Court has stated in a case that -If a sessions judge passes an erroneous or patently unjustified order, the High Court concerned can suo motu question its correctness by an administrative decision.
• Jordan's king Abdullah II sacked his Government in the wake of street protests and asked an ex-Prime Minister Marouf-Al-Bakhit to form a new cabinet, ordering him to launch immediate political reforms. The Jordanian more follows several large protests across the country-inspired by similar demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is flamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms. 
• In a response of unrest in Egypt, the Palestinian Government in the west bank said it would hold local council elections as soon as possible. 
• India donates huge $ 2,50,000 towards the setting up of an Anti-slavery memorial which will be located in the lawn of the U.N's head quarter in New york. This amount was handed over by India's permanent representative to the U.N., Hardeep Puri towards the trust fund for the permanent memorial to honour the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. 
• Ennise Sanborn (115), worlds oldest person died at Texas, United States. Since the death of Ennise Sanborn has occurred the oldest documented living person is 114 year old Besse Cooper of Georgia, U.S.A. who was born on August 26, 1896. 
• In a response to the opposition's call seeking his immediate exit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has agreed to quit in September this year, but on his own terms which include steering an orderly political transition in Egypt. 
• Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh under opposition pressure to stepdown, said, he would not be president for life and would stepdown in 2013.
• Jhalanath Khanal, Chairman of the communist party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) has become a new Prime Minister for Nepal, after 7 months of uncertainity over selecting the Prime Minister post.
• Australia's biggest cyclone in a century named Yasi shattered entire towns, terrifying locals but causing no confirmed fatalities hit mainly in the Queensland State.
• Thein Sein, a military general-turned-civilian leader was elected as Myanmar's first President under its 2008 constitution on 4th February.
• The world's oldest woman 'Eunice Sanborn' has died in Texas on (31/1/2011) aged 115, 
• King Abdullah-2 of Jordan dismissed Jordanian government on (2/2/2011). 
• India has not invited China, Pakistan and Iran for the biggest-ever airshow in this region, Aero-India 2011, which was conducted in Bangalore with official representation from as many as 60 countries. 
• In a major breakthrough that put an end to more than a month of uncertainty, India and Iran arrived at a settlement and agreed to use 'euro' to pay for Iranian crude oil through a german bank.

INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2011

INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2011

• Thousands of Yemenis, apparently inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, staged a massive demonstration calling on president Ali Abdullah saleh to quit after being in power since 1978. 
• The heroic response by employees of Mumbai's landmark Taj Hotel during the 28/11 terror attacks was inducted as a case-study headlined 'Terror at the Taj Bombay'. Customer-centric leadership at Harvard Business School that focuses on the staff's selfless services for its customers and how they went beyond their call of duty to save lives. 
• Miss "Nebraska Teresa Scanlan" Selected for the new Miss America-2011 at the Planet Hollywood Resort &Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. 
• The former Swiss banker, Rudolf Elmer who handed over secret data to WikiLeaks was found guilty by Swiss court for seeking to blackmail the bank, making threats and violating banking secrecy laws 
• The governing Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) elected Nguyen Phu Trong as the new General Secretary. 
• Sri Lankan election officials rejected applications 86 new political parties including one by the jailed former army commander Sarath Fonseka. Democratic Party of Fonseka failed to meet the necessary requirements of election commission. 
• Lawmakers in Britain's lower house of Parliament were banned using the Twitter micro blogging website while sitting in the chamber. The ban on Twitter was a result of complaint from Opposition Labour MP, Kevin Brennan. 
• Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in Belarussian president, for a fourth term 
• Three-day Islamic Congregation' Held on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Congregation, held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. 
• The year 2010 ranked as the warmest year on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, Geneva. 
• Suicide bomb attacked at "Domodedovo Air port" in Moscow At least 35 people were Killed and about 60 Injured in a attack. 
• 35th International Circus Festival Held at Monte Carlo 
• Bilateral trade between India and China exceeded the two countries $60 billion target last year, driven largely by rising Indian imports of Chinese machinery that have left a record trade imbalance of $20 billion in China's favour. 
• An Iranian passenger jet with at least 105 people on board crashed in bad weather near the north western city of Urumiyeh, at least 50 people were rescued. 
• Democratic Congress woman Gabrielle Giffords, a three-term lawmaker, was shot in the head, one of 13 people wounded in the shooting at a public event in Tucson, Arizona 
• Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is set to open its first overseas office outside of the United States in India, which will focus on expanding its database in Hindi and all other official languages of the country. 
• After 19 years, India has joined the U.N. Security Council as a non-permanent member for a two-year term. On January 1, India, along with Germany, Portugal, South Africa and Columbia, became a non -permanent member of this 15 member body. 
• Newly sworn-in Brazilian first woman president Dilma Rousseff took charge in Brasilia on 2/1/2011 who beat opposition candidate Jose Serra in a run-off election last October with 56% of votes. 
• Holly wood Actor Arnold schwarzenegger resigned for California Governoar Post. 
• Saudi Arabia, the top oil exporter is planning to host the by the end of 2011

INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2010

INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2010

• The National Institute of Economic and Social Research of Britain, an independent research body found evidence of significant "discrimination and harassment" faced by Britain's Dalit community. Britain could become the first western country to with the acceptance of NIESR report. 
• Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a no-confidence motion. The no-trust vote brought by the centre-left opposition was defeated by 314 votes to 311. 
• Julian Assange who was arrested in London for alleged sexual assault in Sweden was released on bail by London High Court after deposing the cash security of £240,000. 
• Indian doctor Mohammad Haneef who was detained after being wrongly accused of having links to the Glassglow bombing attempt in 2007 in Scotland settles a deal with the Austrlian Government for receiving substantial compensation from the government. Haneef was detained for three years 
• The British government reinstates the interim cap on non-European Union immigration, which was struck down by a court as it was "unlawful' on the grounds that it was introduced without Parliamentary approval. 
• The United States Senate approves the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) treaty, an arms reduction agreement with Russia. The treaty was passed by majority of 71 Senators with 26 Senators opposing the treaty. 
• According to the survey of Daily Mail of London on the habit of drinking alcohol, Britons drink the most and Indians drink the least.Indians drink the least in the world with 27 percent and the Britons drink the most with 84 percent. 
• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by British Police in London in connection with sexual offences in Sweden. The Australian born Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have become famous for publishing the secret documents of governments all over the world since 2006. 
• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference was held in Cancun, Mexico during the period of 29 November - 10 December 2010. The President of the conference Patricia Espinosa decided to constitute smaller groups to discuss the climate change issue. 
• China created another world record in fastest trains with the successful launch of CRH 308A train between Beijing and Shangai. This train travelled at the speed of 486 k.m. per hour on world's longest high speed railway line in China.

INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2010

INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2010

• Newsweek magazine named Barak Obama as "God of all Things" in its recent cover story dated 22 November 2010. 
• Frantic relatives scoured makeshift morgues in the Cambodia Capital Phnom Penh 23/11/2010 after nearly 380 revelers perished in a huge stamped on an overcrowded bridge, turning a water festival into tragedy. 
• Third meeting of SAARC Transport Ministers was held in New Delhi on 23/11/2010. Union Road Transport and highways Minister Kamal Nath attended the meeting. 
• Myanmar's pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from her house arrest by the Junta leader, Gen. Than Shwe. Suu Kyi remained under house arrest since 1990 for almost 15 years. 
• China creates world's fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-1A by overtaking United States of America and its Cray XT5 Jaguar system in global supercomputing race. 
• Sri Lanka President, Mahindra Rajapaksa sworn in as President for the second term amid the boycott by opposition parties. 
• India ranked 15th on terror risk as per the Maplecroft list and Terrorism Risk Index. Somalia occupies the first place in global terrorism list. 
• Jammu and Kashmir has been removed from the United Nations list of unresolved disputes under the observations of Security Council. 
• Myanmar's pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from her house arrest by the Junta leader, Gen. Than Shwe. Suu Kyi remained under house arrest since 1990 for almost 15 years. 
• China launches population census after 10 years on Nov. 1st, 2010 for its 1.295 billion population of 2000 census. This exercise is going to cost about 700 million Yuan. 
• 90 people were killed in Indonesia because of deadliest volcano from Mount Merapi. 
• Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashed in Cuba and all 68 on board got killed. 
• Low turn out in Myanmar general elections. This is the first time to conduct elections in military ruled Myanmar since 1990. 
• US District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange temporarily blocked courts from considering Sharia Law in their decision making in response to a lawsuit filed by Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). 
• The military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) lead the election results in Myanmar elections. 
• United Nations General Assembly Committee issued resolution for a moratorium on death penalty. A total of 107 countries supported moratorium, along with India 37 other countries opposed and 36 countries abstained. 
• The Shanghai Expo, the biggest world's fair in history, closed the event in Beijing. The Expo broke number of world records in its six month long opening. It has been the most expensive and highest number of visitors in the world. 
• Dilma Rousseff elected as first-ever woman President of Brazil. Dilma Rousseff will replace Luiz Inacio 
• Labour party member Swaraj Paul quits the post of Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords following his suspension on October 21st over his expenses claims. 
• Indo-American Kamala Harris became the first woman to hold Attorney-General of California after being elected in polls 
• Nikki Haley elected as first Indian-origion woman to be elected as California Governor
• Democrats were defeated in House of Representatives, Senate and State Governors elections in United States of America. Democratic Party lost 60 seats in House of Reprsentatives and 6 seats in Senate 
• Well known Hollywood studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor Studios Inc submits file for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11. 
• China President Hu Jintao topped the Forbes 2010 list of world's most powerful people with 68 personalities. The top five personalities in this list are Hu Jintao, Barack Obama, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia, Valdimir Putin of Russia and Pope Benedict XVI. Sonia Gnadhi and Manmohan Singh occupy 9th and 18th positions respectively. 
• The United States of America imposed sanctions on Pakistan based terror groups, Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). 
• Human Development Index 2010 was released; the top five countries in this list are Norway, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Ireland. India gets 119th rank out 169 ranks on this index.

INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2010

INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2010

• Pakistani Veteran Human Rights activist Asma Jehangir won the election for President of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
  
• A powerful earth quake triggered a three-meter Tsunami that pounded remote Island villages in the Western Indonesia on October 26, 2010 killing at least 113 people and more missing. 
  
  
• India was ranked 87 out of 178 countries in Transparency International’s corruption perception index report. India fell by three positions from its rank of 84 in 2009.
  
• India was elected as non permanent member in UN Security Council. After a Long gap India was elected council member ship.
  India, which won by a record 187 votes (98 percent of the UN member ship), joined south Africa, Colombia, Germany and Portugal as the fifth new member of the 15 nation body. Their two years term begins from January 1, 2011.
  
• Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf announced his new party, the All Pakistan Muslim League from London.
  
• The IAEA Board of Governors has elected the Governor of Pakistan,Mr. Ansar Parvez, as its Chairman for 2010-2011 (one year mandate) at a meeting held in Vienna. 

INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2010

INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2010

• UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon inaugurated UN summit on Millennium Development Goals. The development of a Global Partnership for Development, GPD was stated in the Millennium Development Goal 8 adopted in 2000.
  Targets: To eradicate poverty by 2015. Stop spreading of AIDS. 
• Gates, founder of Microsoft, was the richest person in the United States for the 17th year in a row with an estimated worth of $ 54 billion, up $ 4 billion from last year.
  No. 2 on the list was investor Warren Buffett, worth $ 45 billion, up $ 5 billion. Oracle founder Larry Ellison's net worth was unchanged, in third place, at $ 27 billion. 
• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to head a new U.N. body that will seek to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. The body will be known officially as the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, but officials say it will be referred to as U.N. Women (www.unwomen.org). 
• The morning the Census Bureau released the poverty rate for 2009. According to the report, 14.3 percent which means 43.6 million Americans are living in poverty which is the largest number of poor people in the United States in the 51 years that records have been kept. 
• As per the WEF's Global Competitiveness Report 2010-11, released today, Switzerland is No. 1 followed by Singapore in the world in terms of its ability to provide the most competitive environment on several fronts.India has slipped by two places to 51st. The global competitiveness rankings are viewed as a barometer of the business climate in 139 countries and mirror the assessments of leading businessmen on a range of political, social, and economic parameters. 
• The new UN survey clearly showed that India is the second most preferred country for investment for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) after China. The next places go to Brazil and USA.
• World Water Week was started in Stockholm, Sweden as a part of Global Water Summit.

INTERNATIONAL AUGUST 2010

INTERNATIONAL AUGUST 2010

• President Pratibha Patil inaugurated the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM 2010) at HICC, Hyderabad. For the first time ever, the Union's General Assembly has elected Ingrid Daubechies of the U.S., a woman as its president for the 2011-14 terms. 
• Vuvuzela, the horn instrument which became the sound of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, has won an entry in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. It defines the horn as a long plastic instrument, in the shape of a trumpet that makes a very loud noise when it is blown and is popular with football fans in South Africa.
• China passed Japan to become the world's second-largest economy behind the United States, according to Chinese government figures. With this growth continuing, China will pass the United States as the world's biggest economy as early as 2030.
• Sri Lankan court martial, probing charges against General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka, found him guilty and recommended that he be ‘cashiered.'When an officer was cashiered, he would lose the rank and all the awards/honours received as a military officer.
• The clock atop the Abraj Al-Bait Towers under construction in Macca, Saudi Arabia has billed as the world's largest clock and will top a massive skyscraper that when completed will be around 600 metres tall, the second tallest in the world after Dubai's Burj Khalifa. 
• Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, will be one of the 21 members of the United Nations' (UN) newly formed High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. It will be co-chaired by South African president Jacob Zuma and Finnish president Tarja Halonen, and includes foreign and environment ministers, environmentalists, diplomats and businessmen, as well as former Heads of State from around the world.
• Nepal's Parliament failed to elect a Prime Minister for the fourth time. Both Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda' and Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel could not obtain a simple majority of 301 votes in the House of 601 as required by the interim constitution. 
• The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur is now been in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's(UNESCO)World Heritage List. Located outside the city palace, this large stone observatory with its many instruments was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in the 18th century. It is one of the four existing astronomical observatories in India. The others are located in Varanasi, Delhi and Ujjain.

INTERNATIONAL JULY 2010

INTERNATIONAL JULY 2010

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

INTERNATIONAL JUNE 2010

INTERNATIONAL JUNE 2010

• Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned. The resignation was part of an agreement among the three major political parties,the opposition UCPN (Maoist) and the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML). 
• Taiwan and China signed a historic trade pact “The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)”, hailed by both sides as a milestone and the culmination of a Beijing-friendly policy introduced by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou after assuming power in 2008. 
• Kyrgyzstan voted for a national referendum on a new Constitution. If approved, the Constitution would transform Kyrgyzstan from a presidential to a parliamentary republic, with main powers shifted from a nationally elected President to a Prime Minister chosen by Parliament. This would make Kyrgyzstan the first parliamentary democracy in former Soviet Central Asia. 
• The two-day G-20 summit or the meeting of the heads of the world's major industrialised powers was held in Toronto, Canada. 
• India has joined the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) project, the next generation astronomical observatory that will be located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. 
• Guinea, the West African country is holding in its first free election since independence in 1958. 
• Julia Gillard was sworn in as Australia's first woman Prime Minister after Kevin Rudd was toppled as the leader of the ruling Labour party. 
• A 500-kg bronze sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg city. 
• According to the findings of the United States Geological Survey, Afghanistan has nearly one trillion dollars in mineral deposits and could become one of the richest in the world. 
• Iran and Pakistan finalise gas pipeline project without India to supply 21 million cubic metres of natural gas daily from 2014 to Pakistan. 
• The Bangladesh government shut down Bengali daily Amar Desh, citing that it has no authorised publisher. Mahmudur Rahman, owner and acting-editor of the anti-government daily, was arrested on a cheating charge.

INTERNATIONAL MAY 2010

INTERNATIONAL MAY 2010

• According to Google’s web traffic data, Facebook.com is most visited website with monthly visits by 540 million people, or slightly more than 35 per cent of the Internet population. 
• Nepal political parties UCPN-Maoist, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML agreed to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly by one year as part of a crucial deal under which Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal agreed to step down.
• In the midst of heightened tensions, North Korea announced the unilateral scrapping of its pact with South Korea on the prevention of naval clashes between them. 
• The annual ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was held in Paris with Economy and Trade Ministers from 40 countries, representing 80 per cent of the world economy attended. India, Russia, Brazil ,China, Indonesia and South Africa have been invited to participate as observers.
• Citing lack of evidence, the Pakistan Supreme Court upheld the Lahore High Court's decision to release Jama'at-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed from house arrest.
• The world's most expensive postage stamp “Treskilling Yellow” printed in Sweden in 1857, was sold at auction in Geneva to an international consortium.
• The National Commission co-chaired by Bob Graham and William Reilly was established to investigate the oil spill from British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded on April 20 and has since been spewing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf of Mexico seriously endangering its marine life and the coastlands of Louisiana. 
• The French Cabinet approved a draft law to ban the Muslim full-face veil from public spaces.
• A deal was reached to swap a major part of Iran’s low enriched uranium stocks on Turkish soil for an equivalent amount of uranium enriched to 19.75 percent among Iran, Turkey and Brazil.
• Iran has freed Clotilde Reiss, French lecturer charged with spying following last June's presidential elections.
• The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour have slowed down and called for a “re-energised” global campaign to end the practice. In its global report on child labour, the ILO said the global number of child labourers had declined from 222 million to 215 million, or 3 per cent, over the period 2004 to 2008, representing a “slowing down of the global pace of reduction.” 
• The Conservative leader David Cameron took over as Prime Minister and his Liberal Democrat counterpart Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister in the Britain's first post-war coalition government. 
• The second Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in which 32 nations attended was held in Abu Dhabi. 
• The short film ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’, on one of North East’s fiercest fighters, Konyak Nagas, directed by Vikeyeno Zao, will be screened at the annual Cannes Film Festival beginning May 12. 
• Pakistan said it had successfully tested two surface-to-surface missiles Ghaznavi and Shaheen capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads. 
• Britain's most closely-contested election resulted in a hung Parliament and the defeat for the ruling Labour Party after 13 years in power. The conservative party ended up with 306 seats, 20 short of an outright majority .The Labour party got 258 seats and the Liberal Democrats got 57 seats. 
• The four-week nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference was held at the United Nations in New York.
• Sri Lankan President government has decided to pardon journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who is out on bail after being convicted in August last year under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The pardon coincided with the World Press Freedom Day. 
• Iran and Syria have mooted the formation of a regional economic bloc with Turkey and Iraq as their key partners. The two sides felt the move would yield economic benefits and impart political stability and security to the region.

INTERNATIONAL APRIL 2010

INTERNATIONAL APRIL 2010

• The World Expo 2010 was held in Shangai in China. 189 countries have attended the event. The Chinese government has spent an estimated $ 45 billion on the Expo, upgrading Shanghai's infrastructure in a bid to make the city a “world financial capital” by 2020. 
• The 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation decided to establish an Inter-governmental Expert Group on Climate Change to develop a clear policy direction and guidance for regional cooperation as envisaged in the SAARC Plan of Action on Climate Change. The member-states also resolved to commission a study, for presentation to the 17th summit, on ‘Climate Risks in the Region: ways to comprehensively address the related social, economic and environmental challenges'. It was also decided to plant one crore trees over the next five years to build a “green and happy South Asia.” 
• On the sidelines of the SAARC summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, agreed to the resumption of high-level dialogue, which has been disrupted since the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008.
• The 16th summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) started in Thimpu, Bhutan. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa,current head of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, took the chair. Other leaders of the grouping Manmohan Singh of India,Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Lyonchhen Jigmi Thinley of Bhutan, Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, Madhav Kumar Nepal of Nepal, and Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan attended the summit. For the first time, Bhutan is hosting the summit.
• Chamal Rajapaksa, brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was unanimously elected Speaker of the newly elected Sri Lankan Parliament on its opening day. 
• Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law a landmark constitutional amendment bill that will divest him of his sweeping powers.
• Addressing representatives of over 60 countries and several international organisations, at the start of a two-day conference on nuclear disarmament in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the suspension of the United States from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and proposed a five-point plan to democratise the global security architecture. 
• Russia has launched the construction of the $12-billion Nord Stream pipeline to Europe that would carry up to 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year from Siberian gas fields 900 km over land and 1,200 km under the Baltic Sea from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald in Germany.
• Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has unveiled the first model of “third generation”centrifuges that Tehran claims are six times more efficient than the previous variants. Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony in Tehran marking the fourth “national nuclear festival” that 60,000 new generation centrifuges would be installed at the Natanz enrichment plant.
• In the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa-led ruling alliance won in 120 constituencies of the 180 seats declared in the 225-member House. The main Opposition grouping, led by the United National Party (UNP), bagged only 47 seats.
• The Pakistan National Assembly passed the 18th Amendment Billthat seeks to bring back the 1973 Constitution. The Bill , which proposes 102 amendments to the Constitution , was passed by a two-thirds majority after the House rejected the amendments moved by some members on the abolition of the concurrent list, renaming the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and removal of the provision for intra-party elections.
• Presidents Barack Obama of the United States and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia signed a Strategic Arms Reduction Treatywhich will reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles by a third.
• Anti-government protests broke out in Kyrgyzstan and its President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has reportedly left the country and Prime Minister Usenov resigned, clearing the way for the Opposition to form its own government. A “Cabinet of people's trust” has been headed by Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva.
• Aid agencies are warning of an impending food emergency in South Sudan. According to them, Akobo, in the eastern region of Jonglei, is now the“hungriest place on earth.''
• A volcano erupted under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, 120 km east of Reykjavik in Icelandshooting smoke and steam into the air and forcing hundreds of people to leave their homes. 
• A 7.1-magnitude quake struck a remote border area in north-west Qinghai province in western China leaving at least 400 dead and more than 10,000 injured. The epicentre of the quake was in Yushu county, in a Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture which borders Sichuan. 
• China is building a new airport near Mount Everest, to be called ‘Peace Airport’ in Xigaze prefecture in Tibet. 
• The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) was held in Washington in which 37 of the participating 47 countries are represented at the level of President or Prime Minister. The agenda of the summit was how to physically secure sensitive nuclear materials around the world so that terrorists don't get hold of them. The next Nuclear Security Summit will be held in South Korea in 2012. 
• The President of Poland Lech Kaczynski and a high-level delegation were killed when the president’s Tu-154 passenger jet carrying 97 people crashed as it was approaching a Russian airport in the city of Smolensk. 
• Sudan geared up for its first multi-party elections in 24 years,with a 16-million-strong electorate eligible to vote for President, MPs and local representatives. 

INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2010

INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2010

• China stood first in implementing death sentence in the world, according to the report given by Amnesty International.
  
• Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced plans for a “New Economic Model (NEM),” raising prospects of a fair deal for all racial groups.
  
• During a session at the Arab League summit in Libya, the Arab leaders called for a review of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to create a definitive plan for eliminating nuclear weapons development. These countries view Israel and Iran's nuclear programmes with alarm, and have repeatedly called for an agreement to ban nuclear weapons from the region.
  
• The Former interim Prime Minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi's Iraqiyah formation has secured the maximum number of seats in Iraq's March 7th parliamentary elections, narrowly edging out the State of Law grouping led by incumbent Premier Nouri al-Maliki.Out of the 325 seats, National Iraqi List (“Iraqiyah”) of Mr. Allawi secured 91. Mr. Maliki's State of Law grouping got 89.
  
• India joined the world to celebrate Earth Hour, from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. on 27th march 2010 organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The event is the largest global campaign on climate change with over one billion people around the globe joined the campaign, involving more than 6,000 cities and towns, to turn off lights in show of support for action on climate change.
  
• The Agriculture Ministers of the BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China have adopted aMoscow Declaration where they identified four areas for quadripartite cooperation
  1. To set up a common database of production and consumption of farm products in their respective countries to facilitate comprehensive analysis of food security and coordinate formation of national grain reserves.
  2. The four countries to jointly draw up a BRIC food security strategy for vulnerable sections of the population and share experience in providing food for the poor.
  3. To mitigate the impact of climate change on food security and adapt farming to the changing climate.
  4. To promote cooperation and exchanges in farm technology and innovation.
  
  
• The United States and Russiahave concluded a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which include reduction by about one third the nuclear weapons that the two countries would deploy and a significant reductions in missiles and launchers and putting in place a strong and effective verification regime.
  
• China is now set to take the lead as the world's premier green energy power, according to a report released by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which measured the growth of clean energy investments in the world's major economies. In 2009, China invested $34.6 billion on expanding its renewable energy capacity, out of $162 billion invested globally. The U.S. invested $18.6 billion, losing the top spot for most investments for the first time ever. India invested $2.3 billion, ranking tenth among the G-20 group of countries.
  
• According to a new report from U.N.-Habitat, the U.N. agency for human settlements
  1. The worldwide number of slum-dwellers now stands at 827 million and is on course to grow to 889 million by 2020.
  2. Southern Asia now has 190.7 million slum dwellers (35 per cent of the population) and eastern Asia 189.6 million (28.2 per cent).
  3. China and India, the world's most populous countries, have together lifted 125 million people out of slums in the last decade.
  
  
• The United States House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the Healthcare Reform bill which will soon be signed into law by President Obama as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will lead to additional insurance coverage for almost 32 million more Americans and also bring down the deficit of the country by $143 billion over 10 years and by over a trillion dollars within the following 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It will cost the American taxpayer $940 billion, according to the CBO.
  
• The temple city of Tirupati has been identified as 'most favourable' to be developed as a 'low - carbon foot print city' by European Aid and Development which works under the European Commission.
  
• The Russia led defence bloc of ex - soviet states, Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) signed a cooperation pact with the United Nations, which amounts to recognition of the CSTO as a full fledged international security organisation.
  
• Iran and Pakistan have signed in Istanbul, Turkey, the final agreement to launch the $7.5 billion Iran - Pakistan gas pipelinewith a provision for India's possible participation in the project at a later date. This would set in motion the broader Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) with the signing of two provisions i.e., the Operational Agreement (OA) and the Heads of Agreement (HOA) which deals with details regarding the transportation of gas to India "if and when India decides to join the project''.
  
• Court martial proceedings begins against the former Army Chief of Srilanka, General (retired) Sarath Fonseka, for alleged involvement in politics while in uniform.
  
• U.S. magazine Forbes annual list of the world's top billionaires :
  Richest men in the World:
  1. Carlos Slim ($ 53.5 billion)
  2. Bill Gates ($ 53 billion)
  3. Warren Buffett ($ 47 billion)
  4. Mukesh Ambani ($ 29 billion)
  5. Lakshmi Mittal ($ 28.7 billion)
  Richest men in India: There are eight Indians in the list of 100 wealthiest people in the world.
  1. Azim Premji ($ 17 billion) (27th in the world)
  2. Anil Ambani ($ 13.7 billion) (36th in the world)
  3. Ravi Ruia ($ 13 billion) (40th in the world)
  4. Savitri Jindal ($ 12.2 billion) (44th in the world)
  5. Kushal Pal Singh ($ 9 billion) (74th in the world)
  6. Kumar Birla ($ 7.9 billion) (86th in the world)
  
  
• China supports India in opposing any international 'scrutiny' of voluntary actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As both countries face common challenges, such as task of developing economy, eliminating poverty, improving people’s livelihood, reducing emissions and protecting the environment, China sought to continue and expand cooperation with India as negotiations between the developing world and the west headed towards the climate change conference in Mexico later this year, said Xie Zhenhua, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China.
  
• The new constitution for the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal set to be launched on May 28, 2010 was to be delayed as the calendar for its release has been amended for the tenth time.
  
• India has emerged as one of the world's top ten countries in industrial production, according to United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) year book of Industrial Statistics 2010.
• "Power, Voice and Rights - A Turning point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific", a report brought out by the United Nations Development Programme to mark the International Women's Day found that the problem of "missing girls" - a scenario where more boys are born than girls, as girl foetuses are presumably aborted and women die from health and nutrition neglect is growing in Asia Pacific. Birth gender disparity is the greatest in East Asia, where 119 boys are born for every 100 girls. China and India together account for more than 85 million of the nearly 100 million ''missing'' women estimated to have died from discriminatory treatment in health care, nutrition access or pure neglect.
• Iraq voted in the parliamentary polls defying the threat of militant attacks.
• The united States House of Representatives followed the senate in passing the Hiring Incentive to Restore Employment Act (The HIRE Act), which offers a payroll tax holding for business that hire unemployed workers and an income tax credit of $ 1000 for businesses that retain them. The bill is for tackling unemployment.
• The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) led by V. Anandasangaree in its manifesto for the April 8 general election in Srilanka has advocated a federal model on the lines of Indian system to resolve the ethnic conflict.
• The Chinese government has appointed the 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Norbu, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, to the country's top legislative advisory body. His appointment comes amid Beijing's efforts to further legitimise its contested selection of the monk, who analysts say may have a crucial role to play in the appointment of the current Dalai Lama's successor.

INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2010

INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2010

• China has denied claims by Google, the internet Giant, that it had faced cyber attacks targeting the E - mail accounts of several Chinese human right activists. American investigators have reportedly traced the attacks to two Chinese universities.
• Pakistan joined 52 other Asian States to endorse India's candidature for non - permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Out of 128 votes needed to get the seat, India already has 122.
• Japan and Australia pledged to help countries with atomic energy programmes to stay clear of the nuclear-weapons path in the realm of "3S". The "3S" relate to nuclear non-prolife ration-related safeguards, safety and security.
• A diplomatic battle between Britain and Argentina is underway over oil exploration around the Falklands as a rig hired by British companies is to begin drilling off the coast of the remote archipelago. Geologists think the territory, over which the two countries fought a war in 1982, could hold up to 60bn barrels of oil.
• Octogenarian Tinoo was set free by the Myanmar's military rulers and will lead the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) as long as Nobel peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.
• The European Union member states have decided to temporarily withdraw preferential tariff benefits known as GSP+ granted to Sri Lanka from August on the ground that they are "significant shortcomings" in the implementation of three U.N. human rights conventions.
• The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad, Hyderabad was declared the World's Best Airport under the 5 to 15 million passengers category by Airports Council International (ACI). This is the first time that an Indian airport will be featured among the top airports of the world.
• International Conference on Biodiversity in relation to food and human security was held in Chennai.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while declaring the country to be a 'nuclear state' said, Iran had produced a first stock of 20 percent enriched uranium for its nuclear programme and was capable of enriching it to 80 percent.
• Ukraine's Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych narrowly beat Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the presidential election.
• The Secretary - General of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Anders Fogh Rasmussen Said that, NATO's troubles in Afghanistan showed it were vital to boost ties with nations like China, India and Pakistan and transform the alliance into a global security hub.
• An Australian mining firmResource House has signed a record $60 - billion deal to supply 30 million tonnes of coal every year to China Power International Development (CPI) for the next 20 Years. The deal is the biggest - ever export contract in Australia's history with the energy - hungry china.
• The last Bo speaking person on earth, an 85-year old Andamanese woman named Bo Sr, was dead. The Bo are believed to have existed for 65,000 years, making them the descendants of one of the oldest human cultures.
• A landmark deal between Northern Ireland’s two major political parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, removed the last hurdle to granting full autonomy to the province envisaged in the 1998 Good Friday agreement that brought decades of sectarian violence to an end. The deal paves the way for transferring policing and justice powers from the central government in London to the provincial administration in Belfast.

INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2010

INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2010

• The Chinese government's official growth figures released shows 8.7 growth in 2009. China is now on course to overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy, while Japan's official GDP figures are yet to be released.
• India is ranked 123rd in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) in pollution control and natural resources management. Iceland was ranked 1st in EPI.
• Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa defeated the opposition consensus candidate and former Army Chief, retired General Sarath Fonseka in the presidential election. This is the second term for the Srilankan president Rajapaksa.
• The world's largest aluminium producer, UC Rusal became the first Russian firm to list in Hongkong and Paris stock exchanges.
• The International Monetary Fundprojected the India's economic growth rate to be 7.7 percent for 2010.
• The group of four major emerging economics Brasil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC)expressed their intention to communicate information on their voluntary mitigation actions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This decision was taken at the second ministerial level meeting of the BASIC group of countries in New Delhi.
• China and Japan have been added to the 39 non-traditional export markets identified by the Union Government as part of series of new incentives to encourage Indian exporters to explore non - traditional business avenues.
• Billionaire Sebastian Pinera was elected Chile's president with the victory over ex-president Eduardo Frei.
• India is the 88th best place to live, according to the 2010 quality ofLife Index published by travel magazine International living. 
• A 7.0 magnitude powerful earthquake rocked Haiti, killing possibly over one lakh people. 
• China, the world's largest producer of gold is set to overtake India as the metal's biggest consumer for the first time in history. China’s consumption of gold is estimated as 450 tonnes in 2009 where as India's consumption forecast is 380 tonnes.

INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2009

INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2009

• Nepal’s Ministerial meeting was held at Kaala Pathar near Everest Himalayas. PM Madhav Kumar and his 23 ministers participated in the meeting. This meeting was held to convey the affects of Himalayas’ melting to their country to the world countries.
  
• Hyderabad has hosted 62nd World Association of Newspapers (WAN IFRA 2009). The 63rd meeting will be held at Beirut, Lebanon.
  
• USA and BRIC countries signed an agreement in Copenhagen on carbon reduction. According to this agreement, rise in temperatures should be restricted to 2 degree centigrade, immediate release of 30 billion dollar for environment help to poor countries. This would be raised to 100 billion dollar by 2020. And carbon dioxide emissions will be monitored.
  
• Iran successfully test-fired an improved version of its Sejil 2medium-range missile with a range of 2000km.
  
• Bolivian President Evo Morales called on world leaders to hold temperature increases over the next century to just 1°C. Mr. Morales also demanded rich countries pay climate change reparations and proposed an international climate court of justice to prosecute countries for climate “crimes”.
  
• Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati are among the four Indians named in the Financial Times list of '50 People Who Shaped the Decade'. NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and India-born Pepsico Chief Indra Nooyi are the other two Indians in the league of 50, which among others also features Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and US President Barack Obama.
  
• Hotels.com global poll of 10,000 travellers found that the Eiffel Tower is the World's Favourite Landmark. St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Rome and India's Taj Mahal, came second and third place respectively. Three American icons - the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty - made up the remainder of the top six spots.
  
• China carried out Death Sentenceof a Britain Citizen, Akmal. He would be the first citizen of a European country to be put to death in China in 50 years.
  
• The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway with the world’s fastest train journey at a 350-kmph designed speed started operation in China.

INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2009

INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2009

• Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) appealed for a day-long worldwide hunger strike against chronic hunger. According to FAO statistics, 1.02 billion people live in chronic hunger. The FAO has also launched an online anti-hunger petition on www.1billionhungry.org Hunger Summit will be held at Rome, Italy from 16th to 18th November, 2009.
  
• The National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) unveiled China’s fastest supercomputer. The supercomputer named Tianhe, meaning Milky Way, will do more than 1 quadrillion calculations per second (one petaflop) at peak speed.
  
• China offered billions of dollars of concessional loans to Africa and pledged to contribute significantly to the continent’s skilled human resources base.
  
• A meeting of G20 Finance Ministers was held in Scotland. They failed to reach an agreement on funding climate change.
  
• The U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has launched a campaign in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to mobilise people around the world to take part in a drive to stop the pandemic of violence suffered by women.
  
• 55th Golf World Cup was won by Italy in Shen Jen, China.
  
• Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)took place at Port of Spain. The Commonwealth Climate change Declaration has been agreed by the 53 Heads of Commonwealth countries.
  
• China has announced that it would cut carbon intensity to 40-45 per cent of 2005 levels by 2020.
  U.S. proposed 17 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2020.
  
• International Conference of Jurists 2009 on International Terrorism started in New Delhi. It was organized by International Council of Jurists, All India Bar Association, All India Senior Advocates Association and Indian Council of Jurists.
  
• Unfriend was declared as word of the year 2009 by New Oxford American Dictionary. It is defined as to remove someone as a friend on a social networking site.
  
• India was ranked 84 with score of 3.4 out of 180 countries, by Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2009. New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore were ranked top 3 in low levels of corruption.
  
• APEC 2009 summit was held in Singapore. Global financial crisis, free trade etc were discussed at the summit.
  
• Iceland has claimed the top spot of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2009. India has been ranked 114th out of 134 countries measured.

INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2009

INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2009

• Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was re elected as the President of Tunisia consecutively for the fifth time. He has secured 89% votes.
  
• The 15th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits were held on 23-25 October 2009 in Cha-am Hua Hin, Thailand. Cha-am Hua Hin declaration on strengthening cooperation on education to achieve an ASEAN caring and sharing community was released. 7th India – ASEAN meeting too was held. The next summit will be held at New Delhi.
  
• Senior Environment Officials of SAARC met in New Delhi. The meeting has decided to start 50 environment centers in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan to study Climate Change.
  
• International Diabetes Federation (IDF) World 20th Diabetic Congress was held at Montreal, Canada. It warned India that 9% of the population would suffer with diabetes by 2033. Currently India is in the first place with 50.8 million diabetic patients followed by China. It also said that 258 million people (7% of the population) in the world are diabetic patients.
  
• World Health Summit took place in Berlin from October 14th to 18th. Modern diseases like asthma and obesity were concentrated. 700 members from 60 countries participated in this summit.
  
• Iran’s Nuclear Talks with USA, UK, China, Russia, France and IAEA was held in Vienna.

• Maldives Cabinet held the world’s first underwater meeting to highlight the danger posed to low-lying nations by global warming.
• Bosnia, Lebanon, Gabon, Brazil and Nigeria will join UN Security Council from January 2010 for a period of 2 years.
• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that 105 million more people are suffering from hunger as a result of the current economic crisis. Ensuring food security in a time of crisis is the theme of this year's World Food Day, marked on October 16th. Among them 642 million people are from Asia Pacific region and 265 million from Sub Sahara region.
• Angela Merkel was re-elected as the Chancellor of Germany. She forms the government with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and Social Union and Free Democratic Party.
• Iran test fired Shaheb-3 and Sajjal missiles with a range of 1300 to 2000km. They can carry payload of 100kgs.
• The 10-member countries and observers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, met in Beijing. They pledged to work together on combating terror and improving financial co-operation among Asian nations to combat the financial crisis.
• Greek socialists achieved resounding win in elections. George Papandreou-led Pasok swept elections with 43% of vote after five years of New Democracy government.
• UNDP has announced Human Development Index (HDI) rankings for the year 2009. Norway (.971) stood first followed by Australia and Iceland. India (.612) dropped to 134th rank from 128th (2008). USA was ranked 13th (12th in 2008) and China 92nd (99th in 2008).

INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2009

INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2009

• The World report on road traffic injury prevention is the major report being jointly issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. According to the most dangerous place in the world to travel on roads is in the impoverished East African state of Eritrea and the safest road conditions were found in Marshall Islands.
  
• The opposition Democratic Party won election defeating Liberal Democratic Party which ruled Japan for 54 years. Yukio Hatoyama will be chosen as the Prime Minister.
  
• Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth after it failed to respond to a demand to begin restoring democracy to the island nation.
• The Group of 20 countries met for two days to focus on the worldwide financial crisis, and plot how to avoid a repeat in the future.
• Irina Bokova, ex foreign minister of Bulgaria was elected as the chief of UNESCO. She is the 1st woman chief of UNESCO.
• According to “Global Times”, among the 60 most influential persons on China, Tagore is in the 11th place and Nehru is in the 19th place.
• Yukiyo Hatoyama, the leader of Democratic party of Japan sworn as the Prime Minister.

INTERNATIONAL AUGUST 2009

INTERNATIONAL AUGUST 2009

Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) has made Rs.4125crores deal with Spielberg’s Dreamworks Studios to produce 5-6 movies per year. 

Typhoon Morakot has hit Taiwan. The government has claimed at least 500 people dead and a loss of 3 billion dollars.

China Becomes India's Largest Trade Partner
China has emerged as India's largest trading partner, replacing US in 2008-09. Bilateral trade engagement between India and China stood at Rs 1,63,202 crore (nearly $36 billion) in April to February 2008-09, an increase of nearly 7% over Rs 1,52,713 crore in the year ago period. In the same period, bilateral trade between India and the US dipped 7.5% and stood at Rs 1,55,353 crore (approximately $34 billion).

Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice and only third female member in the top U.S. court's 220-year history.

INTERNATIONAL JULY 2009

INTERNATIONAL JULY 2009

• Susilo Bambang was re elected as Indonesian President.
  
  
• Yukayi Amano from Japan was elected as the Director General of IAEA.
  
  
• US President Barack Obama said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are countering "a sense of drift" in relations between their nations with preliminary agreement to reduce the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles to as few as 1,500 warheads each.

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చరిత్రలో ఈ రోజు డిసెంబరు 16

*🌎చరిత్రలో ఈరోజు/ డిసెంబరు 16🌎*  
                                                                                       *◼డిసెంబర్ 16, గ్రెగొరియన్‌ క్యాలెండర్‌ ప్రకారము సంవత్సరములో 350వ రోజు (లీపు సంవత్సరములో 351వ రోజు ). సంవత్సరాంతమునకు ఇంకా 15 రోజులు మిగిలినవి.*◼

*⏱సంఘటనలు*⏱ 

*♦1951: సాలార్‌జంగ్‌ మ్యూజియంను అప్పటి ప్రధానమంత్రి, జవహర్‌లాల్ నెహ్రూ ప్రారంభించాడు.*

*♦1970: భారత ప్రధాన న్యాయమూర్తిగా ఎం. హిదయతుల్లా పదవీ విరమణ.*

*♦1971: బంగ్లాదేశ్ ప్రత్యేక దేశంగా ఏర్పడింది.*

*❤జననాలు*❤ 

*💚1912: ఆదుర్తి సుబ్బారావు, తెలుగు సినిమా దర్శకుడు, నిర్మాత, రచయిత (మ.1975).*

*💚1919: చింతలపాటి సీతా రామచంద్ర వరప్రసాద మూర్తిరాజు, స్వాతంత్ర్య సమరయోధుడు. 1800 ఎకరాలు దానం చేసిన దాత (మ.2012).జి సైదేశ్వర రావు*

*💚1922: కుందుర్తి ఆంజనేయులు, వచన కవితా పితామహుడు అనే బిరుదాంకితుడై, ఆంధ్ర దేశములో వచన కవితా ఉద్యమానికి ఆద్యుడు (మ.1982)*.

*💚1949: తోట తరణి, సుమారు 100 సినిమాలకు కళా దర్శకత్వం వహించి, వాటి ప్రాచుర్యానికి తోడ్పడ్డాడు.*

*🍃మరణాలు*🍃 

*🌷1774: ఫ్రాంకోయిస్ కేనే ప్రాచీన ఆర్థిక శాస్త్ర విభాగాలలో ఒకటైన ఫిజియోక్రటిక్ స్కూల్ స్థాపకుడు. (జ.1694)*

*🌷1928: పానగల్ రాజా, కాళహస్తి జమీందారు, సంస్కృతం, న్యాయశాస్త్రం, తత్త్వము మరియు ద్రవిడ భాషలలో పట్టాలను పొందాడు. (జ.1866)*

ఈ రోజు జికె 

*1. ప్రపంచ హాకీలీగ్‌ కాస్య పతక విజేత*

 *- భాతర్‌*

*2. 23వ స్టార్‌ స్క్రీన్‌ అవార్డ్‌లో ఉత్తమ చిత్రం*

 *- న్యూటన్‌*

*3. డిసెంబర్‌ 2 ప్రత్యేకత*

* *- వెట్టికార్మిక వ్యవస్థ నివారణ దినోత్సవం*

*4. జాతీయ నేరగణాంక నివేదిక 2017లో మొదటిస్థానం పొందిన రాష్ట్రం*

 *- ఉత్తర ప్రదేశ్‌*

*5. ప్రపంచ ఎయిడ్స్‌ 2017 దినోత్సవం థీమ్‌*

 *- మైహెల్త్‌ మై రైట్‌*

*6. డిసెంబర్‌ 1 రామ్‌నాద్‌ కోవింద్‌ ప్రారం భించిన 'హర్నాబిల్‌' ఉత్సవం ఏ రాష్ట్రానికి చెందింది?* *

*- నాగాలాండ్‌*

*7. రైతులకోసం జైకిసాన్‌ యాప్‌ను ప్రారంభించిన రాష్ట్రం*

* - గోవా*

*8. భారత భాగస్వామ్యంతో ప్రారంభించిన 'చాబహరా పోర్టు' గల దేశం*

 - *ఇరాన్‌*

*9. అతిపెద్ద తేలియాడే సోలార్‌ విద్యుత్‌ కేద్రం 'బనుసురా సాగర్‌ డ్యాం' గల రాష్ట్రం*

 - *కేరళ*

*10. రాజ్యసభను నూతన సెక్రటరీ జనరల్‌*-

*దేశ దీపక్‌ మిశ్రా*

*11)ఐసీసీ క్రికెట్ వరల్డ్ కప్ ను ఎవరు నిర్వహిస్తారు ?*

*జ: International Cricket Council ( ICC)*

*12) సెంటర్ ఫర్ రైల్వే ఇన్ఫర్మేషన్ సిస్టమ్స్ ( CRIS) ప్రధాన కార్యాలయం ఎక్కడ ఉంది ?*

*జ: న్యూ ఢిల్లీ*

*13) సార్క్ లో ఎన్ని సభ్య దేశాలు ఉన్నాయి ?*

*జ: 8 దేశాలు*

*14) అసోలా భట్టీ వన్య మృగ సంరక్షణ కేంద్రం ఎక్కడ ఉంది ?*

*జ: ఢిల్లీ*

చరిత్రలో ఈ రోజు డిసెంబరు 17

*▪డిసెంబర్ 17, గ్రెగొరియన్‌ క్యాలెండర్‌ ప్రకారము సంవత్సరములో 351వ రోజు (లీపు సంవత్సరములో352వ రోజు ). సంవత్సరాంతమునకు ఇంకా 14 రోజులు మిగిలినవి.*◾

*🌎చరిత్రలో ఈ రోజు/డిసెంబరు 17*🌎

*🕘సంఘటనలు*🕘

*💝1903: రైటు సోదరులు తయారుచేసిన విమానంమొదటిసారి ఎగిరింది.*

*❣జననాలు*❣

*💝1778: సర్ హంఫ్రీ డేవీ, ప్రముఖ రసాయన శాస్త్రవేత్త. (మ.1829)*

*💝1866: కూచి నరసింహం, ప్రముఖ సంస్కృతాంధ్ర పండితులు, కవి, రచయిత, విలియం షేక్స్పియర్ నాటకాలను వీరు తెలుగులోకి అనువదించారు. (మ.1940)*

*💝1905 : ప్రముఖ న్యాయవాది, భారత ప్రధాన న్యాయమూర్తి. తాత్కాలిక రాష్ట్రపతిగా పనిచేసిన మహమ్మద్ హిదయతుల్లా జననం.(మ.1992)*

*💝1959: జయసుధ, సహజ నటిగా పేరుపొందిన జయసుధ తెలుగు సినిమా నటి. ఈమె అసలు పేరు సుజాత.*

*🍃మరణాలు*🍃

*💝1273: జలాలుద్దీన్ ముహమ్మద్ రూమి, పర్షియన్ కవి, ఇస్లామీయ న్యాయతత్వవాది, ధార్మికవేత్త మరియు సూఫీ*

*💝1959: భోగరాజు పట్టాభి సీతారామయ్య, ఆంధ్రా బ్యాంకు వ్యవస్థాపకుడు. (జ.1880)*

*💝1965: జనరల్ కె.ఎస్.తిమ్మయ్య: భారత దేశపు 6వ ఛీఫ్ ఆఫ్ ఆర్మీ స్టాఫ్‌.(జ.1906)*

*💝1996: సూర్యకాంతం, ప్రసిద్ధ తెలుగు సినిమా నటి. (జ.1924)*

*🔥జాతీయ దినాలు*🇮🇳

*💝పెన్షనర్స్ డే.*

*💝1956 : దుర్ముఖి - దత్తాత్రేయ జయంతి*