International News January, 2012
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March, 2012 At least 74 people are killed in fan violence after a football match in Egyptian city of Port Said. Sri Lankan government officials, Tamils in exile and rights groups spar verbally at an open hearing during the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Andrew Breitbart, a conservative U.S. blogger and activist who built a national media personality by putting undercover video on the Internet to bring discredit and disgrace to his liberal targets, dies in Los Angeles. The stalemate in the Maldivian Parliament ends with the Speaker calling off the session convened to discuss dates for an election. A U.S. court dismisses a lawsuit against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for alleged human rights violations by the Army, on grounds that he enjoys immunity from lawsuits as a head of state. Iranians vote in their first national poll since the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, choosing a new Parliament they hope will fix their country’s sanctions-hit economy. China rejects reports in India suggesting that the dam it is building upstream on the Brahmaputra River is causing its lower reaches to dry up, and reiterates its commitment to Indian officials that it has neither embarked on any diversion projects nor built any large dams in Tibet. Over 70 people – many of them terrorists – are killed in three separate incidents of violence in the tribal areas of Pakistan. India-born pop veteran Engelbert Humperdinck, dubbed the ‘King of Romance’, is announced to represent the United Kingdom in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Pakistan’s ruling coalition secures its position in Parliament by winning a majority of the 50 Senate seats. Oil major BP agrees to pay $7.8 billion in a settlement reached with claimants affected by the spill from one of its wells in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. The Nepal government categorically rejects claims made by a senior Pentagon commander that U.S. Special Forces are stationed in Nepal, as a part of counter-terrorism cooperation in South Asia. Rescue workers search for survivors after scores of tornadoes tear across the central United States, killing at least 31 people and wiping out whole communities. China announces that it will increase defence spending by 11.2 percent in 2012, for the first time taking its annual military expenditure beyond $100 billion at it puts in place plans to modernize its Army against the backdrop of an uncertain regional environment. At least 150 people are killed in a series of explosions at a munitions depot in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville. Sikhs and Christians of Karachi come out in support of the Hindu community over the alleged kidnapping and forced conversion of a 17-year old girl from the Ghotki district of Sindh under the patronage of a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislator, Mian Abdul Haq. In the Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin convincingly beats his opponents to become the President of Russia. Premier Wen Jiabao says China would strengthen its military’s capabilities to win “local wars under information-age conditions”, even as the government announces a steep 11.5 percent rise in domestic security spending to ensure stability ahead of a leadership transition. With an eye on his re-election campaign, U.S. President Barack Obama in a speech to arguably the most powerful pro-Israel lobby seeks to carefully balance his commitment to Israeli foreign policy interests with a stern note of caution to stem “too much loose talk of war” with Iran and his intention to continue pursuing diplomatic solutions with the Ahmedinejad regime. Iceland’s ex-Prime Minister Geir Haarde goes over his role in the 2008 banking sector collapse that brought his country to its knees, becoming the first political leader to be tried over the global financial crisis. Iran announces that it is ready to open up its Parchin military facility for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – a move likely to retard the growing call for military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Lady Gaga becomes the first person with more than 20 million followers on Twitter. China calls for expanding exchanges with India in the coming year to improve mutual trust, even as both countries put into operation a new border consultation mechanism to defuse any tensions that may arise along the disputed 3,488 km border. Almost a month after a new regime took over in Maldives amidst allegation of coup, the former dictator, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, returns to the country, opposing early polls and claimed he had no role in the change of government. The Governor of Xinjiang claims that the people behind recent unrest in the far-western Muslim-majority region had “a thousand and one links” to terrorists in neighbouring Pakistan, bringing into focus the Chinese government’s increasing concern over the spread of extremism across the border from its “all-weather” ally. Jean Claude Mas, the founder of the French breast implant company at the heart of a global health scare, is jailed after failing to pay his bail. Norwegian prosecutors indict Anders Behring Breivik on terror and murder charges for slaying 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage but says the confessed mass killer likely won’t go to prison for the country’s worst peacetime massacre. The Pakistan Supreme Court asks Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani to write to the Swiss authorities asking them to reopen money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. Pakistani award winning rights advocate Shad Begum receives the 2012 International Woman of Courage award from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presence of the First Lady Michelle Obama in Washington D.C. The U.S. military and the Afghan government seal an agreement on the gradual transfer of control of the main U.S. prison in the country, a last-minute breakthrough that brings the first progress in months in contentious negotiations over a long-term partnership. Ending weeks of speculation, the Pakistan government announces the appointment of Karachi Corps Commander Zaheer-ul Islam as the ISI Director-General. Chintan, an Indian NGO is selected for the U.S.’ first Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls for training and organizing waste-pickers and eliminating child labour from recycling. Greece clears a major hurdle in its race to avoid bankruptcy by persuading the vast majority of its private creditors to sign up to the biggest national debt write down in history, paving the way for a second bailout. Thousands of demonstrators gather in Moscow to protest Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s election as President and demand new elections. Pope Benedict XVI wades deep into U.S. campaign politics, urging visiting U.S. bishops to strengthen their teaching about the evils of premarital sex and cohabitation, and denouncing what he calls the “powerful” gay marriage lobby in America. Sixteen Afghans are killed by a rogue American soldier who walks off his base and opens fire on them in their homes in the early hours in three houses in two villages of Panjwayi district in the southern province of Kandahar. Japan falls silent to honour the 19,000 people killed a year ago in a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in a generation. Art sleuths say they believe they have found traces of a Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece on a hidden wall in a palace in Florence that has not been seen in over four centuries. In a dramatic turn, Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British media group News International, and – intriguingly – her husband Charlie, a racehorse trainer, are arrested with five others as part of the police investigations into the News of the World phone hacking scandal. French far-Right candidate Marine Le Pen had secured the backing of enough local government officials to run in the two-round presidential election. Israel and militants in Gaza agree to an Egyptian-brokered truce deal after four days of violence in which 25 Gazans died and 200 rockets were fired at Israel. China’s lawmakers propose the construction of a new highway linking southwestern Yunnan with Tibet, which would for the first time provide year-round access to a remote region which borders Arunachal Pradesh. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. announces to stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time in more than 200 years. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao marks the start of his last year in office by warning that the failure to bring about continued political and economic reforms could result in a second Cultural Revolution in China, in remarks seen as a strong push back against newly ascendant conservative forces within the Communist Party. The International criminal Court convicts Congolese militia chief Thomas Lubanga of war crimes for conscripting children into his army, the tribunal’s first ever verdict. A series of earthquakes rattle Tokyo and northeastern Japan. Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi calls for “freedom from fear” and further moves towards democracy in a video of her first televised campaign speech. The Taliban breaks off confidence-building talks with the Americans and the Afghan President orders U.S. troops out of villages, demanding a transition of security from NATO control in 2013. The Chinese Communist Party announces to have replaced its Chongqing chief, Politburo member Bo Xilai, in the wake of a political scandal that has been seen as dealing a blow to resurgent conservative-leaning forces in the party. Alarmed by persisting attempts to ban a translation of comments to Bhagavad Gita, a group of Russian scholars ask the top leadership to intervene in Tomsk. Afghan President Hamid Karzai accuses the U.S. of failing to cooperate over an investigation into the massacre of 16 Afghan villagers blamed on alone American army sniper. The U.S. reacts angrily to reports of North Korea’s plan to launch a rocket-mounted satellite to mark the birth centenary of its former President, the late Kim Il-sung, with the State Department describing the move as “highly provocative”. In a surprise move, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, head of the more than 80 million strong worldwide Anglican Communion, announces that he would quit in December 2012 to take up an academic position at Cambridge University as Master of Magdalene College. Pope Shenouda III, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt’s Christian minority for more than 30 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, dies in Cairo. The U.S. Army identifies the soldier allegedly behind the killing of 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales (38) from Lake Tapps near the Tacoma area of Washington State. President Asif Ali Zardari makes history when he becomes the first elected head of the state to address a joint sitting of Pakistan’s parliament for the fifth consecutive time. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announces plans to run for a seat in the Australian Senate in the 2013 elections despite being under virtual house arrest in England and facing sex crime allegations in Sweden. A motorcycle gunman opens fire in front of a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two small sons and one other child. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov comes out against the withdrawal of the international military forces from Afghanistan in 2014. China says it will continue supporting Pakistan’s civilian nuclear programme in spite of concerns over the vulnerability of the country’s installations to terrorism. The Vatican describes as “sinful” and “criminal” the conduct of Irish priests involved in the child abuse scandal the extent of which was revealed by a judicial commission in 2009. Tunisians celebrate their country’s independence day amid fears of widening divide between secular and religious movements in the newly democratized nation. A strong 7.4 –magnitude earthquake hits southern Mexico, damaging some 800 homes near the epicenter and swaying tall buildings and spreading fear and panic hundreds of miles away in the capital of Mexico City. Hungarian mathematician Endre Szemeredi gets 2012 Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Shanti Gurung, an Indian maid – who had accused her former employer, an IFS officer, and her husband of harassment and “slavery” – receives a favourable ruling from District Judge Victor Marrero in New York, which approves her petition that she be awarded $1.5 million as compensation by the couple. China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) conducts a first-of-its kind live fire air attack drill on the Qinghai Tibet plateau. Soldiers oust the President of Mali, Amadou Toumani and loot the presidential place. According to the United States Census Bureau for 2010, Indian-Americans numbering 3.2 million is the third largest Asian American Community in United States after Chinese Americans and Filipinos. European Union Foreign Ministers slap sanctions on the wife Asma Assad and other close relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, freezing their assets and banning them from traveling to the EU in a continuing attempt to stop the violent crackdown on protesters. United States President Barack Obama nominates Jim Yong Kim, a Korean born public health specialist for the role of President of the World Bank. Joachim Gauk is sworn in as the 11th President in the Bundestag, the Lowe House of Parliament in Germany. Amr Mousa, a former Secretary General of Arab League becomes the first independent presidential candidate to submit the required number of recommendations to authorities, which will allow him to contest the coming historic polls. Leung Chunying is appointed new Chief Executive of Hong Kong. He wins indirect election securing 689 votes from a 1200 seat committee of business leaders and other cities in the Hong Kong legislature. The United Kingdom is rocked by a scandal involving Conservative Party treasurer Peter Cruddas who has been charged with demanding £250,000 for accessing Prime Minister David Cameron. INFOLINES – INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS
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