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China provoked• A top Chinese Army General slammed the

United States and Japan for “provoking”China, a day after U.S. Defence SecretaryChuck Hagel had accused Beijing of“destabilising” the region.

• At the conference, Japanese Prime Minis-ter Shinzo Abe also hit out at China overthe disputes, pledging support to Vietnamand the Philippines. Mr. Abe said Japanwould supply naval patrol vessels to bothcountries and boost its security presence inthe region.

• People’s Liberation Army Deputy Chief ofGeneral Staff Wang Guanzhong blasted Mr.Hagel and Mr. Abe, saying they were “sing-ing notes in chorus”.

• The PLA official was particularly aggrievedby the Japanese leader’s speech, which didnot directly mention China but warned of“elements that spawn instability” in the re-gion.

Release of captured US soldier• President Barack Obama is welcoming the

release of the lone U.S. solider held inAfghanistan, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

• Sgt. Bergdahl was turned over by theTaliban in exchange for the release of fiveAfghan detainees who were held at theU.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

• Mr. Obama says the U.S. “does not everleave our men and women in uniformbehind.”

A new U.S.-Russia proxy war• With Russia and the United States as far

apart as ever on ways of resolving thecrisis in Ukraine’s southeast, its outcomemay well be decided on the battlefield.

• Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has notspoken with U.S. President Barack Obamasince Kiev launched its “anti-terroristoperation” against anti-governmentprotesters in Russian speaking regions inthe east six weeks ago.

• While Moscow denounces the Ukrainiancrackdown in the east as a “punitiveoperation” against the civilianpopulation, Washington maintains thatKiev’s authorities “have every right totake steps to maintain law and order intheir own country.”

• The Ukrainian border guard service hasreported several convoys of trucks withmilitants and weapons crossing theporous border from Russia in recentweeks.

• Russia has refrained from openlysupporting separatists in eastern Ukraineand still hopes to persuade Kiev to resolvethe conflict by granting broad autonomyto the region.

• The conflict in the east is fast morphinginto civil war. This was in stark displayearlier this month in Odessa, a peacefulmultiethnic Ukrainian port city on theBlack Sea, where a group ofultranationalists from western Ukraine

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

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burnt alive and clubbed to death at least48 pro-Russian activists.

Obama’s energy policy• The path breaking clean energy policy

unveiled by the Obama administrationwould put the US at a disadvantageagainst countries like India and China, topUS lawmakers and policy advocacygroups have said.

• The US Environmental Protection agencyhas announced to cut carbon emissionfrom existing power plants, which is thesingle largest source of carbon pollutionin the US, by 30 per cent by the year 2030.

• It also announced to cut by 2030 particlepollution, nitrogen oxides, and sulfurdioxide by more than 25 per cent as a co-benefit.

• The White House described this asAmerican leadership to the world.

• But Republicans and many others are notwilling to buy the argument, according towhom such a policy would put the UnitedStates at an disadvantage againstcountries like India and China.

• The United Mine Workers of Americainternational president Cecil E Robertsalleged that the proposed rule issued bythe Environmental Protection Agency willlead to long-term and irreversible joblosses for thousands of coal miners,electrical workers, utility workers,boilermakers, railroad workers and otherswithout achieving any significantreduction of global greenhouse gasemissions.

Spain’s abdication law• The cabinet of Spanish Prime Minister

Mariano Rajoy has approved a proposalfor emergency legislation that allows KingJuan Carlos to abdicate and hand over hisduties to Crown Prince Felipe.

• The proposal will be fast—tracked by theSpanish Parliament and is expected topass easily because Mr. Rajoy’s PopularParty has the majority of seats and theleading opposition Socialist Party alsosupports the legislation.

• Jesus Posada, who leads the Parliament’slower house, predicted the law will takeeffect by June 18, meaning Prince Felipewould be proclaimed king beforelawmakers shortly after that.

• Juan Carlos is widely respected forleading Spain’s transition fromdictatorship to democracy and staringdown a 1981 coup attempt, but was hithard by royal scandals over the lastseveral years.

Iran oil sanctions suspended• With Iran complying with its commitment

on a controversial nuclear weaponsprogramme, US President Barack Obamahas suspended his action on Iranian oilsanctions for the next six months.

• Even though there is enough oil in theinternational market for countries likeIndia and China to reduce theirdependence on Iranian oil, so as to avoidUS sanctions as per Congressional Act,Mr. Obama determined that there is noneed to do so for the next six months asTehran is fully co-operating with the US-led international community to addresstheir concerns about its nuclear weaponsprogram

• The International Atomic Energy Agencyhas verified that Iran is complying withthese commitments.

• The analysis contained in the EnergyInformation Administration’s report ofApril 24, indicates that global oilconsumption has exceeded production inrecent months.

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Renewable power in Germany• May 11, 2014 was a red letter day for

renewable power in Germany. The biggestclean energy market reached an enviablerecord of almost 75 per cent renewablemarket share for several hours that day.Germany faces its own travails over itschosen path.

• Germany is indeed avoiding blackouts-by opening new coal and gas fired plants.Renewable electricity is proving sounreliable and chaotic that it is startingto undermine the stability of the Europeangrid and provoke international incidents.

• The spiraling cost of the renewables surgehas sparked a backlash, includinggovernment proposals to slash subsidiesand deployment rates.

• For all modes of power generation,capacity factor — CF (the amount ofelectricity, a generator produces in a yeardivided by the amount it will produce ifit ran at full capacity for all 8,760 hrs ayear) — is important. Typically during2012, CFs (per cent) in Germany were, forsolar: 11; wind: 17; fossil fuel: 80 and fornuclear: 94.

• Since India has in place an ambitiousrenewable energy programme, we mustlearn from the experiences of othercountries particularly Germany;Germany’s tryst with renewable power isoften taken as a model.

• India must promote all modes of powergeneration including solar and wind.Copious sunshine and abundant windmay lead to over production in the grid.Balancing the grid may be a challenge.Central Government must organise asystematic review of the challenges toarrive at India- centric solutions.

G-7 summit• Russian President Vladimir Putin was

kept out of the summit of world leaders

but dominated the meeting as PresidentBarack Obama and his counterparts fromthe G-7 group of major economies soughtthe Kremlin chief’s renewed cooperationto end the Ukraine crisis.

• In March, the U.S. and its most importantallies retaliated for Mr. Putin’s militaryoccupation and subsequent annexation ofUkraine’s Crimean Peninsula bysuspending Russia’s membership in whathad been the G-8 club of rich countries.

• They also nixed Mr. Putin’s plan to holdthe meeting in Sochi, the city Russialavished billions on to host the 2014Winter Olympics.

• Mr. Obama, however, has no plans to meetwith Mr. Putin — a clear indication theU.S. is more reluctant than its Europeanpeers about renewing the dialogue.

• The meeting was not expected to produceany major decisions. Many observerscriticise the format as being mostly atalking shop since the role of setting rulesfor global economic governance in thewake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis hasshifted to the wider Group of 20, whichalso includes emerging economies likeChina, India and Brazil.

China urged to reduce finance risk• The World Bank and the International

Monetary Fund are urging China to focuson controlling risks from rapidly risingdebt due to its reliance on credit-fuelledgrowth.

• The World Bank said Beijing should payclose attention to rising credit, especiallyin its largely unregulated informallending market, and reduce debts owedby local governments.

• Rising debts owed by local governmentsand uncertainty about informal lendinghave fuelled concerns China’s economicslowdown might cause a rise in defaults

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and hurt its financial system.• Chinese regulators have taken steps to

cool credit growth but still are allowing arelatively fast expansion to supporteconomic growth that slowed to 7.4percent in the three months ending inMarch.

• By the country’s broadest measure, totaloutstanding debt rose from the equivalentof 124 percent of gross domestic productin 2007 to more than 200 percent in 2013,according to the World Bank.

• Corporate debt in Chinese economy , atthe equivalent of 125 percent of GDP, is“among the highest in Asia.

New high commissioner for humanrights

• U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon hassaid he will appoint Jordan’s ambassadoras the new high commissioner for humanrights, bringing to that post a voice fromthe West Asia.

• Mr. Ban’s office announced that PrinceZeid al Hussein, a long-time diplomat andformer U.N. peacekeeper, has beennominated to replace Navi Pillay.

• The South African-born Ms. Pillay’s termas U.N. High Commissioner for HumanRights was originally set to end in 2012but was extended for two years.

• Prince Zeid, who has been ambassador toboth the U.N. and the United States,announced in late April he would resignas U.N. ambassador.

New Ukraine President• Petro Poroshenko has taken the oath of

office as Ukraine’s President, assumingleadership of a country mired in a violentuprising and economic troubles.

• Mr. Poroshenko, who became a billionaireas a candy tycoon, was elected after thepro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych

fled the country in the wake of months ofstreet protests.

• The ceremony in the UkrainianParliament, the Verkhovna Rada, wasattended by high-ranking delegationsfrom Western governments, whichinclude U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden,E.U. President Herman Van Rompuy andthe presidents of Poland and Germany,Bronislaw Komorowski and JoachimGauck.

Egypt president sworn in• Egypt’s former army chief Abdel Fattah

el-Sisi has been sworn in as President fora four-year term, taking the reins of powerin a nation roiled since 2011 by deadlyunrest and economic woes.

• Mr. el-Sisi’s inauguration came less thana year after the 59-year-old career infantryofficer ousted the country’s first freelyelected President, Mohammed Morsy,following days of mass protests byEgyptians demanding he step down.

• 8th of June was declared a nationalholiday and tight security was enforcedby the police and military throughoutCairo.

• Outside the building, modelled to looklike an ancient Egyptian temple, arounda hundred el-Sisi supporters gathered,waving Egyptian flags and posters of thecountry’s new President.

Nepal Parliament obstruction• Belying hopes of breakthrough to resume

proceedings of the Parliament, the threemajor political parties on S failed to reachagreement after claiming they were closeto it. As a result, the opposition partiesobstructed Parliament for the 10thstraight day.

• Speaking in the Parliament after the talksended inconclusively, Bijay Gachchhadar

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of Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum(Democratic) accused the ruling coalitionof breaching a previous agreement on anumber of issues, including forming ahigh level political committee (HLPC)comprising of political parties.

• When Mr. Gachchhadar said NCPresident and Prime Minister SushilKoirala and other ruing party leadersshould go to Sarnath in India if they failedto deliver a Constitution, the ruling MPsobjected to his remarks. With neither siderelenting, Speaker Subas Nembang,adjourned the House.

• Mr. Nepal said the Nepali Congress andhis party are in favour of rotatingleadership of the HLPC.

City seized by Iraqi militants• Iraqi police and army forces abandoned

their posts in the northern city of Mosulafter militants overran the provincialgovernment headquarters and other keybuildings, dealing a serious blow toBaghdad’s efforts to control a wideninginsurgency in the country.

• The insurgents seized the governmentcomplex, a key symbol of state authorityfollowing days of fighting in the country’ssecond—largest city, a former al—Qaidastronghold situated in what has long beenone of the more restive parts of Iraq. Thegunmen also torched several of the city’spolice stations, freeing detainees held inlockups.

• The fighters are believed to be affiliatedwith the Islamic State of Iraq and theLevant, an al—Qaida splinter group thatis behind the bulk of the bloody attacksin Iraq and is among the most ruthlessrebel forces fighting to topple PresidentBashar Assad in neighboring Syria. Thegroup has also tried to position itself as achampion for Iraq’s large and disaffected

Sunni minority.• The militants’ push comes as Iraq’s

embattled Shiite prime minister, Nourial—Maliki, struggles to hold onto powerfollowing parliamentary elections in lateApril that left him with the most seats butshort of a majority needed to form a newgovernment outright.

• Iraq has been grappling with its worstsurge in violence since the sectarianbloodletting of 2006 and 2007.

Taliban attack in Pakistan• Taliban militants attacked a training camp

of the Airport Security Force near Karachiinternational airport in Karachi, but fledafter Pakistani forces repulsed the assault,a day after an all-night siege at the facilityleft nearly 40 people dead.

• Two militants attacked the camp number2, located at the ASF academy in BitaiAbad, near the Jinnah InternationalAirport which had been cleared ofmilitants after fierce clashes betweenforces and terrorists on Monday.

• The attackers failed to penetrate thesecurity cordon and managed to flee intonearby residential areas.

• Eleven airport security guards, along witha paramilitary ranger and a policeman,14 civilian workers and 10 militants werekilled in the previous attack.

• The attack came a day after the deadlyassault at Karachi international airport.The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan hasclaimed responsibility for the attack onthe airport.

Russia’s ‘gas discount’• Ukraine’s Prime Minister has rejected a

Russian proposal to sell Ukraine gas at adiscount, insisting that the contractualprice be lowered.

• Russia had insisted that cash-strapped

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Ukraine pay about 2 billion dollars tosettle its gas arrears, but Ukraine now hasuntil 0800 GMT .

• Russia upped the price to 485 dollars afterit annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region inMarch, saying that a previous discounthinged on the lease agreement for itsBlack Sea Fleet stationed on the peninsula.

• The gas talks in Brussels are beingwatched closely across Europe as Russiahas threatened to shut down gasshipments to Ukraine. Such an actionwould threaten a large source of suppliesto Western Europe, which happened in2009.

Iraq crisis and concerns in oil market• The rapid advance of jihadists through

large swathes of Iraq raises concerns inthe oil market about the ability of theOrganization of the Petroleum ExportingCountries (OPEC) to meet global demand,industry experts say. Analysts estimatethat the cartel needs to ramp upproduction by at least 700,000 millionbarrels per day (bpd) in the second halfof the year to meet global demand, andtheir hopes are partly based on increasedoutput from Iraqi oil wells.

• In the longer term, 60 per cent of growthin OPEC’s production capacity isexpected to come from Iraq, theInternational Energy Agency in Parisestimated Friday.

• The European benchmark price for Brentoil from the North Sea shot up to a 9—month high of 114.5 dollars per barrelearly on Friday morning, before retreatingbelow 113 dollars later in the day.

• Iraq pumped 3.33 million bpd last month,making it the second—largest OPECproducer after Saudi Arabia.

• Oil from the north of the country stoppedreaching markets in March, following

violence in Anbar province and an attackon a pipeline to Turkey.

Iran and P6 begins talks• Nuclear negotiators from Iran and six

world powers got down to business onTuesday seeking to strike a momentousdeal before a July 20 deadline but withsignificant differences still to bridge. TheUnited States and Iran briefly discussedthe crisis raging in Iraq, U.S. officials said,but the focus in Vienna on the second dayof talks was the mooted atomicagreement.

• The many problem areas include theduration of any final accord, the pace ofsanctions relief, Iran’s partially-built Araknuclear reactor and allegations of pastefforts to build a bomb. But the mainsticking point remains uraniumenrichment: a process that can producenuclear fuel but also, when highlypurified, the core of an atomic bomb.

• The West hotly disputes Iran’s claim thatit needs this material for nuclear facilitiesaround the country.The parties have setthemselves a deadline of July 20, whenan interim deal struck in Novemberexpires, and many experts believe anextension is already being talked about.

Possible Nuclear deal• A nuclear deal between Iran and the West

was possible within the next five weeks,according to Iranian President HassanRowhani .

• The target date for a comprehensiveagreement between Iran and six worldpowers — Britain, China, France, Russia,the United States and Germany — to endthe decade—long row over Iran’s nuclearactivities is July 20.

• In November, the parties reached aninterim deal under which Iran agreed to

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limit its uranium enrichment programmeand reduce some levels of enrichment inexchange for some relief frominternational sanctions.

• The US and its allies are seeking anagreement to guarantee that Iran will useits nuclear programme solely for peacefulpurposes. Tehran has insisted that it is notseeking nuclear weapons.

Norwegian ex-PM named for Asian‘Nobel’

• Former Norwegian premier Gro HarlemBrundtland was named as the firstrecipient of the Tang Prize, touted asAsia’s version of the Nobels, for her workas the “godmother” of sustainabledevelopment.

• Ms. Brundtland was awarded the debutprize, created by one of Taiwan’s richestmen with a $100 million donation, withwinners in three other categories to beannounced this week. She was awardedthe biennial prize for “her innovation,leadership and implementation” ofsustainable development.

U.S. to send 300 ‘military advisers’ toIraq

• Firmly ruling out the possibility ofAmerican boots on the ground in Iraq inthe face of escalating sectarian violencethere, U.S. President Barack Obamaannounced that he would nevertheless besending 300 “military advisers” toBaghdad and also remain prepared totake “targeted,” “precise,” militaryactions in the future.

• “American combat troops will not befighting in Iraq again,” Mr. Obama said,adding, “Ultimately this is something thatwill have to be solved by Iraqis.”

• The President explained that the militarypersonnel would be sent to Iraq to

examine how to train and equip Iraqiforces, and this would come on the heelsof Washington’s steps to increase itsintelligence, surveillance andreconnaissance operations to betterunderstand the threats to Baghdad. Yet,Mr. Obama appeared determined to holdfirm to the view that U.S. combat troopswould not return to Iraq as that could notresolve the core issues the country iscurrently facing.

• Among the key priorities that Washingtonhad in the country, he said, was to createjoint operation centres in Baghdad andnorthern Iraq, which would shareintelligence and coordinate planning toconfront the terrorist threat of ISIS, theextremist group that has captured at leasttwo cities and a major oil facility.

Ukraine rebels refuse ceasefire• Ukraine’s military waged new battles

with pro-Moscow rebels who rejectedKiev’s unilateral ceasefire, while thegovernment raised alarm over theKremlin’s decision to put troops acrossRussia on combat alert.

• The resurgence of violence in the 11-weekinsurgency threatening to splinter the ex-Soviet nation came as Washingtonslapped sanctions on top separatistleaders and warned the Kremlin againstsending forces into Ukraine.

• But Russian President Vladimir Putinappeared unfazed as he ordered unitsfrom the Volga to western Siberia toconduct snap military drills.

• The militia used sniper fire and grenadelaunchers to strike a base in Donetsk.

NESCO granted heritage status for cavedrawings

• U.N. cultural agency Unesco granted itsprized World Heritage status to a

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prehistoric cave in southern Francecontaining the earliest known figurativedrawings.

• Delegates at Unesco’s World HeritageCommittee voted to grant the status to theGrotte Chauvet at a gathering in Doha,where they are considering cultural andnatural wonders for inclusion on the U.N.list.

• The cave in the Ardeche region, whichsurvived sealed off for millennia beforeits discovery in 1994, contains more than1,000 drawings dating back some 36,000years to what is believed to be the firsthuman culture in Europe.

• The painted images includerepresentations of human hands and ofdozens of animals, including mammoth,wild cats, rhinos, bison, bears andaurochs.

Jail for three AL Jazeera journalists• An Egyptian court sentenced three Al

Jazeera journalists, including Australia’sPeter Greste, to jail terms from seven to10 years. Mr. Greste and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy eachgot seven years, while producer BaherMohamed received two sentences — onefor seven years and another for three.

• Eleven defendants tried in absentia ,including one Dutch journalist and twoBritish journalists, were given 10-yearsentences.

• Of the six defendants in custody alongwith Mr. Greste, Mr. Fahmy and Mr.Mohamed, four were sentenced to sevenyears and two were acquitted.

• All of the defendants had been accusedof aiding the blacklisted MuslimBrotherhood and tarnishing Egypt’sreputation after the ouster of Islamistpresident Mohamed Morsy by spreadingfalse news.

More women abducted in Nigeria• Suspected Boko Haram militants have

abducted more than 60 women and girls,some as young as three, in the latestkidnappings in northeast Nigeria andover two months since more than 200schoolgirls were seized.

• Analysts said the kidnapping, whichhappened during a raid on Kummabzavillage in the Damboa district of Bornostate, could be an attempt by the Islamistgroup to refocus attention on its demandsfor the release of militant fighters.

• Boko Haram has indicated that it wouldbe willing to release the 219 schoolgirlsthat it has held hostage since April 14 inexchange for the freedom of its brothersin arms currently held in Nigerian jails.Nigeria initially refused to sanction anydeal but efforts have since been made toopen talks with the group, with a possibleprisoner swap part of discussions.

• The military in Abuja said in a tweet latethat it could not confirm the latestabductions and spokesmen were notimmediately available for comment whencontacted by AFP. The Chibok abductiontriggered a groundswell of outrage withinNigeria that spread overseas, leading toa social media campaign andinternational pressure on the governmentto act.

Follow up ceasefire with concrete talks:Putin

• Moscow will continue to protect ethnicRussians in eastern Ukraine, PresidentVladimir Putin said after dismissing aweek-long ceasefire between pro-Kremlinrebels and Ukrainian troops as “tooshort.”

• “We will always protect ethnic Russiansin Ukraine, as well as the part of

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Ukrainian people who ... feel part of thewider Russian world, and we will notonly monitor this but also react,” Mr.Putin said during a visit to Austria. “Ihope that armed forces will not benecessary for this.”

• Mr. Putin asked Russian lawmakers onTuesday to revoke a resolution allowinghim to invade Ukraine in a shock changeof heart that Kiev hailed as the “firstpractical step” in defusing the months-long crisis.

• The Russian leader however insisted thatthe seven-day truce between separatistrebels and forces loyal to Kiev inUkraine’s restive east be followed byconcrete talks.

Kiev seeks talks with Moscow• Ukraine’s new Western-backed leader

sought urgent talks with RussianPresident Vladimir Putin on Wednesdayafter separatist rebels shot down an Armyhelicopter despite orders from their owncommander to observe a fragile truce.

• The death of nine servicemen outside thepro-Russian stronghold city of Slavyanskand loss of two other soldiers in militiaattacks prompted Ukrainian PresidentPetro Poroshenko to threaten to unleasha powerful new military campaign in theindustrial east. The warning dealt acrushing blow to hopes of the sidesmediating an end to 11 weeks of fightingthat has killed more than 435 people andbrought the ex-Soviet nation to the brinkof collapse.

• Kiev’s temporary ceasefire was picked upby separatist commanders but was dueto expire on Friday morning after just oneround of inconclusive and indirect talks.

Russia to join Kiev talks with EU• Russia said it had finally got Brussels and

Kiev to include it in talks over a landmarkassociation agreement between Ukraineand the EU to be signed this week.

• Much to Russia’s chagrin, UkrainianPresident Petro Poroshenko is set to signthe final chapters of the landmark EU pactthat has been at the heart of a raging crisisin his country.

• However Moscow hopes it will still beable to raise its concerns over possibledamage to its economic interests as aresult of the agreement which has seen itthreaten to protect its markets againstUkrainian goods.

Ukraine signs landmark deal with EU• Ukraine’s new Western-backed president

signed a landmark EU pact whoserejection by his pro-Moscow predecessorplunged the ex-Soviet country intoturmoil and sent East-West relations totheir lowest level since the Cold War.

• Ukraine President Petro Poroshenkohailed the deal, which pulls Kiev out ofKremlin’s orbit, as a turning point for thestrategic country sandwiched betweenEurope and Russia.

• But the agreement bursts RussianPresident Vladimir Putin’s dream ofenlisting Kiev in a Kremlin-led alliancethat could rival the European Union andNATO and Moscow warned it wouldhave “serious consequences.”

• The Association Agreement is also deeplyunpopular in Ukraine’s heavily Russifiedeastern rustbelt, where pro-Russianinsurgents are battling Kiev governmenttroops.

• The European Union also sealed similarpartnership agreements with Georgia andMoldova — two former Soviet nationswith similarly complicated relations withRussia.

• Mr. Poroshenko said the deal offered

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Ukraine “an absolutely new perspectivefor my country,” hailing a “historic day,the most important day sinceindependence.”

Panchsheel still relevant: China• Quoting from one of Rabindra Nath

Tagore’s verses on friendship, ‘... If youthink friendship can be won through war,spring will fade away before your eyes’,President Xi Jinping reiterated the virtuesof good relations between neighbours,peace and cooperation and amity in theregion as envisaged six decades ago in thePanchsheel treaty among India, Chinaand Myanmar.

• At the 60th commemoration of thePanchsheel, he asserted that China wouldfollow the five principles of Panchsheeleven as it is ready to work with the Westto uphold world peace and development.

• Mr. Xi spoke of adhering to territorialintegrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression and non-interference ininternal matters, and peaceful co-existence — the basics of Panchsheel, andsaid these continue to remain relevant andgrow.

Israel is “ready” to expand itsoperations in Gaza

• Israel is “ready” to expand its operationsin Gaza, Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu warned after the air force struck12 targets overnight following a surge inmilitant rocket fire.

• Speaking to ministers at the weekly cabi-net meeting, the Israeli Premier said thealmost-nightly military strikes on Gazacould be expanded should the need arise.

• Israeli warplanes struck Gaza 12 timesovernight, with Palestinian officials sayingtwo people had been lightly injured.

Constitution a key priority in Nepal• Nepal President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav

presented the government’s programmesand policies for the fiscal year 2014-15 inthe Parliament.

• Dr. Yadav emphasised the importance ofpromulgating the Constitution in timethrough consensus. The coalitiongovernment’s road map also talks aboutadopting zero tolerance to corruption. Onforeign aid, the government aims tochannelise it into the national system andmobilise in areas of national priority.

• The road map reiterates the government’scommitment to form the Truth andReconciliation Commission and theCommission on Investigation ofDisappeared Persons as per the InterimConstitution. Legislation passed by theParliament on formation of these twotransitional justice bodies faces challengein the Supreme Court.

Israel issued a brusque warning toHamas

• Israel issued a brusque warning to Hamas,demanding it prevent rocket fire from Gazaas fears grew of a new confrontation aroundthe coastal Palestinian enclave.

• Militants fired 14 rockets at southern Israelduring the morning, sending tension soar-ing and drawing a warning from PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu that unlessthe Islamist movement cracked down onthose behind the attacks the Israeli militarywould step in.

• If this fire continues there are two possibili-ties: either Hamas stops it as the respon-sible authority in the area, or we will stopit.

Abuse of Power Case• Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck

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Shinawatra defended herself againstabuse of power allegations in a crucialcourt case that is one of several legalchallenges, which could remove her fromoffice.

• Ms. Yingluck is accused of abusing herauthority by transferring her NationalSecurity Council chief in 2011 to anotherposition. Critics say the transfer was tobenefit her ruling party and violated theConstitution.

• The case was lodged by anti-governmentsenators, who won an initial victory inFebruary when another court ruled thatthe official, Thawil Pliensri, must berestored to his job.

• If Ms. Yingluck is found guilty ofinterfering in state affairs for her personalbenefit or that of her political party, shewould have to step down as PrimeMinister.

First 'Born Free' election• South Africans voted in the first "Born

Free" election , although polls suggest theallure of the ruling African NationalCongress as the conqueror of apartheidwill prevail even among those with nomemory of white-minority rule.

• Opinion polls suggest there is no doubtabout the overall result, with ANCsupport estimated at around 65 percent,only a shade lower than the 65.9 percentit won in the 2009 election that broughtPresident Jacob Zuma to power.

• The resilience of ANC support hassurprised analysts who a year ago weresaying it could struggle at the polls as itsglorious past recedes into history andvoters focus instead on the sluggisheconomic growth and slew of scandalsthat have typified Zuma's first term.

i• Africa's most sophisticated economy hasstruggled to recover from a 2009 recession

- its first since the 1994 demise ofapartheid - and the ANC's efforts tostimulate growth and tackle 25 percentunemploy-ment have been hampered bypowerful unions.

• South Africa's top anti-graft agencyaccused Zuma this year of "benefitingunduly" from a $23 million state-fundedsecurity upgrade to his private home atNkandla in rural KwaZulu-Natalprovince that included a swimming pooland chicken run.

Ceasefire in South Sudan• South Sudan's President has reached a

ceasefire agreement with a rebel leader,an African regional bloc said , after avicious cycle of revenge killings drewinternational alarm.

• The deal means "an immediate cessationof hostilities within 24 hours of thesigning" and "unhindered humanitarianaccess" to all people affected by themonths-long conflict, said a statement bythe political bloc known as IGAD, whichis mediating the conflict.

• Ethnically targeted violence in the world'syoungest country broke out in December,killing thousands of people and forcingmore than 1.3 million to flee their homes.The U.N. Security Council has expressed"horror" at recent killings of civilians.

• U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Ricewelcomed the peace agreement in astatement, saying it "holds the promise ofbringing the crisis to an end".

• South Sudan is a largely Christian nationthat broke off from the Muslim-dominated Sudan after a 2011referendum. The fighting is anembarrassment to the U.S., which hasprovided hundreds of millions of dollarsin aid and has been its strongestinternational champion.

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Rockets fired in southern Israel• Three rockets from Gaza were fired into

Israel recently.• The projectile struck uninhabited areas in

the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council andset off sirens.

• Few days back, Israel Air Force jets struckfive terror targets in the Gaza Strip,following rocket attacks on southernIsrael the previous night. The IAF hit sitesin northern and central Gaza, includingtwo Hamas posts. .

• Also last week, a rocket siren went off inthe Sha'ar Hanegev region, but an armyspokeswoman later said no projectileswere detected in Israeli territory.

• Last month, the air force stuck 29 targetsacross the Gaza Strip in response toIslamic Jihad rocket attack on the South.More than 30 rockets - fired insimultaneous barrages from northern andsouthern Gaza - exploded in Israeliterritory. The Iron Dome anti-rocketbattery stationed in Sderot shot downthree projectiles over the town. Thebombardment of the western Negev inMarch marked the largest flare-up ofGazan terrorism since 2012.

New sanctions against Russia• The United States and other nations in the

Group of Seven agreed to "move swiftly"to impose additional economic sanctionson Russia in response to its actions inUkraine.

• In a joint statement released by the WhiteHouse, the G-7 nations said they will acturgently to intensify "targeted sanctions."The statement said the G-7 will alsocontinue to prepare broader sanctions onkey Russian economic sectors if Moscowtakes more aggressive action.

• The announcement came as top

Ukrainians spoke of imminent invasionand Moscow said that pro-Russianseparatists would not lay down their armsin eastern Ukraine until activistsrelinquish control over key sites in Kiev.

• The G-7 nations said they were movingforward on the targeted sanctions nowbecause of the urgency of securing plansfor Ukraine to hold presidential electionsin May.

• The penalties are expected to targetwealthy Russian individuals who areclose to President Vladimir Putin, as wellas entities they run. However, the U.S. willcontinue to hold off on targeting broadswaths of the Russian economy, thoughthe president has said he is willing to takethat step if Putin launches a militaryincursion in eastern Ukraine.

• Tensions were heightened on the ground,with Russian fighter jets reported crossinginto Ukrainian airspace and a team ofunarmed foreign military observersdetained by pro-Russian forces inSlovyansk, the heart of the separatistmovement in the east.

Hatf-III• Pakistan conducted a successful training

launch of short range surface to surfaceballistic missile Hatf III (Ghaznavi)recently.

• The missile can carry nuclear andconventional warheads to a range of 290kilometres.

• The successful launch concluded the fieldtraining exercise of strategic missile groupof Army Strategic Forces Command.

• As per the statement released by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), thetraining launch was witnessed byChairman Joint Chiefs of Staff CommitteeGeneral Rashad Mahmood, DirectorGeneral Strategic Plans Division

Current Affairs 5 0



Lieutenant General Zubair MahmoodHayat, Commander Army StrategicForces Command Lieutenant GeneralObaid Ullah Khan, Chairman NESCOMMuhammad Irfan Burney and othersenior military officials and scientists.

Code Of Conduct On Communication• Naval chiefs from US and Asian-Pacific

nations including Vietnam adopted a codeof conduct aimed at improvingcommunication at sea to reduce thepossibility of conflict.

• Citing Australian media reports, VNAsaid that the Code for UnplannedEncounters at Sea was approved bycountries including the US, China, Japan,the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam atthe Western Pacific Naval Symposium inChina's eastern coastal city of Qingdao.

• The pact outlines how naval ships shouldcommunicate and manoeuvre when theyunex-pectedly come into contact in sealanes surrounding China, Japan andSoutheast Asia.

• Although not legally binding, the code ofconduct is said to help establishinternational standards in relation to theuse of sea lanes.

FATA demand• The clamour for holding local

government elections in the FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas (FATA) isgrowing in a region where a governancesystem is non-existent at a local orprovincial level.

• A new research study by the FATAResearch Centre (FRC) titled 'LocalGovernment in FATA, Past failures,Current challenges and Future prospects'highlights the century old politicalvacuum in the region coupled with badgovernance and corruption which has

resulted in a gap between the state andsociety in this volatile tribal belt.

• The growing exclusion of people from thepolitical process has created a sense ofdeprivation and frustration among themasses, the report says and thisdisconnect was the reason that Talibanwere able to consolidate their position inFATA by cutting away at the existingpolitical system and killing the tribalelders and maliks.

• The Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) isa draconian law which still operates thereand power is wielded by the all powerfulpolitical agent even today. Lt Gen (retd.)Abdul Qadir Baloch, the minister forStates and Frontier Regions said there areno two opinions that local governmentelections should be held in FATA and hesaid the driver of reforms must be thepeople themselves.

• Senator Farhatullah Babar said the FATAregion which was a buffer zone earlier topress the strategic depth policy was nowa strategic threat.

Pope Francis declaration• Pope Francis declared his two

predecessors John XXIII and John Paul IIsaints on before hundreds of thousandsof people in St. Peter's Square, anunprecedented ceremony made evenmore historic by the presence of retiredPope Benedict XVI.

•¨ Never before has a reigning and retiredpope celebrated Mass together in public,much less at an event honouring two oftheir most famous predecessors.

• Pope Benedict's presence was a reflectionof the balancing act that Pope Francisenvisioned when he decided to canonizePope John and Pope John Paul together,showing the unity of the Catholic Churchby honouring popes beloved to

5 1 Current Affairs



conservatives and progre-ssives alike.• Poep Francis took a deep breath and

paused for a moment before reciting thesaint-making formula in Latin, as ifmoved by the history he was about tomake.

Chemical weapons destroyed in Syria• The head of an international mission to

Syria charged with destroying thecountry's chemical weapons called onPresident Bashar Assad's government toensure it meets a deadline to destroy allits toxic chemicals amid a raging civil war.

• Sigrid Kaag of the Organization for theProhibition of Chemical Weapons(OPCW) told reporters in Damascus that92.5 percent of Syria's chemical materialshad been removed from the country anddestroyed. She called it "significantprogress," although she called on Syria'sgovernment to ensure remainingmaterials would be eradicated by the endof April.

• Syria missed an April 13 deadline todestroy all its chemical weapons inaccessible locations. International expertssay that could impact on reaching a June30 deadline to remove all Syria's chemicalweapons.

• Another 12 chemical weapons productionfacilities are still being reviewed by theOPCW to see how they will be destroyed.

Assad regime• France has 'information' but no firm proof

that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad'sregime is still using chemical weapons,according to President Francois Hollande.

• There are conflicting accounts about oneattack that happened in the town of KafrZita in the central Hama province earlierin April, with both the government andthe opposition accusing each other of

being responsible.• Activists in the area accused the regime

of using chlorine gas, saying it caused'more than 100 cases of suffocation'.

• Throughout Syria's conflict, the Assadregime has sought to portray itself as theprotector of the country's religiousminorities against a revolt it says is ledby foreign-backed extremists.

• The Syrian opposition dismisses suchclaims as part of a divide-and-rulestrategy which is also aimed at deterringthe West from providing greater supportto the rebels.

• Syria's uprising began in March 2011 as apeaceful revolt against the Assad family'sfour-decade rule but escalated into aninsurgency and then a civil war when theregime launched a brutal crackdown.

• As the war has intensified, claiming anestimated 150,000 lives, it has also grownmore sectarian, with jihadists flocking tothe ranks of the Sunni-led rebellion andLebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movementfighting alongside the regime.

Internet 'Bill of Rights' to protectonline privacy

• Brazil's president signed into law on a"Bill of Rights" for the digital age that aimsto protect online privacy and promote theInternet as a public utility by barringtelecommunications companies fromcharging for preferential access to theirnetworks.

• The law signed by President DilmaRousseff at a global conference on thefuture of Internet governance puts Brazilin the vanguard of online consumerprotection and what is known as "netneutrality," whose promoters consider itprofoundly democratic in part because itkeeps financial barriers for innovatorslow.

Current Affairs 5 2



• The new law promotes privacy bylimiting the data that online companiescan collect on Internet users in this nationof 200 million people, deemingcommunications over the Internet"inviolable and secret." Service providersmust develop protocols to ensure emailcan be read only by senders and theirintended recipients. Violators are subjectto penalties including fines andsuspension.

• The law obliges Internet companies,however, to hold on to user data for sixmonths and hand it over to lawenforcement under court order.

World's Tallest Building• Kingdom Tower will be 568 feet taller than

Khalifa Tower, the current GuinnessWorld Record holder in neighboringDubai, once it is completed. The tower isthe first phase of Jeddah EconomicCompany's approximately $20 billion, 17million-square-foot Kingdom City project,of which it will be the focal point. SaudiArabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal BinAbdulaziz Al Saud, a nephew of SaudiKing Abdullah, is chairman of theKingdom Holding Company, a partner inJEC.

• Foundation work for the $1.2 billionskyscraper began in December, andabove-ground work will start April 27.The 200-floor tower will be located inJeddah, a culturally significant city nearthe Red Sea that is known as the gatewayto Mecca.

• Kingdom Tower will house a FourSeasons hotel, luxury condominiums,office space and an observatory.

TIME Magazine's Online Poll• Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal has won

the readers' poll for the 2014 TIME 100,

TIME's annual list of people whoinfluenced the world this past year forbetter or worse.

• As the world's largest democracy votesin the ongoing elections, the keycandidates obviously have made animpact internationally.

• Narendra Modi, who is already beinghailed as the leader at the helm of affairsby Goldman Sachs and other agencies,was expected to be the top candidate fromIndia on TIME magazine's list. But AamAadmi Party (AAP) leader ArvindKejriwal has managed to edge past theBJP's prime ministerial candidate by asmall margin.

• Kejriwal has edged past internationalicons such as Malala Yousafzai, KatyPerry, Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, VladimirPutin, Janet Yellen, and MichaelBloomberg among others. NarendraModi, who has gained much prominenceof late, has secured the third post.According to TIME, Modi may clamourpast pop star Katy Perry to the secondspot and give Kejriwal a run for hismoney.

Rape in Conflict• A new UN report names 21 countries

where rape and other sexual violence hasbeen committed in current and recentconflicts - from Afghanistan and CentralAfrican Republic to Myanmar and Syria.

• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's report,says there is now unprecedented politicalmomentum globally to end conflict-related sexual violence but more action isneeded regionally and nationally torespond to these crimes.

• Covering 21 countries of concern inEurope, Asia, Africa, South America andthe Middle East, the report shows thatsexual violence in conflict is truly is a

5 3 Current Affairs



global crime.• The report identifies 34 armed groups -

including militias, rebel groups andgovernment security forces - suspected ofrape and sexual violence in conflictsituations.

North Korean Nuclear Threats• Dismissing North Korea's nuclear threats,

US President Barack Obama hasreportedly warned the country of toughersanctions if it were to go ahead with itsfourth nuclear test.

• Obama said at a joint press conferencewith South Korean President Park Geun-Hye that threats will get North Koreanothing, other than greater isolation.

• South Korea's satellite images revealedthe North could be preparing for anothertest, Obama stressed that Washington andSeoul stood "shoulder to shoulder" in theirrefusal to accept a nuclear North Korea.

• Obama also said that China is beginningto recognise that North Korea is not just anuisance but a significant problem fortheir own security.

No TOEFL and TOEIC tests by ETS• Dealing a blow to many visa aspirants

especially students, British authoritieshave said global testing giant ETS will nolonger offer TOEFL and TOEIC tests forU.K. visa-granting purposes, in the wakeof a recent controversy.

• As per the U.K. Council for InternationalStudent Affairs' official website, "ETS isno longer providing TOEIC and TOEFLtests for people who want to use them insupport of U.K. immigration applications.This is because of allegations of fraud."

• Following the broadcast of a BBCPanorama programme in February 2014which highlighted an organised elementseeking to circumvent the U.K.'s visa-

granting process, ETS has made thedecision not to extend our Secure English-language Testing (SELT) licence with theHome Office. As a result, TOEIC andTOEFL iBT testing will no longer beoffered for U.K. visa-granting purposes.

• The TOEFL test remains the most widelyrespected English-language test in theworld recognised by more than 9,000institutions in more than 130 countries.

Afghan landslide• Afghan officials gave up hope of finding

any survivors from a landslide in theremote northeast, putting the death tollat more than 2,100, as the aid effortfocused on the more than 4,000 peopledisplaced.Officials expressed concern the unstablehillside above the site of the disaster maycave in again, threatening the thousandsof homeless and hundreds of rescueworkers who have arrived in Badakhshanprovince, bordering Tajikistan.

• Villagers and a few dozen police,equipped with only basic digging tools,resumed their search when daylight brokebut it soon became clear there was nohope of finding survivors buried in up to100 meters of mud.

• The United Nations mission inAfghanistan said the focus was on themore than 4,000 people displaced, eitherdirectly as a result of Friday's landslideor as a precautionary measure fromvillages assessed to be at risk.

• Their main needs were water, medicalsupport, counselling support, food andemergency shelter, said Ari Gaitanis, aspokesman from the United NationsAssistance Mission in Afghanistan.

• The impoverished area, dotted withvillages of mud-brick homes nestled invalleys beside bare slopes, has been hitby several landslides in recent years.

Current Affairs 5 4



Tunisia's New Law on Elections• Tunisian lawmakers have adopted a

sweeping new electoral law that paves theway for general elections later this yearand is a milestone in this country's newdemocracy.

• The law requires party lists for legislativeelections to be half women and half men.It also allows members of theauthoritarian regime ousted in 2011 to runfor office.

• The members of the National ConstituentAssembly approved the law after weeksof heated debate over its 270 articles. Theoverall law was approved 132-11 withnine abstentions.

• Tunisia's path to democracy has beenrocky but is seen as a model for othercountries, after street protests overthrewa dictator and unleashed uprisings acrossthe region known as the Arab Spring.

Obama's wage bill• Senate Republicans deployed a filibuster

to block a White House proposal toincrease the U.S. minimum wage by $2.85to $10.10 per hour, thereby denyingPresident Barack Obama an importantelection-year policy achievement.

• With mid-term elections scheduled forNovember 2014, the defeat of the Bill onthe floor of the Senate, by a vote of 54'ayes' and 42 'nays' - short of the 60 votesrequired for passage - could spell troublefor Democrats.

• Although polls have shown that morethan 60 per cent of Americans supportraising the minimum wage, a measurethat Mr. Obama promised in his state-of-the-union address in January, all SenateRepublicans but one, Robert Corker ofTennessee, voted against holding a debateon the Bill and getting it passed.

• While he appeared frustrated with theproceedings on Capitol Hill and slammedRepublicans for preventing "a raise for 28million hardworking Ameri-cans," heemphasised that several U.S. States hadtaken the matter into their hands andraised the minimum wage through StateLegislatures.

• For the Democrats the Bill represented akey component of its broader 'Fair Shotfor All' midterm campaign, a platformthat aimed to project the party as asupporter of the common man, inopposition to Republican pandering tospecial interests.

Anti-Qaeda offensive• Yemeni forces have launched an operation

to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of southerntowns, where blistering air strikes killednearly 60 militants recently. militaryofficials.

• Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsulajihadists established strongholds in townsand rugged zones in Abyan and Shabwaprovinces after security forces chasedthem from major cities in Abyan in 2012.

• Yemeni and US drone strikes targetedbases of AQAP, considered byWashington as the most dangerousaffiliate of the global jihadist networkwith links to several failed terror plotsagainst the United States.

• AQAP took advantage of the weakeningof the central government in Sanaa afterthe nationwide uprising, establishingstrongholds in the southern and easternregions.

• In June 2012, government forces backedby the Popular Committees drovemilitants out of major cities in Abyan afterthey had been in control for around a year.

• US drones frequently strike suspectedmilitants in the country despite mounting

5 5 Current Affairs



criticism from rights groups concernedabout civilian casualties.

• The United States has defended its use ofdrones against Al-Qaeda, saying theyallow it to target jihadists without sendingsoldiers into lawless areas where localauthorities have little or no control.

US Security deal with Philippines• Protesters have clashed in the Philippines

as a 10-year agreement was signed aheadof President Barack Obama's visit whichwill beef up military forces there.

• The military will get greater access tobases across the region as an effort byWashington to counter Chineseaggression.

• The presence of foreign troops is asensitive issue in the Philippines, a formerAmerican colony.

• The Philippine Senate voted in 1991 toclose down U.S. bases at Subic and Clark,northwest of Manila.

• However, it ratified a pact with the UnitedStates allowing temporary visits byAmerican forces in 1999, four years afterChina seized a reef the Philippinescontests.

• Following the September 11, 2001, attacksin the United States, hundreds of U.S.forces descended in the southernPhilippines under that accord to holdcounter terrorism exercises with Filipinotroops fighting Muslim militants.

• However this time, the focus of thePhilippines and its underfunded militaryhas increasingly turned to external threatsas territorial spats with China in thepotentially oil and gas-rich South ChinaSea heated up in recent years.

Tornadoes Strike Central, Southern US• A tornado system ripped through the

central US and left at least 12 dead in a

violent start to this year's storm season.• A tornado carved through several Little

Rock suburbs. A separate tornado fromthe same storm system killed one personin Oklahoma.

• The large tornado outside Little Rock,Arkansas, stayed on the ground as itmoved northeastward for at least 30 miles(48 kilometres).

• Emergency workers and volunteers wentdoor-to-door to look for victims. Lawenforcement officers checked thedamaged and toppled 18-wheelers, carsand trucks on a stretch of Interstate 40, amajor thoroughfare in and out of thestate's capital.

• Tornadoes also touched down inNebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas,where dozens of homes in Baxter Springswere destroyed. Twenty-five people wereinjured and one person died.

• Forecasters had warned for days thatviolent weather would strike over theweekend.

Security for World Economic Forum• Nigeria has assured that it will provide

adequate security arrangements duringthe World Economic Forum on Africa,which begins May 7 in Abuja.

• The government would provide adequatesecurity for participants.His remark cameafter some countries expressed concernover security issues, following a blast inAbuja, which left at least 19 people dead.

The recent U.N. Security Council meet• The U.N. Security Council recently metin

emergency session amid growingviolence in eastern Ukraine, with Westernpowers and Russia blaming each other forthe deepening crisis.

• Russia called the meeting hours afterUkrainian special forces exchanged

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gunfire with a pro-Russia militia in aneastern city, and at least one securityofficer was killed and five otherswounded. Ukraine's president accused itspowerful neighbour of fomenting unrest,and announced that it would deployarmed forces to quash an increasinglybold pro-Russian insurgency.

• Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkindenied Western and Ukrainian claims thatMoscow was behind the violence, andtold U.N. diplomats that Ukraine has beenusing radical neo-Nazi forces todestabilize its eastern region.

• Russia has tens of thousands of troopsmassed along Ukraine's eastern border,and there are fears that Moscow might usethe violence in the mainly Russian-speaking region as a pretext for aninvasion, in a repeat of events in Crimeaearlier this year.

U.S. -Taiwan update• The United States has said it will help

Taiwan to build diesel-electric submarineson its own.

• Asked at the committee hearing whethera policy to build submarines locally hasbeen finalized, Yen said Taiwan haslaunched a plan to build submarinesdomestically after trying to buy U.S.submarines without success for 13 years.

• The Ministry of National Defense (MND)confirmed that it has begun preparationsto build submarines on its own and thatthe chances for success would grow if theU.S. could help with project managementand technology transfer or even engagein co-production.

• The MND said Washington agreed to sellTaiwan submarines in 2001, but noprogress has been made on the deal.

• Pressured by lawmakers across partylines and the people of the country, the

MND has decided to begin the pre-production phase of the process to showits resolve to defend itself.

• The ministry said it has exchanged viewswith the U.S., and Washington hasexpressed its understanding of Taiwan'sdetermination to build its ownsubmarines.

• It will also seek support from U.S.policymakers to help Taiwan with itsplans through bilateral militaryexchanges.

Military operation to crush anti-government protests in Ukraine

• Ukraine has launched a military operationto crush anti-government protests in theRussian-speaking eastern part of thecountry, deploying thousands of troops,armour and aircraft to Donetsk regionwhere protesters seized governmentbuildings in a dozen cities and towns.

• The military, in armoured personnelcarriers backed by aircraft, stormed asmall airfield near Kramatorsk.Unconfirmed reports said between fourand 11 protesters had been killed in theattack.

• Following the attack, hundreds ofunarmed Kramatorsk residents drove tothe airfield to protest against the killingof civilians.

• The Russian TV channel Rossiya-24,which has several reporters in easternUkraine, said about 500 governmenttroops and 20 armoured personnelcarriers entered the city of Slaviansk, notfar from Kramatorsk.

• A militia commander in Slaviansk, whichis under full control of the protesters, toldRussia's Itar-Tass news agency that thecity had been surrounded by Ukrainiantanks and armoured vehicles.

5 7 Current Affairs



• In Kiev, two presidential candidatesrepresenting eastern Ukraine wereattacked by armed far right radicals. OlegTsarev, an independent, was severelybeaten after appearing in a TV showcalled "Freedom of Speech." The mobdemanded that he and the othercandidate, Mikhail Dobkin, withdrawfrom the elections scheduled for May 25.

• Ukrainian authorities confirmed that abattalion of newly formed "NationalGuard" made up of "Maidan activists" hadbeen deployed for action against pro-Russian protesters in the east.

Germany's new initiatives• Germany, one of the three most-visited

places in Europe for Indian, plans to growthis traffic of travellers by about 10 percent this year with a focus on its heritagesites.

• The German tourism department hasbudgeted 5 lakh euros for promotionalactivities in this respect.

• Germany is known not only for itsexcellent cars and high tech, but evenmore for its heritage - a vibrant, reunifiedBerlin, modern designs and magnificentmonuments that have stood the test oftime, like the castles in Potsdam and theCologne Cathedral.

• There are 38 UNESCO world heritagesites in Germany, 36 of them cultural andtwo natural. Among these are also the topthree heritage sites in Europe.

• Last year, more than 615,000 Indiansvisited the country. The plan is to increasethat by 8-10% this year and towards thisit will spend an equivalent of Rs4 crore.That might not be so difficult after the 5%growth they managed last year.

Accord on Ukraine• Russia, the United States, the European

Union and Ukraine have agreed on a planto resolve the crisis in Ukraine through aconstitutional reform that would grantmore powers to Russian-speakingregions.

• After eight-hour talks in Geneva, theForeign Ministers of the four nationssigned a joint statement on de-escalationof the Ukraine crisis.

• Russia, the U.S. and the E.U. have calledon Ukraine to launch a broad nationaldialogue involving all political forces andall regions with the aim of undertaking aconstitutional reform.

• The constitutional reform should providefor "decentralization" of authority,election of regional bodies of power andguaranteeing the language rights ofRussian-speaker.

• The monitoring mission of theOrganisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which has alreadybeen deployed in Ukraine, must play "thelead role" in assisting the Ukrainianauthorities to resolve the crisis.

• The plan, at least on paper, hasincorporated Russia's main demands fora settlement in Ukraine.

Pakistani Madrassa's Library inhonour of Osama Bin Laden

• A controversial Pakistani cleric who runsan Islamic seminary for girls in the capitalof Islamabad has named the school'snewly built library in honour of Osamabin Laden.

• The tribute is an unusual first, thoughthere have been cases in recent years ofPakistanis naming their sons or even theirstores and places of business after theterror network's slain leader.

• Bin Laden was killed in a May 2011 raidby U.S. Navy SEALs in his hiding place

Current Affairs 5 8



in Abbottabad, a garrison town about 125kilometres north of Islamabad. Theunilateral raid at the time angered thePakistani government, which said theUnited States had violated the country'ssovereignty.

• In the immediate aftermath of bin Laden'sdeath, Islamists held small rallies acrossPakistan to denounce the killing. The slainal-Qaeda chief is still regarded as a heroby most students at Islamic schools, ormadrassas.

Everest's Worst Tragedy• An avalanche swept down a slope of

Mount Everest on Friday killing 12 Nepalimountaineering guides at the beginningof the main climbing season.

• The avalanche, the deadliest in eightyears, hit the most popular route to themountain's peak. Three Nepali guideswere injured and up to five people weremissing. It was the first major avalancheon Mount Everest this climbing season,when hundreds of foreign and Nepaliclimbers flock to the mountain to attemptto reach its 8,850 metre peak.

• More than 4,000 climbers have scaledEverest´s summit since it was firstclimbed by Sir Edmund Hillary andTenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. The routethey took is the one hit by the avalanche.Nearly 250 people have died on themountain.

• Everest is on the border between Nepaland the Chinese region of Tibet and canbe climbed from both sides.

• Nepal's Tourism Ministry has issuedpermits to 334 foreign climbers to scaleMount Everest this season, up from 328the whole of last year. Nepal plans to cutfees to climb the mountain despiteconcern about overcrowding.

Bill That Bars Iran's Envoy• President Obama signed a bill into law

recently that would prohibit anyone whohas engaged in espionage or terrorismagainst the United States from obtaininga visa to enter the country as arepresentative to the United Nations.

• Congress passed the bill last week afterIran named Hamid Aboutalebi as itsambassador to the United Nations; Mr.Aboutalebi was an interpreter for themilitant student group that stormed theAmerican Embassy in Tehran in 1979 andheld Americans hostage for 444 days.

• Iran has insisted that the United States hasno right to dictate whom it may choose torepresent it. Mr. Obama said theConstitution gave him exclusivediscretion to receive or rejectambassadors, and if a case arose wherethe law would interfere with hisexercising that discretion, he would treatit as advisory.

Maritime Silk Road• China has for the first time released details

of its recently announced "maritime SilkRoad" plan, announcing that the IndianOcean-focused initiative will prioritisebuilding ports and improvinginfrastructure in littoral countries likeBangladesh and Sri Lanka.

• China is also planning to establish freetrade zones in Indian Ocean countries aspart of the plan - a move that will reinforceChina's deepening economic presence inthe Indian Ocean Region and in India'sneighbourhood.

• The maritime Silk Road plan wasunveiled in October last year whenPresident Xi Jinping travelled to SoutheastAsia. Since then, Chinese officials havehighlighted the initiative as a key

5 9 Current Affairs



diplomatic priority for Mr. Xi'sgovernment.

• Nations from Malaysia and Singapore toIndia, Sri Lanka and the Gulf countrieshave all been sounded out about the plan.It had, however, remained unclear whatthe plan would actually entail.

• The plan is expected to focus oninfrastructure construction of countriesalong the route, including ports ofPakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.China is already involved in port projectsin the three countries, in Gwadar,Hambantota and Chittagong.

• China hopes to "coordinate customs,quality supervision, e-commerce andother agencies to facilitate the scheme",as well as set up free trade zones.

Manila forum• Hundreds of government, business and

academic leaders gathered in thePhilippines to discuss East Asia'seconomic prospects amid tensions in theSouth China Sea and political instabilityin some countries in the region.

• The 23rd World Economic Forum on EastAsia was being held for the first time inManila, allowing the Philippines toshowcase its recent economic turnaround.

• The meetings would discuss how toaddress rising inequality amid theregion's robust growth.

• The income gap in the Philippines is largerthan in other regional economies, such asIndonesia and Thailand, with the top 10per cent of the population earning about20 times as much as the poorest 10 percent.

• Another "notable danger for the region"is political instability both within andbetween countries.

• The meeting was being held amidincreasing tensions over territorial

disputes in the South China Sea betweenVietnam, the Philippines and China, aswell as concerns over the impact of anti-Chinese protests and martial law inThailand.

U.N. Security Council meet♦ The U.N. Security Council recently metin

emergency session amid growingviolence in eastern Ukraine, with Westernpowers and Russia blaming each other forthe deepening crisis.

♦ Russia called the meeting hours afterUkrainian special forces exchangedgunfire with a pro-Russia militia in aneastern city, and at least one securityofficer was killed and five otherswounded. Ukraine’s president accused itspowerful neighbour of fomenting unrest,and announced that it would deployarmed forces to quash an increasinglybold pro-Russian insurgency.

♦ Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkindenied Western and Ukrainian claims thatMoscow was behind the violence, andtold U.N. diplomats that Ukraine has beenusing radical neo-Nazi forces todestabilize its eastern region.

♦ Russia has tens of thousands of troopsmassed along Ukraine’s eastern border,and there are fears that Moscow might usethe violence in the mainly Russian-speaking region as a pretext for aninvasion, in a repeat of events in Crimeaearlier this year.

U.S. -Taiwan update♦ The United States has said it will help

Taiwan to build diesel-electric submarineson its own.

♦ Asked at the committee hearing whethera policy to build submarines locally hasbeen finalized, Yen said Taiwan haslaunched a plan to build submarines

Current Affairs 6 0



domestically after trying to buy U.S.submarines without success for 13 years.

♦ The Ministry of National Defense (MND)confirmed that it has begun preparationsto build submarines on its own and thatthe chances for success would grow if theU.S. could help with project managementand technology transfer or even engagein co-production.

♦ The MND said Washington agreed to sellTaiwan submarines in 2001, but noprogress has been made on the deal.

♦ Pressured by lawmakers across partylines and the people of the country, theMND has decided to begin the pre-production phase of the process to showits resolve to defend itself.

♦ The ministry said it has exchanged viewswith the U.S., and Washington hasexpressed its understanding of Taiwan’sdetermination to build its ownsubmarines.

♦ It will also seek support from U.S.policymakers to help Taiwan with itsplans through bilateral militaryexchanges.

Military operation in Ukraine♦ Ukraine has launched a military operation

to crush anti-government protests in theRussian-speaking eastern part of thecountry, deploying thousands of troops,armour and aircraft to Donetsk regionwhere protesters seized governmentbuildings in a dozen cities and towns.

♦ The military, in armoured personnelcarriers backed by aircraft, stormed asmall airfield near Kramatorsk.Unconfirmed reports said between fourand 11 protesters had been killed in theattack.

♦ Following the attack, hundreds ofunarmed Kramatorsk residents drove tothe airfield to protest against the killing

of civilians.♦ The Russian TV channel Rossiya-24,

which has several reporters in easternUkraine, said about 500 governmenttroops and 20 armoured personnelcarriers entered the city of Slaviansk, notfar from Kramatorsk.

♦ A militia commander in Slaviansk, whichis under full control of the protesters, toldRussia’s Itar-Tass news agency that thecity had been surrounded by Ukrainiantanks and armoured vehicles.

♦ In Kiev, two presidential candidatesrepresenting eastern Ukraine wereattacked by armed far right radicals. OlegTsarev, an independent, was severelybeaten after appearing in a TV showcalled “Freedom of Speech.” The mobdemanded that he and the othercandidate, Mikhail Dobkin, withdrawfrom the elections scheduled for May 25.

♦ Ukrainian authorities confirmed that abattalion of newly formed “NationalGuard” made up of “Maidan activists”had been deployed for action against pro-Russian protesters in the east.

Germany’s new initiatives♦ Germany, one of the three most-visited

places in Europe for Indian, plans to growthis traffic of travellers by about 10 percent this year with a focus on its heritagesites.

♦ The German tourism department hasbudgeted 5 lakh euros for promotionalactivities in this respect.

♦ Germany is known not only for itsexcellent cars and high tech, but evenmore for its heritage – a vibrant, reunifiedBerlin, modern designs and magnificentmonuments that have stood the test oftime, like the castles in Potsdam and theCologne Cathedral.

♦ There are 38 UNESCO world heritagesites in Germany, 36 of them cultural and

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two natural. Among these are also the topthree heritage sites in Europe.

♦ Last year, more than 615,000 Indiansvisited the country. The plan is to increasethat by 8-10% this year and towards thisit will spend an equivalent of Rs4 crore.That might not be so difficult after the 5%growth they managed last year.

Accord on Ukraine♦ Russia, the United States, the European

Union and Ukraine have agreed on a planto resolve the crisis in Ukraine through aconstitutional reform that would grantmore powers to Russian-speakingregions.

♦ After eight-hour talks in Geneva, theForeign Ministers of the four nationssigned a joint statement on de-escalationof the Ukraine crisis.

♦ Russia, the U.S. and the E.U. have calledon Ukraine to launch a broad nationaldialogue involving all political forces andall regions with the aim of undertaking aconstitutional reform.

♦ The constitutional reform should providefor “decentralization” of authority,election of regional bodies of power andguaranteeing the language rights ofRussian-speaker.

♦ The monitoring mission of theOrganisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which has alreadybeen deployed in Ukraine, must play “thelead role” in assisting the Ukrainianauthorities to resolve the crisis.

♦ The plan, at least on paper, hasincorporated Russia’s main demands fora settlement in Ukraine.

Library in Osama bin Laden’s honour♦ A controversial Pakistani cleric who runs

an Islamic seminary for girls in the capitalof Islamabad has named the school’s

newly built library in honour of Osamabin Laden.

♦ The tribute is an unusual first, thoughthere have been cases in recent years ofPakistanis naming their sons or even theirstores and places of business after theterror network’s slain leader.

♦ Bin Laden was killed in a May 2011 raidby U.S. Navy SEALs in his hiding placein Abbottabad, a garrison town about 125kilometres north of Islamabad. Theunilateral raid at the time angered thePakistani government, which said theUnited States had violated the country’ssovereignty.

♦ In the immediate aftermath of bin Laden’sdeath, Islamists held small rallies acrossPakistan to denounce the killing. The slainal-Qaeda chief is still regarded as a heroby most students at Islamic schools, ormadrassas.

Everest’s worst tragedy♦ An avalanche swept down a slope of

Mount Everest on Friday killing 12 Nepalimountaineering guides at the beginningof the main climbing season.

♦ The avalanche, the deadliest in eightyears, hit the most popular route to themountain’s peak. Three Nepali guideswere injured and up to five people weremissing. It was the first major avalancheon Mount Everest this climbing season,when hundreds of foreign and Nepaliclimbers flock to the mountain to attemptto reach its 8,850 metre peak.

♦ More than 4,000 climbers have scaledEverest´s summit since it was firstclimbed by Sir Edmund Hillary andTenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. The routethey took is the one hit by the avalanche.Nearly 250 people have died on themountain.

♦ Everest is on the border between Nepal

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and the Chinese region of Tibet and canbe climbed from both sides.

♦ Nepal’s Tourism Ministry has issuedpermits to 334 foreign climbers to scaleMount Everest this season, up from 328the whole of last year. Nepal plans to cutfees to climb the mountain despiteconcern about overcrowding.

Bill That Bars Iran’s Envoy♦ President Obama signed a bill into law

recently that would prohibit anyone whohas engaged in espionage or terrorismagainst the United States from obtaininga visa to enter the country as arepresentative to the United Nations.

♦ Congress passed the bill last week afterIran named Hamid Aboutalebi as itsambassador to the United Nations; Mr.Aboutalebi was an interpreter for themilitant student group that stormed theAmerican Embassy in Tehran in 1979 andheld Americans hostage for 444 days.

♦ Iran has insisted that the United States hasno right to dictate whom it may choose torepresent it. Mr. Obama said theConstitution gave him exclusivediscretion to receive or rejectambassadors, and if a case arose wherethe law would interfere with hisexercising that discretion, he would treatit as advisory.

Maritime Silk Road♦ China has for the first time released details

of its recently announced “maritime SilkRoad” plan, announcing that the IndianOcean-focused initiative will prioritisebuilding ports and improvinginfrastructure in littoral countries likeBangladesh and Sri Lanka.

♦ China is also planning to establish freetrade zones in Indian Ocean countries aspart of the plan — a move that will

reinforce China’s deepening economicpresence in the Indian Ocean Region andin India’s neighbourhood.

♦ The maritime Silk Road plan wasunveiled in October last year whenPresident Xi Jinping travelled to SoutheastAsia. Since then, Chinese officials havehighlighted the initiative as a keydiplomatic priority for Mr. Xi’sgovernment.

♦ Nations from Malaysia and Singapore toIndia, Sri Lanka and the Gulf countrieshave all been sounded out about the plan.It had, however, remained unclear whatthe plan would actually entail.

♦ The plan is expected to focus oninfrastructure construction of countriesalong the route, including ports ofPakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.China is already involved in port projectsin the three countries, in Gwadar,Hambantota and Chittagong.

♦ China hopes to “coordinate customs,quality supervision, e-commerce andother agencies to facilitate the scheme”,as well as set up free trade zones.

Tussle between US and China overHong Kong

♦ China has cautioned the United States notto interfere in Hong Kong affairs after VicePresident Joseph Biden met twoprominent pro-democracy advocates whohave warned of Beijing’s tighteningcontrol of the territory.

♦ A former British colony that reverted toChinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong enjoysconsiderable autonomy and broadfreedoms as a capitalist hub.

♦ But it has been locked in a lengthy battlewith Beijing’s leaders to push throughreforms that could culminate in a directelection of its leader in 2017.

♦ Tension has grown over China’s meddlingin Hong Kong affairs as well as a proposal

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that all candidates in the 2017 poll bevetted by a panel stacked with Beijingloyalists, which would essentially keepopposition candidates out of the running.

♦ China has agreed to let Hong Kong electits next leader in 2017 in what promisesto be the most extensive exercise ofdemocracy on Chinese soil. Specificarrangements, however, have yet to behammered out, including whether publicnominations of candidates will beallowed.

♦ A group of pro-democracy activists hasthreatened to shut down the city’s centralbusiness district in a campaign of civildisobedience called “Occupy Central”,should Beijing bar a fully democratic pollin line with international norms.

Sanctions against Palestinians♦ Israeli and Palestinian officials held fresh

US-mediated talks, but the crisis-hit peaceprocess was dealt a new blow as Israelunveiled sanctions against thePalestinians.

♦ Israel, which collects about •80 million(Dh408 million) in taxes on behalf of thePalestinian National Authority (PNA) —two-thirds of its revenues — has decidedto freeze the transfer of that money.

♦ Israel was also suspending itsparticipation with the Palestinians indeveloping a gasfield off the Gaza Stripand putting a cap on Palestinian depositsin its banks, the Israeli official said, askingnot to be named.

♦ Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekatlashed out at the move, calling it an act of“Israeli hijacking and the theft of thePalestinian people’s money.

♦ Washington remains in “intensivenegotiations” with both sides.

♦ The talks hit a new impasse last week afterIsrael refused to release a final batch of

Palestinian prisoners and the Palestiniansretaliated by seeking accession to severalinternational treaties.

♦ The Israelis have repeatedly asked BarackObama and previous US presidents torelease Pollard, sentenced to life in 1987for passing US secrets on Arab andPakistani weapons to Israel.

♦ Psaki revealed that Indyk would returnto Washington this week for consultationswith Kerry and the White House.

♦ The Palestinians responded byabandoning their own commitment notto seek international recognition until thenine months of talks ended, applying foraccession to 15 treaties.

Pakistan Protection bill♦ The Nawaz Sharif Government managed

to get the Protection of Pakistan(Amendment) Bill passed in the NationalAssembly,but the Opposition parties,which tore up the bill in the House aredetermined to take the fight to theSupreme Court.

♦ The controversial law which started offas an ordinance, was referred to theStanding Committee on Interior andNarcotics which debated the bill andapproved it while proposing someamendments.

♦ The bill, which is expected to give morepowers to the security forces to tackleterrorism and powers to search and arrestapart from preventive detention of up to90 days and excluding the public fromproceedings of the special court.

♦ The ordinance, which was notified inJanuary, was not approved by the Senateand the bill too is going to run intodifficulties in the Upper House.

♦ The ordinance is not very different fromthe bill, and members of the Oppositionfeared that Pakistan could be turned into

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a police state using this law and itsstringent provisions would be misused.While there are no two opinions about theneed to tackle terrorism, there areprovisions in the existing law which couldbe efficiently implemented, some felt.

NATO and the Ukrainian Crisis♦ Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean

peninsula has placed the spotlight onNATO. Russia’s military incursion intoUkraine was a wake-up call for the 28-member western alliance.

♦ Since the end of the Cold War, the westernalliance has been trying to redefine itsmission.

♦ Poland and Romania are NATO membersthat border Ukraine on the west. Russiahas amassed thousands of troops on itsborder on the other side of Ukraine,prompting some western experts to sayan incursion into Eastern Ukraine is likely.

♦ As a result of Russia’s militaryintervention in Crimea, NATO hassuspended all civilian and militarycooperation with Moscow. NATO officialssay they will review their relationshipwith Moscow in view of Russia’s actions.

China-backed Boao Forum♦ Ratan Tata, the doyen of Indian industry,

was recently inducted as a member of theBoard of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), arare distinction for an Indian in theChinese government-backed influentialbody.

♦ This is the first time a senior Indianbusiness leader was accorded thedistinction.It is also a recognition for Tatasas a global conglomerate, he said.

♦ The 15-member Board of BFA includedformer Japanese prime minister YasuoFukuda, former Malaysian prime ministerAbdullah Ahmad Badwai, former

Singapore prime minister Goh Chok Tongand former prime minister of FranceJean—Pierre Raffarin besides former USTreasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

♦ BFA was formed in 2001 on the lines ofthe World Economic Forum in Davos,Switzerland.

♦ Every year top world’s political andbusiness leaders gather at Boao tobrainstorm on global political andeconomic issues.

♦ The Federation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce (FICCI) is an ordinarymember of the forum.

172,000 H1B visa petitions♦ The US, which received more than 172,000

applications for the H-1B visas, hasconducted a computerised draw of lotsto determine who all would be given themost sought after work visas that arehighly popular among IT professionalsfrom countries like India.

♦ The US Citizenship and ImmigrationServices (USCIS) conducted thecomputerised draw of lots to select theCongressionally mandated 65,000applicants, who would receive the H-1Bvisas.

♦ The USCIS, in a statement, said it alsoconducted draw of lots for Congressionalmandated 20,000 H-1B petitions filedunder the advanced degree exemption.

♦ The USCIS conducted the selectionprocess for the advanced degreeexemption first.

♦ All advanced degree petitions notselected then became part of the randomselection process for the 65,000 limit.

♦ However, the USCIS will continue toaccept and process petitions that areotherwise exempt from the cap.

♦ Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1Bworkers who have been counted

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previously against the cap will not becounted towards the congressionallymandated fiscal 2015 H-1B cap

Emergency rule lifted in Tunisia♦ Tunisia’s president has lifted a state of

emergency in force since the 2011 uprisingthat ousted dictator Zine El Abidine BenAli , despite a string of recent jihadistattacks.

♦ The country has been rocked by sporadicviolence since the January 2011revolution, which ignited the Arab Springacross North Africa and the Middle East.

♦ The end to the state of emergencyhowever “does not limit the capacity ofthe security services to implement the lawand does not preclude any request formilitary support should it be needed,”

♦ Emergency rule amounted to “arestriction of rights, freedoms, themovement of people and goods” asTunisia’s political crisis was ending andsecurity conditions improving.

♦ Much of the deadly violence witnessedin Tunisia since the uprising has beenblamed on Ansar al-Sharia, a hardlineIslamist movement accused of havinglinks to Al-Qaeda.

NATO airstrike♦ The recent NATO airstrike in

Afghanistan’s central Logar provincekilled 5 Afghan National Army soldiersand wounded another 17.

♦ If it turns out that a NATO strike killedANA troops, it is likely to set AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai on another attackagainst U.S. and NATO soldiers in hiscountry. The President has been deeplycritical of civilian deaths by internationalforces.

Protest in Libyan parliament♦ Dozens of Libyans stormed the building

of the parliament in the capital Tripoli inprotest against the extension of itsmandate..

♦ Earlier in the day, anti-parliament activistshad blocked roads to the parliament toprotest an attack by Congress’ supporterson protesting campers outside thebuilding.

♦ The Congress, Libya’s highest authority,has recently extended by one year itsmandate, which was originally due toexpire in February.

♦ Libya has in recent weeks seen massprotests against the parliament and theinterim government due to a lack ofsecurity in the country.

BIMSTEC summit♦ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived

in Myanmar to attend the BIMSTECSummit, making a strong pitch for givinga fillip to India’s Look East policy andexplore ways to enhance connectivity,transport, trade, tourism and otherlinkages to all the northeastern states.

♦ Dr. Singh, who is travelling to Myanmarafter a gap of nearly two years to attendthe two-day summit, is accompanied byNational Security Adviser ShivshankarMenon.

♦ BIMSTEC is an expression of India’s LookEast Policy of the 1990s, coinciding withThailand’s Look West Policy.

♦ The seven members — India, Bangladesh,Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutanand Nepal — bring together over 20 percent of the world population, which isabout 1.5 billion, and a GDP of over USD2.5 trillion.

♦ The Summit is expected to discuss stepsto bolster cooperation in counter-

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terrorism. India has led negotiations andfinalised the BIMSTEC Convention onMutual Legal Assistance in CriminalMatters.

♦ India also wishes to see BIMSTECpromote economic and energycooperation, encourage cultural links andstrengthen security contacts.

International Women’s Day♦ Google is celebrating International

Women’s Day with a homepage doodlefeaturing footage of women from aroundthe world including the education rightscampaigner Malala Yousafzai and theBritish businesswoman and charityworker, Camila Batmanghelidjh.

♦ The search engine’s creative team puttogether the doodle, which features 27female chromosomes and a videopackage with the faces of more than 100women as well as a musical soundtrackfrom the Belgian-Congolese vocal groupZap Mama. Others who make anappearance include the President ofLithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitë.

♦ The doodle was designed by Google withthe intention of providing “a glimpse” ofwhat some women across the world aredoing and to focus in a positive way ontheir lives.

♦ International Women’s Day has beenobserved since in the early 1900s, a timeof turbulence in the industrialized worldthat saw booming population growth andthe rise of radical ideologies. The firstNational Woman’s Day (NWD) in the USwas observed across the United States on28 February, 1909.

Election in North Korea♦ North Korean state media reported that

nearly all registered voters had cast theirballots to elect members of the SupremePeople’s Assembly for the first time since

Kim Jong Un took leadership of theauthoritarian regime after his father’sdeath two years ago.

♦ The Assembly is nominally the highestlegislative power, but in practice onlymeets once or twice a year to rubber-stamp policies drawn up by the Workers’Party.

♦ At the previous election in 2009, 99.98 percent of voters turned out, to vote 100-per-cent unanimously for their respectivedesignated candidates.

♦ One candidate was present in eachconstituency, leaving voters only thechoice between voting “yes” or “no,” butobservers of the isolated, communistregime were watching the designation ofcandidates for signs of change.

♦ A shake-up of the top officials is thoughtto be under way in the reclusive countryin the wake of the execution of Kim’suncle and former mentor Jang Song Thaekin December.

Crash of Malaysia Airlines plane♦ A Beijing-bound Malaysian Airlines plane

that went missing with 239 people onboard, including five Indians, crashedinto the sea off Vietnam’s southern PhuQuoc Island.

♦ The plane disappeared in the nightsomewhere over South China Sea whileenroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

♦ Those on board include 152 Chinese, 38Malaysians, 5 Indians, 7 Indonesians, 6Australians, 3 French, 4 including aninfant from the US, 2 New Zealanders, 2Ukrainians, 2 Canadians, 1 each fromRussia, Italy, Taiwan, Netherlands andAustria.

♦ Malaysia Airlines is currently workingwith the authorities who have activatedtheir Search and Rescue team to locate theaircraft.

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Death sentence for 529 MuslimBrotherhood members.

♦ A court in southern Egyptian convicted529 supporters of ousted presidentMohamed Morsy, sentencing them todeath on charges of murdering apoliceman and attacking police.

♦ Those convicted are part of a group of 545defendants on trial for the killing of apolice officer, attempted killing of twoothers, attacking a police station and otheracts of violence.

♦ More than 150 suspects stood trial, theothers were tried in absentia. Sixteen wereacquitted.

♦ The defendants were arrested afterviolent demonstrations that were abacklash for the police crackdown inAugust on pro-Morsy sit-ins in Cairo thatkilled hundreds of people.

Syrian warplane shot down by Syria♦ Turkish armed forces shot down a Syrian

military jet which had violated itsairspace. An F-16 fighter jet, which wason duty in the region, fired against theSyrian MIG-23 warplane due to rules ofengagement.

♦ When two Syrian MIG-23 warplanesapproached, the Turkish air forces warnedthem four times that they haveapproached 10 sea miles to the Turkishborder.

♦ The incident reportedly took place in thenorthern border region, near an areawhere Syrian rebels and governmentforces are fighting for control of a bordercrossing.

♦ Hundreds of thousands have fled Syriafor Turkey to escape the three-yearuprising against President Assad.

Flight MH370 crashed in Indian Ocean♦ Malaysia announced that MH370 jetliner

had crashed into the Indian Ocean andnaturally it was greeted with hysteria byrelatives of those on board .

♦ Citing groundbreaking satellite-dataanalysis by the British company Inmarsat,Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razaksaid that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370,which vanished more than a fortnight agowhile flying to Beijing from KualaLumpur, had crashed thousands of milesaway in the southern Indian Ocean.

♦ His statement may go some way towardtamping down some of the more feveredspeculation about the plane’s fate,including one theory some grief-strickenrelatives had seized on: that the plane hadbeen hijacked and forced to landsomewhere.

All 239 people on board were presumeddead.

♦ That announcement opened the way forwhat could be one of the most costly andchallenging air crash investigations inhistory.

♦ The Inmarsat data showed the Boeing777’s last position was in the Indian Oceanwest of Perth, Australia.

♦ In a further sign the search was bearingfruit, the US Navy was flying in its high-tech black box detector to the area.

♦ The so-called black boxes — the cockpitvoice recorder and flight data recorder —record what happens on board planesduring flight. At crash sites, finding theblack boxes soon is crucial because thelocator beacons they carry fade out after30 days.

Two missiles test-fired by North Korea♦ North Korea test-fired two missiles into

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the sea, prompting condemnation fromSouth Korea, Japan and the United States.

♦ It was the latest of several such launches ,as South Korean, Japanese and US leaderscriticised North Korea’s nuclear weaponsprogramme at a meeting in theNetherlands.

♦ The missiles were fired from north ofPyongyang and flew around 650kilometres before falling into the waterseast of the Korean Peninsula.

♦ The United States said the latest launchesof No-Dong type missiles, as well as thoseof Scud missiles on March 3 and February27, violated UN Security Councilresolutions that established missilemoratoriums for Pyongyang.

Pakistan -Taliban talks♦ Government negotiators flew down to the

North Waziristan tribal region to hold thefirst-ever direct talks with the PakistaniTaliban to end the deadly cycle of violencethat has claimed over 40,000 lives.

♦ The government’s team was accompaniedby the nominated negotiators from theTehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

♦ The much-anticipated direct talks wouldbe attended by all four members of thegovernment’s reconfigured negotiatingcommittee, TTP intermediaries andmembers of the Taliban ’Shura’.

♦ The new committee consists of formerambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand,Additional Chief Secretary ,FATA, ArbabArif, Secretary Ports and Shipping,Habibullah Khattak and AdditionalSecretary to Prime Minister, Fawad HasanFawad.

♦ The Taliban’s intermediaries are MaulanaSamiul Haq — head of his own faction ofthe Jamiat Ulema Islam (Sami group),Jamaat-e-Islami’s Ibrahim Khan, and JUI-S spokesperson Maulana Yousaf Shah.

♦ The committee will also seek extension ofthe month-long ceasefire announced bythe TTP.

♦ The talks struck an impasse last monthafter a faction of the banned militantgroup killed 23 kidnapped Pakistani para-military soldiers, resulting in multipletargeted airstrikes by the military againstmilitant hideouts in the tribal region ofthe northwest.

49 per cent of Syria’s chemicalsscheduled for destruction

♦ The world’s chemical weapons watchdogsays more than 49 per cent of the rawmaterials for Syria’s poison gas and nerveagent program scheduled for destructionhave been shipped overseas, with the restexpected to leave by the end of April.

♦ The Organization for the Prohibition ofChemical Weapons (OPCW) said in areport , that the total percentage ofchemicals either removed or alreadydestroyed inside Syria is 53.6 per cent.

♦ The report said Syria pledges to removeall chemicals by April 13, except for thosein areas “that are presently inaccessible,”which face an April 27 deadline.

♦ The international community, shocked bya chemical attack in August that killedhundreds near Damascus, aims to removeand destroy 1,300 metric tons of chemicalsby June 30.

New Guinness world record byBangladesh

♦ Creating a new Guinness world record,over two-and-half lakh Bangladeshisperformed a chorus of their nationalanthem at the national parade groundhere to mark the country’s 43rdIndependence Day.

♦ The erstwhile East Pakistan witnessed ahistoric moment after 2,54,681 persons

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gathered at the venue to chant “Amarshonar Bongla, ami tume balobashi… (Mygolden Bengal, I love you)” — pennedand tuned by poet Rabindranath Tagore— which inspired the nation during theliberation war against Pakistan in 1971.

♦ The venue bore a sea of humanity drapedin national colours, red and green clothesand badges, during the much-publicisedceremony attended by Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina, the Speaker of Parliament,Ministers, MPs, armed forces officials andforeign diplomats.

♦ The previous record for largest chorus tosing a national anthem at a single venuewas held by Sahara India Pariwar, whichorganised 1,21,653 people to sing theIndian anthem in unison.

Russia not to intervene in Ukraine♦ Russia has ruled out intervening militarily

in mainland Ukraine even as it sought toshift into higher gear diplomatic effortsto resolve the worst post-Cold War crisis.

♦ Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovhas said Moscow has “absolutely nointention” of moving its forces intoUkraine, in what is the most categoricalrefutation to date of alarmist Westernreports of imminent Russian “invasion.”

♦ Russia, for its part, has set forth its visionfor resolving the Ukraine crisis.

♦ In Moscow’s view, presidential electionsin Ukraine, now scheduled for May 25,should be postponed and held only afterthe new Constitution has been approvedin a national referendum.

Border crossing with Gaza re-openedby Egypt

♦ Egypt has partially reopened its bordercrossing with the Hamas—ruled GazaStrip after closing it for almost twomonths.

♦ The Hamas—run Interior Ministry saidon its website that Egypt partly opened

the Rafah crossing, the Palestinianenclave’s only window to the outsideworld, in both directions for three days.

♦ The travel is limited to patients, students,and holders of foreign passports.

♦ Up to 10,000 Palestinians have applied toexit through Rafah, the ministry said.

♦ Around 150 to 300 people can leave Gazaeach day through the crossing.

♦ Since the closure, Egypt has partlyreopened it three times to allow the travelof Palestinian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

♦ The crossing has been repeatedly closedsince the Egyptian military overthrewIslamist president Mohammed Morsi inJuly.

♦ Ties between Hamas, an offshoot ofMorsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, and Egypt’smilitary—backed government have sinceworsened.

♦ In December, Egypt designated theBrotherhood as a terrorist organization.

Provincial council polls in Sri-Lanka♦ Sri Lankans went to polls to elect

representatives to provincial councils,which in a way might be a form ofreferendum on a resolution against SriLanka adopted at the United NationsHuman Rights Council in Geneva.

♦ Elections for the western and southernprovincial councils got underway withboth the government and the oppositionconfident of coming out on top.

♦ The government is confident of winningthe elections and says it will use the resultsto tell the international community thatthe public have opposed internationalintervention in Sri Lanka.

♦ The government rejected the resolutionadopted by the U.N. Human RightsCouncil (UNHRC) in Geneva whichcalled for an international investigation

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in Sri Lanka over alleged civil war crimes.♦ Meanwhile, the main opposition is

seeking a mandate to push for earlypresidential and general elections toremove the Mahinda Rajapaksagovernment.

♦ The incumbent government has wonsuccessive elections following the end ofthe civil war in 2009, except elections inthe Tamil-dominated north of the countryheld last year.

Black box of crashed C-130J sent toU.S.

♦ The black box of the C-130J transportaircraft that crashed near Gwalior hassuffered damage and the Air Force hassent it to the U.S. to seek the assistance ofits manufacturer Lockheed Martin indecoding the data.

♦ The connectors of the Flight DataRecorder or the black box are damagedalong with the card inside the CockpitVoice Recorder (CVR).

♦ The delay in decoding the black box datawould also mean a delay in determiningthe cause of the crash.

♦ The Super Hercules Special Operationstransport aircraft crashed near Gwaliorkilling five crew members last after takingoff from Agra.

♦ The aircraft had apparently hit a hillockbefore crashing on the rocky surface onthe banks of Chambal river near Gwalior.

♦ India had recently inducted six C-130JSuper Hercules aircraft, which werebought from the U.S. at a cost of aroundRs. 5,780 crore ($962 million) four yearsago.

♦ The home base of the 77 squadron ‘VeiledVipers’ operating the aircraft is Hindonin Ghaziabad near New Delhi.

♦ On the demands of the IAF, the DefenceMinistry recently placed orders for sixmore such aircraft from the U.S.

♦ The loss of such a big asset is considereda setback for the IAF.

World Poetry Day♦ The head of Unesco (United Nations

Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation) marked World Poetry Dayby extolling the virtues of one of thehighest forms of linguistic and culturalexpression and calling for support tothose who give it life.

♦ Unesco proclaimed March 21 as WorldPoetry Day in 1999, with the aim ofsupporting linguistic diversity throughpoetic expression and offeringendangered languages the opportunity tobe heard.

Coalition in Maldives♦ Maldives President Abdulla Yameen’s

party, with the help of its coalitionpartners, has attained majority inparliament in elections that was heldrecently.

♦ Vote counting gave the oppositionMaldivian Democratic Party (MDP), ledby former president MohammadNasheed, who was controversially oustedfrom power in 2012, a slim lead initiallybut it was soon overtaken by Yameen’sProgressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Biggest tunnel in Gaza♦ The Israeli military has uncovered

another tunnel the biggest so far dug fromthe Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, stretchinginto Israel and intended for militantattacks or abducting soldiers andcivilians.

♦ The tunnel was found by Israeliintelligence and the military. The structurewas lined with concrete and describing itas very sophisticated, resembling asubway tunnel.

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♦ In 2013, Israel announced finding threesuch tunnels, including one that was overa kilometer and a half (mile) long and 18meters (yards) deep.

♦ Last week, Gaza militants fired theheaviest rocket barrage at Israelicommunities since 2012, and Israelresponded with air strike on militanttargets.

♦ Earlier this month, Israeli special forcescaptured a ship in the Red Sea carryingrockets and other weapons that Israel saidwere supplied by Iran and destined formilitants in Gaza.

♦ Of the 85 constituencies, 34 seats werewon by PPM while its coalition partnersJumhoory Party (JP) bagged 15 seats andthe Maldives Development Alliance(MDA) five seats. Nasheed’s MDPsecured only 24 seats and lost its majorityin parliament.

Myanmar’s anti-dam march♦ Recently, dozens of protesters went on a

2,400-km march to northern Myanmar,calling for the cancellation of a Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam project overenvironmental concerns.

♦ The $3.6 billion dam along the IrrawaddyRiver, which was supposed to export 90per cent of its power to China, wassuspended in 2011.

♦ Waving banners were called forpermanent cancellation of the Myitsonedam, in a suburb of the main city ofYangon.

♦ It is a disturbing fact that the vast majorityof Burmese do not have access toelectricity.

UN Water for Life award, 2014♦ India and Singapore won the 2014 edition

of the UN-“Water for Life” Best PracticesAward for their sustainable practices of

water resources .♦ The award was announced by the United

Nations Office during an officialceremony to mark World Water Day 2014.

♦ The prize is awarded yearly for “bestwater management practices” and “bestparticipatory, communication, awareness-raising and education practices”.

♦ This year’s “best water managementpractices” went to the International WaterManagement Institute (IWMI)-Tata WaterPolicy Programme, a project based onwater scarce across India.

♦ Singapore-based “NEWater programme”,which can meet 30 per cent of Singapore’sdaily water needs, won the “bestparticipatory, communication, awareness-raising and education practices” for itsstrong social component and enduringpartnerships in its manifold andremarkable water management practices.

Thailand general election♦ Thailand’s Constitutional Court annulled

the February 2 general election for failingto hold nationwide voting in everyconstituency on the same day.

♦ The court’s judges voted 6 to 3 to void theelection, which was boycotted by theopposition Democrat Party and could notbe held in 28 of 375 constituenciesnationwide.

♦ No balloting was held in 28constituencies, all of them in southernprovinces that are the traditional powerbase of the Democrat Party, because nocandidates had been registered amidanti—government protests.

♦ The ruling Pheu Thai party effectively ranunchallenged for the other seats becauseof a boycott by the opposition, whichaccused the government of corruptionand vote-buying.

Current Affairs 7 2



Accession pact signed♦ Russian President Vladimir Putin signed

a treaty on Crimea’s accession to Russiaafter delivering a defiant speechdefending his move and blasting the Westfor pursuing “containment” of Russia andflouting international law.

♦ The treaty was also signed by the Crimeanleaders who attended a special jointsession of the Russian Parliament in theKremlin. Mr. Putin said he was confidentthe Russian Parliament would ratify thepact.

♦ Western accusations that Russia hadinvaded Crimea was denied. Russian“reinforcements” were in line with atreaty with Ukraine that allows Russia tohave up to 25,000 troops at its Black SeaFleet base in Crimea. Mr. Putin dismissedconcerns that Russia could seize otherregions in Ukraine.

Emergency in Thailand to end♦ Thailand will lift a nearly two-month-old

state of emergency in Bangkok andsurrounding areas following an easing ofpolitical protests in the capital.

♦ The emergency decree will be replaced byanother special law, the Internal SecurityAct, until April 30.

UK’s military presence in Afghanistanreduced

♦ The United Kingdom has reduced itsmilitary presence in Afghanistan to justtwo bases in Helmand province, handingover the rest to Afghan control.

♦ The NATO-led International SecurityAssistance Force (ISAF), of which Britainis a member, has committed towithdrawing all combat forces inAfghanistan by December this year.

♦ From 137 UK bases, there now remains

Camp Bastion, which is the main base forUK personnel, and Observation PostSterga 2. The majority of the former UKbases are now in the hands of the AfghanNational Security Forces.

♦ Britain has always maintained that thereason for its military presence inAfghanistan is to keep the UK free fromterrorism, although the two main terroristattacks on British soil – the July 2005bombings of the London underground,and the killing of soldier Lee Rigby – tookplace after its Afghanistan intervention.

Israel opens border crossing with Gaza♦ Israel opened a border crossing with Gaza

to allow the transfer of gas, after thecoastal salient’s only power plant shutdown for one day due to lack of fuel.

♦ Israel closed its border crossings with theGaza Strip some time back after thePalestinian group Islamic Jihad launcheda massive barrage of rockets from theStrip into Israel.

♦ Israel agreed to allow the entry of 500,000litres of diesel and gasoline for the privatesector, 160,000 tons of cooking gas, and200,000 litres of diesel for the power plant.

♦ Since Egypt shut down nearly allsmuggling tunnels under its border withGaza, the enclave is all but entirelydependent on deliveries from Israel,financed by the Palestinian Authority.

Sri Lanka seeks help from NAM♦ Sri Lanka has sought the support of Non-

Aligned Movement (NAM) nations toward off the U.S. sponsored rightsresolution against it at the next U.N.Human Rights Council meet in Geneva.

♦ The UNHRC is to vote a U.S. sponsoredresolution on Sri Lanka which is widelyexpected to advocate an internationalprobe into alleged war crimes in the

7 3 Current Affairs



country during the final phase of militarybattle with the LTTE which ended in 2009.

♦ Sri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa’s human rights envoyMahinda Samarasinghe had urged theNAM nations in the 47-member U.N.Human Rights Council to stand insolidarity with the island.

♦ At least 33 in the 47 member UNHRC areeither NAM members or nations withobserver states.

♦ India was a leading NAM member whohad voted in favour of the U.S. resolutionsin 2012 and 2013 against Sri Lanka.

Worst online spies♦ US’ National Security Agency, India’s

Centre for Development of Telematics,and the UK’s GCHQ have been namedamong the worst online spies by a non-profit group for implementing censorshipand surveillance.

♦ Three of the government bodiesdesignated by Reporters Without Bordersas ‘Enemies of the Internet’ are located indemocracies that have traditionallyclaimed to respect fundamental freedoms.

♦ Besides these, the report names severalgovernment bodies from other countries.These include Pakistan’sTelecommunication Authority, NorthKorea’s Central Scientific andTechnological Information Agency,Vietnam’s Ministry of Information andCommunications and China’s StateInternet Information Office.

Reconnaissance Aircraft♦ NATO is going to deploy reconnaissance

planes in Poland and Romania to monitorthe Ukrainian crisis, shortly after the U.S.announced that it was sending fighter jetsto the same region in a show of supportfor its allies.

♦ The flights, carried out by E-3 AirborneWarning and Control System, or AWACSaircraft, “will enhance the alliance’ssituation awareness and all will take placesolely over alliance territory.’’

♦ Poland invoked Article 4 of the NorthAtlantic Treaty, which entitles any NATOmember the right to consultation withallied military officials if it feelsthreatened. As a result, NATO hasdoubled its air presence in the region,deploying six F-15 fighter jets to the Balticstates, while U.S. and Polish militaryofficials are finalizing plans for a rampedup joint-training exercise between theirair forces.

Global trade to increase♦ Global trade is expected to increase by 4.7

per cent in 2014, better than the averageof 2.2 per cent in the past two years, onthe back of projected improvements in thedeveloped economies, according to theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO).

♦ The world trade growth is projected toaccelerate to 5.3 per cent in 2015.

♦ Although the 2014 forecast of 4.7 per centis more than double the 2.1 per centincrease of last year, it remains below the20-year average of 5.3 per cent. For thepast two years, growth has averaged only2.2 per cent.

♦ The sluggish pace of trade growth in 2013was due to a combination of flat importdemand in developed economies (0.2 percent) and moderate import growth indeveloping economies (4.4 per cent).

♦ On the export side, both developed anddeveloping economies only managed torecord small, positive increases (1.5 percent for developed economies and 3.3 percent for developing economies).

♦ In 2013, the dollar value of worldmerchandise exports rose 2.1 per cent to$18.8 trillion, while the value of worldcommercial services exports rose 5.5 per

Current Affairs 7 4



cent to $4.6 trillion.♦ The trade forecast for 2014 is premised on

an assumption of 3 percent growth inworld GDP growth at market exchangerates, while the forecast for 2015 assumesoutput growth of 3.1 percent.

March Inflation at 5.7 per cent♦ Snapping the declining trend, the inflation

rose to a three month high of 5.7 per centin March mainly due to spurt in prices offood items like potato, onion and fruits.

♦ The inflation in the food items, based onthe wholesale price index (WPI), shot upby 9.9 per cent in March as against 8.12per cent in the previous month.

♦ The overall WPI inflation, which was ondecline since December, had dropped toa nine-month low of 4.68 per cent inFebruary.

♦ The government further said the build upof inflation rate in the 2013—14 financialyear was 5.70 compared to a build up rateof 5.65 per cent in the earlier fiscal.

♦ The data further revealed that prices ofsugar, pulses, cereals, cement andminerals eased in March compared to theprevious month.

♦ Inflation in the fuel and power category(LPG, petrol and diesel) rose to 11.22 percent versus 8.75 per cent in February.

Pact between Green Trend and BMB♦ Trends in Vogue, Cavinkare’s arm that

manages unisex hair salon network GreenTrends, and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB)have entered into a pact that seeks tomake the entrepreneurial plunge easierfor women.

♦ Budding women entrepreneurs who takeup a franchisee of Green Trends (GT) canget two-thirds of their total investment(Rs.40-50 lakh) financed by BMB withoutany collateral.

♦ Collateral security is the key in getting

loans from banks for entrepreneurs. Thisagreement will help all prospectivefranchisees, especially women, across thecountry to get collateral-free loans.

♦ The company helps franchisees chooseright location, get good realty deal andselect right vendors for supplyingequipment and systems. It has lined up astring of vendors who could do the worksin salons at a competitive rate than others.

El- Nino and it’s impact on Indianeconomy

♦ Recently, private forecaster Skymetpredicted a sub-normal monsoon in India,courtesy El Nino that’s threatening awidespread devastation globally. Giventhe fears of an imminent drought, the nextgovernment has a tall task ahead of it

♦ The Skymet CEO feels an equitabledistribution of rains can be a silver liningin this situation. According to him, thereis a 40% chance that rainfall in June-September would be less than average, a25% chance of a drought and zero percentchance of excess rains.

♦ The impact of El Nino need not be sourceof concern for staples. Its impact on foodprices is expected to be minimal as Indiahas sufficient stock of cereals. Most fruitstrack 30% import duty, if that is broughtdown, it can be controlled too.

♦ Staple inflation is never a problem, butsoaring prices of fruits, vegetables, pulses,fruits etc are.

♦ By June-July the monsoon effects willbegin to feed into the households andmarket.

♦ Statistically India has faced drought every4.4 years. All El Nino years were notnecessarily drought years, though theopposite is true. Since last drought inIndia was in 2009, this year can be adrought year. There is a consensus among

7 5 Current Affairs



the experts that if the next governmentmanages to keep the lid on fiscal deficit,and if RBI governor Raghuram Rajankeeps his promise on rates, India mayavert El-Nino devastations.

IFFCO’s urea plant in Canada♦ Leading fertiliser cooperative IFFCO said

that its subsidiary received permissionfrom the provincial government ofQuebec to set up a $ 1.6 billion urea plant.

♦ The proposed facility will have aproduction capacity of up to 1.6 milliontonnes of urea and 7,60,000 tonnes ofdiesel diesel exhaust fluid (DEF.

♦ The estimated project cost of $ 1.6 billionis based on the most recent feasibilitystudy.

♦ La Coop fr an agri-food organisation inQuebec that is one of the projectshareholders, has agreed to purchasesome 5,00,000 tonnes of urea a year fordistribution across the province, Canadaand several US states.

♦ In January 2013, IFFCO’s Canadiansubsidiary acquired the land for the plant.The site is at Bncour Port and IndustrialPark, which provides access via land, railand water to markets across NorthAmerica.

♦ The deep-water port will also facilitateexports, especially to markets in Europe.

Quebec province, Canada’s largest, islocated in the east-central region of thecountry.

Universal numbers by EPFO♦ Retirement fund body EPFO will provide

permanent or universal account numbers(UAN) on the pattern of core bankingservices to its over five crore activesubscribers by October 15 this year.

♦ Under core banking services, a customercan avail the bank services in any of itsbranch through his allotted uniqueaccount number.

♦ The UAN will facilitate subscribers inavoiding filing of PF transfer claims onchanging jobs.

♦ UAN will be allotted to the present activemembers by October 15, 2014 andthereafter the coverage of other memberswill be taken up.

♦ After getting UAN, a subscriber wouldnot be issued new PF account number onjoining new firm. It is expected to providegreat relief to those workers in organisedsector who frequently change jobs,particularly, in construction sector.

♦ The UAN would be one account numberwhich would be allotted to a subscriberfor various schemes run by the EPFO forhis entire service period with differentemployers.

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