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Current Affairs August 2013
International Events
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1 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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he Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif on 1 August 2013 announced that China
has agreed to set-up four coal-fired power plants at Gadani Power Corridor in
Balochistan, Pakistan. He also made an announcement that the corridor would be renamed
as Gadani Power Park. The first
plant in the park would be
established to attract local and
foreign investors. Nawaz Sharif
also confirmed that the park
envisages establishment of eight
coal fired power plants with an
aggregate capacity of 5200 MW.
The Project is being developed
with an aim of creating economic and employment opportunities in the far-flung and
backward regions of Balochistan and Sindh.
taly's Supreme Court on 1 August, upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax
fraud in a devastating blow to the former prime minister that could throw the country's
fragile coalition government into
crisis. Berlusconi is Italy's most
colorful and scandal-prone figure
but it was his first definitive
conviction in up to 30 court cases on
charges ranging from fraud and
corruption to having sex with an
under-aged prostitute. After a
three-day hearing, the five judges of
the apex court rejected Berlusconi's
final appeal against the verdict
handed down by two lower courts in
Milan which sentenced the media mogul to four years in jail - commuted to one year under
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2 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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an amnesty. But the top judges ordered a review by a Milan court of the second part of his
sentence, a five-year ban from public office. This will enable him to remain as a Senator and
as leader of his center-right People of Freedom Party (PDL) for the moment. Berlusconi, a
76-year-old billionaire who has dominated politics for 20 years, was convicted over the
fraudulent purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television empire. Because of his
age he is likely to serve the sentence either through community service or under house
arrest.
obert Gabriel Mugabe was re-elected the President of Zimbabwe on 3 August,
extending a 33-year reign at the helm of the country he helped liberate from white rule
in 1980. Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) proved
similarly dominant, winning two-thirds of the seats
declared thus far.Mr. Mugabe (89) and the
ZANU (PF) have ruled Zimbabwe since
independence, seeing off numerous challenges
through a recipe of realpolitik and control
of security forces and institutions of state.
The victory was as comprehensive as it
was controversial with Mr. Mugabe sweeping the
polls with 61 per cent of votes cast, nearly twice
as those polled by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, his closest rival, amidst opposition allegations of fraud. At the time of press,
Harare was calm with none of violence of the 2008 election in which security forces killed
200 people after Mr. Tsvangirai emerged as the front-runner in a presidential run-off.
.S. President Barack Obama has cancelled a much-talked-about summit with his
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next month, blaming Russia’s decision to grant
whistleblower Edward Snowden temporary asylum and other components of a bilateral
morass. In a statement on 7 August, the White House delivered the “snub” saying,
“Following a careful review begun in July, we have reached the conclusion that there is not
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3 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a U.S.-Russia Summit in
early September.” However, the Obama administration
admitted that
Snowden “was also a
factor that we
considered in assessing
the current state of our
bilateral relationship”.
The White House said
there had been a lack of
progress in areas of
bilateral cooperation such as missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial
relations, global security issues, and human rights and civil society in the last 12 months,
prompting it to inform the Russian government it would be “more constructive to postpone”
the summit.
apan on 8 August, pledged huge spending cuts amounting to $83 billion over two years
as it works to bring down the industrialized world's biggest debt mountain. The cuts
amounting to an average reduction of more than 4.0 per cent of current annual spending ,
comes days after the International Monetary Fund warned again over Tokyo's borrowings.
The moves were outlined in the
government's mid-term fiscal plan
which called for cuts of 8.0 trillion yen
($83 billion) between April 2014 and
March 2016. There were few details
about where the reductions would be
made, and they come after Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to boost
public spending to stoke Japan's tepid
economy. Another key part of Abe's plan, dubbed "Abenomics", was the Bank of Japan's
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4 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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huge monetary easing plan, unveiled in April, as Tokyo looks to counter years of growth-
sapping deflation. Japan's annual budget is about 93 trillion yen, with about 40 per cent of
that spending coming from borrowing which has created a debt pile that is more than twice
as big as Japan's economy -- the worst among industrialised nations. The country has not
faced a public debt crisis like the kind seen across the Euro zone, largely because most of its
low interest rate debt is held domestically rather than by international creditors .However,
the IMF and others have warned that Japan must follow through on key fiscal and structural
reforms to the economy, another key plank of Abe's plan but a difficult sell to many of
Japan's cosseted industries.
assan Rouhani took oath as the new President of Iran in the ceremony held at the
Iranian Parliament in Tehran on 4 August 2013. The 64 year old Rouhani took his
oath to the office before the countries senior politicians, foreign dignitaries and MPs. The
newly elected, Iranian President
began his four-year mandate to
the office from 3 August 2013 after
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s
Supreme leader certified his
victory in the Presidential election
that was conducted on 15 June
2013. Rouhani is the seventh
(different) President of Iran after
the Islamic Revolution of 1979. He secured a little over 50 percent votes to win the election
and has succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the President. Earlier, he defeated
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf of Islamic Society of Engineers party. The Presidential
elections in Iran took place on 14 June 2013.
apan has unveiled its biggest warship since the Second World War as part of a plan to
bolster its defense of territorial claims in disputed waters. Japanese authorities revealed
the 250-meter-long destroyer Izumo at a ceremony in Yokohama on 6 August. The $1.2
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5 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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billion Japanese-made vessel will be capable of carrying at least nine helicopters when it
goes into service in 2015.Tokyo says the
warship is designed for use in defense and
surveillance of Japanese-claimed waters,
such as those around an East China Sea
island chain where China also claims
sovereignty. The Izumo also is intended to
provide assistance to areas affected by
natural disasters. The Japanese military is barred from building up offensive capabilities by
the country's pacifist constitution, but the government of conservative Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe is considering modifications to that restriction. Beijing has long viewed Japanese
military activities with suspicion and accused Tokyo of failing to fully atone for 20th century
wartime atrocities against China. China's growing military arsenal also has alarmed its Asian
neighbors, as the build-up has coincided with an increasingly assertive Chinese stance on
maritime disputes. Beijing commissioned its first aircraft carrier last year.
angladesh's High Court has declared the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's
main Islamist party, is illegal, banning it from contesting January's general election.
The court made the ruling in the country's capital, Dhaka, on 1st August, after a petition was
lodged arguing that Jamaat's charter breached the
constitution."It is hereby
declared illegal," said
Moazzem Hossain,
the chief judge hearing
the case amid tight security
outside the courthouse in Dhaka. Violence flared
amid mass protests after the ruling. Jamaat immediately appealed to the Supreme Court
against the High Court verdict, senior defense lawyer Abdur Razzak said. The party would be
barred from contesting elections if the Supreme Court upholds the verdict. The ruling comes
after a leading Sufi group, which practices Islamic mysticism, filed the public interest
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6 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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litigation in January 2009 seeking to scrap Jamaat's registration. Secular protesters have
long demanded that Jamaat be banned for its role in the 1971 war of independence, during
which it opposed Bangladesh's breakaway from Pakistan. Top Jamaat leaders are being tried
for crimes during the war and four of them have been sentenced to death for murder, mass
murder, rape and religious persecution in Bangladesh's controversial International Crimes
Tribunal, which is not endorsed by the UN and has been criticized by rights groups.
he Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which is led by Prime Minister Hun Sen won at
least 68 seats in the Lower house comparing with the 55 seats for the main opposition.
The National Election Committee (NEC) gave a list of results from each polling station but
no tally for parliamentary seats. The election in Cambodia was held on 28 July 2013 and the
results were also declared on the same day. The Prime Minister
Hun Sen has been in power in Cambodia for
nearly three decades (28 years). The
major opponent of CPP in the election
was Cambodia National Rescue Party
(CNRP), which is led by Sam Rainsy, who
recently came back to the country from self-
imposed exile. More than nine million people were
found eligible to vote. Cambodia is a one party dominant state with the Cambodian People’s
Party in power. Opposition parties do exist, but are widely considered to have no real chance
of gaining power.
he International Monetary Fund approved a further 1.7 billion Euros (2.3 billion US
dollars) for Greece's bailout program after completed the fourth review of IMF on 29th
July. The total funds from the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central
Bank include 5.8 billion Euros. Greece's reform record has been dismal ever since its
EU/IMF bailout began in mid 2010, resulting into frequent delays in the disbursement of
rescue funds. Greece goes through its sixth year of recession and unemployment increases at
a record rate of 27 percent. The IMF's board relinquished several requirements Greece had
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7 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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to fulfill by the end of June2013, since data was not yet available. This comprises targets for
overall government debt,
government domestic arrears
and the general government
balance. Although Greece cut
budgets and external
imbalances it has not done
enough on broader reforms to
its tax collection and public
sector, which are necessary to
ensure its economy returns to
growth. Greece will receive
another 1 billion Euros from international lenders in October 2013. Greece's bailout package
was approved in March 2012, will total 173 billion Euros over four years. It was done to help
Greece recover from a sovereign debt crisis and return to markets, and protect the country
from a possible exit from the euro zone.
rushing aside pleas and warnings from President Obama and other senior American
officials, Russia granted Edward J. Snowden temporary asylum and allowed him to
walk free out of a Moscow airport transit zone on 1st August, ending his legal limbo of more
than five weeks. Snowden
thanked Russia in a
statement issued by
WikiLeaks. He stated that
the United States of
disregarding the law in its
global manhunt to arrest him
and said "in the end, the law
is winning". Russia's
decision, which infuriated American officials, significantly alters the legal status of Snowden,
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8 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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the former intelligence analyst wanted by the US for leaking details of the NSA's surveillance
programmes. Even as those leaks continued, Snowden now has legal permission to live —
and conceivably even work — anywhere in Russia for as long as a year, safely out of the reach
of American prosecutors. Meanwhile, founder of Russia's most popular social network
VKontakte, known as the Facebook of Russia, Thursday offered a job to Snowden, Agence
France-Presse reported.
pain's Melia brand of hotels on 11th August, has unveiled their new Social Wave House
in Majorca as the first 'Twitter Hotel' of the world that merges the real and virtual
worlds to create a total new experience. Social Wave House connects everyone in the hotel to
their own social community, where they can meet, interact, have fun, compete, experience,
flirt, tweet, and much
more. There's a
dedicated Twitter
concierge and a
Twitter Party Suite
that includes
concierge assistance
during the stay of visitors. Guests can
communicate with the check-in desk and hotel staff using # SocialWave
hashtag. Guests can order room service, a drink by the pool, or any other request using the
hashtag (#).
o mark India's 67th Independence Day, a street in the Canadian city of Winnipeg has
been named after Mahatma Gandhi. A portion of York Avenue leading to the Canadian
Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg, capital of Manitoba province, got the new name on
15th August.“It is only fitting that Mahatma Gandhi Way leads to the Canadian Museum for
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9 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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Human Rights, devoted to promoting respect for others and encouraging reflection and
dialogue,” Winnipeg Mayor Sam
Katz was quoted as saying in
media reports. Winnipeg
councillor Devi Sharma, K.
Dakshinamurti, president of the
Winnipeg-headquartered
Mahatma Gandhi Centre of
Canada, and members of the
Indian community in Winnipeg
attended the event. Sharma said the naming was done at the request of the Mahatma Gandhi
Centre of Canada. Incorporated in 2007, the Centre is a Canadian national organization with
membership spanning the country's entire ethnic and cultural mosaic.
brahim Boubacar Keita has been announced as Mali's new president on 16th August,
after he won a
landslide victory in a poll
intended to give a fresh
start to the African nation
.The ex-prime minister
won an overwhelming
77.6 per cent of the vote,
with his rival Soumaila
Cisse trailing on 22.4 per
cent. The country's first
election since 2007 was
seen as crucial for
unlocking more than US $ 4 billion pledged by international donors. Aid to the country had
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10 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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been halted after a separatist uprising led to a 2012 coup and an Islamist insurgency that
plunged the country, then seen as one of the region's most stable democracies, into turmoil.
Keita, 68, has a reputation for toughness and is known for his blunt speaking and
unwillingness to compromise.
he United Nations Trusteeship Council elected Alexis Lamek of France as its President
and Peter Wilson of the United Kingdom as its Vice President on 15th August. Both
candidates were elected by acclamation during a brief organizational meeting held at UN
Headquarters in
New York, during
which the Council
also adopted its
provisional
agenda.
The Trusteeship
Council is a
principal organ of
the UN, created to
administer 11
Trust Territories
placed under the Organization’s care at its founding in 1945. The Council suspended
operations when the last UN Trust Territory, Palau, attained independence in
1994.Membership of the Council now comprises the five permanent members of the Security
Council – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States. The Council’s
future role is under consideration as part of the broader reform of the UN and the Security
Council.
gypt’s Vice President Mohamed Elbaradei resigned in protest over the attacks on pro
Mohamed Morsi supporters in Cairo on 14th August. The Egyptian police stormed the
two sit in protest sites to disperse them following which 281 people were killed.United
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States, European Union
and United Nations
condemned the violent
dispersal of protesters
while the Prime Minister
of Egypt Hezam Beblawi
justified the act saying it
was necessary since it
had become a threat to
national
security. Emergency
was declared in Egypt
for a month and night curfew was clamped in 14 Governorates. Mohamed ElBaradei had
given political support to the ousting of Egypt's first freely elected President Mohamed
Morsi. However, he resigned in protest at the use of force instead of a negotiated end to the
stand-off between the government and protesters. It should be noted that Mohamed
ElBaradei is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
gypt declared a state of emergency on 14th August, after a heavy crackdown on two
huge Cairo protests by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi turned into a
bloodbath. The violence in Cairo, that drew international condemnation, sparked deadly
clashes across the country. Egypt's army-installed authorities declared a month-long state of
emergency effective from 14 august. The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi emerged,
said that 2,200 people had been killed and over 10,000 injured as authorities confirmed 95
deaths in 14th August violence. Europe's leading powers along with Iran, Qatar and Turkey
strongly denounced the use of force by the military-backed interim government. It was a
dramatic turn of events for the Muslim Brotherhood, who just over a year ago celebrated
Morsi's victory as Egypt's first elected president. But his turbulent year in power, marred by
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political turmoil, deadly clashes and a crippling economic crisis, turned many against the
Islamist movement. On June 30, millions took to the streets to call on the army to remove
Morsi. The 14th August crackdown came just hours after the United States, which provides
US $1.5 billion in mostly military aid to Egypt every year, urged the military-backed interim
government to allow Morsi supporters to protest freely.
srael and the Palestinians resumed their first direct peace talks under total secrecy in
Jerusalem on 15th August, after a three-year of hiatus, as the Jewish nation freed 26
Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture. Few details have been released about the
location, timing or agenda
of the US- brokered talks as
Israel released a brief
video showing the
chief negotiators -
Yitzhak Molcho and Tzipi
Livni of Israel and Saeb
Erekat of the Palestinians -
shaking hands in an
undisclosed location. "The talks resumed," Justice Minister Livni's spokesperson Mia Bengel
wrote on Twitter at around 7 pm.
The US special envoy Martin Indyk did not initially take part in the discussions. He,
however, met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on 14th August, and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the next day. The next round of talks is expected to
be held next week in the West Bank, also under total media blackout. There were extremely
low expectations on both the sides over the outcome of the fragile peace talks as Palestinian
fears that Israeli announcements of settlement plans could torpedo the talks. As per US
Secretary of State John Kerry's announcement last month, the negotiations between the two
sides will be held under American mediation.
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13 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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ormer rebel leader Michel Djotodia
sworn in as president of the Central
African Republic on 18 August, five months
after seizing power in the violence-wracked
country. Djotodia swore the oath of office on
the Transition Charter, which has substituted
for the constitution since the removal of
President Francois Bozize, who himself had
come to power on the back of a military coup in 2003. The UN said more than 60,000
Central Africans had fled their country and 2,00,000 have been internally displaced since
the crisis erupted in December 2012.
acebook and other technology giants launched Internet.org, an initiative on 21 August,
designed to give the whole world access to the internet. The project’s goal is to cut the
cost of smart phone-based Internet services in developing countries.“Everything Facebook
has done has been about giving all people around the world the power to connect,’’ The
company founder Mark Zuckerberg said, “There are huge barriers in developing countries to
connecting and joining the knowledge economy. Internet.org brings together a global
partnership that will work to
overcome these challenges,
including making internet
access available to those who
cannot currently afford it.’’
Today some 2.7 billion
people, just over a third of the
world’s population, have
access to the Internet and the number of new users is growing only slowly each year, a
statement said. The other partners in the project are Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Qualcomm,
MediaTek and Opera, while Twitter and LinkedIn also due to sign up. The seven founding
partners are going to develop joint projects, share knowledge and mobilise governments and
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industry to bring the world online. The partnership emulates one launched by Face book in
2011 called Open Compute Project. That project was originally met with scepticism but has
gradually won over the computer industry. The new thrust comes at a key time for tech
groups. Mature markets are saturated and have little potential for significant growth, while
poor regions like Africa, Latin America and some parts of Asia are pools of potential new
customers.
ermany will become the first country in Europe to join a small group of nations which
recognise a third or “undetermined” sex when registering births, according to the
sources. From November 1, babies born in Germany without clear gender-determining
physical characteristics
may get birth certificates
registered without a
reference to their sex,
according to the report.
The change is being seen
as the country’s first legal
acknowledgment that it is
possible for a human to
be neither male nor
female — which could
have far-reaching consequences in many legal areas. While transsexuals are already legally
recognised in Germany, hermaphrodites — those with both male and female genitalia —
have always been forcibly registered as one or other sex at birth. The decision was based on a
recommendation by the constitutional court, which sees legal recognition of a person’s
experienced and “lived” gender as a personal human right. Such “undetermined” persons
will be allowed, at a later date, to identify themselves as the one or other sex and register the
change on their birth certificates .
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15 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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housands of people, including children were killed in the toxic gas attack on 21 August
2013 on the eastern suburbs of Damascus, the capital of Syria. Rocket barrages and
intense artillery firing took place on 21 August 2013 and killed at least 100 people. The death
tool, which is rising continuously, made it the deadliest alleged chemical attack in the civil
war of Syria. The death toll ranged from 100 to 1300. The shelling started off in the eastern
suburbs of Zamalka, Arbeen and Ein Tarma. The bombardment as well as sounds of fighter
jets was observed on 21 August 2013. The White House said that the Obama administration
was working in order to gather the information about the use of chemical weapons. It
accuses that the Syrian government was behind the gas attack. The US also demanded UN to
investigate the matter and start off the Security Council debate.
he advocacy of war in Syria by the United States and its allies is meeting stiff escalatory
resistance, with countries including Russia, China and Iran citing the violations of
international law, regional destabilization, and the fragility of the international economy as
arguments against a military intervention. As the drumbeat of war grew louder, Russia
quietly decided to strengthen naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea close to the Syrian
coastline. A Russian anti-submarine warship is now steaming towards the Mediterranean
coast. The Russians made it clear that their deployments are in response to the situation
surrounding Syria. By announcing their intentions, the Russians seemed to have reinforced
the point that a conflict in Syria could quickly acquire a dangerous international dimension,
as the area is already teeming with American and British warships. Iran’s recently elected
President Hassan Rouhani counseled the U.S. and its allies to respect international law in
their decision-making on Syria, which has been accused of mounting a chemical attack last
week on the outskirts of Damascus. The Chinese have also been highlighting the negative
fall-out of the escalating Syrian crisis on the global economy. In Britain, the opposition
Labour Party seemed unconvinced about the justification of waging a war against Syria. The
coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron is confronting a growing number of
skeptics in parliament who do not wish to repeat the Iraq experience, when a military
invasion against Baghdad materialized a decade ago on the false pretext that Saddam
Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
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hana’s Supreme Court on 27 August, upheld President John Dramani Mahama's
victory in elections last
year, dismissing the opposition's case
alleging voter fraud in a test for one
of Africa’s most stable democracies.
The decision ended a month-long
saga that had riveted the west
African nation which is widely seen
as a rare beacon of democracy in the
turbulent region. In the December
polls, Ghana’s electoral commission said Mr. Mahama took 50.7 per cent of the vote over ex-
Foreign Minister Akufo-Addo’s 47.7 percent. “The first respondent [Mahama] was validly
elected and the petition is therefore dismissed,” presiding judge William Atuguba said,
reading from the verdict issued by the nine-justice panel.
he 22-nation Arab League has opposed a military attack, despite holding “the Syrian
regime responsible for this heinous crime” of chemical attack on civilians. On 28
August, Iran, a top ally of the Syrian leadership stepped up the level of its opposition in
anticipation of U.S.-led military strikes in Syria. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei warned the Americans that the consequences of military intervention in Syria
would be catastrophic, as Washington would incur losses comparable to its experiences in
Iraq and Afghanistan. With high stakes riding their mission, U.N. chemical weapons
inspectors, who are in Syria, proceeded on 28 August to inspect the site where the alleged
chemical attack took place. Counselling patience and restraint, the U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon urged the U.S. and its allies to give time to the inspectors to complete their
findings.
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he Chinese and Pakistani air forces holds a joint exercise. The joint drill will be held
during September 2-22 in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Chinese
Defence Ministry said on 27 August. The exercise, code-named Shaheen (Eagle)-2, is
another cooperative project between the two air forces after the Shaheen-1 drill in Pakistan
in March 2011, sources said. The drill between the two close allies is being held ahead of
an India-China military exercise planned for November. That exercise, codenamed Hand-in-
Hand, is scheduled to be held in China’s Chengdu Military Command area from November 4
to 14. India and China are expected to field about 150 troops each for the exercise, which is
likely to focus on anti-terrorism manoeuvres.
he trial of former Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto
assassination case
began on 27 August, at the
anti terrorism court (ATC)
in Rawalpindi. According
to special public
prosecutor Chaudhury
Mohammed Azam, the
evidence of the constable
Kashif Bashir was
completed and so was his
cross examination. Four
more witnesses, all of them
doctors will be examined next week. Two of them had not come to the court. These were the
doctors who had conducted autopsies following the December 2007 assassination of Ms.
Bhutto in Rawalpindi. Last week, Gen. Musharraf was charged with murder and criminal
conspiracy among eleven charges in the case. He pleaded not guilty and the court granted
him exemption from appearing in court after his lawyer made an application that his life was
under threat. The trial will resume on September 3.
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round 35 per cent of food is lost between harvest and distribution across the Asia-
Pacific region, depriving millions of nutrition, the United Nation’s Food and
Agriculture Organization said on 27 August.Poor production planning, a lack of storage,
weak transport systems, crop disease and parasites also cause some 30 per cent of cereals
and 42 per cent of fruit and vegetables to be lost before reaching consumers, the FAO said in
Bangkok. The FAO defines “loss” as food which does not make it from harvest to the market,
while “waste” is food thrown away by consumers, restaurants and supermarkets — a trend
that increases with greater urbanization. The region, whose economies have boomed in
recent years, wastes substantially less than more developed areas such as the United States
and Europe. The FAO says that if just a quarter of the food wasted worldwide was saved, this
would be enough to feed the 870 million people suffering from hunger, of whom 536 million
live in the Asia-Pacific region.
25-year quest by nearly 1,000 scholars to document and present one of the world's
oldest living traditions came to fruition when the 'Encyclopedia of Hinduism' was
unveiled in the University of Southern California campus, Columbia, on 28 August.
Hundreds of scholars, dignitaries, students, Hindu leaders and the public converged on the
university campus to
witness the release of
much anticipated and
definitive 11-volume
guide conceived,
compiled and produced
by the India Heritage
Research Foundation.
Those present on the
occasion included South
Carolina Governor Nikki
Haley, Indian Consul General in Atlanta Ajit Kumar and Gandhian Anna Hazare. The
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19 August 2013 Current Affairs (International) – Gr8AmbitionZ.com
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comprehensive encyclopedia has 11-volume work and it covers Hindu spiritual beliefs,
practices and philosophy, and is the culmination of a 25-year academic effort. The English
language encyclopedia includes about 7,000 articles on Hinduism and its practices. The
work also deals with Indian history, languages, art, music, dance, architecture, medicine,
and women's issues. It contains more than 1,000 illustrations and photographs. The
encyclopedia's volumes run from 600 to more than 700 pages. Some 3,000 copies are being
printed in first edition. Hinduism is the world's third-largest religion, with 1 billion
followers, according to a Pew Research Center study. Christians number 2.2 billion and
Muslims 1.6 billion.
ndia on 31 August 2013 announced an aid of Rs. 5,000 crore to Bhutan. The aid includes
economic stimulus package of Rs. 500 crore. The decision to provide an aid to Bhutan
was taken by the Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India after his talk with his Bhutanese
counterpart Tshering Tobgay at New Delhi. The Butanese Prime Minister is on six day visit
to India and during this visit issues related to political security, developmental assistance
and matters of mutual concern was also discussed between the two nations to strengthen
bilateral relations. During the meet, the India also ensured the Bhutanese Prime Minister
about its commitment to install an additional 10,000 Mega Watt of power generating
capacity in Bhutan. At present three Indian projects are under process in Bhutan.
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