current affairs for ias exam 2011 international events december 2010 www.upscportal

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InternationalEvents: December 2010Sri Lanka-Pakistan pact

Sri Lanka and Pakistan have agreed to promote dialogue on security and defence issues,including training of security forces personnel.

A joint statement issued at the end of a four-day visit by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardarisaid that at a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa, both leaderscondemned terrorism in all its forms. Pakistan was one of the key allies of Sri Lanka in its fightagainst the LTTE. Besides, Sri Lankan defence personnel at various levels are trained inPakistan.

Russia warns of arms race

Russia's ruling tandem has warned the West of a new arms race if Russia and NATO fail toagree on missile defence in Europe.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia would deploy new nuclear weapons and strikeforces if Russian proposals for a joint missile defence with NATO were rejected and the U.S.fails to ratify the New START treaty.

The stark warnings came days after Mr. Medvedev returned from what was billed as a highlysuccessful trip to Lisbon to attend a NATO summit where Russia and the Atlantic Allianceagreed to launch a reset in their relations.

Last time Mr. Medvedev threatened to deploy new nuclear-capable missiles to counter theproposed U.S. missile shield in Europe was two years ago, when George W. Bush was still U.S.President. President Barack Obama has since cancelled Mr. Bush's plan and in Lisbon NATOinvited Russia to cooperate in building a pan-European missile defence which should become akingpin of strategic partnership between the former Cold War foes.

Mr. Medvedev said Russia and NATO have already launched a joint study of his proposal tolink the Russian and NATO missile defence systems. Moscow has repeatedly stated that itwould only agree to join a European missile defence on the basis of fully equal partnership toensure that the system does not threaten Russia's nuclear deterrent.

However, U.S. ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder is on record as saying that the U.S. wouldbuild missile defences in Europe in accordance with its plans irrespective of whether Russiajoins in.

Arrest warrant for Assange

Interpol called for the arrest of WikiLeaks' founder.The France-based Interpol said it had alertedall member-States to arrest Julian Assange, who is wanted in Sweden for probable cause ofsuspected rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion.

Iran's conditional nod for n-fuel bank

Without a commitment to halt domestic production of enriched uranium, Iran endorsed theestablishment of a fully monitored international nuclear fuel bank that could provide enricheduranium for atomic power plants.

We are in agreement with the creation of a fuel bank and we support it since we have fuelproduction technology [and provided] a principal branch of this bank is established in Iran,said Manouchehr Mottaki, the visiting Foreign Minister of Iran. Mr. Mottaki was responding to

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the proposal of establishing a nuclear fuel bank by Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalidbin Ahmed bin Mohamed al-Khalifa at the Manama dialogue, an annual security conferencehosted by Bahrain.

Protest and a promise in Malaysia

Malaysia's opposition alliance, Pakatan Rakyat, held a protest rally in Kuala Lumpur toarticulate a local issue, while Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak pledged, at a national political

convention, to stand by and with the people. A few thousand activists gathered outside the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur in support of a

petition to the King by the opposition-ruled Selangor government that its rights over local waterresources be restored. The rally, for which police had not given permission, was declared anunlawful assembly. With some protesters turning unruly, police fired tear gas and used watercannon to disperse the crowd. Nearly 50 were detained for interrogation and released on bail.The petition was later submitted to the palace.

Gulf Cooperation Council summit opens

Three decades after it came into being, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) session begins totake a collective view on political, economic, security and social issues of the six-member

States.

The Summit is being hosted by the United Arab Emirates under its President Sheikh Khalifa binZayed Al Nahyan and the Foreign Ministers' meet to finalise the programme, while reviewingdraft decisions and recommendations to be put up for discussions at the two-day meeting of theSupreme Council.

Ahead of the event, the GCC general secretary Abdul Rahman bin Hamad al Attiya was quotedby a news agency describing the Summit as a turning point in the GCC joint action in alldomains. Besides, the hosts, the GCC consists of Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar.At the conclusion of the previous Kuwait Summit, the Council among other things reiterated itsstand on the importance of following international legality and underscored its stance aimed at

rendering the West Asia region free of nuclear arms.

GCC asks Iran to fulfil international requirements

Amid concern over security and terrorism in the region, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)asked Iran to fulfil international requirements in making the region and the Gulf area free ofweapons of mass destruction (WMD) and nuclear weapons. It also decided to establish a centreto combat terror.

The Abu Dhabi Declaration, issued at the end of a two-day GCC meeting, welcomedinternational efforts, especially the current 5+1 talks, to attend to the Iranian nuclear issue andexpressed the hope that Tehran would work positively.

Terming good step the 5+1 move, the GCC felt that Iran should fulfil its obligations towardsthe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and stressed on the right of all countries in theregion to pursue nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

Iran optimistic on co-operation

Iranian officials, at the end of the Geneva talks, expressed optimism that global powers may nolonger impose pressure on Tehran and the next round of nuclear talks, scheduled in January inIstanbul, are likely to focus on co-operation.

U.S. plans to defend the Baltic irks Russia

Russia has said it is bewildered over NATO secret plans to defend the Baltic states and


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Poland against Russian aggression as revealed in the latest batch of WikiLeaks spills.

The cables show that earlier this year NATO drew up plans to defend the former Soviet states ofEstonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Poland against a perceived Russian threat. The plansidentified nine NATO divisions for combat operations against Russia and provided for thedeployment of naval assault forces and British and U.S. warships in the Baltic Sea.

What makes the secret NATO plan particularly scandalous is the fact that it was endorsed at the

same Lisbon summit where the Atlantic alliance in the presence of Russian President DmitryMedvedev declared its desire to build strategic partnership with Russia.

Kosovo votes in historic poll

Kosovo voted in its first elections since declaring independence in 2008, which look set toweaken Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's grip on power.

Police reported threats to minority Serb voters in North Kosovo but there were no reports ofviolence.

Opinion polls ahead of the vote showed support for Mr. Thaci's PDK at 30 per cent, just two percent ahead of its main rival the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by Pristina Mayor Isa

Mustafa. The ethnic-Albanian majority declared Kosovo independent in February 2008, a move

recognised by 72 countries including the U.S. and all but five European Union members.

Serbia, which still considers the territory as its southern province, has advised the 1,20,000-strong Serb minority in Kosovo not to vote.

More than 10 years after the war between the independence-seeking Albanian majority andforces loyal to then Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, Kosovo remains one of the poorestregions in Europe with nearly half the population living below the poverty line.

Cambridge project to preserve rare Indian and other languages

The University of Cambridge has launched a unique project to provide universal access tolanguages of India and elsewhere that are endangered and part of the world's disappearingspoken traditions.

The open database, called World Oral Literature Project, has been developed by the University'sresearchers and is available at the following URL: www.oralliterature.org.

In India, the projects include ethnographic documentation of the literature and culture of theindigenous Mudugar and Kurumbar communities in Palakkad district of Kerala using digitalvideo, audio and photography.

Another India-based project is a 20-hour-long recording of a ballad about the life and

adventures of Tejaji, the Snake Deity, sung by the Mali community (gardeners) in Thikardavillage of Bundi district in Rajasthan, along with the documentation of Tejaji customs andtraditions in the Hadoti region of the State.

Ivory Coast poll winner tries to govern from hotel

From a hotel room just big enough to hold a bed and a desk, the man considered the legitimatePresident of Ivory Coast is trying to govern a troubled nation whose sitting President refuses toleave.

Alassane Ouattara does not have access to the presidential palace, so he holds Cabinet meetingsin a tent on the hotel lawn. His administration has taken over the hotel manager's office, wherethe fax machine is used to communicate with embassies abroad. And the neighbouring golf


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course's sloping fairways may soon house soldiers defecting from the army still controlled byincumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.

In the upside-down world that has taken root in this corner of Africa, 68-year-old Mr. Ouattarawas declared winner of presidential election by his country's election commission in anoutcome certified by the United Nations. He was recognised as the legal President by the UnitedStates, the European Union, former colonial ruler France and the African Union. Just about the

only world leader who has not acknowledged his victory is the one occupying the presidentialpalace across town.

Wen visit to deepen China-Pakistan energy ties

The two countries are expected to push forward co-operation in nuclear energy, and discussplans for China to set up its fifth nuclear power reactor in Pakistan a one-gigawatt plantwhich will mark the single biggest deal in nuclear energy between the two countries.

The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced in September that talks had begunfor a 1 GW plant. The company has already set up two reactors in Chashma, and in Marchannounced it had started work on two more.

The deals for the three new reactors have stirred debate, with many countries saying China'snuclear co-operation goes against guidelines governing nuclear trade. The 46-member NuclearSuppliers Group (NSG), of which China is a member, prohibits the transfer of nucleartechnology to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Chinese officials defended the deals, and suggested China would proceed with them afterseeking safeguards from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Berlusconi wins confidence vote

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived yet another no-confidence vote in Parliament.He won by a wafer thin margin of three votes two of them from the newly-formed Future

and Liberty party of his arch political rival Gianfranco Fini. It was Mr. Fini's decision to pullout of Mr. Berlusconi's tripartite right-wing coalition that caused the crisis.

Malaria success in Africa

Malaria is in retreat in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa after a huge effort in the last twoyears to get bed nets and indoor spraying into areas where the disease is endemic, but the gainsare fragile, according to the World Health Organisation.

Malaria cases or hospital admissions and deaths have been cut by half in 11 African countriesover the past decade, the WHO's world malaria report shows. Outside Africa, in 32 of the 56remaining malaria endemic countries, the gains have been even greater. Eight more countrieshave seen reductions in the number of cases of between 25 per cent and 50 per cent. Last year

Morocco and Turkmenistan were certified malaria-free.

The results set out in this report are the best seen in decades, said WHO Director-General Dr.Margaret Chan. After so many years of deterioration and stagnation in the malaria situation,countries and their development partners are now on the offensive. Current strategies work.

Ruggiero to head Af-Pak mission

Frank Ruggiero, a career civil servant who served under late Richard Holbrooke, has been madethe Acting U.S. Special Representative to the Af-Pak region and will be assisted by twodeputies, one of them an Indian-American.


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Graft charges against Cheney dropped

Nigeria's anti-corruption police have dropped charges against Dick Cheney, former U.S. Vice-President, over a multimillion dollar bribery case after the energy firm Halliburton agreed topay up to $250 million in fines.

Houston-based engineering firm KBR, a former Halliburton unit, pleaded guilty last year toU.S. charges that it paid $180 million in bribes between 1994 and 2004 to Nigerian officials to

secure $6 billion in contracts for the Bonny Island project . KBR and Halliburton reached a $579 million settlement in America but Nigeria, France and Switzerland have conducted theirown probes.

Oklahoma Penitentiary uses animal drug to execute inmate

The Oklahoma State Penitentiary has used a veterinary anaesthetic drug called pentobarbital,more commonly used to put down dogs, to execute John Duty (58), a prisoner on death row.

In a development that is likely to fuel the ongoing arguments on whether the lethal injectionmethod of execution constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, the state used the animal drugin place of sodium thiopental, one of the three chemicals injected as part of the procedure.

China, Pakistan ink deals worth $15 billion Burying differences, the entire Pakistani leadership both civil and military was out in

strength in the capital, along with the business community, to honour Chinese Premier WenJiabao on the second day of his three-day visit to Pakistan.

Through the day packed with engagements for Mr. Wen, the Pakistani leadership's endeavourwas to convey to China its gratitude for being a steadfast friend, whose leader chose to visitPakistan in its hour of trial. China is the only P-5 country to send a head of state/government toPakistan this year, while the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council paidhigh-level visits to India on their calendar this year.

Mr. Wen's visit to the country carries as much weight as the slew of agreements worth billions

signed by his delegation. Besides agreements/memoranda of understanding worth $15 billion,Mr. Wen announced a $410-million package for flood relief.

Colombo agrees to U.N. panel visit

The Sri Lankan government said it had no objection to the U.N. Secretary-General's expertspanel visiting the country to depose before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission(LLRC) appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The panel, to advise the Secretary-General on accountability issues arising from the war againstthe LTTE, has been a bone of contention between the U.N. and Colombo for several months.When Ban Ki-moon appointed the panel, Colombo had voiced serious concerns on the ground

that it impinged on the nation's sovereignty. The latest stance is a clear sign that U.N. hassucceeded in persuading Colombo that the panel is not aimed at undermining the country'sefforts in the post-conflict scenario.

No support for key U.S. base in Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan failed to win popular support for the planned relocation ofa key United States military base within the Okinawa prefecture. Mr. Kan's failure came just aday after his Cabinet approved Japan's national defence programme guidelines for a period of10 years from 2011.

The new defence blueprint, designed to transform pacifist Japan's self-defence forces into adynamic outfit, calls for a further enhancement of Tokyo's decades-long indispensable


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alliance with the U.S. And, the two countries had agreed to in May that the plan to relocate theFutenma base within Okinawa would drive their efforts to sustain this military alliance into thefuture.

However, the people of Okinawa have consistently opposed the daily inconveniences theysuffer because of the prolonged U.S. military presence on their home turf.

Russia, West differ on Europe's last dictator

Russia and the West offered contrasting reactions to presidential elections in Belarus swept bythe country's long-time authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Mr. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for the past 16 years, gained 79.7 per cent of the vote inthe polls contested by 10 candidates, according to the Central Election Commission. Theturnout was just over 90 per cent.

Western observers and governments accused Mr. Lukashenko, described as Europe's lastdictator, of using fraud and violence to win a fourth straight term in office.

However, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev refused to pass a judgement. He called to waitfor official results and described the Belarus vote as an internal affair, even as he voiced the

hope that Belarus would continue its march towards building a modern state, based ondemocracy and friendship with its neighbours.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell law repealed

The United States Senate took a historic step forward as Congress passed a bill to repeal thecontroversial Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) law, a ban on openly gay persons serving in theU.S. military.

The DADT law, introduced in 1993 as a compromise to allow gay persons to serve in themilitary, has reportedly led to over 12,500 members of the armed forces being discharged. InNovember, an official survey found that more than two-thirds of the armed forces in the U.S.

do not object to gays and lesbians serving openly in uniform.Ghauri test fired

Pakistan successfully test fired Hatf V (Ghauri) a Medium Range Ballistic Missile capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads over 1,300 km. Lauding the 11-year-old Army Strategic Force Command (ASFC) for the successful launch, Prime MinisterSyed Yusuf Raza Gilani said the test was a signal to the world that Pakistan's defence capabilitywas impregnable and should never be challenged.

Colombo steps up fight against defamation

Sri Lanka has stepped up efforts to counter the propaganda war unleashed by the Tamil diaspora

about the condition of their brethren on the island and allegations of war crimes. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared that the battle against LTTE elements abroad

would continue. The same day, External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris invited U.S. AmbassadorPatricia Butenis to meet him in the context of news reports that several United States Senatorsand Members of Congress had written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the condition ofTamils in Sri Lanka.

U.S. Senate approves New START with Russia

The United States Senate handed President Barack Obama his second major bipartisan victoryduring its ongoing lame-duck session when it passed the New START treaty, an arms reductionagreement with Russia.


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The New START treaty was initially signed by Mr. Obama and Russian President DimitriMedvedev in April2010. In it, both countries agreed to aggregate limits of 1,550 warheads; acombined limit of 800 deployed and non-deployed Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile launchers,Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nucleararmaments; and separate limit of 700 deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavybombers equipped for nuclear armaments.

The treaty also came with a verification regime that combined elements of the 1991 START

Treaty with new elements tailored to the limitations of the Treaty. In this regard the WhiteHouse had stated that measures under the new treaty included on-site inspections andexhibitions, data exchanges and notifications related to strategic offensive arms and facilitiescovered by the Treaty.

Russian Parliament approves New START

The Russian-American New START treaty won preliminary approval of the RussianParliament, even as Moscow rejected as unacceptable the U.S. Senate ratification resolution.

The State Duma, Lower House of Parliament, supported the treaty by a 350-56 majority in afirst of three votes, but postponed its final approval till next year. In Russia, international

treaties must be approved by both Houses of Parliament in contrast to the U.S. Russia'sPresident Dmitry Medvedev hailed the pact as a cornerstone of stability in the world andEurope for decades to come.

China's dams in Xinjiang region trigger concerns in Kazakhstan

China's dam-building spree in its far-west Xinjiang region has triggered concerns in theneighbouring Kazakhstan, where officials say two main rivers have begun to see water-levelsrecede at an alarming rate.

Officials from the Central Asian nation are expected to raise the issue with Beijing early nextyear and press for more information on hydro-projects in Xinjiang.

The Irtysh and Ili rivers, crucial to Kazakhstan's water security, have their source in Xinjiang.Since 2000, China has accelerated development in the region, which has seen intermittentethnic unrest.

Kazakh officials say China's development push in Xinjiang, which includes a number of damsand irrigation projects, is the main reason behind the falling water-levels in both the rivers. Therivers drain into the Balkhash lake, which sustains the livelihood of more than two millionKazakhs.

Kazakhstan has, however, been reluctant to publicly voice its concerns. China is a majordestination for Kazakhstan's energy exports. In both cases, China, as the upper-riparian orupstream-lying state, holds the cards, having not committed to any bilateral water-sharing

treaties and being entitled to, under international laws, use the rivers' waters for hydropowergeneration and other projects.

As with the Brahmaputra, there are also persisting concerns that China has plans to divert theIrtysh, though in both cases Chinese officials have stressed there are no such plans.

The Balkhash lake, was losing water. The water level is now lower by more than two metresto what it was three decades ago. Pollution is also rising, which has affected the banks andsurrounding areas. Agriculture, the health of the ecosystem and the communities around it are atrisk.

Kazakh officials fear that the Balkhash will face a similar fate to the Aral Sea, which is on theverge of disappearing because of heavy pollution. Its mismanagement is regarded as one of the


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world's worst environmental disasters. Chinese officials stressed that China was paying highattention to international communication on trans-border water issues.

U.S.-Russia row over Khodorkovsky

A strident exchange of official statements between the United States and Russia has followed inthe wake of the guilty verdict for Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian businessman convicted ofembezzling billions of dollars worth of oil money.

Mr. Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were found guilty of siphoning andthen laundering money from their oil company Yukos. Shortly after the verdict was announcedU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, Today's conviction in the second trial of MikhailKhodorkovsky... raises serious questions about selective prosecution and about the rule oflaw being overshadowed by political considerations.

Earlier proof of modern man

Human teeth dating back 400,000 years, found in a cave near Rosh HaAyin are the earliestevidence of modern man, and show he lived twice as long ago as was previously thought, saidTel Aviv University.

Until now, human remains from only 200,000 years ago had been discovered in Africa, leadingresearchers to speculate that this was the continent on which Homo sapiens originated.

The cave was uncovered in 2000 near Rosh HaAyin and a morphological analysis wasperformed on the teeth. The teeth are similar to those of modern man, CT scans and X- Raysshowed. They are also very similar to evidence of modern man from those discovered at twoseparate locations in northern Israel and which date from 100,000 years ago. According to theresearchers, their discoveries are likely to change the perception that modern man originated inAfrica.


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