International (Political & Economy)
Content:- Iran's Jalili heads for China
- Iraq's post-election challenges
- Politics of hope in Mauritius
- ICC authorises inquiry into Kenyan clashes
- ASEAN rights meet discusses roadmap of programmes
- Overhaul of governance in Pakistan
- Pakistan National Assembly passes 18th Amendment Bill
- Belgium votes to ban veils
- Repent, extremists told
- U.S. H-1B visa counter opens
- U.N. rejects Pakistan's plea
- A decisive mandate in Sri Lanka
- Singapore to host Communic Asia
- New Russian gas pipeline to Europe
- Thailand stand-off intensifies
- Try to avoid Bangkok, Singaporeans told
- Russia supports new Kyrgyz regime
- Kyrgyzstan President flees
- Elian is still a star
- U.K. to go to the polls on May 6
- Latest Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).
- Quake rocks U.S., Mexico
- NATO admits to killing Afghan women
- China rejects criticism over dams
- Najib pledges uniform benefits under affirmative action
- Go after cleric, CIA toldWorld Bank's nod for controversial coal plant loan
Iran's Jalili heads for China
- Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is heading for China as the U.S. has mounted a high profile effort to impose sanctions against Tehran.
- Mr. Jalili will meet high-ranking Chinese officials when he commences his visit to Beijing on Thursday.
- Reiterating that Washington and Beijing were not on the same page on the question of sanctions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Tuesday more diplomatic initiatives were required to address the Iranian issue.
- “We will continue to work with all parties towards the solution of the
- Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic and peaceful means,” said Mr. Qin. “China has not changed its stance on the Iranian nuclear issue. We insist on safeguarding international nuclear non-proliferation regime, and we also take into account regional peace and stability.”
- The Iraqi general election has ended in a narrow ‘victory' for the former Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi. His secular-nationalist Iraqiya List alliance has won 91 seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives, two more than incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition.
- The Independent High Electoral Commission has deemed the election to be free and fair and the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq, Ed Melkart, has found both the process and the outcome to be “credible.” Overall, on a turnout of 60 per cent, numbering 12 million voters, two other formations have done well and they hold the key to the new government.
- These are the Kurdish Alliance, Kurdistania, which bagged 43 seats, and the Iraqi National Alliance, the resurgent Shia-majority bloc which took 70 seats, including 38 for the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Al-Ahrar Party. Whether Mr. Allawi succeeds in his efforts to put together the 163 seats needed for a majority will depend on how astutely he negotiates with the other leaders and, as importantly, on the fairness of the post-electoral rules.
- The initial problems have to do with the conduct of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose first response to the result was to demand a recount.
- A day before the results were announced, he persuaded Iraq's Supreme Court to rule that the government would be formed by the leader of the bloc that has the largest number when parliament convenes, which will probably be in June.
- When Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius dissolved the island-state's 70-member National Assembly and called for new elections on May 5, there seemed to be an element of political drama to his announcement.
- The drama, of course, was deliberate, but it had little to do with the election announcement itself: everybody in Mauritius knew that polls would be held soon, not the least because Dr. Ramgoolam is widely perceived as an effective leader. He has brought record foreign direct investment to his Indian Ocean country; he attracted more than 9,000 offshore entities, and he has engendered progress in information technology, health care, and telecommunications.
- It was natural, therefore, that the 65-year-old prime minister – who is also the leader of the Mauritius Labour Party – would want consolidate his political position and focus on what he has increasingly said in recent weeks would be his new mantra for governance: “Unity, Equality, Modernity.”
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) has given the green light to open formal criminal investigations of the political leaders who organised the violence that shook Kenya after its disputed election in 2007, the court announced.
- Two of three court judges said the clashes, which left more than 1,100 people dead and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes, could amount to crimes against humanity. The judges' decision will now allow the prosecution to bring a case.
- Kenyan groups and Western governments called for the international court in The Hague to step in after the country's political leaders refused to set up a special tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the killings, saying they would rely on Kenya's existing courts to handle the cases instead.
- For the international court, which has 110 member nations, the Kenyan case adds a new layer to its caseload. Until now, the court, which was created by the Rome Treaty of 1998 and opened its doors for business in 2002, has dealt with violent conflicts involving governments and rebel groups. These cases had all been brought by governments, or in the case of the conflict in Sudan, by the U.N. Security Council.
- But Kenya is the first case in which the prosecutor - spurred by Kofi Annan, who helped broker a peace deal to end the violence - decided to investigate on his own authority. He has stepped carefully, though, aware that critics of the court, including the United States, which is not a member, have been wary of actions by an aggressive, independent prosecutor.
- The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) convened its first meeting from March 28 to April 1 at the ASEAN Secretariat in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
- The meeting discussed, among others, the formulation of the rules of procedure which will lay down the operational guidelines for the conduct of AICHR's work in all aspects.
- It also discussed the development of the five-year work plan to provide a comprehensive roadmap of programmes and activities to be undertaken by AICHR in the next five years. It is expected that the rules of procedure and the 5-year plan will be completed in time to be submitted to the 43rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in July 2010 for adoption.
- The Second Meeting of AICHR will be held from June 28 to July 2 in Vietnam. The ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
- With the Committee on Constitutional Reforms (CCR) presenting its draft to the presiding officers of the National Assembly and the Senate ,the country is now poised for a major overhaul of its governance structure.
- Besides the repeal of the 17th Amendment by which the former President, Pervez Musharraf, had transferred decisive powers to the presidency, the draft has done away with the Concurrent List to give more provincial autonomy and makes out a case for putting in place institutional mechanisms for making key appointments.
- The National Assembly on Thursday passed the 18th Amendment Bill that seeks to bring back the 1973 Constitution by removing the distortions that had shorn it of its democratic components over the past 37 years.
- The Bill — which proposes 102 amendments to the Constitution — was passed by a two-thirds majority after the House rejected the amendments moved by some members on the abolition of the concurrent list, renaming the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and removal of the provision for intra-party elections.
- Since the Bill had been drafted by the all-party Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, its smooth passage was pre-determined, more so because of the across-the-political-spectrum consensus for repealing the 17th Amendment by which former President Pervez Musharraf had usurped all powers of Parliament.
- Belgium has moved to the forefront of a campaign to restrict the wearing of the Muslim veil by women when a key vote left it on track to become the first European country to ban the burqa and niqab in public.
- Muslim scholars from around the world met in Medina (Riyadh) have denounced "terrorism" and appealed to "extremists" to repent.
- The four-day Islamic conference, sponsored by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz and organised by the Islamic University of Medina, drew some 500 participants, according to press reports.
- Starting April 1, H-1B visa petitions may be submitted subject to the fiscal year 2011 cap, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
- U.N. rejects Pakistan's plea
- The U.N. rejected Pakistan's request to reopen the independent probe into the killing of Benazir Bhutto.
- The results of post-conflict Sri Lanka's first parliamentary elections are on expected lines. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Progressive Freedom Alliance, led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, has scored a decisive victory on the strength of a vote share that may exceed 60 per cent.
- After President Rajapaksa's big victory in the January 26 presidential election, there was never really any doubt about the outcome of Thursday's general election. Perhaps this was one reason for the low turnout of voters.
- This is way and ahead the best performance by a political party or coalition in a general election since 1977.
- Indeed, a two-thirds majority in the 225-seat House, always a difficult target in a system of proportional representation, seems to be within the UPFA's grasp, assuming there will be a repeat of the defections that followed the 2004 elections.
- The United National Party, which has won only one parliamentary election in two decades, can take some comfort from the fact that its vote-base has not eroded significantly in this period.
- But the kingmaker of elections past, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, has suffered a rout, its opportunistic decision to back former Sri Lanka army commander, Sarath Fonseka, who is under detention and facing court martial proceedings, doing nothing to shore up its fortunes. The third force, the Democratic National Alliance, has failed to take off.
- President Mahinda Rajapaksa-led ruling alliance in Sri Lanka, the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), has recorded an emphatic victory in the parliamentary elections.
- Of the results of 180 seats declared so far, the alliance has won in 120 constituencies.
- CommunicAsia2010, the most established information, communication and technology (ICT) event in Asia, will be held in Singapore from June 15 to 18 at the Singapore Expo.
- The event brings comprehensive showcase of convergent technologies for the global infocomm, media and broadcasting industries and will feature new attractions for exhibitors and visitors from the region, says a release.
- Russia has launched the construction of a new gas pipeline to Europe that will strengthen its dominant positions in the European energy markets.
- The $12-billion Nord Stream pipeline would carry up to 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year from Siberian gas fields 900 km over land and 1,200 km under the Baltic Sea from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald in Germany.
- Russia supplies about 150 bcm of gas to Europe, meeting a quarter of its needs. The new pipeline will give Russia a stronger hold over Europe's energy supplies and reduce dependence on the transit countries, Ukraine and Belarus. Russia's Gazprom monopoly has teamed up with Germany's BASF, E.ON and Dutch Gasunie to build the pipeline.
- Nord Stream will have two parallel gas pipeline legs.The first leg will carry 27.5 bcm starting from 2011, and the second link is expected to be completed in 2012.Construction was delayed as Russia had to seek permission from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Finland, whose territorial waters the pipeline will cross.
- The stand-off between Thailand's anti-government protesters and security forces intensified in Bangkok.
- Until nightfall, there was no sign of the protest tapering off, although troops and other security forces heightened their vigil to enforce Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's emergency decree.
- Expressing “concern” over the “ongoing developments in Thailand,” Singapore has issued a travel advisory.
- Singaporeans are among the high-profile travellers to Thailand.
- Russia has signalled support for the interim coalition government formed in Kyrgyzstan in the wake of two days of large-scale riots that left 75 people dead.
- Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has reportedly left the country after two days of violent mass protests in which dozens of people have been killed.
- Opposition leaders said Mr. Bakiyev left his office and was seen flying out of the country in an airplane from the Manas international airport.
- Cuba has released photos of one-time exile cause celebre Elian Gonzalez wearing an olive-green military school uniform and attending a Young Communist Union congress.
- The images were posted on Monday on Cuban government websites, then widely picked up by electronic, state-controlled media.
- When he was five, Elian was found floating off the coast of Florida in an inner tube after his mother and others fleeing Cuba drowned trying to reach the U.S. Elian's father, who was separated from his mother, had remained in Cuba.
- Elian formally joined the Young Communist Union in 2008, making headlines across Cuba.
- Britain will go to the polls on May 6, it was officially announced in what is set to be the most uncertain and closely fought general election for a generation with opinion surveys pointing to a hung Parliament, a rare outcome.
- For the first time in more than 30 years, the Liberal Democrats — more used to hovering around the margins of mainstream British politics — are likely to get a chance to play the kingmaker and determine the shape of a future government.
- The United States administration on Tuesday pledged to not use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear State that complied with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as per the latest Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).
- Announcing some of the key results of the “first unclassified NPR in its totality” at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates said, “If a non-nuclear State is in compliance with the NPT and its obligations, the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.”
- He added that if any State eligible for such an assurance were to use chemical or biological weapons against the U.S., its allies or partners, it would face the prospect of a “devastating conventional military response.”
- An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale rocked large tracts of the Western coast of Mexico and the United States 3:40 p.m. (local time) on Easter Sunday. The quake struck around 62 km from Mexicali, near the U.S.-Mexico border and was felt hundred of km away, throughout southern California.
- The death toll, estimated to be two so far, has been relatively low and structural damage limited compared to recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. According to reports this was due to the quake having a shallow depth of 9.6 km.
- NATO forces have admitted killing three women in a bungled raid on a village in Afghanistan earlier this year, after initially denying involvement.
- The NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement on Sunday that its troops were responsible for the women's deaths in a village near Gardez, the capital of eastern Paktya province, on February 12.
- China rejected criticism from its neighbours that its dams on the Mekong river were responsible for droughts in their countries, even as it came under increasing pressure to share more hydrological data.
- Officials from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, countries which make up the Mekong River Commission (MRC), have called for greater co-operation from China in managing the Mekong, and have expressed concern over eight dams China has planned along the river in its south-western Yunnan province.
- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has pledged a policy of affirmative action in favour of those in economic need, regardless of racial considerations, in the Muslim-majority state.
- The basic objective was to ensure that the new policy “will lead to a more cohesive and socially harmonious society,” he said here.
- The Central Intelligence Agency announced it had added radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, suspected to be residing in Yemen, to its target list. This makes Awlaki only the second U.S. citizen since 2001 whom CIA agents have authorisation to kill or capture.
- According to reports, the decision to put Awlaki on the “kill list” was taken after U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that he had a key operational role in terrorist attacks.
- The World Bank approved a controversial $3.75bn loan to build one of the world's largest coal plants in South Africa , defying international protests and sharp criticism from the Obama administration that the project would fuel climate change.
- The proposed Medupi power station, operated by South Africa's state-owned Eskom company, was fiercely opposed by an international coalition of grassroots, church and environmental activists who said it would hurt the environment and do little to help end poverty.
hi.thanks for these wonderful updates.please do this on a regular basis like a fortnight or so..this would greatly help in GS prep
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