World in Focus (April-May 2014)

National & International News & MCQs

National

Apr 16: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari agreed to review the controversial Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) along with other anti-terrorism laws.

Apr 16: The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan announced that it was not extending its ‘ceasefire’.

Apr 16: The Punjab Governor re-appointed Maulana Muhammad Raghab Hussain Naeemi as member of Punjab University Syndicate with immediate effect for a period of three years.

Apr 17: The government removed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Chairman Chaudhry Abdul Rashid.

Apr 17: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet approved a relief package of Rs. 1.624 billion for providing subsidy on various food items and other edibles during Ramazan.

Apr 17: Senator Faisal Raza Abidi submitted his resignation from the Senate.

Apr 17: A religious school for women in Islamabad, Jamia Hafsa, renamed its library in honour of Osama bin Laden.

Apr 18: Punjab University Law College Associate Professor Dr Shazia Qureshi was appointed principal of the college on a regular basis. Dr Shazia the first woman principal of the college in its 146-year history, is the wife of PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran.

Apr 18: The federal cabinet approved the import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar and 3,000MW electricity from Iran.

Apr 19: Senior journalist and a prominent anchor of Geo News, Hamid Mir, was critically wounded in an armed attack on his car near Karachi airport.

Apr 20: Pakistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) navies commenced a seven-day joint exercise Nasl al Bahr to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two nations.

Apr 22: The MQM joined the Sindh government after two of its members took oath as provincial ministers while three members joined the cabinet as advisers.

Apr 22: Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of short range surface to surface ballistic missile namely Hatf-III Ghaznavi which can carry nuclear and conventional warhead to a range of 290-kilometres.

Apr 22: On the complaint of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Defence Ministry directed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to take action against the Geo TV network for levelling allegations against the ISI.

Apr 22: Pakistan Navy was formally accorded ‘Observer Status’ of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS). The decision was announced at the plenary meeting of the 14th WPNS meeting a Qingdao, China.

Apr 22: Punjab University (PU) organised a seminar and a walk to observe World Book and Copyright Day.

Apr 23: The four cellular service providers, bidding on licences for next generation mobile technology, emerged the winners of bidding war, with Mobilink, Telenor and Ufone picking up licences for 3G services while Zong being the only bidder to acquire a licence for both 3G and 4G services.

Apr 23: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) formed a three-member committee to investigate charges levelled by the defence ministry against Geo TV.

Apr 23: The prime minister ordered reshuffle in the federal bureaucracy and appointed Nadeem Hassan Asif as secretary for the establishment division. He has replaced Mr Shahid Rashid in the establishment division, who will now serve as the secretary for statistics division.

Another important posting was of new secretary for industries, Raja Hassan Abbass. Ms Rukhsana Saleem will be the new secretary for climate change, a position earlier held by Mr Abbass. Sikandar Sultan Raja, a Grade 20 officer, has been sent to Gilgit-Baltistan as the Chief Secretary.

Apr 23: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif inaugurated a post graduate college and a paramedical institute in Saidu Sharif.

Apr 23: Pakistan lost six notches and stood at 111th position of the 148 countries in terms of ranking on Global Information Technology Report 2014, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced.

Apr 23: A research report by UNESCO, ‘Reading in the Mobile Era’ revealed that cellphones are getting more and more people to read in developing countries, including Pakistan.

Apr 24: The Sindh government created a new administrative division in the province with the name of Bhambhore comprising Thatta, Sujawal and Badin districts. With the latest addition, the number of divisions in the province has increased to six.

Apr 24: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $400 million loan to Pakistan to support ongoing reforms to tackle the energy crisis.

Apr 24: Vice Admiral Shafqat Jawed took charge as 31st chairman of Karachi Port Trust.

Apr 24: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif represented Pakistan at the 99th commemoration of the ‘anakkale’ [Gallipoli] battle fought during the First World War which was regarded as a defining moment in Turkish history.

Apr 25: At the elections held at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, Pakistan was elected by acclamation to the commission on Science and Technology for Development for 2015-2018 and the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for the same term.

The commission on Science and Technology for Development was established in 1992.

Apr 26: The National Judicial Policy Making Committee amended a policy introduced by former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and allowed posting of judicial officers in the executive on deputation.

Apr 26: The Pakistan Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong was inaugurated jointly by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR C.Y. Leung and President Legislative Council Jasper Tsang.

Apr 27: The musical reality show ‘Pakistan Idol’ came to an end with Zamad Baig clinching the title.

Apr 28: Ashraf Mahmood Wathra was appointed Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan for three years.

Apr 28: State Minister for Pakistan Railways Abdul Hakim Baloch of the PML-N quit the ministry.

Apr 28: Sindh became the first province in the country to set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years. The Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Bill, 2014, repealing the prevalent Child Marriage Restraint Ac, 1929.

Apr 30: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif warned that all groups must accept the writ of the state, failing which, the army was more than capable of dealing with threats from insurgents.
Calling Kashmir the jugular vein of Pakistan Gen Sharif stressed the need to settle the dispute in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

Apr 30: Gosha-e-Iqbal at Punjab University Library was inaugurated. It hosts over 2,000 books related to the Poet of the East.

May 01: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government sacked the provincial Minister for Industries and Commerce Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and Adviser to Chief Minister for Transport, Yaseen Khan Khalil , for their poor performance.

May 02: The World Bank approved $12 billion in loans for Pakistan to be disbursed in five years.

May 02: The Human Rights Watch announced that its Pakistan director, Ali Dayan Hasan, had decided to leave the organisation after working with it for 11 years.

May 04: Bilal Anwar Kasi and Qayyum Lehri were elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the Balochistan Bar Association (BBA).

May 04: Teenage tennis player Kainat Ejaz was selected as a Youth Ambassador by Children of Peace (COP), a global NGO with an aim to give boost to its humanitarian activities in Pakistan.

The Peace network of COP ‘the Coalition of Peace’ is the single largest peace network in the Middle East with 150 groups in Ghana, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Oman.

May 04: An education foundation set up in honour of the first-ever Pakistani headteacher in Britain Nawazish Bokhari won Prime Minister David Cameron’s Big Society Award.

Bokhari, an inspirational headteacher and campaigner who was the first British Muslim to run a UK secondary school in 1985, came to Britain from Pakistan in 1960 from Sialkot.

May 05: To prevent the possible spread of the polio virus from Pakistan to other countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) decided to impose strict travel restrictions on the country.

May 05: The government set up a computerised control room for real-time monitoring of power generation, supply and loadshedding across the country.

May 05: Pakistan approved transportation of Nato supplies to Afghanistan by air. The arrangement was made to facilitate rapid delivery of vital military cargo to the brotherly country to enhance its security and stability.

May 05: Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Haier Electrical Appliances Corporation Ltd signed an agreement for supply and commissioning of 100,000 laptops under Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP).

May 05: Two students from Pakistan, Shahzaib Ali and Muhammad Faaiz Taufiq, were granted Cambridge 800th Anniversary Scholarships for undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge.

May 06: In a bid to repair bilateral ties frayed by recent developments, Pakistan and Iran agreed to establish hotline between the Frontier Corps in Balochistan and the Iranian Border Security Force.

May 06: The government accepted the resignation of Punjab Public Service Commission Chairman Zafar Mehmood. He is now working as Wapda chairman. Additional charge of the post was given to PPSC member Shehzad Asghar.

May 06: The National Assembly passed a resolution which asked the government to ‘take immediate steps to lift ban on YouTube.

May 06: An African lion, called ‘Jumbo’, born in Lahore Zoo in 1998 died after completing its natural life cycle which runs between 15 to 18 years.

May 06: Ombudsman Punjab Javed Mahmood deputed Advisors in all the districts of the province. People may lodge their complaints against the government departments at their respective districts to newly-appointed Advisors which will be probed locally.

May 07: Senior lawyer Rashid Rehman Khan, Special Task Force Coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was killed in an attack at the HRCP office in Multan.

May 07: The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Umer Ata Bandial, ordered that non-custodial parents should be allowed to meet their children outside the guardian courts.

May 07: The status of federal minister was conferred upon Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Chairman, Special Committee of the National Assembly on Kashmir, by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

May 07: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved appointment of Kamaluddin Tipu, a grade-20 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan, as executive member of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

May 07: Telenor Group appointed Michael Patrick Foley as the new Chief Executive Officer of Telenor Pakistan.

May 07: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reminded the general public to exchange the decimal coins of Paisa 1,2,5,10,25 & 50 from the field offices of SBP BSC and commercial and microfinance banks branches by last working day of September 30.

May 08: Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of a short-range, surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf III (Ghaznavi) capable of delivering nuclear and conventional warheads up to 290km.

May 08: An FBI agent, Joel Cox Eugene, who was arrested by the Airport Security Force before his departure for Islamabad, was released on bail.

May 08: In a dramatic turn of events, a key prosecution witness in the Mumbai attacks case claimed to have met Ajmal Kasab recently.
Mudassir Lakhvi, headmaster of the Government Elementary School in Faridkot village, Okara, appeared before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) to record his statement during the trial of seven suspects, the alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum, accused of involvement in the attacks on Nov 26, 2008.

May 08: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) endorsed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s approved plan of Rs30 billion road link project to new Benazir Bhutto Shaheed International Airport, Islamabad.

May 08: The board of directors of United Bank Limited (UBL) appointed Wajahat Husain as the new president and CEO of UBL.

May 08: Label’s international brand ambassador and a full-time mom, Zunera Mazhar, was crowned Mrs Pakistan International USA 2014.

May 09: The PPP’s Dr Abdul Qayyum Soomro was notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as elected unopposed as a senator against a vacant general seat.

May 09: The government confirmed to have added about $15.3 billion to the country’s external debt, violating prudent borrowing limit s under the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act (FRDLA).

May 12: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei and discussed with him issues of mutual interest. They agreed to work jointly for development of the region.

May 12: The United States pledged to provide $90 million for the construction of Kalat-Quetta Chaman Highway (N-25), according to an agreement here signed.

May 12: The Board of Directors of Faysal Bank Limited appointed Nauman Ansari as President and CEO of FBL.

May 12: The Senate unanimously passed a bill to amend the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) 1860, envisaging the maximum punishment of life term to those desecrating graves.

May 13: Polio vaccination certificates will now be mandatory for all people travelling abroad from June 1, the government announced as traces of the poliovirus were found in samples taken from the sewers of Karachi and Lahore; the two largest cities in the country.

May 13: Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla, a wanted gangster of Karachi’s Lyari area, was killed by Iranian border guards.

May 14: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared that the targeted operation in Karachi would continue and the administration would have full powers to bring terrorists to justice.

May 14: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch declared 2014 as the year of Mir Gul Khan Naseer to promote the poetry and services of the renowned writer at the international level.

May 14: The Punjab government promulgated ‘The Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance 2014’, which envisages the right to education to all children between 5-16 years of age in the province.

May 14: The National Assembly extended the period of Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) 2014 for another 120 days.

May 14: Federal Ombudsman M. Salman Faruqui appointed ambassador Sher Afghan Khan as the first ever grievance commissioner and member in charge of regional office Peshawar and Zahur Ahmad Khan Khalil as associate grievance commissioner for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

May 15: The Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) revealed discovery of good quality coal in Badin district of Sindh.

Economy

Apr 16: Sixteen MoUs were signed at the end of a three-day Central Asian Business Opportunities Conference, organised by the Ministry of Commerce, USAID and the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with participants making a commitment to revive the historic Silk Route. Over 300 representatives of the private and public sectors from Central Asian Republics (CARs), Afghanistan and Pakistan attended the conference.

Apr 30: Engro Elengy Terminal Private Limited (EETPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) formally entered into a $2 billion LNG terminal service deal.

Sports

Apr 16: Legendary Olympians Shahnaz Sheikh and Islahuddin Siddiqi were named as head coach-cum-manager and chief selector respectively of the Pakistan team.

Apr 18: Army outplayed HEC in the final to win the 13th National Men’s Netball Championship.

Apr 30: Mahmood Lodhi won the National Chess Championship for the fourteenth time.

May 06: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) formally appointed former Test captain and legendary fast bowler Waqar Younis as head coach of the national team for a period of two years.

May 15: Top seed of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Israr Ahmed clinched the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa National Junior Squash Championship.

May 15: Former Zimbabwe Test batsman Grant Flower was appointed as national batting coach for a two year term by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Obituaries

Apr 16: Renowned artist Ajmal Husain, the son of a former editor of Dawn Altaf Husain, passed away in Karachi. He was the editor of The Illustrated Weekly of Pakistan in the 1950s.

Apr 18: Prominent TV personality, Chef Sara Riaz, passed away.

Apr 19: Motorways DIG Mirza Shakeel Ahmed died of a cardiac arrest at his office.
He was from 19th Common and served as DIG Elite Force, DIG Crime Branch, CTO Lahore, Mianwali DPO, SSP Motor Transport, Punjab, and also worked as Chief Security Officer of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Apr 20: Eminent Lollywood singer Bashir Ahmed, often dubbed as ‘Ahmed Rushdi’ of Bangladesh, passed away.

Apr 22: Izharul Hasan Burney, a journalist with more than five decades of experience, died. He was 83.

Apr 27: Poet, music connoisseur, patron of singers and former Punjab chief secretary Javed Qureshi died.

Apr 30: Mohammad Akram the father of legendry Test Cricketer Wasim Akram, breathed his last. He was 84.

Apr 30: Motivational speaker, storyteller and Pakistan’s first-ever quadriplegic athlete, Sarmad Tariq, passed away.

May 02: Rome Olympics gold medallist, centre half Anwar Ahmed Khan died. He was 81.

May 05: Tariq Malik, the brother of Chairman Bahria Town Malik Riaz, passed away.

People in News

Khushwant Singh

On Apr 22, a fistful of ashes of legendary writer Khushwant Singh were placed at his school in Hadali, 12km from Khushab city. Noted Pakistani writer Fakir Syed Aijazuddin brought the ashes from India to honour the great man’s desire to be ‘reunited with his roots’.

Ahmad Rafay Alam

On Apr 22, Pakistani environment lawyer and activist Ahmad Rafay Alam was named Yale World Fellow 2014. Mr Alam is among 16 World Fellows selected in 2014 from a pool of about 4,000 applicants.

Rabia Faridi

On Apr 24, Rabia Faridi, a female student of MSc Hons (Plant Breeding and Genetics) at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, was chosen to speak on women issues in Pakistan at the coming session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Faizan Laqa

On Apr 25, Faizan Laqa, a local student from Lahore Grammar School was recognized for his superior academic achievements by The National Society of High School Scholars Atlanta, GA, USA. The National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) is an international body that recognises top scholars who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, scholastic and community commitment. Faizan Laqa was selected to become a member of the same.
This announcement was made on March 3rd, 2014 by NSHSS Founder and Chairman Claes Nobel, a senior member of the family that established the Nobel Prize.

Dr Haathi Singh

Dr Haathi Singh, the only MBBS doctor in Achhro Thar ‘the vast ‘white desert’ that connects Pakistan to India’s Rajasthan’ has been traversing the desert on a ‘camel ambulance’ with emergency medical kit for ten years now. He reaches the needy person who may call him even from the nearest sand dune, if phone facility is not available.

Sadaruddin Hashwani

On Apr 30, Belgium conferred upon Sadaruddin Hashwani, the chairman of Hashoo Group, the Award of Knight-Commander in the Order of Leopold.

Nalain Aziz

On Apr 23, a Pakistani child Nalain Aziz, 2, became the youngest patient and the 500th liver transplant patient from Pakistan operated on by India’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.

International

April 16: In South Korea, a ferry namely the MV Sewol, en route to the resort island of Jeju, carrying 462 on board, mostly high school students bound for a holiday island, sank.

April 16: The New York Police disbanded a special unit that was created essentially for monitoring the Muslim community in the aftermath of 9/11 terror attacks.

April 16: Separatists flew the Russian flag on armoured vehicles taken from the Ukrainian army, humiliating a Kiev government operation to recapture eastern towns controlled by pro-Moscow partisans.

April 16: The Indian Supreme Court rejected N. Srinivasan’s plea to reinstate him as India’s cricket chief.

April 16: Pakistan-born visual effects artist Mir Zafar Ali bagged another Oscar for Frozen, bringing his total tally of trophies to three.

April 17: Ukraine banned entry to its territory for all Russian males aged between 16 and 60.

The ban also applied to men aged 16-60 and women aged 20-35 travelling on Ukrainian passports registered in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March.

April 17: Gulf foreign ministers agreed on a deal to end months of unprecedented tension between Qatar and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

April 17: Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU reached a deal on de-escalating the worsening Ukrainian crisis.

April 17: The Indian government installed Admiral Robin K. Dhowan as the new navy chief. He has been acting in the job since the previous chief resigned over the submarine fire that killed two sailors off the Mumbai coast.

April 18: At least 12 Nepalese guides preparing routes up Mount Everest for commercial climbers were killed by an avalanche in the deadliest mountaineering accident ever on the world’s highest peak.

April 18: The United Nations said at least 58 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in an attack against one of its bases in South Sudan sheltering thousands of civilians.

April 18: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won a fourth term in office with a landslide 81 per cent of the vote.

April 19: US President Barack Obama signed into law a bill designed to bar Iran’s future ambassador to the United Nations Hamid Aboutalebi.

April 19: Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Nato’s selection of former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg ‘who will assume his functions as Secretary General from 1 October 2014’ as its new head, saying the pair had ‘very good relations’ but that it was up to the West to improve ties.

April 22: Belgium reached an agreement with the United States on sharing bank account information as part of international efforts to crack down on tax evasion. The accord was negotiated to meet the requirements of the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act which allows US banks to ask their overseas counterparts for account information about clients believed to owe US taxes.

April 23: President Mahmood Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Gaza-based group Hamas agreed to a unity pact. The move envisions a unity government within five weeks and national elections six months later.

April 24: China released a seized Japanese ship after its owner paid $28 million in compensation, in a business dispute dating to the 1930s which underlines tensions between the countries.

April 24: The tiny Pacific republic of the Marshall Islands, scene of massive US nuclear tests in the 1950s, sued the United States and eight other nuclear-armed countries, accusing them of failing their obligation to negotiate nuclear disarmament.

April 25: A joint operation by the British and Australian navies seized the largest ever haul of heroin at sea, weighing 1,032 kilogrammes. The drugs, with an estimated British street value of more than 140 million pound ($235 million), were found on a dhow, or sailboat, some 30 miles off the coast of east Africa near

Kenya and Tanzania.

April 25: More than 100 people were killed and thousands left homeless by flash floods in north and west Afghanistan.

April 26: Nepalese lawmakers passed a bill in parliament to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Commission on the Disappeared, aimed at healing wounds of the former Maoist rebels from the decade-long conflict.

April 26: Leaders of the Group of Seven major economies (G-7) agreed to impose more sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

April 26: Senegal’s former President Abdoulaye Wade returned to the West African country amid tight security at the airport.

Apr 27: India successfully test-fired an anti-ballistic missile capable of intercepting targets outside the planet’s atmosphere, a major step in development of a missile defence system available to only a handful of nations.

April 27: The world’s largest bloc of Islamic countries, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, decided to send 14 delegates to the Central African Republic to lead a fact finding mission, express solidarity with Muslims and contribute to any peace talks in the country, wracked by sectarian bloodshed.

Guinea’s Foreign Minister Lounceny Fall will head the delegation, which will include Turkey’s foreign minister and diplomats from some of the 57 member-states, as well as OIC Secretary-General Iyad Ameen Madani and the body’s special envoy to the Central African Republic, Sheikh Tidiane Gadio.

April 27: The United States and the Philippines reached ‘Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement’ a 10-year agreement that would allow a larger US military presence in this Southeast Asian nation.

April 27: South Korea’s prime minister resigned over the government’s handling of a ferry sinking that left more than 300 people dead or missing. South Korean executive power is largely concentrated in the president, so Chung Hong-won’s resignation appears to be symbolic.

April 27: Pope Francis proclaimed John Paul II and John XXIII the Catholic Church’s newest saints at a festive ceremony joined by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims for two pontiffs who helped shape 20th-century history.

April 28: Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was sworn in for a fourth term for another five years.

April 28: An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 682 alleged Islamists to death. But, the same court in the southern province of Minya also reversed 492 of 529 death sentences it passed in March.

April 28: The Qatar-based satellite network Al Jazeera served Egypt with a $150 million compensation claim for what it said was damage to its media business inflicted by Cairo’s military rulers, a step likely to worsen Qatari-Egyptian relations.

April 30: The sultan of oil-rich Brunei announced that tough Islamic criminal punishments would be introduced on May 1, 2014.

April 30: India signed an agreement under which it will pay Russia to supply arms and equipment to the Afghan military as foreign combat troops prepare to leave the country.

April 30: Switzerland and Norway are the world’s most expensive economies, followed by Bermuda, Australia and Denmark, according to a new ranking by the World Bank. The economies with the lowest prices are Egypt, Pakistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Laos.

The United States, the world’s largest economy, was in relatively affordable 25th place, lower than most other high-income countries.

The richest countries, or those with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita on a purchasing power parity basis, were Qatar, Macau, Luxembourg, Kuwait and Brunei.

Eight countries, including Malawi, Mozambique and Liberia, had GDP per capita of less than $1,000.

April 30: Hollywood star George Clooney retired from his role as United Nations Messenger of Peace after six years.

May 01: Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era.

May 02: Landslides buried a village in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 2600 people.

May 02: US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had secured promises from South Sudan’s president and rebel leader to hold direct talks on ending the country’s brutal four-month-old civil war.

May 02: Palestine became a formal party to five global treaties banning torture and racial discrimination, and protecting the rights of women, children and the disabled.

May 04: Ahmed Maiteeq, a businessman, was named Libya’s new prime minister after winning a vote in parliament. He is Libya’s youngest and fifth prime minister since veteran dictator Moamer Qaddafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 uprising.

May 04: Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, got an endorsement from President Barack Obama.

May 05: Iraq’s cabinet authorised mobile phone firms to use third-generation frequencies.

May 05: The United States secured long-term access to a military base in Djibouti that it relies on to launch counter-terrorism missions, including drone strikes, in Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

US President Barack Obama and his Djibouti counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh announced the renewed “long-term lease” on Camp Lemonnier.

May 05: Three Kashmiri students were allegedly beaten up in their hostel in Greater Noida by close to eight other students. The students claim that they were forced to say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and raise anti-Pakistan slogans.

May 05: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed new legislation introducing harsh punishments for the justification or denial of Nazi war crimes. The legislation makes it a criminal offence to deny facts established by the Nuremberg trials regarding the crimes of the Axis powers and to disseminate ‘false information about Soviet actions’ during World War II.

May 06: The United States gave the ‘foreign mission’ status to the Syrian opposition offices in Washington and New York. The move aims at bolstering the Syrian opposition, which is struggling to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

May 06: The world’s five nuclear powers pledged not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against five Central Asian nations that have banned nuclear weapons. The United States, Russia, China, Britain and France signed a protocol to the Treaty on a Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone in Central Asia at a UN ceremony.

May 06: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, concerned about China’s rising military spending and disputes with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea, signed a new partnership agreement with Nato.

May 06: Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky finally broke her silence about her illicit 1990s affair with President Bill Clinton.

May 06: Thailand’s Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and nine ministers for abuse of power. The cabinet swiftly appointed a deputy premier Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan as the prime minister.

May 06: The United Nations health agency WHO warned that most of the world’s cities ‘are enveloped in dirty air that is dangerous to breathe’.

The WHO database covers 1,600 cities across 91 countries, 500 more cities than in the previous database (2011). The new database has revealed that more cities are monitoring outdoor air quality, reflecting growing recognition of the health risks involved.

May 06: Forty-seven countries signed up to automatically share bank data, including key financial centres Singapore and Switzerland. Under the declaration, the signatories have committed to ‘swiftly’ pass new domestic laws that will allow them to collect information on all back accounts and automatically exchange it with other participating countries.

May 07: President Jose Mujica and his cabinet signed long-awaited rules for Uruguay’s legal marijuana marketplace. Uruguayan citizens and legal residents 18 or older may now register for licenses to cultivate as many as six marijuana plants per household and harvest 480 grams, or 17 ounces, a year, or join a marijuana growing club with 15 to 45 members and no more than 99 plants.

May 08: Britain’s Islamist leader Abu Hamza told his US terror trial that his hands were blown off during an explosives experiment in Lahore in 1993.

May 08: Gunmen shot dead the intelligence chief for eastern Libya Colonel Ibrahim al-Senussi in Benghazi city.

May 08: Two individuals threw items over the White House fence, triggering the second lockdown at the president’s residence.

May 08: Russia test-launched several ballistic missiles during planned exercises overseen by President Vladimir Putin. The Russian military fired a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile from its northern test site in Plesetsk, as well as ‘several’ shorter-range missiles from its submarines in the Northern and Pacific Fleets.

May 09: The United States sanctioned Moscow-based Tempbank, and Mikhail Gagloev, its senior executive, “for providing material support and services to the Government of Syria, including the Central Bank of Syria and SYTROL, Syria’s state oil marketing firm.

May 09: South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel commander Riek Machar agreed a ceasefire deal after coming under growing international pressure to end ethnic fighting that has raised fears of genocide.

May 09: The results of South Africa’s fifth all-race elections showed the long-governing African National Congress securing another big victory, even though the party fell short of its goal of a two-thirds majority.

The figures mean that the ANC is assured of a majority in the 400-seat Parliament, which formally appoints the president.

May 12: The Imperial War Museum in London put the records of 4.5 million men and more than 40,000 women who served with the British army overseas on a new website, ‘Lives of the First World War’.

May 12: The United Nations appointed the first woman to command one of the world body’s peacekeeping operations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Major General Kristin Lund, of Norway, as the force commander for the UN peacekeeping operation in Cyprus. She will replace Major General Chao Liu, of China, on Aug 13.

May 12: Alcohol kills 3.3 million people worldwide each year, more than Aids, tuberculosis and violence combined, the World Health Organisation said, warning that booze consumption was on the rise.

May 12: The leader of the Nigerian Islamist rebel group Boko Haram offered to release more than 200 schoolgirls, abducted by his men in April, in exchange for prisoners.

May 12: The Taliban began their annual ‘spring offensive’ with attacks across Afghanistan, including a suicide assault on government offices that killed seven people plus attackers and rocket strikes on two airports.

May 13: An Israeli court sentenced ex-premier Ehud Olmert to six years in prison for bribery, making him the most senior politician in the country’s history to face jail for corruption.

May 13: The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she has reopened an initial probe into allegations of war crimes committed by British soldiers after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

May 13: Lakhdar Brahimi resigned as the joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria after trying for nearly two years to overcome ‘almost impossible odds’ to end a civil war.

May 13: India’s Congress-led government named Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh Suhag as country’s new army chief.

May 14: In a coalmine in western Turkey nearly 245 workers were confirmed killed and around 120 still feared to be trapped in what could prove to be the nation’s worst industrial disaster.

May 14: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah reshuffled top defence posts, removing the deputy minister and the chief of staff, state news agency SPA reported.
He also appointed his son Prince Turki as governor of Riyadh region, SPA said. Prince Salman bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz was removed from his post as deputy defence minister ‘upon his request, ‘SPA said, citing a royal decree.

He was replaced by Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, the governor of Riyadh.

May 14: The world’s oldest and best-preserved sperm, dating back 17 million years, was unearthed in Australia. The sperm from an ancient species of tiny shrimp was discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site, an area in the far north of the state of Queensland where many extraordinary prehistoric Australian animals have previously been found.

May 15: Afghanistan’s presidential election would go to a run-off vote between former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani, results of the first round of voting confirmed.

Sports

April 17: World number one Rafael Nadal sealed his 300th career victory on clay court.

April 17: Real Madrid overcame Barcelona at the Mestalla in Valencia Gareth Bale to win the Copa del Rey.

April 19: Peter Moores was named England coach for the second time.

April 20: Bernard Hopkins, the oldest world champion in boxing history at age 49, became the eldest fighter to unify world titles when he defeated Beibut Shumenov in a light-heavyweight showdown.

April 20: Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Swiss compatriot Roger Federer to win the Monte Carlo Masters.

April 25: World number one Rafael Nadal suffered his first defeat in Barcelona since 2003 when compatriot Nicolas Almagro ended his winning run in the Spanish city.

April 27: Maria Sharapova claimed a hat-trick of Stuttgart titles after coming from behind to win a three-set battle royal with Ana Ivanovic.

April 27: Japan’s Kei Nishikori sealed his fifth career ATP title and first on clay with a win over Colombian Santiago Giraldo to claim the Barcelona Open.

April 27: Anjum Chopra, the former India women’s captain, and Yuraj Singh were among 56 distinguished people who were honoured with the Padma Shri Award 2014.

April 27: Five-time world champion Lin Dan earned a hard-fought title in the men’s singles at the Badminton Asia Championships in South Korea.

April 28: Kei Nishikori claimed his fifth career title as he became the first Japanese to win the Barcelona Open.

May 04: British star Amir Khan made his debut in the welterweight division a successful one, winning a unanimous decision over former champion Luis Collazo at the MGM Grand Hotel.

May 05: Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was named England’s Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association (FWA).

May 07: Thailand’s unbeaten Amnat Ruenroeng defeated former world champion Kazuto Ioka to retain his International Boxing Federation flyweight title.

May 07: Afghanistan steamrolled Nepal to claim the ACC Premier League title. As the top two teams in the Premier League, both Afghanistan and Nepal have qualified for the Asian Cricket Council Championship 2014.

May 12: The top-ranked Spaniard Rafael Nadal won another clay-court title Madrid Open against Kei Nishikori.

May 15: Sevilla beat Benfica 4-2 on penalties to win the Europa League for the third time.

Science

April 17: Scientists moved a step closer to the goal of creating stem cells perfectly matched to a patient’s DNA in order to treat diseases creating patient-specific cell lines out of the skin cells of two adult men. The advance, described online in the journal Cell Stem Cell, is the first time researchers have achieved
‘therapeutic cloning’ of adults.

April 17: For the first time, scientists have found an Earth-sized world orbiting in a life-friendly zone around a distant star.

The discovery is the closest scientists have come so far to finding a true Earth twin. The star, known as Kepler-186 and located about 500 light years away in the constellation Cygnus, is smaller and redder than the sun.

The star’s outermost planet, designated Kepler-186f, receives about one-third the radiation from its parent star as Earth gets from the sun, meaning that high noon on this world would be roughly akin to Earth an hour before sunset.

May 08: Scientists reported that they had taken a significant step toward altering the fundamental alphabet toward altering the fundamental alphabet of life’ creating for the first time an organism with DNA containing artificial genetic code.

The accomplishment might eventually lead to organisms that can make medicines or industrial products that cells with only the natural genetic code cannot.

May 08: Scientists in India discovered 14 new species of ‘dancing frogs,’ named after their unusual leg-extending ability which male frogs use to attract mates and defend themselves.

Obituaries

April 17: Colombia’s Nobel-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez died in Mexico City at the age of 87.

April 23: Neil Chanmugam, one of Sri Lanka’s leading off-spinners of the pre-Test era, passed away aged 73.

April 26: Former Barcelona coach, Tito Vilanova, died aged 45.

April 30: British actor Bob Hoskins, the gruff star of films including ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ and ‘The Long Good Friday’, died at the age of 71.

May 05: Gary Becker, whose work applying the principles of economics to a wide range of human behaviour won the Nobel Prize in 1992, died at age 83.

May 09: Former Spanish long jumper Yago Lamela, who was the 1999 world championship silver medallist, was found dead. He was 36.

May 08: British planetary scientist Colin Pillinger, the driving force behind the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission to Mars, died at the age of 70.

May 13: Renowned Venezuelan doctor and scientist Jacinto Convit, renowned for his development of a leprosy vaccine and a lifetime spent helping the poor, died at the age of 100.

May 14: Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, who won an Oscar for his 2012 documentary ‘Searching for Sugar Man’, committed suicide in Stockholm.

May 15: Mel Patton, a double gold medal-winning sprinter at the 1948 London Olympics, died. He was 89.

People in News

Mir Zafar Ali

On April 16, Pakistan-born visual effects artist Mir Zafar Ali bagged another Oscar, bringing his total tally of trophies to three. Zafar’s first taste of the Academy Award was back in 2007 when he won the Best Visual Effects Artist award for the movie Golden Compass. Life of Pi and most recently Frozen turned out to be just as lucky for the artist.

He had previously worked for the Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhal starrer The Day After Tomorrow where global climatic events lead to a new Ice Age. X-Men’s Banshee (as well as his sonic screams) and Richard Parker, the tiger in Life of Pi are all evidences of Mir Zafar’s genius. He has also worked for several visual effects shops such as Digital Domain and Rhythm and Hues.

K. Padmarajan

On April 30, an Indian shop owner K. Padmarajan hit the news when it was found that out of the 158 times he stood for public office, not a single time he saw the success.

Didi Senft

On April 18, a German bicycle designer Didi Senft, also known as ‘El Diablo’, made a new bicycle to commemorate the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Storkow. Senft, who has had an entry in the Guinness Book of Record for the world’s largest bicycle, worked some 100 hours on this bicycle.

Elena Poniatowska

On April 23, a Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska received the ‘Premio Cervantes’ literary award from Spain’s King Juan Carlos. ‘Premio Cervantes’ is Spain’s top literary prize that is named after the 16th century author Miguel de Cervantes.

Thuli Madonsela

On April 24, the Time magazine named South Africa’s hard-hitting ombudsman, Thuli Madonsela, as one of the world’s 100 most influential people, providing high-profile recognition of her work investigating President Jacob Zuma.

Salman and Talat Hamdani

On May 02, after a decade-long struggle by Talat Hamdani, her son, a police cadet and a 9/11 hero, Mohammad Salman Hamdani was finally honoured as a street was named after him in Bayside, Queens. Mrs Hamdani calls the move ‘step in the right direction’.

Rafael Nadal

On May 05, the city of Madrid declared world number one Rafael Nadal as its adopted son in honour of his trophy-laden tennis career. Declaring someone an adopted son or daughter is the highest award which Madrid city hall can award.

Nadal, who began playing tennis at age four coached by his uncle Toni Nadal, has been champion in 13 Grand Slam tournaments. He had won the French Open eight times, Wimbledon twice, the US Open twice and one Australian Open.

Previous recipients of the distinction include Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Peruvian author and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.

Places in News

Noma Restaurant

On May 01, Denmark’s Noma restaurant reclaimed the title of world’s best restaurant, becoming a four-time winner having lost the title last year to Spain’s El Celler de Can Roca. The two Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen, which serves Nordic specialities in a quayside warehouse, topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list compiled by 900 international experts for Britain’s Restaurant magazine.

Chilaw, Sri Lanka

May 06: Villagers in the district of Chilaw in Sri Lanka found scores of fish with a total weight of 50kg, a literal ‘fish rain’. The edible fish fell during a storm and are believed to have been lifted out of a river during a strong wind.

It is not the first such incident in Sri Lanka; in 2012, a case of ‘prawn rain’ was recorded in the south.

Interesting News

Apr 18: While issuing a routine media statement, the Press and Information Department (PID), inadvertently, declared China an Islamic Republic.
Buried within the 1,500 words of Press Release No. 151 is the paragraph:

‘The Cabinet gave Approval for Signing of Protocol for the Period from Nov 2004 to Nov 2012 and Approval for Revision of Protocol between the Government of Islamic Republic of China for Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Surveying and Mapping.’

April 27: England’s cricketers may have suffered the embarrassment of a World defeat by the Netherlands and a 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia but even they were never bowled out for three as has happened to one club side.

Wirral, from north-west England, were dismissed for just three against Haslington in a Cheshire League Third Division match with extras the top-scorer courtesy of two leg-byes.

There were 10 ducks in the Wirral innings, with No 11 Connor Hodson, supposedly their worst batsman, the only member of the visitors’ side to score a run off the bat.