World in Focus (Feb-Mar 2014)

News From National & International Press

National

Feb 16: A militant outfit, Mohmand Agency Taliban, claimed to have killed 23 FC soldiers they had kidnapped from Shongari checkpost in the tribal region in 2010.

Feb 16: Clean Water Trust, for providing clean and hygienic drinking water to people across the Punjab, was formed with Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar as its chairman.

Feb 17: In a joint declaration, issued at the conclusion of Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud’s three-day visit to Pakistan, both countries announced a common regional view which signified growing centrality of Riyadh in Islamabad’s foreign and security policies.

Feb 17: An Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Rageeb, who also served as a minister during the 1996-2001 Taliban rule in Afghanistan, was gunned down in Peshawar.

Feb 18: Former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf finally appeared before the Special Court.

Feb 18: Leading Pakistani journalist Sidra Iqbal received an award for her achievements in Journalism at the 4th Annual GR8! Women Awards 2014.

Feb 20: Dozens of militants were killed as air force jets and army’s helicopter gunships carried out punitive strikes against terrorist hideouts in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency.

Feb 20: Leaders of nine political parties pledged commitment to ensure 100 per cent school enrolment in Sindh at a conference held by an education advocacy group, Alif Ailaan.

Feb 21: The Special Court rejected a plea of former president retired General Pervez Musharraf for transferring his high treason trial to a military court.

Feb 23: Military planes pounded bases and hideouts of militants in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency and killed at least 30 fighters of banned organisations.

Feb 23: Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and MCR (Pvt) Ltd; Franchise of international food chain of Pizza Hut, Burger King and TGIF for the territory of Pakistan, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to impart vocational training to the BISP beneficiaries and to provide trained labour work force to the food industry.

Feb 24: Senior Taliban leader Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani and his two guards and driver were shot dead in North Waziristan.

Feb 25: The federal cabinet approved the much-awaited and talked-about national security policy.

Feb 25: The Peshawar High Court ruled that a campaign by activists of PTI and its allied parties to stop and check trucks and containers taking goods to Afghanistan was illegal and unconstitutional.

Feb 25: Pakistan showed insufficient progress towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the newborn mortality rate has merely reduced from 52 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 42 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012.

Feb 25: The civil society organisations ‘Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO), Aurat Foundation, and South Asia Partnership (SAP-PK) and Sungi Development Foundation’ jointly launched an initiative to nurture and strengthen democratic processes at the grassroots level.

Feb 25: University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) observed World Spay Day to create awareness about controlling the increasing population of dogs.

Feb 27: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf decided to end its nearly four-month blockade of Nato supplies to Afghanistan.

Feb 28: The country’s economy grew by five per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, but the State Bank believes that the full year growth will remain between three and four per cent.

Feb 28: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) completed 130MW Duber Khwar hydropower project.

March 01: The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced a month-long unilateral ceasefire.

March 01: Pakistan’s last direct air link with Central Asian states was broken after Uzbekistan Airways suspended its Lahore operation. No other airline, in Pakistan, is operating direct flights to and from any of the Central Asian states.

March 01: The USAID inaugurated the Public Policy Research and Resource Centre at the Forman Christian College (FCC) to provide support to all those interested in issues of governance and public policy in Punjab.

March 02: After TTP’s unilateral ceasefire, the government also halted air strikes on militant hideouts. But it warned the TTP that troops would retaliate if a terrorist attack took place in any part of the country during the truce.

March 02: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved a plan for revival of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), aimed at bringing the national flag-carrier to a break-even level within a year, by increasing revenue and taking cost-cutting measures.
Under the plan, 20 new generation, narrow-bodied and fuel-efficient planes will be inducted into the fleet with Airbus 320 and Boeing 737 as the preferred options, besides getting four Boeing 777 and then same number of ATR 72-500 aircraft on ‘dry lease’.

March 02: The Baloch Culture Day was observed across the country.

March 03: The capital city faced the onslaught in form of a gun-and-bomb attack on the district courts in the heart of Islamabad that left 11 people, including a district and sessions judge, dead.

March 05: The National Assembly passed the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2013 which envisages inclusion of Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court as ex-officio member of the commission.

March 06: It was revealed that most areas of Sindh’s Tharparkar district are facing a famine-like situation and at least 32 malnourished children have died. About 175,000 families are reported to have been affected.

March 06: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved four projects in irrigation and power sectors, to be completed at a cost of Rs. 67.36 billion including the first phase of the Kurram Tangi multi-purpose dam project in North Waziristan at a reduced cost of Rs12.66 billion.

March 06: In order to facilitate public complaints against any aspect of broadcast media or cable TV operators, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) set up a 24/7 Complaint Call Centre (0800-73672).

March 07: Japan and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) signed an agreement to procure vaccination with the grant of $3.7 million for eradicating polio from Pakistan.
Japan and Unicef will boost up the global eradication effort in one of the last strongholds of polio virus in the world.

March 08: While addressing a function held in connection with International Women’s Day at Aiwan-e-Iqbal in Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif announced the regularisation of lady health workers. The chief minister announced that:
a comprehensive package for legal reforms to bring women into the mainstream would be announced soon.
the Punjab government will distribute 200,000 more laptops worth Rs.8 billion among talented students.
Child Marriage Act, Dowry and Gift to the Bride Act, Marriage Functions Atc, Guardian and Ward Act, Married Certificate, Punjab Land Revenue Act and the law regarding distribution of assets were being amended by Punjab government.
a provincial commission on women has been set up in Punjab and its chairperson has also been appointed.
the government is also introducing a comprehensive policy regarding domestic servants
registration fee on birth certificate would be abolished; due to which registration of female children will be encouraged.
only women contractors would be able to operate canteens in women educational institutions
representation of women as office-bearers will be essential for trade unions.

March 10: Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani, chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), said that the laws regarding second marriage of a man in the presence of first wife were against religious principles.

March 11: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) ruled that laws setting the minimum age of marriage are un-Islamic and said that an adolescent of any age can be married on attaining puberty.

March 11: The government of Sindh made several administrative changes in the wake of reports of death of over 100 children in drought-hit Thar and criticism of the government’s perceived failure to take timely action to contain the crisis.

March 12: The government formed a new committee, comprising three serving bureaucrats and a former one, to begin work for holding dialogue with militants.

March 14: The Special Court seized with treason trial of former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf directed the government to arrest and produce him if he refused to appear before it on his own.

March 14: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai announced autonomous status for all district headquarters hospitals of the province.

March 15: A tribal area authority upheld the conviction of Dr Shakil Afridi, the doctor accused of having colluded with the American CIA in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, but reduced the sentence awarded to him by an assistant political agent (APA) from 33 years to 23 years imprisonment.

March 15: Ayaz Latif Palijo helped conclude a ceasefire between the two warring gangs of Lyari. A peace committee was also formed under a newly-signed declaration.

March 15: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service Project which also involves the construction of the Peshawar Mor Interchange at a cost of Rs23.83 billion.

Appointments & Transfers

Feb 17: Pakistan appointed Abdul Basit as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India; after the receipt of Mr Basit’s agreement; diplomatic acceptance of the appointment by the host country.

Feb 23: The government appointed Hassan Raza as new high commissioner to Malaysia. Earlier, Raza was working as Pakistan’s ambassador to Qatar.
March 12: The government appointed Dr Joseph Wilson as the acting Chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan.
The decision followed the exclusion of the CCP from the purview of the federal commission for the selection of heads.

Education

Feb 24: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government approved establishment of two universities ‘Air University and Technical University’ in Azakhel area of Nowshera.

March 01: The Punjab government appointed Dr Muhammad Zareef as Chairman BISE Rawalpindi; Muhammad Aslam as Chairman BISE Gujranwala; Ghulam Muhammad as Chairman BISE Faisalabad; and Dr Anwaar Ahmad as Chairman BISE Sahiwal.

March 15: The Balochistan University’s Khuzdar campus started functioning.

Sports

Feb 16: Lahore Lions retained their Faysal Bank T20 Cup crown after winning final against Faisalabad Wolves.

Feb 16: MPA Nadir Magsi, a former Sindh minister, retained his title after winning the ninth Cholistan Jeep Rally near Derawar Fort, about 75km from Bahawalpur, after covering the 215km distance in 2.15 hours.

Feb 16: Pakistan’s Hamza Amin won a slot in the Asian Golf Tour bringing the country’s golf in the forefront. Hamza succeeded in winning the tour card after he finished 8th out of 700 contestants, in the Asia Tour Qualifying School final stage.

Feb 17: Retired Lt Gen Syed Arif Hasan was elected as president of the Pakistan Archery Federation in place of Raja Ishtiaqullah Khan.

Feb 19: Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq recorded the highest-ever individual score for Pakistan in Under-19 World Cup by making 133 off 137  balls with 13 fours and one six against Scotland at Dubai.

Feb 20: Mohammad Majid Ali of Punjab captured his maiden national junior under-21 snooker title after outplaying Sindh’s Mohammad Haris Nadeem.

Feb 23: Pakistan blind cricket team snatched a four-wicket victory over visiting India at the National Stadium to clinch the series 2-1.

Feb 26: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed former Test captain/wicketkeeper Rashid Latif as chief selector for an indefinite period.

Feb 26: Spirited Pakistan youth created 9 Guinness World Records (GWR) at Sports Board Punjab (SBP) Gymnasium Hall, with army officials and some civilians setting new marks of agility, fitness and dedication.

Feb 28: Pakistan’s amazing youth, under the banner of Punjab Youth Festival, established 10 more Guinness Book World Records.
March 01: Pakistan’s tennis ace Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna defeated Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic in the Dubai Open final.

March 02: The Pakistan Derby 2014 Cup was lifted by Irfan Mehdi’s four years old colt The Incredible under Jockey Bilal Ahmad at Lahore Race Club.

March 02: M. Shabbir’s grip on the game of golf earned him the inaugural JA Zaman Golf title.

March 04: Shahid Afridi and Fawad Alam stunned thousands of Banglasehi cricket fans by bludgeoning half-centuries and blasting defending champion Pakistan into the Asia Cup final with a record rundown win against the hosts.
Bangladesh posted 326-3, its highest score in one-day internationals, but couldn’t prevent Pakistan from achieving its biggest run chase in one-day internationals, reaching 329-7 with a ball to spare.
Pakistan’s previous best run chase in a one-day was 322-6 against India at Mohali in 2007.

March 06: Syed Fakhar Ali Shah and Mazhar Ahmad were elected as president and Secretary General of the Punjab Baseball Association (PBA), respectively.

March 08: Pakistan No. 1 Aqeel Khan lifted Ch Rehmat Ali Memorial PTF National Ranking Tennis Championships men’s singles title.

March 10: Mohammad Asif Toba beat defending champion Hamza Akbar in the final of Jubilee Insurance 39th National Snooker Championship to win maiden title of his career.

March 10: Shahzad and Fahad Naseem Butt were adjudged Mr South Asia and Junior Mr South Asia respectively.
As both the individual titles were won by the men in green, Pakistan, obtaining 49 points, also won the South Asian Bodybuilding Championship that concluded here at Al-Hamrah. Pakistan claimed four gold medals, eight silver and eight bronze medals to win the event while Afghanistan clinched three gold medals and Nepal earned two gold medals.

Obituaries

Feb 16: Mirza Khan, one of the last surviving sepoys from World War II in Pakistan, expired on 5th February 2014, almost a 100 years of age.

Feb 18: TV and film comedy actor Munir Zarif passed away in Lahore. He was 75.

Feb 18: Veteran volleyball official Allama Ghulam Hasan, who was also vice-president of the Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) passed away.

Feb 20: A well-known journalist, chief editor of daily Balochistan Times and daily Zamana Quetta, publisher, former president of APNS and CPNE and a former senator, Syed Fasih Iqbal, passed away after a brief illness.

Feb 21: Founder of the ARY Group, Haji Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, better known as ARY, died in London. He was 69.

Feb 22: Veteran film writer, director and lyricist Aziz Meeruthi passed away in Lahore. He was 90.

Feb 24: Former interior minister Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz passed away.

March 07: Haji Altaf Hussain Unar, a renowned political figure of Larkana, passed away at the age of 55.

March 11: PTI senior vice president Iftikhar Durrani of Nowshera died in a traffic accident.

Economy

Feb 17: Pakistan and the European Union signed a ‘declaratory statement’ for a 100 million euros credit to co-finance the 128MW Keyal Khwar hydropower project to be built on the right tributary of the Indus River in Dasu district in next four years.
Economic Affairs Division Secretary Nargis Sethi and Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Magdalena Alvarez Arza, signed the agreement.

Feb 17: Getz Pharma’s Quality Control Lab achieved WHO pre-qualification certification to become the first Pakistani company to have the certification.

Feb 18: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan signed a series of agreements with the World Bank to facilitate the transfer of surplus electricity from Central to South Asia.

Feb 20: Pakistan and China signed an agreement of ‘early harvest projects’ in the economic corridor under which Beijing will provide more than $20 billion for projects to generate over 20,000MW of electricity and other crucial infrastructure projects.

Feb 23: Pakistan and Afghanistan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) agreed to enhance bilateral trade and economic cooperation during a meeting in Kabul.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar led the Pakistan’s delegation while the Afghan side was headed by his Afghan counterpart Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal.

Feb 24: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched a strategic plan to augment the growth of Islamic banking industry in the next five years. The strategic plan 2014-2018 aims at setting a direction for the industry, which is to be pursued in said period.

Feb 25: MCB launched Pakistan’s first Purchasing Manager Index (PMI), a system based on five major indicators: new orders, production, employment, supplier deliveries and inventories.

March 05: The Arab National Construction (ANC) Holdings of Dubai signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), at Islamabad, with the government to set up two coal-based power projects at Gadani, a jetty for coal import and a transmission line to add 1,320 megawatts of electricity to national grid at an investment of $2.5 billion.

March 11: The rising rupee finally brought the US dollar below the Rs100 mark, setting a new record for the currency’s depreciation in the country.

March 12: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) notified a 22-member tax advisory council to deliberate upon new tax measures for extending the narrow tax base. The Finance Minister Ishaq Dar approved the formation of the council.

March 15: The State Bank kept its policy rate unchanged at 10 per cent for next two months.
Unveiling the monetary policy, the bank noted an improvement in key indicators, but also warned that the economy was still be facing serious challenges, and suggested a proactive policy effort was required to maintain the momentum.

International

Feb 16: Powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of a major political movement and a key figure in post-Saddam Iraq, announced his exit from politics.

Feb 16: Indigenous communities in Canada will be given control over the education system on their reserves under an agreement signed between the Canadian government and the Assembly of First Nations, a national advocacy organization representing Canada’s indigenous citizens.

Feb 17: Iran’s largest private bank, Bank Mellat, announced suing the British government for almost $4 billion in damages to compensate for the ‘significant pecuniary loss’, after the Supreme Court quashed sanctions imposed against it over alleged links to Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Feb 17: The force of ‘Gravity’ was strong at the British Academy Film Awards but it was unflinching drama ’12 Years a Slave’ that took the top prize.
Steve McQueen’s visceral, violent story of a free black man kidnapped into servitude in the 19th century US South was named best picture. Its star, Chiwetel Ejiofor, took the male acting trophy.

Feb 18: India’s Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, spared three killers of Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India, from the hangman’s noose, citing delays in the case 23 years after his assassination by a Tamil suicide bomber.

Feb 19: J. Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, ordered the release of all seven people jailed for plotting the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Feb 20: India’s parliament approved a plan to create 29th state; following days of political mayhem.

Feb 20: A group of 82 elderly and frail South Koreans held an emotional reunion with family members in North Korea, more than 60 years after they were separated by the Korean War.

Feb 21: The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and Nissan are partnering on electric cars, with the Japanese automaker’s Leaf being chosen for the government fleet and taxis.
Under the deal, Nissan will help Bhutan achieve its goal of becoming a zero-emissions nation.

Feb 21: Ukraine’s embattled leader signed a deal with the opposition in a bid to end the ex-Soviet country’s worst crisis since independence.

Feb 21: Indonesia instituted the world’s biggest manta ray sanctuary covering millions of square kilometres as it seeks to protect the huge winged fish and draw more tourists to the sprawling archipelago.
New legislation gives full protection to the creatures across all the waters surrounding Southeast Asia’s biggest country, which for years has been the world’s largest ray and shark fishery.

Feb 21: India’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got a shot in the arm when Pakistan-friendly Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, joined it.

Feb 21: US District Judge William Martini in Newark, New Jersey, threw out a lawsuit by ruling that New York City’s secret police surveillance of mosques, Muslim businesses and a Muslim student group in New Jersey did not violate the US Constitution.

Feb 22: The UN Security Council adopted a unanimous resolution calling for lifting of the siege on several Syrian cities to allow passage of humanitarian aid convoys in the war-torn country.

Feb 24: Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel proposed shrinking the US Army, closing military bases and making other military-wide savings as part of a broad reshaping of priorities after more than a decade of war.

Feb 24: Philippine security forces arrested a key member of the country’s main Muslim rebel group, potentially undermining a peace deal aimed at ending a decades-long insurgency.

Feb 24: Iran signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth $195 million’ a move that would break a UN embargo on weapons sales by Tehran.

Feb 26: Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul signed into law a contested bill tightening the government’s grip on the judiciary as it grapples to contain the fallout from a major corruption probe.

Feb 26: A US appeals court ordered Google Inc., to remove from its YouTube video-sharing website an anti-Islam film that had sparked protests across the Muslim world in 2012.

Feb 27: Ukraine issued a blunt warning to Russia after pro-Kremlin men in combat fatigues seized parliament and government buildings on the volatile Crimean peninsula.

March 01: ‘Me, Myself and Mum,’ a comedy about a young man who worships his mother and whose entire family treats him as a girl since childhood swept five trophies at the French Cesar awards ceremony, including Best Film and Best Actor.

March 01: Twenty-seven people were confirmed dead and 109 others injured in a railway station attack by unidentified knife wielding people in southwest Chinese city of Kunming. It was an organised, premeditated violent terrorist attack according to the authorities.

March 01: US lawmakers announced a caucus to fight for the rights of the Ahmadi community.
Republican Representative Frank Wolf, the co-chair with Democrat Jackie Speier, said the Ahmadiyya Caucus would press for the rights of Ahmadis in trouble in Pakistan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

March 01: Russia’s parliament granted President Vladimir Putin permission to use the country’s military in Ukraine and also recommended that Moscow’s ambassador be recalled from Washington over comments made by President Barack Obama.

March 01: A US appeals court rejected Google’s request to put on hold an order requiring the company to remove an anti-Islamic video from YouTube. The order came from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

March 02: At least 74 people were killed in three weekend attacks in Nigeria’s restive northeast, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives since 2009.

March 02: Ukraine mobilised for war and Washington threatened to isolate Russia economically, after President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbour in Moscow’s biggest confrontation with the West since the cold war.

March 02: Twelve Afghan Taliban escaped from the 1,200-inmate Kandahar Prison after a jail employee falsely put their names on a list of detainees who were scheduled for release.
Two of the 12 were later recaptured.

March 03: Harrowing historical drama ’12 Years a Slave’ won the coveted best picture Oscar, while 3D space thriller ‘Gravity’ was the top winner at the Academy Awards with seven Oscars.

March 03: The surging price of Microsoft shares returned US tech tycoon Bill Gates back to the top of Forbes’s world’s billionaires list, with his $76bn beating out Mexico’s Carlos Slim’s $72bn.
The annual list counted 1,645 men and women as billionaires, with an average wealth of $4.5bn and a collective wealth of $6.4 trillion, up $1 trillion from a year ago.

March 04: US whistleblower Edward Snowden, Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, as the Nobel Institute announced a record 278 candidates.

March 05: Three Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, recalled their ambassadors from Doha in an unprecedented escalation in tension with fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member Qatar, accused of backing the widely banned Muslim Brotherhood.

March 05: India announced a nine-stage election from April 7 that will invite 814 million voters to send 543 deputies to the 16th Lok Sabha.

March 05: Swami Vivekanada Subharti University in Meerut suspended 67 Kashmiri students for apparently cheering Pakistan during the India-Pak match in the Asia Cup.

March 06: An Iraq-based militant group, named the Ansar al-Islam released a video of its new training camp, which is named after the Lal Masjid’s Abdul Rasheed Ghazi. They have also apparently named a subdivision of their group after the Lal Masjid’s controversial cleric.

March 06: Lawmakers in Crimea voted to join Russia, escalating tensions in Ukraine as the new government in Kiev said it wanted to sign an EU agreement ‘as soon as possible’ and the US announced sanctions to punish Moscow.
The motion was passed by 78 out of 86 MPs in favour.

March 06: Turkey’s constitutional court ruled that the legal rights of a former army chief, Ilker Basbug, jailed over an alleged coup plot had been violated, a decision that paves the way for his release.

March 06: The 67 Kashmiri students from Swami Vivekanand Subharti University who had cheered Pakistan when it beat India in an Asia Cup match were freed from sedition charges as withering criticism of the move forced the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to intervene in the matter.

March 06: Harvard University again topped world university rankings pushing down Cambridge and Oxford University to fourth and fifth positions respectively.
Harvard University is followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology at second and Stanford University at the third rank respectively, according to this year’s Times Higher Education World Reputation.

The top 10 universities are:

1. Harvard University
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. Stanford University
4. University of Cambridge
5. University of Oxford
6. University of California, Berkley
7. Princeton University
8. Yale University
9. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
10. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

March 07: The International Criminal Court convicted a rebel leader Germain Katanga of charges including murder and pillage over a deadly attack on a village in eastern Congo, but acquitted him of rape, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

March 07: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal on sodomy charges was overturned, in a fresh threat to the career of a charismatic politician who helped turn around the country’s once-hapless opposition.

March 07: Saudi Arabia listed the Muslim Brotherhood and two Syrian jihadi groups as terrorist organisations, and ordered citizens fighting abroad to return within 15 days or face imprisonment.

March 08: Iran’s modern-learning president strongly criticized hard-line judicial officials for ordering reformist newspapers shut down.

March 08: Egypt’s interim president issued a decree that governs upcoming presidential election, clearing the way for the vote that many expect the country’s military chief to take part in and win.

March 09: A Canadian freelance photographer Ali Moustafa was killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo after a crude bomb exploded.

March 09: Saudi and Emirati pundits quit major media outlets in Qatar, including the broadcaster of top-flight European football as tensions soar between Doha and Gulf states.

March 11: Croatia’s ex-prime minister Ivo Sanader was found guilty of embezzling millions of euros in public funds while in power and was sentenced to nine years in jail.

March 11: Lawmakers on the flashpoint Crimean peninsula voted for independence from Ukraine ahead of a referendum on joining Russia.

March 12: The share of seats held by women in parliaments around the world rose 1.5 percentage points in the past year to a record 21.8 per cent, almost doubling since 1995, a study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women showed.

March 14: Officials from the EU, United States, Japan, Philippines, Colombia and Indonesia, some of the world’s top fishing powers, signed a declaration in Greece to promote sustainable management of fish stocks.
The signatories pledged to support measures to address fishing overcapacity. These include developing international fishing vessel records, limiting the number of licenses and vessel tonnage and eliminating fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.

March 14: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry utterly failed to defuse the crisis over Ukraine, ending up at loggerheads following tense talks over the worst East-West clash since the Cold War.

March 15: Russia vetoed a Western-backed resolution condemning the Crimea referendum at a UN Security Council emergency vote, but China abstained, isolating Moscow further on the Ukraine crisis.

March 15: A New York grand jury re-indicted Devyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat, accused of mistreating her housekeeper on two counts of visa fraud and making false statements, threatening to reignite a bitter row with New Delhi.

Feb 27: NASA confirmed 715 newly discovered planets outside the solar system. It’s a major step towards the planet-hunting Kepler telescope’s ultimate goal: ‘finding Earth 2’.

Appointments & Resignations

Feb 17: India’s President Pranab Mukherjee imposed President’s rule in Delhi and accepted the Arvind Kejriwal government’s resignation.

Feb 19: The Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy, resigned in protest over the contentious bill to create the country’s 29th state by splitting his state in two.

Feb 21: Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi formed new government in Italy.
At 39, Renzi is Italy’s youngest and the third straight premier to come into the office without being elected. The last premier who stood for election was the scandal-tainted Silvio Berlusconi in 2008.

Feb 22: Ukraine’s parliament voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovich, who abandoned his Kiev office to protesters and denounced what he described as a coup.
Parliament also freed his archnemesis, former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Feb 23: A new era dawned in Ukraine as parliament appointed a pro-Western interim leader after ousted president Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev to escape retribution.

Feb 24: The military-installed government of Egyptian prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi resigned ahead of a presidential poll which will bring army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power.

Feb 26: Ibrahim Mehlib, an industrialist who rose to prominence during the Mubarak era, was named Egypt’s new prime minister.

Feb 26: Ukraine’s new leaders named a strongly pro-Western cabinet as brawls erupted between rival factions on the volatile Crimean peninsula and Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered snap military drills near the border with the ex-Soviet state.

Feb 26: The Indian Navy’s run of serious accidents over a stretch of a few months hit another fatal patch when a fire on a Russian built submarine injured seven sailors and left two officers missing. Naval Chief Admiral D. K. Joshi resigned owning moral responsibility.

March 11: The Libyan parliament ousted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan after a tanker laden with crude oil from a rebel-held terminal broke through a naval blockade and escaped to sea.

March 06: Japan’s biggest brokerage Nomura Holdings chose Chie Shimpo, 48, to be the next president of Nomura Trust and Banking. It is believed to be a first in the country’s male-dominated financial sector.

Feb 20: Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan suspended the central bank governor for alleged financial recklessness.

Sports

Feb 17: Brendon McCullum and Bradley John Watling of New Zealand broke the world record for the highest sixth-wicket partnership with a 352-run stand against India on the fourth day of the second Test at Basin Reserve, Wellington.

Feb 17: Kuldeep Yadav became the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in Under-19 World Cup history.

Feb 22: Sri Lanka trounced Bangladesh by six wickets in the third and final One-day International to sweep the series 3-0.

Feb 23: The Sochi Olympics completed their 17-day run with Russia seizing first place in the medals table while Canada won the men’s ice hockey final.
Canada claimed the last, most coveted title of the Games by sweeping aside Sweden 3-0 to retain their men’s hockey crown.
Russia bagged most medals (33) after Norway (26) and Canada (25).

Feb 26: Mahela Jayawardene became only second player after India’s Sachin Tendulkar to appear in 600 or more international matches.

Feb 27: Bangladesh defeated New Zealand by 77 runs to win their fourth Plate Championship title at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

March 01: Afghanistan put up a brilliant performance to upset hosts Bangladesh by 32 runs in the Asia Cup match.

March 01: South Africa made history as they won their maiden ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup title by handing Pakistan a six-wicket defeat in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

March 01: Football’s world governing body FIFA officially authorised the wearing of head covers for religious purposes during matches.

March 01: Asghar Stanikzai and Samiullah Shenwari set up a new record for the sixth wicket in Asia Cup by adding 164 runs against Bangladesh.

March 02: Roger Federer subdued Tomas Berdych in the Dubai Championships final as the Swiss maestro sealed his 78th singles title.

March 04: Graeme Smith, one of the most dogged batsmen of his generation, stunned South Africa by announcing he will retire from international cricket at the end of the third Test against Australia.

March 05: Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi Salahuddin retained his post as chief of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) after the elections were held during the body’s Annual Congress.

March 06: England defeated the West Indies by 25 runs in the deciding third and final One-day International to clinch the series.

March 07: Nike will supply the kit for more teams than Adidas for the first time ever at this year’s World Cup finals.
The two sports giants will throw Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo and Spain against Brazil to see who can claim a bigger chunk of the multi-billion dollar market for football boots, shirts and shorts.

March 08: Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the final of the Asia Cup.

March 09: Ashton Eaton won yet another gold medal and again proved himself the ‘world’s greatest athlete,’ the title which traditionally goes to the best multi-event competitor in athletics.

March 12: West Indies rallied from a middle-order wobble to romp to a series-clinching five-wicket victory over England in the second Twenty20 International.

Obituaries

Feb 16: Father of former AJK prime minister and Peoples Party AJK leader Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry Noor Hussain passed away. He was 96.

Feb 16: William Duff, the British banker who helped transform Dubai into a financial powerhouse, serving as an advisor to its ruling sheikh, died at the age of 92.
Mr William came to Dubai after a stint as a banker in Kuwait and became financial advisor to the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum in 1960. At the time, the emirate’s population was about 50,000; it survived largely on fishing, herding and small-scale trade across the Gulf in wooden dhows.

Feb 23: Alice Herz-Sommer, believed to be the oldest-known survivor of the Holocaust, died in London at age 110.

Feb 26: Former world champion boxer Antonio Cermeno was kidnapped and killed in his native country Venezuela.

March 09: Afghan Vice-President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, formerly one of the country’s most feared warlords, died.

March 14: Tony Benn, a committed British socialist who irritated and fascinated Britons through a political career spanning more than five decades and who renounced his aristocratic title rather than leave the House of Commons, died at 88.

Economy

Feb 25: Greece was back in the black for the first time since 1948, the EU’s economics commissioner Olli Rehn said as figures showed the economically-hobbled nation returning to growth.

March 01: Bangladesh will receive a $600-million loan from the World Bank in order to improve electricity supplies to rural areas, in order to reduce poverty and create jobs, the multilateral lender said in a statement.
The loan was approved by the World Bank’s board a day earlier.

March 05: Iraq is reclaiming its rank as the world’s fastest-growing oil exporter, cushioning consumers from Libyan supply outages for now and, perhaps, reviving Opec market share rivalries down the road.

People in News

John Kerry

On Feb 16, US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Southeast Asia’s largest mosque, the Istiqlal mosque in the heart of Jakarta, during his visit to Indonesia, paying tribute to Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Somayya Jabarti

On Feb 16, Somayya Jabarti became the first woman to be named as editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia.
Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn

On Feb 17, 31-year-old Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn, the co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane hijacked his aircraft and forced it to land in Geneva so he could seek asylum.
Chiwetel Ejiofor

On Feb 17, Chiwetel Ejiofor took the male acting trophy at the British Academy Film Awards for his performance in unflinching drama ’12 Years a Slave’.
Hans Raj Hans

On Feb 19, a famous Indian singer Hans Raj Hans embraced Islam. Hans, while confirming his conversion to Islam, said that he had been studying Islam very closely and even his elders had been telling him about the virtues of the religion.
Dalai Lama

On Feb 21, US President Barack Obama welcomed Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to the White House, defying China, which said the meeting would ‘seriously impair’ ties between the two countries.
Abraham de Villiers

On Feb 21, South Africa batsman Abraham de Villiers became the first player in the history of Test cricket to score a fifty plus knock in 12 consecutive Tests after he made 116 off 232 balls in the first innings on the second day of the second Test against Australia.

Bill Gates

On March 3, the surging price of Microsoft shares returned US tech tycoon Bill Gates back to the top of Forbes’s world’s billionaires list, with his $76bn.
Snowden, Malala and Putin

On March 4, US whistleblower Edward Snowden, Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai and Russian President Vladimir Putin were nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Subrata Roy

On March 4, India’s top court jailed Subrata Roy, the head of Sahara business group, after he apologised to the judges for failing to show up for a hearing.
Perenna Kei

On March 5, Perenna Kei, a 24-year-old Hong Kong-based woman was named the world’s youngest billionaire, replacing a former Facebook cofounder and spurring gossip in the city.
She was ranked by Forbes as the world’s youngest tycoon in its annual superrich list, with a net worth of $1.3 billion.
Maurice Faure

On March 6, former French minister Maurice Faure, the last surviving signatory of the Treaty of Rome which paved the way for European integration, died aged 92.
A former Resistance fighter during World War II, Faure was deputy foreign minister when the path breaking 1957 treaty was signed.

Mohammed Khurshid Hussain

On March 6, 23-year-old boy from Hyderabad India, Mohammed Khurshid Hussain, broke the world record for nose-typing. He typed the sentence: ‘Guinness World Records have challenged me to type this sentence using my nose in the fastest time’ in just 48.62 seconds. He already holds the title of fastest typist of the English alphabet on a keyboard ‘just 3.43 seconds’ but that was set using his fingers.
The previous record holder was another Indian, Neeta, who finished the task way back in 2008, in 1 minute and 33 seconds.

Ansar Burney

On March 6, the Cholistan Development Council of Pakistan announced 16th ‘Cholistan Award’ for the United Nations former expert adviser on human rights and Chairman of Ansar Burney Trust International, Ansar Burney in the field of human and civil rights.

Fatima Bhutto

On March 7, Fatima Bhutto, the niece of former prime minister Ms Benazir Bhutto, was nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Ms Bhutto is among 20 women on the long list for the award, which was formerly known as the Orange prize and is open to English-language novels from anywhere in the world.
She has been nominated for ‘The Shadow of the Crescent Moon’, her first attempt at fiction.

Anwar Ibrahim

On March 7, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal on sodomy charges was overturned.
Nadeem Aslam

On March 9, Pakistani writer Nadeem Aslam won the Yale University’s prestigious Windham Campbell Literature Prize 2014 for his fiction works which ‘explore historical and political trauma with lyricism and profound compassion’.

Dr Margaret Chan

On March 12, President Mamnoon Hussain conferred Hilal-i-Pakistan upon Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of World Health Organisatin, during a special investiture ceremony held at the Aiwan-i-Sadar.

Devyani Khobragade

On March 15, a New York grand jury re-indicted Devyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat, accused of mistreating her housekeeper on two counts of visa fraud and making false statements.

Places in News

Singapore

On Feb 19, Singapore topped an international survey of the best cities in Asia for expatriates while the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka was named the worst. Japan took all the other spots in the Asian top five, with Tokyo in second place followed by Kobe, Yokohama and Osaka.

Allahabad

On March 1, female ‘sadhus’ broke away from tradition and formed a new all-female group, ‘akhada’, in India that they hope will end male domination of spiritual practices.

Kunming, China

On March 1, twenty-seven people were killed and 109 others were injured in a railway station attack by unidentified knife wielding people in southwest Chinese city of Kunming.

Kandahar

On March 2, twelve Afghan Taliban prisoners escaped from the 1,200-inmate Kandahar Prison after a jail employee falsely put their names on a list of detainees who were scheduled for release.

Paris

On March 4, the first patient to receive an artificial heart intended as a permanent replacement for his own ailing organ died 75 days after the transplant operation, said Paris Georges Pompidou European Hospital. The name of the patient has not been disclosed.

Meerut, India

On March 5, Swami Vivekanada Subharti University in Meerut suspended 67 Kashmiri students for apparently cheering Pakistan during the India-Pak match at the Asia Cup.

Belgium

On March 6, Belgian postal company Bpost issued a commemorative stamp to mark International Women’s Day. The stamp was created by graphic designer Ann Bessemans and contains 606 words, a Guinness World Record.