WORLD IN FOCUS (Feb 2013- March 2013)

News From National & International Press 

 National

Feb 16: A massive bomb devastated a residential area in Quetta, killing at least 67 Shia Hazaras.

Feb 16: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement announced to quit the federal and provincial governments in protest against ‘negative attitude’ of the People’s Party.

Feb 17: Pakistan and Palestine agreed to form a joint commission comprising foreign ministers of the two states to expand bilateral ties in economic, agricultural, banking, social and cultural sectors.

Feb 18: In a partial award announced in the Kishanganga dispute, the Hague-based Court of Arbitration allowed India to divert only a minimum flow of water from Neelum/Kishanganga River for power generation.

Feb 18: A Pakistani student of Myers College Chakwal, Muhammad Shujaat Mirza, topped the world in O Level International Cambridge Examinations.

Feb 18: President Asif Ali Zardari confirmed nomination of Justice Nisar Muhammad Shaikh, Justice Nadeem Akhtar and Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui as permanent judges of the Sindh High Court.

Feb 18: The government of Sindh appointed Mirza Omair Baig as Justice of Peace for District South Karachi. He will perform as Honorary Magistrate within the territorial limit of the District.

Feb 19: Abdul Hafeez Shaikh stepped down as federal Minister for Finance and Revenue. Minister of state for finance, Saleem H. Mandviwalla, replaced him.

Feb 19: President Asif Ali Zardari approved addition of 27 symbols to and omission of ‘cat’ from the existing list of election symbols, taking the total number of approved symbols to 197.

Feb 19: The International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration (ICC ICA) denied Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) any relief and supported the arguments of the government of Balochistan.

Feb 21: The Sindh Assembly repealed the ‘Sindh People’s Local Government Act, 2012’ and revived the ‘Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 1979’.

Feb 21: The National Assembly passed the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (PIMS), Islamabad Bill, 2013.

Feb 21: Oscar and Emmy award winner Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy was appointed as a SAARC Goodwill Ambassador for HIV and AIDS for the year 2013 and 2014.

Feb 22: President Asif Zardari accorded his assent to the Pakistan Academy of Letters Bill 2013 and also signed the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan Bill 2013.

Feb 22: The government replaced Secretary Water and Power Nargis Sethi with Rai Sikander, a Grade-21 officer. Ms Sethi will continue to serve as the cabinet secretary.

Feb 22: Former Kinnaird College principal Dr Mira Phailbus was appointed Punjab Ombudswoman. This is the first time that a woman has been given this slot in Pakistan.

Feb 23: The president appointed Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman as a judge of the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan, and Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi as the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Feb 24: Pakistan’s Envoy to the United States Sherry Rehman was awarded the Smith College Medal for her outstanding dedication to the women’s rights. Sherry graduated in 1985 from the institution.

Feb 24: A massive power breakdown plunged major parts of the country into darkness. From Islamabad to Karachi, most major cities faced power outage because of a major fault in the National Power Control Centre (NPCC) system.

Feb 25: According to the Global Terrorism Index, that profiles data on terrorism from across the world, Pakistan is the second most affected country in the world by terrorism, after Iraq.

Feb 25: The National Assembly unanimously passed the ‘Defence Housing Authority, Islamabad, 2013’ bill.

Feb 26: Board of directors of Pakistan Steel Mills approved appointment of Maj Gen (R) Muhammad Javed as chief executive officer of Pakistan Steel under the Pakistan Steel Companies Ordinance 1984.

Feb 26: The government approved a record Rs.100 billion bailout package for the ever-bleeding Pakistan International Airlines.

Feb 26: President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Instrument of Ratification for Pakistan to become a member of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Feb 28: At least 352 people were killed and 699 were injured in 27 bomb blasts that ripped through various areas across Pakistan during the first two months of 2013.
According to official figures, in January, 16 blasts which took place in different parts of the country caused 199 casualties and left 380 wounded while in the month of February 11 explosions took place killing 153 and injuring another 319.

Feb 28: Mainstream political and religious parties and civil society groups agreed to negotiate peace with militant elements through a broadened tribal jirga earlier formed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F. The parties attending an All Parties Conference (APC), hosted by the JUI-F, agreed on a five-point declaration.

Feb 28: The Punjab government and the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to unearth corruption, if any, in three mega projects in the Laptop Scheme, Ujala Programme and the Metro Bus Project.

Feb 28: A Congressional resolution was introduced in the US House of Representatives to recognise Dr Shakil Afridi, who helped CIA trace Osama bin Laden, as an American hero.

Mar 01: A Pakistan-born 17-year-old student in California, Shayan Ahmad, launched SheFacebook, a new Facebook for women.

Mar 01: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf appointed Ghulam Nabi Mangrio as Managing Director of Pakistan Security Printing Press, Karachi.

Mar 01: The government appointed Abdul Wadood Shah, a grade-22 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) group, DG Intelligence Bureau, replacing Akhtar Gorchani,

Mar 01: The Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) decided to start inviting applications for ‘general recruitment’ online from April.

Mar 01: The Election Commission of Pakistan appointed key electoral officers and made public an updated electoral roll containing 85.42 million entries.

Mar 01: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) signed a financing package of $227 million with Pakistan to fund polio eradication activities in the country. The Gates Foundation will provide support for the administrative costs.

Mar 01: The Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced regularisation of services of all contract employees from grade 1 to 16 in the province.

Mar 01: The Lahore High Court Green Bench directed the Punjab government to constitute a ‘Fire Safety Commission’ to devise a mechanism in order to curtail the loss in fire incidents.

Mar 02: The Punjab government issued policy for the regularisation of contract employees under which those in BS-16 and above will be appointed through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and those in lower grades by the departments concerned.

Mar 03: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated Kalma Chowk Underpass, the largest underpass in the history of the Pakistan.

Mar 04: Promotion of Education in Pakistan (PEP), a US-based non-profit organisation agreed to donate Rs.22 million for the establishment of Student Advancement Endowment Fund (SAFE) in Pakistan.

Mar 05: The Senate unanimously passed the ‘Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013’ allowing the government to impose bars on leaders of banned outfits.

Mar 05: President Federation of Pakistan Chamber of commerce & Industry Senator Haji Fazal Kadir Khan Sherani appointed Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig as Chairman Pak-UAE Business Council of FPCCI for the year 2013.

Mar 05: The cabinet committee for educational reforms in Punjab recommended maintaining national language, Urdu, as medium of instructions at primary and elementary school level because of its significance as a tool of national integration while English should be a compulsory subject instead of medium of instructions at primary and elementary level.

Mar 06: Punjab’s largest dialysis centre was set up at the Lahore General Hospital.

Mar 06: The Senate passed the bill seeking creation of a new province in Punjab.

Mar 06: The provincial government transferred IGP Sindh, Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari, to the centre and one of the deputy inspectors general (DIGs) was relieved of his posting following a Supreme Court order.

Mar 06: The National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution demanding that television channels remove anchors airing unverified programmes against parliamentarians.

Mar 07: The federal cabinet provided a subsidy of Rs.16 billion on tube-wells and extended provincial quotas in federal jobs for another 20 years.

Mar 08: Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina Wajid nominated Prof Waris Mir, former head of Journalism Department of the Punjab University, for the highest civil award of the country.

Mar 08: PML(N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif reopened the Pak-Tea House, the historical hangout of legendary men and women of letters of the subcontinent, after a long closure of 16 years.

Mar 08: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) again rejected government interim committee and reconfirmed Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), headed by Lt Gen (rtd) Arif Hassan, as legitimate body.

Mar 08: The National Assembly marked the International Women’s Day by passing a key anti-terror law that seeks to establish a National Counter Terrorism Authority as a focal institution to integrate the country’s effort against terrorism and extremism.

Mar 08: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly unanimously passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Act, 2013 binding the owners of press, newspapers, news agencies and books registration to submit a declaration of paying salaries to employees as per Wage Board Award.

Mar 09: A mob enraged over alleged blasphemy set on fire a number of houses belonging to Christians in Badami Bagh.

Mar 09: Dr Abdul Qayoom Soomro was elected senator on a seat reserved for technocrats in Sindh.

Mar 09: The Bangladesh government honoured poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and rights activist Asma Jahangir’s father Malik Ghulam Jilani.

Mar 09: Imran Khan laid foundation stone for the second Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital of the country in Peshawar.

Mar 10: A 220-page book in English entitled ‘My Debut in Journalism’ comprising letters and articles written by founder of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was published.

Mar 10: President Asif Ali Zardari approved, on the advice of prime minister, conferment of Sitara-i-Imtiaz on Sarmad Ali, the managing director of the Jang Media Group and president of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS).

Mar 10: Federal Tax Ombudsman and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Shoaib Suddle and SSP Mirwaiz Niaz were elected President and General Secretary respectively of the International Police Association (IPA), Pakistan Section.

Mar 11: US real estate tycoon Thomas Kramer and CEO Bahria Town Ahmad Ali Riaz Malik signed a $20 billion agreement for Pakistan’s first-ever Island City, Bundal & Buddo Islands, Karachi.

Mar 12: The National Assembly unanimously passed ‘The Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill 2013’ which says that any person who is guilty of inflicting corporal punishment on a child shall be punishable with imprisonment extending up to a maximum period of one year of fine up to Rs.50,000/- or both.

Mar 12: A two-member division bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the order of a single bench against collection of the gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) from industrial and commercial consumers.

Mar 12: The National Assembly exempted politicians from personally delivering their nomination papers to returning officers.

Mar 12: The governor of Balochistan issued an ordinance under which primary and secondary school education was declared compulsory and free.

Mar 12: Former Punjab chief secretary Javaid Mehmood was appointed new provincial ombudsman. The recently-appointed Mira Phailbus would hear complaints filed by women.

Mar 13: The Senate passed two important bills paving the way for setting up an anti-terror body for coordinating and interacting with law enforcement agencies to curb rising terrorism and another for removing the restriction on election candidates to appear in person before returning officer for submission of their nomination papers.

Mar 13: The federal cabinet approved the Investment Policy, 2013, and Foreign Direct Investment Strategy, 2013-17.

Mar 13: With the four successful GWR attempts Pakistan’s count of records in the Punjab Youth Festival rose to 21 World Records.

Mar 14: On the final day of the Punjab Youth Festival, the country was graced with another two Guinness World Records.

Mar 14: The Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s right to get its new nomination forms printed by saying that the nomination paper was strictly in accordance with the law and the Constitution and there should be no objection to it.

Mar 14: The Sindh Assembly regularised services of thousands of government employees working on a contract or ad hoc basis by adopting a bill (No. 24 2013).

Mar 14: A division bench of the BHC reinstated Mir Tariq Magsi as Leader of Opposition in the Balochistan Assembly after annulling a ruling of Speaker Syed Matiullah Agha.

Mar 14: Asian Development Bank (ADB) decided to provide BISP with a further financial support of $200 million.

Mar 14: The historic ‘Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Bill 2013’ became part of the book as the president inked it. The law will further ensure expeditious disposal of complaints of the citizens. The two houses of the Parliament had earlier adopted the bill unanimously.

Mar 15: Three out of four countries in Asia and the Pacific are facing a serious shortage of water. The Asian Water Development Outlook 2013 found that 37 out of 49 nations did not have enough water, the worst being India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu.

Mar 15: According to a report revealed by United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP), Pakistan ranks 123 on the gender inequality index of the 2013 Human Development Report.

Mar 15: United Nations’ special rapporteur, Mr Ben Emmerson, on human rights and counterterrorism said that US drone strikes violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and called for their immediate cessation.

Mar 15: The Sindh Assembly passed by a majority vote four government bills increasing by up to 660 per cent the salaries/honoraria, fringe benefits, perks and allowances of the speaker, deputy speaker, ministers, special assistants and lawmakers with a retrospective effect from July 1, 2011.

Mar 15: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf issued an order for an ‘unprecedented security protocol’
for himself and former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The special security protocol would be provided to five former prime ministers.

Mar 15: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s ruling and opposition parties nominated a former chief justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC), Justice (retd) Tariq Pervez Khan, as caretaker chief minister of the province.

Mar 15: The Punjab government appointed three new members of the Punjab Public Service Commission. They included former capital city police officer Aslam Tareen, Sohail Ahmad and Shaukat Hayat Durrani.

Mar 16: The National Assembly of Pakistan completed its full-term of five years for the first time in the democratic interludes of Pakistan. The National Assembly held 50 sessions during last five years.

International

Feb 18: The CIA thrillers ‘Argo’ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ won top screenplay honours from the Writers Guild of America.

Feb 18: European Union foreign ministers approved the launch of a 500-strong EU military mission to train the Malian army as Brussels also announced the holding of a major international conference on the country’s future.

Feb 19: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah swore in the country’s first female members of the Shura Council, an appointed body that advises on new laws.

Feb 20: British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in India, describing the episode as ‘deeply shameful’ while stopping short of a public apology.

Feb 21: Sri Lanka banned the sale of land to foreigners, charging that prime properties bought by outsiders had been neglected and that the country was not reaping the full benefits of their tourism potential.

Feb 22: The US State Department warned Pakistan against any oil deals with Iran.

Feb 23: Facebook’s and Google’s founders set aside their rivalries to create the ‘Breakthrough Prize’ for science that’s worth more than double the value of the Nobel Prize.

Feb 24: African leaders signed the UN-mediated deal at ending two decades of conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and paving the way for the deployment of a new military brigade to take on rebel groups.

Feb 24: Rightwing leader Nicos Anastasiades won presidential election in Cyprus.

Feb 25: India’s aviation ministry withdrew international flying rights and domestic slots from debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines, making more seats available for rival carriers.

Feb 25: ‘Argo’ stormed to Best Picture victory at the Oscars. The most overall wins’ four ‘went to ‘Life of Pi’. ‘Lincoln’ failed to win in any major category but Daniel Day-Lewis took a record third prize for best actor.

Feb 25: Philippine President Benigno Aquino signed a landmark law compensating human rights victims of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The billion pesos ($244 million) will be distributed to potentially thousands of people who were tortured, raped or detained, as well as relatives of those who were killed, by Marcos’s security forces during his 20-year rule.

Feb 25: Israel and the United States staged the first test flight of the latest generation of their Arrow missile defence system, the Arrow 3.

Feb 25: Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree allowing cardinals to bring forward a conclave to elect his successor.

Feb 25: Park Geun-hye became South Korea’s first female president, vowing zero tolerance with North Korean provocation and demanding Pyongyang ‘abandon its nuclear ambitions’ immediately.

Feb 26: A UN Security Council committee removed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from its sanctions list almost two years after his death.

Feb 26: United States Secretary of Defence nominee Chuck Hagel suggested in a previously unreleased speech that India had for many years been using Afghanistan to fight a proxy war against Pakistan by sponsoring terror attacks inside it.

Feb 27: America’s first black President Barack Obama unveiled a full-length statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks inside the US Congress.

Feb 27: Chuck Hagel was sworn-in as US Defence Secretary, a day after the Senate confirmed him.

Feb 28: Pope Benedict XVI ended his eight-year reign, becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to resign instead of ruling for life.
The papacy became officially vacant at 1900 GMT.

Feb 28: At least 34 people were killed in Bangladesh in a wave of violence after Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the Jamaat-e-Islami party’s vice president, was found guilty of war crimes, including murder, arson and rape. Sayedee is the third person to be convicted by the controversial domestic tribunal.

Feb 28: In a stunning reversal, UN appeals judges acquitted the former chief of the Yugoslav National Army, Gen Momcilo Perisic, of aiding and abetting atrocities by rebel Serbs, including the Srebrenica massacre, by providing them with military aid during the Balkan wars.

Mar 02: Drastic budget cuts, ‘sequester’, became effective in the United States, hours after President Barack Obama signed an order initiating $85 billion in reductions.

Mar 03: President Barack Obama appointed Phillip Gordon as new coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf.

Mar 05: Taiwan presented a special medal to a 102-year-old former general, Lee Hsueh-yen, for leading his squadron of aircraft against Japan on the Chinese mainland during World War II.

Mar 06: The UN atomic agency’s board of governors approved giving Japanese director general Yukiya Amano a new four-year term.

Mar 06: One million Syrians have fled their homeland since a revolt erupted two years ago, the UN reported.

Mar 07: The UN Security Council voted to tighten financial restrictions on Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and crackdown on its attempts to ship and receive banned cargo in violations of UN sanctions.

Mar 08: Former Argentine president Carlos Menem was convicted of orchestrating arms smuggling while in office.

Mar 08: John Brennan took oath of office as the new director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Mar 08: Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmdinjead and Cuba’s Raul Castro joined about 30 other heads of states at the funeral of Hugo Chvez in an emotional farewell to the charismatic Venezuelan leader who changed the face of politics in South America.

Mar 08: Tunisian politicians formed a new government, with Ali Larayedh as the new prime minister.

Mar 09: Uhuru Kenyatta narrowly won Kenya’s presidential election, but his main rival, Raila Odinga, refused to concede. Kenyatta is the son of Kenya’s founding president and one of Africa’s richest men.

Mar 10: Aung San Suu Kyi was selected to continue as head of Myanmar’s main opposition party. The Nobel laureate was named chairwoman of the National League for Democracy’s new executive board.

Mar 10: The world’s biggest religious festival concluded with nearly two million pilgrims attending it. The two-month-long Kumbh Mela ended on the occasion of Mahashivratri, a major Hindu festival celebrated across India and Nepal.

Mar 12: A Japanese energy explorer said that it extracted gas from offshore methane hydrate deposits for the first time in the world.

Mar 12: The United States and Russia clashed in the UN Security Council over a response to the latest agreements between Sudan and South Sudan on restarting the flow of oil and pulling troops back from their tense border.

Mar 12: For the first time, India test-fired its indigenously-developed medium range subsonic cruise missile, Nirbhay from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur.

Mar 13: Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and said he would take the name Francis I.
Pope Francis, 76, appeared on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica just over an hour after white smoke poured from a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel to signal he had been chosen to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Mar 14: China’s parliament named Xi Jinping as president, four months after he took charge of the Communist Party with pledges of reform.

Mar 14: Author Tan Twang Eng became the first Malaysian author to win Asia’s top literary prize, the $30,000 Man Asian Literary Prize, for his novel ‘The Garden of Evening Mists’ set during the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Malaya.

Mar 14: ‘History will remember President Hugo Chavez, a charismatic leader whose progressive policies brought Venezuela’s poverty rate down from over 70 per cent at the close of the 20th century to around 20 per cent today, ‘said Vuk Jeremic, president of the 193-member UN General Assembly.

Mar. 14: Nepal’s chief justice, Khilraj Regmi, was sworn-in as head of an interim government tasked with steering the country towards elections by June.

Mar 15: China’s parliament installed bureaucrat Li Keqiang as premier, putting him in charge of running the world’s second-largest economy.

Everyday Science

Feb 21: Astronomers announced the discovery of the smallest known planet. Dubbed Kepler-37b, the planet, roughly the size of Earth’s moon, was discovered outside of our solar system and is the smallest ever found in space.

Feb 21: The meteor that rocked Russia on February 15, 2013, was the nbiggest since 1908, at 55 feet in diameter, estimated NASA.

Feb 24: Scientists said they had found traces of a micro-continent hidden underneath the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

Feb 26: Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) identified a physical mechanism behind the extreme weather that has plagued many parts of the world in recent years ‘and that it is tied to climate change.

Feb 26: A Royal Navy ship discovered and mapped a ‘Grand Canyon’ beneath the waves using state-of-the-art technology. HMS enterprise discovered the 250 metre-deep (820ft) canyon beneath the Red Sea.

Feb 28: An international team of scientists at Belgium’s Antarctica research station found the largest meteorite in nearly 25 years, helping them to unlock the secrets of our solar system.

Mar 12: An analysis of a Mars rock sample by the Curiosity rover has unveiled minerals, including hydrogen, carbon and oxygen, that are the building blocks of life, NASA said.

Mar 04: Building on earlier pioneering work by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, international consortium of university researchers has produced the most comprehensive virtual reconstruction of human metabolism to date.
Scientists could use the model, known as Recon 2, to identify causes of and new treatments for diseases like cancer, diabetes and even psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

Mar 13: The world’s largest ground-based observatory, the ALMA space observatory, opened for business in the desert of northern Chile.

Mar. 14: Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield took the helm of the International Space Station (ISS), marking only the second time in the outpost’s 12-year history that command has been turned over to someone who is not American or Russian.

Economy

Feb 18: The United Arab Emirates signed 17 defence contracts to purchase military equipment worth $1.4 billion including US-manufactured Predator drones.

Feb 20: Bangladesh signed a loan deal with a Japanese development agency for construction of the country’s first-ever metro rail system, costing $2.8 billion.

Feb 20: Iran agreed to set up a $4 billion oil refinery in Gwadar with an estimated capacity of about 400,000 barrels per day.

Feb 20: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) slapped a heavy penalty of Rs.50 million on BMA Capital Management Limited, a broker of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE).

Feb 21: The board of ICI Pakistan Limited announced the appointment of Asif Jooma as chief executive of the company, effective February 25, 2013.

Feb 24: China’s Huawei, the number three smartphone maker behind giants Samsung and Apple, unveiled a new mobile, the Ascend P2, which, it claims, is the fastest in the world.

Feb 26: Pakistan State Oil was declared defaulter by the world market due to delay in payments under the LC head.

Feb 26: The US Senate Finance Committee approved President Barack Obama’s nominee Jack Lew to be the new Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy Geithner.

Feb 27: The federal government appointed five new directors on the central board of directors of the State Bank of Pakistan for a period of three years with immediate effect.

Mar 01: The Federal Board of Revenue issued three notifications to revise duty to various products to yield additional revenue for achieving its collection target.

Mar 01: The SECP directed the Pak-Qatar Family Takaful and its CEO to pay Rs.800,000 and Rs.200,000  respectively, in fines to the regulator for running advertisements containing ‘deceptive and/or misleading information’. Bank Islami Pakistan published an advertisement in Dawn on October 27 last year that promoted three Takaful products of Pak-Qatar Family Takaful.

Mar 02: The Committee on Transport of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has found all the 12 dry ports in Pakistan as having ‘little potential’.
The Committee also found that out the Asia and the Pacific region has a total of 234 dry ports, out of which only 109 have the potential. Dry ports of eight regional countries, including34 in India, were also found to be not `potential`. All the 17 dry ports in China, 8 dry ports in Myanmar, 5 in the Philippines, and 2 in Sri Lanka have been described as “potential’.
Out of 19, Turkey has 17 potential dry ports; Russia has 10 potential out of 15 dry ports; Iran 5 out of 9; Bhutan 5 out of 6; Bangladesh 9 out of 17 and Azerbaijan 10 out of 18.

Mar 06: The federal government appointed Ashraf Mahmood Wathra as Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for a period of three years.

Mar 07: Bushra Naz Malik, director on the board of the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE), was appointed as a member of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP).

Mar 08: Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled against various prize schemes offered by cellular companies in the country and declared them against the interest of consumers.

Mar 09: Taiwan’s top smartphone maker HTC said a German court had dismissed two patent infringement complaints brought against the company by Finnish phone giant Nokia.

Mar 14: The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) and Government of Sindh broke ground to mark the beginning of coal extraction project at Thar Coal block II.

Mar 14: China has overtaken Japan as the world’s second biggest economy while lifting hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty, a United Nations report said.

Sports

Feb 16: The 15-time Grand Slam winner, Serena Williams, replaced top ranked Victoria Azarenka after beating Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open. She is now the oldest female to hold the coveted position.

Feb 17: The head of the international wrestling federation resigned in the wake of the decision to remove the sport from the list of guaranteed Olympic events.

Feb 17: Outgoing world number one Victoria Azarenka outclassed Serena Williams to win the Qatar Open.

Feb 17: Australia clinched the women’s World Cup for the sixth time with a 114-run win over the West Indies in the final.

Feb 19: FIFA announced that goal-line technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup and two more systems could be considered in addition to the existing pair.

Feb 21: Army lifted the title after beating Police in the final of the 11th National Men’s Netball Championship.

Feb 24: 101-year-old Fauja Singh, believed to be the world’s oldest distance runner, retired after ending his last race in Hong Kong.

Feb 25: Hosts Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) won the 60th National Cycling Championship held at the National Cycling Velodrome in Lahore while Pakistan Army bagged the second position.

Feb 28: Karachi Blues were crowned the inaugural Super Eight champions of the Faysal Bank Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship after clinching an emphatic nine-wicket victory against Sialkot in the final.

Feb 28: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), in compliance with the direction of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, hired services of Muhammad Asif, World Snooker Champion 2012.

Mar 01: Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather earned the first World Cup win of her career in Super-G as overall leader Tina Maze edged closer to Hermann Maier’s points record.

Mar 03: Denzaro of Gul Zareen Khan clinched the country’s most prestigious race the Pakistan Derby here at the Lahore Race Club course.

Mar 03: A fourth system of goal-line technology has been approved and granted a licence, soccer’s governing body FIFA said.

Mar 03: Fancied bay colt Denzaro etched his name in the annals of the Pakistan Derby after producing a majestic burst of speed to outclass his rivals to win the country’s premier classic race.

Mar 03: Olympic champion Jenn Suhr lit up the US indoor athletics championships by leaping 5.02 metres to set a new women’s pole vault world record, while throwing down the gauntlet to Russian great Yelena Isin bayeva.

Mar 03: Fast bowler Umar Gul took five wickets for only six runs and captain Mohammad Hafeez smashed a career best 86 off 51 balls as Pakistan annihilated South Africa in the decisive second Twenty20 International.

Mar 03: Opener Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara broke the record of 224 runs for the second-wicket partnership against Australia, set by Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath in 1986 at Sydney by scoring 294 runs.

Mar 03: Rafael Nadal destroyed David Ferrer to win the Mexican Open, losing just two games as he claimed his second title in three events since returning from a lengthy injury lay-off.

Mar 04: Football superstar David Beckham was named an ambassador for the Chinese Super League.

Mar 04: American Michael Thompson birdied the final hole to hold off Australian Geoff Ogilvy and capture his first PGA title, winning the $6 million Honda Classic by two strokes.

Mar 04: Muhammad Hafeez became the first Pakistani and eighth batsman overall to score 1000 runs in Twenty-20 cricket.

Mar 07: The strong ZTBL women’s cricket team outplayed the Punjab outfit in the final to win the second Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Women Cricket Challenge Trophy at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Mar 08: Asian No.1 Nofil Kaleem lived up to his billing when he won the Qatar under-14 tennis championship at Doha’s Khalifa Tennis Centre.

Mar 10: Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfigur Rahim smashed impressive centuries, 189 and 152 respectively, in a record stand.
Their 261-run unbroken stand was Bangladesh’s highest for any wicket in Tests, the previous best being 200 for the second wicket between Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique against India in Dhaka in 2010. Bangladesh also surpassed their previous highest total of 413 against Sri Lanka in Tests.

Mar 10: Team Sky rider Richie Porte became the first winner of Paris-Nice as he won the final stage 9.6km time-trial to hold off the challenge of American Andrew Talan-sky.

Mar 11: Former world number one Tiger Woods picked up his biggest victory since 2009 after winning the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami.

Mar 11: Mushfiqur Rahim became the first Bangladeshi to crack a double-century while Nasir Hossain hit a maiden ton as the tourists gained a 68-run lead in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Mar 12: The Sports Board Punjab (SBP) went for six successful Guinness World Records (GWR).

Mar 12: Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and British heptathlete Jessica Ennis won the Laureus World Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards following their success at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Mar. 13: Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket appointed Ralph Waters as chairman of the organising committee for the 2015 World Cup after the death of James Strong.

Obituaries

Feb 17: Keiko Fukuda, the Japanese-born granddaughter of a samurai who learned judo from its founder and became the highest-ranked woman in the martial art, died at age 99.

Feb 19: Former Czechoslovakia star Zdenek Zikn, who memorably scored four goals at the 1958 World Cup died at the age of 75.

Feb 19: Donald Richie, one of the most prominent American writers on Japan and on expatriate life, best known for introducing the English-speaking world to the golden age of Japanese cinema, died. He was 88.

Feb 24: Renowned Educationist, scholar and writer Dr Nazir Qaiser passed away. He was 87.

Feb 27: French resistance hero and Holocaust survivor Stephane Hessel, whose 2010 manifesto ‘Time for Outrage’ sold millions of copies, died at the age of 95.

Feb 28: Former Lahore High Court chief justice Abdul Shakoor Salam died.

Feb 28: The mastermind of Britain’s 1963 Great Train Robbery, Bruce Reynolds, died, at aged 81. Reynolds was a petty criminal who was responsible for planning the world-famous robbery of the post office train which ran between Glasgow and London on August 7, 1963.

Mar 02: Poet, writer, intellectual and academician, Shabnam Shakeel, died in Karachi.

Mar 03: Sammy Guillen, one of a handful of players to have played Test cricket for two countries, has died in Christchurch aged 88. He represented West Indies and New Zealand during an eight-Test career in the 1950s.

Mar 04: Prominent Australian businessman James Strong, the chairman of the organising committee for the 2015 cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, has died aged 68.

Mar 04: The former provincial president of women wing of Pakistan People’s Party, MNA Malik Mehrun Nisa Afridi, died. She was 65.

Mar 06: President Hugo Chavez died after a two-year battle with cancer, ending 14 years of his rule that won him passionate support among the poor.

Mar 08: Former Pakistan Test cricketer and chief selector Haseeb Ahsan passed away. He was 73.

Mar 09: Film star Aasia passed away in Canada. She was 61.

Mar 11: Flags flew at half-mast across Sweden as the country mourned the death of Princess Lilian, a Welsh-born commoner who stole Swedes’ hearts by waiting three decades to marry her lifelong love Prince Bertil.

Mar 13: Parveen Rehman, the Director of the Orangi Pilot Project, was shot dead in Orangi Town.

Mar 14: Ieng Sary, one of three elderly Khmer Rouge leaders on trial for atrocities that took the lives of as much as one-fourth of the Cambodian population in the 1970s, died in Phnom Penh. He was 87.

Mar 15: Pakistan’s most celebrated news photographer F.E. Chaudhry passed away, the day he was to celebrate his 105th birthday.