WORLD IN FOCUS (Jan 2012- Feb 2013)

News From National & International Press 

National

Jan 16: The ministry of Law and Justice issued the notification for the appointment of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi as Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges.

Jan 17: MPA Manzar Imam, a member of the Sindh Assembly belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was killed.

Jan 17: The Peshawar High Court directed the interior division to put the names of chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and several other officials including that of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) on the Exit Control List (ECL).

Jan 17: Four-day long sit-in by Tehrik-e-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri ended after the government and the TMQ reached an agreement.

Jan 17: The Punjab governor approved the name of Dr Umar Saif as the first vice chancellor of the Information Technology University (ITU) Punjab.

Jan 18: The government appointed Dr Asif A. Brohi as president and CEO of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

Jan 18: Lt Gen Rashad Mehmood was named the army’s new Chief of General Staff (CGS).

Jan 19: The Punjab government set up a youth helpline for providing guidance and counselling to the youth for resolution of physical emotional, psychological and professional problems.

Jan 20: The government formed a judicial commission headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal to ascertain the cause of the ‘mysterious’ death of Kamran Faisal, an assistant director of NAB.

Jan 20: Special Secretary Foreign Affairs Alamgir Khan Babar was appointed Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia.

Jan 21: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf withdrew his review petition against the Supreme Court’s March 30, 2012, verdict declaring the government’s rental power policy non-transparent.

Jan 21: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf approved the Gilgit-Baltistan governor’s summary for appointment of Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court Chief Judge Raja Jalal Khan and member Muzaffar Hussain as judges to the region’s Supreme Appellate Court.

Jan 21: The Senate passed a unanimous resolution recommending the government to nominate KP senior minister Bashir Bilour for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jan 22: Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim categorically stated that delimitation of constituencies in Karachi before general elections was not possible.

Jan 23: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved a new 600MW power project at Jamshoro. The plant will use a mix of imported and Thar coal and will be set up with a $900 million loan from the Asian Development Bank.

Jan 23: The Punjab government notified Pirmahal as tehsil of Toba Tek Singh district.

Jan 23: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) approved 30-day scrutiny period for nomination papers of candidates.

Jan 24: The Parliamentary Commission on Creation of New Province developed consensus on Bahawalpur Junoobi Punjab as the name of new province.

Jan 24: PIA and National Testing Services (NTS) signed an agreement for assessment of PIA employees’ professional standards for bringing in merit and transparency in employment.

Jan 24: The United Nations (UN) launched investigation into the January 6 Indian attack on a Pakistani check-post on the Line of Control (LoC).

Jan 26: President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed renowned religious scholar Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi as member of Council of Islamic Ideology.

Jan 26: President Asif Ali Zardari named Rasheed Ahmed as Chairman of the Pakistan Electronics Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

Jan 29: Tauqir Sadiq, the fugitive former chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), was arrested in Abu Dhabi on the orders of a court.

Jan 29: President Asif Zardari inaugurated ‘Guzara Allowance’ and Sindh Arms License Revalidation, the Sindh government projects undertaken by NADRA.

Jan 30: The federal cabinet approved a $1.5 billion government-to-government deal with Iran for laying the 785km Pakistan segment of a pipeline to deliver 750 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (MMCFD).

Jan 30: The government unveiled a medium-term (2012-15) Strategic Trade Policy Framework, setting a cumulative export target of $95 billion for three years.

Jan 30: At the 23rd convocation of University of Karachi (KU), Dr Basit Ansari and Dr Rana Khan were recognised for being pioneers. Both were given degrees for being the first PhDs of their respective departments.

Jan 30: Recently-promoted DMG top official Agha Nadim has been appointed information secretary.

Jan 31: The code of corporate governance for state-owned commercial entities was approved by the SECP Policy Board.

Jan 31: Kimihide Ando, general manager of Mitsubishi Corporation for Pakistan, was elected as the president of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI).

Feb 01: Pakistan and Italy signed a Strategic Engagement Plan (SEP) under which they committed to increase bilateral cooperation particularly in the fields of defence and security.

Feb 01: The Lahore High Court observed that the incumbent assemblies had no mandate to create new provinces.

Feb 04: The Punjab government formed a new, independent directorate to deal with the possible threat of dengue in the future.

Feb 04: Following talks hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to work to reach a peace deal within six months. They also threw their weight behind moves for the Taliban to open an office in Doha.

Feb 04: South Korean and US troops began naval drills in a show of force partly directed at North Korea.

Feb 05: Mir Kamal Khan, the son of the late Jam Muhammad Yousuf, became 37th Jam of Lasbela after the death of his father.

Feb 06: Acting Wafaqi Mohtasib M. Salman Faruqui was elected Asian representative to the board of directors of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI).

Feb 09: The Swiss case saga ended in favour of President Asif Ali Zardari after Swiss authorities informed the government that a corruption case involving him cannot be reopened in their country on legal grounds.

Feb 10: The Metro Bus System (MBS), arguably the country’s first rapid mass transit bus project, was launched in Lahore.

Feb 10: The withdrawal of the US-led Nato forces began as twenty-five containers loaded with military equipment of the Nato forces reached Pakistan.

Feb 11: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the Multan Industrial Estate Phase-II. The project is spread over 670 acres and has been completed at the cost of Rs. 1.5 billion.

Feb 11: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organisation was set up after the representatives of ECO member countries signed a ‘PAECO charter’.

Feb 11: Pakistan successfully carried out a test-fire of a short-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, Hatf IX (Nasr). Nasr, with a range of 60 km and in-flight manoeuvre capability, can carry nuclear warheads of an appropriate yield with high accuracy.

Feb 12: The provincial assembly unanimously adopted a bill to ensure that in all documents in which ‘Sind’ is used an ‘h’ will be added to make it ‘Sindh’.

Feb 12: The first conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (PAECO) concluded.

Feb 12: President Asif Ali Zardari approved conferment of civil awards upon four Chinese dignitaries in recognition of their services in cementing Pak-China relations and promoting bilateral cooperation. The would-be recipients are Li Shenglin and Fu Ying (Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam), Sun Weidong (Sitara-i-Pakistan), and Hou Yanqi (Tamgha-i-Pakistan).

Feb 12: President Asif Ali Zardari on the advice of the Prime Minister approved conferment of Hilal-i-Imtiaz upon late Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, former Sindh Sports Minister.

Feb 13: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Haj Agreement 2013.

Feb 13: The Supreme Court showed Dr Qadri the door by throwing out his petition seeking reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Feb 13: Sindh assembly unanimously passed the government bill ‘Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education’ in compliance with Article 25A of the 1973 constitution.

Feb 14: The country’s major political parties participated in the day-long All Parties Conference organised by the Awami National Party (ANP).
The participants reached a consensus on the need for dialogue with the militants.

Feb 14: The Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Act-2013 making propagation of any material or assertion in any manner by a manufacturer or a distributor that encourages bottle-feeding or discourages breastfeeding punishable with imprisonment up to two years and a fine ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs500,000.

Feb 15: Pakistan successfully test-fired a short-range, surface-to-surface ballistic missile, Hatf-II (Abdali). Abdali, with a range of 180 km, carries nuclear as well as conventional warheads with high accuracy.

International

Jan 16: The World Health Organisation said that it had charted progress in the fight against tropical diseases but warned that dengue fever was spreading at an alarming rate.

Jan 16: Chinese shipments of Smart phones totalled 224 million units in 2012, making the country the world’s largest smartphone producer.

Jan 17: A North Sea pipeline system servicing up to 27 oil fields has resumed service after a leak had caused a temporary shutdown.

Jan 17: Algerian forces raided a remote Sahara gas plant in an attempt to free dozens of foreign hostages held by militants.

Jan 18: Japanese and US experts probed the emergency landing that sparked the worldwide grounding of Boeing’s Dreamliner.

Jan 18: Temperatures in Sydney hit their highest levels since records began 150 years ago, after an Australian government agency warned of more frequent and intense heat waves in the future.

Jan 18: Australia signed a defence treaty with former colonial power Britain designed to further boost cooperation on military and security issues.

Jan 18: Niger’s envoy to Belgium and his wife have been found dead at their residence, apparently the victims of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Jan 19: West African leaders urged more global involvement and funding as they met to speed up the deployment of regional troops in Mali and boost a French-backed offensive to halt an Islamist onslaught.

Jan 19: Delegations from some 140 countries agreed to adopt a ground-breaking treaty limiting the use and emission of health-hazardous mercury, the UN said, although environmental activists lamented it did not go far enough, the head of UNEP Achim Steiner, announced.

Jan 19: Islamists killed all seven of their remaining foreign captives before being gunned down at a gas plant in the Algerian desert, ending one of the bloodiest international hostage crises in years.

Jan 20: Indian Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde accused the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of promoting Hindu terrorism.

Jan 21: A controversial Bangladeshi war crimes court sentenced a fugitive 1slamic TV preacher, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, to death in its first judgment.

Jan 22: Arab leaders pledged to remove obstacles to finalising a free trade zone this year and agreed to facilitate capital flows, as they wrapped up an economic summit in Riyadh.

Jan 22: Eleven European Union nations won a go-ahead from their partners to launch a controversial financial transactions tax.

Jan 22: A leadership tussle in India’s main opposition group came to a head when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari resigned and paved the possible election of a former BJP chief to lead the party in general elections due in 2014.

Jan 22: Officials in Indian-held Kashmir are warning residents to be prepared for a possible nuclear war by building bomb-proof basements and collecting two weeks’ worth of food and water.

Jan 22: The Philippines has taken China to a UN tribunal to challenge its claim to most of the South China Sea, including territory belonging to the archipelago.

Jan 23: Jordanians voted in their first parliamentary elections since the Arab Spring revolts, but boycotted by the opposition’s main Islamist party.

Jan 23: Adding yet another feather of international honours to her cap, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy became the first Pakistani to be presented the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, Crystal Awards Ceremony in Davos, Switzerland on January 22.

Jan 24: US lifted a ban on women serving in combat.

Jan 24: An American, David Coleman Headley, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the key role he played in a 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai.

Jan 24: The United Nations said it paid out about $1.3 billion in compensation to Kuwait over Iraq’s invasion of the Gulf emirate in 1990.

Jan 26: The first of six batteries of Nato’s Patriot missiles deployed in Turkey to protect against a spill-over of the conflict in neighbouring Syria became operational.

Jan 26: Czechs chose outspoken veteran leftist Milos Zeman, an ex-premier, as their new president.

Jan 28: Iran successfully sent a monkey into orbit paving the way for a manned space flight.

Jan 28: Bangladesh and India signed an extradition treaty that could pave the way for the deportation of an alleged key Indian insurgent leader in Dhaka to New Delhi.

Jan 29: The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations unanimously confirmed Senator John F. Kerry as the country’s next secretary of state.

Jan 29: Beijing temporarily shut down 103 heavily polluting factories and took 30 per cent of government vehicles off roads to combat dangerously high air pollution.

Jan 29: Iceland won a landmark case at a European court, ending an acrimonious legacy from the collapse of its banking system more than four years ago.

Jan 30: Israeli warplanes attacked a military research centre in Damascus at dawn.

Jan 30: Qatar announced that it will invest up to a billion euros in a joint fund with Athens to bolster recession-hit Greek industry.

Jan 30: South Korea launched a satellite into space from its own soil for the first time.

Jan 30: Israel will give the administration of the Palestinian Authority about $100 million in tax revenues, withheld in retaliation for Palestine’s statehood bid in the United Nations.

Jan 31: Syria formally complained to the United Nations Security Council over a reported Israeli attack within its borders.

Jan 31: The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines recommending that adults consume less salt and include a minimum of potassium in their daily diets so as to reduce risk of heart disease and stroke.

‘Adults should consume less than 2,000 mg (2 grams) of sodium, or (less than) 5 grams of salt, and at least 3,510 mg (3.51 grams) of potassium per day,’ the WHO said.

Feb. 01: A Russian rocket carrying a US telecommunications satellite plunged into the Pacific Ocean only moments after its launch.

Feb. 01: Hillary Rodham Clinton formally resigned as the 67th US Secretary of State, capping a 4-year tenure in the office.

Feb. 01: Taiwanese Premier Sean Chen stepped down for health reasons, after the cabinet he heads came under fire for its poor handling of the economy.

Feb. 01: Saudi King Abdullah nominated his youngest sibling and former intelligence chief, Prince Mugrin bin Abdulaziz, as second deputy prime minister.

Feb. 03: India’s president approved harsher punishments for rapists, including the death penalty, after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi sparked national outrage.

Feb. 04: A skeleton found under a car park in the English city of Leicester was confirmed as that of King Richard III, widely depicted as one of history’s most notorious villains.

Feb. 04: Indian-held Kashmir’s most senior Muslim cleric called for the plug to be pulled on an all-girl rock group, calling the band ‘un-Islamic’ and accusing them of ‘indecent’ behaviour.

Feb. 05: Swedish Crown Princess Victoria made headlines after handing out the country’s ‘Gay of the Year’ award to an author whose writings about the 1980s AIDS crisis has gripped the nation.

Feb. 06: The presidents of Serbia and Kosovo headed into talks in Brussels, the first such top-level meeting since Pristina unilaterally declared independence in 2008.

Feb. 06: A top Tunisian opposition figure, Shokri Belaid, leader of the left-leaning opposition Democratic Patriots party, was shot dead.

Feb. 07: Leaders of Muslim states called for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian conflict through ‘serious dialogue’ between the regime and its foes, as Iran voiced reservations, at a summit in Cairo. The summit was held in the absence of Syria which the 57 member OIC suspended in August because of a bloody crackdown on protests against President Bashar Al Assad. A former Saudi minister, Iyad Madani, was named as the next OIC head to succeed Turkey’s Ihsanoglu.

Feb. 08: In her search for more advertising revenue, Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer has decided to team up with her former employer.

Feb. 09: India hanged Kashmiri fruit vendor Mohammed Afzal Guru in a New Delhi prison for plotting a botched attack on parliament in Dec 2001.

Feb. 11: Ravi Shankar won one last Grammy. The sitar virtuoso, ambassador of Indian music and friend of The Beatles, won best world music album for ‘The Living Room Sessions Part 1.’

Feb. 11: China became the world’s biggest trading nation in goods, ending the postwar dominance of the United States. China`s customs administration said the combined total for imports and exports in Chinese goods reached $3.87 trillion last year.

Feb. 11: The Syrian rebels seized control of the Tabqa Dam, the largest dam in Syria on the Euphrates River that generates 880 megawatts of power.

Feb. 11: Yasir Naqvi became Canada’s first minister of Pakistani descent. He was sown in as minister for labour in the Ontario cabinet of Kathleen Wynne.

Feb. 11: Shawqi Ibrahim Abdel Karim was elected to take over as Egypt’s next mufti, the government’s top interpreter of Islamic law.

Feb. 12: North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in the northeast, taking a crucial step towards its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of striking the United States.

Feb. 13: Iran started to install more modern enrichment machines at the Natanz nuclear plant.

Feb. 13: Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed took refuge in the Indian High Commission in the capital Male.

Feb. 13: In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama declared that the US war in Afghanistan would be over by late 2014 but vowed to continue direct strikes on militant hideouts.

Feb. 15: A plunging meteor exploded with a blinding flash above central Russia, setting off a shockwave that shattered windows and hurt almost 1,000 people in an event unprecedented in modern times.

Feb. 15: Swedish photographer Paul Hansen won the 2012 World Press Photo award for newspaper Dagens Nyheter with a picture of two Palestinian children killed in an Israeli missile strike being carried to their funeral.

SPORTS

Jan 18: Pakistan State Oil and Bakri Trading Company, a Saudi firm, terminated the agreement for supply of furnace oil blended in Pakistan.

Jan 18: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) became the first champions of the newly-instituted President’s Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship.

Jan 20: Welshman Jamie Donaldson won the Abu Dhabi Championship.

Jan 20: Stephan Peterhansel claimed a record fifth Dakar Rally drivers’ title, and l1th overall of his career.

Jan 20: Emirati players celebrated their trophy they beat Iraq in the final of the 21st Gulf Cup in Manama.

Jan 21: Pakistan’s ski contingent comprising Master Noor Mohammad and Master Shah Hussain of Naltar Ski School clinched gold and silver medals respectively in the ‘Dream Programme-2013’ held at Gangwon-do in South Korea.

Jan 22: Bangladesh won the gold medal while Pakistan claimed silver medal in the second South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Championship which concluded in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Jan 23: Kane Williamson led New Zealand to a 27-run victory over the Proteas to seal their first series win on South African soil.

Jan 23: India clinched the One-day International series against England.

Jan 26: Victoria Azarenka retained her Australian Open title with a tensevictory over China’s Li Na.

Jan 27: Frenchman Francois Gabart became the youngest sailor to win the Vendee Globe, a solo round-the-world race, when he reached the finish in record time. The 29-year-old Gabart needed 78 days, two hours, 16 minutes and 40 seconds to complete his journey, smashing the previous record set by compatriot Michel Desjoyeaux in 2009 by almost seven days.

Jan 27: World number one Novak Djokovic became the first man to win three successive Australian Open titles in the professional era.

Jan 28: Former Sri Lanka cricketer turned politician Sanath Jayasuriya was appointed chairman of selectors in a new-look five-member committee.

Jan 29: World No. 2 Tiger Woods captured his 75th career title, winning the US PGA Farmers Insurance Open by four strokes.

Jan 30: Zambia became the first defending champions to crash out of the group stage in 21-year history of African Cup of Nations.

Jan 30: Brazil presented the official poster for the 2014 World Cup at a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.

Feb. 01: Shelley Rudman became the first British woman to win the skeleton world title.

Feb. 02: Mohammad Shabbir won the 32nd CAS Open Golf Championship 2013.

Feb. 02: Fast bowler Dale Steyn produced a six-star performance to send Pakistan crashing to a new low, 49, on the second day of the first Test at the Wanderers Stadium.

Feb. 03: Glenn McGrath and Charlie Turner, two fast bowlers separated by more than a century of competition, were inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.

Feb. 03: Pakistan beat Sri Lanka to win the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group II tie in Colombo (Sri Lanka).

Feb. 03: Maria Kirilenko defeated Germany’s Sabine Lisicki to claim the Pattaya Open title in a tension-filled final.

Feb. 03: England captain Charlotte Edwards became the highest run-getter in women’s ODI history.

Feb. 04: Australian captain Michael Clarke joined his predecessor Ricky Ponting as the only four-time winner of the Allan Border Medal, the country’s highest cricket award.

Feb. 08: The Karachi Cricket Umpires Association (KCUA) instituted an annual award for the Best Umpire of the Year to be named after late Dr Mohammad Ali Shah.

Feb. 08: Pakistan returned home with the five gold, one silver and two bronze medals from the Special World Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Korea.

Feb. 10: Teenager Lydia Ko became the youngest winner of a women’s European Tour golf event when she took victory at the New Zealand Women’s Open in Christchurch.

Feb. 11: Nigeria ended a 19-year African Cup of Nations title drought with a 1-0 final victory over Burkina Faso at Soccer City.

Feb. 12: The International Olympic Committee voted to remove Wrestling, an Olympic sport since the first Games in ancient Greece, from programme for 2020.

Feb. 13: Managing director of the first Pakistan Super League (PSL) Salman Sarwar Butt relinquished his post and was replaced by Javid Miandad.

Feb. 15: Pankaj Advani became the first Indian snooker player to reach the quarter-finals of a world ranking event.

Obituaries

Jan 16: Conrad Bain, a veteran stage and film actor who became a star in the TV sitcom ‘Different Strokes’, died at 89.

Jan 17: Multi-talented British Asian actress, singer and host Sophiya Haque passed away.

Jan 18: Kamran Faisal, an officer of the NAB investigating the scam was found dead in his room.

Jan 19: Poet and broadcaster Syed Razi Tirmizi passed away.

Jan 19: Kenyan former 10,000-metre world record holder Samson Kimobwa died aged 58. Kimobwa set a world record time of 27 minutes 30.47 seconds on June 30, 1977 in Helsinki.

Jan 20: Former hockey player and umpire of International Olympics, World Cup and Asian Games, Shamsul Zaman breathed his last. He was 78.

Jan 21: Flamboyant British film director Michael Winner, best known for the hit ‘Death Wish’ series in the 1970s and 80s, died at 77.

Jan 23: Peter van der Merwe, the former South Africa captain, died at the age of 75 in Port Elizabeth.

Jan 28: Dick Westcott, who played five Tests for South Africa in the 1950s, has died at the age of 85.

Jan 28: Stanley Karnow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist who produced acclaimed books and television documentaries about Vietnam and the Philippines in the throes of war and upheaval, died. He was 87.

Jan 28: Naguyen Khanh, a South Vietnamese general who briefly seized control of the government before being deposed and sent into exile, died on January 11. He was 86.

Feb. 01: Former Pakistan volleyball captain and Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) secretary Abdul Khaliq Khan died. He was 80.

Feb. 02: Renowned Sindhi intellectual, writer, journalist and former editor of Sindhi daily Hilal-e-Pakistan Sirajul Haq Memon has passed away, he was 79.

Feb. 02: Former chief minister of Balochistan, Jam Mohammad Yousuf, died. He was 59.

Feb. 03: Noted journalist Ayesha Haroon passed away in New York. She was 46.

Feb. 03: Xu Liangying, a scientist and an advocate of democracy in China died in Beijing. He was 92.

Feb. 04: Dr Syed Mohammad Ali Shah, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon and adviser to the Sindh chief minister for sports, died. He was 67.

Feb. 10: Three-time world table tennis champion and a key figure in 1971’s groundbreaking ‘pingpong diplomacy’ between China and the United States, Zhuang Zedong, died at 72.

Feb. 12: Prince Sattam bin Abdel Aziz, King Abdullah’s half brother, died at the age of 72.

Feb. 14: Poet Raza Hussain Tiwana passed away after a brief illness. He was 80.

Economy

Jan 16: Some of the darkest clouds threatening the global economy have started to lift, according to the World Bank’s periodic update to its economic forecasts.

Jan 16: French telecom equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent and Indian service provider Reliance Communications announced an eight-year deal worth more than $10 billion.

Jan 18: Sony said it is selling its US headquarters in Manhattan for $1.1 billion as part of an overhaul aimed at rescuing the Japanese consumer electronics giant’s tattered balance sheet.

Jan 19: British bank HSBC has agreed to pay $249 million in compensation to home-loan borrowers hurt in the massive US mortgage and foreclosure scandal.

Jan 19: Despite poor economic growth and low manufacturing and trading sector performance, banks succeeded to raise record deposits during the calendar year 2012.

Jan 21: The number of financial institutions in the eurozone and the wider EU fell further in 2012 with Luxembourg and France showing the biggest drops.

Jan 21: India’s foreign investment panel has cleared a nearly $2-billion plan by Swedish furniture giant Ikea to open its stores in the country as it seeks new markets for its flat-pack products.

Jan. 23: The C Square Consulting (Pvt.) Ltd. was awarded for its fast growth by All World Network’s Arabia 500 Awards, an international body that identifies fast-growing private companies with a focus on creating jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurs worldwide.

Jan 30: IFC and Bank Islami Pakistan Limited signed an agreement that will help Pakistani companies’ access global import and export markets.