International Affairs 2011

                    January           

• Thousands of Yemenis, apparently inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, staged a massive demonstration calling on president Ali Abdullah saleh to quit after being in power since 1978. 
• The heroic response by employees of Mumbai's landmark Taj Hotel during the 28/11 terror attacks was inducted as a case-study headlined 'Terror at the Taj Bombay'. Customer-centric leadership at Harvard Business School that focuses on the staff's selfless services for its customers and how they went beyond their call of duty to save lives. 
• Miss "Nebraska Teresa Scanlan" Selected for the new Miss America-2011 at the Planet Hollywood Resort &Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. 
• The former Swiss banker, Rudolf Elmer who handed over secret data to WikiLeaks was found guilty by Swiss court for seeking to blackmail the bank, making threats and violating banking secrecy laws 
• The governing Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) elected Nguyen Phu Trong as the new General Secretary. 
• Sri Lankan election officials rejected applications 86 new political parties including one by the jailed former army commander Sarath Fonseka. Democratic Party of Fonseka failed to meet the necessary requirements of election commission. 
• Lawmakers in Britain's lower house of Parliament were banned using the Twitter micro blogging website while sitting in the chamber. The ban on Twitter was a result of complaint from Opposition Labour MP, Kevin Brennan. 
• Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in Belarussian president, for a fourth term 
• Three-day Islamic Congregation' Held on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Congregation, held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. 
• The year 2010 ranked as the warmest year on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, Geneva. 
• Suicide bomb attacked at "Domodedovo Air port" in Moscow At least 35 people were Killed and about 60 Injured in a attack. 
• 35th International Circus Festival Held at Monte Carlo 
• Bilateral trade between India and China exceeded the two countries $60 billion target last year, driven largely by rising Indian imports of Chinese machinery that have left a record trade imbalance of $20 billion in China's favour. 
• An Iranian passenger jet with at least 105 people on board crashed in bad weather near the north western city of Urumiyeh, at least 50 people were rescued. 
• Democratic Congress woman Gabrielle Giffords, a three-term lawmaker, was shot in the head, one of 13 people wounded in the shooting at a public event in Tucson, Arizona 
• Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is set to open its first overseas office outside of the United States in India, which will focus on expanding its database in Hindi and all other official languages of the country. 
• After 19 years, India has joined the U.N. Security Council as a non-permanent member for a two-year term. On January 1, India, along with Germany, Portugal, South Africa and Columbia, became a non -permanent member of this 15 member body. 
• Newly sworn-in Brazilian first woman president Dilma Rousseff took charge in Brasilia on 2/1/2011 who beat opposition candidate Jose Serra in a run-off election last October with 56% of votes. 
• Holly wood Actor Arnold schwarzenegger resigned for California Governoar Post. 
• Saudi Arabia, the top oil exporter is planning to host the by the end of 2011

 February

• Uganda’s long-time president Yoweri Museveni has won another term; this allowed him to extend his 25-year hold on power. But the top opposition leader Kizza Besigye alleged the election was fraudulent and vowed to reject the results. Foreign election observers said there had been serious flaws with the voting process and the campaign. They said state resources were used to skew the elections in Mr. Museveni's favour. 
• One of New Zealand's biggest cities, Christchurch lay in ruins on 22 February after apowerful earthquake toppled buildings and churches, killing at least 65 people in the country's worst natural disaster in decades. 
• The extraordinary International Energy Forum (IEF) meeting was held in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S. Jaipal Reddy was participated from India. 
• Russia has successfully launched a next-generation navigation satellite for its Glonass Global Communication System. The Glonass-K satellite was hauled into orbit on 26 February from the Northern Plesetsk Space Centre by the upgraded Soyuz 2-1b launcher. This launch will increase the deployed Glonass grouping to 23 satellites, one short of the minimum needed to provide 100-per cent global coverage. Glonass will be integrated with the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), as well as with theEuropean Union's Galileo system and China's Compass network when they are deployed. Under a 2007 accord, Russia agreed to share the Glonass signal with India.India will be the only country to have access to the military segment of the Glonass system, which will enable the Indian military to greatly improve the accuracy of its land-, sea-, air and space-launched weapon systems. In September the two countries signed a deal to jointly manufacture Glonass/GPS twin system receivers and other navigational equipment. 
• Egypt's new military rulers have suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament and have set a six-month timeline for holding fresh parliamentary and presidential elections. 
• Gay couples in Britain are to be allowed to “marry” and given the right to hold traditional weddings under unprecedented reforms that would end the historic legal definition of marriage. 
• Burma’s parliament on 16 February agreed to form a New Supreme Court with seven members. Burma started its First Three chamber Parliament sessions simultaneously on January 31 with The House of Representatives (lower house) and the House of Nationalities (Upper House) going in to sitting in Nay Pyi Taw, Burma’s new Capital city. 
• Pro-democracy activists in Libya, inspired by democratic transitions in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, are facing a harsh crackdown. Around 84 people were died in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi which is said to be the epicenter of the revolution. 
• Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on for allegedly carrying a huge sum of undeclared foreign currency. 
• A new organisation, Anti-Corruption Citizen's Forum (ACCF), an initiative by a group of concerned citizens including former judges and former IAS officers was formed inHyderabad on 13 February with the objective of curbing the menace, build pressure groups and urge the government to take action. Among those in the core group that worked to form the ACCF were former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court A. Lakshmana Rao, former Supreme Court judge B. P. Jeevan Reddy, former High Court Judge Reddappa Reddy and former Lok Ayukta Justice Ramanujam, former IAS officers K. R. Venugopal, K. Padmanabhaiah and C. Umamaheswara Rao.
• A.P.Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy performed the ‘ground breaking' ceremony for three Tata Group projects in Hyderabad on 14 February promoted Hyderabad onto the global aerospace map.Involving an investment of Rs. 1,000 crore and providing direct and indirect employment to 9,000 persons, the three aerospace manufacturing projects at Adibhatla village in Ranga Reddy district are Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructure, (joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems (TAS) and Lockheed Martin), Tata Aerospace Systems (JV of TAS and Sikorsky Aircraft) and Nova Integrated systems (Tata enterprise). They are expected to go on stream by 2011 end.
• The A.P State Legislative Assembly has set a record of sorts by becoming the first in the country to digitise video records of all the debates in the House from 1996.The debates, digitised in DVD format, will shortly be uploaded on the Internet. Members can now take a copy of some of the historic debates or the debates in which they took part and upload it on YouTube or any other site on the Net.
• Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had given the conditional clearance for the 4000-MW Ultra-Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19 February laid the foundation stones of the country's second National Institute of Design (NID) at Jorhat,Assam and the Assam centre of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) at Sivasagar.The first National Institute of Design was set up in Ahmedabad 50 years ago.
• Giving in to opposition demands, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced government’s decision to set up a JPC into the 2G spectrum scam, saying the country could "ill afford" disruption of the crucial Budget session of Parliament.
• Axis bank has formally launched the first ETM (Enywhere Teller Mechine)service in Vijayawada on15 february with the bank already tying up with over 120 merchants as POS(Point Of Sale) terminals to provide its new service to its customers. The bank has plans to extend this service all over the State by March next year by roping in nearly 500 merchants as POS terminals by that time.ETM service is more convenient as the card holder need not look for a bank' ATM.
• The expert group of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the task force of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) broadly agreed to settle their turf war over the jurisdiction of medical education. The National Commission for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) will get to lay down the minimum standards of medical education, while all health-related research will come under the purview of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), promoted by the HRD Ministry.
• The First Urine Bank in India has started in a village Musiri near Tiruchi,Tamil Nadu.
• A group of naval divers on board INS Nireekshak, the Navy's only diving support and submarine rescue vessel, set a new national record last week by diving to a depth of 233 metres in the seas off Kochi coast, bettering a record of 218 metres attained by Navy divers in March 2007.INS Nireekshak, a 3,600-tonnes ship that was commissioned into the navy in 1995, is capable of diving up to 300 metres.
• The Centre on 18 February annulled the controversial deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation's commercial arm Antrix Corporation and Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia.The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, paved the way for annulling the agreement by declaring that the government will not be able to provide the orbit slot in S-Band to Antrix for commercial purposes, including for its existing contractual obligations, in view of strategic requirements. 
• Japan is to extend an aid of Rs.2, 557 crore (Yen 46.401 billion) to India for three projects through its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) programme. The projects pertain to cleaning the Yamuna in the national capital, crop diversification promotion in Himachal Pradesh and biodiversity conservation and greening in Tamil Nadu. The current aid quantum is part of the 2010 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ODA loan package.
• The 71 st session of the Indian History Congress was held at the Gaur Banga University in Malda,West Bengal.
• The two day Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) was held in New Delhi.
• The Andhra Pradesh’s 12th annual Nandi Drama Festival got off to a colourful start at Nandyal on19 February. C. Pardhasaradhi, Commissioner, Information and Public Relations and Managing Director of AP State Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation, formally inaugurated the festival.
• The Supreme Court has stated in a case that -If a sessions judge passes an erroneous or patently unjustified order, the High Court concerned can suo motu question its correctness by an administrative decision.
• Jordan's king Abdullah II sacked his Government in the wake of street protests and asked an ex-Prime Minister Marouf-Al-Bakhit to form a new cabinet, ordering him to launch immediate political reforms. The Jordanian more follows several large protests across the country-inspired by similar demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is flamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms. 
• In a response of unrest in Egypt, the Palestinian Government in the west bank said it would hold local council elections as soon as possible. 
• India donates huge $ 2,50,000 towards the setting up of an Anti-slavery memorialwhich will be located in the lawn of the U.N's head quarter in New york. This amount was handed over by India's permanent representative to the U.N., Hardeep Puritowards the trust fund for the permanent memorial to honour the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. 
• Ennise Sanborn (115), worlds oldest person died at Texas, United States. Since the death of Ennise Sanborn has occurred the oldest documented living person is 114 year old Besse Cooper of Georgia, U.S.A. who was born on August 26, 1896. 
• In a response to the opposition's call seeking his immediate exit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has agreed to quit in September this year, but on his own terms which include steering an orderly political transition in Egypt. 
• Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh under opposition pressure to stepdown, said, he would not be president for life and would stepdown in 2013.
• Jhalanath Khanal, Chairman of the communist party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) has become a new Prime Minister for Nepal, after 7 months of uncertainity over selecting the Prime Minister post.
• Australia's biggest cyclone in a century named Yasi shattered entire towns, terrifying locals but causing no confirmed fatalities hit mainly in the Queensland State.
• Thein Sein, a military general-turned-civilian leader was elected as Myanmar's first President under its 2008 constitution on 4th February.
• The world's oldest woman 'Eunice Sanborn' has died in Texas on (31/1/2011) aged 115, 
• King Abdullah-2 of Jordan dismissed Jordanian government on (2/2/2011). 
• India has not invited China, Pakistan and Iran for the biggest-ever airshow in this region, Aero-India 2011, which was conducted in Bangalore with official representation from as many as 60 countries. 
• In a major breakthrough that put an end to more than a month of uncertainty, India and Iran arrived at a settlement and agreed to use 'euro' to pay for Iranian crude oil through a german bank.

                                                                       March 

• The United Nations is establishing its Humanitarian Response Depot in Subang, west of the capital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The depot, located inside the Royal Malaysian Air Force base, will be completed in December. The Malaysian hub is the U.N agency's first humanitarian response depot in Asia and fifth in the world. It will stock generators, tents and high-energy biscuits which can be delivered quickly to disaster areas in the region. 
• Thein Sein was sworn in as Myanmar's new president in a ceremony held in Naypyitaw, the country's capital since 2005. He replaces Senior General Than Shwe, Myanmar junta chief since 1992, as the new head of the state. Myanmar has been under the Junta's rule since 1988 when the army crushed a pro-democracy movement, killing up to 3,000 people. 
• Tanks were deployed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, as top Generals pledged allegiance to the “revolution” and the country's main tribal leaders demanded President Ali Abdullah Saleh's exit. Sadiq al-Ahmar, who leads the Hashid tribal federation, the largest in deeply tribal Yemen and a crucial source of Mr. Saleh's power, told that it was time for the embattled President to make a “quiet exit”. 
• Operation Odyssey Dawn is the US code name for the international military operation in Libya by a coalition that is enforcing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.It implements a no-fly zone that was proposed during the 2011 Libyan uprising to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on rebel forces. The US passed complete military command of the operation to NATO and took up a support role on March 27, 2011.The British name for their military support of Resolution 1973 is Operation ELLAMY, the Canadian participation is Operation MOBILE, and the French participation is operation Harmattan. NATO's military activity is Operation Unified Protector. 
• A powerful earthquake that toppled homes in north-eastern Myanmar has killed more than 70 people 25 March. The earth quake, measured at magnitude 6.8 by the U.S. Geological Survey, was centred just north of Tachileik town in Shan State near the Thai border. It was felt hundreds of km away in Bangkok and Hanoi. 
• Japan is facing an unprecedented nuclear crisis, it struggled hard to avert multiple meltdowns at three reactors of Fukushima Daiichii nuclear power plant damaged by the devastating earthquake and tsunami. The Kyodo news agency said 1.80 lakh people were evacuated from a 20-km radius of the Fukushima nuclear plant. Already over 3.5 lakh people have already moved out of the region. Meanwhile, Scientists said Japan's strongest earthquake on record that triggered a destructive tsunami appears to have moved the main island by 2.4 meters and shifted the Earth on its axis. 
• Fighting has been taken place in the West African state of Ivory Coast with thousands of people fleeing across the border to Liberia. The country has been in political turmoil ever since outgoing President Laurant Gbagbo refused to recognise his electoral defeat in the presidential poll held on November 28. Mr. Gbagbo's rival Allassane Ouattara 
• To mark the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day on March8, UN Women announced a New Regional Programme to address the b widows of needsin India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The three-year programme, funded jointly by UN Women Swiss National Committee and Standard Chartered Bank, will be implemented in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to reduce social ostracism faced by widows. This will be done by collecting data and evidence to highlight the stigma faced by them, by working with widows' coalitions so they can speak up and access public services, and finally by guaranteeing that discrimination and social practices against widows are reviewed and repealed. India has an estimated 40 million widows 
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 8 gave its approval to a safeguards agreement for two new reactors chashma3 and chashma4 that Pakistan said China was building for it at Chashma. The ‘Type-66' agreement for the two reactors approved by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors was identical to similar agreements already in place for Chashma-1 and Chashma-2. 
• The Dalai Lama announced on 10 March that he would step down as “political head” of the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile but would remain as religious leader and continue to advocate “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet. The New “Parliament” will be elected when Tibetans across the world vote on March 20. By devolving his powers, the Dalai Lama hopes to give the “Prime Minister” a greater clout. 
• Mexican Billionaire, Telecom Tycoon Carlos Slim remained the richest person in the world with $74 billion in assets, while NRI steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal ranked sixth and Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani is placed ninth in the U.S. magazine Forbes annual list of world's top billionaires. Telecom tycoon Helu, whose worth increased by $20.4 billion from last year's $53.5 billion, is followed by Microsoft founder and now a full time philanthropist William Gates III (popularly known as Bill Gates) with a net worth of $56 billion. Investment guru Warren Buffet is at the third spot with assets worth $50 billion. Chairman of French luxury good outfit, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), Bernard Arnault has been placed at the fourth spot with net worth of $41 billion; he is the richest person in Europe. The fifth place has been taken over by Larry Ellison of Oracle. Mr. Mittal ranked sixth with $31.1 billion of wealth. Mr. Ambani, with net asset of value $27 billion, lost five places and was placed at the ninth position in this year's list.
  According to Forbes, the number of billionaires has increased from 49 to 55 in India, 69 to 115 in China, 25 to 36 in Hong Kong, and across Asia-Pacific it surged from 243 to 332. Other Indians among top 100 include, Wipro chief Azim Premji (36th spot with $16.8 billion), Shashi and Ravi Ruia (42nd place with $15.8 billion), Savitri Jindal (56th rank with $13.2 billion), Gautam Adani (87th spot with $10 billion) and K.M. Birla (97th spot with $9.2 billion) 
• A Ferocious Tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded (8.9) slammed Japan's eastern coast on11 March, killing thousands of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. The epicenter of earth quake was located at 130km from Japan’s Sendai city. Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.
  The catastrophe claimed probably more than 10,000 lives. The appalling loss of life kept emerging from the hard-hit east coast of northern Honshu Island, where the monster wave destroyed more than 3,000 homes. Explosions took place in the Fukushim Daiichi nuclear power station, destroyed a building housing the reactor, radiation leak was also occurring. 
• India voted in favour of sanctions against Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, his relatives and associates. This is the first major vote for India after joining the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the next two years. The Council unanimously approved curbs on travel, freezing of financial assets, weapon sales and a reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. 
• Tunisian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned on, as security forces clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some Ministers of his interim government. 
• The central bank of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Bank, has removed Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus as the Managing Director of Grameen Bank.The microcredit pioneer won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 along with the Grameen Bank, which he founded. However, Grameen Bank's General Manager Jannat-e-Kownine told a news conference that Dr. Yunus would continue in office and that he would challenge the central bank order.

                                                                            April

• Ismail Omar Guelleh won the Presidential Elections in Djibouti according to the election results declared on 9 April 2011. Guelleh of the ruling People’s Rally for Progress (RPP) party got 79.26 percent of the vote while the only opposition candidate Mohamed Warsama Ragueh could manage 20.74 percent votes only. Ismail Guelleh has served two Presidential terms already since 1999. 
• Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara's forces, backed by French and U.N. troops, captured his besieged rival Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan on 12 April at the climax of a deadly months-long crisis. Mr. Gbagbo, who has held power since 2000 and stubbornly refused to admit defeat in November's presidential election, was detained and taken to his rival's temporary headquarters, with his wife Simone and son Michel. 
• Moscow named a Soyuz spaceship after Gagarin which last week brought a new team to the International Space Station (ISS). April 12 is marked in Russia every year as Day of Cosmonautics, but from this year on it will be celebrated throughout the world. The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a Russia-moved resolution declaring April 12 “International Day of Human Space Flight.” 
• The Economic and Trade Ministers of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations have decided in Sanya (China), to set up a liaison group to intensify cooperation and pledged to oppose trade protectionism. 
• India, Brazil and South Africa drew comfort from Russia and China “endorsing” their candidature for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the Sanya Declaration though Indian officials later sounded a cautionary footnote. 
• Pakistan on 19 April claimed to have successfully conducted the first flight test of the newly developed short range surface-to-surface multi-tube ballistic missile ‘Hatf IX' (NASR). NASR has a range of 60 km and “shoot-and-scoot'' nuclear delivery capability. 
• President Raul Castro was named first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party.Despite raising hopes during the gathering at Havana that a new generation of leaders was poised to take up important positions, Mr. Raul Castro announced that Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, 80-year-old long-time confidante, would be his No. 2. Ramiro Valdes, a 78-year-old Vice-President, was named to the No. 3 spot. Several younger people were added to the 15-member leadership group, but in lesser positions. 
• Syria has lifted an emergency law that had been in force for 48 years following a spate of protests, which included a violent overnight clash between the security forces and protesters in the city of Homs on 19 April. A new law has been passed that allows the right to peaceful protests. Syria's emergency law had armed the government with pervasive powers, including making summary arrests, as well as a license to intrude in all aspects of a citizen's life. Human Rights groups estimate that at least 200 people have been killed in the protests, which started and spread nationwide from the southern city of Daraa one month ago. 
• Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni found himself ranked above U.S. President Barack Obama in the Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people in the world for the year 2010.Dhoni, ranked 52nd in the chart, was the only Indian sportsperson to make the list which also included four of his compatriots in “Titan of Industry” Mukesh Ambani (61), “Brain Mapper” V.S. Ramachandran (79), “Philanthropist” Azim Premji (88) and “Change Agent” Aruna Roy (89). Dhoni found himself way above Messi who was just below Obama at the 87th spot in a list topped by Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who became the “Spokesman for a Revolution” in Egypt. The other global celebrities included are U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is incidentally ranked higher than Obama at 43rd, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (6), and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (9). 
• Exchange of gunfire across the Thai-Cambodia border continued. Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence said “the apparent goal of Thailand's military aggression is to take control over … Tamone and Ta Krabei temples of Cambodia.” These two temples, located “deep inside the Cambodian territory,” are distinct from the border-temple of Preah Vihear. The internationally-adjudicated status of Preah Vihear as a Cambodian asset and its subsequent designation as a world heritage site are widely believed to be at the heart of hostilities. 
• Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan won the oil-rich country's presidential election. 
• Russia proposed a plan to strengthen the safety standards in nuclear power plants of the world on 26 April 2011 with the objective of not allowing any nuclear catastrophe similar to Fukushima Daichi, Japan or Chernobyl to happen in future. The plan proposed by Russia includes the following points:
  1) To make nations using nuclear energy more responsible.
  2) Additional safety measures for nuclear reactors and a ban on the construction of reactors in quake-prone zones.
  3) To give more powers to International watchdogs to enforce the safety rules to avoid any nuclear catastrophe in future. 
• Armed forces of Syria shot dead 49 anti-government protesters on 22 April 2011. The demonstrations against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad have escalated in the month of April. 
• A series of devastating tornadoes struck United States and at least 291 people died. As the storms wreaked havoc across a number of States including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee, on 27 April, thousands were injured and left homeless and more than a million people were without power. The storms were said to be the worst in the U.S. since 1974, when tornadoes killed 315 people. 
• The inaugural session of the fourth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-IV) was held in Colombo. Over 100 delegates from Sri Lanka and 30 from the other countries in the region will be attending the four-day conference. The SAARC sanitation summit has decided to establish a national body in each country to “coordinate sanitation and hygiene, involving all stakeholders” to enable access to sanitation to the 45 per cent of south Asians who still defecate in the open. The total number of people uncovered by sanitation initiatives remains unacceptably high in the region, at over 700 million. A majority of these people are in India. The Colombo Declaration, signed at the end of the fourth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV) to tackle the biggest sanitation challenge in the world, decided to “develop time-bound plans and to allocate and mobilise resources for delivering on all the previous SACOSAN commitments.” 
• Kazakhstan's President of two-decades Nursultan Nazarbayev was re-elected for another five-year term winning an astonishing 95 per cent of the vote in April 3rd poll that saw a record 90-per cent turnout. Mr. Nazarbayev's three rivals received less than two per cent of the votes each. Mr. Nazarbayev is the most ardent and consistent supporter of closer economic ties with Russia in the former Soviet Union and was a driving force behind a customs union formed last year between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. 
• Singer Michel Martelly elected as president for Haiti republic. Local media sources said His popularity escalated him to a political victory. Martelly won by a landslide with 67.6% of the vote, soundly defeating his challenger, former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who received 31.5%. `

                                                                           

May

• Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani inaugurated the second nuclear power plant at Chashma in Punjab and the third nuclear power plant in Pakistan. It is the second unit of Chashma Nuclear Power plant, CHASNUPP-2 built in collaboration with China. The second unit of Chashma Neclear Power Plant, CHASNUPP-2, is built in collaboration with China. 
• According to a World Bank report named Global Development Horizons 2011-Multipolarity: The new Global Economy released on 17 May 2011, India will be among six nations who will account for more than half of the global growth by 2025. As per the report, the six countries- China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Brazil and Russia is likely to grow on average by 4.7 percent annually between 2011 and 2025. 
• The United States on 18 May 2011 imposed sanctions on Syrian President Basher al-Assad and six other top aides for Human rights abuses. It also freezed assets of the Syrian officials that are in the United States. In addition to Assad, the sanctions targeted Vice President Farouq al-Shara, Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar and the Prime Minister Adel Safar.According to an estimate, 700 civilians were killed in two months of clashes between protesters and government forces. The US imposed these sanctions to spur pressure on Syrian government to stop its brutal crackdown on protesters. 
• South Pacific island nation SAMOA, currently positioned to the east of theInternational Date Line on 9 May 2011 decided to forego a day (28 December 2011) and shift to the time zone on its west to facilitate trade with Australia and New Zealand. The island nation in the South Pacific is currently 21 hours behind both countries, Australia and New Zealand. This implies that that the nation loses two working days a week with them. However with its decision to move to the other side of the date line, Samoa will move three hours ahead. 
• India ratified in the second week of May 2011, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its three protocols and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organised crime. It recognises the need to foster and enhance close international cooperation in order to tackle those problems. The convention is further supplemented by three Protocols, which target specific areas and manifestations of organized crime namely Protocols to combat (1) trafficking in persons (2) migrant smuggling and (3) illicit trafficking in firearms. 
• In the 2nd May 2011 Canadian Federal Election, Canada's Conservatives had a decisive victory making it a majority in Canada's Parliament. Conservative Party won 54% of the seats in the Parliament and secured a stable four-year term in power. It acquired 167 seats in the Canada's Parliament. The Liberals were reduced to a dismal third place. Ignatieff even lost his own seat in a Toronto suburb. Candian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper’s victory, along with Conservative party’s control of the Senate, put the Conservatives in firm control of the federal agenda for the first time since the early 1990s. 
• Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 11 September 2001, terror attacks was killed on 1 May 2011 in his luxury hideout in Pakistan in a fire fight with U.S. forces. President Barack Obama broke the news in the White House on 1 May. Bin Laden was killed after a gun battle with Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitary forces at a compound in the city of Abbottabad in Pakistan. The operation was codenamed Operation Geronimo. He was shot in the left eye and killed inside a secured private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs in a covert operation. Abbottabad is home to three Pakistan army regiments and thousands of military personnel and is dotted with military buildings. The team returned to Afghanistan with bin Laden's body and the body later buried at sea. 
• Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey, London on 29 April 2011. 1900 guests watched the couple exchanging their vows, while millions of people around the world watched the ceremony live on TV. Prince William wore a military uniform, a tunic, with a crimson and gold sash and gold sword slings, from the Irish National Guards. On 29 April 2011, the day of wedding, Prince William was given the title of the Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus by Queen Elizabeth II. After marriage Miss Catherine Middleton became Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge. The title of duke is the highest rank below that of monarch in the British nobility. 
• Vanuatu, a small island nation in the South Pacific is set to become the 154th member of the World Trade Organisation. Once the WTO's General Council approves the accession package in its next meeting, Vanuatu will have six months to complete the ratification. Russia and Algeria are the two main trade economies outside the WTO. 
• Lobsang Sangay was on 27 April 2011 elected Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-exile. He would take over the political duties relinquished by spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Sangay got 55 per cent votes out of 49189 votes. He defeated his nearest rival Tethong Tenzin Namgyal by 8646 votes. As many as 83399 exiled Tibetan settled in India, Bhutan, Nepal, Australia, United States, Japan, Russia and other countries exercised their franchise to elect the Prime Minister and 43 members of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile. The tenure of the newly elected Prime Minister would be five years. 
• The leaders of two main Palestinian-factions, Fatah and Hamas on 4 May 2011signed a reconciliation agreement. The agreement signed between the two factions paved the way for the formation of transitional national unity government followed by elections. The accord signed helped to end a four year feud between Fatah and Hamas and the signing of the account will be followed by preparations for the formation of an interim government. Three separate committees will be formed, which will plan for the upcoming polls as well as recommend internal reforms within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). PLO is the umbrella group of the Palestinian factions. The pact is widely seen as fallout of the Egyptian uprising that resulted in the formation of military-led transitional government in Cairo that played a key role brokering the intra-Palestinian accord. Both factions aim at a new and viable Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

                                                      

June

• The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) celebrated its 10th anniversary on 15 June 2011 in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, by summing up its achievements and outlining its future direction. The six-nation SCO member states are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. India, Pakistan and Iran are with Observer status in the SCO. Afghanistan was poised to be upgraded from Dialogue Partner to Observer which would give it access to all discussions of importance at the SCO.
  The joint declaration of the summit included- establishing an inseparable international security community to guard information security, fighting the three evil forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and combating drug trafficking. The adoption of Astana Declaration gave the SCO member states a chance to review their progress so far and map out the way ahead.
• The member States of the ILO meet annually at the International Labour Conference, held in Geneva, Switzerland. Each Member State is represented by a delegation consisting of two government delegates, an employer delegate, a worker delegate and their respective advisers. This year the International Labour Conference meets on june 1-17 in Geneva for its 100th Session. 
• President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, on 5 June 2011 left for Saudi Arabia for medical treatment and thus ended his 33-year rule over the nation. On 3 June 2011 he was injured in a rocket attack by the rival group.It created a political vacuum and a hope for the pro-democracy movement to achieve its objective. But at the same time it will fuel violence in the country because it is divided into armed tribes and to unify them under one command won’t be an easy task. 
• Germany announced its decision to phase out it’s all the nuclear plants by 2022.This decision, prompted by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, will make Germany the first major industrialized nation to go nuclear-free. People of Germany are strongly opposed to nuclear power and took to streets after Fukushima to urge the government to shut down all reactors as soon as possible. Germany (Europe’s largest economy) is determined to replace its nuclear power with renewable energy resources. Energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric power at present produces about 17 percent of the country’s electricity.