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Belgium ban veils in public• Belgium has moved to the forefront of a campaign to

restrict the wearing of the Muslim veil by women whena key vote left it on track to become the first Europeancountry to ban the burqa and niqab in public.

Mekong basin countries have fears overChina’s projects• China’s dam-building spree along the Mekong river

in south-western Yunnan province has raised fearsamong several of its neighbours, who say the damshave led to shrinking levels of water downstream.

• Officials from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia,countries which lie in the Mekong basin, voice theirconcerns over eight dams that China is building alongthe Mekong, in talks with Chinese officials inThailand.

• The four countries in 1995 set up the Mekong RiverCommission (MRC) to facilitate joint management andwater-sharing in the Mekong region, though Chinaand Myanmar have so far refused to formally join thebody. The Mekong runs almost half of its 4,400 kmcourse in China’s south-west, where it is known asthe Lancang, before entering Myanmar and Laos.

• The MRC’s concerns closely echo those voiced byIndia in the past over China’s plans to build damsalong the Brahmaputra, or the Yarlung Tsangpo as itis known in Tibet.

• An estimated 60 million people depend on the Mekongriver in the five countries that lie downstream. Chinahas already built three dams in Yunnan. Five more arein the works, including the massive $4-billion Xiaowandam, scheduled to open in 2012, which is the world’shighest dam. (Locate in Atlas)

Russia offered nuclear help to Venezuela• Russia has agreed to help Venezuela draw up plans

for a nuclear power plant, said President Hugo Chavez

• Russia and Venezuela also launched a joint businessto tap vast oil deposits in eastern Venezuela, and Mr.Chavez said Moscow has offered to help Venezuelaset up its own space industry including a satellitelaunch site.

• Mr. Putin also pledged to keep selling arms toVenezuela. Mr. Chavez’s government has alreadybought more than $4 billion in Russian weapons since2005, including helicopters, fighter jets and 100,000Kalashnikov rifles.

Anti Government Protest in Bangkok• Amid the escalating anti-government protest in

Bangkok, an official spokesman said “massivedisruption of traffic and road blockages may not beconsidered a peaceful demonstration as permissibleunder Constitution”.

• The protesters, whose numbers have varied from 60,000to 1,00,000 in most unofficial estimates, have beendemanding genuine democracy and arguing that Mr.Abhisit, portrayed as a proxy of the military bloc, hadcome to power without a popular mandate.

• The protest is being encouraged by the former PrimeMinister, Thaksin Shinawatra, now a fugitive abroad,through exhortations over video links from his basesin self-imposed exile.

• He was overthrown in a bloodless military coup in 2006,and Thailand has experienced varying degrees ofpolitical crisis since then.

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

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CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR I.A.S. (PRE.) 2011

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United States Pledged to not use nuclear weaponsagainst any non-nuclear State• The United States administration pledged to not use

nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear State thatcomplied with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT), as per the latest Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

• Announcing some of the key results of the “firstunclassified NPR in its totality” at the Pentagon,Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates said, “If a non-nuclear State is in compliance with the NPT and itsobligations, the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten touse nuclear weapons against it.”

Obama and Medvedev sign nuclear arms pact• Presidents Barack Obama of the United States and

Dmitry Medvedev of Russia signed a Strategic ArmsReduction Treaty which will reduce their nuclearweapons stockpiles by a third of their present stockpiles.

• The START deal, which will last for 10 years, wassigned at a meeting in Prague, where Mr. Obamaoutlined his vision for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation about a year ago.

• The agreement succeeds the 1991 START, whichexpired in December. It will have to be ratified by theU.S. Senate and the Russian Parliament.

• The new treaty limits the number of strategic nuclearwarheads to 1,550 — about a third less than the 2,200currently allowed. It also mandates a combined limitof 800 deployed and non-deployed Inter-ContinentalBallistic Missile launchers, Submarine-LaunchedBallistic Missile launchers and heavy bombersequipped for nuclear armaments; and a separate limitof 700 deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs anddeployed heavy bombers equipped for nucleararmaments.

• The warhead limit itself is 74 per cent lower than thelimit of the 1991 treaty and 30 per cent lower than thedeployed strategic warhead limit of the 2002 MoscowTreaty, a White House statement added

Nepal government’s decision to issueMachine Readable Passports produced inIndia has sparked a controversy• The Supreme Court of Nepal has asked the

government not to implement the deal with the Indiancompany until April 12 as two petitions have beenfiled against the decision. Deputy Prime Minister and

Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala, whose ministrymade the agreement with India, has been asked forclarification by the Public Accounts Committee ofthe Legislature Parliament. Even the Prime Ministerhas been asked to clarify on giving the contract toIndia without announcing a tender.

• Among other things, the rate to which SecurityPrinting and Minting Corporation of India Limitedhas agreed — $4 a copy — has been controversialas other companies are reportedly offering lowerrates.

Russia supports new Kyrgyz regime• Russia has signalled support for the interim coalition

government formed in Kyrgyzstan in the wake oftwo days of large-scale riots that left 75 people dead.

• Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised help andsupport to interim government head RozaOtunbayeva in a phone call.

Pakistan National Assembly of Pakistan passes18th Amendment Bill• The National Assembly passed the 18th Amendment

Bill that seeks to bring back the 1973 Constitution byremoving the distortions that had shorn it of itsdemocratic components over the past 37 years.

• The Bill — which proposes 102 amendments to theConstitution — was passed by a two-thirds majorityafter the House rejected the amendments moved bysome members on the abolition of the concurrent list,renaming the North West Frontier Province (NWFP),and removal of the provision for intra-party elections.

Rajapaksa-led ruling alliance has recorded anemphatic victory in the parliamentary• President Mahinda Rajapaksa-led ruling alliance in

Sri Lanka, the United People’s Freedom Alliance(UPFA), has recorded an emphatic victory in theparliamentary.

• Of the results of 180 seats declared so far, the alliancehas won in 120 constituencies.

• The outcome of the elections to the 225-memberHouse shows that there is no change in the publicmood since the January 26 Presidential election inwhich Mr. Rajapaksa secured a second tenure bynearly 18 percentage points over the candidate backedby the entire Opposition.




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Russia has launched the construction of a newgas pipeline to Europe• Russia has launched the construction of a new gas

pipeline to Europe that will strengthen its dominantpositions in the European energy markets.

• The $12-billion Nord Stream pipeline would carry upto 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year fromSiberian gas fields 900 km over land and 1,200 kmunder the Baltic Sea from Vyborg in Russia toGreifswald in Germany.

• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who flagged offthe seabed construction, said the new pipeline wouldensure stable Russian gas supplies to Europe and helpavoid transit problems.

• Russia supplies about 150 bcm of gas to Europe, meetinga quarter of its needs. The new pipeline will give Russiaa stronger hold over Europe’s energy supplies andreduce dependence on the transit countries, Ukraine andBelarus. Russia’s Gazprom monopoly has teamed up withGermany’s BASF, E.ON and Dutch Gasunie to build thepipeline. (Locate In Atlas)

Sudan gears up for its first multi party Election• Sudan geared up for its first multi-party elections in

24 years, with a 16-million-strong electorate eligibleto vote for President, MPs and local representatives.

Polish President killed in plane crash in Russia• Polish President Lech Kaczynski and a high-level

delegation were killed when a plane carrying 97 peoplecrashed in thick fog as it was approaching a Russianairport .

• Minutes earlier, the control tower redirected a RussianIL-76 transport aircraft from Smolensk to anotherairport. But the Polish pilot insisted on landing inSmolensk.

• Mr. Kaczynski, 60, was on his way to a memorialservice at Katyn, near Smolensk, where Polish armyofficers were executed on the orders of Soviet dictatorJoseph Stalin 70 years ago during World War Two.(Locate In Atlas)

First Arctic by balloon crossing• A French explorer’s team says he has made the first

Arctic crossing by balloon, landing in the tundra ofeastern Siberia five days after taking off in Norway.

• Jean-Louis Etienne travelled 3,130 km in his specialballoon, sailing over the Arctic Circle.

• In 1986, he became the first person to reach the NorthPole alone.

Obama warns of threat from nuclear terrorism• Kicking off the first plenary session on the second

day of the Nuclear Security Summit, in WashingtonU.S. President Barack Obama underscored the gravityof the threat of nuclear terrorism, arguing that “justthe smallest amount of plutonium, about the size ofan apple, could kill and injure hundreds of thousandsof innocent people ... Terrorist networks such as alQaeda have tried to acquire the material for a nuclearweapon.”

• Assuring the delegates of the 47 attending countriesthat Al-Qaeda would surely use nuclear materials as aweapon if they ever succeeded in obtaining it.

Three-km scar on Australia’s Great BarrierReef• A Chinese coal carrier that ran aground and leaked oil

on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef cut a three-kilometre-long scar into the shoal and may have smeared paintthat will prevent marine life from growing back, thereef’s chief scientist said.

• Even if severe toxic contamination was not found atthe site, initial assessments by the Great Barrier ReefMarine Park Authority indicate it could take 20 yearsfor the world’s largest coral reef to recover, saidscientist David Wachenfeld.

• The 230-metre Shen Neng 1 ground into large parts ofthe shoal, leaving a scar three km long and up to 250metres wide. (Locate In Atlas)

Volcano erupts again in Iceland• A volcano under a glacier in Iceland rumbled back to

life, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into theair and forcing hundreds of people to leave theirhomes.

• Emergency officials evacuated 800 residents fromaround the Eyjafjallajokull glacier as rivers rose by upto three metres and flooded a sparsely populated area,

• The volcano, 120 km east of Reykjavik, erupted March20 after almost 200 years of silence..The last time therewas an eruption near the 160-square-kmEyjafjallajokull glacier was in 1821.

• A bigger worry is the nearby and much larger Katlavolcano, which in the past has erupted in tandem withEyjafjallajokull. Katla is located under the vastMyrdalsjokull ice cap

International Events





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• Airports across Britain looked like ghost towns as, inan unprecedented move, British airspace wascompletely sealed and not a single flight was allowedeither to take off or land anywhere, including militaryairstrips, because of safety fears after a volcaniceruption in Iceland set off a massive cloud of ashdrifting towards the U.K. (Locate In Atlas)

Plutonium reactor was shutdown by Russia• Russia shut its last weapons-grade plutonium reactor

in line with a pledge President Dmitry Medvedev madeat the U.S. nuclear safety summit in Washington earlierthis week.

• The ADE-2 reactor near the Siberian town ofZheleznogorsk was started in 1964 and holds the worldrecord as the longest operating plutonium reactor.

• It was also the last remaining weapons-gradeplutonium reactor in the world.

• Two other reactors at the Mining and ChemicalCombine in Zhelezgogorsk were decommissioned in1992, as Russia no longer needed to produceweapons-grade plutonium following the end of theCold War.

“Yellow Shirts” warn ‘Reds shirts’ in Thailand• Thailand’s elite-backed “Yellow Shirts” vowed to take

action if the government fails to deal with red-cladprotesters within a week, raising fears of clashes. The“Red Shirts”, who mainly support ex-Premier ThaksinShinawatra, have occupied the capital for over a monthwith their anti-government campaign, which led toclashes with security forces last weekend leaving 25people dead.

• Thailand is largely split between the poor and ruralReds and the pro-establishment Yellows, who hit thestreets ahead of a 2006 coup that ousted their enemyThaksin and again to see off his allies in 2008. TheYellows had remained largely silent since the Redsbegan mass rallies in mid-March demanding immediateelections, but they held a meeting of 3,000 to 5,000supporters to discuss a response to the crisis.

Stage set for Cancun on climate change• The Major Economies Forum, a platform for ministerial

discussions on energy and climate issues, wrappedup in Washington after two days of meetingsfocussing on preparing for the summit on climatechange in Cancun in November 2010.

• The Forum was chaired by National Security Advisorfor International Economic Affairs Michael Froman

and led on the United States side by Todd Stern,Special Envoy for climate.

• The 17 major-economy members of the Forum are:Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union,France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea,Mexico, Russia, South Africa, UK. and the U.S.

G 20 Nation Meet in U.S. to discuss jobcrisis• Labour and Employment Ministers of the G-20 nations

will meet in Washington to assess how the globaleconomic crisis has affected employment, accordingto the United States Department of Labour (DoL).

• It said the G20 nations accounted for 85 per cent ofthe economy and more than two thirds of the world’spopulation. This meeting was therefore an“unprecedented opportunity to tackle one of theworst legacies of the global economic crisis: the lossof millions of jobs”.

• The DoL said while a few economic vital signs wereimproving, global unemployment has surged by 34million, reaching a record 212 million in 2009. Evenwhere economies were growing, unemploymentremained high and was likely to rise.

• The 2009 G20 Summit was held in Pittsburgh.

Iran began a major three-day military exercisein Persian Gulf waters• Iran began a major three-day military exercise in Persian

Gulf waters but preceded the manoeuvres by offeringan olive branch to neighbouring Arab countries, manyof whom are close American allies.

• Iran invited “several regional countries” to participatein the military exercises in the future.

• The exercise code-named Payambar-e Azam 5 (TheGreat Prophet 5), in which all three services areparticipating, is aimed at preserving the security ofthe Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, as theworld’s key economic and energy routes.

• The indigenously built sonar-evading vessel, YaMahdi, participated in the drill. The Ya Mahdi vesselsare apparently remote-controlled and can launch high-intensity rockets.

• More than 300 vessels are participating in the majorexercise, which coincides with the thirty-firstanniversary of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps(IRGC)




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France determined to ban the burqa• Despite a negative opinion given by France’s highest

administrative court, the Conseil d’etat, to the effectthat banning the burqa, the niqab or other full facialcovering would violate the Constitution, the Frenchgovernment is determined to push ahead withlegislation outlawing the garment.

Ukraine extends naval base lease to Russia• Ukraine has agreed to extend the Russian lease of the

biggest naval base in the Black Sea by 25 years in amove that is bound to consolidate Russia’s strategichold on the region.

• A breakthrough agreement to extend the stay of theRussian Navy in Sevastopol till 2042, with a possiblefive-year extension, was signed by Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedev and Ukraine’s President ViktorYanukovych during their meeting in the Ukrainiancity of Kharkiv.

• Under the current agreement, signed in 1997, theRussian lease of the former Soviet base expires in2017. Russia pays an annual rent of nearly $90 millionfor the base. Ukraine’s former President ViktorYushchenko had fought hard to evict the RussianNavy from the base even before the expiry deadline,as its presence on Ukrainian territory was an obstacleto his plan to join NATO.

• Mr. Yanukovich, who won the presidential electionsearlier this year, ruled out Ukraine’s NATOmembership and moved to improve relations withRussia.

• Moscow in return has agreed to supply its naturalgas to Ukraine at a 30-per cent discount, which willadd up to $40 billion over the next decade. Thismoney will be used to pay for the Russian lease ofthe Sevastopol base.

• The Russian-Ukrainian naval base agreement is asetback to U.S. efforts to establish control of theBlack Sea, which is a gateway to Russia and theCaucasus.

• During the five-day war with Georgia in 2008, Russianwarships based in Sevastopol sank a Georgian missilegunboat and played a key role in ferrying marinesand weapons to the war zone. (Locate In Atlas)

S. Korean warship cheonan sank in yellow sea• First inspections of the bow of a South Korean warship

show it was hit by an outside impact of considerable

force, a military official said, as suspicion increasinglyfalls on North Korea. The Cheonan sank and was splitin half after a mystery blast on March 26 close to thedisputed border of the two Koreas, leaving 40 sailorsconfirmed dead and six others still unaccounted for.

• Seoul has been careful not to point the finger directlyat the North over the incident in the Yellow Sea, whichhas stoked already tense ties, and Pyongyang hasdenied it was to blame.

• The disputed Yellow Sea border was the scene ofdeadly naval clashes between the North and South in1999 and 2002 and of a fire-fight last November thatleft a North Korean patrol boat in flames.(Locate In Atlas)

Cyber-racism summit held in Australia• Leaders from the anti-discrimination and Internet

communities will join forces to tackle online racism inAustralia.

• The Australian Human Rights Commission saidinstances of cyber-racism, which included racistwebsites, images, blogs, videos and comments onwebsite forums, were on the rise.

• In a bid to solve the problem, the commission hasteamed up with the Internet Industry Association toco-host the summit.

Chinese will export reactor to Pakistan reactordeal• China’s biggest operator of nuclear power plants has

confirmed that it will export two 340 MW nuclear powerreactors to Pakistan in a $2.375-billion agreement, in acontroversial deal that analysts say goes againstinternationally-mandated guidelines governing thetransfer of nuclear technology.

• The China National Nuclear Corporation, which hasalready set up two civilian nuclear power reactors inPakistan, has now signed construction contracts tobuild two more.

• The two governments had in principle agreed on thedeal during President Hu Jintao’s visit to Islamabadin 2006. But they are yet to publicly formalise the deal.

• The CNNC has already agreed to build two powerreactors in Pakistan, the 325 MW Chashma-1, whichstarted operating in 2000, and Chashma-2, which willbe completed next year. The statement said the twonew reactors are “2x340 MW”. “Chashma-2 will be abenchmark for C-3 and C-4 projects,”






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• The deal goes against the guidelines of the NuclearSuppliers Group (NSG), of which China has been amember since 2004. The NSG does not allow the saleof nuclear equipment to countries that have not signedthe Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and do not havea Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with theInternational Atomic Energy Agency.

• When India signed the civilian nuclear agreement withthe United States, this requirement was waived.

Greece vows deeper defence cuts• Greece’s Defence Minister promised “colossal” cuts

in military operating costs to help the debt-riddencountry emerge from its financial crisis and speed upplans to modernise the armed forces.

• Greece remains at odds with neighbour and NATOally Turkey over the divided island of Cyprus andboundaries in the Aegean Sea but has improvedties over the past decade.

• Athens is currently in talks with the EuropeanUnion and IMF for a rescue package worth €45billion ($60 billion) this year, and more for thefollowing two years, to cope with its acutefinancing crisis that has brought it to the brink ofdefault. (Locate In Atlas)

Oil leak in Gulf of Maxico more than eared• A BP executive agreed with a U.S. government

estimate that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexicocould be pumping up to 5,000 barrels a day ofcrude into the ocean, far more than previouslythought.

• British energy giant BP, which leases the rig andhas been leading the response to the disasteralong with the U.S. Coast Guard, had earlier saidthey believed the flow of oil at 1,000 barrels, or42,000 gallons, a day. (Locate In Atlas)

Canada’s assurance on separatism• Canada has said it takes “very seriously” the

concerns raised by India about rising activities ofSikh separat ists affil iated to the Khal istanmovement in the country.

• Describing the Kanishka bombing as a terribletr agedy and the worst ter ror ist inciden t inCanadian history, Mr. MacDougall said: “It is areminder to all Canadians that we are not immuneto the threat of terrorism.”

• The government looks forward to the final report ofJustice Major’s Commission of Inquiry into theInvestigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182.

• “Its findings and recommendations of Justice JohnMajor Commission should assist our continuingefforts to protect Canadians from terrorist acts.”

China’s soft power on show in shanghai Expo• The buildings along the banks of the Huangpu

river, which runs right through the middle ofShanghai, have always been powerful symbols.

• If the Olympics marked a display of China’spolitical power, the Shanghai Expo, which wasformally kicked off, is being seen as an opportunityfor China to showcase its soft power to the 189countries who will attend the event.(Locate InAtlas)

BP to blame for spill, says U.S.• On the rapidly worsening oil spill in the Gulf of

Mexico, U.S. President Barack Obama said: “BritishPetroleum [BP] is ultimately responsible under thelaw for paying the costs of response and cleanupoperations.”

• The Deepwater Horizon rig, operated by BP, sank onApril 22 following an explosion that killed 11 workers.It has reportedly been leaking nearly 5,000 barrels aday, prompting fears that it could equal theenvironmentally devastating Exxon Valdez spill nearAlaska in 1989.

Iran, Syria Discussed for The Formation ofregional economic bloc• Iran and Syria have discussed at length the formation

of a regional economic bloc with Turkey and Iraq astheir key partners.

• The two sides felt the move would yield economicbenefits and impart political stability and security tothe region.

• The two also discussed the construction of a pipelinefor exporting Iranian gas to Syria via Turkey, as partof an effort to promote regional ties. They alsoconsidered possible tie-ups in transportation, watersupply and petrochemicals.

• Tehran and Damascus,both countries supported thePalestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hizbollah againstIsrael. The Gaza winter war of 2008-09 also enabledTurkey to share its common political concerns withIran and Syria.(Locate In Atlas)




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Explosive device found in New York• Police averted a “very deadly event” when they

discovered an explosive device in a car in the bustlingTimes Square in New York City.

Building up nuclear Stockpiling is shameful,says Ahmadinejad• Speaking at the start of the four-week nuclear Non-

Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the UnitedNations in New York, Iranian President MahmoudAhmadinejad described the policy of building upnuclear stockpiles for the purposes of deterrent as“disgusting and shameful,” and “not a source ofpride.”

• In a reference to the recently announced U.S. NuclearPosture Review, Mr. Ahmadinejad called for statesthat threaten to use atomic weapons to be punished.He further described as “hazardous” the productionand stockpiling of nuclear weapons by world powers,and made a reference to a 2007 episode in the UnitedStates when an aircraft mistakenly transported sixnuclear-tipped cruise missiles within U.S. territory.

Faisal Shahzad a Pakistan-born man held forTimes Square bomb• Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born citizen of the United

States, was arrested in connection with the TimesSquare bomb incident, even as he tried to board aflight from New York’s John F. Kennedy InternationalAirport to Dubai, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

North Korea Will work with Beijing on N-talks• North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il ended his four-day

secretive visit to China, telling his hosts he was willingto help revive stalled negotiations over his country’scontroversial nuclear programme.

• Mr. Kim held extensive meetings with Mr. Hu, andalso met Premier Wen Jiabao and the seven other topleaders of the ruling Communist Party

• Mr. Kim as saying he was willing “to create favourableconditions” to resume the stalled six-party talks —the dialogue framework with South Korea, the UnitedStates, Japan and Russia over the North’scontroversial nuclear programme. North Korea quitthe talks after the United Nations imposed sanctionsfollowing a nuclear test conducted last April 2009.

Pakistan tests two surface to surface nuclear-capable ballistic missiles• Pakistan said it had successfully tested two surface-

to-surface missiles — capable of carrying both nuclearand conventional warheads — and ensured theoperational readiness of the Strategic Missile Groupsequipped with Ghaznavi and Shaheen missile systems.

• The “successful training launch” of the Short RangeBallistic Missile Hatf III (Ghaznavi) and Medium RangeBallistic Missile Hatf IV (Shaheen 1) was announcedby Inter-Services Public Relations

• Ghaznavi can carry warheads up to 290 km, Shaheen’srange was in the vicinity of 650 km.

Conservation leader David Cameron is newBritish Prime Minister• Britain’s first post-war coalition government, with

Conservative leader David Cameron as Prime Ministerand his Liberal Democrat counterpart Nick Clegg asDeputy Prime Minister, took office, promising to givethe country a “historic new direction” as the sun seton the 13-year Labour rule with Gordon Brown’sdramatic resignation.

• William Hague, a right-wing Conservative with a hardline on Europe, is the new Foreign Secretary; GeorgeOsborne, a close ally of Mr. Cameron, the Chancellorof the Exchequer; and Liberal Democrat Vince Cable,who famously predicted the banking crisis, theBusiness Secretary.

• At 43, Mr. Cameron is the youngest Prime Ministersince 1812. His elitist background — having been theson of a stockbroker and educated at Eton and OxfordUniversity — was sought to be made into an electionissue by the Labour Party, which argued that he wasnot in touch with the ordinary people.

• Like him, Mr. Clegg, also 43, has a whiff of classbaggage. Son of a banker with an aristocratic Russian-German lineage, he was privately educated and thenhe went to Cambridge.

Moist Chief Prachanda ready to disbandguerilla army• As Nepal’s political parties struggled to reach a

compromise to end the standoff between thegovernment and the former rebels, Maoist chiefPushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” has said he is readyto dissolve the party’s paramilitary organisation andfacilitate the integration of its combatants with theArmy.






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Trilateral meet on Iran’s nuclear programme• Turkey, Brazil and Iran are set to hold trilateral talks

that could help defuse tensions surrounding Iran’snuclear programme.

• Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrivein Tehran for talks with his host, Iran’s PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,the Brazilian President. Mr. da Silva arrive on May 17to participate in the G-15 summit, which also attendedby External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

• The talks achieve a breakthrough on a nuclear swapdeal between Iran and the global powers. Analystssay significant progress on a swap arrangement thatwould allow Iran to import nuclear fuel for its medicalreactor in Tehran, in return for the export ofdomestically produced low enriched uranium, coulddiminish chances of Iran being subjected to freshinternational sanctions.

• Iran was also looking forward to follow-up discussionsin Turkey with the five permanent members of theU.N. Security Council and Germany. The Turks havesuggested that Iran’s top negotiator on the nuclearissue, Saeed Jalili should hold direct talks withCatherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policyhead, who would represent the global powers.

IMF loan gave $1.3 billion to Pakistan• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved

immediate disbursement of $1.3 billion of financialassistance to Pakistan, as it noted that the country’svulnerability remains high.

• A decision in this regard was taken by the IMFExecutive Board following the completion of fourthreview of Pakistan’s economic performance undera programme supported by a Stand-By Arrangement(SBA). With this, the total disbursement to Pakistanso far has been $7.27 billion.

Egypt objects to Nile basin pact signed by inNile Basin Countries

• Egypt objected to an agreement signed by four NileBasin countries in Uganda for changing the way theriver waters are shared, even as the deal created apermanent body to manage it. Nile river stretches morethan 6,600 km from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean.The Nile is a vital water and energy source for thenine countries through which it flows.

• The original colonial-era agreement gives Cairo thepower to veto dams and other water projects in

upstream countries. Though the Nile waters aredivided by means of an agreement that dates back to1929, Egypt and Sudan being upstream countriesinsist that the old agreement still holds.

• Four of the seven upstream countries signed a newagreement in Uganda to set up a body to overlook thedistribution of Nile waters in a different way againstthe will of both Egypt and Sudan.

• Despite strong opposition from their northernneighbours, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopiasigned the agreement. While Kenya, Burundi and theDR Congo were expected to sign it within the 12months allowed by the accord. Egypt has expressedvehement objection to the agreement signed by anumber of Nile Basin countries changing the way theNile Waters are shared. (Locate In Atlas)

Iran agrees to uranium swap in Turkey• Iran agreed to swap a major part of its low enriched

uranium stocks on Turkish soil for an equivalentamount of uranium enriched to 19.75 per cent,potentially ending a stand-off with the U.S. and Europethat threatened to spiral into sanctions.

• Iran needs the higher grade enriched uranium to fuelthe Tehran Research Reactor, used by it to producemedical isotopes.

• The deal was reached after 18 hours of negotiationsending 4 a.m. among Iran, Turkey and Brazil, leavingWashington and its allies red-faced. The U.S. andEurope are pressing for the punitive route andSecretary of State Hillary Clinton had predicted thatthe Brazilian-Turkish attempt at mediation would fail.

Noam Chomsky accused Israel of acting likea “totalitarian state”• Noam Chomsky accused Israel of acting like a

“totalitarian state” after an Israeli government decisionbanning him from entering the West Bank.

• Mr. Chomsky (81), a Jewish-American professor oflinguistics at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) and a strong critic of Israel, hadbeen invited to lecture at the Palestinian BirzeitUniversity, near the central West Bank city ofRamallah.

• Speaking over the phone from Amman, Jordan, to apress conference in Ramallah, Mr. Chomsky said hewas held up for five hours at the Israeli-controlledAllenby Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank,only to be told later that he would not be allowedthrough.




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Thai security forces storm Red Shirt bastion,crush protest• Thailand’s military and civilian leaders assumed “full

control of the situation” after crushing a two-monthprotest and imposing an overnight curfew in thecapital, Bangkok, and over 20 provinces.

• Bangkok and most of these provinces were already ina state of emergency for several weeks.

• The latest phase of the protest movement by theUnited Front for Democracy against Dictatorship(UDD) first began on March 12. The UDD is an umbrellagroup of pro-democracy activists and loyalists ofThaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a militarycoup in 2006 and is now a proclaimed fugitive livingin self-imposed exile.

• Nearly 60 people were killed in intermittentclashes between the UDD activists and themilitary and other security forces during thisprolonged crisis.

• The Red Sh ir t UDD prot ester s have beendemanding immediate dissolution of the Houseof Representatives and a snap general election.Military-backed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva,who set a November 14 timeline for a fresh poll,about a year ahead of schedule, later withdrewthe offer, citing its rejection by the UDD leaders.

Pakistan has sent a note verbale to India onMay 17 on the disputed Kishanganga project• Pakistan has sent a note verbale to India on May

17 on the disputed Kishanganga project, clearlyindicating its intention to set up a Court ofArbitration as provided in the dispute settlementmechanism under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

• The first one was sent on April 9 where it informedIndia of its decision to invoke Article IX of the IWTto seek World Bank arbitration.

• India till date has not responded to Pakistan’s firstnote verbale in which Islamabad has asked NewDelhi to decide on its two negotiators for thearbitration process and also inform the World Bankabout the need to appoint a neutral expert as thetwo coun tr ies have been unable to r esolvedifferences within the Permanent Indus WatersCommission.

• The second note verbale, according to ForeignOffice officials, has to do with disputes relating to

water flows while the first was about “differences”over technical issues of the project. (Locate In Atlas)

South Korea accused North Korea of firing atorpedo that sank a naval warship• Tensions deepened on the Korean peninsula as South

Korea accused North Korea of firing a torpedo thatsank a naval warship, killing 46 sailors in the country’sworst military disaster since the Korean War.

• North Korea called the results a fabrication, andwarned that any retaliation would trigger war. Itcontinued to deny involvement in the sinking of thewarship Cheonan.

• An international civilian-military investigation teamsaid evidence overwhelmingly proved a North Koreansubmarine fired a homing torpedo that caused amassive underwater blast that tore the Cheonan apart.

• While 58 sailors were rescued from the frigid YellowSea waters, 46 died.

• Since the 1950-53 war on the Korean peninsula endedin a truce rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreasremain locked in a state of war and divided by theworld’s most heavily armed border. (Locate In Atlas)

Obama announce a Panel on oil spill• President Barack Obama announced the

establishment of a bipartisan National Commission toinvestigate the oil spill from British Petroleum’sDeepwater Horizon rig. The rig exploded on April 20and has since been spewing massive amounts of oilinto the Gulf of Mexico seriously endangering itsmarine life and the coastlands of Louisiana.

• As per an executive order signed by the President theCommission, which will also closely examine theactivities the offshore drilling industry, will be co-chaired by former two-term Florida Governor andformer Senator Bob Graham and also formerAdministrator of the Environmental ProtectionAgency William Reilly

SCO’s approved draft rule for new admissions• In a historic decision, the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO) has approved draft rules foradmitting new members into the six-member regionalsecurity grouping.

• The new rules were endorsed by the SCO ForeignMinisters at their meeting in Tashkent, capital ofUzbekistan,. The rules are expected to be finallyapproved by the Heads of State of the SCO at asummit meeting in Tashkent.






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• The decision signals the lifting of a moratorium onthe admission of new members the SCO introducedshortly after its establishment in 2001. The SCOcomprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

• The nations which have observer status — IndiaIran, Mongolia and Pakistan — would be primecandidates for full membership. Iran will notimmediately be able to enrol as the rules lock outnations that are under U.N. Security Councilsanctions, a Russian diplomat said. (Locate InAtlas)

Japan P.M. Hatoyama apologises over U-urnon U.S. base• Japanese Pr ime Min ister Yukio Hatoyama

apologised for breaking his election pledge to movean unpopular U.S. military base off Okinawa, alsoreceiving a public dressing-down from localofficials.

• Mr. Hatoyama’s initial plan had caused friction withclose ally Washington and his perceived ditheringon the issue since — followed by his U-turn — hasbadly hurt his approval ratings.

• Okinawa, which hosts more than half the 47,000U.S. troops in Japan, has long sought to removethe bases, which are locally unpopular mainlybecause of noise, pollution and the risk of accidentsand crimes.

• Relations between Japan and the United Stateshave been strained since the centre-left Premier tookpower last September after a landslide poll victory,pledging to move the base off Okinawa, scrappinga 2006 deal between the previous conservativegovernment and Washington.

• The administration of U.S. President Barack Obamahad urged Mr. Hatoyama to stay with the originalpact, arguing a strong U.S military presence iscrucial for the defence of Japan and stability in thewider Asia-Pacific region. (Locate In Atlas)

China, U.S. discuss to reform Chin’sexchange rate mechanism• Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged to reform

China’s exchange-rate mechanism, but gave nocommitment to revaluing his country’s currency atthe start of a two-day dialogue with the UnitedStates.

• China’s valuation of the Yuan, which the U.S. sayshas been kept artificially low, would only be decided“under the principles of independent decision-making,

controllability and gradual progress,” said Mr. Hu,suggesting China would, in the near-term, ignore U.S.calls for its appreciation.

Russia has denounced the deployment of U.S.Patriot missiles in Poland• Russia has denounced the deployment of U.S. Patriot

missiles in Poland as detrimental to regional securityand trust.

• “Such military activity does not help to strengthenour mutual security, to develop relations of trust andpredictability in this region,” said the Foreign Ministry.

• A battery of U.S. Patriot air defence missiles, to bemanned by up to 150 U.S. troops, arrived in Morag, asmall town in north-eastern Poland just 60 km fromthe Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

• It is the first deployment of U.S. surface-to-air missilesso close to Russia’s borders.

• The missiles will be able to shoot down aircraft andmissiles over the entire Kaliningrad region, accordingto Russia’s NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin.

• The Pentagon said the main purpose of the temporarydeployment is to teach the Polish military to operatethe advanced guided missile system.

• However, in 2012 the Patriot base will becomepermanent.

• Under President Barack Obama’s reconfigured missiledefence plan for Europe, Poland is also expected by2018 to host SM-3 missile interceptors capable ofshooting down Russian ballistic missiles. (Locate InAtlas)

Pakistan, Iran to sign gas pipeline deal• Two months after Pakistan and Iran signed a deal for

the construction of a pipeline that would allow Iraniangas to be pumped into Balochistan and Sindh, thetwo countries will sign a sovereign guarantee forconstructing the much delayed project that wasenvisaged as a “peace pipeline’’ extending right intoIndia.

• The sovereign guarantee for the $ 7.6 billion projectwill be signed by representatives of the NationalIranian Oil Company and Pakistan’s PetroleumMinistry. The two countries had inked the deal onMarch 17 this year in Turkey as per which a pipelinewill connect Iran’s South Pars gas field with Pakistan’ssouthern Balochistan and Sindh provinces.




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• As part of the project, gas will be pumped directlyinto “energy-hungry’’ Pakistan daily from Iran by themiddle of the next decade.

• The pipeline will begin from Iran’s Assalouyeh EnergyZone in the South and stretch over 1,100 km throughthe country before it enters Pakistan. The initialcapacity of the pipeline will be 22 billion cubic metersof natural gas per annum. It is expected to be laterraised to 55 billion cubic metres.

• Security considerations and inability to come to anunderstanding with Pakistan over transmissioncharges saw India vacillate over joining the project.

• Finally, Iran and Pakistan decided to enter into abilateral agreement though the former has continuedto maintain that India was welcome to join the project.(Locate In Atlas)

Nepal political parties agree to extend term ofConstituent Assembly• Nepal political parties agreed to extend the term of

the Constituent Assembly by one year as part of acrucial deal under which Prime Minister MadhavKumar Nepal agreed to step down.

• The deal was struck by top leaders of the UCPN-Maoist, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML withjust hours left for the expiry of term of the ConstituentAssembly.

• Nepal’s ruling coalition introduced a bill in the 601-Assembly to extend the term of the House by oneyear so that it could finish the task of framing a newconstitution.

• The CPN-Maoist party, with nearly 35 per cent of theparliamentary seats, had refused to cooperate inextending the term of the Assembly till Prime MinisterNepal quits.

• The Maoists, having 229 parliamentary seats, hadrefused to vote for the bill to extend the term of the601-member Constituent Assembly unless the PrimeMinister stands down.

United Nations has asked India, Pakistan andIsrael to join NPT and CTBT• In a departure from tradition of not singling out

countries by name, the United Nations has askedIndia, Pakistan and Israel to join NPT and CTBTwithout further delay and pre-conditions.

• The U.N.’s call to the three countries to join nuclearNon-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive TestBan Treaty (CTBT) came at the end of the month-long 2010 NPT review conference.

• The conference also decided on scheduling a meetingin 2012 to discuss the creation of a Middle East (WestAsia) Nuclear Free Zone.

• The NPT Review Conference is held every five yearsto assess the progress in reaching the goals set outin the 1970 treaty to disarm and stop the spread ofnuclear weapons. India, Pakistan and Israel did notattend.

• The U.S. took exception to the fact that Israel hadbeen singled out in the text — a key demand of theArab states.

• U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the accordbut “strongly” opposed singling Israel out over talkson a nuclear weapons-free West Asia.

U.S. Will supports Sri Lankan truth panel• The United States has expressed the hope that the

Reconciliation Commission established by Sri LankanPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa to study events from2002 till the military defeat of the LTTE would be givenbroad enough mandate.

Israeli commandos attacked a high-profileGaza-bound aid flotilla, killing up to 19 people• Israeli commandos attacked a high-profile Gaza-bound

aid flotilla, killing up to 19 people and triggering in itswake a wave of outrage across the globe.

• The convoy of six ships was assaulted in the earlyhours after commandos slithered down fromhelicopters and confronted passengers on board,mostly pro-Palestinian activists.

• The ships comprising the flotilla arrived from Britain,Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Turkey. InsaniYardim Vakfi (Humanitarian Aid Association), a Turkish,non-governmental organisation had coordinated therelief mission. The 700 passengers on board included aNobel laureate and several European parliamentarians,concerns about whose safety and wellbeing havecaught the attention of the European Union. Theconvoy was ferrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarianrelief supplies for Gaza residents who have been reelingunder a blockade since the end of Israel’s winter warwith Hamas in Gaza in 2009.

Egypt opens border crossing to breach the Gazablockade• A day after the deadly Israeli raid on an aid flotilla

that intended to breach the Gaza blockade, Egypt hasannounced that it has opened its key border crossingwith the coastal strip.






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• Cairo’s decision to open the Rafah crossing till furthernotice follows a mounting international clamour forthe lifting of the Gaza siege imposed three years agoby Israel, with Egypt’s help. The intensity with whicha majority of global powers called for Gaza’s liberationfrom its economic shackles became visible duringSecurity Council meeting in New York.

• The ghastly raid is shaking up Israel’s special relationswith several western partners, and influential playersin West Asia, including Turkey and Egypt. (LocateIn Atlas)

Japanese Premier resigns over Okinawa base• Japan’s centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama

resigned, citing his failure to stay attuned to thepeople’s wishes.

• His political stock recently fell below the 20 per centmark from a one-time high of 70 per cent in the opinionpolls.

• Mr. Hatoyama is the fourth successive Prime Ministerto quit after a year or less at the helm. The other threebelonged to the Liberal Democratic Party, inopposition since last September.

Ukraine has officially drops NATOmembership plans• Ukraine has officially taken NATO membership off

its agenda in a volte face on policy ardentlypursued by the previous Presiden t, ViktorYushchenko.

• The Ukrainian Parliament approved in first readinga Bill that amends a 2003 national security law toexclude the goal of “integration into Euro-Atlanticsecurity and membership in NATO”. The Billsubmitted by President Viktor Yanukovych commitsUkraine to “a non-bloc policy which means non-participation in military-political alliances”.

• Kiev formally applied to join NATO in 2008, andeven though the alliance failed to immediately givethe green light to the Ukrainian bid, Mr. Yushchenkovowed to win NATO membership as the only wayto “safeguard Ukrainian sovereignty”.

• Since coming to power, Mr. Yanukovych has pushedto rebuild the “strategic partnership” with Russia thatwas all but destroyed by his predecessor. He hasextended for 25 years the Russian lease of the strategicBlack Sea naval base at Sevastopol, proposedintegrating the aviation and nuclear power industriesof the two countries and mulls setting up a joint

venture with the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom thatwould give Russia control over its gas transit toEurope.

• Russia in turn has agreed to slash 30 per cent off itsgas price for Ukraine and to extend a $500-million creditto help stabilise the Ukrainian budget.

Naoto Kan is The New Japanese P.M.• Naoto Kan, famous for his lack of political lineage,

was elected Japan’s Prime Minister. He succeeds YukioHatoyama, who resigned, citing his failure to stay instep with the people’s wishes.

• Mr. Kan (63), Deputy Prime Minister under Mr.Hatoyama, gained endorsement by the House ofRepresentatives and the House of Councillorsseparately.

• The parallel voting is mandatory, and in case ofdiscrepancy between the two choices, the personelected by the Representatives will be the PrimeMinister.

• Mr. Kan’s endorsement by Diet (Parliament) followedhis election as the president of the Democratic Partyof Japan (DPJ), the leading constituent of the rulingcoalition. The LDP’s junior partner, the People’s NewParty, opted to stay with Mr. Kan. The SocialDemocratic Party, which parted ways with Mr.Hatoyama over his controversial decision to let adeeply unpopular American military base remain inthe Okinawa prefecture, did not join Mr. Kan’scoalition.

Amid restrictions, activists mark The 21st

Tiananmen Square protest anniversary• Chinese activists and parents of victims quietly

marked the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Squareprotests, amid an increased security presence in theheart of Beijing and persisting restrictions on themedia from discussing the sensitive anniversary.

• On June 4 1989, hundreds of pro-democracy studentsand ordinary citizens were killed in and around thesquare and in the streets of Beijing, when China’sruling Communist Party ordered the military to crackdown and open fire on protesters.

Turkey’s ties with Israel plunge to a new low• Turkey’s ties with Israel plunge to a new low as Ankara

threatened to draw-down its economic and militaryties with Tel Aviv in the wake of Israeli attack on theGaza aid flotilla.




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• Nine people, most of them Turkish activists were killedwhen Israeli commandos slithered from helicoptersand stormed Mavi Marmara, the lead Gaza bound aidship of the convoy.

Israel troops takes control of Irish aid ship• Israeli troops took control of an Irish flagged aid ship

bound for Gaza and forced it to head for the Israeliport of Ashdod.

• The ship MV Rachel Corrie, named after a youngAmerican woman who was crushed to death in Gazain 2003 by an Israeli bulldozer, was ferrying hundredsof tonnes to humanitarian aid for besieged Gazaresidents.

U.S., China differ on nuclear posture in TheAsian Security Summit• The United States pledged to keep its nuclear

umbrellas for its allies in good shape, while Chinavowed against a nuclear arms race.

• With the nuclear arms issue figuring in two differentplenary sessions of the Asia Security Summit in(SINGAPORE), U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gatessaid allies and partners would continue to be coveredunder the doctrine of “extended deterrence”. Throughconventional and nuclear capabilities, “we will extend[into the future] an umbrella of protection over ourallies”.

• On China’s different nuclear posture, Ma Xiaotian, atop executive of the People’s Liberation Army, said:“We have not participated in any nuclear arms raceand will never do that in the future. We have theleast number of nuclear experiments.” Consistentwith security interests, nuclear transparency wasbeing observed, said General Ma at the conferencebeing organised by the London-based InternationalInstitute for Strategic Studies.

President Obama nod for surge in “secret war”• Behind his public rhetoric of global engagement

and diplomacy, U.S. President Barack Obama hassecretly sanctioned the deployment of U.S. specialforces to 75 countries as part of a “secret war”against Al-Qaeda and other radical groups.

• American troops are now operating in 75 countriescompared with about 60 at the beginning of last year,the Washington Post reported.

• Mr. Obama has asked for a 5.7 per cent increase in theSpecial Operations budget for fiscal 2011, for a totalof $6.3 billion, plus an additional $3.5 billion in 2010contingency funding.

• The surge in Special Operations deployments, alongwith intensified CIA drone attacks in western Pakistan,is the other side of the national security doctrine ofglobal engagement and domestic values PresidentObama released.

• Of about 13,000 US special forces deployed overseas,about 9,000 are evenly divided between Afghanistanand Pakistan.

Abu Dhabi’s leaning tower beats Italy’s towerPisa• An Abu Dhabi tower has been recognised as the

“furthest-leaning man-made tower” in the world byGuinness World Records. The 160-metre Capital Gatetower, developed by the Abu Dhabi NationalExhibition Company, leans at 18 degrees — over fourtimes the angle of Italy’s famous Leaning Tower ofPisa, Khaleej Times reported.

• The United Arab Emirates is home to another worldrecord building, the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai,which is the tallest building in the world. (Locate InAtlas)

Iran announces to send two aid ships to Gaza• Iran announced that it was sending two ship loads of

aid into Gaza and asserted that its Navy was ready toescort vessels wanting to deliver humanitarianassistance to residents of the besieged coastal strip.

• Iran’s assertion coincided with fresh warnings fromTurkey and Syria to Israel that it must lift the siegearound Gaza. Syria is Iran’s close ally, while tiesbetween Ankara and Tehran are on the upswing,especially after Turkey’s recent involvement in effortto resolve Iran’s nuclear row with the West.

Russian expert undercuts Cheonan sinkingtheory• Russian experts who carried out a probe into the South

Korean warship sinking refused to put the blame onNorth Korea, military sources said.

• A team of four submarine and torpedo experts fromthe Russian Navy returned to Moscow after makingan independent assessment of the March 26 sinkingof the South Korean corvette Cheonan, in which 46sailors were killed.

• A Russian Navy source said the experts had notfound convincing evidence of North Korea’sinvolvement.






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U.N. Imposes fourth round of sanctions onIran• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has

by a heavy margin imposed a fourth round ofsanctions against Iran.

• Of the 15 members in the Council, 12 voted in favourof sanctions. Turkey and Brazil opposed thesanctions, while Lebanon abstained.

• Hours before the UNSC vote, Russia, France andthe United States responded to the nuclear swapdeal that Iran, Turkey and Brazil had signed lastmonth.

Sri Lanka plans Constitutional reform to the1978 constitution• The Sri Lankan Cabinet under the chairmanship of

Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne has approved aproposal for “important amendments” to the 1978Constitution dealing with presidency, procedureand powers of Parliament and the establishment ofprovincial councils.

• The proposal assumes significance as there isconsensus among political parties that the 1978Constitution, introduced by the then President, J.R.Jayawardene, has aggravated the ethnic strife.

• The 1978 Constitution confers absolute powers onthe Presiden t, r educing the importance ofParl iamen t . The system of propor t ionalrepresentation has also been criticised as lopsided.

China offers $200 million to Sri Lanka’sHambantota Port• Beijing has offered $200 million to Colombo for the

second phase of the Hambantota Port.

• Since 2006, the Chinese government has provided SriLanka $3.06 billion in financial assistance for variousprojects. Among the major development projectsunderway with Chinese assistance are the Colombo-Katunayake expressway project, Norochcholai powerplant, Hambantota port development project, tankfarm project at Hambantota, and the roadinfrastructure project. (Locate In Atlas)

Kyrgyzstan appealed for Russian troops• Kyrgyzstan’s interim government has appealed to

Russia to send troops to quell growing ethnic violencein the southern city of Osh.

• Ethnic Uzbek account for half of the 250,000-strongpopulation in Osh and are generally better off than

Kyrgyz residents. Eyewitnesses said gangs of ethnicKyrgyz were rampaging Uzbek-populated parts ofOsh, indiscriminately killing, looting and settinghouses on fire.

• The government declared emergency in the city ofJalal-Abad as unrest spread to the city 60 km awayfrom Osh. Mr. Otunbayeva blamed ousted PresidentKurmanbek Bakiyev’s family for instigating riots intheir stronghold in Osh in an attempt to disrupt aconstitutional referendum scheduled for late June. Mr.Bakiyev fled Kyrgyzstan after being toppled in abloody coup in early April.

• The violence is the worst since 1990 when hundredsof people, mostly Uzbek, were killed in Osh. At thattime Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union, andMoscow sent troops to stop the violence. Expertssaid for Russia to help today it must get a peace-keeping mandate either from the Commonwealth ofIndependent States, a loose alliance of post-Sovietstates, or the Collective Security Treaty Organisation,the Russia-led defence bloc of seven ex-Soviet states.(Locate In Atlas)

Myanmar denies links to N. Korea fordeveloping nuclear Weapons• Military-ruled Myanmar has asserted that none of its

agencies is engaged in developing nuclear weapons.

• As a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT) and the Treaty on Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, Myanmar emphasised how it“has been actively participating in the United NationsConference on Disarmament in Geneva as a foundingmember”.

Russia posts Kyrgyz plea to defence bloc of ex-soviet States• Even as large-scale rioting continued in Kyrgyzstan ,

Russia has sidestepped Kyrgyzstan’s request formilitary help, redirecting the plea to the defence blocof ex-Soviet states.

• More than 100 people have been killed and over 1,000wounded according to local health officials, withKyrgyz mobs burning Uzbek neighbourhoods andslaughtering their residents in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’ssecond largest city in the country’s south.

• Interim President Roza Otunbayeva asked Russia formilitary help, but the Kremlin passed on the requestto the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO),to which both Russia and Kyrgyzstan belong.




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• The other member-states are Armenia, Belarus,Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, as the rotatingpresident of the CSTO, called a meeting of the defencebloc’s security chiefs to discuss the crisis. (LocateIn Atlas)

Deadlock in Belgium after The legislative Polls• Belgium has a fresh crisis on its hands, with legislative

polls yet again throwing up two distinct and mutuallyhostile political blocs. The country, which has beenmired in political instability caused by linguisticquarrels between the Dutch-speaking Flems and theFrench-speaking Wallons has been unable to comeout of a political deadlock. About 60 per cent ofBelgium’s 10.6 million people speak Dutch, the restFrench. A small number also speak German.

• The New Flemish Alliance (NVA) a nationalist andseparatist party emerged triumphant in the northernFlemish-speaking regions, while the Socialist Partydid well in the French speaking districts. This hasraised the spectre of the country’s outright break upor the creation of a loose federation between theFlemish and French-speaking Wallon regions.

• Belgium is to take over the six-month rotatingpresidency of the European Union on the 1st of July2010 but it now looks highly unlikely that agovernment will be in place by then. Elections werecalled after Prime Minister Yves Leterme tenderedhis resignation in April following disputes over theareas surrounding Brussels, the capital, a French-speaking enclave in Flemish territory.

Afghanistan has nearly one trillion dollars inmineral deposits• Afghanistan has nearly one trillion dollars in mineral

deposits, according to a U.S. study, but there aredoubts the war-torn and graft-prone country canmanage the windfall offered by the untapped riches.

• Afghanistan’s potential lithium deposits are as largeof those of Bolivia, which currently has the world’slargest known reserves of the lightweight metal, theTimes said.

• There is ever-growing demand for lithium, which isused to make batteries for everything from mobilephones and cameras to iPads and laptops. Futuregrowth in electric and hybrid cars could create stillmore demand.

• Afghanistan has so much of the metal that it couldbecome the “Saudi Arabia of lithium”, according toan internal Pentagon memo quoted by the New YorkTimes.

• The iron and copper deposits are also large enoughto make Afghanistan one of the world’s top producers.

Iran executed Jundallah chief Abdol malek Rigi• Iran executed Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of the Pakistan-

based Jundallah group, which has taken responsibilityfor several violent attacks inside Iran.

• The head of the armed counter-revolutionary groupin the east of the country ... was responsible for armedrobbery, assassination attempts, armed attacks on theArmy and police and on ordinary people, and murder.

• The court statement said Jundallah was “responsiblefor the killing of 154 members of security forces andother innocent people and wounding of 320 peoplesince 2003”.

• It added that the Jundallah was linked to members offoreign intelligence services, from the U.S. and Israelunder the cover of NATO. The group was alsoconnected to the Mujahedeen-e- Khalq Organisation(MKO), which Iran says is responsible for severaldeadly bombings in the country.

• In October, Jundallah claimed responsibility for amajor strike in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan provincewhich killed 42 people, including Brigadier-GeneralNourali Shoushtari, a Lieutenant Commander of theIslamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

• Rigi was arrested by Iran’s security forces onFebruary 23 after his flight from Dubai to Bishkekwas forced to land at a location in eastern Iran.

Mass starvation in West Africa• Starving people in drought-stricken west Africa are

being forced to eat leaves and collect grain from anthills, say aid agencies, warning that 10 million peopleface starvation across the region.

• In Niger, which the United Nations classifies as theworld’s least developed country, starving familiesare eating flour mixed with wild leaves and boiledplants.

• More than 7 million people — almost half thepopulation — face food insecurity in the country,making it the hardest hit by the crisis.

• According to U.N. agencies, 2,00,000 children needtreatment for malnutrition in Niger alone.






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McChrystal The top US commander inAfganistan caught in a row• The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has been

summoned to Washington to explain derogatorycomments about President Barack Obama and hiscolleagues.

• General Stanley McChrystal, who publicly apologisedfor using “poor judgment” in an interview in RollingStone magazine, has been ordered to attend themonthly White House meeting on Afghanistan andPakistan in person .

• The article in Rolling Stone depicts GeneralMcChrystal as a lone wolf on the outs with manyimportant figures in the Obama administration andunable to persuade even some of his own soldiersthat his strategy can win the war.

Julia Gillard Sworn in as Australia’s first womanPrime Minister• Julia Gillard was sworn in as Australia’s first woman

Prime Minister, after she toppled Kevin Rudd as leaderof the ruling Labour party in what was seen acrossthe region as a political coup at the speed of thought.

• Ms. Gillard was Deputy Prime Minister under Mr. Ruddwho had led Labour to a remarkable victory in the lastfederal election in November 2007.

Sri Lanka rejects EU offer• The Sri Lankan government rejected the conditional

offer made by the European Union (EU) for extensionof GSP+ tariff concessions for a limited period andsaid that the conditions imposed by the EU amountedto interference into the internal affairs of the islandnation.

• Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris maintained that 15conditions imposed by the EU on GSP+ tariffconcessions amounting to $150 million underminedthe sovereignty of Sri Lanka and were not acceptable.

• The European Commission had said earlier that it wasready to propose to the European Council to maintainGSP+ preferences for Sri Lanka for a limited additionalperiod, subject to a clear and written commitment bythe government of Sri Lanka to undertake a welldefined number of human rights related actions withina six-month period beginning in July.

• The Sri Lanka government’s rejection of the EU’s offercame a day after it denounced the appointment of athree-member experts panel by U.N. Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon to advice him on matters related toaccountability and alleged human rights violations inthe last phase of the war between the island nation’ssecurity forces and the LTTE.

CSTO team a block of former Soviet Statesheads for Kyrgyzstan• A high-powered team of the Russia-led defence bloc

of former Soviet states is heading for violence-tornKyrgyzstan even as a senior Russian official calledfor setting up a second Russian military base in theregion.

• A delegation of the Collective Security TreatyOrganisation (CSTO) led by its Secretary-GeneralNikolai Bordyuzha will be going to Kyrgyzstan toassess the situation in the country’s south followingfour days of bloody inter-ethnic riots last week.

• In the wake of the Kyrgyz riots CSTO promised tosupply helicopters and other hardware, but declinedto send peacekeepers requested by Kyrgyzstan’sinterim government. (Locate In Atlas)

Guinea a West African country to vote in firstfree polls since 1958• Guinea’s historic election will not be perfect, analysts

say, but a strong turnout is expected from among fourmillion voters keen to put an end to half a century ofdictatorship rule.

• The West African country is holding in its first freeelection since independence in 1958. Guinea’s “fatherof independence” turned President-for-life AhmedSekou Toure ruled repressively for 26 years and hissudden death in 1984 was quickly followed by a coupwhich led to 24 years of military rule by General LansanaConte.

• After Conte’s death in 2008, another military junta ledby Captain Musa Dadis Camara, promising elections,the happiness of the people and a fight againstcorruption, quickly led the country into disaster. Thiselection is taking place nine months after an armymassacre left at least 156 of Camara’s opponentsbrutally murdered. Since then Guineans were delivereda transition government. (Locate In Atlas)

Kyrgyzstan votes for new constitution• Many Kyrgyz voters turned out for a national

referendum on a new Constitution despite arecent flare-up of ethnic violence in the south.

• If approved, the Constitution would transformKyrgyzstan from a presidential to a parliamentary




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republ ic, with main powers shifted from anationally elected President to a Prime Ministerchosen by Pa r l i am en t . T h i s woul d m akeKyrgyzstan the first parliamentary democracy informer Soviet Cen tral Asia . Par liamentaryelections are planned in Kyrgyzstan in October.(Locate In Atlas)

Life affected in Bangladesh because ofhartal• Bangladesh experienced the first anti-government

countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal enforced by themain opposition BNP partially affecting majorcities including Dhaka.

• The former Premier, Khaleda Zia, called theshutdown to protest against the government’sfailure to resolve gas, electricity and water crises.It also demanded an end to tender manipulation,extortion and politicisation of the administrationand judiciary. Ms. Khaleda Zia also demandedscrapping of all treaties signed with India andresignation of the Election Commissio.

Landmark euthanasia ruling in Germany• In a ruling that expands the right of dying people

to refuse life-prolonging treatment, Germany’stop court has acquitted a lawyer of attempted-euthanasia charges.

• Germany has very strict rules against allowingterminally-ill people to die, partly in response tothe mass killing of disabled people under the Naziregime. The ruling still does not permit “mercykilling”. The Federal High Court overturned theconviction and suspended a 9-month prisonsentence on the lawyer, who specia lises inmedical law. He had advised a client by phone tosever a feeding tube to her nearly comatosemother ’s stomach to hasten her death.

• In a referendum, 91 per cent of voters approved thenew Constitution of Kyrgyzstan, the country’selection commission said after counting votes from90 per cent of the polling stations.

• The Constitution approved would devolve powerfrom the President to Parliament. This will makeKyrgyzstan the first state in Central Asia with aparliamentary form of government. Kyrgyzstan willadopt the new political system this year itself afterelections to Parliament are held within the next fewmonths.

• Speaking in Toronto, Canada, after attending the G-8and G-20 summits the Russian leader warned thatKyrgyzstan faced the threat of “breaking up”. “Toavoid such a scenario you need strong, well-organisedgovernment,” said Mr. Medvedev.

Iran to go ahead with swap talks• Iran has clarified that it does not plan to interrupt its

dialogue with the West on the proposed nuclear fueldeal but talks on its uranium enrichment programmehave been stalled for another two months.

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran waspreparing its response to questions raised by the U.S.,Russia and France, also called the Vienna group, aboutan agreement on a nuclear swap that Tehran hadreached with Turkey and Brazil last month.

• Iran, Turkey and Brazil had on May 17 signed theTehran Declaration, under which Iran is to transfer1,200 kg of its domestically produced stocks of lightlyenriched uranium to Turkey. In return, it would receive20 per cent-enriched uranium fuel for use in a Tehranbased medical reactor that is engaged in producingnuclear medicine.

• The Vienna group, which had first proposed a nuclearfuel deal in October, has responded in writing to theTehran Declaration, opening the possibility of furthertalks in the coming days.





IAS PRE 2011 - Current Affairs Medium: EnglishPrice: Rs. 190/-Pages: 446Author: S.A. Majid

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