April + May 2014

Rajapaksa slams US

• Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa criticised a US decision to table a resolution criticising Colombo’s post-war reconciliation at the UN Human Rights Council, saying such actions undermine his country’s hard won peace.

• The US has said it would table a resolution against Sri Lanka over its human rights accountability and slow pace of reconciliation, putting new pressure on Colombo to address war crimes allegations.

• The UN has already asked Sri Lanka to punish army personnel responsible for atrocities during the civil war against the LTTE that ended in 2009.

• Mr. Rajapaksa said that the powerful nations failed to fully understand the challenge faced by the country in combating the LTTE.

• Mr. Rajapaksa urged powerful nations not to be swayed by information coming from defeatist forces meaning the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora.

• Sri Lanka encountered similar UN resolutions both in 2012 and 2013, moved by US and supported by India.

A new Afghan law

• A new Afghan law will allow men to attack their wives, children and sisters without fear of judicial punishment, undoing years of slow progress in tackling violence in a country plagued by honour killings, forced marriage and vicious domestic abuse.

• The small but significant change to Afghanistan’s criminal prosecution code bans relatives of an accused person from testifying against them. Most violence against women in Afghanistan is within the family, so the law — passed by parliament but awaiting the signature of the president, Hamid Karzai — will effectively silence victims as well as most potential witnesses to their suffering.

• “Honour” killings by fathers and brothers who disapprove of a woman’s behaviour would be almost impossible to punish. Forced marriage and the sale or trading of daughters to end feuds or settle debt would also be largely beyond the control of the law in a country where prosecution of abuse is already rare.

• It is common in western legal systems to excuse people from testimony that might incriminate their spouse. But it is a very narrow exception, with little resemblance to the blanket ban planned in Afghanistan.

• The change is in a section of the criminal code titled “Prohibition of Questioning an Individual as a Witness”. Others covered by the ban are underage children, doctors and defence lawyers for the accused.

US visa reform

• India has warned the United States of consequences for its companies if lawmakers tighten visa rules on high-tech firms as part of an immigration overhaul.

• India would see a decision to restrict certain temporary visas for skilled workers as a sign that the US economy is becoming less open for business.

• The Republican leadership of the House of Representatives recently laid out general principles for an overhaul of immigration — whose main goal would be to give legal status to the estimated 11 million undocumented foreigners in the United States.

• The Senate bill, while increasing the overall number of H-1B visas available, would hike fees and restrict additional H-1B visas for companies considered dependent on such foreign workers. The move came after complaints by US companies and labor groups that Indian tech firms bring in their own, lower-paid employees rather than hiring Americans.

Anti-gay google doodle

• ¨ With the Winter Games underway in Sochi, Google Inc. quietly but vibrantly added its voice to the chorus of U.S. companies speaking out against Russia’s law restricting gay-rights activities by updating its iconic search page logo to depict illustrations of athletes skiing, sledding, curling and skating against a rainbow-coloured backdrop.

• ¨ The company declined to comment on the new Google Doodle that appeared on its home pages worldwide, saying it wanted the illustration to speak for itself.

• ¨ But the logo clearly was meant as a show of support for gay rights and a rebuke of the law that bans pro-gay “propaganda” that could be accessible to minors- below the updated logo appears a two-sentence section of the Olympic charter that reads, in part, “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind.”

• ¨ Although Google is not an Olympics sponsor, its action came a day after three sponsors of the U.S. Olympic Committee AT&T, DeVry University and yogurt maker Chobani issued statements explicitly speaking out against the Russian law.

Children’s Nobel Prize

• Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai has been nominated for the World Children’s Prize in Sweden for her crusade for education rights for girls.

• Malala was last year nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and won the European Union’s Sakharov human rights prize for her fight for the right of all children to education.

• The 16-year-old, who lives in Britain following extensive medical treatment, was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for her outspoken views supporting education for girls in Pakistan.

• The World Children’s Prize, also known as the ‘Children’s Nobel Prize’, was founded in 2000 and aims to raise awareness of children’s rights in 60,000 schools in 110 countries through educational programmes.

• UN Conference on Population and Development Beyond 2014.”

• According to an U.N. report, since the adoption of the Cairo Programme of Action at the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, the status of women has improved worldwide . But , it also says that growing inequalities is likely to undo the significant gains made in health and longevity.

• Maternal mortality has come down by half; skilled birth attendance has increased by 15 per cent since 1990; more women have access to education, work and political participation; and fewer adolescent girls are having babies, says the report “United Nations International Conference on Population and Development Beyond 2014.”

• The report is the first truly global review of progress, gaps, challenges and emerging issues in relation to the landmark Cairo ICPD. It gathers data from 176 countries, alongside inputs from civil society and comprehensive academic research.

World’s longest underwater tunnel

• China plans to build the world’s longest underwater tunnel beneath the Bohai Sea by 2026, connecting the port cities of Dalian in Liaoning province and Yantai in Shandong province.

• The blueprint of the ambitious project is expected to be submitted to the State Council of the People’s Republic of China in April.

• The 123-km underwater tunnel will cost around 220 billion yuan ($36 billion).

• The length of the tunnel will be more than the combined length of the world’s two longest underwater tunnels – Japan’s Seikan Tunnel and the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France.

Child euthanasia law in Belgium

• Belgium has recently passed a law allowing euthanasia for children. The Low Countries allow for suicide and doctor-assisted suicide, but Brussels is the first to open to door to dealing death to children of any age.

• The law has “safeguards” to ensure all the killing will be purely voluntary if the prospect of youngsters being helped to off themselves seems horrifying. A psychologist has to certify that the child has “capacity or discernment” to understand what they are doing.

• Aside from its inherent significance, Belgium’s move requires us to revisit Roper v. Simmons, the 2005 Supreme Court case that ruled it inherently unconstitutional to apply the death penalty to anyone under 18.

• European nations had long waged a moral campaign against America’s allowance of the death penalty for 16-18 year olds, which they called barbaric and savage. After all, minors are not really responsible for their actions. America was labelled a human rights violator, an international outlier.

World’s worst for pirated goods

• The United States named Delhi’s Nehru Place and Mumbai’s Manish Market among the world’s most notorious markets for pirated goods.

• Nehru Place is an old favorite, having figured in earlier lists of markets world over that the US considers the worst for Intellectual Property Rights violations.

• Gaffar Market, also in Delhi, Manish Market and Lamington Road in Mumbai and Chenoy Trade Center and the Hong Kong Bazar in Hyderabad were the others from India.

• The report said vendors in these markets are good at evading raids — they “are successful at hiding illicit merchandise prior to police raids, and returning it to shelves shortly after”.

• Gaffar market, the report said was rife with counterfeit clothing, shoes, cosmetics, electronics, and other products, most of which are imported into India.

• Mumbai’s Manish Market and Lamington Road were known for pirated copies of Hindi and English language films, sold along side their authorized versions.

• And Chenoy Trade Center and Hong Kong Bazar in Hyderabad — close to India’s Silicon Valley —  were known for pirated computer hardware and software.

• No Indian website figured among the online pirates named. Many websites based in Canada, China and some European Countries figured on the list.

• China, once again, Thailand and Indonesia figured prominently among physical markets named for piracy along with the six in India.
  New Prime Minister of Nepal

• The leader of Nepal’s largest and oldest political party was elected prime minister with majority support in parliament that is likely to ease the political instability in the Himalayan nation.

• The president of Nepali Congress party, Sushil Koirala, 76, received 405 votes in the 601-member parliament. He was supported by the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), the second largest party, and some other smaller groups.

• The declaration from Parliament Speaker Surya Bahadur Thapa that Koirala had secured the simple majority to be elected was followed by applause inside the assembly hall. Hundreds of Koirala’s supporters stood outside the parliament building.

• A constitution was supposed to have been written by the last Constituent Assembly, which was elected in 2008 following the end of a 10-year Maoist insurgency and the overthrow of the centuries-old monarchy. But the assembly was riven by infighting and never finished its work.

• Koirala, 76, has led his party for the past four years. He also spent six years in jail and nearly 20 years in exile in India because he opposed the autocratic rule of the king.

• Politicians hope the election of Koirala with support from nearly two-thirds of the members of the assembly will bring some political stability to Nepal.

G20’s aim of lifting global GDP

• The Finance ministers and central bank governors of G20 nations decided to work towards lifting their collective GDP by more than two per cent over the next five years and exhorted the United States to go ahead with the IMF quota reforms.

• The group of 20 rich and developing nations said they “deeply regret” the stalling of IMF quota reforms with the United States yet to ratify them.

• The IMF quota reforms, which seek to increase the voting share of emerging economies including India, had hit a roadblock with the US Congress refusing to increase the American contribution to the multilateral body.

• Emerging economies, including India, have been asking the U.S., which has started gradual withdrawal of its fiscal stimulus, to be more predictable in monetary policy. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering has caused flight of capital out of emerging economies and in turn hammering their currencies.

• The G20 countries also committed to develop new measures, for maintaining fiscal sustainability and financial sector stability, to significantly raise global growth.

Ukraine’s new rating - ‘CCC’

• Standard & Poor’s ratings agency lowered Ukraine’s long-term rating from ‘CCC+’ to ‘CCC’ saying the raging political crisis has put the government’s ability to service its debt at risk and raised uncertainty over Russia providing promised aid.

• The crisis in economically-struggling Ukraine erupted in November when President Viktor Yanukovych decided unexpectedly to reject a European Union integration deal years in the making in favour of closer ties with Russia.

• Moscow then promised to provide a 15 billion dollar bailout to its former satellite and to slash prices that Kiev paid for energy supplies.

Syria aid resolution

• The U.N. Security Council will vote  on a resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria, where the United Nations says 9.3 million people need help, although it is unclear if Russia and China will support or veto the draft.

• Russia, supported by China, has shielded its ally Syria on the U.N. Security Council during the three-year-long civil war. They have vetoed three resolutions condemning Syria’s government and threatening it with possible sanctions.

• During a visit to Baghdad, Lavrov said the resolution should spell out that cross-border aid deliveries should be organized in accordance with international humanitarian law, which requires a government’s consent for such a move.

Google Lunar XPrize

• A poorly funded, rag-tag team in India is now among the top contenders for the Google Lunar XPrize, the grand global competition to land a robotic spacecraft on theMoon by December 2015.

• Team Indus, co-founded by IITians Rahul Narayan and Indranil Chakraborty, has just been named among the five finalists for what are called milestone prizes, teams that have achieved certain technological landmarks and appear closest to reaching the final objective.

• The pioneering reality show in space, announced in 2007 by Google and the XPrize Foundation, an education non-profit, promises the world some edge-of-the seat excitement in the months to come. It had 33 teams participating when registrations closed in 2011. Since then, a number of teams have withdrawn or merged. Currently 18 remain, some of which are led by world-renowned robotics and space researchers and super-rich folk.

• The competition carries $40 million in prize money. The organizers’ aim is to do something humanity has never accomplished: the safe landing of a private craft on the surface of the Moon, and possibly do so at a fraction of the cost that governmental space bodies incur.

• Of the 18 teams, six are from the US, and others from countries including the UK, Germany, Japan, Israel, Brazil and Malaysia.

‘Cyber libel’ law

• Philippine President Benigno Aquino defended a controversial cybercrime law penalising online libel, a day after the top court upheld its legality in a setback for campaigners who argue it could curb Internet freedom.

• The Cybercrime Protection Act was passed in 2012 to stamp out online scourges such as fraud, identity theft, spamming and child pornography, but its implementation was suspended after coming under challenge from various groups.

• However the Supreme Court ruled that one of its most controversial provisions, the section which penalises cyber libel, “is not unconstitutional”.

• Aquino defended the ruling, saying the law would not be used to stifle dissent in the Philippines, considered to be one of Asia’s most freewheeling democracies.

Third  Longest rail tunnel in China

• The longest railway tunnel in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been completed which spans across 22.449 km

• The tunnel is the longest of its kind in Xinjiang and the third-longest in China, according to the Urumqi Railway Bureau (URB).

• Undertaken by the URB and the China Railway 18 Bureau Group Co. Ltd, the tunnel took about seven years to build.

• The tunnel is part of Nanjiang Railway’s second trunk that links Turpan with Korla in southern Xinjiang.

Anti-gay bill controversy in Arizona

• Arizona’s governor vetoed a bill that would have protected people who assert their religious beliefs in refusing service to gay and lesbian customers, ending a proposal that put America’s deep polarisation over gay rights on stark display.

• The bill backed by Republicans in the state’s Legislature set off a national debate over religion and discrimination, and opponents called it an open attack on gay people.

• Similar bills are making their way through several state legislatures. Some are intended to protect gay-marriage bans, others to protect individuals or businesses who, for religious reasons, don’t want to serve same-sex couples.

• Three Republicans who voted for the bill last week changed course and urged Ms. Brewer to veto it. They said in a letter to Brewer that while the intent of their vote “was to create a shield for all citizens’ religious liberties, the bill has been mischaracterized by its opponents as a sword for religious intolerance.”

• The Center for Arizona Policy, a powerful social conservative group that backs conservative Christian legislation and is opposed to gay marriage, argues the law is needed to protect against increasingly activist federal courts and simply clarifies existing state law.

• Arizona’s voters approved a ban on gay marriage as a state constitutional amendment in 2008. A lawsuit challenging the ban is still in its early stages.

• Arizona is one of 29 states with such constitutional prohibitions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

UN call for probe

• Sri Lanka has rejected U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s call for an international inquiry into the allegations of rights abuse and war crimes in the country, saying it has a “preconceived, politicised and prejudicial agenda.”

• In what seemed an indication of Colombo’s strong resistance to international intervention — a U.S.-sponsored resolution, to be tabled in Geneva soon, is likely to call for an international probe — the government criticised her remarks as having scant or no regard for the country’s domestic processes. Ms. Pillay’s report reflected bias and was tantamount to an unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

• Ms. Pillay’s report — now made public — gets into details of allegations of war crimes, rights abuse, state repression of the media and attack on religious freedom, citing emerging evidence. The government has termed them baseless.

Chinese man sued Government over smog

• A Chinese man in a smoggy northern city has become the first person in the country to sue the government for failing to curb air pollution

• Li Guixin, a resident of Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, has submitted his complaint to a district court, asking the Shijiazhuang Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau to “perform its duty to control air pollution according to the law”.

• He is also seeking compensation from the agency for residents for the choking pollution that has engulfed Shijiazhuang, and much of northern China, this winter.

• Northern China has in recent days been suffering its worst air pollution crisis in months.

• Authorities have introduced countless orders and policies and made innumerable vows to clean up the environment but the problem only seems to get worse.

Makkah-Medina high speed railway

• Two of Islam’s holiest cities, Makkah and Medina will now have an Indian connection.

• The Indian labour force will be roped in for the Haramain High Speed Railway project — Saudi Arabia’s plan to connect the two cities by high speed trains. The rails for the tracks will also be supplied by Indian companies.

• Till recently, Saudi Arabia was India’s biggest crude supplier while receiving labour for its construction projects. These two factors have remained constant although there are operational hiccups. Saudi petro giant Aramco turned down India’s request for more extra light crude and withdrew credit facilities for an Indian public sector oil company.

• The two sides had agreed on a defence MoU when A.K. Antony became the first Indian Defence Minister to visit Riyadh in 2012.

• For now, India is setting its sights on railways.

Anti-gay bill in Uganda

• Despite appeals from South Africa’s retired Archbishop and Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu and U.S. President Barack Obama, Uganda’s president is expected to sign a controversial anti-gay bill that allows harsh penalties for homosexual offenses.

• The bill is popular in Uganda, but rights groups have condemned it as draconian in a country where homosexuality is already illegal.

• The law punishes first-time offenders with 14 years in jail. It also sets life imprisonment as the penalty for acts of “aggravated homosexuality.” The bill originally proposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts, but that was later removed amid international criticism.

Heinz Awards

• Two Indian-origin persons are among the five recipients of this year’s prestigious Heinz Awards. They were honoured for their contribution in the areas of arts, environment, public policy and technology.

• The five recipients of the 19th Heinz awards will be honoured at a ceremony in April. They will receive a cash award of $250,000 each as well as a medallion inscribed with the image of U.S. Senator John Heinz on one side and a rendering of a globe passing between two hands on the other.

• Abraham Verghese of Stanford has been honoured as a critically acclaimed best-selling author and Sanjeev Arora of Albuquerque recognised for revolutionising community health care using video conferencing technology.

• Mr Verghese’s memoir, My Own Country, about treating patients with AIDS in rural Tennessee, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and was made into a film.

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