CURRENT EVENTS - International News

January, 2012

·         The Imam Al-Khoei Foundation building, a globally prominent Islamic cultural centre in New York is struck by two Molotov cocktails, the types of bombs usually made of glass bottles filled with flammable liquid and corked with.

·         U.S. president Barack Obama sings into law tough new sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank and financial sector, in a move likely to deepen acrimony between Washington and Teheran.

·         A magnitude 7 earthquake hits a wide area in eastern and north-eastern Japan, rattling buildings in Tokyo and jolting the nation still recovering from last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

·         Pakistan joins the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on a two-year term as a non-permanent member.

·         Gaza’s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya hails the ‘martyrs’ killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish vessel in 2010 trying to break the blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

·         A purported spokesman for Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram issues an ultimatum to Christians in the country’s north and threatens to confront troops after the President declared a state of emergency in hard hit areas.

·         Fiji’s military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama says he would lift emergency laws in place since a 2009 political crisis and begin discussions on a new constitution.

·         Israel’s chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, his Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and representatives of the West Asia peace quarter gather in the Jordanian capital Amman for their first face-to- face meeting in more than 15 months.

·         An adjudicator slashes by nearly 90 per cent the multi-billion dollar settlement that Venezuela was required to pay oil giant Exxon Mobil Corporation, marking a resounding victory for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in a long-standing battle over the nationalization of foreign-owned assets in his country.

·         Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu commences a crucial visit to Iran to pursue a crowded agenda that includes revival of nuclear talks between Tehran and the global powers as well as ways to align perceptions of the two countries in their regional backyard.

·         Two white men, Gary Dobson and David Norris, convicted of killing Afro-Caribbean teenager Stephen Lawrence 18 years ago in one of Britain’s most horrific racist attacks are jailed for life as police said they were determined to bring the remaining nine suspects to justice.

·         The Pakistani Taliban dumps the naked and bullet-riddled bodies of 15 paramilitary personnel kidnapped two weeks ago in the lawless tribal belt and vow to take ‘harsh revenge’ for operations against militants by the security forces.

·         Iran says the West is waging “an economic war” through sanctions, after European diplomats said there was a preliminary agreement for an EU ban of oil from the Islamic republic.

·         Making a rare appearance at the Pentagon to announce a ‘strategic review’ of the defence budget, President Barack Obama speaks cautiously of his plan to trim down 490,000 troops and potentially close to $1 trillion in funding without compromising national security.

·         China’s official Xinhua news agency welcomes a bigger U.S. presence in Asia, but only if it helps promote peace, after President Barack Obama unveils a new military strategy.

·         Turkey’s former Army chief Ilker Basbug is detained over an alleged bid to topple the Islamist-rooted government in the latest confrontation likely to inflame tensions with the powerful military, becoming the first such high-ranking military commander to be arrested as a suspect since a former chief of staff in the 1960s.

·         The Iranian government welcomes a U.S. Navy rescue of 13 of its nations from pirates near the entrance to the Gulf, in a rare respite from months of rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.

·         For the first time in 83 years, the United States Department of Justice announce a ‘major’ change in the definition of rape towards one that takes cognizance of male victims and also does away with ambiguities surrounding the question of consent.

·         Japan says it will soon require atomic reactors to be shut down after 40 years of use to improve safety following the nuclear crisis set off by the 2011 tsunami.

·         The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill calls for political reforms in Russia in response to mass protests even as he urges protesters to show restraint.

·         Cargo ship Rena breaks in to two pieces off Tauranga Harbor, New Zealand, losing up to 300 containers overboard as the stern began to sink.

·         Iran concludes yet another military exercise to deter a military attack amid a massive Iran-centered military build-up by American and Israeli forces, whose command posts extend into the heart of Europe.

·         Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American Governor in the U.S. and a possible contender for the White House, begins his second term as the chief of state of Louisiana following a landslide victory, taking the oath of office in Baton Rouge.

·         Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is acquitted in Kuala Lumpur in a surprise end to a politically-charged sodomy trial he has called a government bid to cripple his opposition ahead of upcoming polls.

·         Chinese President Hu Jintao calls on the next generation of the Chine’s leaders to present a ‘new face’ of the ruling Communist Party and to curb rampant corruption amid rising public anger against graft.

·         Amir Mirzai Hekmati, an American ex-Marine, who also holds Iranian citizenship, is sentenced to death by an Iran judge in Tehran for spying for the CIA.

·         Nicaraguan ex-rebel Daniel Ortega, joined by allies from Iran and Venezuela, starts his third mandate as President in Managua with a legislative super majority that has provoked fears of authoritarianism.

·         Retired generals Kenan Evren and Tahsin Sahinkaya, the leader of the 1980 Turkish coup and a co-conspirator are charged with crimes against the state after an Ankara court approves an indictment.

·         Tensions between Iran and the West, already on razor’s edge, rise further after a young Iranian nuclear scientist – Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan Behdast, the 32-year old deputy director for commercial affairs at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility – heading for work is assassinated, 48 hours after Tehran declared that its capacity to enrich uranium had recorded a significant advance.

·         Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts and frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nominee, wins the primary in New Hampshire garnering close to 40 per cent of the vote and a second straight victory after the Iowa caucus.

·         U.S. drones, breaking an undeclared lull, resume their campaign over Pakistan’s tribal territory carrying out a strike.

·         China and India catapulted to the forefront of astronomy research with their decision to join as partners in building a Hawaii telescope, which will be the world’s largest.

·         Myanmar’s government and Karen National Union (KUN), one of the country’s most prominent ethnic rebel groups sign a ceasefire after decades of fighting, the latest in the country’s apparent bids to reform.

·         Scotland Yard is announced to investigate allegations that British intelligence agencies were complicit in the rendition and subsequent torture of a one-time Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhaj, now a commander of the rebel forces who toppled the Qaddafi government.

·         Myanmar pardons a number of prominent dissidents, journalists and a former Premier under a major prisoner amnesty, intensifying a surprising series of reforms by the Army-backed regime.

·         In an escalating war of words with the United States Russia accuses Washington of working to change the regimes in Iran and Syria.

·         Russia believes fragments of its Phobos-Grunt probe, which spiraled back to the Earth after failing to head on a mission to Mars crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

·         Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi receives the insignia of Commander in the National Order of the Legion d’honneur, in recognition of her long struggle for democracy, from French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe (left) and French Ambassador Thierry Mathou during a ceremony at the French Embassy in Yangon.

·         Kazakhstan’s ruling party – President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s party, Nur Otan – sweeps snap parliamentary elections.

·         Al Qaeda militants seize full control of Radda in Bayda province, some 160 km south of the capital Sana’a, overrunning army positions, storming the local prison and freeing at least 150 inmates.

·         French Director Michel Hazanavicius jokes that he was ‘speechless’ after his audacious black-and-white silent film ‘The Artist’ sweeps the nominations for the 2012 Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards, regarded as a stepping stone to the Oscars.

·         Controversial radical cleric Abu Qatada wins his long legal battle against being extradited to his native Jordan to face prosecution on charges of terrorism after the European Court of Human Rights rules that if he was sent back he was likely to be tried on the basis of evidence obtained under torture.

·         In a surprise move, the British government decides to scrap a judicial inquiry, set up amid much fanfare by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011 into allegations of complicity of British intelligence services in torture of terror suspects.

·         China announces to accelerate plans to expand a railway network in Tibet to reach two towns near the border with India and will also consider building a railway line to Nepal.

·         Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi launches her historic bid for a seat in Parliament in the latest sign of change after the end of decades of outright military rule.

·         The Kankesanthurai (KKS) harbour – lifeline of the Jaffna peninsula is cleared of all shipwrecks in record time.

·         Wikipedia goes dark, Google blots out its logo and other popular websites protest to voice concern over legislation in the U.S. Congress intended to crack down on online piracy.

·         A federal indictment in Mclean in Virginia accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue.

·         After months of persistent and often angry denials, Rupert Murdoch’s Britain media group admits attempts to cover up the News of the World phone hacking scandal in a move that is likely to further damage its reputation.

·         Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appears before the Supreme Court in Islamabad in response to a contempt notice and defended his stand in not reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

·         External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna concludes his ‘successful’ visit to Sri Lanka by handing over the completed section of the Galle-Hikkaduwa railway link to Southern Railway project authorities.

·         Actor Jude Law, his former wife Sadie Frost, and ex-deputy Prime Minister John Prescott are among a string of high-profile figures whom Rupert Murdoch’s British media group, New International, has been forced to pay millions of pounds in compensation over phone-hacking by the now-defunct News of the World.

·         A Pakistani judicial review board ends the house arrest of Malik Ishaq, the head of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who was detained in 2011 after his group was blamed for a string of attacks on the minority Shia community.

·         Dutch teen Laura Dekker becomes the youngest sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world, a year after going to court for the right to make the attempt.

·         A series of coordinated bomb and gun attacks by a radical Islamist sect, targeting police stations and the headquarters of Nigeria’s secret police in northern city of Kano, kill nearly 150 people and injure several others, including Indians.

·         Cuban dissident Wilmar Villar is buried in his hometown of Contramaestre in eastern Cuba.

·         Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa launches a tri-lingual initiative, aimed at ensuring that all in Sri Lanka learn the three main languages in use – Sinhalese, Tamil and English.

·         The power base of Australia’s ruling Labour Party is when a key independent MP withdraws his support after Prime Minister Julia Gillard breaks an agreement on gambling reforms.

·         Egypt’s Islamists led by the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood clinch two thirds of seats in Parliament in historic polls after the ouster of strongman Hosni Mubarak.

·         Croatia votes to join the European Union, delivering a greater than expected yes vote in a referendum watched nervously in Brussels for fear of a backlash.

·         Hailed as a ‘great leap forward’ in China’s growing economic presence in Britain, the China Investment Corporation (CIC) buys a 8.68 per cent stake in Thames Water, Britain’s largest water and sewerage company serving about 14 million customers.

·         The oldest sitting federal judge in the U.S. – District Judge Wesley Brown passes away at the assisted living centre where he lived in Kansas.

·         With an eye on the dependence of recession-hit economies of Greece, Italy and Spain on Iranian oil, Foreign Ministers of the EU countries in Brussels decide to shift the ban on oil imports on Iran to July 1.

·         Islamist MPs take stage as Egypt’s Parliament meet for the first time since a popular uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak, while their supporters mass outside to cheer the historic event.

·         Syria rejects the Arab League’s wide-ranging plan to end the country’s 10-month crisis, saying the League’s call for a national unity government in two months is a clear violation of Syrian sovereignty.

·         Pakistan and U.S. find themselves at odds with each other again with Islamabad rejecting the American probe into the deadly NATO cross border strike that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead and Washington standing by it ‘100 per cent’.

·         Egyptians pour into Tahrir Square to mark one year since the launch of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, with activists vowing to revive revolution and the ruling army labeling it a day of celebration.

·         Animal rights activists, led by a costumed ‘injured bull’ and waving banners in Tamil, Hindi and English, hold a protest outside the Indian High Commission in London demanding a complete ban on ‘jallikattu’ which they describe as a ‘stain’ on India’s reputation.

·         Even as Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani attempts to mend fences with the military leadership, the Parliamentary Committee on National Security decides to summon Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, whose allegations authored the ‘memogate’ controversy.

·         Political tensions flare in Papua New Guinea when an ex-soldier loyal to Michael Somare stages a mutiny to declare himself military chief and demand the veteran leader’s reinstatement.

·         The Arab League halts its observer mission to Syria, sharply criticizing the regime of President Bashar Assad for escalating violence.

·         The former Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, calls for a national referendum in Russia on a political and constitutional reform to end ‘Caesarism’ and assert ‘people power’.

·         Several Taliban negotiators begin meeting U.S. officials in Qatar, discussing preliminary trust-building measures, including a possible prisoner transfer.

·         Immigration Minister Damian Green announces to bring soon new rules as part of what he describes as the ‘transformation of British immigration policy’, under which ‘fewer but better’ migrants would be allowed to live there.

·         A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrive in Tehran to start a new round of nuclear engagement with Iran which could lead to talks involving the six-global powers.

·         Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani lauds his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, describing him as a ‘genuine person’ keen to resolve all bilateral issues.

·         President Barack Obama defends the use of drones to strike suspected terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere, saying the clandestine programme was ‘kept on a very tight leash’ and enabled the United States to use ‘pinpoint’ targeting to avoid more intrusive military action.

·         Russia invites Syria’s government and opposition leaders to Moscow for urgent talks on ending violence.

·         A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant in Byron is shut down after losing power.

·         Japan’s Cabinet approves bills aimed at bolstering nuclear safety regulations following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, including one that will put a 40-year cap on the operational life of reactors.

·         February, 2012

·         At least 74 people are killed in fan violence after a football match in Egyptian city of Port Said.

·         More than 100 people, most of them students, are feared killed after a ship carrying 350 sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea,

·         Britain’s Energy and Climate Secretary Chris Huhne, a senior Liberal-Democratic figure, is forced to leave the government after being charged with perverting the course of justice by lying to the police over a speeding offence in 2003. He is replaced by Business Minister Ed Davey.

·         Kaing Guek Eav, a Khmer Rouge jailer, who oversaw the deaths of some 15,000 people, has his sentence increased to life.

·         Russia and China veto an Arab League-backed resolution at the United Nations Security Council that calls on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down while India along with the United States and 12 others, back the move.

·         Syrian forces unleash a barrage of mortars and artillery on the battered city of Homs killing more than 200 people.

·         Florence Green, the last known World War I veteran passes away at the age of 110.

·         Mexico’s ruling conservative party selects Ms. Josefina Vazquez Mota, a 51-year old economist and former Minister, as its candidate for presidential elections on July 1, 2012.

·         Queen Elizabeth of Britain celebrates the 60^th anniversary of her accession to the British throne.

·         At least 44 people are killed when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hits in a narrow strait between the island provinces of Negros and Cebu in central Philippines.

·         Sharon Stone receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11^th Annual Aarp Magazine Movies for Grownups Awards in Beverly Hills.

·         Maldives, the island nation of luxury resorts, erupts into a coup like political crisis, resulting in the resignation of Mohammed Nasheed, the island’s first democratically elected President, and Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan is sworn in as the new President.

·         The 200^th anniversary of British novelist Charles Dickens kicks off across the globe.

·         United States approves construction of two 1,100 megawatt Westinghouse Toshiba AP1000 at power generator to Vogtle in Georgia, making them the first to be built in America in more than three decades.

·         The Greek Parliament passes harsh austerity measures and reforms required to secure a second international bailout in two years.

·         Sudan and South Sudan sign a ‘treaty of non-aggression’ on their disputed border in Addis Ababa.

·         Best selling author Jeffrey Zaslow is killed in a car accident in the state of Michigan.

·         The 48-year old American R&B star Whitney Houston who regularly stormed the pop charts and the most feted female performer of all time passes away.

·         British singer Adele wins every award she was nominated for, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video for Rolling in the Deep. Her second album, 21, is named Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

·         French film-maker Michel Hazanavicius’s black and white silent movie The Artist wins all the top prizes, including for the Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 65^th BAFTA Awards.

·         Pakistani’s Supreme Court indicts Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for contempt of court in the National Reconciliation Ordinance implementation case. This is the first time a Prime Minister is charged in this way.

·         Europe’s first Vega rocket blasts off from the European Space Agency’s launch site in Kourou, French Guiana with nine satellites on board in an inaugural flight aimed at giving Europe a vehicle for scientific satellite missions.

·         United States President Barack Obama presents the 2011 National Humanities Medal to Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Prize winner in Economics.

·         United States President Barack Obama announces an increase in the tax rate from 20 to 36.9 per cent for the wealthiest Americans.

·         The President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveils Iran’s first domestically produced, 20 per cent enriched nuclear fuel for research reactor.

·         At least 300 inmates are killed when a fire sweeps through a prison in the town of Comayagua in Honduras.

·         After bilateral talks between the Commerce Ministers of India and Pakistan Anand Sharma and Makhdoom Mohammad Amin Fahim in Islamabad, Pakistan agrees to liberalize trade with India and concedes to put in a place a small negative list of goods by February 2012.

·         Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on a high-profile tour of the United States insists that the US respect its ‘one state policy’ regarding the territories of Taiwan and Tibet.

·         Germany’s President Christian Wulff resigns after the request by prosecutors for Parliament to lift his immunity for prosecution in a scandal.

·         Anthony Shadid, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent passes away at the age of 43.

·         United Kingdom and France at the annual Franco-British summit in Paris decide to further strengthen their cooperation in the defence sector and will jointly produce a combat capability stealth drone.

·         The Presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, Hamid Karzai, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Asif Ali Zardari at the trilateral meeting in Islamabad pledge against allowing their territories to be used against each other, strengthen regional stability, fight terrorism and drug trafficking besides promoting trilateral trade.

·         137 members including India vote to approve the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution on Syria.

·         Pope Benedict XVI elevates Indian archbishop George Alencherry to a cardinal at the Vatican.

·         Italian documentary Caesar Must Die, directed by Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani wins the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival.

·         Indologist Professor Johan Frederik Staal passes away in Thailand at the age of 82.

·         Eurozone finance ministers seal a 130-billion euro ($172 billion) bailout for Greece to avert a chaotic default in March 2012.

·         Information and Communication Minister of Nepal Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta is jailed for one-and-half years and fined 8.4 million Nepali rupees for multiple corruption cases in the 1990s including giving licences to media houses. This is the first time that a minister is jailed on corruption charges.

·         Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd resigns from the post.

·         Veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times is killed with French photographer Remi Ochlik in Syria while fleeing bombardment in Homs.

·         Jennifer Aniston gets her own star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood.

·         Simultaneous attacks on mostly Shia targets across Iraq kill at least 60 people. At least 32 persons are killed in Baghdad.

·         Abdrabhu Mansour Hadi takes the constitutional oath to become Yemen’s new President, formally removing Ali Abdullah Saleh from power after a year of protests paralyzed the Arabian Peninsula nation.

·         The 72-year old Chandra Bahadur Dangi of Nepal receives a certificate from Editor-in-Chief of the Guinness Book of World Records Craig Glanday after being declared the world’s shortest living man. Dangi, who measured at just 21.5 inches (54.6 cm), snatches the title from Junrey Balawing of the Philippines.

·         A French love story The Artist becomes the first silent film to win the Best Picture Oscar after the ‘Wings’ in 83 years as it scoops five top honours at the 84^th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Maryl Streep wins the Best Actress award for The Iron Lady while Jean Dujardin grabs the Best Actor award for The Artist.

·         A court in Madrid acquits Spain’s renowned human rights judge Baltasar Garzon of breaching the terms of an amnesty by trying to investigate atrocities committed during the Franco era.

·         Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard convincingly wins a leadership vote against rival Kevin Rudd.

·         According to the report of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the world’s 100 largest arms dealers, excluding China, sold weapons and military services worth $411.1 billion in 2010, a rise of one per cent from 2009.

·         Syrian forces shell opposition strongholds, killing at least 25 people.

·         The News of the World phone-hacking scandal claims its biggest scalp yet when James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s heir apparent, resigns as executive chairman of News International.

·         North Korea agrees to suspend nuclear weapons tests and enrichment and allow international inspector to verify and monitor activities at its main reactor, as part of a deal that included an American pledge to ship food aid to the isolated, impoverished nation.

·         Cannes Film Festival selects actress Marilyn Monroe as the icon for its 2012 festival.

·         March, 2012

·         At least 74 people are killed in fan violence after a football match in Egyptian city of Port Said.

·         Sri Lankan government officials, Tamils in exile and rights groups spar verbally at an open hearing during the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

·         Andrew Breitbart, a conservative U.S. blogger and activist who built a national media personality by putting undercover video on the Internet to bring discredit and disgrace to his liberal targets, dies in Los Angeles.

·         The stalemate in the Maldivian Parliament ends with the Speaker calling off the session convened to discuss dates for an election.

·         A U.S. court dismisses a lawsuit against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for alleged human rights violations by the Army, on grounds that he enjoys immunity from lawsuits as a head of state.

·         Iranians vote in their first national poll since the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, choosing a new Parliament they hope will fix their country’s sanctions-hit economy.

·         China rejects reports in India suggesting that the dam it is building upstream on the Brahmaputra River is causing its lower reaches to dry up, and reiterates its commitment to Indian officials that it has neither embarked on any diversion projects nor built any large dams in Tibet.

·         Over 70 people – many of them terrorists – are killed in three separate incidents of violence in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

·         India-born pop veteran Engelbert Humperdinck, dubbed the ‘King of Romance’, is announced to represent the United Kingdom in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

·         Pakistan’s ruling coalition secures its position in Parliament by winning a majority of the 50 Senate seats.

·         Oil major BP agrees to pay $7.8 billion in a settlement reached with claimants affected by the spill from one of its wells in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.

·         The Nepal government categorically rejects claims made by a senior Pentagon commander that U.S. Special Forces are stationed in Nepal, as a part of counter-terrorism cooperation in South Asia.

·         Rescue workers search for survivors after scores of tornadoes tear across the central United States, killing at least 31 people and wiping out whole communities.

·         China announces that it will increase defence spending by 11.2 percent in 2012, for the first time taking its annual military expenditure beyond $100 billion at it puts in place plans to modernize its Army against the backdrop of an uncertain regional environment.

·         At least 150 people are killed in a series of explosions at a munitions depot in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville.

·         Sikhs and Christians of Karachi come out in support of the Hindu community over the alleged kidnapping and forced conversion of a 17-year old girl from the Ghotki district of Sindh under the patronage of a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislator, Mian Abdul Haq.

·         In the Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin convincingly beats his opponents to become the President of Russia.

·         Premier Wen Jiabao says China would strengthen its military’s capabilities to win “local wars under information-age conditions”, even as the government announces a steep 11.5 percent rise in domestic security spending to ensure stability ahead of a leadership transition.

·         With an eye on his re-election campaign, U.S. President Barack Obama in a speech to arguably the most powerful pro-Israel lobby seeks to carefully balance his commitment to Israeli foreign policy interests with a stern note of caution to stem “too much loose talk of war” with Iran and his intention to continue pursuing diplomatic solutions with the Ahmedinejad regime.

·         Iceland’s ex-Prime Minister Geir Haarde goes over his role in the 2008 banking sector collapse that brought his country to its knees, becoming the first political leader to be tried over the global financial crisis.

·         Iran announces that it is ready to open up its Parchin military facility for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – a move likely to retard the growing call for military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

·         Lady Gaga becomes the first person with more than 20 million followers on Twitter.

·         China calls for expanding exchanges with India in the coming year to improve mutual trust, even as both countries put into operation a new border consultation mechanism to defuse any tensions that may arise along the disputed 3,488 km border.

·         Almost a month after a new regime took over in Maldives amidst allegation of coup, the former dictator, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, returns to the country, opposing early polls and claimed he had no role in the change of government.

·         The Governor of Xinjiang claims that the people behind recent unrest in the far-western Muslim-majority region had “a thousand and one links” to terrorists in neighbouring Pakistan, bringing into focus the Chinese government’s increasing concern over the spread of extremism across the border from its “all-weather” ally.

·         Jean Claude Mas, the founder of the French breast implant company at the heart of a global health scare, is jailed after failing to pay his bail.

·         Norwegian prosecutors indict Anders Behring Breivik on terror and murder charges for slaying 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage but says the confessed mass killer likely won’t go to prison for the country’s worst peacetime massacre.

·         The Pakistan Supreme Court asks Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani to write to the Swiss authorities asking them to reopen money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

·         Pakistani award winning rights advocate Shad Begum receives the 2012 International Woman of Courage award from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presence of the First Lady Michelle Obama in Washington D.C.

·         The U.S. military and the Afghan government seal an agreement on the gradual transfer of control of the main U.S. prison in the country, a last-minute breakthrough that brings the first progress in months in contentious negotiations over a long-term partnership.

·         Ending weeks of speculation, the Pakistan government announces the appointment of Karachi Corps Commander Zaheer-ul Islam as the ISI Director-General.

·         Chintan, an Indian NGO is selected for the U.S.’ first Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls for training and organizing waste-pickers and eliminating child labour from recycling.

·         Greece clears a major hurdle in its race to avoid bankruptcy by persuading the vast majority of its private creditors to sign up to the biggest national debt write down in history, paving the way for a second bailout.

·         Thousands of demonstrators gather in Moscow to protest Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s election as President and demand new elections.

·         Pope Benedict XVI wades deep into U.S. campaign politics, urging visiting U.S. bishops to strengthen their teaching about the evils of premarital sex and cohabitation, and denouncing what he calls the “powerful” gay marriage lobby in America.

·         Sixteen Afghans are killed by a rogue American soldier who walks off his base and opens fire on them in their homes in the early hours in three houses in two villages of Panjwayi district in the southern province of Kandahar.

·         Japan falls silent to honour the 19,000 people killed a year ago in a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in a generation.

·         Art sleuths say they believe they have found traces of a Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece on a hidden wall in a palace in Florence that has not been seen in over four centuries.

·         In a dramatic turn, Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British media group News International, and – intriguingly – her husband Charlie, a racehorse trainer, are arrested with five others as part of the police investigations into the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

·         French far-Right candidate Marine Le Pen had secured the backing of enough local government officials to run in the two-round presidential election.

·         Israel and militants in Gaza agree to an Egyptian-brokered truce deal after four days of violence in which 25 Gazans died and 200 rockets were fired at Israel.

·         China’s lawmakers propose the construction of a new highway linking southwestern Yunnan with Tibet, which would for the first time provide year-round access to a remote region which borders Arunachal Pradesh.

·         Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. announces to stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time in more than 200 years.

·         Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao marks the start of his last year in office by warning that the failure to bring about continued political and economic reforms could result in a second Cultural Revolution in China, in remarks seen as a strong push back against newly ascendant conservative forces within the Communist Party.

·         The International criminal Court convicts Congolese militia chief Thomas Lubanga of war crimes for conscripting children into his army, the tribunal’s first ever verdict.

·         A series of earthquakes rattle Tokyo and northeastern Japan.

·         Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi calls for “freedom from fear” and further moves towards democracy in a video of her first televised campaign speech.

·         The Taliban breaks off confidence-building talks with the Americans and the Afghan President orders U.S. troops out of villages, demanding a transition of security from NATO control in 2013.

·         The Chinese Communist Party announces to have replaced its Chongqing chief, Politburo member Bo Xilai, in the wake of a political scandal that has been seen as dealing a blow to resurgent conservative-leaning forces in the party.

·         Alarmed by persisting attempts to ban a translation of comments to Bhagavad Gita, a group of Russian scholars ask the top leadership to intervene in Tomsk.

·         Afghan President Hamid Karzai accuses the U.S. of failing to cooperate over an investigation into the massacre of 16 Afghan villagers blamed on alone American army sniper.

·         The U.S. reacts angrily to reports of North Korea’s plan to launch a rocket-mounted satellite to mark the birth centenary of its former President, the late Kim Il-sung, with the State Department describing the move as “highly provocative”.

·         In a surprise move, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, head of the more than 80 million strong worldwide Anglican Communion, announces that he would quit in December 2012 to take up an academic position at Cambridge University as Master of Magdalene College.

·         Pope Shenouda III, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt’s Christian minority for more than 30 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, dies in Cairo.

·         The U.S. Army identifies the soldier allegedly behind the killing of 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales (38) from Lake Tapps near the Tacoma area of Washington State.

·         President Asif Ali Zardari makes history when he becomes the first elected head of the state to address a joint sitting of Pakistan’s parliament for the fifth consecutive time.

·         WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announces plans to run for a seat in the Australian Senate in the 2013 elections despite being under virtual house arrest in England and facing sex crime allegations in Sweden.

·         A motorcycle gunman opens fire in front of a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two small sons and one other child.

·         Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov comes out against the withdrawal of the international military forces from Afghanistan in 2014.

·         China says it will continue supporting Pakistan’s civilian nuclear programme in spite of concerns over the vulnerability of the country’s installations to terrorism.

·         The Vatican describes as “sinful” and “criminal” the conduct of Irish priests involved in the child abuse scandal the extent of which was revealed by a judicial commission in 2009.

·         Tunisians celebrate their country’s independence day amid fears of widening divide between secular and religious movements in the newly democratized nation.

·         A strong 7.4 –magnitude earthquake hits southern Mexico, damaging some 800 homes near the epicenter and swaying tall buildings and spreading fear and panic hundreds of miles away in the capital of Mexico City.

·         Hungarian mathematician Endre Szemeredi gets 2012 Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

·         Shanti Gurung, an Indian maid – who had accused her former employer, an IFS officer, and her husband of harassment and “slavery” – receives a favourable ruling from District Judge Victor Marrero in New York, which approves her petition that she be awarded $1.5 million as compensation by the couple.

·         China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) conducts a first-of-its kind live fire air attack drill on the Qinghai Tibet plateau.

·         Soldiers oust the President of Mali, Amadou Toumani and loot the presidential place.

·         According to the United States Census Bureau for 2010, Indian-Americans numbering 3.2 million is the third largest Asian American Community in United States after Chinese Americans and Filipinos.

·         European Union Foreign Ministers slap sanctions on the wife Asma Assad and other close relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, freezing their assets and banning them from traveling to the EU in a continuing attempt to stop the violent crackdown on protesters.

·         United States President Barack Obama nominates Jim Yong Kim, a Korean born public health specialist for the role of President of the World Bank.

·         Joachim Gauk is sworn in as the 11^th President in the Bundestag, the Lowe House of Parliament in Germany.

·         Amr Mousa, a former Secretary General of Arab League becomes the first independent presidential candidate to submit the required number of recommendations to authorities, which will allow him to contest the coming historic polls.

·         Leung Chunying is appointed new Chief Executive of Hong Kong. He wins indirect election securing 689 votes from a 1200 seat committee of business leaders and other cities in the Hong Kong legislature.

·         The United Kingdom is rocked by a scandal involving Conservative Party treasurer Peter Cruddas who has been charged with demanding £250,000 for accessing Prime Minister David Cameron.