Thursday, May 31, 2012

World Current Affairs, March 2012(Part-2)


This time I am loading the current affairs of the world for the month of March 2012. I hope viewers may like it and express their feelings. This is the second set of World Current Affairs, March 2012.
  • At least ten people, including a woman and two children, are killed after a Turkish NATO helicopter crashes into a house on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul.(16th March)
  • Belgium holds a day of national mourning in memory of the victims of the Sierre bus collision in Switzerland earlier this week.(16th March)
  • David Petraeus, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is honored with the Grand Cross with swords in the Order of Orange-Nassau in The Hague for his service as a four-star general in Iraq and Afghanistan.(16th March)
  • Nicolae Timofti becomes the fourth President of Moldova, after nearly 3 years without an elected head of state and political stalemate in the country.(16th March)
  • North Korea announces plans to launch a new satellite in honour of regime founder Kim Il-Sung's birthday in April.(16th March)
  • A Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in southwest China, in the latest in a series of similar incidents where nearly 30 monks have now self-immolated.(17th March)
  • Pope Benedict XVI launches an internal investigation into leaks of confidential documents alleging corruption, financial mismanagement and power struggles among senior church officials.(17th March)
  • Burma signs an agreement with the International Labour Organization to end forced labour by 2015.(17th March)
  • China expresses concern at North Korea's intention to launch a satellite next month to mark the centenary of founder Kim Il-sung's birth.(17th March)
  • Julian Assange announces plans to run for the Senate of Australia despite being under house arrest in the United Kingdom.(17th March)
  • Personal documents released from the papers of Margaret Thatcher show the former British Prime Minister held a private meeting with Rupert Murdoch at Chequers weeks before his purchase of Times Newspapers in 1981.(17th March)
  • Pakistani villagers find 13 bodies with bullet wounds in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near Afghanistan as security forces step up an offensive.(18th March)
  • A Superleague Greece match between Athens football clubs Olympiacos and Panathinaikos is abandoned after fans set fire to parts of the Athens Olympic Stadium.(18th March)
  • Joachim Gauck is elected President of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal Assembly.(18th March)
  • Dinesh Trivedi resigns as India's Minister for Railways following a negative response to fare increases.(18th March)
  • Ali Daei, Iran's football legend and the world's all-time leading goalscorer, is rushed to hospital following a serious car accident.(18th March)
  • In motor sports, British driver Jenson Button of McLaren wins the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the 2012 Formula One season.(18th March)
  • The Somali National Theatre reopens in Mogadishu more than two decades after it was closed amid civil war.(19th March)
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency receives an invitation from North Korea to visit.(19th March)
  • The European Union threatens trade sanctions against Iceland and the Faroe Isles over a disagreement about fishing rights.(19th March)
  • Fans and police clash and damage the Olympic Stadium in Athens two hours ahead of a match between Panathenians and Piraeus.(19th March)
  • Human Rights Watch raises claims of serious human rights abuses in a clash between Myanmar Armed Forces and the Kachin Independence Army in a dispute in Kachin State that has displaced approximately 75,000 people.(20th March)
  • John Carter records one of the biggest losses in cinema history, forcing Disney to take a $200 million writedown.(20th March)
  • India's official poverty rate falls to an all-time record low of 29.8% for the 2009-2010 survey.(20th March)
  • A Pakistani parliamentary committee calls for an end to NATO drone strikes and an apology for an air strike in November 2011 that killed 24 Pakistani Army soldiers.(20th March)
  • United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns the Syrian government and President Bashar al-Assad to follow the United Nations peace plan "or face increasing pressure and isolation".(21st March)
  • Burma invites observers from ASEAN, the European Union and the United States to monitor next week's series of by-elections.(21st March)
  • Syrian armed forces continue to shell the city of Hama and at least 59 civilians are reported killed across Syria, in Idlib, Homs, Hama, Daraa, Lattakia, Aleppo and Damascus.(22nd March)
  • The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office says that Whitney Houston's official cause of death was drowning as a result of cocaine use.(22nd March)
  • Ireland officially falls back into recession.(22nd March)
  • In the United States, about 350,000 people filed for unemployment benefits, hitting a four-year low, according to the United States Labor Department.(22nd March)
  • A large fire sweeps through Hatibagan market, one of the oldest in the Indian city of Calcutta, destroying most of the buildings.(22nd March)
  • In a statement by Pope Benedict XVI he says that Communism does not work for Cuba and that he is ready to help the island find new ways to move forward in a peaceful manner.(23rd March)
  • A small piece of Kosmos 2251 satellite debris from the 2009 satellite collision safely passes by the International Space Station, allowing the six Expedition 30 crew members onboard the orbiting complex to exit their Soyuz spacecraft and resume normal activities.(24th March)
  • China announces phase-out practice of taking and selling organs from executed prisoners.(24th March)
  • The Sunday Times releases a video showing British Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas allegedly offering undercover reporters access to UK Prime Minister David Cameron for £250,000.(24th March)
  • A roadside bomb in southern Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, detonates on a joint Afghan-NATO convoy killing six Afghan police, one U.S. soldier, and one translator.(25th March)
  • Kofi Annan and a special UN peace envoy meet with President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev to discuss adopting a harder stance on Syria and Bashar al-Assad.(25th March)
  • New Zealand changes two road rules regarding priority at intersections, including reversing the drive-on-the-left nation's unique rule that gave right-turning traffic priority over left-turning traffic.(25th March)
  • In golf, Tiger Woods wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament in Orlando, his first US PGA Tour victory since 2009.(25th March)
  • A Tibetan protester self-immolates during a protest in the Indian capital New Delhi, ahead of a visit by the Chinese president Hu Jintao.(26th March)
  • Somali pirates hijack an Iranian-owned cargo ship with 23 crew in waters off the Maldives - the first hijacking in such territory.(26th March)
  • Oil is discovered in Kenya by London based Tullow Oil.(26th March)
  • Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, is placed under formal investigation in France over alleged involvement in a prostitution ring.(26th March)
  • Canadian filmmaker and adventurer James Cameron becomes the first person in fifty years to visit the Challenger Deep, the deepest point on earth in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger.(26th March)
  • Six South African rugby players from the Motherwell Rugby Club are feared dead after being swept out to sea from Port Elizabeth.(26th March)
  • A landmine explosion in Maharashtra, India, allegedly by Maoist insurgents, kills 15 policemen and injures 13 others.(27th March)
  • Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook arrives in China for talks with government officials to clear up problems in the firm's biggest growth market, including the contested iPad trademark and treatment of local labor.(27th March)
  • World leaders meet at a summit in Seoul, South Korea, to discuss nuclear security.(27th March)
  • Syrian forces attack the central town of Qalaat al-Madiq as Arab League ministers meet in Baghdad.(28th March)
  • Pope Benedict XVI calls for greater openess in Cuba during a speech in Revolution Square, Havana.(28th March)
  • The Government of Fiji seizes a controlling interest in subsidiary Air Pacific from the Australian airline Qantas. Qantas remains in control of its equity in the airline.(28th March)
  • The United States suspends planned food aid to North Korea, after the latter plans to launch a rocket next month.(28th March)
  • Detained Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng is allowed a visit from family, for the first time in two years.(28th March)
  • Along with posting a net loss, smart phone pioneer Research in Motion announces major shake-ups in executive ranks and a strategic review, which does not rule out a sale of the company, known for its BlackBerry.(29th March)
  • Hana Shalabi, the Palestinian woman imprisoned without charge by Israel, ends her 43-day hunger strike and is exiled to the Gaza Strip.(29th March)
  • News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch says he will "hit back hard" after the BBC's Panorama alleged one of News Corp's subsidiary companies encouraged viewers to access pay-TV rival ITV Digital content for free.(29th March)
  • The UK government says that viaspan, a solution used to preserve some donor organs, could be contaminated with bacteria after routine tests detected Bacillus cereus in the solution used to test the sterility of viaspan.(29th March)
  • A United States drone attack kills two alleged militants in the Pakistani town of Miran Shah in North Waziristan.(30th March)
  • Australian artist Tim Storrier wins the 2012 Archibald Prize for a self-portait The "historic wayfarer" (after Bosch).(30th March)
  • VISA and MasterCard warn banks across the United States about a "massive" breach of security with more than ten million credit card numbers potentially compromised.(30th March)
  • Huanglongbing or citrus greening, a disease which has killed millions of citrus trees in Brazil and Florida, is discovered in a residential section of Los Angeles County, California, in the United States.(30th March)
  • Malaysia expels 173 Indonesian workers for various legal violations.(30th March)
  • Naoki Tanaka, Japan's Minister of Defense, issues orders to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it falls towards Japanese territory.(30th March)
  • The United States' two acting unions, the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, agree to merge forming the SAG-AFTRA.(31st March)
  • Turkey reduces its purchases of Iranian oil by 20%.(31st March)
  • Chinese police arrest six people and shut down 16 websites for allegedly spreading rumours that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing.(31st March)
  • The Indonesian People's Representative Council vetoes plans to increase the price of fuel by thirty per cent this weekend.(31st March)

World Current Affairs, March 2012 (Part-1)


This time I am loading the current affairs of the world for the month of March 2012. I hope viewers may like it and express their feelings. This is the first set of World Current Affairs, March 2012.
  • A bomb explodes on a Turkish police bus in Istanbul injuring three people.(1st March)
  • Two members of the NATO International Security Assistance Force are killed in southern Afghanistan, one of whom is believed to be a member of the Afghan Army.(1st March)
  • Brazil announces the continuation of a "currency war" with the European Union and the United States with the extension of a financial transaction tax on foreign borrowings.(1st March)
  • Vietnam claims that the People's Republic of China has assaulted Vietnamese fishermen in disputed waters in the South China Sea.(1st March)
  • Americans working for non-government organisations who had been facing trial in Egypt are allowed to leave.(1st March)
  • The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for the Sudanese defence minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein.(1st March)
  • New research concludes that the Earth's oceans may be growing more acidic at a faster rate than any time in the past 300 million years.(1st March)
  • At least 33 people die in a clash between the Pakistan Army and militants in Tirah Valley in the Bara area of Khyber.(2nd March)
  • The US space agency NASA claims that it was hacked 13 times last year compromising security.(2nd March)
  • 25 of the 27 members of the European Union sign a new "fiscal compact", the exceptions being the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.(2nd March)
  • Anglican Church officials in Christchurch, New Zealand, announce that the 131-year-old landmark ChristChurch Cathedral will need to be demolished, having suffered severe damage from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and its aftershocks.(2nd March)
  • Tornados hit the midwestern and southern United States two days after the 2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak.(2nd March)
  • Libyans protest outside a courthouse building in Benghazi calling for it to reopen rather than be used as a militia headquarters.(2nd March)
  • Meta-analysis of 42 previous studies concludes chocolate may be good for the heart.(2nd March)
  • Two trains crash in the small Polish town of Szczekociny near Zawiercie, with 13 people killed and up to 50 people injured.(3rd March)
  • Early returns in the Iranian legislative election show the conservative opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doing well.(3rd March)
  • Authorities in Tajikistan close access to Facebook and sites with material critical of President Emomali Rakhmon.(3rd March)
  • The People's Republic of China announces plans to increase defence spending by 11.2 per cent in 2012.(4th March)
  • A report finds that 160 children from the Chinese town of Dongtang in Guangdong Province's Renhua County are suffering from lead poisoning.(4th March)
  • A hunt is underway for a thief who stole the heart of Saint Laurence O'Toole at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.(4th March)
  • Paul McBride QC, Scotland's most senior lawyer, is found dead in a hotel room while on a visit to Pakistan.(4th March)
  • Gunmen disguised as police kill 27 members of Iraq's security forces in the town of Haditha.(5th March)
  • "The Lorax" brings in US$70.7M during its opening weekend, the highest opener of 2012, and fifth highest total for an animated film ever.(5th March)
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama meet at the White House.(5th March)
  • The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling organisation claims to have closed down Japan's main whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru, deep inside the Southern Ocean off the Antarctic coast.(5th March)
  • The United States files an application in New Zealand to extradite Kim Dotcom and three of his associates in MegaUpload to face charges of breaching copyright.(5th March)
  • A study finds a correlation between snoring as a toddler and behavior problems later in childhood.(5th March)
  • The Apple App Store passes 25 billion downloads.(5th March)
  • Turkish Airlines begins a service to Somalia, the first regular service to the capital Mogadishu except regional East African flights to operate in twenty years.(6th March)
  • A 5.2 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Philippines near Masbate City on the island of Masbate causing some injuries.(6th March)
  • Human Rights Watch claims that the Government of Japan has been too slow in providing health care to survivors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.(6th March)
  • A Saudi Arabian diplomat is killed in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.(6th March)
  • The European Commission is involved in controversy over a video promoting EU enlargement that is perceived as racist.(6th March)
  • Chris Cairns, former New Zealand cricket team captain, begins a UK High Court action for libel damages over an accusation on Twitter that he was involved in match-fixing.(6th March)
  • Swedish media report that the country has been helping Saudi Arabia plan the construction of a weapons factory.(7th March)
  • China describes Tibetan monks that have self-immolated as "criminals" and accuses the Dalai Lama of supporting the acts.(7th March)
  • The biggest solar flare in five years that occurred on March 6 nears Earth with the capacity to disrupt power grids, GPS systems and airline flights.(7th March)
  • Physicists from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report data suggesting the elusive hypothesized Higgs boson ("God particle") may have been detected.(7th March)
  • Greece secures a debt-restructuring deal with private lenders.(8th March)
  • Spanx inventor Sara Blakely becomes the youngest self-made female billionaire on Forbes' list.(8th March)
  • The first full map of the debris field of the remains of the RMS Titanic is announced.(8th March)
  • A study suggests that donor stem cells may prevent organ rejection in imperfectly matched transplant cases.(8th March)
  • One person is killed and 20 injured in a hotel fire in Bangkok, Thailand.(9th March)
  • China returns 31 North Korean refugees to North Korea, according to activists.(9th March)
  • Air raids in Bayda kill 10 Al-Qaeda militants.(10th March)
  • A fire in Peru destroys half a million textbooks and other education materials.(10th March)
  • Hundreds of nude cyclists take to the street in Lima, Peru to protest unsafe road conditions.(10th March)
  • Frank Sherwood Rowland, the winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for warning about the depletion of the ozone layer, dies in the US state of California.(10th March)
  • A US soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.(11th March)
  • The Government of Pakistan bans the Islamist group Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaat.(11th March)
  • Around 100 people are killed in ethnic clashes and cattle raids in South Sudan.(12th March)
  • The People's Republic of China records its highest trade deficit in over a decade, indicating a slowing economy.(12th March)
  • United States Census Bureau - World Population Clock: "7 Billion" people in the World already.(12th March)
  • Sri Lanka orders media outlets to get prior approval before sending mobile phone alerts about the military or police.(12th March)
  • Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Dhaka, Bangladesh, demanding the government step down and hold elections.(12th March)
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest encyclopedia still in print in the English language, announces that it will no longer be producing printed versions but continuing online editions.(13th March)
  • The United States, Japan, and the European Union file a case against China at the WTO regarding export restrictions on rare earth metals.(13th March)
  • At least 30 people are dead and dozens missing after the MV Shariatpur 1 ferry carrying 200 people collides with an oil tanker. It capsizes on the Meghna River in Bangladesh's Munshiganj District near the capital Dhaka.(13th March)
  • Argentina's Supreme Court rules that abortions following rape are not punishable.(13th March)
  • British police arrest six people on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to phone hacking in the media including Rebekah Brooks, a former top executive of News International.(13th March)
  • A research study conducted by Harvard Medical School shows that red meat increases the risk of death and has other negative health implications.(13th March)
  • More than 10,000 Peruvian illegal gold miners clash with police in an attempt to gain control over the regional capital Puerto Maldonado.(14th March)
  • The United Kingdom towns of Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph are awarded city status to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.(14th March)
  • A magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs off the coast of Japan causing a small tsunami that hits the coast of Aomori prefecture on the island of Hokkaido.(14th March)
  • Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly starts questioning the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his handling of the economy.(14th March)
  • Turkish intelligence reports claim that approximately 20,000 Syrian soldiers have deserted from the government forces in less than a month.(15th March)
  • A free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea comes into effect.(15th March)
  • The Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key announces a cut of 2000 positions in the public service.(15th March)
  • Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says the Dalai Lama is responsible for ongoing self-immolations by Tibetan monks.(15th March)