International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women

• The United Nations General Assembly has designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
• The premise of the day is to raise awareness of the fact that women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence; furthermore, one of the aims of the day is to highlight that the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden.
• For 2013, the official theme framed by the UN Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women, is Orange the World in 16 Days.

• Historically, the date is based on date of the 1960 assassination of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic; the killings were ordered by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961).
• In 1981, activists marked November 25 as a day to combat and raise awareness of violence against women more broadly; on December 17, 1999, the date received its official United Nations (UN) resolution.
• The UN and the Inter-Parliamentary Union have encouraged governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities to support the day as an international observance.
• For example, the UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) observes the day each year and offers suggestions for other organizations to observe it.
• The date of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women also marks the start of the “16 Days of Activism” that precedes Human Rights Day on December 10 each year.

UN FIGURES:

• Up to 70 per cent of women experience violence in their lifetime.
• Between 500,000 to 2 million people are trafficked annually into situations including prostitution, forced labour, slavery or servitude, according to estimates. Women and girls account for about 80 per cent of the detected victims
• It is estimated that more than 130 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM/C, mainly in Africa and some Middle Eastern countries.
• The cost of intimate partner violence in the United States alone exceeds $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion is for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly $1.8 billion.

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International Current Affairs 2013

International Current Affairs 2013

Current Affairs [September 2013]

• Jhumpa Lahiri novel competes for Man Booker Prize
  Indian American author and Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri's new novel, The Lowland, has been shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker prize, organisers said Tuesday. Set in the 1960s, "The Lowland", provides a view of suburban streets of Calcutta (Kolkata) through the eyes of Subhash.
• Gujarati film 'The Good Road' India's entry for Oscar
  Debut feature filmmaker Gyan Correa's Gujarati film "The Good Road" has been chosen to represent India in the best foreign film category at the Academy Awards.

Current Affairs [August 2013]

• World Bank to loan $100 mn for low-cost housing
  Thee World Bank will extend a $100-million loan for sustainable housing in India that can be used to purchase, build or upgrade low-cost dwellings, the finance ministry said Thursday.
  The state-run National Housing Bank will execute this project.


• Import Duty On Gold, Silver Hiked To 10 Percent
  The Indian government Tuesday hiked customs duties on gold, platinum and silver to 10 percent to curb imports and lower the current account deficit.
  This led to a recovery in the rupee. The partially convertible rupee closed at 61.19 per dollar compared to 61.27 Monday.


• India's DRDO launches explosive detection kit in US
  It looks like a little pocket sized cigar box, but it packs a mighty punch in the fight against terrorism. And now this nifty explosive detection kit, developed by the India's Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO), is all set to play its part in the US too.

Current Affairs [July 2013]

• China Developed the Fastest Computer of the World Called Tianhe-2
  A survey conducted by Top 500, revealed on 17 June 2013 that the Chinese supercomputer is the fastest computer of the world. This Chinese supercomputer is called Tianhe-2 and it replaced US machine called Titan, which was earlier said to be the fastest computer of the world.


• India to be most Populous Country by 2028
  The UN report titled World Population Prospects was released on 13 June 2013, forecasted that India will be the most populous country of the world by 2028 leaving behind China. The report also claimed that by 2025 the world population will increase by one billion and reach to 8.1 billion from 7.2 billion at present. By 2050, the world population will be 9.6 billion as per the report.

Current Affairs [May 2013]


• India granted Observer Status by Arctic Council
  India on 15 May 2013 was successful in getting the observer status in the Arctic Council along with five other nations namely China, Italy, Singapore and South Korea. This step of the Arctic Council will give India a foothold in the resource rich Arctic Ocean with the melting of the ice. As India will get an access from navigation to oil and gas exploration. The observer status was assigned to India after a meeting held at Kiruna, Sweden.


• India is the largest producer and consumer of Chickpeas in World
  Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its latest report for 2011 claimed that India is the largest consumer and producer of Chickpeas in the world. The second advance estimates for 2012-13 marked a record production of Chickpea is 8567.8 thousand tonnes.

Current Affairs [April 2013]

• "The Orphan Master's Son" won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
  Adam Johnson's novel The Orphan Master's son won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2013. Last year, judges had failed to select a winner of the award for fiction for the first time in 35 years. The book carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart.
  
  Johnson teaches creative writing at Stanford University. He spent time in North Korea to research his book. Other books in contention were, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, by Nathan Englander and The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey.


• Indian-Origin Economist Raj Chetty Won John Bates Clark Medal For 2013
  Delhi-born Raj Chetty, the professor in the Department of Economy at the Harvard University won John Bates Clark medal for 2013, also called Baby Nobel. Raj Chetty's work was also cited by the US President Barack Obama in State of the Union Address.
  
  John Bates Clark medal is conferred upon the American economist whose age is below 40 years and the one who has made crucial contribution to economic knowledge and thought. Baby Nobel is one of the most prestigious awards of economy. Infact, it is second only after Nobel Prize in economic science.
  
  Raj Chetty, 33, is the first Indian-origin person to win this high honour. His areas of work include social insurance, tax policy as well as education policy.

International Current Affairs 2013

Current Affairs [March 2013]

• World Bank bar Larsen & Turbo for six Months over Forgery
  The World Bank in the month of March 2013 barred Larsen & Toubro (L&T) from doing any business with it or the projects funded by it for a period of six months, as it found that a senior executive of the conglomerate indulging in fraud.
  The department has made L&T ineligible for being awarded of any contract of the World Bank Funded projects and also from receiving any loan proceeds made by the Bank or participating in any Bank-financed project. The department is supposed to continue till 6 September 2013.


• India Proposed Hydrocarbon Pipeline from Kazakhstan
  India in the month of March 2013 proposed the idea of a hydrocarbon pipeline with Kazakhstan that is intended to bring fuel through a five-nation route.
  The concept of the pipeline, unveiled could be in future extended to Russia. Officials said currently most hydrocarbon pipelines from Central Asia are on an east-west axis. This pipeline will, like TAPI, be on a north-south axis, providing a new route to South Asia for hydrocarbons extracted from Central Asia.

International Current Affairs 2013

Current Affairs [Febraury 2013]

• Pope Benedict XVI announced his Resignation because of Poor Health
  Pope Benedict XVI announced on 11 February 2013 that he would resign at the end of the month. He reasoned that he was too infirm to carry on. He is the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision set the stage for the election of a new Pope before the end of March 2013.
  Pope Benedict XVI is 85 years old. He had become the Pope in 2005. The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who took this step in 1415 to put an end to the Great Western Split among competing papal claimants.


• Largest Saltwater Crocodile of the World, Lolong Died in Philippines
  The largest saltwater crocodile of the world, named Lolong died in Philippines on 10 February 2013 just 17 months after it was captured and put for tourists on display.
  Lolong measured 6.17 metres or 20.24 feet. The largest crocodile of the world died because of illness that is not known. It is believed that Lolong was over 50 years old.
  A hunting party that was sanctioned by the government captured Lolong in September 2011. The largest crocodile of the world became a source of tourist attraction.
  Lolong was declared officially as the largest crocodile of its kind in captivity by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2012. It beat the record of 5.48-metre crocodile named Cassius which was kept in park in an island off Queensland, Australia.
  Lolong belonged to the family of species called Crocodylus Porosus, or the Indo-Pacific crocodile, which is said to be the largest reptile of the world.

Current Affairs [January 2013]

International News

• No plans to run for Presidency in 2016: Hillary
  Virtually putting to rest all speculations about her contesting the next US presidential elections, outgoing secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said she has absolutely no such plans and is just focussing on finishing her term in office. "Well I have absolutely no plans to run for presidency. Right now, I am trying to finish my term as Secretary of State," she told CNN in an interview when asked about reports of her contesting the elections of 2016. "I don't know everything I'll be doing. I'll be working on behalf of women and girls, and hopefully be writing and speaking. Those are the things that I am planning to do right now."Clinton said she does not know what her new life entails for her, when there are no appointments for her.


• New levels of horror in Syria, says UN
  The Syria war has reached 'unprecedented levels of horror', UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said after dozens of men were killed in a grim new massacre. Brahimi told the divided UN Security Council that it must now act to halt the carnage epitomised by the nearly 80 young men killed with a single bullet and dumped in a river in the battlefront city of Aleppo. Syrian rebels blamed President Bashar al-Assad's government for the killings, but state media said an Islamist opposition faction was to blame. Syria "is breaking up before everyone's eyes. Only the international community can help, and first and the foremost the Security Council," Brahimi told the council's 15 ambassadors, apologising for sounding like a broken old record. Twenty two months of conflict have now left well over 60,000 dead, according to the UN, which will seek $1.5 billion in humanitarian funding for beleaguered Syrians at a conference in Kuwait,


• China urges Japan to foster normal ties
  China urged Japan to create conditions for the normal development of bilateral relations, saying the two sides should "properly handle tensions" over the sovereignty of the disputed Diaoyu islands. Foreign ministry spokesman Hong lei said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had suggested that a summit between Japan and China was necessary to mend bilateral relations hampered by recent territorial disputes, Xinhua reported. Hong said China attaches importance to developing relation with Japan, and stressed that Beijing hopes that Tokyo will make joint efforts to overcome major difficulties so as to push bilateral ties back to the track of normal development.

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Posted in: 2013 , CURRENT AFFAIRS , international