Current Affairs : International Current Affairs 27.6.09
June 20, 2009 : World hunger reaches 1 billion mark: United Nations
24 Jun 2009,World Bank approves $24 million loan to Sri Lanka
June 24, 2009 : 150 years of the Red Cross
25 Jun 2009, China to build world’s largest amphibious aircraft
25 Jun 2009, Taiwan legalizes prostitution
25 Jun 2009, Russia & Nigeria sign nuclear, gas pacts
27 Jun 2009,US announces shift in Afghanistan drug policy in presummit G-8 conference on Afganistan in Italy
27 Jun 2009, UNESCO adds more sites to heritage list, two endangered
June 27, 2009 : Lebanon’s president names Hariri as premier
June 27, 2009 : Under Nineteen World Cup shifted from Kenya to New Zealand
25 Jun 2009, TV actress Farrah Fawcett dead at 62
Because of war, drought, political instability, high food prices and poverty, hunger compounded by financial meltdown the numbers of world’s hungry is now record 1 billion, which means that every 1 in 6 people is affected as per Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The world’s most populous region, Asia and the Pacific, has the largest number of hungry people – 642 million, up 10.5 percent from last year. Sub-Saharan Africa registers 265 million undernourished, an 11.8 percent increase.
June 21, 2009 New York couple floats into zero-gravity nuptials
New York City couple Erin Finnegan and Noah Fulmor floated into matrimony on June 21, 2009 thousands of feet (metres) above the Gulf of Mexico in what organizers said was the world’s first weightless wedding held in zero gravity conditions.
24 Jun 2009,World Bank approves $24 million loan to Sri Lanka
The World Bank has approved a $24 million IDA credit to Sri Lanka to help it provide health service delivery program, with particular emphasis on the special health needs in north and east arising out of the recent conflict with LTTE. Out of this, 12 million dollars will go to the Northern and Eastern Provinces to help the Sri Lankan government meet their special health needs arising from the conflict in the region. About 280,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently reside in temporary camps in Sri Lanka.
June 24, 2009 : 150 years of the Red Cross
Tens of thousands of soldiers were wounded and killed during the fighting June 24, 1859, between Franco-Sardinian forces and Austrian troops, named as Battle of Solferino in northern Italy. This year marks the 150 years of Red Cross. Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman who witnessed the battle and the carnage, was moved by the lack of adequate medical care and began to help the soldiers and this was the birth of Red Cross. Dunant’s idea from Solferino, to build neutral volunteer medical services to aid during wars, led to the creation of the Red Cross movement, which, 150 years later, boasts millions of workers and volunteers in more than 186 countries and territories, offering assistance in times of peace, conflict and natural disasters.
At least 8,000 people took part in a torch-lit march on June 24, 2009 to mark the , the event that led to the creation of the Red Cross.The march was part of a week-long “humanitarian camp” the organisation set up, bringing together 500 youths from 149 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies to come up with a 10-year global action plan for the world’s largest humanitarian movement.
25 Jun 2009, China to build world’s largest amphibious aircraft
China will build the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, as large as an Airbus A320, which could be used for tasks like emergency rescue and sea patrols. The development and production of the ‘Dragon 600’, intended to be the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, has received government approval.
25 Jun 2009, Taiwan legalizes prostitution
In response to sex workers’ demands, the government of Taiwan announced that prostitution was to be decriminalized. Taiwan has begun a process of legalising prostitution.
25 Jun 2009, Russia & Nigeria sign nuclear, gas pacts
Russia & Nigeria have signed a raft of agreements to boost cooperation on oil, gas and nuclear energy during a historic visit to Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria by the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
27 Jun 2009,US announces shift in Afghanistan drug policy in presummit G-8 conference on Afganistan in Italy
In a pre-summit conference in Trieste, Italy bringing together the G8 and major states in the region including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey. The US envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke,has said that US has announced a new drug policy for opium-rich Afghanistan, saying it was phasing out funding for eradication programs while significantly increasing its funding for alternate crop and drug interdiction efforts.
Iran had been invited to attend the G-8 meeting on Afghanistan, because anti-drug efforts in Afghanistan have been identified as a key area where the United States and Iran can work together — part of President Barack Obama’s outreach effort. However Italy withdrew the invitation after Iran failed to respond and after its bloody post-election crackdown on protesters, which has sparked international condemnation.
Italy’s Foreign minister Franco Frattini of Italy is the current G-8 president.
About Opium in Afganistan :
1. Afghanistan is the world’s leading source of opium, cultivating 93% of the world’s heroin-producing crop.
2. The United Nations has estimated the Taliban and other Afghan militants made $50 million to $70 million of last year’s opium and heroin trade.
3. According to the UN report, opium poppy eradication reached a high in 2003, after the Taliban were ousted from power, with over 21,000 hectares (51,900 acres) eradicated.
4. In 2008, only 5,480 hectares (13,500 acres) were cut down compared with 19,047 hectares (47,000 acres) in 2007.
5. Afghan opium would kill 100,000 people this year in the parts of world where demand for heroin is highest: Europe, Russia and West Asia.
UNESCO has put two natural sites, a coral reef in Belize and Los Katios National Park in Colombia, on its list of endangered world heritage.
It was decided in the UN cultural agency’s World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville, Spain.
The committee removed the walled city of Baku from the endangered list.
Problem of Coral reef in Belize: Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996 as the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere. Mangrove cutting and excessive development is the main problem of the Coral Reef.
Problem of Los Katios National Park : The park is threatened by deforestation in areas inside and around the property due to the illegal extraction of timber. It was inscribed in 1994 for its exceptional biological diversity It is also also suffering from illegal fishing and hunting
June 27, 2009 : Lebanon’s president names Hariri as premier
Saad ed Deen Rafiq al-Hariri is a Lebanese-Saudi businessman and politician, and the second son of Rafiq Hariri, the assassinated former Prime Minister of Lebanon. After his father’s death, he inherited the helm of the Movement of the Future, an essentially Sunni movement that was created and led by his father. Saad Hariri was designated on June 27, 2009 as Lebanon’s new prime minister after his anti-Syrian coalition won the majority in parliament earlier this month. Hariri is to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, a member of Hariri’s Future Current movement.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to shift the 2010 Under-19 World Cup from Kenya to New Zealand due to the underpreparedness of the African nation.
India and U-19 World Cup:
Indian won the world cup in 2000 & 2008.
June 26, 2009 Pop icon Michael Jackson dies at 50
Michael Jackson, the king of pop died at UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was preparing for his much-hyped 50-date comeback in London which were due to start on July 13. The singer, who was the seventh of nine children from a well-known musical family, debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of ‘The Jackson 5’, and began a solo career in 1971.
Jackson was one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. His other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records, 13 Grammy awards and the sales of his over 750 million albums worldwide.
Some of his albums:
Off the Wall (1979),
Thriller (1982),
Bad (1987)
Dangerous (1991)
In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse but could not be charged due to lack of evidence. In 2005, Jackson was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges.
25 Jun 2009, TV actress Farrah Fawcett dead at 62
Actress Farrah Fawcett,who was best known for her role in television series “Charlie’s Angels,” has died. She was 62.
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Month: Current Affairs - June, 2009