International Current Affairs May 2011

• South Pacific island nation SAMOA, currently positioned to the east of the International Date Line on 9 May 2011 decided to forego a day (28 December 2011) and shift to the time zone on its west to facilitate trade with Australia and New Zealand. The island nation in the South Pacific is currently 21 hours behind both countries, Australia and New Zealand. This implies that that the nation loses two working days a week with them. However with its decision to move to the other side of the date line, Samoa will move three hours ahead.
  
• India ratified in the second week of May 2011, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its three protocols and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organised crime. It recognises the need to foster and enhance close international cooperation in order to tackle those problems. The convention is further supplemented by three Protocols, which target specific areas and manifestations of organized crime namely Protocols to combat (1) trafficking in persons (2) migrant smuggling and (3) illicit trafficking in firearms.
  
• In the 2nd May 2011 Canadian Federal Election, Canada's Conservatives had a decisive victory making it a majority in Canada's Parliament. Conservative Party won 54% of the seats in the Parliament and secured a stable four-year term in power. It acquired 167 seats in the Canada's Parliament. The Liberals were reduced to a dismal third place. Ignatieff even lost his own seat in a Toronto suburb. Candian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper’s victory, along with Conservative party’s control of the Senate, put the Conservatives in firm control of the federal agenda for the first time since the early 1990s.
  
• Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 11 September 2001, terror attacks was killed on 1 May 2011 in his luxury hideout in Pakistan in a fire fight with U.S. forces. President Barack Obama broke the news in the White House on 1 May. Bin Laden was killed after a gun battle with Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitary forces at a compound in the city of Abbottabad in Pakistan. The operation was codenamed Operation Geronimo. He was shot in the left eye and killed inside a secured private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs in a covert operation. Abbottabad is home to three Pakistan army regiments and thousands of military personnel and is dotted with military buildings. The team returned to Afghanistan with bin Laden's body and the body later buried at sea.
  
• Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey, London on 29 April 2011. 1900 guests watched the couple exchanging their vows, while millions of people around the world watched the ceremony live on TV. Prince William wore a military uniform, a tunic, with a crimson and gold sash and gold sword slings, from the Irish National Guards. On 29 April 2011, the day of wedding, Prince William was given the title of the Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus by Queen Elizabeth II. After marriage Miss Catherine Middleton became Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge. The title of duke is the highest rank below that of monarch in the British nobility.
  
• Vanuatu, a small island nation in the South Pacific is set to become the 154th member of the World Trade Organisation. Once the WTO's General Council approves the accession package in its next meeting, Vanuatu will have six months to complete the ratification. Russia and Algeria are the two main trade economies outside the WTO.
  
• Lobsang Sangay was on 27 April 2011 elected Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-exile. He would take over the political duties relinquished by spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Sangay got 55 per cent votes out of 49189 votes. He defeated his nearest rival Tethong Tenzin Namgyal by 8646 votes. As many as 83399 exiled Tibetan settled in India, Bhutan, Nepal, Australia, United States, Japan, Russia and other countries exercised their franchise to elect the Prime Minister and 43 members of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile. The tenure of the newly elected Prime Minister would be five years.
  
• The leaders of two main Palestinian-factions, Fatah and Hamas on 4 May 2011 signed a reconciliation agreement. The agreement signed between the two factions paved the way for the formation of transitional national unity government followed by elections. The accord signed helped to end a four year feud between Fatah and Hamas and the signing of the account will be followed by preparations for the formation of an interim government. Three separate committees will be formed, which will plan for the upcoming polls as well as recommend internal reforms within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). PLO is the umbrella group of the Palestinian factions. The pact is widely seen as fallout of the Egyptian uprising that resulted in the formation of military-led transitional government in Cairo that played a key role brokering the intra-Palestinian accord. Both factions aim at a new and viable Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

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