WORLD NEWS - NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2009

Tuesday, November 03rd 2009
Hamid Karzai declared Afghan President
Afghanistan's election commission announced that Hamid Karzai would be the president of the war ravaged nation. Karzai’s challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race on Sunday because he said the vote would not be free or fair. Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Lodin announced Karzai victor during a news conference in Kabul. The first round of ballots two and a half months earlier were fraud marred. The planned run off also stood canceled.

Wednesday, November 04th 2009
Iran to shift capital for fear of a natural disaster
The Iranian government body has approved of a suggestion to shift the capital of the country from Tehran to another city in a bid to protect residents from a dangerous earthquake. According to seismologists Tehran is liable to be struck by a catastrophic earthquake in the foreseeable future. The idea to re-locate the capital was proposed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is how ever not clear if the capital will be built from scratch or moved to an already existing city.

Thursday, November 05th 2009
Israel seizes ship with Iranian supplied arms
The Naval commandos of Israel captured a ship which they claim to have been carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian supplied arms including rockets that can hit Israeli cities. Israel stated that the arms were meant for the Hezbollah group of Lebanon. Iran and Syria in the meanwhile have denied these accusations of weapon smuggling to Hezbollah and Hamas militants. The ship was seized near Israel's Mediterranean port of Ashdod.

Saturday, November 14th 2009
Immigrants to need permission to stay in UK
As per the new draft bill proposed in the British Parliament in a bid to tighten Visa rules, the current five application categories would be replaced. As per the proposal immigrants will either be granted permission or refused, making the rules easier for applicants and staff.

Saturday, November 21st 2009
Belgian PM becomes EU president
The European Union leaders chose Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as the EU president. This is the first time that a Belgian has been named to lead efforts for the Bloc on the world stage. Baroness Catherine Ashton a Briton was named the EU foreign affairs chief.

Wednesday, December 02nd 2009
Barack Obama speaks about US strategy for Af-Pak
Speaking at the Military Academy in New York US President Barack Obama revealed US' fresh strategy for the terror affected Afghanistan-Pakistan region. He announced a surge of 30,000 in the troops to Afghanistan and also stated that the stakes would be higher in case of Pakistan with its nuclear weapons which are under constant threat of being passed to terror groups like the Al Qaida. In his Afghan policy speech the US President also said that after 2001 the Al-Qaida leadership has escaped into Pakistan and established a safe haven there.

Thursday, December 03rd 2009
UN Darfur mission to be led by Gambari
Former Nigerian foreign minister and a diplomat Mr. Ibrahim Gambari is all set to take up the position of head of the UN-African Union peacekeeping force in the conflict-hit Darfur region. This was announced by the UN. Mr. Gambari is presently serving as UN special envoy to Burma. Violence in the Darfur region has fallen to a large extent in recent times, but it had flared up in 2003 when black African rebel groups had taken up arms against the Sudanese government.

Saturday, December 05th 2009
Martial law imposed in a Philippines province
Following the massacre of 57 people due to election related reasons in the province of Maguindanao, Phillipines martial law has been imposed by the state. The authorities also arrested a powerful local official, Andal Ampatuan Sr, along with another senior member of his clan. Among the 57 victims were members of a rival clan and 30 journalists.

Saturday, December 05th 2009
The Copenhagen summit set to begin next week
The UN summit on climate change to be held in Copenhagen is scheduled from December 9-18. The summit aims to draw up a treaty to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. US President is known to be attending the summit only by the 18 which is towards the end of the summit. White house officials will however be part of the entire negotiations at the summit. A few of the developing nations like China and India have set the stage for a positive outcome at the summit by announcing their support to reduce Carbon intensity and thus moving towards the emissions reductions target.

Monday, December 07th 2009
Climate summit takes off
The much anticipated and discussed UN Climate summit scheduled at Copenhagen took off today. The summit will ensue two weeks of intense negotiations among world leaders who would be focussing on key issues which include setting targets to curb greenhouse emissions, particularly by developed countries; Financial support to help developing nations tackle climate change; Carbon trading scheme aimed at ending destruction of world's forests by 2030.