(Current Affairs) International Events | October + November: 2014

International Events

WHO declares Ebola an International Health Emergency

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency that requires an extraordinary response to stop its spread.

  • The WHO announced the Ebola outbreak the largest and longest in history is worrying enough to merit being declared an international health emergency. WHO declared similar emergencies for the swine flu pandemic in 2009 and for polio in May.

  • Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own, The current outbreak of Ebola began in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia

U.S. is coming to Help: Obama

  • U.S. authorised a two-pronged military intervention in Iraq, aimed both at protecting American personnel and assets located in the conflict zones, and also at staving off “a potential act of genocide,” in the Sinjar area where nearly 50,000 members of the Yazidi minority community were trapped atop a mountain besieged by IS fighters.

  • Mr. Obama said Washington had begun conducting humanitarian airdrops at the request of the Iraqi government.

  • Ahead of the airstrikes, the first direct military action by the U.S. in Iraq since troops pulled out in 2011, which were authorised by the U.S. Central Command commander, the U.S. also used one C-17 and two C-130 aircrafts to airdrop 5,300 gallons of fresh drinking water and 8,000 ready-to-eat meals near Mount Sinjar.

  • Iraqis welcomed the U.S. airlift of emergency aid to thousands of people who fled to the mountains to escape Islamic extremists and called for greater intervention. In contrast to Washington’s decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago, both the airdrop and the authorisation of military action against the Islamic State group were widely welcomed by Iraqi and Kurdish officials fearful of the militants’ lightning advance across the country.

  • British Prime Minister David Cameron has welcomed the decision taken by the United States to authorise “targeted strikes” against the Islamic militant forces in Iraq. The U.K. chaired a meeting in the United Nations Security Council on Thursday seeking a strong international response to the crisis in Iraq.

Israel-Hamas truce ends; talks on Gaza Deadlocked

  • A three-day truce between Israel and Hamas has expired after indirect talks in Cairo on new border arrangements for the blockaded Gaza Strip hit a deadlock.
  • There was no apparent sign of a possible extension of the calm as the truce expired at 0500 GMT on Friday. Just before the end of the truce, Gaza militants fired two rockets at Israel.
  • Israel has said it is willing to consider easing border restrictions but demands that Hamas disarm.

WTO imbroglio: India not for 1986-87 as base year

  • India has offered fixing of the base year for food subsidies on the basis of average of last three years, as opposed to 1986-87 as proposed by WTO, as a way forward for an agreement at the WTO.

  • India did a ‘course correction’ on the position taken at the Bali ministerial conference. Explaining the changed stance, the Govt. said India insisted on a ‘single undertaking principle’ to ensure simultaneous implementation of nine plus one issues which the Ministers had agreed at Bali.

  • Govt said it is not alone in this matter, it said that India and other LDCs were willing to wait till September 2014, for every one to convince each other.

Israel agrees to extend Gaza ceasefire

  • Israel has agreed to extend beyond Friday a 72-hour ceasefire that has halted a month of fighting in the Hamasruled Gaza Strip.

  • The 72-hour ceasefire, which came into effect on Tuesday, has brought relief to millions on both sides after one month of fighting killed nearly 1,900 Palestinians and 67 people in Israel, mostly soldiers.

  • United Nations chief Ban Kimoon urged a permanent end to the cycle of Israeli and Palestinian violence. Indirect talks between Palestinian factions and Israel have been taking place, mediated by Egypt, to broker a long-term ceasefire.

  • Israel and Palestine, both sides are digging in their positions as negotiations continue in Cairo on a lasting truce and reconstruction for the warbattered coastal territory.

Iraqi militants seize country s largest Dam

  • Sunni militants from the Islamic State group seized Iraq’s largest dam, placing them in control of enormous power and water resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad.

  • After a week of attempts, the radical Islamist gunmen successfully stormed the Mosul Dam and forced Kurdish forces to withdraw from the area.

  • The Mosul Dam or Saddam Dam as it was once known is located north of Iraq’s second—largest city Mosul, which fell to the militants on June 10. Fighting intensified in the region after the nearby towns of Zumar and Sinjar fell to the militants.

  • The al—Qaeda—breakaway group has established its idea of an Islamic state in the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Iraqi government forces, Kurds and allied Sunni tribal militiamen have been struggling to dislodge the Islamic State militants and its Sunni allies with little apparent success.

  • The seizing of dams and reservoirs gives the militants control over water and electricity that they could use to help build support in the territory they now rule by providing the scarce resources to residents. Or they could sell the resources as a lucrative source of revenue.

Nepal landslide raises fears of floods in East India

  • Rescue workers in eastern India urgently evacuated tens of thousands of people after a deadly landslide in neighbouring Nepal blocked a river that could burst its banks and submerge scores of Indian villages

  • Nepal’s army triggered three controlled explosions on Saturday to allow some water to flow out of the lake, but much of it remains trapped. Bihar Government has asked all government doctors and civil officials in threatened areas to cancel vacation plans. Soldiers, as well as air force helicopters and jets, were on standby for relief and rescue operations.

  • The local government also invoked a law allowing authorities to forcibly evacuate villagers who refuse to leave their homes and property and move to higher ground or government-run relief camps. The government has so far evacuated 60,000 people and set up 120 such camps.

  • The annual monsoon season, which runs from June through September, is vital for the largely agrarian economies of South Asia but every year also brings in floods and landslides that kill thousands and submerge hundreds of villages.

Israel, Hamas accept Egyptian ceasefire plan

  • Israel and Hamas accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal meant to halt a bruising monthlong war that has claimed nearly 2,000 lives, raising hopes that the bloodiest round of fighting between the bitter enemies could finally be coming to an end.

  • The war broke out on July 8, 2014 when Israel launched an air offensive in response to weeks of heavy rocket fire out of Hamas-controlled Gaza. It expanded the operation on July 17 by sending in ground forces in what it described as a mission to destroy a network of tunnels used to stage attacks. Israel says the last of the tunnels has nearly been destroyed.

  • Israel has demanded that Gaza become “demilitarised,” requiring the unlikely cooperation of Hamas in giving up its significant arsenal.

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