Digest year-ender for international stories for month of December, 2018

Digest year-ender for international stories for month of December, 2018

Press Trust of India

Dec 1: Houston: George H W Bush, the 41st president of the US who led America during the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union and engineered the defeat of an audacious Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, died here on Friday. He was 94.

Dec 2: Dhaka: Quashing the political ambitions of jailed ex-Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia, the election authority on Sunday rejected her nomination papers from three constituencies, citing her convictions in two corruption cases.

Dec 3: Islamabad/Washington: US President Donald Trump has written to Prime Minister Imran Khan, seeking Pakistan's help with stuttering Afghan peace talks and support in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table to end the 17-year brutal war in the neighbouring country, Pakistani officials said on Monday.

Dec 4: Abu Dhabi: India and the UAE Tuesday signed two agreements, including one on currency swap, as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held exhaustive discussions with her counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed to step up bilateral cooperation in areas like security, defence, counter-terrorism, trade and energy.

Dec 5: London: Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Wednesday took to social media with an offer to pay back 100 per cent of "public money" to various Indian banks and urged the government to accept his offer, days ahead of a UK court's decision on his plea not to extradite him to India.

Dec 6: London: World markets slumped Thursday as the arrest of a top executive at Chinese telecoms giant Huawei raised doubts over the recent trade truce agreed by US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Dec 7: Vienna: OPEC members and 10 other oil producing nations agreed Friday to cut output by 1.2 million barrels a day in a bid to boost prices.

Dec 8: Paris: French "yellow vest" demonstrators clashed with riot police in Paris on Saturday in the latest round of protests against President Emmanuel Macron, but the city appeared to be escaping the large-scale destruction of a week earlier due to heavy security.

Dec 9: London: Ahead of a crucial vote on Britain's divorce deal with the European Union (EU), thousands of protesters marched through London in support of Brexit on Sunday amid tight security measures in place by Scotland Yard.

Dec 10: Katowice (Poland): The Trump administration Monday organised an event to promote coal at the venue of UN Climate Conference here in Poland, drawing flak from civil society organisations which dumped the US action as "disruptive".

Dec 11: London: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday embarked on a whistle-stop tour of Europe in a desperate bid to rescue her Brexit deal, trying to convince the EU leaders to offer some concessions so that she could persuade Britain's MPs to support it.

Dec 12: Washington: The US Senate has passed a crucial bipartisan legislation that seeks to impose a visa ban on Chinese officials who deny American citizens, government officials and journalists access to Tibet, the remote Himalayan homeland of the exiled Dalai Lama.

Dec 13: London: British Prime Minister Theresa May won a crucial vote of confidence in her leadership of the ruling Conservative Party over the controversial Brexit deal, after she placated rebel lawmakers by agreeing that she would step down before the 2022 general election.

Dec 14: Kathmandu: The Nepal government has banned the use of Indian currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 denominations, a move that could affect Indian tourists visiting the Himalayan nation where Indian currency is widely used.

Dec 15: Washington: A federal judge in Texas Friday struck down the entire Affordable Care Act, popular as Obamacare, ruling that the health-care law's individual coverage mandate was "unconstitutional", handing a major political victory to US President Donald Trump who has long been seeking its end.

Dec 16: Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa Sunday confirmed the death sentence of 15 "hardcore terrorists", who were involved in killing civilians and abetting the 2016 Christian Colony suicide attacks in Peshawar.

Dec 17: United Nations: The UN General Assembly on Monday adopted by a wide majority a Global Compact on Refugees aimed at improving efforts to manage large refugee movements -- but without the support of the United States and Hungary.

Dec 18: Washington: President Donald Trump's former national security chief on Tuesday received a delay in sentencing for lying over Russian contacts, after a judge threatened him with stiff jail time and said: "You sold your country out." Dec 19: Washington: The US has started to withdraw its troops from Syria, the White House said Wednesday, asserting that it has defeated the Islamic State terror group in the strife-torn country.

Dec 20: Washington: The US acceded to Pakistan's demand, supported by China, to "set aside" its concerns over Islamabad's secretive nuclear weapons programme in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, according to the latest documents declassified from the era.

Dec 21: Dubai/Islamabad: The UAE Friday said it will soon give USD 3 billion to cash-strapped Pakistan to bolster its foreign exchange reserves and the government's fiscal policies.

Dec 22: Beijing: Indian and Chinese troops on Saturday concluded the seventh round of counter terrorism military exercises in China's Chengdu city during which over 100-strong contingents from both nations conducted the drills while living and dining together to build up a sense of camaraderie. Dec 23: Carita (Indonesia): A volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait, officials said Sunday, voicing fears that the toll would rise further.

Dec 24: Islamabad: An anti-corruption court in Pakistan on Monday sentenced ousted premier Nawaz Sharif to seven years in jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills graft case but acquitted him in the Flagship Investments reference, concluding a series of three court cases against the Sharif family in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal.

Dec 25: Dhaka: Bangladesh police have arrested more than 10,500 opposition activists in a crackdown ahead of elections this week, opposition parties said Tuesday. Dec 26: Jerusalem: The Israeli Knesset has voted to dissolve the current parliament and scheduled new elections for April 9.

Dec 27: Antananarivo (Madagascar): Former Madagascan president Andry Rajoelina has beaten his rival and predecessor Marc Ravalomanana in an election beset by allegations of fraud, the electoral commission said Thursday.

Dec 28: Washington: The partial US government shutdown is all set to drag on to the new year as opposition Democrats and Republicans refused to show any sign of compromise Thursday to end the impasse over President Donald Trump's demand for border wall funding. Dec 29: Islamabad: Pakistan has sent recommendations to India for facilitating visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims through the upcoming Kartarpur corridor, according to a media report here on Saturday. Dec 30: Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is cruising towards a landslide victory in Bangladesh's general election on Sunday with her Awami League all set to cross the 'magic number' of 151 in the 300-member House, following a tense vote that saw at least 17 people killed in poll-related violence and demands of a fresh election by the opposition, alleging rigged voting.

(Source PTI)