Current Affairs November 2012:International Current Affairs 2012

Current Affairs [November 2012]

 

• China claims historical rights Beijing's claims to nearly all the South China Sea are embossed in its latest passports, based on what it calls long established "historical facts" and what Chinese analysts say is Western imperial precedent.
  Beijing has grown increasingly assertive in recent years in claiming islands and waters even without effective control of them- in some cases hundreds of kilometres from the China's mainland and close to rival claimants' coasts. 
  The latest front on the simmering dispute is China's new passport, which shows the map of the country including almost all of the strategically significant sea, the site of key shipping routes and possibly significant petroleum reserves.

 

• UK press needs new watchdog: Leveson A judge called on legislation to underpin a new regulator for Britain's "outrageous" newspapers in a dramatic move that threatens to Divide Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government.
  Lord justice Brian Leveson, who led an eight month inquiry following the phone hacking scandal that closed down Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, also criticised politicians for getting too close to the press.
  His eagerly awaited report called for legislation for a new independent self regulatory body underpinned by law, saying that misbehaviour by the British press has undermined its own arguments that it works in the public interest.

 

• Genuine Indian students kept out by UK agency Officials at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) sat over more than 150,000 complaints of non-European students breeching their conditions of study, Britain's chief inspector of immigration John Vine said, prompting a senior MP to accuse the agency of putting off genuine Indian students. Vine criticised the UKBA in a report for failing to act on tip-offs provided by colleges and universities who, under a student sponsorship system, are meant to notify the agency whenever non-EU students do not enrol, stop attending courses or breach visa rules.
  Vine said the agency had no targets in place for responding to such tip-offs. "As a result, notifications were not being acted upon." At one point a backlog of 153,000, such reports had built up, said Vine, whose tem examined work at three UKBA offices in Sheffield, Beijing and Delhi. However by may this year, all outstanding tip-offs had been acted upon.

 

• Pakistani journalist escapes bomb attack Pakistani journalist and celebrity TV anchor Hamid Mir escaped an assassination attempt, when the police defused a bomb planted under his car in Islamabad. The device in a metal box was found under the front passenger seat of Mir's car. "It was a powerful bomb. Had it gone off, the car would have been blown into pieces," interior minister Rehman Malik said.
  Mir who host Capital Talk, an evening show on Geo TV, and writes a column for Jang, was criticised by the Taliban last month in the wake of the shooting of teenage activist Malala Yousafzai.
  The interior minister said that he would offer a reward of Rs 5 crore for anyone who provided any information on the accused.