Apr 16: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari agreed to

review the controversial Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) along with other
anti-terrorism laws.
Apr 16: The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan announced that it was not
extending its 'ceasefire'.
Apr 16: The Punjab Governor re-appointed Maulana Muhammad Raghab Hussain
Naeemi as member of Punjab University Syndicate with immediate effect for a
period of three years.
Apr 17: The government removed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority
(Pemra) Chairman Chaudhry Abdul Rashid.
Apr 17: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC)
of the cabinet approved a relief package of Rs. 1.624
billion for providing subsidy on various food items and
other edibles during Ramazan.

Apr 17: Senator Faisal Raza Abidi submitted his

resignation from the Senate.
Apr 17: A religious school for women in Islamabad,
Jamia Hafsa, renamed its library in honour of Osama
bin Laden.
Apr 18: Punjab University Law College Associate
Professor Dr Shazia Qureshi was appointed principal of
the college on a regular basis. Dr Shazia the first
woman principal of the college in its 146-year history, is
the wife of PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran.
Apr 18: The federal cabinet approved the import of
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar and 3,000MW
electricity from Iran.
Apr 19: Senior journalist and a prominent anchor of
Geo News, Hamid Mir, was critically wounded in an
armed attack on his car near Karachi airport.
Apr 20: Pakistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE)

navies commenced a seven-day joint exercise Nasl al Bahr to enhance bilateral

cooperation between the two nations.
Apr 22: The MQM joined the Sindh government after two of its members took oath
as provincial ministers while three members joined the cabinet as advisers.
Apr 22: Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of short range surface to
surface ballistic missile namely Hatf-III Ghaznavi which can carry nuclear and
conventional warhead to a range of 290-kilometres.
Apr 22: On the complaint of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Defence Ministry
directed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to take action
against the Geo TV network for levelling allegations against the ISI.
Apr 22: Pakistan Navy was formally accorded Observer Status of the Western
Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS). The decision was announced at the plenary
meeting of the 14th WPNS meeting a Qingdao, China.
Apr 22: Punjab University (PU) organised a seminar and a walk to observe World
Book and Copyright Day.
Apr 23: The four cellular service providers, bidding on licences for next generation
mobile technology, emerged the winners of bidding war, with Mobilink, Telenor and
Ufone picking up licences for 3G services while Zong being the only bidder to
acquire a licence for both 3G and 4G services.
Apr 23: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) formed a
three-member committee to investigate charges levelled by the defence ministry
against Geo TV.
Apr 23: The prime minister ordered reshuffle in the federal bureaucracy and
appointed Nadeem Hassan Asif as secretary for the establishment division. He has
replaced Mr Shahid Rashid in the establishment division, who will now serve as the
secretary for statistics division.
Another important posting was of new secretary for industries, Raja Hassan Abbass.
Ms Rukhsana Saleem will be the new secretary for climate change, a position earlier
held by Mr Abbass. Sikandar Sultan Raja, a Grade 20 officer, has been sent to
Gilgit-Baltistan as the Chief Secretary.
Apr 23: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif inaugurated a post graduate
college and a paramedical institute in Saidu Sharif.

Apr 23: Pakistan lost six notches and stood at 111th position of the 148 countries
in terms of ranking on Global Information Technology Report 2014, the World
Economic Forum (WEF) announced.
Apr 23: A research report by UNESCO, Reading in the Mobile Era revealed that
cellphones are getting more and more people to read in developing countries,
including Pakistan.
Apr 24: The Sindh government created a new administrative division in the
province with the name of Bhambhore comprising Thatta, Sujawal and Badin
districts. With the latest addition, the number of divisions in the province has
increased to six.
Apr 24: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $400 million loan to
Pakistan to support ongoing reforms to tackle the energy crisis.
Apr 24: Vice Admiral Shafqat Jawed took charge as 31st chairman of Karachi Port
Trust.
Apr 24: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif represented Pakistan at the
99th commemoration of the 'anakkale' [Gallipoli] battle fought during the First
World War which was regarded as a defining moment in Turkish history.
Apr 25: At the elections held at the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations, Pakistan was elected by acclamation to the commission on Science and
Technology for Development for 2015-2018 and the Committee on NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) for the same term.
The commission on Science and Technology for Development was established in
1992.
Apr 26: The National Judicial Policy Making Committee amended a policy
introduced by former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and allowed
posting of judicial officers in the executive on deputation.
Apr 26: The Pakistan Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong was inaugurated jointly by
the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR C.Y. Leung and President Legislative Council
Jasper Tsang.
Apr 27: The musical reality show 'Pakistan Idol' came to an end with Zamad Baig
clinching the title.

Apr 28: Ashraf Mahmood Wathra was appointed Governor of the State Bank of
Pakistan for three years.
Apr 28: State Minister for Pakistan Railways Abdul Hakim Baloch of the PML-N quit
the ministry.
Apr 28: Sindh became the first province in the country to set the minimum age of
marriage at 18 years. The Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Child
Marriages Restraint Bill, 2014, repealing the prevalent Child Marriage Restraint Ac,
1929.
Apr 30: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif warned that all groups must
accept the writ of the state, failing which, the army was more than capable of
dealing with threats from insurgents.
Calling Kashmir the jugular vein of Pakistan, Gen Sharif stressed the need to
settle the dispute in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Apr 30: Gosha-e-Iqbal at Punjab University Library was inaugurated. It hosts over
2,000 books related to the Poet of the East.
May 01: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
government sacked the provincial Minister
for Industries and Commerce Shaukat Ali
Yousafzai and Adviser to Chief Minister for
Transport, Yaseen Khan Khalil , for their
poor performance.
May 02: The World Bank approved $12
billion in loans for Pakistan to be
disbursed in five years.
May 02: The Human Rights Watch
announced that its Pakistan director, Ali
Dayan Hasan, had decided to leave the
organisation after working with it for 11
years.
May 04: Bilal Anwar Kasi and Qayyum
Lehri were elected president and general
secretary, respectively, of the Balochistan
Bar Association (BBA).

May 04: Teenage tennis player Kainat Ejaz was selected as a Youth Ambassador by
Children of Peace (COP), a global NGO with an aim to give boost to its humanitarian
activities in Pakistan.
The Peace network of COP the Coalition of Peace is the single largest peace
network in the Middle East with 150 groups in Ghana, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon,
Turkey and Oman.
May 04: An education foundation set up in honour of the first-ever Pakistani
headteacher in Britain Nawazish Bokhari won Prime Minister David Cameron's Big
Society Award.
Bokhari, an inspirational headteacher and campaigner who was the first British
Muslim to run a UK secondary school in 1985, came to Britain from Pakistan in
1960 from Sialkot.
May 05: To prevent the possible spread of the polio virus from Pakistan to other
countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) decided to impose strict travel
restrictions on the country.
May 05: The government set up a computerised control room for real-time
monitoring of power generation, supply and loadshedding across the country.
May 05: Pakistan approved transportation of Nato supplies to Afghanistan by air.
The arrangement was made to facilitate rapid delivery of vital military cargo to the
brotherly country to enhance its security and stability.
May 05: Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Haier Electrical Appliances
Corporation Ltd signed an agreement for supply and commissioning of 100,000
laptops under Prime Minister's Youth Programme (PMYP).
May 05: Two students from Pakistan, Shahzaib Ali and Muhammad Faaiz Taufiq,
were granted Cambridge 800th Anniversary Scholarships for undergraduate studies
at the University of Cambridge.
May 06: In a bid to repair bilateral ties frayed by recent developments, Pakistan
and Iran agreed to establish hotline between the Frontier Corps in Balochistan and
the Iranian Border Security Force.
May 06: The government accepted the resignation of Punjab Public Service
Commission Chairman Zafar Mehmood. He is now working as Wapda chairman.
Additional charge of the post was given to PPSC member Shehzad Asghar.

May 06: The National Assembly passed a resolution which asked the government
to take immediate steps to lift ban on YouTube.
May 06: An African lion, called 'Jumbo', born in Lahore Zoo in 1998 died after
completing its natural life cycle which runs between 15 to 18 years.
May 06: Ombudsman Punjab Javed Mahmood deputed Advisors in all the districts
of the province. People may lodge their complaints against the government
departments at their respective districts to newly-appointed Advisors which will be
probed locally.
May 07: Senior lawyer Rashid Rehman Khan, Special Task Force Coordinator of the
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was killed in an attack at the HRCP office in
Multan.
May 07: The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Umer Ata Bandial, ordered
that non-custodial parents should be allowed to meet their children outside the
guardian courts.
May 07: The status of federal minister was conferred upon Maulana Fazlur
Rehman, Chairman, Special Committee of the National Assembly on Kashmir, by
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
May 07: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved appointment of Kamaluddin Tipu, a
grade-20 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan, as executive member of Pakistan
Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).
May 07: Telenor Group appointed Michael Patrick Foley as the new Chief Executive
Officer of Telenor Pakistan.
May 07: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reminded the general public to exchange the
decimal coins of Paisa 1,2,5,10,25 & 50 from the field offices of SBP BSC and
commercial and microfinance banks branches by last working day of September 30.
May 08: Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of a short-range, surfaceto-surface ballistic missile Hatf III (Ghaznavi) capable of delivering nuclear and
conventional warheads up to 290km.
May 08: An FBI agent, Joel Cox Eugene, who was arrested by the Airport Security
Force before his departure for Islamabad, was released on bail.

May 08: In a dramatic turn of events, a key prosecution witness in the Mumbai
attacks case claimed to have met Ajmal Kasab recently.
Mudassir Lakhvi, headmaster of the Government Elementary School in Faridkot
village, Okara, appeared before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) to record his
statement during the trial of seven suspects, the alleged mastermind Zakiur
Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel
Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum, accused of involvement in the attacks on
Nov 26, 2008.
May 08: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) endorsed Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif's approved plan of Rs30 billion road link project to new Benazir Bhutto
Shaheed International Airport, Islamabad.
May 08: The board of directors of United Bank Limited (UBL) appointed Wajahat
Husain as the new president and CEO of UBL.
May 08: Label's international brand ambassador and a full-time mom, Zunera
Mazhar, was crowned Mrs Pakistan International USA 2014.
May 09: The PPP's Dr Abdul Qayyum Soomro was notified by the Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as elected unopposed as a senator against a vacant
general seat.
May 09: The government confirmed to have added about $15.3 billion to the
country's external debt, violating prudent borrowing limit s under the Fiscal
Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act (FRDLA).
May 12: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Syed Ali
Khamenei and discussed with him issues of mutual interest. They agreed to work
jointly for development of the region.
May 12: The United States pledged to provide $90 million for the construction of
Kalat-Quetta Chaman Highway (N-25), according to an agreement here signed.
May 12: The Board of Directors of Faysal Bank Limited appointed Nauman Ansari
as President and CEO of FBL.
May 12: The Senate unanimously passed a bill to amend the Pakistan Penal Code
(PPC) 1860, envisaging the maximum punishment of life term to those desecrating
graves.
May 13: Polio vaccination certificates will now be mandatory for all people

travelling abroad from June 1, the government announced as traces of the

poliovirus were found in samples taken from the sewers of Karachi and Lahore; the
two largest cities in the country.
May 13: Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla, a wanted gangster of Karachi's Lyari
area, was killed by Iranian border guards.
May 14: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared that the targeted operation in
Karachi would continue and the administration would have full powers to bring
terrorists to justice.
May 14: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch declared 2014 as the
year of Mir Gul Khan Naseer to promote the poetry and services of the renowned
writer at the international level.
May 14: The Punjab government promulgated The Punjab Free and Compulsory
Education Ordinance 2014, which envisages the right to education to all children
between 5-16 years of age in the province.
May 14: The National Assembly extended the period of Protection of Pakistan
Ordinance (PPO) 2014 for another 120 days.
May 14: Federal Ombudsman M. Salman Faruqui appointed ambassador Sher
Afghan Khan as the first ever grievance commissioner and member in charge of
regional office Peshawar and Zahur Ahmad Khan Khalil as associate grievance
commissioner for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
May 15: The Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) revealed discovery of good
quality coal in Badin district of Sindh.
Economy
Apr 16: Sixteen MoUs were signed at the end of a three-day Central Asian
Business Opportunities Conference, organised by the Ministry of Commerce, USAID
and the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with participants making a
commitment to revive the historic Silk Route. Over 300 representatives of the
private and public sectors from Central Asian Republics (CARs), Afghanistan and
Pakistan attended the conference.
Apr 30: Engro Elengy Terminal Private Limited (EETPL) and Sui Southern Gas
Company (SSGC) formally entered into a $2 billion LNG terminal service deal.

Sports
Apr 16: Legendary Olympians Shahnaz Sheikh and Islahuddin Siddiqi were named
as head coach-cum-manager and chief selector respectively of the Pakistan team.
Apr 18: Army outplayed HEC in the final to win the 13th National Men's Netball
Championship.
Apr 30: Mahmood Lodhi won the National Chess Championship for the fourteenth
time.
May 06: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) formally appointed former Test captain and
legendary fast bowler Waqar Younis as head coach of the national team for a period
of two years.
May 15: Top seed of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Israr Ahmed
clinched the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa National Junior Squash Championship.
May 15: Former Zimbabwe Test batsman Grant Flower was appointed as national
batting coach for a two year term by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Obituaries
Apr 16: Renowned artist Ajmal Husain, the son of a former editor of Dawn Altaf
Husain, passed away in Karachi. He was the editor of The Illustrated Weekly of
Pakistan in the 1950s.
Apr 18: Prominent TV personality, Chef Sara Riaz, passed away.
Apr 19: Motorways DIG Mirza Shakeel Ahmed died of a cardiac arrest at his office.
He was from 19th Common and served as DIG Elite Force, DIG Crime Branch, CTO
Lahore, Mianwali DPO, SSP Motor Transport, Punjab, and also worked as Chief
Security Officer of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Apr 20: Eminent Lollywood singer Bashir Ahmed, often dubbed as 'Ahmed Rushdi'
of Bangladesh, passed away.
Apr 22: Izharul Hasan Burney, a journalist with more than five decades of
experience, died. He was 83.
Apr 27: Poet, music connoisseur, patron of singers and former Punjab chief
secretary Javed Qureshi died.

Apr 30: Mohammad Akram the father of legendry Test Cricketer Wasim Akram,
breathed his last. He was 84.
Apr 30: Motivational speaker, storyteller and Pakistan's first-ever quadriplegic
athlete, Sarmad Tariq, passed away.
May 02: Rome Olympics gold medallist, centre half Anwar Ahmed Khan died. He
was 81.
May 05: Tariq Malik, the brother of Chairman Bahria Town Malik Riaz, passed
away.
People in News
Khushwant Singh
On Apr 22, a fistful of ashes of legendary writer Khushwant Singh were placed at
his school in Hadali, 12km from Khushab city. Noted Pakistani writer Fakir Syed
Aijazuddin brought the ashes from India to honour the great man's desire to be
reunited with his roots.
Ahmad Rafay Alam
On Apr 22, Pakistani environment lawyer and activist Ahmad Rafay Alam was
named Yale World Fellow 2014. Mr Alam is among 16 World Fellows selected in
2014 from a pool of about 4,000 applicants.
Rabia Faridi
On Apr 24, Rabia Faridi, a female student of MSc Hons (Plant Breeding and
Genetics) at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, was chosen to speak on
women issues in Pakistan at the coming session of the United Nations General
Assembly.
Faizan Laqa
On Apr 25, Faizan Laqa, a local student from Lahore Grammar School was
recognized for his superior academic achievements by The National Society of High
School Scholars Atlanta, GA, USA. The National Society of High School Scholars
(NSHSS) is an international body that recognises top scholars who have
demonstrated outstanding leadership, scholastic and community commitment.

Faizan Laqa was selected to become a member of the same.

This announcement was made on March 3rd, 2014 by NSHSS Founder and
Chairman Claes Nobel, a senior member of the family that established the Nobel
Prize.
Dr Haathi Singh
Dr Haathi Singh, the only MBBS doctor in Achhro Thar the vast 'white desert' that
connects Pakistan to India's Rajasthan has been traversing the desert on a
'camel ambulance' with emergency medical kit for ten years now. He reaches the
needy person who may call him even from the nearest sand dune, if phone facility
is not available.
Sadaruddin Hashwani
On Apr 30, Belgium conferred upon Sadaruddin Hashwani, the chairman of Hashoo
Group, the Award of Knight-Commander in the Order of Leopold.
Nalain Aziz
On Apr 23, a Pakistani child Nalain Aziz, 2, became the youngest patient and the
500th liver transplant patient from Pakistan operated on by Indias Indraprastha
Apollo Hospital.
International
April 16: In South Korea, a ferry namely the MV Sewol, en route to the resort
island of Jeju, carrying 462 on board, mostly high school students bound for a
holiday island, sank.
April 16: The New York Police disbanded a special unit that was created essentially
for monitoring the Muslim community in the aftermath of 9/11 terror attacks.
April 16: Separatists flew the Russian flag on armoured vehicles taken from the
Ukrainian army, humiliating a Kiev government operation to recapture eastern
towns controlled by pro-Moscow partisans.
April 16: The Indian Supreme Court rejected N. Srinivasan's plea to reinstate him
as India's cricket chief.
April 16: Pakistan-born visual effects artist Mir Zafar Ali bagged another Oscar for
Frozen, bringing his total tally of trophies to three.

April 17: Ukraine banned entry to its territory for all Russian males aged between
16 and 60.
The ban also applied to men aged 16-60 and women aged 20-35 travelling on
Ukrainian passports registered in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March.
April 17: Gulf foreign ministers agreed on a deal to end months of unprecedented
tension between Qatar and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation
Council.
April 17: Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU reached a deal on de-escalating the
worsening Ukrainian crisis.
April 17: The Indian government installed Admiral Robin K. Dhowan as the new
navy chief. He has been acting in the job since the previous chief resigned over the
submarine fire that killed two sailors off the Mumbai coast.
April 18: At least 12 Nepalese guides preparing routes up Mount Everest for
commercial climbers were killed by an avalanche in the deadliest mountaineering
accident ever on the worlds highest peak.
April 18: The United Nations said at least 58 people were killed and more than 100
others wounded in an attack against one of its bases in South Sudan sheltering
thousands of civilians.
April 18: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won a fourth term in office with a
landslide 81 per cent of the vote.
April 19: US President Barack Obama signed into law a bill designed to bar Iran's
future ambassador to the United Nations Hamid Aboutalebi.
April 19: Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Nato's selection of former
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg who will assume his functions as
Secretary General from 1 October 2014 as its new head, saying the pair had
very good relations but that it was up to the West to improve ties.
April 22: Belgium reached an agreement with the United States on sharing bank
account information as part of international efforts to crack down on tax evasion.
The accord was negotiated to meet the requirements of the 2010 Foreign Account
Tax Compliance Act which allows US banks to ask their overseas counterparts for
account information about clients believed to owe US taxes.

April 23: President Mahmood Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and
Gaza-based group Hamas agreed to a unity pact. The move envisions a unity
government within five weeks and national elections six months later.
April 24: China released a seized Japanese ship after its owner paid $28 million in
compensation, in a business dispute dating to the 1930s which underlines tensions
between the countries.
April 24: The tiny Pacific republic of the Marshall Islands, scene of massive US
nuclear tests in the 1950s, sued the United States and eight other nuclear-armed
countries, accusing them of failing their obligation to negotiate nuclear
disarmament.
April 25: A joint operation by the British and Australian navies seized the largest
ever haul of heroin at sea, weighing 1,032 kilogrammes. The drugs, with an
estimated British street value of more than 140 million pound ($235 million), were
found on a dhow, or sailboat, some 30 miles off the coast of east Africa near
Kenya and Tanzania.
April 25: More than 100 people were killed and thousands left homeless by flash
floods in north and west Afghanistan.
April 26: Nepalese lawmakers passed a bill in parliament to set up a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and a Commission on the Disappeared, aimed at healing
wounds of the former Maoist rebels from the decade-long conflict.
April 26: Leaders of the Group of Seven major economies (G-7) agreed to impose
more sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
April 26: Senegal's former President Abdoulaye Wade returned to the West African
country amid tight security at the airport.
Apr 27: India successfully test-fired an anti-ballistic missile capable of intercepting
targets outside the planet's atmosphere, a major step in development of a missile
defence system available to only a handful of nations.
April 27: The world's largest bloc of Islamic countries, Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation, decided to send 14 delegates to the Central African Republic to lead a
fact finding mission, express solidarity with Muslims and contribute to any peace
talks in the country, wracked by sectarian bloodshed.

Guinea's Foreign Minister Lounceny Fall will head the delegation, which will include
Turkey's foreign minister and diplomats from some of the 57 member-states, as
well as OIC Secretary-General Iyad Ameen Madani and the body's special envoy to
the Central African Republic, Sheikh Tidiane Gadio.
April 27: The United States and the Philippines reached Enhanced Defence
Cooperation Agreement, a 10-year agreement that would allow a larger US
military presence in this Southeast Asian nation.
April 27: South Korea's prime minister resigned over the government's handling of
a ferry sinking that left more than 300 people dead or missing. South Korean
executive power is largely concentrated in the president, so Chung Hong-won's
resignation appears to be symbolic.
April 27: Pope Francis proclaimed John Paul II and John XXIII the Catholic
Church's newest saints at a festive ceremony joined by hundreds of thousands of
pilgrims for two pontiffs who helped shape 20th-century history.
April 28: Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was sworn in for a fourth term for
another five years.
April 28: An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie
and 682 alleged Islamists to death. But, the same court in the southern province of
Minya also reversed 492 of 529 death sentences it passed in March.
April 28: The Qatar-based satellite network Al Jazeera served Egypt with a $150
million compensation claim for what it said was damage to its media business
inflicted by Cairo's military rulers, a step likely to worsen Qatari-Egyptian relations.
April 30: The sultan of oil-rich Brunei announced that tough Islamic criminal
punishments would be introduced on May 1, 2014.
April 30: India signed an agreement under which it will pay Russia to supply arms
and equipment to the Afghan military as foreign combat troops prepare to leave the
country.
April 30: Switzerland and Norway are the world's most expensive economies,
followed by Bermuda, Australia and Denmark, according to a new ranking by the
World Bank. The economies with the lowest prices are Egypt, Pakistan, Myanmar,
Ethiopia and Laos.

The United States, the world's largest economy, was in relatively affordable 25th
place, lower than most other high-income countries.
The richest countries, or those with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per
capita on a purchasing power parity basis, were Qatar, Macau, Luxembourg, Kuwait
and Brunei.
Eight countries, including Malawi, Mozambique and Liberia, had GDP per capita of
less than $1,000.
April 30: Hollywood star George Clooney retired from his role as United Nations
Messenger of Peace after six years.
May 01: Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the
first time since the Soviet era.
May 02: Landslides buried a village in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 2600
people.
May 02: US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had secured promises from
South Sudan's president and rebel leader to hold direct talks on ending the
country's brutal four-month-old civil war.
May 02: Palestine became a formal party to five global treaties banning torture and
racial discrimination, and protecting the rights of women, children and the disabled.
May 04: Ahmed Maiteeq, a businessman, was named Libya's new prime minister
after winning a vote in parliament. He is Libya's youngest and fifth prime minister
since veteran dictator Moamer Qaddafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 uprising.
May 04: Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential
candidate, got an endorsement from President Barack Obama.
May 05: Iraq's cabinet authorised mobile phone firms to use third-generation
frequencies.
May 05: The United States secured long-term access to a military base in Djibouti
that it relies on to launch counter-terrorism missions, including drone strikes, in
Yemen and the Horn of Africa.
US President Barack Obama and his Djibouti counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh
announced the renewed long-term lease on Camp Lemonnier.

May 05: Three Kashmiri students were allegedly beaten up in their hostel in
Greater Noida by close to eight other students. The students claim that they were
forced to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai and raise anti-Pakistan slogans.
May 05: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed new legislation introducing harsh
punishments for the justification or denial of Nazi war crimes. The legislation makes
it a criminal offence to deny facts established by the Nuremberg trials regarding the
crimes of the Axis powers and to disseminate false information about Soviet
actions during World War II.
May 06: The United States gave the foreign mission status to the Syrian
opposition offices in Washington and New York. The move aims at bolstering the
Syrian opposition, which is struggling to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
May 06: The world's five nuclear powers pledged not to use or threaten to use
nuclear weapons against five Central Asian nations that have banned nuclear
weapons. The United States, Russia, China, Britain and France signed a protocol to
the Treaty on a Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone in Central Asia at a UN ceremony.
May 06: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, concerned about China's rising
military spending and disputes with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea,
signed a new partnership agreement with Nato.
May 06: Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky finally broke her silence
about her illicit 1990s affair with President Bill Clinton.
May 06: Thailand's Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra and nine ministers for abuse of power. The cabinet swiftly appointed a
deputy premier Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan as the prime minister.
May 06: The United Nations health agency WHO warned that most of the world's
cities are enveloped in dirty air that is dangerous to breathe.
The WHO database covers 1,600 cities across 91 countries, 500 more cities than in
the previous database (2011). The new database has revealed that more cities are
monitoring outdoor air quality, reflecting growing recognition of the health risks
involved.
May 06: Forty-seven countries signed up to automatically share bank data,
including key financial centres Singapore and Switzerland. Under the declaration,
the signatories have committed to swiftly pass new domestic laws that will allow

them to collect information on all back accounts and automatically exchange it with
other participating countries.
May 07: President Jose Mujica and his cabinet signed long-awaited rules for
Uruguay's legal marijuana marketplace. Uruguayan citizens and legal residents 18
or older may now register for licenses to cultivate as many as six marijuana plants
per household and harvest 480 grams, or 17 ounces, a year, or join a marijuana
growing club with 15 to 45 members and no more than 99 plants.
May 08: Britain's Islamist leader Abu Hamza told his US terror trial that his hands
were blown off during an explosives experiment in Lahore in 1993.
May 08: Gunmen shot dead the intelligence chief for eastern Libya Colonel Ibrahim
al-Senussi in Benghazi city.
May 08: Two individuals threw items over the White House fence, triggering the
second lockdown at the presidents residence.
May 08: Russia test-launched several ballistic missiles during planned exercises
overseen by President Vladimir Putin. The Russian military fired a Topol
intercontinental ballistic missile from its northern test site in Plesetsk, as well as
several shorter-range missiles from its submarines in the Northern and Pacific
Fleets.
May 09: The United States sanctioned Moscow-based Tempbank, and Mikhail
Gagloev, its senior executive, for providing material support and services to the
Government of Syria, including the Central Bank of Syria and SYTROL, Syria's state
oil marketing firm.
May 09: South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel commander Riek Machar
agreed a ceasefire deal after coming under growing international pressure to end
ethnic fighting that has raised fears of genocide.
May 09: The results of South Africa's fifth all-race elections showed the longgoverning African National Congress securing another big victory, even though the
party fell short of its goal of a two-thirds majority.
The figures mean that the ANC is assured of a majority in the 400-seat Parliament,
which formally appoints the president.
May 12: The Imperial War Museum in London put the records of 4.5 million men
and more than 40,000 women who served with the British army overseas on a new

website, Lives of the First World War.

May 12: The United Nations appointed the first woman to command one of the
world body's peacekeeping operations.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Major General Kristin Lund, of Norway,
as the force commander for the UN peacekeeping operation in Cyprus. She will
replace Major General Chao Liu, of China, on Aug 13.
May 12: Alcohol kills 3.3 million people worldwide each year, more than Aids,
tuberculosis and violence combined, the World Health Organisation said, warning
that booze consumption was on the rise.
May 12: The leader of the Nigerian Islamist rebel group Boko Haram offered to
release more than 200 schoolgirls, abducted by his men in April, in exchange for
prisoners.
May 12: The Taliban began their annual spring offensive with attacks across
Afghanistan, including a suicide assault on government offices that killed seven
people plus attackers and rocket strikes on two airports.
May 13: An Israeli court sentenced ex-premier Ehud Olmert to six years in prison
for bribery, making him the most senior politician in the country's history to face
jail for corruption.
May 13: The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said
she has reopened an initial probe into allegations of war crimes committed by
British soldiers after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
May 13: Lakhdar Brahimi resigned as the joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria
after trying for nearly two years to overcome almost impossible odds to end a
civil war.
May 13: India's Congress-led government named Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh
Suhag as country's new army chief.
May 14: In a coalmine in western Turkey nearly 245 workers were confirmed killed
and around 120 still feared to be trapped in what could prove to be the nation's
worst industrial disaster.
May 14: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reshuffled top defence posts, removing the
deputy minister and the chief of staff, state news agency SPA reported.

He also appointed his son Prince Turki as governor of Riyadh region, SPA said.
Prince Salman bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz was removed from his post as deputy
defence minister upon his request, SPA said, citing a royal decree.
He was replaced by Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, the governor of
Riyadh.
May 14: The world's oldest and best-preserved sperm, dating back 17 million
years, was unearthed in Australia. The sperm from an ancient species of tiny
shrimp was discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site, an area in the
far north of the state of Queensland where many extraordinary prehistoric
Australian animals have previously been found.
May 15: Afghanistan's presidential election would go to a run-off vote between
former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf
Ghani, results of the first round of voting confirmed.
Sports
April 17: World number one Rafael Nadal sealed his 300th career victory on clay
court.
April 17: Real Madrid overcame Barcelona at the Mestalla in Valencia Gareth Bale
to win the Copa del Rey.
April 19: Peter Moores was named England coach for the second time.
April 20: Bernard Hopkins, the oldest world champion in boxing history at age 49,
became the eldest fighter to unify world titles when he defeated Beibut Shumenov
in a light-heavyweight showdown.
April 20: Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Swiss compatriot Roger Federer to win the
Monte Carlo Masters.
April 25: World number one Rafael Nadal suffered his first defeat in Barcelona
since 2003 when compatriot Nicolas Almagro ended his winning run in the Spanish
city.
April 27: Maria Sharapova claimed a hat-trick of Stuttgart titles after coming from
behind to win a three-set battle royal with Ana Ivanovic.
April 27: Japan's Kei Nishikori sealed his fifth career ATP title and first on clay with

a win over Colombian Santiago Giraldo to claim the Barcelona Open.

April 27: Anjum Chopra, the former India women's captain, and Yuraj Singh were
among 56 distinguished people who were honoured with the Padma Shri Award
2014.
April 27: Five-time world champion Lin Dan earned a hard-fought title in the men's
singles at the Badminton Asia Championships in South Korea.
April 28: Kei Nishikori claimed his fifth career title as he became the first Japanese
to win the Barcelona Open.
May 04: British star Amir Khan made his debut in the welterweight division a
successful one, winning a unanimous decision over former champion Luis Collazo at
the MGM Grand Hotel.
May 05: Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was named England's Footballer of the Year
by the Football Writers' Association (FWA).
May 07: Thailand's unbeaten Amnat Ruenroeng defeated former world champion
Kazuto Ioka to retain his International Boxing Federation flyweight title.
May 07: Afghanistan steamrolled Nepal to claim the ACC Premier League title. As
the top two teams in the Premier League, both Afghanistan and Nepal have
qualified for the Asian Cricket Council Championship 2014.
May 12: The top-ranked Spaniard Rafael Nadal won another clay-court title Madrid
Open against Kei Nishikori.
May 15: Sevilla beat Benfica 4-2 on penalties to win the Europa League for the
third time.
Science
April 17: Scientists moved a step closer to the goal of creating stem cells perfectly
matched to a patient's DNA in order to treat diseases creating patient-specific cell
lines out of the skin cells of two adult men. The advance, described online in the
journal Cell Stem Cell, is the first time researchers have achieved
therapeutic cloning of adults.
April 17: For the first time, scientists have found an Earth-sized world orbiting in a
life-friendly zone around a distant star.

The discovery is the closest scientists have come so far to finding a true Earth twin.
The star, known as Kepler-186 and located about 500 light years away in the
constellation Cygnus, is smaller and redder than the sun.
The star's outermost planet, designated Kepler-186f, receives about one-third the
radiation from its parent star as Earth gets from the sun, meaning that high noon
on this world would be roughly akin to Earth an hour before sunset.
May 08: Scientists reported that they had taken a significant step toward altering
the fundamental alphabet toward altering the fundamental alphabet of life
creating for the first time an organism with DNA containing artificial genetic code.
The accomplishment might eventually lead to organisms that can make medicines
or industrial products that cells with only the natural genetic code cannot.
May 08: Scientists in India discovered 14 new species of dancing frogs, named
after their unusual leg-extending ability which male frogs use to attract mates and
defend themselves.
Obituaries
April 17: Colombia's Nobel-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez died in Mexico
City at the age of 87.
April 23: Neil Chanmugam, one of Sri Lanka's leading off-spinners of the pre-Test
era, passed away aged 73.
April 26: Former Barcelona coach, Tito Vilanova, died aged 45.
April 30: British actor Bob Hoskins, the gruff star of films including Who Framed
Roger Rabbit and The Long Good Friday, died at the age of 71.
May 05: Gary Becker, whose work applying the principles of economics to a wide
range of human behaviour won the Nobel Prize in 1992, died at age 83.
May 09: Former Spanish long jumper Yago Lamela, who was the 1999 world
championship silver medallist, was found dead. He was 36.
May 08: British planetary scientist Colin Pillinger, the driving force behind the illfated Beagle 2 mission to Mars, died at the age of 70.

May 13: Renowned Venezuelan doctor and scientist Jacinto Convit, renowned for
his development of a leprosy vaccine and a lifetime spent helping the poor, died at
the age of 100.
May 14: Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, who won an Oscar for his 2012
documentary Searching for Sugar Man, committed suicide in Stockholm.
May 15: Mel Patton, a double gold medal-winning sprinter at the 1948 London
Olympics, died. He was 89.
People in News
Mir Zafar Ali
On April 16, Pakistan-born visual effects artist Mir Zafar Ali bagged another Oscar,
bringing his total tally of trophies to three. Zafar's first taste of the Academy Award
was back in 2007 when he won the Best Visual Effects Artist award for the movie
Golden Compass. Life of Pi and most recently Frozen turned out to be just as lucky
for the artist.
He had previously worked for the Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhal starrer The Day
After Tomorrow where global climatic events lead to a new Ice Age. X-Men's
Banshee (as well as his sonic screams) and Richard Parker, the tiger in Life of Pi are
all evidences of Mir Zafar's genius. He has also worked for several visual effects
shops such as Digital Domain and Rhythm and Hues.
K. Padmarajan
On April 30, an Indian shop owner K. Padmarajan hit the news when it was found
that out of the 158 times he stood for public office, not a single time he saw the
success.
Didi Senft
On April 18, a German bicycle designer Didi Senft, also known as El Diablo,
made a new bicycle to commemorate the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Storkow. Senft,
who has had an entry in the Guinness Book of Record for the world's largest
bicycle, worked some 100 hours on this bicycle.
Elena Poniatowska
On April 23, a Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska received the 'Premio Cervantes'

literary award from Spain's King Juan Carlos. 'Premio Cervantes' is Spain's top
literary prize that is named after the 16th century author Miguel de Cervantes.
Thuli Madonsela
On April 24, the Time magazine named South Africa's hard-hitting ombudsman,
Thuli Madonsela, as one of the world's 100 most influential people, providing highprofile recognition of her work investigating President Jacob Zuma.
Salman and Talat Hamdani
On May 02, after a decade-long struggle by Talat Hamdani, her son, a police cadet
and a 9/11 hero, Mohammad Salman Hamdani was finally honoured as a street was
named after him in Bayside, Queens. Mrs Hamdani calls the move a step in the
right direction.
Rafael Nadal
On May 05, the city of Madrid declared world number one Rafael Nadal as its
adopted son in honour of his trophy-laden tennis career. Declaring someone an
adopted son or daughter is the highest award which Madrid city hall can award.
Nadal, who began playing tennis at age four coached by his uncle Toni Nadal, has
been champion in 13 Grand Slam tournaments. He had won the French Open eight
times, Wimbledon twice, the US Open twice and one Australian Open.
Previous recipients of the distinction include Spain's King Juan Carlos and Peruvian
author and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.
Places in News
Noma Restaurant
On May 01, Denmark's Noma restaurant reclaimed the title of world's best
restaurant, becoming a four-time winner having lost the title last year to Spain's El
Celler de Can Roca. The two Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen, which serves
Nordic specialities in a quayside warehouse, topped the World's 50 Best
Restaurants list compiled by 900 international experts for Britain's Restaurant
magazine.
Chilaw, Sri Lanka

May 06: Villagers in the district of Chilaw in Sri Lanka found scores of fish with a
total weight of 50kg, a literal fish rain. The edible fish fell during a storm and are
believed to have been lifted out of a river during a strong wind.
It is not the first such incident in Sri Lanka; in 2012, a case of prawn rain was
recorded in the south.
Interesting News
Apr 18: While issuing a routine media statement, the Press and Information
Department (PID), inadvertently, declared China an Islamic Republic.
Buried within the 1,500 words of Press Release No. 151 is the paragraph:
The Cabinet gave Approval for Signing of Protocol for the Period from Nov 2004 to
Nov 2012 and Approval for Revision of Protocol between the Government of Islamic
Republic of China for Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Surveying and
Mapping.
April 27: England's cricketers may have suffered the embarrassment of a World
defeat by the Netherlands and a 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia but even they
were never bowled out for three as has happened to one club side.
Wirral, from north-west England, were dismissed for just three against Haslington
in a Cheshire League Third Division match with extras the top-scorer courtesy of
two leg-byes.
There were 10 ducks in the Wirral innings, with No 11 Connor Hodson, supposedly
their worst batsman, the only member of the visitors' side to score a run off the
bat.