WORLD AGENDA MARCH 2010

March 1, The Hague: The trial resumes of Radovan Karadzic, aged 64, on 11 charges of war crimes, including two of genocide, in the former Yugoslavia. The former Bosnian Serb leader, who plans to represent himself, boycotted the start of his trial in October.

March 1, London: Nigel Higgins becomes the first person outside the Rothschild family to lead the global banking dynasty in its 212-year history. He takes over as Chief Executive with David de Rothschild continuing as executive chairman.

March 1, Warsaw: Music lovers around the world celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Polish-French composer Frederic Chopin.

March 4, Washington: The U.S. risks alienating Turkey when a congressional panel votes on labelling the World War One massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces as “genocide”. Approval would require President Barack Obama to use the term in his annual address in April.

March 7, Baghdad: Iraq goes to the polls amid increasing tensions between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi’ite Muslims. The general election is regarded as a crucial test for Iraq’s national reconciliation process ahead of a planned U.S. military withdrawal in August.

March 13-25, Qatar: A proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna is voted on by 175 countries at a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting. Stocks have declined by more than 80 percent since 1970.

March 22-23, New York: An international donors’ conference aims to raise funds to rebuild Haiti after the January 12 earthquake which killed more than 230,000 people and left more than a million homeless. The rebuild cost has been estimated at $14 billion.

March 28, San Francisco: Apple unleashes its latest techno gadget with the launch of the iPad, a tablet computer 1.3cm thick, with a 24.6cm screen, weighing 0.68kg. Analysts expect between two and five million to be sold in the first year.

March (undated), Washington: North Korea’s chief nuclear envoy may visit the United States in a sign Pyongyang could return to nuclear disarmament talks a year after abandoning them. Kim Kye-gwan’s last U.S. trip three years ago led to the disarmament-for-aid deal.

March (undated), Quito: Vice President Lenin Moreno travels to Iran, Turkey and Dubai seeking support for the Yasuni pact, under which countries pay Ecuador not to drill for oil in the Amazon. The initiative means leaving 840 million barrels of oil untouched.

March (undated), Phnom Penh: A verdict in the first trial of a senior Khmer Rouge cadre is expected. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, ran Tuol Sleng prison and is accused of sending 14,000 Cambodians to their deaths in the 1970s.
/ENDS