1. Satyam scandal
Hauling up auditing major Price Waterhouse India for "routinely" neglecting quality control, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday sanctioned its five India-based affiliates that formerly served as independent auditors of Satyam Computer Services.

These Indian PwC affiliates have been accused of repeatedly conducting deficient audits of Satyam's financial statements and enabling a massive accounting fraud to go undetected for several years.

As a result, PwC has agreed to pay a USD 6 million penalty, the largest ever by a foreign-based accounting firm in an SEC enforcement action.
In a statement, SEC said investigations revealed that the audit failures by the PW India affiliates -- Lovelock & Lewes, Price Waterhouse Bangalore, Price Waterhouse & Co. Bangalore, Price Waterhouse Calcutta and Price Waterhouse & Co. Calcutta -- were not limited to Satyam, but rather indicative of a much larger quality control failure throughout PW India.Additionally, India authorities filed criminal charges against several former officials as well as two lead engagement partners from PW India.
"PW India violated its most fundamental duty as a public watchdog by failing to comply with some of the most elementary auditing standards and procedures in conducting the Satyam audits.
1. Unsafe labor conditions in Bangladesh led to world’s worst garment industry tragedy as thousands died in horrific building collapse.

On April 24, the Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which housed six factories that produce clothing for Western brands, collapsed, killing over 1000 factory workers and injuring over 2500 people. While the owners of the factory came under fire for ignoring previous warnings of cracks in the wall, many pointed the blame at global corporations like Walmart and the Gap for exploiting workers for cheap labor and failing to provide adequate fire and building safeguards in factories where their products are made. Worldwide protests ensued with a view to putting pressure on major retailers to sign a legally binding accord aimed at improving labor conditions in Bangladesh, which to date has 100 signatories.
3. Burma committed ethnic cleansing against thousands of Rohingya Muslims; 28 children hacked to death and mass graves uncovered.

Burma’s quasi-civilian government was accused of committing crimes against humanity in the Rakhine State for forcibly displacing more than 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, the religious minority. A Human Rights Watch report revealed that authorities denied tens of thousands of stateless Muslims access to humanitarian aid, destroyed mosques, conducted mass arrests and issued a public statement promoting ethnic cleansing. Security forces stood aside and directly assisted Arakanese mobs in attacking and killing Muslim communities. In October, at least 70 Rohingya were killed in a day-long massacre in which 28 children hacked to death. Four mass gravesites were uncovered. The persecution stems from a long internal conflict in Burma essentially emanating from an arbitrary citizenship law passed in 1982 which denies Burmese citizenship to Rohingya on discriminatory ethnic grounds. In recent times, lack of rule of law has led to thousands of Rohingya fleeing the country.

4. North Korea’s large-scale human rights abuses revealed: 120,000 prisoners held in gulags, citizens starved and publicly executed by firing squad.

North Korea’s appalling human rights record is no secret. Following the death of Kim Jong-il in 2011, any hope of improvement in the country was short-lived with the appointment of successor, Kim Jong-un. The young dictator quickly became more ruthless than his father, inflicting mass atrocities against his population. In September, a UN investigation revealed shocking evidence from defectors who compared life in DPRK to that of the German-run concentration camps in WWII. Prisoners in the gulags lucky enough to escape described atrocities including witnessing a woman forced to drown her own baby in a bucket. 120,000 people are still thought to be held in gulags. Public executions by firing squad have also continued at unprecedented levels under Jong-un’s rule, including the execution of the dictator’s own uncle and former girlfriend. The Security Council has been criticized for failing to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court, a move that seems unlikely given North Korea’s long alliance with China.