Sri Lanka

1. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his three brothers — Defence Secretary Gotabhaya, Basil, who controls politics and economic policies, and the soft-spoken Speaker of the Parliament, Chamal — are the arbiters of their country’s destiny.


2. It is clear from the policies the Rajapaksa brothers have pursued since the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 that their principal objective has been to prevent forever the emergence of a similar organisation. Now, the surest way to ensure that objective would be to take steps to erode, if not eliminate, separatist sentiment among the Tamil

Bhutan

Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay

India and Bhutan

1. Bhutan, especially its 12 per cent poor, will heave a sigh of relief after India decided to restore the subsidy on cooking gas and kerosene a month after it was discontinued.

Israel

1. Israel’s Cabinet has approved a plan that would gradually end a contentious system that has granted automatic draft exemptions to Jewish ultra-Orthodox seminary students.The new system, which needs Parliamentary approval, would reduce the number of exemptions and require ultra-Orthodox men to register for military service. It would go into effect in three years.
2. Israel seeks to export cybertech :  In the last few years, the number of Israeli cyberdefence companies has ballooned from a few dozen to more than 200, accounting for five to 10 per cent of the global cyber-security industry.International giants IBM and Lockheed Martin announced new cyberresearch projects in Israel, and Deutsche Telekom and EMC have also established research centres in the country.Seeking to learn from that Israeli prowess, Symantec, a leading computer security company, hosted a “hackathon” at the expo.

Afghanistan

President : Hamid Karzai 

1. Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced at a ceremony on Tuesday that his country’s armed forces are taking over the lead for security nationwide from the U.S.-led NATO coalition.The handover of responsibility is a significant milestone in the nearly 12-year war and marks a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role. It also opens the way for their full withdrawal in 18 months


2. India in discussion with Afghanistan on equipment supplies.But rejected plea for supply of lethal weapons to Afghanistan [July 2013]

Iran

Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani

Egypt

PM : Mohammad Morsy

1.  The Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Ethiopia met in Addis Ababa on Monday in the hope of defusing tensions over a huge dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile River.Egypt and Ethiopia began a sharp exchange of words after Ethiopia last month started to divert Nile waters as part of the construction of its massive $4.2 billion hydro-electric project dubbed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.


2. An Egyptian court says besieged President Mohammed Morsy must reinstate an attorney general fired last year in another blow to his authority.


3. The Army on July 1 2013 gave Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy and the opposition a 48-hour ultimatum to reach consensus and meet the people’s demands or it would announce measures to end the stalemate.


4. The Egyptian army has invited opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei, the top Sunni sheikh and the Coptic pope for “consultations” on a future roadmap to end the crisis


5. Interim President Adly Mansour  dismissed reports that Mohamed ElBaradei(the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)) has been named the country’s Prime Minister, but said the leading liberal opposition leader is “the logical choice” for the post.

Pakistan

1. The Punjab government has allocated millions of rupees to Jamaat-ud-Dawah, a front of the banned LeT, for various development initiatives.


2. Secured a massive $11 billion economic bailout package from international donor agencies including the IMF, to revive the ailing national economy.In addition to the IMF assistance, Pakistan will also get a $5.6 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank as well as countries like Japan, U.S. and U.K..


3. Nawaz Sharif visit to China on July 2013 : Both sides were planning a series of special economic zones, a rail link and a pipeline running from the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar to the old Silk Road town of Kashgar in Xinjiang’s western border.


4. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was given a ceremonial guard of honour on his last day as he became the first democratically elected head of state to complete a full five-year term.


5. India-born Mamnoon Hussain, a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,  sworn in as the President of Pakistan in sep 2013.Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry administered the oath at a ceremony

Brazil

1. Protest in Brazil over government's economic policies which led to increase in public transport prices in June 2013.

South Vietnam

1. Police arrest blogger for abusing democratic freedoms.

France

1. Paris air show at Le Bourget turns fifty in 2013.

India and France

1. Rafale sale to India by Dassault aircraft expected to be by this year end.