Maldives

Feb 2014 :

Religious Conservatism :

• The Maldives, a string of 1,192 islands, has made several moves to cement the supremacy of Sunni Islam since Yameen was sworn in as president in November 2013.
• The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has set its top priorities for 2014, which include blocking all religions except Islam in the nation, ensuring that all laws and regulations adhere to Islamic principles and developing and strengthening the Islamic Fiqh Academy to issue fatwas. 
• The ministry has also signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian Muslim Scholars Association to receive a grant of MVR1.6 million, or $104,166, for the “mutual goal” of developing and improving the study of the Quran and religion.
• The Ministry of Education has meanwhile introduced Arabic as a subject in schools.

Before 2014 :

• Just before it hosted the SAARC summit in 2012, the Maldives allowed China to open an embassy. 
• Maldives requested China for a soft loan of Rs. 250 crore for an IT infrastructure project.
• The Sri Lankan subsidiary of Chinese telecom equipment-maker Huawei Technologies has signed an agreement with the National Centre of Information Technologies, Maldives, to develop the IT infrastructure under the ‘Smart Maldives Project.’
• EC declares presidential elections to be held on september 2013.
• India stiffens medical visa facility for Maldivians
•  India is also angry over detention and deportation of Indian travelers and confiscation of the passports of Indian workers there by their employers.
• Nasheed, who defeated former autocratic President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the 2008 election but was ousted in an alleged coup in February 2012, had promised to bring true democracy for the nation’s progress.

India-Japan

India-Japan

Jan 2014 

Japan PM Shinzo Abe  visited India during 25-27 Jan 2014 and was chief guest during republic day parade.

• The two countries signed eight pacts, of which half were connected with Japanese aid, thus indicating that soft loans and outright grants will continue to remain an integral component of Tokyo’s strategy of reaching out to New Delhi. 
• Mr. Abe held out the promise of more aid, of which 70 per cent will go for implementing phase-III of the Delhi Metro project.
• On the defence side, the two countries decided to make joint naval exercises a permanent feature and India, despite the experience of 2007, invited Japan to join the Indo-U.S Malabar series. Seven years ago, the presence of Japan and Australia in the Malabar series fuelled protests at home and from China leading to the dropping of the duo from subsequent chapters.
• The Prime Ministers reviewed the progress made in selling hi-tech US-2 amphibious aircraft to India, with government sources saying final plans envisaged a transfer of a substantial number of such planes. This is the first time Japan is offering to sell a plane which has military uses as well.
• Within two months, we have received from Japan, first that rare, and symbolically greatest, gesture, the visit of Their Imperial Majesties, then the Defence Minister’s, and now, the Premier’s.
• Japan invited to develop India's NE particularly in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is disputed almost in its entirety by China
• Japan also lowered non-tariff barriers to import of shrimps that will help Indian

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

Ireland -Protection of Life During pregnancy Bill 2013

Protection of Life During pregnancy Bill 2013 :

1. Savita Halappanavar suffered a fatal miscarriage in October 2012 after being denied the abortion she requested.


2. Members of the Irish Parliament’s lower house, the Dáil Éireann, passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, 2013, which allows medical practitioners to terminate a pregnancy if it poses a “substantial” or “immediate” risk to the mother’s life.


3. Nevertheless, the law is still some distance away from embracing a ‘pro-choice’ approach: an amendment introduced by women TDs that would have permitted the termination of pregnancies arising from rape or incest failed to win support in the Dáil.

China

• 12th Plan stresses hydropower from Yarlung Zangbo(Brahmaputra).

• China has, so far, only begun construction on one major hydropower dam on the main stream of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra or Yarlung Zangbo as it is known in China – a 510 MW project in Zangmu in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)
• A 640 MW dam will be built in Dagu, which lies 18 km upstream of Zangmu. Another 320 MW dam will be built at Jiacha, also on the middle reaches of the
  Brahmaputura downstream of Zangmu. A third dam will be built at Jiexu, 11 km upstream of Zangmu.
• Chinese Culture : Peking Opera and ballet
• Chinese maritime surveillance vessels have repeatedly entered Japanese-claimed waters around the islands since last September, when Japan’s government

Land Swap Deal

LAND SWAP DEAL

Bill—the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement is again pending to be introduced in  parliament legislation.Such roadblocks hamper gaining trust of neighbors .India often suffers a “perception problem” in the eyes of its neighbors, which often view India with suspicion because of its size, economy and military might. That in turn encourages them to turn to

Russia-India Ties

• Russia has lifted the ban on import of non-basmati rice and oilseeds from India

Russia-Iran Ties

• Russia has taken a “principled” decision to sell Iran an improved version of the S-300 air defence missiles and to build a second nuclear reactor at Bushehr,


• President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to prepare the two proposals for his meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, in Sep 2013 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

India-Afghanistan Realtions

• Union approved revised cost for completion of Salma Dam Project (3X14 MW) in Afghanistan by M/s WAPCOS Ltd.( a central PSU under the Ministry of Water Resources. ) towards civil, hydro-mechanical, electro-mechanical and other components of the dam till completion of the dam in December 2014. 

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]

USA

1. National Security Agency(NSA)  of America communication snooping : Boundless Informant collects information from computer and telecom services.Order of spying : Iran,Pakistan,Jordan,Egypt,India.


2. The U.S. National Security Agency snooped on the Indian embassy and considered it a “target” along with 37 other embassies and missions here, according to the latest revelations by The Guardian.The Guardian exposé on the spying methods used against embassies said a key method was code-named ‘Dropmire,’ which, according to a 2007 document, is “implanted on the Cryptofax.”It is unclear whether the Indian embassy uses such a device.

US - Russia relations

• Russia’s decision to grant asylum to the whistle-blower has strained its relationship with the U.S.


• U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision cancel a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin early Sep 2013.It is for the first time since the end of the Cold War that a summit meeting between the Russian and U.S. leaders gets cancelled.

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.

North Korea

North Korea has confirmed the end of the 60-year-old armistice signed after the end of the Korean War, and warned of “merciless” military retaliation against its enemies. The North has annulled the 1953 armistice in protest over joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres.
The armistice was approved by the UN General Assembly, and both the United Nations and South Korea have repudiated the North’s unilateral withdrawal.
The North has also threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the United States and South Korea in response to fresh UN sanctions adopted after the North carried out its third nuclear