COUNTRY REVIEW

South Asia

Afghanistan

• 7 dead, 91 injured in a suicide blast outside NATO headquarters in Kabul; Karzai, US, UN and others condemn the blast; Karzai, Ashraf Ghani and Ramazan Bashardost outline their priorities in a live presidential debate

Pakistan

• Gates states that ‘mistrust’ between US and Pakistan is legitimate; Kerry-Lugar bill postponed till September; PM Gilani: Army has nothing to do with Musharraf’s trial; ISPR confirms Baitullah is dead; Taliban burn down 7 schools which had re-opened

East and SouthEast Asia

China

• Shenzhen destroyer visit Cochin; PLA’s largest military exercise spread over 2 months commences; Jinan Military Area Command conducts a 1,300 km maneuver drill involving over 30 trucks

Japan

• LDP may lose power to DPJ; ICNND Survey: Japanese opposition parties want more debate on the issue of US nuclear umbrella; Japanese Foreign Ministry: Russia has stopped accepting humanitarian aid for Kurile Islands

Korean Peninsula

• North Korea terms US-South Korea joint exercises as "a maneuver for a nuclear war" and warns of "merciless retaliation"; South Korea to deploy 60-70 anti-submarine guided missiles on destroyers by 2012

SouthEast Asia

• India signs FTA with ASEAN; Suu Kyi convicted and sentenced to 18 months of house arrest; Thai PM visits Philippines; ASEAN signs an investment agreement with China; Tensions rise in South China Sea region

WEST ASIA

Iran

• Opposition leader Karroubi charges that several protestors held behind bars have been raped; Ali Larijani rejects Karroubi’s allegation; Larijani urges media to avoid giving coverage to statements detrimental to national interests

Iraq

• Maliki’s adviser: Broad-based multi-party national coalition to be formed ahead of the January 30 elections; Wave of suicide bombings target Shias in Mosul and Baghdad

MISSILES, SPACE, DEFENCE AND NUCLEAR REVIEW

Missile and Space

• ISRO Chief: Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) expected to provide positional accuracy of more than 20 meters across India and over an extended region of 2,000 km

  Defence National

  • Adm. Mehta: Coping with China will be one of our primary challenges in the years ahead
  • INS Viraat to be back in service by September

  International

  • UK Royal Navy designs two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier’s displacing over 65,000 tonnes
  • South Korea to deploy ship-to-submarine light torpedoes by 2012

  Nuclear Review

  • Experts: Threat to Pakistani nuclear arsenal is real

  ENERGY SECURITY REVIEW

  • China opposes Manila’s plans to extract oil from the disputed Reed Bank in South China Sea
  • Chinese companies in the hunt to acquire overseas assets on account of their relatively low prices on account of the current oil slump
  • Japan to provide funds to develop a deep sea port in Cambodia

  INTERNAL SECURITY REVIEW

  Jammu and Kashmir

  • Dr. Manmohan Singh: Separatist ideology has no place in J&K

  Maoist Insurgency

  • Three woman naxalites killed in Orissa

  Other Development

  • Central government denies terror outfits have penetrated stock markets
  • FBI: Mumbai attackers came from Karachi