COUNTRY REVIEW

South Asia

Afghanistan

• Karzai comfortably in the lead; Kunduz Governor: NATO air strike kills up to 90, including 40 civilians; Gen. McChrystal visits site of the air strike; NATO orders probe; NATO Secretary-General calls for greater NATO-EU cooperation

Pakistan

• Lahore Court asks authorities not to restrict movements of A.Q. Khan; Saudi King advises Musharraf to render ‘unconditional apology’ for ‘unjust’ acts during his tenure as president; PML-N relents on the issue of 17th amendment

Maldives

• President Nasheed meets Chinese delegation, reiterates support for One-China policy; Maldives urges US to include it in the Preferential Trade Scheme

Sri Lanka

• Pak PM Gilani: Attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore financed by Sri Lankan terror groups; Sri Lank to get about 1,000 MW of electricity over the next four years from India

East and Southeast Asia

Japan

• Obama congratulates Hatoyama on his electoral victory; Adm. Keating says no major changes expected in Japan’s defence policies after Hatoyama’s election; Ozawa to be made DPJ’s Secretary General

South East Asia

• Malaysia urges India to play leadership role in taking Doha Development Agenda forward; West Java jolted by earthquake measuring 7.3 on Richter Scale

West Asia

Iran

• Khamenei vows that Iran will prosecute anyone who has committed crimes such as rape and torture in the aftermath of the election unrest; Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator says Tehran has a new nuclear proposal

Iraq

• Series of shooting in Mosul; Iraqi PM requests UN for action against August 19 Baghdad truck bombings perpetrators allegedly in Syria

MISSILES, SPACE, NUCLEAR AND DEFENCE REVIEW

• Technical review of moon mission to be undertaken; Orbiter may have suffered a ‘heat stroke’

ENERGY SECURITY REVIEW

• China reportedly to sign an oil and gas agreement with PetroBangla; China also interested in co-funding a major crude oil trans-shipping and processing terminal on the west coast of Malaysia

• South Korean firm to invest $1.7 b in Myanmar gas exploration consortium; OVL and GAIL also have stakes in consortium; Myanmar earned over $2 billion by exporting natural gas in previous year

• Oil India Ltd. to start drilling in Libya from October 2009; OIL’s IPO to raise nearly Rs. 3,000 crore from the market; OIL to develop Iran gas filed at an investment of over Rs. 4,500 crore

INTERNAL SECURITY REVIEW

Jammu and Kashmir

• 5 infiltrators killed in J and K

Northeast Development

• Centre sets surrender deadline for DHD-J

Maoist Insurgency

• Maoists kill four civilians in Chhattisgarh