International and Bilateral Issues

Australia has given indications of reversing the ban on selling uranium to India in return for greater strategic proximity between the two countries.
But it remains to be seen whether Australia will insist on a regime of inspections similar to its pact with China.
Home to 40 per cent of economically extractable uranium and globally the third largest exporter, Australia had agreed to supply uranium but the decision was overturned after the Labour Party defeated the incumbent Conservatives in 2007.
Besides contributing to the Australian economy, Ms. Gillard said, the sale was justified because of a “change in diplomatic circumstances around the world,” meaning the Nuclear Supplier's Group allowing India to join the global civil nuclear commerce mainstream.

Growing violence along the border between Sudan and South Sudan caused a major humanitarian aid group to withdraw over the weekend.
New bombing raids and a build-up of troops along the border of Sudan and South Sudan over the past few days threaten to escalate what is already a significant humanitarian crisis in the newest country in the world.
The group, which provides clean water, sanitation, public health and resettlement services and assists more than 100,000 people in the area, said it had noticed a distinct build-up of South Sudan troops near the border with Sudan.
South Sudan separated from Sudan six months ago as part of a peace accord ending one of Africa's longest civil wars.
Last week South Sudan, the United States and the United Nations strongly criticised the Sudanese government for bombing locations in South Sudan, including a refugee camp, which has threatened to widen the conflict.

President Hamid Karzai convenes a loya jirga of elders from across Afghanistan on Wednesday to discuss long-term relations with the U.S. and efforts to broker peace amid the threat of violence.
Some 2,000 Afghan elders are set to gather in a giant tent for several days of talks on two of the most sensitive issues in Afghan politics, as U.S.-led combat troops start leaving before a full withdrawal in 2014.
Diplomats in Kabul say Mr. Karzai is likely to use the talks to secure a sweeping mandate as he pursues a controversial agreement with the United States on the strategic partnership which will govern their relationship after 2014.

More than 20,000 Kosovo Serbs have asked for Russian citizenship, seeking Moscow's protection from Kosovar authorities.
the petition was signed by Serbs who reside in Kosovo, as well as those who fled the region for Serbia.
Russia, traditional Serb ally, condemned the NATO-orchestrated secession of Kosovo from Serbia and blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution in support of Kosovo's independence
Since the arrival of the peacekeeping forces, who are supposed to protect us, more than one thousand Serbs have been killed
“We are completely without rights, we risk elimination.”
An estimated 200,000 Serbs have fled Kosovo since it was put under U.N. control in 1999 and the remaining 100,000 Kosovo Serbs have refused to recognise the independence of Kosovo. They have been complaining of constant harassment and persecution by ethnic Albanian Kosovars.
However, Russian media said Moscow was unlikely to grant the requests because this would put it in confrontation with NATO and with Belgrade, which may see it as interference in internal affairs.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Mr. Bloomberg sent police officers in riot gear into the very epicentre of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, at 1 a.m. on Tuesday and forcibly evicted every peaceful protester there.
Mr. Bloomberg cited health and safety reasons for the eviction, which also saw police deploy large bulldozers to clear out the protesters' belongings from the park.
According to eyewitness accounts, police ripped up protesters' tents and deployed tear gas, pepper spray and a sound cannon.
Yet early on Tuesday morning, wire services quoted the National Lawyers Guild saying it had obtained a court injunction that allowed the protesters to return with tents to the park.

Reflecting the new-found bonhomie with India, the Pakistani Navy has called for “constructive engagement” in the region and for sorting out “contentious issues”.
Calling for ‘constructive engagement' by regional and extra-regional navies against the backdrop of a recent slug-fest between an Indian and a Pakistani naval vessel that played out in the north Arabian sea over the rescue of a stricken vessel, MV Suez, with a Pakistani Captain, he said this enabled sharing of operational and doctrinal expertise, generation of interoperability and the enhancement of Maritime Domain Awareness.
No one should aspire nor be allowed to dominate the sea and any competition between may not transgress into confrontation