International and Bilateral Issues

Protesters are calling it “Black Tuesday,” the darkest day for South African democracy since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Members of Parliament will today almost certainly pass what is officially called the protection of information bill, otherwise known as the “secrecy bill.”
African National Congress (ANC) says it needs to update apartheid-era legislation safeguarding “valuable information by all organs of state
The ANC has dominated party politics for 17 years, gaining almost double the votes of all its rivals combined. The media enjoys probably greater freedom than any other country in Africa and is seen by some as an unofficial opposition.
South Africa's energetic and vocal civil society movements are seen as vital in providing checks and balances to the distribution of power.
For years newspaper readers have feasted on a diet of corruption and financial scandals.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced a ceasefire on Tuesday evening, claiming the move was part of peace talks with the government.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said earlier in the day on Tuesday that dialogue had been offered to the terrorists but no further movement was possible in this direction unless they laid down their arms and give up terrorism.
Given how terrorist organisations have used ceasefire agreements in the past to consolidate their positions, there was considerable scepticism about this offer.

Pakistan beat India in the first one-day cricket match between the visually-challenged cricket teams
two-time Blind Cricket World Cup winning team of Pakistan which also enjoys the patronage of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in which the Pakistan Blind Cricket Council has a vote.
team manager John David said the circumstances in which the two teams played were very different. The Pakistani team members got a salary and also match fees, whereas the Indian players had no such earnings.

Moscow sent warships to Syrian shores in a show of support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and slammed new United States sanctions against Iran as “unacceptable”.
The Russian warships were reported to be heading towards the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has a naval base.
Russian ships would patrol Syrian waters “to prevent any military interference”.
The ships may try to intercept small vessels that are smuggling weapons for Syrian opposition from Lebanon and Turkey.

More than 100 Iraqi civilians on Tuesday won a landmark legal victory in their bid to force a public inquiry into allegations against British soldiers of “systematic” torture.
The government claims the misconduct was confined to a “few bad apples” and denies “systematic” abuse.
The lawyer for the claimants accused the MoD of “deploying every dirty trick in the book” to avoid accountability. But after the court ruling “it has nowhere to hide”.

Indian government has launched a tourism campaign targeting the world's fastest-growing Buddhist population with a direct sales pitch: visit India and reconnect with your faith.
Indian officials hope that promoting the ‘Buddhist circuit train' in China, which has been in operation since 2007 and stops along several pilgrimage sites in northern India, can help boost the low numbers of Chinese tourists who travel to India.
India has, so far, failed to grab a slice of China's thriving tourism industry.
Vietnam, South Korea and Japan each attracted more than 10 times that number.
The train takes travellers, over the course of a week, to several cities associated with the Buddha's life. Starting in New Delhi, the ‘Mahaparinirvan Express' stops at places such as Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Nalanda, Kushinagar and eventually, Lumbini in Nepal, the Buddha's birthplace.