International and Bilateral Issues:

French nuclear giant Areva, which is planning to sell India six masssive1650 MWe EPR nuclear reactors for the Jaitapur site in Maharashtra, is facing serious financial difficulties with net losses in 2011 placed at well over €1 billion.
Areva's CEO, Luc Oursel, announced drastic job cutbacks and the sale of over €2 billion worth of assets, essentially in the company's uranium mines sector, to offset these losses.
The company's flagship reactor model, the EPR (the only one on offer from Areva), is facing severe delays and cost overruns and its future may be in jeopardy.
The EPR has been widely criticised as being design-wise too complex and unnecessarily expensive and complicated to build.
There are only four EPR reactors under construction and at least two of them, in Finland and in France, have experienced long delays and cost over runs.
Little information is available about the two EPRs — Taishan I and II being built in China.
Germany, which decided post-Fukushima to close down 8 of its 17 reactors, will bear the brunt of the job cuts.

Israel's closure of a wooden access ramp to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound is tantamount to a declaration of war on Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Hamas warned
Israel on Sunday night closed the Mughrabi ramp leading to the mosque compound in the Old City over public safety concerns in a move which was immediately condemned by Palestinians officials and Jordan, which is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
The Mughrabi Gate is the only access for non-Muslims to enter the site

Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has announced his decision to run for President
Mr. Prokhorov said in Moscow on Monday he intends to defend the rights of the disenfranchised middle class, which formed the core of the largest protest rally for years
If Mr. Prokhorov manages to collect two million signatures in support of his nomination by January 18, he will run against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is expected to reclaim presidency next year after a break of four years.

China on Monday said its naval fleet would only seek supplies or recuperate in the Seychelles during anti-piracy operations, denying reports that Beijing might break with its long-standing policy on overseas military bases with a presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Seychelles Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam said his government had invited China “to set up a military presence” on the archipelago to help fight the regular attacks by pirates
The Seychelles has sought greater assistance from a number of countries to boost its capabilities to combat piracy, including India and the U.S.
While the U.S. already had a drone base there to help anti-piracy operations, India agreed last year
even if China agreed to set up an anti-piracy base, it “would not be the first foreign military presence here because the Americans already have a small drone base here
India have raised concerns over China setting up military bases in the Indian Ocean — fears that have heightened after China's naval presence in the region increased due to participation in anti-piracy escort missions since 2008.
But Chinese officials and analysts say such fears are exaggerated, considering China does not yet have the capabilities to maintain a military base overseas.

As Jammu paid tributes to the revolutionary poet, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, poets and writers from India and Pakistan made an impassioned appeal to demolish the walls of hatred between the two countries.
They called for strengthening cross-border contacts to create an atmosphere of peace and amity.