International and Bilateral Issues:

Till a few years ago, Africa was the continent developed nations and rich companies looked to, for buying farming land.
It has changed now. Nations of the dark continent are looking to India for better seeds and agricultural inputs to improve crop yield.

Iran is to insert its first domestically produced uranium fuel into its Tehran reactor
The West is sceptical that the Islamic republic has the technology to make fuel plates.
Iran has been working to enrich its stock of 3.5 per cent low-enriched uranium to 20 per cent, which it says it needs for research and medical purposes.

After nearly nine agonising years, the U.S. on Thursday formally ended military operations in Iraq, triggering a wave of celebrations inside the country that marked the end of a costly military occupation.
The war, which began on the illusionary pretext of eradicating non-existent stockpiles of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, ended up causing large-scale Iraqi deaths, estimated anywhere between 100,000 to a million.
The war also killed 4,487 Americans and wounded 32,226
The horrific war triggered a highly destructive sectarian conflict between the majority Shia and Sunni communities.
It also led to the emergence of Iraq as a new haven for the al-Qaeda
a few hundred military personnel and Pentagon civilians will remain, working within the American embassy to assist in weapons sales and training.
The withdrawal may bolster Iranian influence in Iraq. But some analysts are of the view that now that they are freed from their mission in Iraq, Washington would be in a better position to mount fresh pressure on Iran with a far larger number of troops.

India and Russia will add another facet to their bilateral relationship by holding talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), an omnibus free trade agreement, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's confabulations with the top Russian leadership
India and Russia have very close ties in defence, science & technology, nuclear and space sectors
With Russia, most of the issues relating to CEPA have been sorted out. But we have to now see how this fits in with the Russia plan of customs union.
the summit meeting between Dr. Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will address the deadlock in talks on Kudankulam 3 and 4 civil nuclear reactors
On the Russian offer to host an Indian enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) plant on its soil and offer shares to New Delhi does not seem to have found favour as yet with South Block.
India's major defence acquisition in terms of technology and ability to strike fear in the adversary – the Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine – will be leased by the end of next month.
Unlike a diesel submarine, the nuclear powered version does not have to intermittently come up for air to recharge its batteries, and can thus lurk beneath the waves for indefinite periods giving no clue about its location.
Hydrocarbons will be another focus area where India has been trying to close several exploration deals without much success.