International and Bilateral Issues:

Back in 2009 Barack Obama secretly approved the sales of game-changing “bunker-buster” bombs to Israel.
His predecessor George W. Bush had refused the Israelis' initial request in 2005, and frozen most U.S.-Israeli defence cooperation agreements “out of concern that Israel was transferring advanced military technology to China
However the 2009 transaction, which still remains an official secret despite officials leaking the story earlier this year, must have made Iranian authorities lose many nights' sleep fearing that their aggressive neighbour would target them under the guise of going after underground nuclear reactors.
Yet more recent developments suggest that it may well be the Israelis who will be worrying about the 5,000-pound bombs exploding too early, possibly over their own heads.

Computer visionary Steve Jobs is to be awarded a posthumous Grammy in honour of his profound affect on the music business, the Recording Academy has announced.
Steve Jobs helped create products and technology that transformed the way we consume music, TV, movies, and books

Chancellor of Manipal University Ramdas M. Pai has become the second Indian to be honoured with ‘Datuk', a Malaysian title.
The honorary title was instituted in 1978 by the Melaka Government. It is awarded to an individual who has performed highly commendable and meritorious service to the Malacca State in particular and to Malaysia in general.
Actor Shah Rukh Khan is the other Indian who has been conferred the title.

After a four-year gap, India and Pakistan will hold talks next week in Islamabad on improving and expanding the set of nuclear and conventional confidence-building measures (CBMs)
The meeting will end two days before the joint convention of the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFD), a mass-based initiative to promote people-to-people contacts.
Other issues on the table are promoting trade and movement of people across the Line of Control (LoC); an India-China kind of pact for removing heavy weapons along the LoC; and closer interaction to remove the aggressive edge from their respective war doctrines.
Two sides would discuss the expansion of conventional CBMs to include avoiding incidents at sea.
The possibility of an India-Pakistan no-war pact looked remote now.
In the area of nuclear CBMs, a further expansion could include pre-notification of cruise missile launches and discussions to tackle a Fukushima-type incident and eliciting a no-first-use commitment from Islamabad.
The meetings will extensively review the existing CBMs to make them more effective such as the practice of holding flag meetings on the border, not constructing new posts (both sides periodically claim violation by the other) and the practice of exchanging lists of nuclear installations.
Informed sources said the PIPFD convention, taking place after six years