International and Bilateral Issues

A South Sudan official said the country had shut down more than 900 oil wells after accusing neighbouring Sudan of stealing its oil.
The shutdown would have a big impact on the new nation, which relies heavily on oil revenues.
South Sudan and Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding to build a pipeline from South Sudan's oil fields south to Lamu, on the northern Kenyan coast, where a new port is planned.
- Kenya had agreed to set fees “based on the best state practices”.
- A planning committee would be immediately formed to work out the financing for the pipeline as well as the “environmental issues and social issues” surrounding its construction.
S. Sudan broke away from Sudan last July . But the two new neighbours never agreed on the transit fees that South Sudan should pay Khartoum.

Five rounds of “exploratory talks” between the Palestinians and the Israelis have failed to revive the derailed peace negotiations between the two over the formation of an independent Palestinian State.
Considerable international pressure had been mounted on the Israelis and Palestinians by the parties forming the Quartet — United States, Russia, European Union and the United Nations — to revive talks, which had stalled in late 2010. The dialogue had then run aground after Israel refused to halt fresh construction on territories that it had occupied during the 1967 war. Israel has built 100 settlements, declared illegal under international law, where nearly 500,000 of its citizens reside.
In order to revive negotiations, the Quartet had asked the Palestinians and the Israelis to work out within a three-month deadline, detailed proposals on security arrangements and the borders that they visualised for a Palestinian State. The Palestinians said they had submitted their proposals, unlike Israel.

Asserting that it will not be dictated by any individual country or bloc for imposing sanctions against Iran, India is understood to have strongly conveyed that it was only bound by United Nations-backed sanctions and would continue to “fully source” its crude oil requirement from Tehran.
In a related development, Essar Oil is also understood to have renewed its contract for supply of crude oil from Iran for another five years.
Mr. Reddy said: “I can only say Iran's attitude to India is still very positive. We have made our best efforts to make payments. In spite of difficulties, the government of Iran has put up with us. It will be our effort to tap Iran as a source of crude oil fully.”
It is learnt that India is toying with the idea of opening a rupee account to make payments subject to approval by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
“Iran is the second largest supplier of crude oil to India. There will be no energy supplies problems even in case of shutdown of supplies from the Persian Gulf nation. Indian refiners are looking at diversifying their sourcing to avoid problems in future,” he said.
State-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) is the largest buyer of Iranian oil