 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj begun her four-day tour of Vietnam and Cambodia, with an aim to deepen India’s strategic cooperation with the two key nations in the ASEAN region. She will inaugurate the 3rd Indian Ocean Conference in Hanoi. In Vietnam, she will co-chair the 16th meeting of the Joint Commissionalong with her Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Binh Minh. In the second leg of her two-nation tour, she will visit Cambodia. She will have a bilateral meeting with her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn and also call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of Senate Say Chhum. This will be her first official visit to Cambodia. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 Exercise Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission 2018, the latest in 'Peace Mission' series formally started at Chebarkul, Russia. The opening ceremony was conducted in Chebarkul, Russia with military contingents of the all eight SCO member nations participating in this exercise. The SCO Peace Mission Exercise is one of the major defence cooperation initiatives amongst SCO nations and will be a landmark event in the history of SCO defence cooperation. |
| Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB) |
 The World Bank launched ‘bond-i', the world’s first bond to be created, allocated, transferred and managed by using distributed ledger technology. This two-year bond successfully raised 110 million Australian dollars (USD 80.48 million). This was the first time that investors supported the World Bank’s development activities in a transaction that is fully managed using the blockchain technology from start to finish. |
| Source- The Reuters |
 President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the International Buddhist Conclave in New Delhi. The theme of the conclave is 'Buddha Path – The Living Heritage' which aims to showcase Buddhist Heritage in India and boost tourism to the Buddhist sites in the country. The Ministerial level delegation from ASEAN countries will participate in the conclave along with delegates from 29 countries including US, UK, Germany, France and Russia. This year Japan is the partnering country for the Buddhist conclave. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 In Sri Lanka, the ten-day festival of the historic Esala Maha Perehera began in Kandy with a grand procession. The procession set off from the biggest Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, Sri Dalada Maligawa at an auspicious time. The Esala Perahera is one of the oldest and grandest of all Buddhist festivals in Sri Lanka, featuring dancers, jugglers, musicians, fire-breathers and lavishly decorated elephants. |
| Source- News on AIR |
 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated 'Panini Language Laboratory' at Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) at Port Louis in Mauritius. She called on Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jagnauth and discussed further deepening of the special ties between the two nations. The Lab has been gifted by the Government of India and it will help MGI in teaching of all Indian languages in Mauritius. |
| Source- DD News |
 Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan took oath as Pakistan's new prime minister. Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), secured 176 votes while his only rival and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Sharif got 96 votes, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser announced. A total of 172 votes in the 342-member lower house of Parliament are needed to form a government. |
| Source- DD News |
 US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo announced the formation of the Iran Action Group (IAG) to coordinate and run the country's policy towards Iran. The development follows President Donald Trump's announcement of the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the multinational Iran nuclear deal. Pompeo has named Brian Hook, the State Department's director of policy planning, as the group’s head. The aim behind the formation of IAG is to change the Iranian regime's behaviour. |
| Source- Aljazeera.com |
 Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected for a five-year term after winning a landslide in a runoff ballot. Keita, 73, picked up 67.17% of the vote against 32.83% for opposition challenger and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse, 68, who also ran against Keita in 2013. |
| Source- DD News |
 Qatar King Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has pledged to make direct investment in Turkey and announced a 15-billion US dollar investment into the country’s financial markets and banks. The announcement came after holding talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. Turkey is currently grappling with a currency crisis and heightened tensions with the United States, its NATO ally. Sheikh Tamim is the first foreign head of state to visit Ankara since the stand-off with Washington. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
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