POLITICAL ISSUES
ALGERIA
1. PM Narendra Modi Greets Algeria on Independence Day
New Delhi, Sunday, 5 July 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the people of Algeria on their Independence Day.
Source: NDTV, New Delhi

EGYPT
2. Egypt's El Sisi invited to India-Africa Forum Summit
Cairo, Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Special Envoy Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and invited him for the Third India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi

3. President of India's message on the eve of National Day of Egypt
New Delhi, Wednesday, 22 July 2015
On the eve of Egyptian National Day, President Pranab Mukherjee said that he is confident that that the bonds of friendship and cooperation between both nations would continue to strengthen and diversify in the years to come.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi; See also: Business Standard, New Delhi

IRAN
4. How the historic Iran nuke deal will impact India
New Delhi, Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari was in Iran to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the Chabahar port expansion project.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi; See also: The Times of India, New Delhi

5. India welcomes Iran deal, wary of implications
New Delhi, Wednesday, 15 July 2015
India “welcomed the successful conclusion of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue”, between Iran and the P5+1 countries.
Source: The Hindu, Chennai

6. Iran Offer Will Help India Bypass Pakistan to Access Central Asia
New Delhi, Saturday, 18 July 2015
According to Iranian Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari, President Hassan Rouhani has asked India to invest in various infrastructure projects worth US$ 8 billion, including Chabahar port.
Source: The New Indian Express, Chennai; See also: The Dawn, Islamabad

ISRAEL
7. Why India-Israel partnership is about surviving coming storms
New Delhi, Tuesday, 7 July 2015
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) vote that took place on 3 July was the first instance of when India abstained on a resolution condemning Israel.
Source: The Indian Express, Mumbai

8. President Likely to Visit Israel, Palestine in October
New Delhi, Monday, 20 July 2015
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is likely to visit Israel and Palestine in October. This would be the maiden trip by an Indian head of state to Israel.
Source: The New Indian Express, Chennai

LIBYA
11. Four Indian teachers ‘detained’ in Islamic State stronghold in Libya
New Delhi, Wednesday, 29 July 2015
Four Indian teachers have been detained in Sirte, a stronghold town of the Islamic State in Libya and two are from Hyderabad, one from Raichur and one from Bengaluru.
Source: The Indian Express, New Delhi

12. Two of the four kidnapped Indian teachers in Libya freed
New Delhi, Friday, 31 July 2015
Two of the four Indians who were detained in Libya on 29 July have been released, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed.
Source: The Hindu, Chennai

PALESTINE
9. UNHRC vote: Palestine asks India to explain why it abstained
New Delhi, Thursday, 9 July 2015
Palestine sought an explanation from visiting Secretary (east) of the Ministry of External Affairs, Anil Wadhwa, over India’s abstention at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) vote condemning Israel.
Source: The Indian Express, Mumbai

SYRIA
10. ISIS preparing to attack India, likely to spark Indo-US confrontation
Washington, Wednesday, 29 July 2015
The ISIS is preparing to attack India to provoke an Armageddon-like confrontation with the US, according to an internal recruitment document of the group, which also seeks to unite the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army of terror.
Source: The Indian Express, Mumbai

YEMEN
13. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Concerned About Nurses Returning to Yemen
New Delhi, 31 July 2015
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj voiced concern about Indian nurses returning to Yemen despite escalation of fighting.
Source: NDTV, New Delhi

ECONOMIC ISSUES
QATAR
14. Qatar Airways, Flydubai reject reports of interest in India’s SpiceJet
Doha, Saturday, 25 July 2015
Qatar Airways rejected reports of its interest to buy a stake in Indian budget carrier SpiceJet.
Source: Al Arabiya, Riyadh

15. India defers taking delivery of 20 LNG cargoes from Qatar
New Delhi, Tuesday, 28 July 2015
As global gas prices slumped, India has deferred taking deliveries of at least 20 shiploads of expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its main supplier Qatar.
Source: The Economic Times, New Delhi

SAUDI ARABIA
16. Oil imports to India from Saudi Arabia down 8 percent
New Delhi, Monday, 27 July 2015
India has cut crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia by over eight percent in 2014-15 as it raised purchases from Africa and Latin America in an apparent bid to diversify its supplies.
Source: DNA, New Delhi

COMPILED BY SUNIL KUMAR

Sunil Kumar is a doctoral candidate in School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.  Email

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy