25 JUNE 2016

Ø  The annual plenary session of the Nuclear Suppliers Group ended on Friday without taking any decision on India’s application for membership. While the 48-member grouping held two lengthy closed-door sessions on the new memberships, several countries expressed concerns over the entry of members who are not signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that India has refused to sign. Through the session, a team led by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar monitored developments in Seoul, meeting with various countries to try and effect a favourable outcome.

Ø  NASA and ISRO are working together to develop a synthetic aperture radar satellite to observe and measure ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapses and natural hazards. The data gathered from this mission will help build climate resilience and potentially save lives, said U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, is also working with the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop high resolution seasonal and long-term climate forecasts to prepare for the monsoons.