One day Conference on HAL supported airborne platforms and systems was held at Headquarters, Western Air Command, Subroto Park, New Delhi on Friday, 29 Jul 16. 

•    The conference was co-chaired by Shri T Suvarna Raju, Chairman & Managing Director, HAL and Air Marshal SB Deo PVSM AVSM VM VSM ADC, Air Officer Commanding- in-Chief, WAC. 
•    Heads of all HAL Divisions and Senior Operational and Maintenance Staff Officers at HQ WAC attended the Conference. 
•    Issues relating to Quality, Reliability, Production, Field Support, Supply Chain Management, Ground Support Equipment etc affecting operational exploitation of the HAL supplied assets in WAC, were deliberated during the conference
•    The IAF currently has five operational commands, each of which is headed by an Air Officer Commander-in-Chief with the rank of Air Marshal.

H.E. Saleumxay KOMMASITH, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR chaired the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, with participation of ASEAN Foreign Ministers, Secretary-General of ASEAN, ASEAN Senior Officials and delegates from ASEAN Member States on the afternoon of 24 July 2016 at the National Convention Centre.

•    The Meeting discussed progress of implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, in particular the implementation of the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025. 
•    The Meeting also agreed to the requests for the accession by Chile, Egypt, Iran, and Morocco to the TAC.
•    The ASEAN Foreign Ministers also discussed the promotion of ASEAN’s external relations and ASEAN’s centrality within ASEAN-led mechanisms. 
•    In addition, the Ministers had a candid and constructive exchange of views on regional and international issues such as terrorism, human trafficking, illicit drug, natural disasters, irregular migration as well as developments in the Middle East, Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea.

The eleventh edition of Asia-Europe Meeting Summit or ASEM2016 began in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. 
•    The theme of the Summit is ‘20 Years of ASEM: Partnership for the Future through Connectivity‘. 
•    World leaders including from the leaders of 51 member countries and the representatives of European Union and Asian are attending the two day summit. 
•    Indian delegation is led by Vice President Mohmmad Hamid Ansari. India’s agenda for the summit is to push the efforts to boost inter-continental connectivity. 
•    ASEM2016 is being held in the new world environment following Britain’s exit from the European Union and a global economic slowdown. 
•    It is also first major multilateral diplomatic gathering after recent ruling by UN-backed international tribunal which has struck down China’s claims in strategic South China Sea. 
•    ASEM2016 will also take into consideration the issue of terrorism during deliberations after recent terror strike in Bangladesh and some European countries. 
•    ASEM is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation that brings 53 entities – including 51 countries (including India) from Asia and Europe and two regional bodies European Union (EU) and the ASEAN. 

The Hemis festival will be held between July 14 and July 15 at the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh. 

•    The festival honours Lord Padmasambhava, an 8th-century Buddhist master venerated as a 'second Buddha' in some places. 
•    The largest Thangka (Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton) will be unfurled this year after twelve years, as 2016 is the Tibetan Year of the Monkey.
•    Hemis Gompa, the largest and richest Buddhist monastery in Ladakh plays host to the popular yearly festival day called Hemis Festival. The day has been declared as the state holiday. 
•    This 2-day festival is celebrated on the 10th day of the Tibetan lunar month and remembered as the birth of Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. 
•    During the festival, the locals get dressed-up in traditional clothes, where men wear cummerbunds and women wear vibrant headgears and loads of jewelry. 
•    The Lamas perform sacred masked dance, known as Chaam while they are accompanied by musical drums, long horns and cymbals. This is an extremely well-known festival. 

The Farnborough International Air show 2016 will be held from July 11 to July 17 in the small town of Farnborough, southwest of London. 

•    The biennial aviation event will showcase 99 types of aircrafts this year, and witness acrobatic performances by fighter jets. Business deals worth a record $201 billion were signed during the last edition of the air show in 2014.
•    The Farnborough International Airshow is a week-long event that combines a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with a public air show. 
•    The event is held in mid-July in even-numbered years at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, England. 
•    The first four days (Monday to Thursday) are dedicated exclusively to trade, with the final three days open to the public.•    The air show is an important event in the international aerospace and defence industry calendar, providing an opportunity to demonstrate civilian and military aircraft to potential customers and investors. 
•    The show is also used for the announcement of new developments and orders, and to attract media coverage.