Play The Diplomat‘s Quiz: June 14, 2015 Edition

On June 4, militants attacked an Indian Army convoy in the district of Chandel in the northeastern state of Manipur, resulting in the deaths of 18 members of the army’s 6th Dogra Regiment. The attackers, who were likely members of Naga militant groups, reportedly crossed over into neighboring Myanmar. Then on June 9, a contingent of the Indian Army’s Special Forces crossed into Myanmar and killed several militants in an operation lasting over 14 hours. India’s Ministry of Defense and the office of Myanmar’s President Thein Sein confirmed that the army’s Special Forces had crossed into Myanmar to execute the operation.

On Saturday, China’s minister of finance, Lou Jiwei, hosted his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso (who is also Japan’s deputy prime minister) in Beijing for the fifth round of the China-Japan Finance Dialogue. It was the first time the previously annual dialogue had been held since April 2012 – rising tensions between the two countries delayed resumption of the dialogue for two years.

The iconic Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, caught fire on Thursday. According to Reuters‘ James Pearson, “plumes of black smoke” were emerging from the 43-story twin-towered building. According to that same report, which cited eyewitness sources in Pyongyang, the fire drew a serious reaction from the government and security forces: “swarms of police, paramilitary, ambulances and officials from North Korean state security were outside the hotel.”

Kazakhstan is on its way to becoming the 162nd member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after nearly 20 years of negotiations. Kazakhstan will join Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which acceded in 1998 and 2013 respectively, in the intergovernmental organization that regulates international trade. Uzbekistan started negotiations in 1995 but hasn’t held a meeting since 2005 and Turkmenistan, predictably, hasn’t shown concrete interest.

Zhou Yongkang, a former member of China’s Politburo Standing Committee, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for “accepting bribes, abusing his power and deliberately disclosing state secrets,” Xinhua reported. Zhou is the highest-ranking Chinese politician to be brought down on corruption charges since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has postponed a planned trip to the United States as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus spreads in South Korea. Park originally would have visited the United States from June 14-19, visiting Washington D.C. and Houston, Texas.

Monday, while visiting Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered an acceleration of military and civilian infrastructure construction on the disputed Kuril Islands. While the defense ministry didn’t offer many details of his orders, it isn’t difficult to connect the announcement–guaranteed to annoy Japan, which disputes Russian sovereignty of the islands–to the recent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Ukraine. While in Ukraine, Abe declared his support for President Petro Poroshenko.

Four months down the line, the AAP government, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, seems to be losing its sheen faster than expected. Questions have been raised about its determination to fight corruption in public life. The arrest and subsequent resignation of its law minister, Jitendra Singh Tomar, on Tuesday for possessing a false university degree and procuring a fake law degree, demonstrates the gap between what AAP says and what it practices.

“Secretary Carter reiterated U.S. concerns on the South China Sea, and called on China and all claimants to implement a lasting halt on land reclamation, cease further militarization, and pursue a peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in accordance with international law,” a Pentagon statement said.

Billboards across the country have carried the same picture for more than a decade – side-by-side the three most senior members of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CCP) stand: President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin, Prime Minister Hun Sen, and CPP President Chea Sim. Chea Sim died this week aged 82 after a long illness. His death was not unexpected and had been factored into Cambodia’s political equation as a marker for a potential transfer of power after Hun Sen announced in April that he would assume the party presidency once Chea Sim died.