Newsletter 2 May

Top News of the Week

This 6th week of lockdown was also dedicated to Corona and completed some 39 which will continue for 54 days, simply saying the severity of calamity. As the rate of positive cases is still uphill against the expectation. In last week graph was trending towards flattening, but due increased in number testing, number of positive cases also increased. It was not something unexpected. What worrisome is only that how long will it take to reach at any conclusion at this rate?

As previously, this week too, news can be divided into two segments, COVID and Non-COVID issues. Since the number of non-COVID news was less. So let’s have it first.

Supreme Court, on wed in its judgement held that the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), examination (medical and dental courses) does not violate the right of minorities to run their own institutions and impart education.
- “NEET intends to weed out evils from the system and various malpractices which decayed it. The regulatory measures in no way interfere with the rights to administer the institution by the religious or linguistic minorities,” the bench said.
- The top court rejected a plea by minority-run Christian Medical College (Vellore) and others to conduct their own test for admission to under-graduate and post-graduate medical courses.
Case Filed under section 13, against Former JNU Student Sharjeel Imam Over Jamia Violence
- The Delhi Police say Sharjeel Imam was arrested in two cases of violence at Jamia on Dec 13 and 15, 2019, for instigating and abetting the Jamia riots.
- The police had earlier charged Sharjeel Imam with sedition, alleging his speech promoted enmity between people that led to riots.
- “He was arrested in two cases of violence at Jamia on December 13 and 15, 2019, for instigating and abetting the Jamia riots, due to his seditious speech on Dec 13 and based on evidences collected, IPC sections 124 A and 153 A were also invoked,” said Anil Mittal, Additional PRO, Delhi Police.
- “During investigation, on the basis of evidence collected, sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 A IPC (promoting enmity between classes) were invoked in the case,” a police officer said. He was arrested from Bihar’s Jehanabad on Jan 28.
MEA Appointments dated Apr 29^th:
- TS Tirumurti, presently Secretary in the Ministry, has been appointed as the next Ambassador/Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations at New York.
- Namrata S. Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Ministry, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Slovenia and Jaideep Mazumdar, Ambassador of India to the Republic of Philippines, has been appointed as next Ambassador of India to Austria.
- Deepak Mittal, Joint Secretary in the Ministry, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Qatar and Piyush Srivastava, Joint Secretary in the Ministry, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Bahrain.
MLC Election in Mumbai is to be held Maharashtra on May 21^st:
CM Uddhav Thackeray called PM about his nomination on Tue’s night.
- He asked for help, saying if it doesn’t happen he will have to resign. PM said he will look at the matter and get more details.
- Actually, as per norm a person has to be elected from either house of state (Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council) within 6 month of the day taking oath, which is completing on Apr 27^th. However, Thackeray is not a member from any house so far and due pandemic act Election Commission has put halt on any election.
- Thackeray’s entry into legislature may be possible: Maharashtra Governor writes to EC on Thurs, seeks polls for nine Council seats
- Since BJP (in center) and Shiv Sena have fought election with pre-poll alliance, which had broken due to ambition of Thackeray for CM post. So, it seems unlikely that Modi will take decision in favor of Thackeray.
Political chaos generated over a RTI letter.
- Outstanding loans amounting to Rs 68,607 crore of top 50 willful bank loan defaulters in the country including firms of Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya have been technically written off till Sept 30, 2019, the Reserve Bank of India said in a RTI reply.
- Absconding dimantaire Choksi’s company Gitanjali Gems tops the list of these defaulters with a whopping amount of Rs 5,492 crore, according to the list.
- This is followed by REI Agro with Rs 4,314 crore and Winsome Diamonds with Rs 4,076 crore. Rotomac Global Private Limited has funded advances of Rs 2,850 crore which have been technically written off and Kudos Chemie Ltd with Rs 2,326 crore, Ruchi Soya Industries Limited, now owned by Ramdev’s Patanjali, with Rs 2,212 crore and Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd with Rs 2,012 crore being the other companies.
- The RBI said that according to section 8 (1)(a) of RTI Act 2005 read with para 77 of Supreme Court judgement of December 16, 2015 in Jayantilal N Mistry case, information on overseas borrowers is exempted from public disclosure.
- But this is made a point by INC leader Rahul Gandhi to attack on Govt.
PM Modi held detailed meeting to deliberate the potential reforms to ensure a robust and self-reliant defense industry in India that caters to short and long term needs of the armed forces and initiatives to give a boost to the economy in the backdrop of COVID19: PMO
- The discussions involved reforming of the functioning of the Ordnance factories, streamlining procurement procedures, focused resource allocation, encouraging R&D/innovation, attracting investment in critical defense technologies and promotion of exports.
- PM laid emphasis on positioning India among the top countries of the world in Defense and Aerospace sectors, from design to production, with active participation of public and private sector fulfilling the twin objectives of self-reliance & exports. He reviewed the proposed reforms for attracting domestic and foreign investment in defense sector.
- PM directed that India should reduce dependence on imports and take forward “Make in India” to build its domestic capabilities for designing, developing and manufacturing state-of-the-art defense equipment.
- He emphasized on initiatives to promote export of defense products along with industry participation in global defense product value chain and to create an environment that encourages R&D, rewards innovation, creates Indian IP ownership.
- The meeting was attended by the Defense Minister, the Home Minister, the Finance Minister and Minister of State for Finance along with senior officials of the Government of India.
Delhi Minorities Commission chairman booked under sedition charges
The FIR was filed on the complaint of a Vasant Kunj resident on Thurs. The complaint reached the Lodhi Colony office of the anti-terror squad, special cell, through the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Safdarjung Enclave, two days after he allegedly made “provocative” remarks in his social media posts.
Khan, did not comment on the development. “I have not seen the FIR. I will comment only when I see it or know about it,” he said. Though he had issued an apology through his social media accounts.
- Khan made a social media post on Twitter and Facebook and the contents of the post are “provocative, intend to cause disharmony and create the rift in the society.”
- It also mentioned the name of a fugitive offender against whom a red corner notice has already been issued by Interpol on the request of Indian authorities, which have booked him under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), money laundering and terror-related cases. He has praised the man among others.
The Balakot airstrike and the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to bifurcate JnK are the two significant events that will have a “lasting imprint” on the geopolitical situation of South Asia, according to Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Nation Amid COVID-19

HEADLINES

Lockdown extended for two more weeks from May 4^th with relaxation in certain sector in classified way
Lockdown exit plan: PM Modi interacts with CMs via video conference PTI
Besides Govt hospitals, all pvt hospitals, clinics to remain functional for non-COVID patients.
On Fri, MHA allowed the transport of migrants through train
MHA allowed movement of migrant workers, tourists, students etc. stranded at various places.
India rejects scathing US religious freedom report as ‘biased’
US in Talks With India, Other “Friends” To Restructure Global Supply Chains: Mike Pompeo

Lockdown extended for two more weeks from May 4th with relaxation in certain sector in classified way

Government of India extends nationwide lockdown for two more weeks to prevent spread of COVID19. Details of what is allowed and not allowed amidst lockdown in Red, Orange and Green Zone.

Lockdown exit plan: PM Modi Interacts with CMs via Video Conference: PTI

PM Narendra Modi on Mon held a video conference for 4^th time, with chief ministers to discuss the situation arising due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, which has been under a lockdown since Mar 25^th to contain the spread of the virus, amid indications that the interaction would also focus on a graded exit from the ongoing lockdown.
Two days later on Mar 24^th, Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown. He extended the lockdown by 19 days on Apr 14, the last day of the initial 3 week shutdown, till May 3.
Sources in the government had on Sunday indicated that besides discussing the way forward in dealing with the pandemic, the prime minister and chief ministers could also focus on a “graded” exit from the lockdown.
In a tweet PMO said Modi and the CMs will be discussing aspects relating to the COVID-19 situation.
In his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address on Sunday, the prime minister said the country is in the middle of a ‘yudh’ (war) and asserted that people have to continue being careful and
take precautions.

Ministerial Decisions and Others

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) allows movement of migrant workers, tourists, students etc. stranded at various places. Coronavirus Lockdown, on Tue.

In some media, there was so much cry for problems of migrant labors, which went beyond the boundary of nation. In fact, in some most populated states, like UP Bihar, Chhattisgarh etc, significant amounts of workers go to other states for their jobs. However, this is more psychological and social sense of satisfactions than economical.
Scattered reports floated in informal media about problems of migrant labors, which seems so obvious in such a huge and densely populated state like India. However, individual reporting about one or few poor’s and their painful stories also got space in International media but not in Indian media.

“Workers turn violent when asked to work, say haven’t been paid, want to go home. Does Modi government understand that businesses not able to pay wages if revenues stop? Govt silence on a relief package for business, MSMEs, is bewildering, defeating.”

MHA has asked state governments to appoint nodal officers to facilitate the movement of people between states. The order says all seeking to return will be screened first and only allowed to return if asymptomatic.
They would be allowed to move as under: “All states/UTs should designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons. The nodal authorities shall also register the stranded persons within their states/UTs. In case a group of stranded persons wish to move between one state/UT and another state/UT, the sending and receiving states may consult each other and mutually agree to the movement by road.”

On Fri, MHA allowed the transport of migrants through train, 1^st time after start of lockdown. The first train carried the migrant’s labors from Ligammpalli, Telangana to Jharkhand. Many states requested to center for train facilities.

India has placed urgent orders for at least 11.45 crore tablets of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). This drug is being directly procured by HLL Life-care, on behalf of the Union Health Ministry.
We will be able to produce RT-PCR and antibody test kits in India by May. All processes are in advanced stage and production will start after getting approval from ICMR. It will help us in meeting our target of 1 lakh test/ day by May 31.

Since the last 3 days, the doubling rate is 11.3 days in the country. Although the global mortality rate is around 7%, India is having a mortality rate of around 3% and around 86% of fatality of persons with co-morbidity. Only 0.33% patients are on ventilators, 1.5% patients are on oxygen support and 2.34% patients are in ICU, which reflects the quality of care being provided across the country: Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health on Wed.

On Tue, Union Health Secy Preeti Sudan writes to Chief Secretaries/ Administrators of all states/UTs stating that pvt hospitals, clinics to remain functional for Non-COVID patients. Also states, that no patient should be denied any essential services like dialysis, blood transfusion etc.

Indian Navy is readying its Landing Platform Dock warship INS Jalashwa and two Magar class amphibious warships for evacuating Indian citizens from Gulf countries, if required. Govt Source.
Kedarnath Temple was thrown open at 6.10 am today after a six-month-long winter break. The first puja was performed on behalf of PM Narendra Modi and only members of the shrine’s committee and administrative officials attended it. Common pilgrims are not allowed to worship.

On 1^st April, 8 Indonesian nationals related to Tablighi Jamaat were found. A case was registered against them. Today after their quarantine ended they were produced before a court and were sent to jail: Vishal Yadav, Deputy SP, Thakurdwara in Moradabad, UP.

India rejects scathing US religious freedom report as 'biased'

India has rejected the findings of a United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) panel which has named it a “country of particular concern”, since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was re-elected.
- What USCIRF Said in its annual report issued on Tue, and included India alongside Pakistan, China and North Korea under lack of religious freedom. In India, the report said “the national government used its strengthened parliamentary majority to institute national level policies violating religious freedom across India, especially for Muslims.”

“We reject the observations on India in the USCIRF annual report. Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new,” said external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava. “On this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels. We regard it as an organization of particular concern and will treat it accordingly.

“It also made special mention to India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), adding that “Home Minister Amit Shah referred to migrants as “termites” to be eradicated.”

Nadine Maenza, the Vice Chair for the religious freedom watchdog said that the CAA “potentially exposes millions of Muslims to detention, deportation, and statelessness when the government completes its planned nationwide National Register of Citizens”.
The religious freedom panel had even recommended “targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious rights.”
Two of the nine member panel expressed dissent over the panel’s recommendation. Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee said “India does not belong to the same category as authoritarian regimes like China and North Korea. India is the largest democratic nation in the world, where the CAA has been challenged openly by the opposition Congress Party and law makers, civil society, and various groups.”

In its annual report monitoring religious freedom violations around the world, the commission recommends that the U.S. State Department designate certain countries as “countries of particular concern” and impose sanctions. However, the commission’s recommendations are not binding and successive U.S. governments have put national interests before the promotion of religious freedom in some countries allied to America, Maenza admitted.

USCIRF tweeted “Countries of Particular Concern in #USCIRFAnnualReport2020: Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam”.

India Lodges Strong Protest With Pak Over Killing of Civilian Along LoC in J-K

India on Fri registered a strong protest with Pakistan over the killing of an “innocent” Indian national in unprovoked firing by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said. The civilian was killed and another injured when the Pakistan Army engaged in mortar shelling in forward areas along the LoC in Poonch district on Thurs.

On Tue and Wed, the Pakistan Army targeted Qasba, Kirni, Shapur and Mankote sectors of Poonch, as per Indian official’s reports.

Reports says, Pakistani troops resorted to 3,200 instances of ceasefire violations in JnK in 2019, which was highest in the last 16 years. Of these, 1,565 ceasefire violations took place since between Aug and Dec after the India reorganized JnK and that too when huge deployment of troops from Indian side. In 2018, JnK recorded 2,936 instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

While New Delhi blames Pak that such violation of cease fire is to push the terrorists in Indian territory, but Azad Jammu and Kashmir PM, Raja Farooq Haider Khan has said that Indian occupant forces are actively involved in the bloodbath of the unarmed and innocent Kashmiris living on both sides of the Cease Fire Line. Radio Pak.

Two terrorists killed in an encounter, so far while it’s continue since early morning today in Dangarpora of Pulwama in South Kashmir. 2-3 Pakistan backed terrorists trapped. Intense gunfight with JnK Police, Indian Army and CRPF. Heavy stone pelting on to create hurdles in the operation and make terrorists escape. Operation underway.
- India has for the first time emerged among the top three nations in the world in terms of military expenditure, though the US spends more than 10 times and China almost four times its defense budget. Latest data released by global think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) early on Mon shows the total global military expenditure rose to $1,917 billion in 2019, an increase of 3.6% from 2018.

The five biggest spenders were the US ($732 billion), China ($261 billion), India ($71.1 billion: includes a huge pension bill for around 3.3 million retires), Russia ($65.1 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($61.9 billion), together accounting for 62% of the global military expenditure.

US in Talks With India, Other "Friends" To Restructure Global Supply Chains: Mike Pompeo

Addressing a news conference here on Wed, Mr Pompeo said, “We’re working with our friends in Australia, India and Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and Vietnam to share information and best practices as we begin to move the global economy forward.”

Mr Pompeo said:

“Our conversation certainly involved global supply chains, keeping them running smoothly, getting our economies back to full strength and thinking about how we restructure the supply change chains to prevent something like this from ever happening again.
The US Govt has provided over USD 32 million in funding to support the COVID-19 response in Pacific island countries.
Americans have devoted nearly USD 6.5 billion in government and non-government contributions to help countries fight COVID-19.
This is by far the largest country total in the world and more than 12 times that of China’s combined contributions.

Over the last few weeks, Mr Pompeo has spoken over phone – at least four times – with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Wuhan's L-strand behind High Mortality in Guj NEIGHBORHOOD Afghanistan

AHMEDABAD (Guj): Could a different strain of Covid-19 virus active in Gujarat compared to some of the Indian states be a reason for the state’s high death rate and less recovery rate? A study will soon answer the question, believe state-based experts. Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health and family welfare), on Sun mentioned that Gujarat’s death rate was higher compared to states such as Kerala and that it could be due to different strains of Covid-19 at work.

NEIGHBORHOOD

Afghanistan

In a phone conversation, Foreign Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar and Indian NSA Ajit Doval exchanged views on the Afghan peace process, regional consensus around it, humanitarian ceasefire and medical support in times of COVID19.

In response, NSA Ajit Doval stressed on the importance of regional & international consensus around the Afghan peace process and reaffirmed his government’s support for a stable and peaceful: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan

INTERNATIONAL

US Navy stages back-to-back challenges to Beijing's South China Sea claims, went Back

A United States Navy warship conducted a “freedom of navigation operation” Wed aimed in part at challenging China’s claims in the South China Sea, the second such operation in as many days near disputed islands that the US has accused Beijing of militarizing.

The operations come amid heightened tension between Washington and Beijing over the handling of the coronavirus and after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of exploiting attention given the pandemic to “bully” its neighbors in the South China Sea (SCS).
The guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill on Wed “asserted navigational rights and freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging the restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan in the Spratly Islands, consistent with international law,” said Cmdr. Reann Mommsen, a spokesperson for the Navy’s 7^th Fleet, in a statement.
- The Spratlys, called the Nansha Islands by China, are in the southern portion of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea. While several countries have claims on the island chain, the US has long accused China of militarizing the Spratly Islands by deploying anti-ship cruise missiles and long-range surface-to-air missiles to Chinese outposts there.
On Tuesday the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry conducted a freedom of navigation mission near the Paracel Islands, which are called the Xisha Islands by China, challenging Beijing’s claims to the waters around the islands in the northern areas of the South China Sea.
US freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea are not rare, but they typically occur weeks or more apart.

New US strategy

The back-to-back missions are indicative of a new Pentagon strategy – “strategic predictability, operational unpredictability” – to keep foes on their heels, said Timothy Heath, senior defense researcher with the Rand Corp. think tank in Virginia.
Heath pointed to a similar move earlier in the month when the US Air Force ended its Continuous Bomber Presence on the island of Guam, opting instead to move B-1s, B-2s and B-52s into the region whenever the Pentagon sees fit.
“Just as the bombers at Guam are no longer consistently present there, US naval forces in the South China Sea are likely to carry out operations and activities in unusual patterns that are inconsistent with past, predictable patterns,” Heath said.
The US Navy said the back-to-back operations are just business as usual.
“US forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis,” Mommsen said in the statement.
“The United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows — regardless of the location of excessive maritime claims and regardless of current events,” she said.
For its part, Beijing said after Tuesday’s US operation in the Paracels that Washington is increasing tensions in the region and at the same time hindering the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“China urged the US to focus on its own business with pandemic prevention and control, make more contributions to the global fight against the Covid-19, and immediately stop military operations that are detrimental to regional security, peace and stability,” Senior Col. Li Huamin, spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command, said in a statement.
China also said it deployed forces to warn away the USS Barry from waters near the Paracels on Tue.
Analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, said that claim could have had as much to do with Wed’s repeat operation in the Spratlys as anything.

Mike Pompeo (US Secy of State) Pushes China For Access To Wuhan Labs Over Coronavirus

Five countries including USA, Australia and England wants to Investigate Wuhan lab, They have Crucial Intelligence on COVID-19 & China is Panicking

A tweet come yesterday, from U.S. Mission to the UN, “United Nation was founded to serve as a venue for all voices, a forum that welcomes a diversity of views & perspectives, & promotes human freedom. Barring #Taiwan from setting foot on UN grounds is an affront not just to the proud Taiwanese people, but to UN principles.” With #TweetForTaiwan
Ties between the United States and China have significantly deteriorated since the eruption of the coronavirus outbreak.
Washington and Beijing have been trading insults and accusations over the handling of the pandemic, with Pompeo last week saying United States “strongly believed” China failed to report the outbreak in a timely manner and then covered up how dangerous the respiratory illness caused by the virus was.
He said the world needed to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic originated there and that Beijing had an obligation to be transparent.
“We still haven’t gained access, the world hasn’t gained access to the WIV (Wuhan Institute of Virology) there. We don’t know precisely where this virus originated from,” Pompeo told a news conference at the State Department, and added that U.S. concerns over the security of Chinese labs persisted.
President Donald Trump said on April 15 that his government was investigating whether the coronavirus outbreak originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, where the virus emerged. While lab head said to Reuters, “Those claims have no basis in fact”.
- Yuan Zhiming, a director at the Wuhan Institute of Virology also rejected theories that the lab had accidentally released a coronavirus it had harvested from bats for research purposes.

A Washington Post opinion column this month said the U.S. State Department in 2018 warned in diplomatic cables about safety and management weaknesses at a Wuhan laboratory.

China's day of Reckoning is Coming: Global experts

Hong Kong, April 28 (ANI): Chairman Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are now facing a time of reckoning.

Many had already been warning for years that China represented a dire threat to the world order, but Xi’s mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent evasion of responsibility are looking like the straw that broke the international community’s back, say Western observers of China.

The 2021 will mark the party’s centenary and it was even written into the Chinese Constitution in 2012. Next year requires the attainment of two milestones in Xi’s “Chinese Dream of National Rejuvenation” – the “elimination of poverty” (raising incomes to an annual minimum of RMB 2,300) and doubling the national GDP in comparison to 2011, while lowest growth rate noted in last year, since 27 yrs.

However, the pandemic will aggravate the situation, especially with the threat of many countries pulling their global supply chains back home. This explains why Xi is warning that China is encountering “a race against time to reach the Chinese dream”.

Widespread criticism for imprisoning more than a million Uighur Muslims in harsh concentration camps.
Pro-democracy protests exploded in Hong Kong last year and this will be an intractable thorn in Beijing’s side.
Taiwan emphatically rejected Chinese overtures by returning President Tsai Ing-wen to power in Jan.
China is also facing stiffer resistance in the South China Sea, with the US military and others stepping up activities and rhetoric about China’s outrageous territorial claims.
Furthermore, Xi’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative has lost its shine amidst accusations of debt-trap diplomacy.
Instead of leading the world, China is finding itself at the sharp point of criticism, enquiry and global scrutiny by many countries like US Australia are calling for investigations into China’s bungling of the COVID-19 crisis, for instance, something that will be vigorously rejected by Beijing.
To illustrate, China’s role in bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) is being looked into.
- China bought up global supplies of medical personal protective equipment, before later selling faulty and poor-quality equipment to others.
- Its initial attempt to cover up the Wuhan virus outbreak and later clumsy propaganda to deflect criticism also backfired.
- China’s economy is suffering – shrinking 6.8% in the first quarter alone – the first contraction since 1976.
However, experts say “Increasingly prosperous, powerful and authoritarian, China intends to become a more intense global competitor economically, technologically, diplomatically, militarily and in the realm of ideas. The COVID-19 crisis will not change this.”

"China Will Do Anything They Can To Have Me Lose" Re-Election Bid: Trump

Donald Trump talked tough on China and said he was looking at different options in terms of consequences for Beijing over the virus. “I can do a lot,” he said.

In an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office, Trump talked tough on China and said he was looking at different options in terms of consequences for Beijing over the virus. “I can do a lot,” he said.
Trump has been heaping blame on China for a global pandemic that has killed at least 60,000 people in the United States according to a Reuters tally, and thrown the U.S. economy into a deep recession, putting in jeopardy his hopes for another four-year term.
The two leaders had promised that their governments would do everything possible to cooperate to contain the coronavirus. In recent days, Washington and Beijing have traded increasingly bitter recriminations over the origin of the virus and the response to it.
However, Trump and his top aides, while stepping up their anti-China rhetoric, have stopped short of directly criticizing Xi, who the U.S. president has repeatedly called his “friend”, an old style of Trump.
The United States stations roughly 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, rather than a peace treaty.
Trump’s handling of the virus has come under scrutiny. Forty-three percent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll from April 27-28.

India, Pakistan Nuclear Procurement Networks Larger than Thought

Hundreds of foreign companies are actively procuring components for India and Pakistan’s nuclear programs, taking advantage of gaps in the global regulation of the industry, according to a report by a U.S.-based research group. Using open-source data, the nonprofit Centre For Advance Defense Studies (C4ADS) report provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of networks supplying the rivals, in a region regarded as one of the world’s most dangerous nuclear flashpoints.

It is seldom possible to determine whether individual transactions are illegal by using publicly available data, Margolin said, and the report does not suggest that companies mentioned broke national or international laws or regulations.

But past reports by the think tank, whose financial backers include the Carnegie Corporation and the Wyss Foundation, have often led to action by law enforcement agencies.

Spokesmen from the offices of India’s PM Narendra Modi, and Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan did not respond to requests for comment. Pakistan’s military, which plays a major role in decision-making for the nuclear weapons program, also declined to comment.
To identify companies involved, C4ADS analyzed more than 125 million records of public trade and tender data and documents, and then checked them against already-identified entities listed by export control authorities in the United States and Japan.
Pakistan, which is subject to strict international export controls on its program, has 113 suspected foreign suppliers listed by the United States and Japan. But the C4ADS report found an additional 46, many in shipment hubs like Hong Kong, Singapore and the UAE.
- “In Pakistan’s case, they have a lot more stringent controls, and they get around these by using transnational networks… and exploiting opaque jurisdictions,” Margolin said.
- The father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, AQ Khan, admitted in 2004 to selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya. He was pardoned a day later by Pakistani authorities, which have refused requests from international investigators to question him.
India has a waiver that allows it to buy nuclear technology from international markets. The Indian government allows inspections of some nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but not all of them.
Neither India nor Pakistan have signed the international Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, adhered to by most nuclear powers. Consequently, they are not obliged to submit to IAEA oversight over all of their facilities.
C4ADS identified 222 companies that did business with the nuclear facilities in India that had no IAEA oversight. Of these, 86 companies did business with more than one such nuclear facility in India.

Miscellaneous

German pharmaceutical company BioNTech says it has begun testing a potential vaccine for the new coronavirus on volunteers. BioNTech, which is working with U.S.-based Pfizer, said Wed that 12 participants of a clinical trial in Germany have received doses of the vaccine candidate BNT162 since April 23.

Numerous pharmaceutical companies are racing to deliver a vaccine for the virus that has caused a pandemic and led to more than 215 K deaths worldwide and sickened at least three million people.

BioNTech said in a statement that in a next step, it will begin increasing the dose of BNT162 in a trial involving about 200 participants aged 18 to 55. The company said it expects to receive regulatory approval to begin trials in the United States soon.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman jointly reject efforts of some of their citizens to accuse India of Islamophobia. Instead, they thank India for its “invaluable help” in fighting COVID-19.

You might remember that in last week it has been floated hugely on social media that Muslim countries are largely against India, especially UAE. This in later days, made a clarification that its fake account on the name of Royal Family as per Indian media quoted and it has also been claimed that Pakistani ISI was behind all these games.

INDIA IN INTERNATIONAL FRAME

New York Times	Religious Freedom Watchdog Pitches Adding India to Blacklist
BBC	India rejects scathing US religious freedom report as ‘biased’
Washington Post	Religious freedoms in India deteriorated last year, U.S. government watchdog says
npr	Religious Freedom In India Takes ‘Drastic Turn Downward,’ U.S. Commission Says
Reuters
The Diplomat	What’s Up With Religious Freedom Worldwide?
The Asian Age	US agency’s report on religious freedom triggers hot retort by India
PS: besides India, Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam were also in the list but all most all newspapers underline that something very wrong with India? Is it coincidental or choreographed? Also, it is underlined that present Govt (BJP) in its 2^nd term supporting fringed element to act against Muslims.