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Biden vows to press Putin on human rights at Geneva meet

Putin-Biden

Though US-Russia relations are on rough patch, the White House had confirmed that it was moving ahead with the summit between the two leaders….reports Asian Lite News

President Joe Biden will press his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to respect human rights when the two leaders meet on June 16 in Geneva, according to reports.

“I’m meeting with President Putin in a couple weeks in Geneva making it clear we will not, we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights,” Biden was quoted as saying during a speech honouring the US holiday Memorial Day.

Though US-Russia relations are on rough patch, the White House had confirmed that it was moving ahead with the summit between the two leaders.

Last week, Microsoft flagged a cyberattack on US government agencies by Nobelium, the group behind last year’s SolarWind hack that originated from Russia. However, Moscow said it had nothing to do with the attack.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had earlier informed that Biden and Putin will discuss “the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the US-Russia relationship.”

Earlier this month, the White House said that President Biden believed that his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be a good step forward in the US-Russia relationship to de-escalate tensions and have stable relations.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov(Twitter)

“There is not a meeting with the President locked in yet. Obviously, the President, our President invited him to participate in that meeting because he thinks it would be a good step forward in the relationship to de-escalate, to ensure we have a more stable relationship moving forward, but there is no meeting to confirm at this point in time,” she said.

Last month, Biden held a phone call with Putin, where he had voiced his concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine’s borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions.

He had reaffirmed his goal of building a stable and predictable relationship with Russia consistent with US interests and proposed a summit meeting in a third country in the coming months to discuss the full range of issues between the United States and Russia.

The conversation came in the backdrop of Washington imposing sanctions on 32 Russian entities and individuals for their alleged interference in the 2020 US presidential election and the purported hacking of US software supply chain networks.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued to refute all accusations of its engagement in US elections meddling and cyberattacks. (with inputs from ANI)

ALSO READ: Biden pitches mammoth $6 trillion budget

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-Top News EU News USA

NSA got Danish intel help to spy on allies: Report

The report was published on Sunday by Denmark’s national broadcaster DR News, in collaboration with Swedish, Norwegian, German and French media…reports Asian Lite News

Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE) has given the US National Security Agency (NSA) open internet access to spy on senior politicians of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a media report said.

The report was published on Sunday by Denmark’s national broadcaster DR News, in collaboration with Swedish, Norwegian, German and French media, Xinhua news agency reported.

The media outlets found out some “startling conclusions” in a secret internal investigation on the FE dubbed as “Operation Dunhammer” which was concluded in May 2015.

A significant conclusion in the Dunhammer report, according to DR News, is that the NSA has purposefully obtained data and thus been able to clandestinely spy on targeted heads of state, as well as neighbouring Scandinavian leaders, top politicians, and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France.

Danish Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen responded to the report by sending an email to DR News, saying that the government will not “enter into speculation about any intelligence matters from the press or others… Systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable”.

However, the governments of Norway and Sweden are pressing Denmark and demanding immediate answers about the alleged NSA espionage through Danish cables.

“We demand to be fully informed about matters concerning Swedish citizens, companies and interests. And then we have to see how the answer sounds from a political side in Denmark,” Swedish Minister of Defence Peter Hultqvist told state broadcaster SVT on Sunday.

However, according to DR News’ report, the information about the NSA’s espionage through cooperation with the FE should already have been known by the Defence Minister as details were included in a four-volume statement that Bramsen received from the FE in August 2020.

In the statement, the FE was accused of obtaining and passing on information about Danish citizens, according to local media.

Bramsen has harshly criticized the failure by the FE’s management to follow up on or investigate further signs of espionage within the area of the Ministry of Defence.

There are indications that the FE has “initiated operational activities in violation of Danish law”, he said.

ALSO READ: Biden’s $6tn budget plan draws mixed reviews

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-Top News USA

US gun sales continue amid Covid, protests

Gun protests

The ratio of households owning guns is up from 32 per cent in 2016…reports Asian Lite News

Gun sales in the US have continued amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide protests, and about a fifth of all Americans who bought arms last year were first-time owners, a media report said.

The New York Times report on Sunday quoted research data from Northeastern University and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center as saying that 39 per cent of American households own guns, and of the new owners, half were women, a fifth were Black and a fifth were Hispanic.

The ratio of households owning guns is up from 32 per cent in 2016, The New York Times said, quoting the General Social Survey, a public opinion poll conducted by a research center at the University of Chicago.

“While gun sales have been climbing for decades, they often spike in election years and after high-profile crimes, Americans have been on an unusual, prolonged buying spree fuelled by the coronavirus pandemic, the protests last summer and the fears they both stoked,” said the report.

In March last year, the report added, federal background checks, a rough proxy for purchases, topped one million in a week for the first time since the government began tracking them in 1998.

And the buying continued, through the protests in the summer and the election in the fall, until a week this spring broke the record with 1.2 million background checks, it said.

“There was a surge in purchasing unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” Garen J. Wintemute, a gun researcher at the University of California, Davis, was quoted as saying.

“Usually it slows down. But this just kept going.”

Gun. (File Photo: IANS)


With the pandemic accelerating the trend of rising gun sales, the pace has continued this year.

Americans bought more than 2.3 million guns in January, the highest since last July, and overall in the first quarter, sales jumped 18 per cent, compared to the first quarter of 2020, said The Trace, a news outlet that tracks gun sales.

Meanwhile, shooting incidents with four or more fatalities in the US in 2021 have reached 17, compared to the whole year number of 23 in 2020, and 36 in 2019, according to Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a nonprofit research group.

Broadening the scope to include gun violence injuries, the GVA counted 610 incidents in which at least four people were shot last year, compared with 417 in 2019 and 336 in 2018.

Under the GVA definition, there have been 231 mass casualty shootings in the US so far in 2021, more than one per day.

ALSO READ: Pompeo says Wuhan lab was into military research

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-Top News China USA

China probe will determine Democratic Party fate

Biden (Twitter@POTUS)

It is a matter of astonishment that Biden believes that the WHO will conduct a credible investigation into the origins of SARS2, writes Prof. Madhav Nalapat

President Donald Trump and his successor Joe Biden ensured that billions of dollars flowed to US corporations. The stated intention was to keep job losses caused by SARS2 to as low a level as possible. While those at the upper end of the income scale have had their wealth enhanced during 2020, others less well-off have seen drops, often sharp, in their incomes during 2020. Many “safe” investments were rendered useless as a consequence of the global impact that was the consequence of the flights that took off from Wuhan to destinations across the world between November 2019 and the close of January 2020. This was when Xi Jinping implemented a total lockdown of the city and surrounding areas.

An example of losses made is the scheme for “ownership of holiday stays” by a hotel chain with franchises across India, and which is headquartered in the US. An acquaintance has lost $23,000 by investing in the scheme in October 2019. The person decided to opt out altogether when a “maintenance plus” bill of an additional $4,000 was suddenly slapped in the middle of the SARS2 second wave. This was to cover “maintenance plus” expenses (on zero stays) until May 2021. It is uncertain when the devastation caused by Covid-19 will end in much of the world.

Chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci, former coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force Dr Deborah Birx at a news conference in April 2020

Given that travel during much of 2020 (and in many parts of the world, thus far in 2021 as well) was not possible, charging a hefty “annual maintenance fee” for 2020 seems to have been somewhat insensitive. However, what matters is the fine print, and the fine print did not mention Covid-19 at all, not surprising as it was presented for signature in October 2019. What was included in the fine print was that legal disputes would need to be adjudicated exclusively in the US. This stipulation rendered courts elsewhere irrelevant for the citizens of countries in which they operate. Who looks at the fine print anyway? Most only listen to the salesperson as one after another claim of wondrous rewards gets mentioned. From that to handing over a cheque for $23,000 was seen as but a small step for a lifetime of attractive benefits and rewards.

ALSO READ: WHO likely to restudy Wuhan lab origin theory of Covid-1

There are others who paid much more in the same scheme, in the expectation of travel volume estimated in the pre-pandemic era. Rather than keep paying substantial amounts of money annually on “maintenance” in a world where travel seems unlikely to recover for years, many opt out of the scheme of the US-based hotel chain. They are promptly informed that little if anything of their original investment will be returned to them. What was presented as an attractive, indeed irresistible, contract in the plush New York offices of the hotel chain will be foreclosed. The hotel chain taking the entire amount paid by a customer for the scheme in question is acting no differently from other reputed brands in seeking to gouge as much as possible from a diminished stock of customers.

People line up to enter a mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the United Center in Chicago. (Photo by Joel Lerner_Xinhua)

An individual who joins with countless others in seeing investments turn into dust in the storm of the pandemic is likely to accept meekly the entire loss of the capital invested, a loss caused by the circumstances created by a pandemic, in the emergence of which he or she had no role. Justice, after all, is blind, although not in the manner displayed by the hotel chain. Not reading the fine print of an agreement before signing it is something that most of those who are being besieged online with social media platforms telling them to agree to conditions loaded with one-sided fine print also do.

Tens of millions have experienced monetary losses similar to the individual who for no fault except gullibility saw $23,000 melt away into the coffers of the US-based hotel chain during the pandemic. Hundreds of millions have lost their jobs, while those who have suffered a loss of income may number in the billions. Which is why the virus that the WHO failed to alert the world in time has become such a radioactive issue in the politics of so many countries, including India and the US. The pandemic felled Trump in the 2020 presidential polls, and may neuter the Democratic Party in 2022 should President Biden follow the course suggested by Trump administration holdovers, who have inexplicably been retained by him.

Wuhan Institute of Virology

It is a matter of astonishment that Biden believes that the WHO will conduct a credible investigation into the origins of SARS2. Or that Health Guru Anthony Fauci will ever admit that the funds poured by Peter Daszak in the direction of the Wuhan Institute of Virology may have in any way have caused SARS2. Or that most of the results of the experiments may have gone to the PLA rather than to US authorities. Since the final weeks of 2019, US health experts who were frequent visitors to the Wuhan institute and the WHO team stationed nearby seem to have ignored warning signs that appeared from November 2019 onwards that something had gone badly wrong. That the absence of warnings from either US experts or the WHO until what was a localised eruption of the disease grew into the scale of a pandemic is obvious.

That both the initial as well as the latest conclusions of WHO seem to be based on trust rather than scientific analysis is the conclusion being drawn by those virologists and epidemiologists around the world who are unconnected to SARS2 Gain of Function research, and who have the courage to risk the wrath of the influential individuals who have sought to label as “conspiracy theories” any hypothesis other than the direct movement of the virus from animal to human, without any laboratory equipment coming in between. President Biden needs to ensure that facts come out, not as they are now in droplets contributed by a growing number of individuals of conscience, but through an impartial commission that excludes any individual directly or indirectly linked to the SARS2 experiments at Wuhan. Thus far, his actions have failed to meet this test. Should this continue for longer, should the notion of a cover-up of the origins of SARS2 take hold in the public imagination, the Democratic Party will suffer a devastating defeat in the 2022 midterms that will transform Biden into the lamest Lame Duck President in the US for over a century.

Contrarily, should he ensure that such an enquiry not get derailed by those in the administration with an interest in a narrative that takes the spotlight off their own actions, it may be difficult for the DINOs—Democrats in Name Only—to defeat his transformational proposals on infrastructure in the US Senate. The handful of Republican Senators who are opposed to their party becoming the Voice of Trump may ensure that Biden gets what is a Biden revival plan that is immensely popular with voters of all hues.

ALSO READ: China targets Fauci amid Wuhan lab controversy

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-Top News Economy USA

Biden’s $6tn budget plan draws mixed reviews

US President Joe Biden

The budget unveiled on Friday calls for total spending to run above $6 trillion throughout the next decade, and rise to $8.2 trillion by fiscal year 2031…reports Asian Lite News

President Joe Biden’s $6 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 has drawn mixed reviews from lawmakers and analysts, setting the stage for a potentially heated debate in Congress.

The proposal, which included Biden’s plan to increase investment in infrastructure, education, health care and beyond, would push federal spending to the highest sustained levels in decades.

The budget unveiled on Friday calls for total spending to run above $6 trillion throughout the next decade, and rise to $8.2 trillion by fiscal year 2031.

Deficits, meanwhile, would stay above $1.3 trillion in the next 10 years.

Biden argued that the budget plan reforms America’s “broken tax code” to reward work instead of wealth, while also fully paying for the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan over 15 years, referring to the revised 1.7-trillion-dollar infrastructure plan and the $1.8 trillion spending proposal focusing on childcare and education.

The White House’s budget proposal sparked praise and criticism among lawmakers, whose views are largely divided along party lines.

“President Biden’s budget is an unequivocal declaration of the value that Democrats place on America’s workers and middle class families, who are the foundation of our nation’s strength and the key to Build Back Better,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, noting that the Biden budget makes “historic” investments in the American workforce and economy.

“Congressional Democrats look forward to working with the Biden-Harris Administration to enact this visionary budget, which will pave the path to opportunity and prosperity for our nation.”

Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said committee Democrats will consider the administration’s proposals carefully. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the committee will soon be holding a hearing on the president’s budget “as a first step”.

US President Joe Biden

ALSO READ: Stage set for Biden-Putin summit

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, lashed out at the budget plan, arguing that “Americans are already hurting from far-left economics that ignore reality”.

Republican lawmakers have previously lashed out at Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar spending proposals, calling them “liberal daydream”, and arguing that the tax hikes would lower wages, kill jobs and shrink the US economy.

The budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 was released as recent negotiations over Biden’s infrastructure plan failed to yield a deal.

The White House last week lowered the overall price tag of Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan to $1.7 trillion, but Senate Republicans then proposed a $928 billion counteroffer, just over half of the President’s revised figure.

Outside Capitol Hill, the newly unveiled budget plan also prompted heated discussion.

“Having followed Presidents’ budgets for 40 years, I think it’s fair to say that while I might modify some things in the new Biden budget, it would, if enacted, do more to reduce poverty and inequality than any other budget in modern US history,” Bob Greenstein, founder of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said on Twitter on Saturday.

“We are pleased that President Biden has put forward important details of his budget plan, that his economic assumptions are reasonable, and that he is proposing to offset new costs over time while modestly reducing long-term deficits,” the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a watchdog group, said on Saturday.

The group, however, argued that the budget adds “too much” to already record-level debt over the next decade and “does far too little” to address rising structural deficits over the long term.

According to the group’s estimation, US debt would rise from 100 per cent of GDP at the end of fiscal year 2020 and a record 110 per cent at the end of 2021 to 117 per cent by the end of fiscal year 2031.

In nominal dollars, debt would grow by $17 trillion, to over $39 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2031.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, also a fiscal watchdog group, said in a statement on Saturday that the administration proposes increasing revenues to cover the cost of their longer-term initiatives; “however, those costs would not be fully offset during the traditional 10-year window, rather over a 15-year period”.

“The underlying structural imbalance between revenues and spending that existed before the pandemic budget would remain, leaving an unsustainable fiscal outlook,” the foundation said.

ALSO READ: Biden pitches mammoth $6 trillion budget

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COVID-19 Education USA

Colleges look to federal govt to ease visa control

Colleges look to federal govt to ease visa control

American colleges and universities lost billions of dollars when the pandemic scattered their students and turned off new applicants…reports Asian Lite News

With the Covid-19 pandemic abruptly cutting off a steadily growing pipeline of cash for US colleges and universities from international students, higher education institutions are now looking to the White House to shore up a besieged visa process to bring those lucrative students back, a media report said.

Students from abroad often pay the full sticker price on tuition and fees, making them desirable to admit, but the cash flow halted when the pandemic closed borders, cancelled flights and shuttered buildings.

Education groups are looking at President Joe Biden to restore it.

American colleges and universities lost billions of dollars when the pandemic scattered their students and turned off new applicants, said the report.

Now, “their fall semesters are still uncertain as they don’t know yet how much international student enrolment they can get amid a Covid-rattled US bureaucracy”, it said.

“When you add in other factors of community development, they’re innovators and creators, it could be quite a disaster long term if they can’t get in,” Elizabeth Goss, a Boston-based immigration attorney who specialises in obtaining student visas, was quoted as saying by Politico.

children walking in street during covid 19 surge in us

Nearly 1.1 million foreign students attended college in the US in the 2019-2020 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education, an organisation that tracks their enrolment.

“While education groups say it’s too soon to predict what fall enrolment will look like, last fall’s 43 per cent plunge in new international student enrolment has advocates for those students concerned about the coming semester,” said the Politico news report.

A recent Moody’s analysis stated that last year’s decline in international students is likely to hurt university finances for “several years”.

Enrolment will likely rebound for the fall, but “be slowed by travel restrictions, lingering sourness from the Trump administration’s immigration policies and increased competition from other countries”, it added.

Biden has eased Trump-era travel bans and will allow students on visas to study online if campuses close for Covid-19 outbreaks, but higher education advocates are urging him to loosen restrictions around student visas to ease the process of getting to the US, the Politico news report noted.

NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the world’s largest international education non-profit, has also asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to prioritise student and scholar visa processing, extend temporary in-person visa interview waiver eligibility and use video conferencing for required visa interviews, according to the report.

ALSO READ: Jaishankar, Blinken, affirm strong India-US ties

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-Top News India News USA

Govt redirects vaccine manufacturing supplies to help India

Govt redirects vaccine manufacturing supplies to help India

Move will allow India to make additional 20 million Covid vaccine doses, reports Asian Lite News

The US government has redirected orders of critical vaccine manufacturing supplies, which will allow India to make over 20 million additional doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines.

The information was shared by Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South & Central Asian Affairs, Dean Thompson.

“We’ve redirected one of our own orders of critical vaccine manufacturing supplies, which will allow India to make over 20 million additional doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine,” said Dean Thompson.

He also informed that US has provided over $500 million in Covid-19 relief supplies to India to fight against the pandemic.

“In total, the US government, state governments, US companies, and private citizens have provided over $500 million in Covid-19 relief supplies to India,” said the Acting Assistant Secretary.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar expressed gratitude to United States for strong support and solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The minister’s counterpart, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the two countries were united in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic together.

Earlier, the White House had announced that US will be sending 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries starting from June 2021.

Will never forget India’s help, says Blinken

Jaishankar who wrapped his visit to the on Friday held wide-ranging talks with his US counterpart Antony Blinken and thanked the Biden administration for its “strong support and solidarity” with India at a moment of “great difficulty” for the country in combating the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

Welcoming Jaishankar to the State Department, Blinken said in the early days of Covid-19, India was there for the US, something which the country “will never forget”.

“Now we want to make sure that we are there for and with India,” he said.

Addressing reporters at the State Department in a joint media interaction before the two leaders headed for the meeting, Jaishankar said, “We’ve a lot of issues to discuss. I think our relations have grown stronger over the years and I’m very confident that it’ll continue to do so.”

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar eets US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (Photo @DrSJaishankar/Twitter)

“I also want to take the opportunity to express to the Secretary, through him to the administration, (and) to the United States for the strong support and solidarity and at the moment of great difficulty (for us),” he said.

Blinken said the US and India are working together on many important challenges of “our time”.

“We are united in confronting Covid-19 together…We are united in dealing with the challenge posed by climate change and we are partnered together directly through the QUAD and other institutions in the United Nations in dealing with many of the challenges that we face in the region,” he said.

ALSO READ: US hands over key Kabul base to Afghan forces

The Quad is a grouping of the US, India, Japan and Australia that aims at strengthening a rules-based order in the strategically-important Indo-Pacific amidst China’s aggressive actions in the region.

“The partnership between the US and India is vital, strong, and I think it is increasingly productive,” Blinken added.

Jaishankar is also the only third foreign minister to have visited the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department to meet his US counterpart Blinken. The other two were Jordan’s Ayman Safadi and Columbia’s Foreign Minister-Designate Marta Lucia Ramirez, who met Blinken earlier in the day.

The Indian delegation included Ambassador of India to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu; MEA Joint Secretary Shilpak Ambule; Deputy Chief of Mission Sudhakar Dalela; and First Secretary Chitrangna Singh.

The American delegation included Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. The other members were Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Dean Thompson; Coordinator for Global Covid Response and Health Security, Gayle Smith; Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council, Sumona Guha; and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Tom Sullivan.

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin during which they discussed further developing strategic and defence partnership between the two countries and exchanged views on “contemporary security challenges”.

“A warm meeting with US @SecDef Lloyd Austin. A comprehensive conversation about further developing our strategic and defence partnership,” he tweeted after the meeting, sharing a photograph of them together.

Jaishankar further said they exchanged views on “contemporary security challenges”.

The two leaders are expected to have discussed the situation in the strategic Indo-Pacific region where China has been increasingly flexing its military muscles.

ALSO READ: ‘Don’t allow bases for US’: Taliban tells neighbouring nations

Categories
-Top News China USA

China targets Fauci amid Wuhan lab controversy

Dr Anthony Fauci

“In terms of expertise and influence, American experts such as Fauci can hardly match Chinese top experts,” wrote Hu Xijin…reports Asian Lite News

With international media and scientists pointing fingers at the Wuhan-based Institute of Virology for Coronavirus’ production, Chinese state media has come out in defense of the country and its ruling dispensation and has targeted US infectious disease expert Dr Antony Fauci for spreading canard against China.

Editor-in-chief of Global Times Hu Xijin, in an opinion piece accused Fauci of attempting to hype “the old and groundless narrative” of coronavirus leaking from a Wuhan laboratory.”

“In terms of expertise and influence, American experts such as Fauci can hardly match Chinese top experts,” wrote Hu.

“American experts are weaker than their Chinese counterparts in understanding the epidemic and influencing the anti-virus fight,” he added.

Wuhan lab china

At a virtual event titled ‘United Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking’, Fauci was asked whether he was fully convinced with the theory that the virus “developed naturally.”

“I am not convinced…I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we find out to the best of our ability exactly what happened,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“Certainly, the people who investigated it say it likely was the emergence from an animal reservoir that then infected individuals, but it could have been something else, and we need to find that out. So, you know, that’s the reason why I said I’m perfectly in favour of any investigation that looks into the origin of the virus,” he added.

This and a recent report by US intelligence carried by The Wall Street Journal stating that three scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalised in November 2019 triggered everyone to ask relevant questions on the same.

ALSO READ: China arrests priests on charges of ‘brainwashing’

The newspaper said the report — which provides fresh details on the number of researchers affected, the timing of their illnesses, and their hospital visits — may add weight to calls for a broader probe of whether the Covid-19 virus could have escaped from the laboratory.

The report was followed by the United States demanding a “transparent” second phase of investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and the route of introduction to the human population.

“Phase 2 of the Covid origins study must be launched with terms of reference that are transparent, science-based, and give international experts the independence to fully assess the source of the virus and the early days of the outbreak,” US health secretary Xavier Becerra said in a video message at the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA).


A similar report was also carried by an Australian paper in March.

Another Global Times article called The Wall Street Journal report “an outright lie that came from nowhere.”

“This is a blatant lie, a conspiracy created by US intelligence agencies and the media outlet to slander China, and China has denied it. Is it a coincidence that Fauci repeated such lines?” the Global Times said in a report.

Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had not been exposed to Covid-19 before December 30, 2019, and there has been a “zero-infection” record among its staff and graduate students so far.

“What is the real purpose for the US to continue to play up the so-called “lab leak theory”? Does it really care about the origin-tracing of the virus or just wants to divert attention?” Zhao asked rhetorically at a press conference. (INN)

ALSO READ: China rejects calls for release of scholar held for alleged spying

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-Top News India News USA

‘Quad fills the gap in contemporary times’: Jaishankar

Dr S. Jaishankar (WAM)

India’s External Affairs Minister said QUAD – Quadrilateral Security Dialogue has filled the gap that has emerged in contemporary times where there are global or regional requirements, reports Reena Bhardwaj

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a five-day US visit, discussed wide range of issues related to shared priorities and regional security challenges including Quad during his meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Regarding Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) consisting of India, the US, Japan and Australia, Jaishankar said “the strategic group has filled the gap that has emerged in contemporary times where there are global or regional requirements.”

ALSO READ – Jaishankar, Blinken, affirm strong India-US ties

“Quad fills a very important gap that has emerged in contemporary times,which cannot be filled by a single country, which cannot even be furthered by one bilateral relationship, and which is not being addressed at the multilateral level, Jaishankar added.

QUAD
Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin in Washington. (Photo:https://twitter.com/DrSJaishankar)

Quad alliance is seen by Beijing as a part of efforts to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region. In an effort to strengthen Indo-Pacific cooperation through the Quad, the alliance had earlier discussed maritime security, connectivity, including technology issues, supply chain issues, vaccine production.

“So, there are a whole set of issues in the world have many, many concerns, you know, the many concerns have to be addressed by somebody, I mean, big countries can do a large portion of it, big relationships can add to it. But at the end of the day, most things work better if a group of countries sit together and say, okay, we all have similar positions and similar interest, and why don’t we all sit and address those sets of issues? So that’s how we see Quad we see what I mean, is an expression of the convergence of interests of many countries, it is, in many ways, a reflection of the contemporary nature of the world,” said Jaishankar.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meets US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin (Photo: @DrSJaishankar/Twitter)

He also said that both the countries have also shared their concerns over China’s problematic activities, coup in Myanmar and COVID-19 origin tracing.

“On China, we shared concerns about Southern China’s problematic activities in the region, and it becomes increasingly like-minded on these issues. On the coup in Burma, the US and India have called for an end to the violence, urged the release of political prisoners, and called for the restoration of democracy,” informed DeanThompson, the Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in his briefing to reporters.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meets NSA Jake Sullivan (Credit: @DrSJaishankar/Twitter)

Talking about Afghanistan, Jaishankar said, “There is a recognition, clearly in the United States as indeed in many other countries. You know, when you talk about the future of Afghanistan, India, is an important part of that conversation. Just as when we look at Afghanistan, clearly, you know, given the American presence over many years, it is something that we will be discussing.”

During his meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the issue of Afghanistan came up.

US troops will be withdrawing from Afghanistan by September 2021 and many fears that the withdrawal of foreign troops will lead to unrest in the war-torn country.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines (Photo: @DrSJaishankar/Twitter)

“The possible scenarios, once the US military draws down is obviously something which is, which matters us, it matters very much. It matters to the United States, and it has a larger regional presence. So, in one of these meetings, this subject came up. I don’t think it was so much an issue of what is India’s role, I mean, India has interest, India has influence, India has stakes, India has a history.”

India had offered Afghanistan, a nascent democracy, an assistance package of USD 1 billion. It is the 5th largest donor to Afghanistan, providing development reconstruction assistance of USD 2 billion since 2001. Also, it supports Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled development of the war-torned nation.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar eets US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (Photo @DrSJaishankar/Twitter)

Regarding, India’s position on COVID-19 origin tracing, Jaishankar said that WHO convened a global study on origin of COVID-19 and that is an important first step.

“The probe stressed the need for next phase of studies to reach robust conclusion. So, that is the position which we have taken and the matter,” said Jaishankar. (ANI)

ALSO READ – Biden pitches mammoth $6 trillion budget

Categories
-Top News Defence USA

Biden pitches mammoth $6 trillion budget

US President Joe Biden (Photo @POTUS - Twitter)

The budget for the year starting October 1 earmarked USD 715 billion for the Defense Department, including USD 5.09 billion to enact an initiative to bolster deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region facing China’s assertiveness, and plans to procure 85 F-35 fighter jets, reports Asian Lite News

The United States has proposed a USD six trillion budget for the coming fiscal year, which pitches massive investment plans to rebuild infrastructure and position the country to better compete with China.

America’s budget for the year starting October 1 earmarked USD 715 billion for the Defense Department, including USD 5.09 billion to enact an initiative to bolster deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region facing China’s assertiveness, and plans to procure 85 F-35 fighter jets.

“China poses the greatest long-term challenge to the United States,” the Pentagon said in its budget overview, adding that Beijing’s military modernisation activities in recent decades have “sought to erode the ability of US forces to project power in the region.”

budget
F-35 fighter jet

“If left unimpeded, this continued erosion could fundamentally challenge our ability to achieve US defense objectives and to defend the sovereignty of our allies,” Kyodo News quoted the Pentagon.

According to the news agency, the budget request for the Defense Department represented a 1.6 per cent rise over the fiscal 2021 enacted level.

The president’s budget request, which seeks USD 6.01 trillion in total outlays, reflected his USD 2.3 trillion infrastructure investment proposal and USD 1.8 trillion education and child care investment plan — the former spanning eight years and the latter 10 years.

“Together, these plans reinvest in the future of the American economy and American workers and would help the nation out-compete China and other countries around the world,” the White House said in a document explaining the budget request.

United States President Joe Biden

The Hill reported that President Joe Biden’s first budget during his tenure proposed a budget that would entrench deficits in excess of one trillion US Dollars for the next decade, pushing the nation’s debt burden to record highs.

The blueprint released by the White House ties together three major spending proposals already announced by Biden: the USD 2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, the USD 1.8 trillion American Families Plan and USD 1.5 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal 2022.

Combined with mandatory spending programs, the 2022 budget would spend six trillion US Dollars, about USD 300 billion more than current projections for the year, with much of the spending going toward education, health, Science research and infrastructure. (ANI)

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