Category: WORLD NEWS

India has called for a “clear roadmap” from China to meet its long-standing demand to open up Chinese pharmaceuticals market for Indian exports as the drug regulators of both the nations held their first ever meeting on Friday at Shanghai, brain storming on removing the road blocks.India for long has been pressing China to open its pharmaceutical market which is under pressure from the public for the high prices for cancer and generic drugs, for Indian pharma exports to address the yawning trade deficit which last year according to Chinese…

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US President Donald Trump formally launched his 2020 re-election campaign with a jam-packed rally in Florida on Tuesday, urging his supporters to “keep this team in place” for four more years as he vowed to “Keep America Great”. The 73-year-old real estate investor-turned-politician, who became the 45th President of the United States of America in 2017, told a crowd of 20,000 people in Orlando that the economy of the US under him has become “the envy of the world”.Trump said his victory three years ago was a “defining moment in…

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Protesters in Hong Kong left the streets, averting possible clashes Monday after haggling for hours with police by moving to areas near the city’s government headquarters. The demonstrators who stayed after a massive protest march the day before, demanding that Chief Executive Carrie Lam abandon a proposed extradition bill, were seen streaming Monday morning into a space outside Hong Kong’s Legislative Council after police who had cleared it reopened the area. Their decision to move allowed police to reopen streets to traffic.The activists have rejected an apology from Lam for…

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Hundreds of thousands of protesters choked Hong Kong’s streets for a second straight Sunday in a defiant rebuke of a reviled extradition law, piling pressure on the city’s embattled pro-Beijing leader who apologised for causing “conflict” but refused to step down.The show of force saw huge crowds marching for hours in tropical heat, calling for the resignation of chief executive Carrie Lam, who was forced to suspend the bill as public anger mounted.Throngs of black-clad protesters snaked their way for miles through the streets to the city’s parliament — a…

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President Donald Trump has blamed Iran for attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, but he also held out hope that implicit US threats to use force will yield talks with the Islamic Republic as the Pentagon considers beefing up defenses in the Persian Gulf area. A day after explosions blew holes in two oil tankers just outside Iran’s territorial waters, rattling international oil markets, the administration seemed caught between pressure to punish Iran and reassure Washington’s Gulf Arab allies without drawing the US closer to war.…

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The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday began the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) investigation into the security lapses surrounding the Easter Sunday suicide attacks that killed 258 people including 11 Indians, despite strong objection by President Maithripala Sirisena.President Sirisena, who is the head of the Cabinet, warned last week that he would not attend the Cabinet unless the government took immediate action to halt the parliamentary investigation.The PSC began hearing testimony from Muslim leaders who said they repeatedly warned the authorities to dangerous radicalisation. The committee summoned former governor of the…

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Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping as “good friends”, China on Monday hoped that the two leaders would discuss their respective trade frictions with the US and reach a consensus on opposing trade protectionism during their “very important” meeting this week on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishkek. This year’s summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will be held in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on June 13-14 where Modi and Xi are scheduled to meet and discuss bilateral and international issues.The meeting assumes significance…

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British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, a contender to replace Theresa May as prime minister, said Sunday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had indicated the EU was willing to renegotiate the Brexit divorce deal.Hunt, one of nearly a dozen Conservatives vying to succeed May after she resigned as party leader Friday, said he spoke with Merkel at this week’s D-Day commemorations and was convinced changing May’s agreement was possible.”She said that of course with a new British prime minister we would want to look at any solutions you have,” he told…

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The White House is hopeful that Narendra Modi in his second term as prime minister with a strong mandate will have a freer hand to pursue some of the tough economic reforms that will help create a more business-friendly environment, a senior official has said.His comments came as the US media on Friday reported that India could soon become the next target of President Donald Trump’s aggressive policy, including launching the so-called Section 301 investigation against India. “There’s concern that recent restrictions adopted by the Indian government on e-commerce and data…

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