New Delhi: Top finance officials representing most of the world’s economy have backed a sweeping revision of international taxation that includes a 15% global minimum corporate levy to deter big companies from resorting to low-rate tax-havens. Finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries endorsed the plan at a meeting Saturday in Venice.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the proposal would end a ‘self-defeating international tax competition’ in which countries have for years lowered their rates to attract companies. 

She said that it had been a race that nobody has won. “What it has done instead is to deprive us of the resources we need to invest in our people, our workforces, our infrastructure?”

The next steps include more work on key details at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and then a final decision at the Group of 20 meeting of presidents and prime ministers on Oct. 30-31 in Rome.

Implementation, expected as early as 2023, would depend on action at the national level. Countries would enact the minimum tax requirement into their own laws. Other parts could require a formal treaty. The draft proposal was approved July 1 in talks among more than 130 countries convened by the OECD.

Italy hosted the finance minister’s meeting in Venice because it holds the rotating chair of the G-20, which makes up more than 80% of the world economy. The event also attracted around 1,000 protesters under the banner ‘We Are The Tide,’ an umbrella group of environmental and social justice activists, including opponents of large cruise ships and the hordes of tourists they bring to the lagoon city. A small group scuffled Saturday with police after breaking away from an approved demonstration area.

The U.S. already has a minimum tax on overseas earnings, but President Joe Biden has proposed roughly doubling the rate to 21%, which would more than comply with the proposed global minimum. Raising the rate is part of a broader proposal to fund Biden’s jobs and infrastructure plan by raising the domestic corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%.

Yellen said she was ‘very optimistic’ that Biden’s infrastructure and tax legislation will include what ‘we need for the United States to come into compliance’ with the minimum tax proposal.

Republicans in the Congress have expressed opposition to the measure. Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, has blasted the OECD deal, saying, “This is an economic surrender to China, Europe and the world that Congress will reject.”

The international tax proposal aims to deter the world’s biggest firms from using accounting and legal schemes to shift their profits to countries where little or no tax is due and where the company may do little or no actual business. Under the minimum, companies that escape taxes abroad would pay them at home. That would eliminate incentives for using tax havens or for setting them up.

From 2000-2018, U.S. Companies booked half of all foreign profits in seven low-tax jurisdictions: Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland.

A second part of the tax plan is to permit countries to tax a portion of the profits of companies that earn profits without a physical presence, such as through online retailing or digital advertising. That part arose after France, followed by other countries, imposed a digital service tax on U.S. Tech giants such as Amazon and Google. The U.S. Government regards those national taxes as unfair trade practices and is holding out the threat of retaliation against those countries’ imports into the U.S. Through higher import taxes. Also Read: Petrol, Diesel Prices Today, July 11, 2021: Petrol above Rs 100 in metros, check rates in your city

Under the tax deal, those countries would have to drop or refrain from national taxes in favor of a single global approach, in theory ending the trade disputes with the U.S. Tech companies would then face only the one tax regime, instead of a multitude of different national digital taxes. Also Read: Delhi Metro update: Services on Pink line to be affected from July 12-15

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Kabul: Hours after US President Joe Biden ordered his troops to pull out of the war-torn nation, the Taliban on Friday claimed to be in control of 85 percent of Afghanistan’s territory.

The Taliban claimed that its fighters had seized the border town of Islam Qala, thereby completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China.

A delegation of Taliban officials in Moscow said that they controlled around 250 of Afghanistan’s 398 districts.

READ: India Gives Stern Response Over Pakistan Alleging Involvement In Blast Near Hafiz Saeed’s House

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid too confirmed the same and said that the Islam Qala border crossing was “under our full control”.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government officials in Kabul said: “efforts are underway to recapture the site”.

“All Afghan security forces including the border units are present in the area, and efforts are underway to recapture the site,” AFP quoted Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian as saying.

This came as the US President had earlier said that his country’s military mission would end on August 31.

Biden, however, admitted it was “highly unlikely” Kabul would be able to control the entire country.

ALSO READ: ‘Boycott Beijing Winter Olympics’ Call By Brit Lawmaker Over Atrocities On Uighur Muslims

“The status quo is not an option,” he said, adding that he would “not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan”.

The US President said the Afghan people alone should determine their future.

New Delhi: A series of shocking videos and images were shared by an American woman of a tree crashing into her home pretty much destroy a part of her roof. One of her videos was footage from the baby monitor that captured debris the moment the tree fell and the debris falling into the baby’s crib.

Luckily, the baby is just fine but a part of the house is destroyed and would need a lot of work to be done. 

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On July 2nd, Courtney Buchholtz had just put her son, Cannon, down to sleep in their Prairieville home in Baton Rouge, a Louisiana suburb when a storm began to rage. Then a huge tree came crashing through the roof. The monitor captures the baby who was sleeping peacefully, wakes up from the loud crashing sound as insulation and debris rained down from the roof. Suddenly, you see Courtney walk and quickly grab her baby.

In her Facebook post, Courtney said that it happened two minutes after she put Cannon to bed and that going to take her from the debris was ‘one of the most scariest things’ she had ever experienced, understandably so. 

Her entire family and dogs are safe, and they have temporarily moved to her cousin’s place while they fix up the house as it is currently ‘unlivable’. Friends and neighbours all gather to help the family and she expressed her gratitude towards them. 

Speaking to local media Buchholtz said that this isn’t the first time the family’s lives have been devastated by a weather-related disaster.

“Trying to remember that all of our material things (once again) can be replaced. We did it once in 2016.” Buchholtz said. “We’ll do it again.”

Beijing: China appears to be preparing to ramp up its involvement in Afghanistan amid US troops withdrawal — with Beijing eyeing the war-torn nation for investment and influence opportunities. According to The New York Post, in recent weeks, Beijing has been vocal in slamming the United States for pushing forward with its troop withdrawal, citing the deteriorating situation on the ground.

Still, it had not made any public commitments regarding a response. US President Joe Biden has set a deadline of September 11 for the final pullout of the few remaining troops from Afghanistan. Citing the media reports, the Newspaper outlet reported that the Kabul authorities have become much more deeply engaged with Chinese leaders as the two work toward a deal to invest in Afghanistan`s infrastructure through China`s international “Belt and Road Initiative.”

As per the outlet, the trillion-dollar program has funded multiple projects — generally focusing on hard infrastructures like airports, roads, and seaports — throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. It has been used by the Chinese Communist Party to grow its influence by providing infrastructure loans to poorer countries in return for control over local resources. The media report stated that the deal would extend the USD 62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the Beijing-led initiative.

“There is a discussion on a Peshawar-Kabul motorway between the authorities in Kabul and Beijing,” New York Post quoted the sources. “Linking Kabul with Peshawar by road means Afghanistan`s formal joining of CPEC,” it said.The outlet further reported that last month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian confirmed that China and Afghanistan were having discussions on a CPEC extension, though he declined to discuss the matter in detail. 

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Houston: The highly contagious Delta variant has become the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, accounting for more than 51 per cent of COVID-19 infections in the country, according to new data released by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first detected in India and is spreading quickly across the globe. In some parts of America, the delta strain accounts for more than 80 per cent of new infections, including some Midwestern states like Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.

It is already causing 74.3 per cent of infections in Western states, including Utah and Colorado, and 58.8 per cent of infections in Southern states like Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, according to CDC estimates.

“New COVID-19 infections with the Delta variant now account for 51.7 per cent of the infections. The B.1.1.7 or Alpha variant makes up for 28.7 per cent cases after remaining a dominant variant for months,” the data said.

“If ever there was a reason to get vaccinated, this is it,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Tuesday.

The variant poses a “significant threat,” to unvaccinated people, said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He said the variant was not only more transmissible, but it can also cause more severe disease.

Experts believe it is expected to be the most dominant strain in the country in the coming weeks.

According to the Galveston County Health District in Texas, more than 450 adults and youth in grades 6 to 12 from the area attended a camp in Galveston County and the health District has confirmed 57 cases.

Of the 57 cases reported to date, six are breakthrough cases, the health officials said. Breakthrough cases are defined as someone becoming infected more than 14 days after their second COVID-19 vaccination.

“Knowing that there are only six people that got COVID after getting vaccinated, I think still is a very small percentage,” said Annamarie Davidson, MD, with Memorial Hermann Hospital.

The county health district said 47 cases are youth and adults 12 years and older while 10 are younger than 12 years.

In addition to these 57 confirmed cases, more than 90 people including non-Galveston County residents have self-reported to the health district that they have tested positive.

“We’re testing for the Delta variant to see if that’s the cause for it spreading so rapidly among that group. It’s a good cautionary tale for other churches considering get-togethers. Be careful, particularly when planning get-togethers for kids most of whom haven’t been vaccinated yet,” said Dr Philip Keiser.

“Throughout the country, the rates are not that great so there are a lot of susceptible children,” said Dr Catherine Troisi, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at UTHealth School of Public Health.

According to the CDC, one in five children between 12 and 15 years old are fully vaccinated. In the 16 to 17-year-old age group, approximately one in three have got the shots.

Dr Randall Olsen, who works in the genome sequencing lab at Houston Methodist where every positive COVID-19 test in the health system is analysed, said they had identified 4 delta variant cases in late April.

“We’re now at in the Houston Methodist system 48 patients infected with the Delta variant,” he said.

“It’s hard to make really strong inferences, but it does seem it’s causing more hospitalisations. It’s definitely infecting the non-vaccinated population,” he said.

Local health officials say there is growing concern about the increasing number of adults and children with the Delta variant.

“This virus has thrown every curve ball at us that we can imagine. It is absolutely here, and there is no reason to behave like it won’t behave like the other variants, like it has in other communities,” said Dr David Persse, the Chief Medical Officer for the City of Houston.

“This transmits a lot more easily, so every time the virus gets that ability to transmit earlier, the per cent of the population that needs to be immune goes up in order to slow it down through herd immunity,” he said.

The Texas Department of State Health Services says 41.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

“The main risk that typically happens with Covid-19 that causes you to end up in the hospital are respiratory- having trouble breathing. There is a possible risk that that chance is increased with the Delta variant compared to some of the other variants,” said Dr Maria Rivera with Harris County Public Health.

Rivera said the recommendations are that any child that is over the age of two that has not been vaccinated must continue to wear a mask when they are in public places.

Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, termed the Delta variant an ‘overwhelming concern’.

“Anyone who has not been vaccinated or previously infected and recovered, there’s a high chance their luck is about to run out. They’re about to get Delta,” Hotez said.

Texas A&M University virologist Benjamin Neuman said vaccines authorised for use in the US appear to provide protection against the Delta variant, but a large number of unvaccinated individuals in Texas remain a concern.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, less than half of Texans over the age of 12 (approximately 48.2 per cent) are fully vaccinated.

This low-information position makes it difficult to predict how big of a threat the Delta variant will be.

“It really depends on what’s out there, and at the moment we’re not sure. At best you might be able to get away with it, at worst it could be really bad. I think we just don’t know,” Neuman said.

“Mutation is how the virus responds to the world. It’s basically how they are able to stay in the game, how they’re able to stay competitive,” he said.

“In the Delta variant, the mutation is a change in position in its spike protein, which allows the virus to penetrate and infect healthy cells. Though a strain may have advantages over others, its spread often comes down to the activity of people,” Neuman said.

Two people standing 20 feet away from each other probably won’t transmit the virus, regardless of the variant. But if an individual is in close contact with someone who’s infected, they’re likely to be exposed and likely will catch that variant if they don’t have immunity.

Our vaccination rates are not high enough to where we can expect that this virus will go away on its own. The more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply,” Neuman added.

Washington: The United States is getting closer to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, said President Joe Biden on the occasion of the country`s 245th Independence Day.”Today, we are closer than ever to declare our independence from a deadly virus,” Biden said in a speech at the White House. First responders, military members, and other guests were present there, as reported by Kyodo News.

“We have gained the upper hand against this virus,” he said, adding that “Do not get me wrong: COVID-19 has not been vanquished. We all know powerful variants have emerged, like the Delta variant.”As the Biden administration has ramped up COVID-19 vaccination efforts across the country, it earlier announced to inoculate 70 percent of adults with at least one shot by July 4.

The numbers of new cases and deaths have dropped drastically after Biden took command last January. But still, 200 people die each day less than half of the total population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The US has so far reported 33,717,574 cases and 605,526 deaths, according to CNN Health. 

ALSO READ: How regionalism helped Africa to contain COVID-19 pandemic: Study

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Kabul: The US embassy in Kabul has said that it would continue to operate in the country amid the increase in uncertainty as the US continues to work towards its military pullout till August end.”The US Embassy in Kabul is open & will remain open. As directed by President Biden, we will continue to have a robust diplomatic presence in Kabul to carry out the range of work we do with the government and people of Afghanistan.

We have no plans to close the Embassy,” the embassy tweeted on Monday (July 5). This comes after The Wall Street Journal had reported that US officials have intensified planning for an emergency evacuation of the embassy in Kabul due to the worsening security situation in the country.

These preparations are taking place as part of the US withdrawal of Afghanistan. Violence has escalated in Afghanistan since the Biden administration announced its decision to withdraw troops from the war-torn country. Experts believe that growing clashes between Taliban and Afghan forces are fueling fears that the country is headed into a civil war.

ALSO READ: Myanmar’s junta bans executives from leaving after forcing telecom firms to implement intercepts

“The US Embassy is constantly planning for contingencies & how to mitigate risks to our people & programs. We are aware of security challenges to operating in Afghanistan, & we will adjust our presence as necessary to address these challenges,” the embassy added.

Reiterating Biden and Secretary Blinken`s stand, the embassy added that “US military presence in Afghanistan is ending, the US Embassy will continue our diplomatic, humanitarian, and security assistance programs in Afghanistan.”

Amid a surge in Taliban offensives and attacks on civilian populations and infrastructure in Afghanistan, the US embassy on Friday called for an end to the ongoing violence, which is largely driven by the Taliban.

Earlier this week, the Taliban said in a statement that civilians and non-military foreign nationals, diplomats, embassies and workers of humanitarian organisations would not face any problems or security risks from them.However, CNN reported that there are reasons to question that statement, particularly given the fractured nature of the Taliban. 

ALSO READ: Rescuers search for dozens missing in resort town after mudslide in Japan’s Atami city

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New Delhi: America’s top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday (July 4, 2021) claimed that over 99% of recent COVID-19 deaths in the United States are of unvaccinated people.

Dr Fauci, in an interview with an American TV network, said that 99.2% of coronavirus-related fatalities in the month of June occurred among people who were not vaccinated.

“It’s really sad and tragic that most of all of these are avoidable and preventable,” he expressed.

Dr Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has taken both doses but said he would consider wearing a mask in parts of the country with low levels of vaccination and rising coronavirus caseloads. 

During the White House press briefing by the COVID-19 Response Team and Public Health Officials on July 1, Dr Fauci had said that the best way to protect yourself against the virus and its variants is to be ‘fully vaccinated’.

In the same media briefing, Dr Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, stated that the Delta variant of COVID-19, first found in India, is predicted to be the ‘second most prevalent variant’ in the United States.

She said, “An estimated 25% of all reported SARS-CoV-2 sequences nationwide are the Delta variant and in some regions of the country, nearly one in two sequences is the Delta variant.” 

So far, more than 180 million Americans, including 67 per cent of adults — have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. 

This is to be noted that the United States is the worst COVID-19-hit country in the world with over 3.3 crore infections and 6 lakh deaths. 

American troops pulled out of their main military base in Afghanistan on Friday (July 2), a United States defence official said, under an agreement with the Taliban allowing for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the country, to end their longest war. The U.S. military has coordinated its air war and logistical support for its Afghan mission from the Bagram air base, about 60 km north of Kabul, and the withdrawal of forces from the base symbolises the end of the U.S. military involvement in the country.

The following is a chronology of U.S. involvement and major developments in Afghanistan over the past two decades:

Sept 11, 2001: U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is triggered by attacks on the United States plotted in Afghanistan by the al Qaeda militant group, led by Osama bin Laden, who was in Afghanistan under Taliban protection.

Oct 7, 2001 – U.S. forces begins air campaign with strikes on Taliban and al Qaeda forces. Small numbers of U.S. special forces and CIA agents soon slip into Afghanistan to help direct the bombing campaign and organise Afghan opposition forces.

Nov 13, 2001 – U.S.-backed Northern Alliance forces enter Kabul as the Taliban withdraw south. Within a month, Taliban leaders have fled from southern Afghanistan into Pakistan.

December 2001 – U.S. forces bomb the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan where bin Laden is reportedly hiding but he slips over the border into Pakistan, where he disappears.

May 2, 2003 – U.S. officials declare an end to major combat operations in Afghanistan. Under President George W. Bush, the U.S. focus turn to preparing for the invasion of Iraq, which required a diversion of U.S. troops, equipment, and intelligence collection from Afghanistan. This allows the Taliban to slowly regroup, at first in the south and east.

Feb 17, 2009 – President Barack Obama, in his first major military decision as commander-in-chief, orders 17,000 more combat troops to Afghanistan to tackle an intensifying insurgency. The 17,000 reinforce 38,000 U.S. troops and 32,000 from some 40 NATO allies already in Afghanistan.

May 1, 2011 – Bin Laden is killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan. At about the same time, the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan peaks at about 100,000 as part of a surge that saw intensified CIA drone attacks on Taliban and other militants in Pakistan.

December 2011 – U.S. officials say U.S. diplomats have held about half a dozen secret meetings with Afghan Taliban contacts over the previous 10 months, mostly in Germany and Qatar.

May 27, 2014 – Obama outlines a plan to withdraw all but 9,800 American troops by the end of the year and pull out the rest by the end of 2016.

December 28, 2014 – The U.S. combat mission is officially concluded after the withdrawal of most combat troops and an transition to an “Afghan-led” war. Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops remain, with a focus on training Afghan forces and counter-terrorism.

August 21, 2017 – U.S. President Donald Trump announces his strategy, calling for an open-ended deployment of U.S. forces with the goal of forcing the Taliban to negotiate peace with the Kabul government.

September 4, 2018 – Afghan-born U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad appointed U.S. special representative to seek negotiations with the Taliban.

February 29, 2020 – The United States signs a troop withdrawal agreement with the Taliban in Doha that envisages peace talks between the Afghan government and the insurgent group.

September 12, 2020 – Afghan government and Taliban negotiators launch peace talks in Doha after months of delays.

December 2, 2020 – Afghan government and Taliban negotiators reach preliminary agreement on procedures for peace talks, a largely administrative development but their first written agreement in 19 years of war.

April 14, 2021 – U.S. President Joe Biden announces U.S. forces will stay beyond the May deadline envisaged by the U.S.-Taliban deal but will withdraw unconditionally by Sept. 11.

June 26, 2021 – Biden meets Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the White House. He calls on Afghans to decide their own future while vowing to continue security aid.

July 2, 2021 – U.S. troops pull out of Bagram air base 60 km  north of Kabul even as violence around the country is at historic highs.
 

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New Delhi: In the recent times, China’s image has taken a massive blow while the US has gained popularity, according to a new Pew Research Center Survey among several advanced nations.

Views of people across 17 advanced economies were reviewed and most of them continue to see China in an unfavorable light while US seems to seen favaourably since US President Joe Biden took office. In contrast, confidence in President Xi Jinping remains unchanged and near historic lows.

The findings are part of a nationally representative survey conducted from between February 1 to May 26, 2021, among 18,850 people in 17 advanced economies.

In every place surveyed except New Zealand, around half or more have a favorable opinion of the US. It is highest in South Korea, where 77 per cent have positive views of the US, while around two-thirds or more in the US, Italy, Japan, France and the UK say the same.

Among the 17 nations surveyed, most of the advanced economies surveyed have broadly negative views of China – including around three-quarters or more who say this in Japan (88%), Sweden (80%), Australia (78%), South Korea (77%) and the U.S. (76%). Only in Greece and Singapore around half or more have a favorable view of China.

Meanwhile, in another study the Washington DC-based nonpartisan think tank, found that a majority of Indians enjoy religious freedom, value religious tolerance and believe that respect for all religions is central to the idea of India.

The Pew study is based on a face-to-face survey of 29,999 Indian adults between late 2019 and early 2020, weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. According to the Pew survey, people of all six major religious groups – Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists-overwhelmingly believe they are very free to practice their faiths.

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Guatemala: The US State Department has named more than 50 current and former officials, including former presidents and active lawmakers, suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in three Central American countries.

Many of the cases were known in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but the inclusion of names on the US list buoyed the hopes of anti-corruption crusaders. The list was provided to the US Congress in compliance with the US-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act pushed last year by US Rep. Eliot Engel.

Its release comes at a time that the Biden administration has given new attention to endemic corruption in the region as one of the factors driving Central Americans to migrate to the US.

Ricardo Ziga, White House special envoy for the Northern Triangle, said Thursday (July 1) that the list was not final and that pulling US visas from those named does not exclude the possibility of other sanctions. The law requires the State Department to provide a list to Congress at least once a year.

The list was composed using classified and unclassified information and more attention was given to cases involving people currently in government or in positions close to power rather than older offenses, Ziga said.

“Corruption and attacks on democracy are viewed as some of the most important root causes of irregular migration from Central America, he said. “They hobble governments, they distort markets, they undercut development efforts, and ultimately they demoralize a population that decides to embark on a very dangerous irregular migration to Mexico and the US because they don’t believe we can build their futures at home”.

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Congress’ call for the report reflects growing concern about the level of systemic corruption in the countries of the Northern Triangle, the significant backsliding that we’ve seen across the region in the last several years, and the need to “ensure that our assistance is not ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials or their allies, said Adriana Beltran, director of citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America, a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights issues.

Among the most prominent figures on the list are former Honduras President Porfirio Pepe Lobo Sosa and former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo. The State Department report says Lobo Sosa took bribes from a drug cartel and his wife was involved in fraud and misappropriation of funds. Both deny the allegations. Bonilla’s conviction on related charges was invalidated by the Supreme Court last year and she is awaiting a new trial.

Perhaps as significant as Lobo Sosa’s inclusion or that of more than a dozen current lawmakers, was the omission of current Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez. US prosecutors in New York have signaled Hernandez as having funded his political ascent with bribes from drug traffickers, but he has not been formally charged.

He has denied any wrongdoing. His brother, the former federal lawmaker Juan Antonio Tony Hernandez, was sentenced in New York in March to life in prison. Honduras analyst Ral Pineda Alvarado, said there had been high expectations for the list, but that in general, it did not include the top perpetrators, leaving him underwhelmed,

If this is the way the United States Congress wants to battle corruption in Honduras, it’s like wanting to cure cancer with aspirin. Instead of naming those who call the shots and control resources, most of the names were secondary perpetrators, he said.

This Engel list, in a way, was very inspiring, you thought it would be a devastating blow to the real corruption heavyweights, Pineda said. But unfortunately those hopes have been frustrated.

In El Salvador, former cabinet officials, a judge and the cabinet chief for President Nayib Bukele were placed on the list. Chief of Staff Carolina Recinos has kept a low profile since her name appeared on a shorter State Department list in May, but administration officials say she has maintained her presence in the presidential offices.

Thursday’s (July 1) list said she engaged in significant corruption by misusing public funds for personal benefit and participated in a money-laundering scheme.

The list also included two former presidents of the Legislative Assembly, including Walter Araujo who left the conservative Arena party to become a high-profile leader of Bukele’s New Ideas party.

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The list said Araujo was included for ?calling for insurrection against the Legislative Assembly and repeatedly threatening political candidates. Araujo reacted on Twitter, saying that gringos and unscrupulous journalists wouldn’t silence him.

If for defending my nation and my people they put me on the Engel list … They can put me there 100 times more, he wrote. Jean Manes, former US ambassador to El Salvador, who recently returned temporarily as the charges d’ affaires, said in a video statement that US strategy in the region centers on battling corruption because it is the greatest impediment to development.

She noted that people included on the list immediately lose their visa to enter the United States. Eduardo Escobar, head of the public accountability organization Citizen Action in El Salvador, said he had met Wednesday with U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland on her visit to the country.

Escobar said that in some cases, the list lent credence to allegations that members of Bukele’s government were involved in corruption, as well as members of other political parties.

He said now they would have to see if El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office takes any action to pursue people on the list. Bukele’s administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Guatemala, former President Alvaro Colom Caballeros was accused of involvement in fraud and embezzlement in the case of a new bus system in Guatemala City.

Current Supreme Court justice Manuel Duarte Barrera allegedly abused his authority to inappropriately influence and manipulate the appointment of judges to high court positions. Another high court justice, Nester Vasquez, also allegedly meddled in the selection of judges.

Guatemala’s chief anti-impunity prosecutor, Juan Francisco Sandoval, indicated the extent of Guatemala’s corruption was far beyond those named on the list.
I think they are missing a number who have been charged with corruption, Sandoval said.

In the prosecutor’s office, we investigate hundreds of people and hundreds more have been convicted. I think they need to touch the high positions in the corrupt structures, especially those who finance it.” 

ALSO READ: Donald Trump’s former aide Jason Miller launches social media site GETTR

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New Delhi: US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen spoke with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday and discussed that the US and India have a shared interest in implementing a robust global minimum tax. “Earlier today, Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen spoke with Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman. Secretary Yellen discussed that the United States and India have a shared interest in implementing a robust global minimum tax,” the US Department of the Treasury said in a release.

The treasury department statement said that Yellen stressed the importance of partnership with India in the G20 and OECD to seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to remake the international tax system to help the global economy thrive. 

Earlier this month, the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies announced that they have come to a preliminary agreement to set a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 per cent.

The proposal will next go to the OCED (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and G20 countries for further discussion. Also Read: Two drones sighted in Jammu and Kashmir, security forces on alert

According to the experts, the major economies have been aiming to prevent multinational companies from shifting profits to low-tax territories regardless of where their sales are made. Back in March, Finance Minister Sitharaman held a discussion on the global economic outlook with Yellen, wherein the latter appreciated India`s contribution to the world`s vaccine efforts. Also Read: Petrol, Diesel Prices Today, June 30, 2021: Rates remain unchanged, check prices in your city

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Washington: US troops came under rocket fire in Syria on Monday, but escaped injury, in apparent retaliation for weekend US airstrikes against Iran-aligned militia in Syria and Iraq. A US military spokesman said US forces were attacked by multiple rockets but did not provide details.

“There are no injuries and damage is being assessed. We will provide updates when we have more information,” said Colonel Wayne Marotto.

Sources in Deir al Zor, in eastern Syria, said that an Iranian-backed militia group had fired a few artillery rounds in the vicinity of al Omar oil field, which is controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

The rocket fire underscored the risk of escalation and the limits of US military firepower to restrain Iran-aligned militias that Washington blames for a series of increasingly sophisticated drone strikes against US personnel and facilities in Iraq.

Hours earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the White House had defended the US strikes in Iraq and Syria on Sunday (June 27) as a way to tamp down on the risk of conflict.

“We took necessary, appropriate, deliberate action that is designed to limit the risk of escalation, but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message,” Blinken told reporters in Rome.

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Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border. They vowed to retaliate.

But it was not immediately unclear who fired the latest salvo at US forces. Iraq`s government, wary of getting dragged into a US-Iran conflict, had condemned the U.S. strikes on its territory and said it would “study all legal options” to prevent such action from being repeated. Syria called the strikes a “flagrant violation of the sanctity of Syrian and Iraqi lands.”

Iraq`s military issued a condemnation of the US strikes. The Iraqi and US militaries coordinate closely in a separate battle in Iraq, fighting remnants of the Sunni extremist group Islamic State.

It was the second time President Joe Biden had ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months ago. He ordered limited strikes in Syria in February, that time in response to rocket attacks in Iraq.

Two US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Iran-backed militias have carried out at least five drone attacks against facilities used by US and coalition personnel in Iraq since April.

Biden`s administration has been looking to potentially revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The attacks underscore how Biden aims to compartmentalize such defensive strikes, while simultaneously engaging Tehran in diplomacy.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Iran was a bad actor in the region who supported “extremely problematic behavior” but defended the diplomatic outreach as a way to deny Tehran a nuclear weapon.

Biden`s critics say Iran cannot be trusted and point to the drone attacks as further evidence that Iran and its proxies will never accept a US military presence in Iraq or Syria.

Iran called on the United States to avoid “creating crisis” in the region. “Certainly what the United States is doing is disrupting security in the region, and one of the victims of this disruption will be the United States,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday (June 28).
 

ALSO READ: US carries out air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria

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Washington: Almost all deaths due to Covid-19 in America are among the people who did not get inoculated. This is proving how effective the vaccine is. The number of daily deaths in the US has come down to 300, and if all eligible people are vaccinated, this number can come down to 0 as per reports.

The Associated Press has analyzed government data since May. This shows out of 853,000 cases of breakthrough infection in fully vaccinated people, less than 1,200 were admitted to hospitals. About 0.1% are getting admitted to the hospitals. At the same time, out of 18,000 Covid-19 deaths in May, only 150 people were fully vaccinated. which is about 0.8% or an average of 5 deaths per day.

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45 states report breakthrough infection
This has come to the fore from an analysis of data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC citing data limitations did not give an estimate of hospitalizations and the number of deaths from those fully vaccinated. CDC officials said that about 45 states report breakthrough infections, and some are more aggressive than others. The data probably understates such infections. 

98% of Americans who died of coronavirus were not vaccinated
Earlier this month, Andy Slavitt, a former adviser to the Biden administration on Covid-19, said that 98% to 99% of Americans who died of the coronavirus had not been vaccinated. And CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Valensky said on Tuesday, “vaccine is so effective that it can prevent nearly every death due to Covid-19, especially in adults.” He described such deaths as particularly tragic. The number of deaths in America has decreased since vaccination. 

 According to the CDC, about 63% of all eligible Americans aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 53% have received both. 

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Washington: A multinational project, co-led by ISRO and NOAA from the US, that aims to improve the accuracy of coastal data based on satellite and land-based observations have been recently endorsed by a UN body for its use of innovative technology, and for fostering trust and collaboration among scientists.

The project is called Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Coastal Observations, Applications, Services, and Tools (CEOS COAST). Its pilot projects are uniquely capable of using Earth Observation technologies to meet several of the 17 UN-designated sustainable development goals for the Ocean Decade initiative, NOAA said in a statement on Wednesday (June 23).

NOAA stands for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The themes of these projects include disaster risk reduction and coastal resilience among continental shorelines and small island nations. “Their work will improve the way we study how the sea can affect the land, such as in large-scale flooding events, as well as how land usage affects coastal ecosystems, including but not limited to water quality issues and the root causes of coastal runoff and sediment deposits,” it said.

The CEOS COAST has been working collaboratively with stakeholders in industries such as agriculture, construction, and commercial/recreational fishing to support all forms of decision-makers from parents deciding which beach to take their kids to, to sailors navigating the coast, to policymakers taking action on climate change and more, the statement said.

Due to this work, the project was recently endorsed by the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) as an initial Action of the United Nation’s Ocean Decade plan that will span from 2021-2030, and aims to bring together governments, industry, academics, NGOs, and other stakeholders to study our oceans and develop conservation solutions, NOAA said.

CEOS COAST was recognised for its use of innovative technology, for its focus on diversity and inclusivity, and for fostering trust and collaboration between scientists and lay users of ocean knowledge.

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Taipei: The United States no longer sees Taiwan as a problem in its relations with China, but as an opportunity to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Thursday (June 24). Like most nations, the United States has no formal diplomatic ties with the Chinese-claimed island, but is its most important international backer, to Beijing`s anger, and President Joe Biden`s administration has moved to restate that support.

In a speech in Taipei, Raymond Greene, deputy head of the de facto embassy at the American Institute in Taiwan, said when he first worked in Taiwan almost two decades ago, everything it did relate back to cross-Taiwan Strait issues and how Taiwan fit into the U.S.-China relationship.

But over the past three years, efforts have been overwhelmingly focused on deepening ties and working together to help other countries develop their economies and democratic institutions, he said.

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“I`ve lost count of how many meetings the director and I have had with our Taiwan partners where the word `China` never even came up,” added Greene, who leaves Taiwan for Japan next week.

“This reflects a fundamental change in the U.S.-Taiwan relationship,” he said. “The United States no longer sees Taiwan as a `problem` in our relations with China, we see it as an opportunity to advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific and also as a beacon to peoples around the world who aspire for a more just, safe, prosperous, and democratic world.”

In recent months, China has ramped up efforts to force Taiwan to accept its sovereignty, with steps such as repeatedly flying fighter jets and bombers into the island`s air defence zone. Most people on the democratically-governed island have shown no interest in being ruled by autocratic China.

ALSO READ: COVID-19 origin: 60 percent of Americans believe in Wuhan lab leak theory

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WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved five antitrust bills, three of them aimed at Big Tech, and will take up the last and most aggressive proposed legislation on Thursday, a bill that could require platforms to sell off lines of business.

In extended debate, which began midmorning on Wednesday and stretched into early on Thursday, lawmakers voted to approve a measure that would prohibit platforms like Amazon.com Inc from disadvantaging rivals who use their platform.

It also voted to accept a measure that would require big tech companies contemplating mergers to show that they are legal, rather than requiring antitrust enforcers to prove that they are not.

Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said the bills were needed to protect an open internet that has “delivered enormous benefits to Americans and our economy.”

“A small set of online platforms have become gatekeepers for much of the digital marketplace,” he said. “These dominant platforms can have the incentive and ability to abuse their market power to pick winners and losers among the firms that rely on their platforms to reach users and customers.”

When the committee resumes work, it will take up what some call the “break `em up” bill. This would require a platform, again like Amazon, to sell any business that competes with other businesses using its platform.

There has been vociferous opposition to that bill and others, including from the US Chamber of Commerce, Amazon, Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc`s Google.

The committee also approved a bill that would increase the budgets of the agencies enforcing antitrust law. A companion measure has already passed the Senate.

The panel additionally approved measures to require platforms to allow users to transfer their data elsewhere and to ensure that antitrust cases brought by state attorneys general remain in the court they select.

Washington DC: A total of sixty percent of US citizens believe that the coronavirus was created in the Wuhan laboratory in China and then leaked, according to a media poll. In the survey conducted by Fox News, only 31 percent of Americans think that the deadly virus had evolved from nature. The poll was conducted among 1,001 US citizens between June 19 and June 22. As many as 50 percent of the participants believe COVID-19 has permanently changed the way Americans live, while 42 percent think the change is temporary.

In February this year, the WHO team had dismissed the theory of a `lab leak` of the virus. Dr. Peter Daszak, a former member of the WHO mission had said that the decision to downplay the lab theory was a unanimous judgment among the WHO team`s 17 members. The WHO report determined that the possibility the virus came from a lab was “extremely unlikely,” noting there was “no record” any lab had closely related viruses.

The probe was criticised by the US, UK, and other governments over its limited access to “complete, original data and samples.”Last year, 27 leading scientists who appeared in The Lancet made a statement, organized by Daszak, which condemned what it called “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin” and proclaimed “solidarity with all scientists and health professionals in China.”

However, one of the 27 signatories, Peter Palese, who is a prominent New York City microbiologist said that “disturbing information” has led him to reverse course regarding his belief in the “natural origin” of COVID-19, reported New York Post. Two months after the statement was published, Daszak emailed US top coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci thanking him for supporting the theory that the COVID-19 naturally jumped from animals to humans and did not leak out of the Wuhan lab.

Daszak stated that EcoHealth`s work in China — including at the Wuhan lab — was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He also denied that he or EcoHealth received money directly from the Chinese government. The so-called “lab leak” theory, once dismissed by the mainstream media, has gained traction in recent weeks after a series of revelations.

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Madrid: Antivirus software pioneer John McAfee was found dead in his jail cell in Spain on Wednesday, a prison official said, shortly

The 75-year-old was found dead in his cell in the Brians 2 penitentiary near Barcelona “apparently from suicide”, a spokeswoman for the prison system in the northeastern Catalonia region said as reported by news agency AFP.

McAfee was arrested at Barcelona airport in October 2020 when he was about to board a flight to Istanbul. He has remained in jail since then. 

The Antivirus software pioneer is wanted in the US for tax evasion. He is accused of deliberately failing to file tax returns between 2014 and 2018, even after earning millions from consulting work, cryptocurrencies and selling the rights to his life story.

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If convicted in the US over the allegation, he could have faced up to 30 years in prison.

Earlier, Spain’s National Court on Wednesday approved his extradition to the United States. The decision could have been appealed and then the extradition would have needed approval from the Spanish cabinet.

As per to the US extradition request filed in November and quoted in the ruling, McAfee earned more than 10 million euros ($12 million) in the four years in question but never filed a tax return.

“To conceal his income and assets from the Internal Revenue Service… the defendant ordered part of his income to be paid to straw men and placed property in their names,” it said as reported by AFP.

The Spanish court ruling rook cognisance of the offences that took place between 2016 and 2018.

McAfee had made a fortune in the 1980s with the antivirus software that still goes by his name. He became a self-styled crypto-currency guru, claiming to make $2,000 a day.

In a tweet on June 16, he wrote that the US authorities believed he had “hidden crypto. I wish I did”.

“My remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing,” the once digital giant wrote to more than one million followers on Twitter.

In recent years, McAfee became a prominent booster of cryptocurrencies by getting on the Bitcoin bandwagon as chief executive officer of MGT Capital Investments Inc. In 2016, he also unsuccessfully ran as a presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party.

Washington: President Joe Biden plans to lay out new steps to stem a rising national tide of violent crime, with a particular focus on gun violence, as administration officials brace for what they fear could be an especially turbulent summer.

The worry over crime is real: It has created economic hardship, displacement and anxiety. But there are also tricky politics at play. The spike in crime has become a Republican talking point and has been a frequent topic of conversation on conservative media.

White House aides believe that Biden, with his long legislative record on crime as a former senator, is not easy to paint as soft on the issue, and the president has been clear that he is opposed to the defunding the police movement, which has been effectively used against other Democrats to paint them as anti-law enforcement.

But Biden also is trying to boost progressives’ efforts to reform policing. And while combating crime and reforming the police don’t have to be at odds with each other, the two efforts are increasingly billed that way.

In a speech on Wednesday (June 23), Biden is to unveil a series of executive orders aimed at reducing violence, and he will renew his calls for Congress to pass gun legislation, aides said. Ahead of the speech, the Justice Department announced new strike forces aimed at tackling gun trafficking in five cities.

The White House also planned to convene a meeting Wednesday (June 23) of a bipartisan group of mayors, members of the law enforcement community, experts and community activists. White House staff members have also been in touch with legislators and congressional staff.

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“Yes, there need to be reforms of police systems across the country. The president is a firm believer in that,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday (June 22). “But there are also steps he can take as president of the United States to help address and hopefully reduce that crime. A big part of that, in his view, is putting in place gun safety measures … Using the bully pulpit but also using levers at his disposal as president.”

In April, Biden announced a half-dozen executive actions on gun control, including cracking down on ghost guns, homemade firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them and that are often purchased without a background check.

There is also new federal funding from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package directed toward municipal governments, allowing them to keep more police officers on the street. Aides said Biden would also urge a swift confirmation of his choice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

But Biden is limited in his power to act alone. The House passed two bills requiring background checks on all firearms sales and transfers and allowing an expanded 10-day review for gun purchases. But that legislation faces strong headwinds in the Senate, where some Republican support would be needed for passage.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday (June 22) that she has seen double-digit increases in murder and violent crime nationwide. It is staggering. It is sobering, she said at a violent-crime forum held by the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum.

And it’s something that DOJ is committed to do all we can to reverse what are profoundly troubling trends. Monaco said the Justice Department would launch strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., to help reduce violent crime by addressing illegal gun trafficking, building on an initiative begun last month.

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If the federal effort sounds familiar, it is. Federal operations have often been launched to help cities facing spiking crime. President Donald Trump announced something similar last year when he and then-Attorney General William Barr launched Operation Legend, named after a boy who was shot to death in Kansas City, Missouri.

In that effort, hundreds of investigators were deployed to nine cities with rising crime, prioritizing the arrest of violent criminals. Trump, though, laid the blame for the spike in crime on protesters who demonstrated against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

He claimed that Democrats were allowing crime to run amok in their cities. But despite pockets of violence in both Democratic- and Republican-run cities, the protests were mostly peaceful. A Harvard Radcliffe Institute study found there were no injuries reported in 97% of the events. Still, Republican leaders continue to echo Trump’s claims.

And while crime is rising homicides and shootings are up from the same period last year in Chicago; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; Baltimore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Houston violent crime overall remains lower than it was a decade ago or even five years ago. And most violent crimes plummeted during the first six months of the pandemic, as people stayed indoors and away from others.

Crime started creeping up last summer, a trend criminologists say is hard to define and is likely due to a variety of factors such as historic unemployment, fear over the virus and mass anger over stay-at-home orders. Public mass shootings have also made an alarming return.

Many of us if not most of us are seeing a rise in crime, while at the same time, we’re hearing calls for reform, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said of cities in remarks at the police forum. And some of those calls are to the extreme of dismantling and defund … While all of the same time we’re sworn to protect the people.

Interest in guns, too, is on the rise. The number of people stopped from buying guns through the U.S. Background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales. And several states have passed laws barring federal gun control laws from taking effect.

Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields said lax gun laws and the presence of illegal guns on the streets are compounding the violence.
When everyone can have a gun, they tend to,? she said. ?And it just leads to more illegal guns on the street.

The Justice Department recently announced a sweeping investigation into the Louisville police over the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot to death by police during a raid at her home. A similar investigation was launched into the Minneapolis police force.

The rise in violence comes against the backdrop of a national debate on policing and as a police reform bill is being crafted in Congress. Psaki on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that a presidential event focused on cracking down on crime would undermine that legislative effort.

As a senator, Biden wrote several major anti-crime packages, including a 1994 bill that contained provisions now viewed by some as an overreaction to the crime spikes in the 1980s and 1990s. Critics say those bills helped lead to the mass incarceration of Black Americans, and Biden’s involvement became a flashpoint in his 2020 campaign.

Biden has expressed second thoughts about some aspects of the legislation, and he has acknowledged its harmful impact on many Black Americans. But he and his allies still hold out the law’s provisions to address domestic violence, ban assault weapons and finance community policing.

ALSO READ: Kim Jong Un’s sister ridicules US hopes for talks as allies, warns of disappointment

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Washington: The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is the “greatest threat” to America’s attempt to eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci has warned.

Speaking at a White House briefing on COVID-19 on Tuesday, Fauci said the variant, which was first identified in India, now makes up more than 20 per cent of all new cases in the US, a significant increase from nearly 10 per cent two weeks ago.

“Similar to the situation in the UK, the Delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the US to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19, Fauci told reporters during a virtual news conference here.

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However, the good news is that the US vaccines are effective against the Delta variant, said Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Conclusion, we have the tools, so let’s use them and crush the outbreak, he asserted.

The Delta variant recently became the dominant strain in the UK, surpassing the Alpha variant first discovered in the country. The strain makes up more than 90 per cent of new cases and delayed the UK’s scheduled reopening.

The transmissibility of Delta variant is unquestionably greater than the wild type SARS-CoV2 as well as the Alpha variant, Fauci said, adding that it is associated with increased disease severity as reflected by hospitalisation risk compared to the Alpha variant.

The Imperial College of London did a study in over 100,000 homes and found that youth were driving the UK’s surge with a five-fold higher positivity among children aged 5-12 and young adults 18-24 years versus people older than 65 years old, he said.

“Look at what is happening in the United States. We have seen, as was the case with B.1.1.7, we seem to be following the pattern with the Delta variant with a doubling time of about two weeks if you look from May 8 with 1.2 to 2.7 to 9.9 and as of a couple of days ago 20.6 per cent of the isolates are Delta, Fauci said.

He said the United States has tools to address the challenge.

The effectiveness of the vaccines, in this case, two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer BioNTech with 88 per cent effective against the Delta and 93 per cent effective against the Alpha when you are dealing with symptomatic disease, he said.

Rochelle Paula Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that CDC continues to follow the prevalence of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

In the last two weeks, the prevalence of cases resulting from the Delta variant has doubled to just over 20 per cent. This variant represents nearly half of all infections, she said.

This is concerning but expected knowing what we do about how efficiently this variant spreads and by what we saw in the United Kingdom with this variant.

We know our vaccines work against this variant; however, this variant represents a set of mutations that could lead to future mutations that evade our vaccine, and that is why it is more important than ever to get vaccinated now to stop the chain of infection, the chain of mutations that could lead to a more dangerous variant, Walensky said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the Delta, a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant, as a “variant of concern.”

“The B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma), B.1.427 (Epsilon), B.1.429 (Epsilon), and B.1.617.2 (Delta) variants circulating in the United States are classified as variants of concern. To date, no variants of high consequence have been identified in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement last week.

The World Health Organization classified the Delta variant as a variant of concern on May 10.

SEOUL: A senior North Korean official ridiculed American hopes for talks on Tuesday (June 22), as the United States and South Korea agreed to consider scrapping a controversial working group established to coordinate their policy toward Pyongyang.

Kim Yo Jong, a senior official in the ruling party and sister of leader Kim Jong Un, released a statement in state media on Tuesday (June 22) saying the United States appears to be interpreting signals from Pyongyang in a way that would lead to disappointment.

She was responding to U.S. National Security adviser Jake Sullivan, who on Sunday (June 20) said he saw as an “interesting signal” in a recent speech by Kim Jong Un on preparing for both confrontation and diplomacy with the United States.

“It seems that the U.S. may interpret the situation in such a way as to seek comfort for itself,” she said in a statement carried by KCNA. “The expectation, which they chose to harbour the wrong way, would plunge them into a greater disappointment.”

Kim`s statement came during a visit to Seoul by recently appointed U.S. special representative for North Korea Sung Kim, who was scheduled to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Unification Minister Lee In-young, who handles relations with the North, on Tuesday (June 22).

On Monday (June 21) Sung Kim said he was willing to meet with the North Koreans “anywhere, anytime without preconditions” and that he looks forward to a “positive response soon”.

During talks between Kim and his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk, the two agreed to “look into terminating the working group” while reinforcing coordination at other levels, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The working group was set up in 2018 to help the two allies coordinate their approaches to issues such as denuclearisation talks, humanitarian aid, sanctions enforcement and inter-Korean relations amid a flurry of diplomatic engagement with North Korea at the time.

When asked last year about Seoul`s proposals such as reopening individual tourism to its northern neighbour, U.S. ambassador to South Korea at the time, Harry Harris, said that “in order to avoid a misunderstanding later that could trigger sanctions… it’s better to run this through the working group.”

Though Harris added that it was not the United States’ place to approve South Korean decisions, the remarks caused controversy in Seoul and a former aide to South Korean President Moon Jae-in later told parliament the working group was increasingly seen as an obstacle to inter-Korean relations.

The Moon administration would see ending the working group as a goodwill gesture from new U.S. President Joe Biden, said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea expert at King`s College London.

“From a South Korean perspective, this was basically a mechanism for the U.S. to block inter-Korean projects during the Trump years,” he said. “It would be a clever political move for the Biden administration to end the group, since consultation between Washington and Seoul will take place anyway.”

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Dubai: Iran’s president-elect staked out a hard-line position Monday (June 21) in his first remarks since his landslide election victory, rejecting the possibility of meeting with President Joe Biden or negotiating Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support of regional militias.

The comments by Ebrahim Raisi offered a blunt preview of how Iran might deal with the wider world in the next four years as it enters a new stage in negotiations to resurrect its now-tattered 2015 nuclear deal with global powers.

The news conference in Tehran also marked the first time the judiciary chief found himself confronted on live television about his role in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners at the end of the Iran-Iraq war.

Raisi offered no specific response to that dark chapter in Iranian history but appeared confident and defiant as he described himself as a defender of human rights. Behind a sea of microphones, mostly from media in Iran and countries home to Tehran-backed militias, Raisi took questions ranging from his views on the nuclear talks to relations with regional rival Saudi Arabia.

He appeared nervous at the start of the hourlong session but grew increasingly at ease as he returned to vague campaign themes of promoting Iran’s economic self-sufficiency and combating corruption.

The 60-year-old cleric, of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, swept nearly 62 percent of the 28.9 million votes in Friday’s (June 18) presidential election, which saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.

Millions of Iranians stayed home in defiance of a vote they saw as tipped in Raisi’s favour after a panel under Khamenei disqualified prominent reformist candidates and allies of relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani.

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Tehran province had a staggeringly low 34 percent turnout, roughly half of previous years, with many polling stations noticeably deserted.
Concerning the talks over Iran’s nuclear deal, Raisi promised to salvage the accord to secure relief from US sanctions that have devastated the Iranian economy.

But he ruled out any limits to Iran’s missile capabilities and support for regional militias among other issues viewed by Washington as shortcomings of the landmark deal that the Biden administration wants to be addressed.

It’s non-negotiable, Raisi said of Iran’s ballistic missile program, adding that the US is obliged to lift all oppressive sanctions against Iran.”
Tehran’s fleet of attack aircraft largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, forcing Iran to instead invest in missiles as a hedge against its regional Arab neighbours, which have bought billions of dollars in American military hardware over the years.

Those missiles, with a self-imposed range limit of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles), can reach across the Mideast and US military bases in the region. Iran also supports militant groups like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to bolster its influence and counter its regional foes.

When asked about a possible meeting with Biden, Raisi curtly answered: No. He frowned and stared ahead, without elaborating. His moderate competitor in the election, Abdolnasser Hemmati, had suggested during campaigning that he might be willing to meet Biden.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday (June 21) the US does not have diplomatic relations with Iran or any plans to meet at the leader level, so it’s unclear that anything has actually changed on that front.

She added that Biden views Iran’s decision leader as the supreme leader. That was the case before the election; it’s the case today; it will be the case probably moving forward.

Raisi will become the first serving Iranian president sanctioned by the US government even before entering office, in part over his time as the head of Iran’s internationally criticized judiciary a situation that could complicate state visits and speeches at international forums such as the United Nations.

Raisi’s election vaults hard-liners to top posts across the government as negotiations grind on in Vienna to try to rescue Tehran’s nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its atomic program.

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the agreement, setting off months of spiraling tensions across the Middle East.

Trump’s decision has, over time, seen Iran abandon every limitation on enrichment. Tehran is now enriching uranium to 60 percent, its highest level ever, though still short of weapons-grade 90 percent.

Diplomats from parties to the deal returned to their capitals for consultations following the latest round of negotiations Sunday (June 20).
With the collapse of the deal, Rouhani and his fellow moderates watched their popularity plummet. Now, the ascendancy of a hard-liner hostile to the West has stoked concerns about the future of the accord and regional stability.

But in his remarks Monday, Raisi emphasized the deal’s importance, describing sanctions relief as central to our foreign policy and exhorting the US to return and implement your commitments.”

On Sunday (June 20), months after Iranian officials warned that US sanctions were hampering their ability to procure parts for Iran’s sole nuclear plant at Bushehr, the facility underwent an unexplained emergency shutdown. Whether Iran and the US will be able to move beyond the deal to discuss further thorny issues remains in question, however.

No matter the timing, a US-Iran agreement in Vienna leaves unanswered whether the United States can achieve a broader rapprochement with an Iran led by an avowed proponent of the core tenets of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, the New York-based Soufan Center said in an analysis.

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On Saudi Arabia, which has recently started secret talks with Iran in Baghdad over several points of contention, Raisi said that Iran would have no problem with a possible reopening of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and that the restoration of relations faces no barrier.

The embassy shut down in 2016 as relations deteriorated.
Raisi displayed defiance when asked about the 1988 executions, which saw sham retrials of political prisoners, militants, and others that would become known as death commissions.

After Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accepted an UN-brokered cease-fire, members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, heavily armed by Saddam Hussein, stormed across the Iranian border from Iraq in a surprise attack. Iran blunted their assault.

The trials began around that time, with defendants asked to identify themselves. Those who responded mujahedeen were sent to their deaths, while others were questioned about their willingness to clear minefields for the army of the Islamic Republic, according to a 1990 Amnesty International report. International rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed. Raisi served on the commissions.

On Monday (June 21), there was no somber tone. I am proud of being a defender of human rights and of people’s security and comfort as a prosecutor wherever I was, Raisi said.

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Washington: The US Supreme Court on Thursday (June 17) upheld the ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) against the latest Republican challenge, allowing millions to keep their health insurance coverage amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a 7-2 decision, the nation`s highest court ruled that the GOP challengers lacked standing to sue, in a decision that marks the third major challenge to ObamaCare, to be rebuffed by the Supreme Court in roughly a decade, thus preserving the landmark law and its key protections for millions of people with preexisting health conditions.

The case arose after 18 Republican states brought a legal challenge in 2018 aimed at striking down the ACA.

Led by Texas, the Grand Old Party (GOP) challengers focused on the ObamaCare tax penalty meant to induce the purchase of health insurance by most Americans.

They argued that former President Trump`s 2017 tax cut, which zeroed out the penalty, made that provision unconstitutional.

Without the tax penalty, they argued, ObamaCare effectively lost its constitutional footing, requiring its invalidation by the court.

But the justices did not even address those issues in their decision.

“We do not reach these questions of the Act`s validity, however, for Texas and the other plaintiffs in this suit lack the standing necessary to raise them,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority.

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However, the lower courts had largely sided with the Republican states but agreed to delay enforcement of the ruling while appeals played out.

ObamaCare`s defenders, comprising a coalition of 20 blue states and the Democratic-led House, appealed to the Supreme Court, as per The Hill.

The Justice Department under Trump backed the GOP states in urging the justices to strike down the law. But the Biden administration reversed course.

The Biden administration recently announced that a record 31 million people were covered under the law.

Since the appointment of former US President Donald Trump in 2017, the Republican government had tried to strike down ObamaCare several times.

In 2017, a federal judge in Texas had struck down the Affordable Care Act, terming it “unconstitutional.”

The judge stated that its mandate requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional and the rest of the law cannot stand without it, CNN reported.

In July, the Senate had voted to repeal the Obamacare medical device tax and in the same year, Trump had vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare after the Republican tax cut bill is signed into law.

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New Delhi: After a study showed that the virus could be circulating in the U.S. in December 2019, a senior Chinese expert has said that the next phase of investigation on the origin of Covid-19 should be done in the United States. 

A study was published by the U.S. National Institutes for Health (NIH) which said that at least 7 people were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 weeks before the first official cases were reported.

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Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention while speaking to state-owned Global Times said that it’s time to shift the attention to the United States which was slow to test people when the outbreak first happened and it was the home for many biological laboratories. 

While commenting on the study foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Wednesday, said it was now “obvious” that the COVID-19 outbreak had “multiple origins” and that other countries should cooperate with WHO according to a Reuters report.

The origin of Covid-19 has become a matter of political tension with much of the focus on the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located in the city where the outbreak was first identified in late 2019. An article was published in the Wall Street Journal which revealed that three researchers at Wuhan Institute fell ill in November 2019 and had to be hospitalized. The report was based on previously undisclosed US intelligence. The researchers were admitted into the hospital a month before China reported the first case of Covid-19.

The US’ top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci also said he is “not convinced” Covid-19 developed naturally. US President Joe Biden, has also ordered the intelligence community to re-double efforts to examine how the virus originated, including the lab accident theory.