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Economic Times June 24, 2019 UK falling behind in race to engage with India, warns UK Parliament inquiry On the issue of visas, it expressed concern that India seems to face tougher norms than a non-democratic country like China. The report follows the year-long "Global Britain and India" inquiry, launched by the House of Commons. LONDON: The UK is falling behind in the global race to engage with India as it has failed to adjust its strategy to fit India's enhanced influence and power on the world stage, a new British parliamentary inquiry report concluded on Monday. The report 'Building Bridges: Reawakening UK-India ties', released to coincide with the first-ever India Day in the Houses of Parliament to mark the launch of UK-India Week 2019, called for a reset of ties through better visa and immigration policies for Indian tourists, students and professionals as it accuses the UK government of missing opportunities in the bilateral rela...

Economic Times June 24, 2019 Plants transmitting superbugs to humans? Los Angeles: Plant-based foods can transmit antibiotic resistance to the microbes living in our gut, a study has found. Antibiotic-resistant infections are a threat to global public health, food safety and an economic burden. To prevent these infections, it is critical to understand how antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their genes are transmitted from both meat and plant-foods. Researchers have now shown how plant-foods serve as vehicles for transmitting antibiotic resistance to the gut microbiome. “Our findings highlight the importance of tackling foodborne antibiotic-resistance from a complete food chain perspective that includes plant-foods in addition to meat,” said Marlene Maeusli, a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California. Spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs from plants to humans is different from outbreaks of diarrheal illnesses caused immediately after eat...

The Hindu June 25, 2019 Suhasini Haidar It’s premature to count India out of the RCEP, says Centre   Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad spoke on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit held in Bangkok on Sunday.  Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad spoke on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit held in Bangkok on Sunday.  Government officials said it would be “premature” to suggest that India could be cut out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) being negotiated by 16 countries led by the ASEAN bloc, if it doesn’t agree to join it by the year-end. The officials rejected a suggestion to that effect by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, who spoke on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit held in Bangkok on Sunday. Reiterating that India is “consistently” engaged with RCEP negotiations, which will see a free trade agreement which includes ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Comm...

Daily Hunt June 25, 2019 India scraps $500 mn arms deal with Isreal after DRDO promises to 'Make in India' India scrapped a $500 million deal for the purchase of Spike anti-tank missiles from Israel's state-run Rafale Advanced Defense Systems after Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) promises to deliver Indian made alternative in two years. Israel authorities were informed by the Indian officials about the contract being annulled in favour of DRDO as it claimed that with a partnership with VEM technologies Ltd, it would develop a similar missile at a lower price, reported the Indian Express. Officials also told the newspaper that the production of domestic missiles by DRDO was favoured due to the fast progressive second stage of testing Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM). DRDO claimed, according to the report, that the MPATGM was successfully test-fired at the Admednagar range last September. India's defence deal...

Daily Hunt June 25, 2019 After FATF relief, keep up the pressure on Pak The madrasas and training camps continue to function, with only the nomenclature being changed. In escaping being blacklisted by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan may have dodged a bullet, but with the next plenary in October, and final scrutiny to begin in three months, Pakistan is running out of time. Or is it? Has India factored in the enormity of the task before it? Can it, in this limited time, convince the world's major powers that Pakistan, despite making all the right noises on cutting terror funding, hasn't actually turned off the tap? The madrasas and training camps continue to function, with only the nomenclature being changed. At the recent FATF meeting in Orlando, Florida, Pakistan managed to win over not just China and Turkey, that are already in its corner, but Malaysia too, getting the backing of a minimum three countries to beat being put ...

Daily Hunt June 25, 2019 Black money stashed abroad could be 490 billion USD hints panel New Delhi, June 25: The parliamentary panel on finance in its report submitted to the Lok Sabha said that it is difficult to provide a credible estimate of the black money stashed away overseas by Indians. The money stashed overseas could be anywhere between 3.6 billion USD to 490 billionUSD between 1980 and 2010. The panel headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily also states that the government's efforts in bringing back black money is insufficient. Three separate studies were conducted by institutes such as the National Institute of Public Policy and Finance, National Council of Applied Economic Research and National Institute of Financial Management. In March 2011, the three institutes were asked to conduct studies to assess and survey unaccounted income and wealth both within and outside the country. The report said that unaccounted income is discovered to be the ...

The Indian Express June 25, 2019 R R Rashmi UN climate change meet could provide industry a roadmap for low carbon growth Whichever coalition India may offer to join, it will be useful for the country to think of its sectoral actions as part of a long-term low carbon national growth strategy. Nine tracks of discussion are planned at the summit, with the hope of nudging countries to move to an aggressive path of decarbonisation.  On the margins of the UN General Assembly in September, the UN Secretary General has convened a summit to discuss plans to address climate change. The summit will take place exactly a year before the implementation of the Paris Agreement begins. The UN Secretary General is concerned that the collective climate ambition is low and is keen to launch new initiatives to close the gap between the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) made under the Paris Pact and the goal of climate stabilisation. The recent IPCC report which call...

Business Standard June 25, 2019 US-India trade, e-commerce disputes likely to top Pompeo's India agenda Pompeo is expected to lay the ground for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the week at a G20 meeting in Japan. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit India from Tuesday for talks with government leaders over a growing list of trade and investment issues that has cast a shadow over ties between the two big democracies. Pompeo is expected to lay the ground for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the week at a G20 meeting in Japan. Media reports also said terrorism, Afghanistan,de-escalation of the Persian Gulf crisis, the Indo-Pacific, Iran, trade issues, and growing bilateral defence ties will be the focus of discussions between the Indian government and Mike Pompeo. Both countries are trying to promote domestic manufacturing. ...

Daily Hunt June 24, 2019 How India's BMD program forced Pakistan to develop 'MIRV capable' Ababeel missile New Delhi, June 24: Ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons are capable of causing widespread devastation if used. Any country which develops these, does so for deterrence, which means that the enemy would think a million times before attacking, fearing that the retaliation could be catastrophic. Both India and Pakistan have been developing a variety of missiles to assert supremacy in the subcontinent. These missiles can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, but the primary aim to develop these are to serve as deterrents. Pakistan's surface-to-surface nuclear-capable missile Ababeel was developed with the aim to beat India's Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system. Ababeel can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, and has a range of up to 2,200 kms. More than the range, the stand out feature of this missile is that it boasts o...

Economic Times June 23, 2019 No locus standi: India on US religious freedom report The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities, Raveesh Kumar said. NEW DELHI: India Sunday rejected a US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights. In its annual 2018 International Religious Freedom Report, the State Department alleged Friday that mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities, particularly Muslims, continued in India in 2018, amid rumours that victims had traded or killed cows for beef. Responding to media queries on the report, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: "India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclu...