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The second round of the US-India 2+2 dialogue will take place on 18 December after an endless parley between the two nations. An agreement on industrial security will be signed during the meeting that will allow transfer of critical defence technology, ThePrint has learnt. The ‘2+2’ is a dialogue format during which the foreign and defence ministers of the US and India will meet to discuss strategic and security interests of both nations. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Washington to meet their American counterparts Mike Pompeo and Mark T. Esper. The first round of the talks took place in Delhi last year when both sides had signed the second of three defence pacts, known as the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA). The COMCASA gave India access to advanced US defence systems such as armed drones that have been used with other American equipment. According to sources, both nations will formally sign the m...

The Indian Army wants its officers holding critical posts to deactivate their Facebook accounts and not use the popular messaging application, WhatsApp, for any official communication. In an advisory issued last month, the army has cautioned officers holding sensitive posts in all headquarters, divisions and brigades that WhatsApp is a vulnerable platform and so should not be used for any official communication. It added that although WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, the encryption would cease to be effective if the mobile handset on which it is being used gets compromised. WhatsApp was recently in the  eye of a storm  after it admitted that surveillance software called Pegasus — owned by an Israel-based NSO group — had been used to compromise some of its Indian users, including journalists and activists. The advisory comes after the army cyber group conducted an analysis of social media trends in which it has identified a new set of problems on the ways its pers...

Two persons are being treated at a Beijing hospital for pneumonic plague, a contagious disease, which could cause a fatal outbreak if not treated and contained immediately. The two, who hail from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, have received “proper treatment,” local media reported. “At present, the two patients have received proper treatment in relevant medical institution of Chaoyang District and relevant disease prevention and control measures have been taken,” official news agency Xinhua reported. The two individuals were being treated at a central hospital in China’s capital city — home to over 21 million inhabitants — on Tuesday, local authorities said. The World Health Organisation is monitoring the situation. “The [Chinese] National Health Commission are implementing efforts to contain and treat the identified cases and increasing surveillance,” Fabio Scano, China head of WHO said, reported UK newspaper The Guardian. “The risk of transmission of the...

Some Maharashtra cotton farmers who defied the official diktat and grew herbicide-tolerant (HT) cotton in their fields said they stood for technology freedom, and insisted that governments cannot prevaricate on technologies when farmers are looking for better options. “At least 15 per cent of the cotton farmers in Maharashtra have grown HT cotton this season, even though the government has banned its cultivation. This would be around 5-6 lakh hectares. A large number of farmers in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are also growing HT cotton,” said Ajit Narde of Shetkari Sanghatana. Benefits of the variety Narde, who hails from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, is essentially a sugarcane farmer, not a cotton grower. But, he said, he stands by farmers who grow HT cotton against the government orders. He said that the HT variety offers many benefits. “The increase in yield over Bt cotton varieties may not be much, but HT cotton cuts the cost of weeding substantially,” said Sudh...

Tariff issues related to agriculture and import of  medical devices  from the US, and the reinstatement of export incentives under the American Generalized System of Preferences, are likely to dominate discussions between India and the US. These issues were said to be highlighted during Goyal’s meeting with US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer on November 13, said people in the know. Top officials from the ministries of health and agriculture, as well as some from the Indian Council of Medical Research and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, have accompanied Commerce and Industry Minister  Piyush Goyal  for his three-day visit to the US, they added. This meeting assumes significance at a time when New Delhi has openly backed a bilateral deal with the US — a significant change in its position. US President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed India towards lowering import duties across sectors. Proliferation of issues with its lar...

SpiceJet  tumbled up to 7 per cent at Rs 105.8, also its 7-month low, on the BSE on Thursday after the budget carrier's loss widened in the September quarter at Rs 462 crore on the back of higher costs during a seasonally weak quarter. "The net loss of Rs 462.58 crore in the latest September quarter was mainly on account of inflated costs with respect to MAX grounding and a seasonally weak quarter," the airline said in a statement. The figure includes a loss of Rs 180.3 crore on account of accounting standard Ind AS 116, it added. All Boeing Max aircraft have been grounded worldwide since mid-March of this year, following two fatal crashes that killed over 300 people. SpiceJet, which has 13 B737 Max aircraft in its fleet, has claimed compensation from Boeing for the grounding. However, the process hasn’t been started by Boeing yet. The airline had claimed compensation of Rs 114 crore in the previous quarter, and is yet to receive the amount.  READ REPORT HERE T...

A cash crunch at HLL Biotech Ltd (HBL) has left the government enterprise falling short on fulfilling its mandate of making affordable vaccines for the country’s Universal Immunisation Programme. The liquidity crisis, which has resulted in HBL waiting for over Rs 300 crore in additional funds, has also made it difficult for the company to pay its employees since June,  The Indian Express  has learnt. Advertising This fund crunch also raises questions over HBL’s ability to act as a backup in the event that the country needs extra supply of oxytocin — a lifesaving pregnancy medicine that the Centre has been trying to ban private firms from making in India since 2018. HBL has been struggling financially as it awaits the execution of a proposed disinvestment of its parent firm HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL), pending which decisions on its requirement of additional funds have been stalled, as per sources. In the meantime, the firm’s Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC), te...

The Supreme Court has struck down rules framed by the government under Section 184 of the Finance Act, 2017, that gave it new powers relating to the appointment of tribunals and the terms under which they functioned.  The court, however, upheld the constitutional validity of the section and ordered that new rules should be framed. The court also ruled that the larger question of whether the rules relating to tribunals could be inserted into the Finance Bill should be heard by a larger constitutional bench. The Finance Act is what is called a money bill over which the Rajya Sabha has only limited recommendatory power. The ruling was made by a five-judge bench that included Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices N.V. Ramana, D.Y. Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. The majority verdict was written by CJI Gogoi for himself, Justice Ramana and Justice Khanna. A separate concurring judgement was written by Justice Chandrachud. The judges also ruled that...

ईरान के राष्ट्रपति ने वैश्विक ताकतों के साथ 2015 में हुए परमाणु सौदे को बचाए रखने के लिए एक नयी पेशकश की है जिसके तहत उसे अगले वर्ष से विदशों से हथियार खरीदने और दुनिया को हथियार बेचे जाने का मौका मिल सकता है। राष्ट्रपति हसन रूहानी ने ईरान के दक्षिण पश्चिम करमन प्रांत के रफसनजान में सोमवार को एक भाषण के दौरान ये टिप्पणियां की। रूहानी ने कहा, “अगर हम परमाणु सौदे को बचाए रखते हैं तो ईरान के हथियार प्रतिबंध को हटा लिया जाएगा और हम दुनिया से हथियार खरीद सकते हैं या उन्हें अपने हथियार बेच सकते हैं। यह सौदे के महत्त्वपूर्ण प्रभावों में से एक है।” हथियारों पर अमेरिका की ओर से लगाए गए प्रतिबंध पहले से ही ट्रंप प्रशासन के लिए चिंता का विषय बने हुए हैं। यह सब ऐसे समय में हो रहा है जब राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रंप ने पिछले साल एकपक्षीय तरीके से इस सौदे से अमेरिका को बाहर कर लिया था। उसके बाद से ही ईरान ने यूरोप पर दबाव बनाने के लिए सौदे के तहत लगी सीमाओं को तोड़ना शुरू कर दिया था। Reference: https://www.livehindustan.com/international/story-hassan-rouhani-trying-new-way-to-continue-iran-nu...

The  Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership  ( RCEP ) brings together the 10 countries of  ASEAN  in South East Asia, along with Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, China and until last week — India. These 16 countries account for over a third of world GDP and trade, and are collectively growing at a rate that is double the rest of the world. The Indian economy is large, but the rest of the RCEP is eight times its size. It is by far the most attractive market in the world today, and will be for the next 20 years. But, after protracted negotiations that began in 2012, India announced last week that it is not pursuing membership in the RCEP. The 15 remaining RCEP members are going ahead and have committed to signing an agreement early next year. They have kept the door open for India, and India has responded with a mixed message about “staying out” while being open to “offers” to join in. Advertising The world is full of various region...

A path-breaking cancer-treating device, developed in India, by an Indian scientist at the Bengaluru-based R&D facility of an American company, has just received approval from the US Food and Drugs Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health, under the Breakthrough Device Program. The machine provides non-invasive tissue engineering that can help treat solid tumours of the breast, liver and pancreas, and is also useful in pain relief and palliative care. Research by Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, at the Bengaluru-based Scalene Center for Advanced Research and Development, led to the invention of the Cytotron, a device that is based on quantum magnetic resonance therapy (QMRT). The body’s tumour suppression mechanism is reactivated non-invasively by QMRT by targeting calibrated doses of radio- or sub-radio frequency, non-ionising, non-thermal electromagnetic waves at the tumour site. This triggers the production of new tumour suppressing nucleoproteins that lead to ...

The Labour party on Monday reiterated its human rights-focussed perspective on Jammu and Kashmir, but hailed the contribution of the 1.5 million-strong Indian community in the UK to assuage feelings on the issue, as the December 12 election draws near. After Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in October signalled a rowing back in the face of anger in New Delhi and the community over the party’s recent resolution on Jammu and Kashmir widely considered anti-India, party chairman Ian Lavery released an open letter on the issue. He wrote: “The Labour party will not adopt any anti-India or anti-Pakistan position over Kashmir. We are motivated by our desire to protect human rights of all people in the current situation, and I am confident that this is a position you will share”. “Kashmir is a bilateral matter for India and Pakistan to resolve together by means of a peaceful solution which protects the human rights of the Kashmiri people and respects their right to have a say in their own...