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The Hindu: January 15, 2020 The World Health Organisation has endorsed TrueNat, an indigenous molecular diagnostic tool for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis. The disease remains a threat to public health and is the top infectious cause of death globally. In 2018, an estimated 10 million people developed TB and 1.5 million died of it while at least a million children become ill with it every year. Also about 5,00,000 new cases of multidrug 2 and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB) are estimated to emerge annually but only one in three cases was reported by countries to have been diagnosed and treated in 2018. WHO has noted that since the approval of Xpert MTB/RIF in 2010, significant additional evidence has been generated on its use as initial test for the diagnosis and rifampicin-resistant TB. “In recent months new data on the use of Xpert and on the latest version TrueNat MTB and MTB Plus system have also become available. WHO commissioned a systematic review of...

The Hindu: January 15, 2020 Firebrand Iraqi leader Moqtada Sadr called on Tuesday for a peaceful “million-strong march” against US troops in Iraq, days after parliament urged their departure following Washington's killing of an Iranian general in a drone strike. Further upping the pressure on the American deployment, Katyusha rockets on Tuesday night targeted an Iraqi airbase north of Baghdad where US-led coalition forces are based, in the latest attack on American forces in the country. “The skies, land and sovereignty of Iraq are being violated every day by occupying forces,” Mr. Sadr, a populist Shia politician and cleric, wrote on Twitter. He urged Iraqis to hold “a million-strong, peaceful, unified demonstration to condemn the American presence and its violations”, without giving a date. Washington on January 3 killed Iran's revered Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani in a Baghdad drone strike that also killed a senior Iraqi military official. The ...

The Economic Times:  Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury: January 14, 2020 New Delhi: India and the US are preparing for President Donald Trump’s maiden visit to India in the last week of February, as the two sides look to seal a trade deal with limited scope ahead of US presidential polls. A trade deal with India and China can boost Trump's prospects as he seeks reelection. The two sides are exploring the dates for the big visit in the last week of February. However, the timing of Trump’s visit will depend on the duration of the Senate impeachment trial, which is expected to begin this week. ET had reported in November that Trump could visit India in early 2020, before the presidential election calendar gets underway in the US. The contours of the visit could be discussed when principal deputy assistant secretary of state Alice Wells visits India this week. Other senior State Department officials will visit India in a few weeks. he visits of Indian foreign and defence ministers t...

Firstpost: FP Staff: January 15, 2020 Two decades since the 'Black Cats' — National Security Guard (NSG) commandos — were enlisted for VIP protection duties, the Centre on Monday decided to completely withdraw the elite counter-terror force from the task, and direct the personnel into the counter-terrorism and anti-hijack operations the force had been originally conceptualised to tackle. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is of the view that the NSG commandos should concentrate on its original charter of handling specific tasks of counter-terrorism and anti-hijack operations and that the task of securing high-risk VIPs was proving to be a "burden" on its limited and special capabilities, PTI reported. "The NSG needs to go back to its original mandate of counter-terror and anti-hijack. That is the reason behind the latest move," a senior official in the security establishment said. The removal of VIP security duties from the NSG will result in f...

First post: Reuters: January 15, 2020 The US Treasury Department on Monday dropped its designation of China as a currency manipulator days before top officials of the world’s two largest economies were due to sign a preliminary trade agreement to ease an 18-month-old tariff war. The widely expected decision came in a long-delayed semi-annual currency report, reversing an unexpected move by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last August at the height of US-China trade tensions. Mnuchin had accused China of deliberately holding down the value of its yuan currency to create an unfair trade advantage, just hours after President Donald Trump, angered at the lack of progress in trade negotiations, had also accused China of manipulating its currency. The Treasury Department had not labeled China a currency manipulator since 1994. Beijing had recently met just one of the department’s three criteria needed for such a designation - a large bilateral trade surplus with the United...

Firstpost: PTI: January 15, 2020 Private sector lender IndusInd Bank on Tuesday posted 32 percent rise in net profit to Rs 1,300.20 crore for December quarter, 2019-20. The bank had registered a profit of Rs 985.03 crore in the year-ago period. Total income during the period under review increased to Rs 9,073.93 crore from Rs 7,232.32 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal, IndusInd Bank said in a regulatory filing. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 2.18 percent of the total advances at the end of December quarter of the current fiscal as against 1.13 percent by the end of same period a year ago. Net NPAs increased to 1.05 percent in the quarter from 0.59 percent of the total assets in the year-ago period. IndusInd Bank stock was trading at Rs 1,528.80, down 0.76 percent, on the BSE. Link:  https://www.firstpost.com/business/indusind-bank-october-december-quarter-net-profit-up-32-at-rs-1300-cr-gross-npas-rise-to-2-18-7904551.html ...