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The Dawn June 24, 2020 A senior administration official told journalists the move would affect 525,000 jobs in the US, which is currently reeling from a high unemployment rate caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  Trump had repeatedly touted a strong economy, but now finds himself desperate for a political boost ahead of the November election.  The executive order, signed on Monday afternoon, will extend and widen the 60-day freeze Trump placed on new work permits for non-US citizens two months ago. The administration official said the new order would extend to the end of 2020 and include H-1B visas provided to 85,000 workers each year with special skills, many of them joining the US technology industry.  It will also cover most J visas, common for academics and researchers, and L visas used by companies to shift workers based overseas to their US offices.  Google CEO Sundar Pichai — whose company has been a leading beneficiary of the H1-B visa system — said...

The Firstpost June 24, 2020 Posted   By Jonathan Stempel A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday rejected Johnson & Johnson's bid to throw out a jury verdict in favor of women who blamed their ovarian cancer on its baby powder and other talc products, but reduced damages by more than half to $2.12 billion.  The Missouri Court of Appeals lowered the original $4.69 billion verdict from July 2018 after dismissing claims by some of the 22 women and their families who sued.  But it said the plaintiffs proved that J&J and an affiliate concealed for decades that its talc products contained asbestos, "worked tirelessly" to ensure that testing protocols would not detect asbestos in all talc samples, and published articles downplaying the safety hazards of talc.  "Plaintiffs proved with convincing clarity that defendants engaged in outrageous conduct because of an evil motive or reckless indifference," the court said. "There was significant reprehensi...

The Firstpost June 24, 2020 Posted by  David Lawder Conflicting talk from Trump administration officials about "decoupling" the U.S. economy from China is running into challenging reality: Chinese imports of U.S. goods are rising, investment by American companies into China continues, and markets are wary of separating the world's biggest economies. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro gave Asian markets a scare on Monday night by telling Fox News Channel that the U.S.-China trade deal was "over." U.S. stock futures dropped, the dollar rose, and volatility indices climbed. Navarro quickly backtracked on Monday night, saying he was referring to a lack of trust between the United States and China over the coronavirus outbreak. President Donald Trump also quickly tweeted that the deal was intact. On Tuesday, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow praised Beijing, telling Fox Business Network "they've actually picked up their game...

The Firstpost June 24, 2020 Posted by   Lucia Mutikani Sales of new U.S. single-family homes increased more than expected in May and business activity contracted moderately this month, suggesting the economy was on the cusp of recovering from the recession caused by the COVID-19 crisis. But a resurgence in confirmed coronavirus cases across the country threatens the nascent signs of improvement evident in Tuesday's economic data. Many states have reported record daily increases in COVID-19 infections, which health experts have blamed on local governments reopening their economies too soon. The economy has stabilized as businesses reopened after closing in mid-March to control the spread of the respiratory illness. "The renewed upsurge in COVID-19 cases across the South and the West poses a clear downside risk over the coming months but, with a second wave of state-wide lockdowns appearing unlikely for now, we are assuming this will act as a modest drag on the eco...

The Firstpost June 23, 2020 Over a week after the clashes at Ladakh's Galwan Valley between Indian and Chinese army personnel, the two countries have agreed to disengage forces along the disputed stretch of the Line of Actual Control. While efforts are still on to further defuse tensions, Russia appears to be playing a key role in brokering peace. Indian officials have been in touch with the Russian government both before the 15 June clashes and afterwards. On 5 June, when tensions along the LAC were increasingly becoming apparent, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had “updated” Russian Ambassador Nikolay Kudashev on the recent developments on the issue. Two days after the clashes, Indian Ambassador to Russia D Bala Venkatesh Varma also spoke to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.  The Indian Express  quoted a statement by the Russian foreign ministry as saying that the officials "discussed regional security, including developm...

The Indian Express June 24, 2020 Posted by Mohmad Thaver There have been more than 40,000 cyber probes or searches for vulnerabilities in the Indian cyberspace in the last five days, originating from Chengdu city in China’s Sichuan province, according to the Maharashtra Police cyber wing. Most of these searches were targeted at the infrastructure, information technology and banking sectors, according to the cyber wing. “We have collated information on cyber attacks and found that suddenly, there have been a large number of attacks on India’s cyber resources like infrastructure, IT and banking sectors. Majority of these attacks are from Chengdu city,” IG (Cyber) Yashasvi Yadav said. As per the data we have, there have been around 40,300 probes in the last four to five days,” Yadav said, adding that these searches were primarily classified under three categories. An advisory issued by the Maharashtra cyber wing on Tuesday stated that a fake email ID could be used for ...

The Indian Express June 24, 2020 Posted by Nalin Surie In one fell swoop, China, with Xi Jinping in the core leadership position of the CPC and with ultimate responsibility as the Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, has effectively destroyed the edifice of bilateral relations so painstakingly built post the Chinese aggression of 1962. Hubris, internal insecurities in China, the COVID-19 pandemic and the complex and confused external environment have led to caution being thrown to the winds. Perhaps, the anticipated medium and long-term competition posed by India from the ideological, strategic and economic points of view began to loom larger and Beijing felt that this was a good opportunity to once again assert its self- proclaimed territorial claims in Ladakh. That may have been a grave error of judgement. Military adventures like the recent barbaric one unleashed by the Chinese in Galwan have a habit of ending up with nasty surprises. Paral...

The Indian Express June 24, 2020 Posted by Shubhajit Roy India on Tuesday asked Pakistan to reduce the strength of its High Commission in New Delhi by half, and said it would do the same at its own mission in Islamabad within a week. The last time a 50 per cent downgrade of the two High Commissions took place was in December 2001. Following the terrorist attack on Parliament, then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had asked for the reduction in strength to be completed within 48 hours. Tuesday’s move by India came after two Indian High Commission staffers were detained by Pakistani authorities for several hours on June 15, and released only after New Delhi lodged a protest. India had last month expelled two officials of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi for spying. Ten months ago, Pakistan had downgraded bilateral ties after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370. India had retaliated, and both countries had withdrawn...

Reuters Small and mid-sized businesses around the world are being hit hardest by the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and about a fifth say they risk shutting down permanently within three months, a survey by the International Trade Centre (ITC) showed on Monday. "The lockdown has led to major revenue drops for most and the survival of many is at stake," the 176-page report released by the Geneva-based ITC, a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. In its global business impact survey of thousands of companies in 132 countries between April and June, nearly two-thirds of micro and small firms said they were "strongly affected" by the impact of lockdowns versus 43 percent of large ones. bout 1/5 of small and medium firms (SMEs) said they risked shutting down permanently within three months, it showed. The findings could implications for global employment since small businesses are the biggest employers.  "With the majority ...

Zee News Besides keeping the Indian security forces deployed at the border to safeguard the Indian territory from outside forces, India can adopt these three measures - surveillance, communication, and population to save its land from getting occupied. In the current scenario when China is trying to get inside the Ladakh territory claiming it to be its own land, both the countries are holding Corps Commander-level meetings at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to discuss the ongoing dispute. But India still needs to be prepared to deal with any kind of scenario as last week as many as 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in the face-off in the Galwan Valley after an attempt by the Chinese troops to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation in eastern Ladakh. The good use of technology can give a strong hand to India in fighting the battle. Just like the Israeli army, India can set up night-vision cameras to monitor movement, us...

The Hindu June 22, 2020 On the night of June 15, India faced the most serious national security crisis since the Kargil War in 1999. 20 Indian soldiers and an undeclared number of Chinese troops were killed in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh during a clash between Indian and Chinese troops. This occurred following a build-up along the Line of Actual Control or LAC after the violent scuffle at Pangong Tso on May 5. Both sides continue to retain a large number of troops in the general Galwan area. Here is a timeline of the latest stand-off on the LAC: On the intervening night of May 5 and May 6, Indian and Chinese troops had a scuffle at Pangong Tso in Ladakh. This resulted in injuries in large numbers on both sides. Over 70 Indian Army personnel including a Commanding Officer were injured. A clash between troops took place at Naku La in North Sikkim on May 9 resulting in injuries on both sides. On May 18, China accused India of "tresspass" and buildi...

The Hindu June 22, 2020 India can potentially reduce its trade deficit with China by $8.4 billion over FY21-22, which is equivalent to 17.3% of the deficit with China and 0.3% of India’s GDP, Acuité Ratings & Research said in a study. Reference:  https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/india-can-reduce-trade-deficit-with-china-by-84-bn-study/article31893193.ece

The Indian Express June 23, 2020 Posted by Vijay Gokhale At a time when China’s pre-meditated military moves along our northern boundary are drawing the nation’s attention, it is important that we don’t lose sight of our surrounding seas. Our navy has interdicted Chinese maritime research and survey vessels that entered our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf (CS) without our prior consent in 2018 and 2019. India has legislation (Act No. 80/1976) that requires foreign marine scientific vessels to seek licence prior to undertaking activities. The Chinese claim that they are serving the interests of global scientific research. That may well be one purpose; but it is well-known that China uses civilian research vessels to gather crucial oceanographic data, such as sub-sea and sea-bed conditions, for military purposes. It has done so in the South China Sea without heed to protests by claimant states or international law. To put this into perspective, one rec...