Committed to support India's fight against black money: Swiss prez

Agencies
September 2, 2017

New Delhi, Sept 2: Switzerland President Doris Leuthard has said the country is committed to supporting India's fight against black money through exchange of related information. She said this last night during a ceremony at the Swiss Embassy here to launch celebrations commemorating the 70th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"India is a good friend. In these seven decades, we have listened to each other, given advice, and learned from each other. This is the foundation on which a relationship stands today," Leuthard said.

"And, Switzerland is committed to supporting India's fight against black money through exchange of related information and this year we await the approval in our Parliament," she said.

The Swiss president during her four-day India visit held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a wide range of issues, including combating black money and cooperation in several sectors.

The 70th year celebrations will be held till 2018. As part of the inaugural event, Leuthard, on the last leg of her trip, felicitated several "Friendship Ambassador" from both the countries, including noted economist M S Swaminathan, during the function at the Embassy.

She also emphasised on the business ties of the two countries, saying over 250 Swiss companies are operating in India, while 140 Indian firms have presence in Switzerland.

"Our trade volume is growing and various sectors on which we can collaborate more and work together are railways, design, film and tourism," she said.

"I thank you (India) for your friendship," the Swiss president said. Two short films on opportunities in Switzerland and its culture and 70 years of journey of the two nations were also screened on the occasion.

Ambassadors from several countries, representatives from the business, art and other sectors were also among those who attended the event hosted at the sprawling garden of the Embassy.

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News Network
July 11,2020

Geneva, Jul 11: The World Health Organization said Friday that it is still possible to bring coronavirus outbreaks under control, even though case numbers have more than doubled in the past six weeks.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the examples of Italy, Spain, South Korea and India's biggest slum showed that however bad a outbreak was, the virus could still be reined in through aggressive action.

"In the last six weeks cases have more than doubled," Tedros told a virtual press conference in Geneva.

However, "there are many examples from around the world that have shown that even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control," said Tedros.

"And some of these examples are Italy, Spain and South Korea, and even in Dharavi -- a densely packed area in the megacity of Mumbai -- a strong focus on community engagement and the basics of testing, tracing, isolating and treating all those that are sick is key to breaking the chains of transmission and suppressing the virus."

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 555,000 people worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Friday.

Nearly 12.3 million cases have been registered in 196 countries and territories.

"Across all walks of life, we are all being tested to the limit," Tedros said, "from countries where there is exponential growth, to places that are loosening restrictions and now starting to see cases rise.

"Only aggressive action combined with national unity and global solidarity can turn this pandemic around."

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Mexico City, Aug 1: The number of people, who have died of COVID-19 in Mexico, has risen by 688 to 46,688 within the past 24 hours, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said.

The number of victims in Mexico is now higher than in the United Kingdom, where 46,119 people have died of the disease. The largest number of fatalities - 153,311 - has been recorded in the United States, while Brazil comes second with 92,475 deaths.

Lopez-Gatell also said on late Friday that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases had increased by 8,458 to 424,637 over the past day.

A day earlier, the Latin American nation recorded 7,730 new cases of the coronavirus, with 639 fatalities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, over 17.5 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 677,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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Agencies
July 17,2020

Washington, Jul 17: US President Donald Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow has said that TikTok may cut off ties to its Chinese parent and become a 100 per cent American company to circumvent demands to ban it as India has done.

"I think TikTok is going to pull out of the holding company which is China-run and operate as an independent American company," he told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

The US has not made a final decision on whether to ban it - which has been suggested by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he said.

TikTok being divested by ByteDance Technology Company "is a much better solution than banning or pushing away", said Kudlow, who is the Director of the National Economic Council.

He said that its services will be located in the US and "it will become an hundred per cent American company".

If it becomes a US company without Chinese links, India may have to reconsider the ban on the short video app wildly popular in the country.

India banned TikTok along with 58 other Chinese apps on June 29 citing threats to its defence and national security.

The ban came after a deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

Under Beijing's National Security Law, all Chinese companies have to provide intelligence requested by the government, creating risks for users and their countries.

India was TikTok's biggest market outside of China, where it operates as Douyin.

There were about 200 million users in India and over 300 million downloads.

The US comes next with over 30 million users for the app.

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