Trump upbeat after conversation with Mexican President

January 28, 2017

Washington, Jan 28: US President Donald Trump said he had a “very good” telephonic conversation with his Mexican counterpart Enrique Peña Nieto amid a diplomatic spat over Washington's plans for a border wall. During a joint press conference with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, Trump confirmed that he and the Mexican president spoke for nearly an hour, Efe news reported. “It was a very, very friendly call,” Trump said. “We are going to be working on a fair relationship, a new relationship,” the US president said. “We are going to be renegotiating our trade deals.”

dtmaxThe conversation came a day after Peña Nieto cancelled a planned visit to Washington in response to Trump's signing an executive order to initiate his promised border wall and insisting again that Mexico would ultimately pay for the barrier. Peña Nieto's office issued a statement on Friday confirming the phone call and saying that the two presidents agreed to resolve their differences over the wall as part comprehensive discussions about all aspects of the bilateral relationship.

Trump and Peña Nieto also resolved to instruct their respective staffs not to make any further public comments about the issue of the wall, according to the Mexican government statement. On Wednesday, the US president signed several executive orders affecting immigration, including one that assigns federal funds for the construction of the border wall.

In an interview with ABC News later that day, Trump said that while the US government would pay the initial construction costs, Mexico would ultimately reimburse Washington. Peña Nieto has repeatedly insisted that Mexico will not foot the bill for the wall and did so again on Wednesday. In a series of tweets on Thursday, Trump said Mexico should pay for the wall because it had long benefited from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at Americans' expense.

Citing the persistent US trade deficit with its southern neighbor, he said it would be better to cancel his January 31 meeting with Peña Nieto if Mexico refused to defray the cost of the wall. Within hours of Trump's tweets, Peña Nieto announced that he would not be travelling to Washington, though the US leader described the cancellation as a mutual decision.

“The president of Mexico and myself have agreed to cancel our planned meeting scheduled for next week,” Trump said Thursday during a gathering with congressional Republicans in Philadelphia. “Unless Mexico is going to treat the US fairly, with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless and I want to go a different route. We have no choice,” the president said.

Later Thursday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that Trump intended to impose a 20 per cent tax on imports from Mexico to cover the cost of the wall. The tax, however, cannot be immediately levied because of NAFTA, the 1994 accord linking the US, Canada and Mexico that the president has repeatedly criticized as a destroyer of American jobs.

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News Network
February 27,2020

Washington, Feb 27: President Donald Trump has said that the US' relationship with India is "extraordinary" right now and a lot of progress was made in bilateral ties during his maiden official visit to the country where America will be doing a lot of business.

Talking to reporters, after his return from India on Wednesday, Trump said, "He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is a great gentleman, a great leader. It's an incredible country."

President Trump visited India from February 24 to 25. He was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and the top brass of his administration, including national security advisor Robert O'Brien.

They visited Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi before leaving for Washington on Tuesday.

During his stay, he addressed a massive rally in Ahmedabad, visited Agra and held official meetings in New Delhi.

The US President was feted at the world's largest cricket stadium in the "Namaste Trump" event in Ahmedabad and was cheered by tens of thousands of people.

"We were treated very, very well and we really enjoyed it. A lot of tremendous progress was made in terms of relationship - our relationship with India is extraordinary right now," he said.

"We are going to be doing a lot of business with India, they are sending billions and billions of dollars now to the United States," Trump said in response to a question.

In a tweet, his daughter Ivanka said that, Trump announced that US international development finance corporation "will establish a permanent presence in India to strengthen our economic ties, improve development plus further women's economic empowerment through WGDP (Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative)!"

On her arrival from India, she thanked PM Modi for "your warm hospitality as we visited your beautiful country and celebrated the strength, spirit and unity of the US and India!"

"Throughout our visit we saw monumental achievements of human creativity and proof of the infinite capacity of the human heart!" she said.

The first lady tweeted two pictures of her with Trump facing the Taj Mahal in Agra.

"One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the breathtaking Taj Mahal!" she said.

President Trump "reaffirmed the strong strategic partnership, vibrant economic ties and expanding security relationship between our two countries. Wonderful trip, but glad to be home! Thank you India!" said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

During the visit, India and the US on Tuesday finalised defence deals worth $3 billion under which 30 military helicopters will be procured from two American defence majors for Indian armed forces.

The deals will include procurement of 24 MH-60 Romeo helicopters by India from the US at a cost of $2.6 billion. Another contract to acquire six AH-64E Apache helicopters for $800 million from the US is also on the table.

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Agencies
January 20,2020

Wuhan, Jan 20: A 45-year-old Indian woman has become the first foreigner in China to have contracted a mysterious virus, which is suspected to be Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-like corona virus.

In 2002-2003, the SARS corona virus killed around 650 people in China and Hong Kong. This time, a new strain of virus with 62 cases have been reported in Wuhan and two in Shenzhen so far. 19 patients have been already cured and discharged, as per the Chinese media.

Official sources in Beijing said that the patient, Preeti Maheshwari, a school teacher at an international school, is undergoing treatment for the new strain of pneumonia outbreak, which has been spreading in two major cities of China - Wuhan and Shenzen. She has been on a ventilator in the intensive care unit.

Maheshwari was admitted to a local hospital after she seriously fell ill last Friday. Her husband, a businessman from Delhi, is allowed to visit her daily.

Following a second death due to the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, India on Friday issued an advisory to its nationals travelling to China. Over 500 Indian medical students are studying in Wuhan.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Balochistan, May 1: Sajid Hussain, Editor-in-Chief of Balochistan Times, has been found dead in a Swedish town, the police have confirmed.

The Swedish police informed his family on Thursday night that they discovered his body from a river in Uppsala, The Times reported.
The Baloch journalist had been missing from the Swedish city since March 2 this year.

Sajid, 39, left Pakistan in 2012 and had been living as a refugee in Sweden since 2017. He wrote extensively on the suffering of the Balochis at the hands of the Pakistani military establishment.

His work often got him into trouble as the authorities did not like his reporting of Balochistan's forbidden stories, the reason he had to leave and live in exile.

The Baloch journalist was found dead two months after he went missing in Sweden.
Sajid left Pakistan because of security threats from Pakistan Army and its intelligence service ISI.

The spokesperson of the Baloch National Movement, Hammal Haider told news agency: "We are deeply saddened by the demise of prominent Baloch intellectual and writer Sajid Hussain."
"His death is indeed a loss of a great mind for the people of Balochistan. Due to his straightforwardness, he was loved among all journalistic, literary and political circles," added Haider.

"After this incident, we have serious concerns about our members and other Baloch refugees living in the West," he said.

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