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Biden and Xi are meeting in San Francisco, seeking better US-China relations despite tough issues

Endrit Pjetri
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Biden and Xi are meeting in San Francisco, seeking better US-China relations despite tough issues

Biden and Xi are meeting in San Francisco, seeking better US-China relations despite tough issues

BY AAMER MADHANI, COLLEEN LONG AND DIDI TANG

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping head into their big meeting at a country estate on Wednesday hoping to stabilize U.S.-China relations after a period of tumult, but the U.S. president also is prepared to confront his counterpart on difficult issues such as trade, Beijing’s burgeoning relationship with Iran and human rights concerns.

The two leaders, who will meet on the sidelines of a summit of Asian-Pacific leaders, last spoke a year ago. Since then, already fraught ties between the two nations have been further strained by the U.S. downing of a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the continental U.S. and over differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, China’s hacking of a Biden official’s emails and other incidents.

The outcome of the talks between two leaders who have known each other for decades could have far-reaching implications for an anxious world that is grappling with global economic cross currents from the pandemic, wars in the Middle East and Europe, upcoming elections in Taiwan and more.

READ MORE : Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught US-China relations

The two presidents are in California for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, but they will be meeting one-on-one at Filoli Estate, a country house and museum about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco, according to three senior administration officials. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the location, which had not yet been confirmed by the White House or the Chinese government due to tight security.

Both men are seeking to show the world that while the U.S. and China are economic competitors, they are not locked in a winner-take-all faceoff.

Biden is expected to let Xi know that he would like China to use its sway over Iran to make clear that Tehran or its proxies should not take action that could lead to expansion of the Israel-Hamas war. The Biden administration also sees the Chinese, a big buyer of Iranian oil, as having considerable leverage with Iran, which is a major backer of Hamas.

Biden on Tuesday billed the meeting as a chance to get Washington and Beijing back “on a normal course corresponding” once again.

But White House National Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden was “not going to be afraid to confront where confrontation is needed on issues where we don’t see eye to eye.”

“We’re also not going to be afraid, nor should we be afraid, as a confident nation, to engage in diplomacy on ways which we can cooperate with China — on climate change, for instance, and clean energy technology,” Kirby said.

Biden will be focused on managing the countries’ increasingly fierce economic competition and keeping open lines of communication to prevent misunderstandings that could lead to direct conflict between the two powers.

While he’s expected to defend U.S. expansion of export controls on semiconductor chips, he also will assure Xi that the U.S. is not trying to wage economic war with Beijing amid continuing signs that China’s economy is struggling to recover from the disruptions of the pandemic.

Xi, meanwhile, is looking for assurances from Biden that the U.S. will not support Taiwan independence, start a new cold war or suppress China’s economic growth. He’s also keen to show the U.S. that China is still a good place to invest.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that during a recent visit to Beijing, he and other lawmakers made the case directly to Xi that he could bolster China’s reputation in the U.S. and around the globe by taking action to stop the flow of chemicals used to produce fentanyl.

“It is reported he’s very worried about the negative opinion of China in the United States,” Schumer said. “And I told him nothing could help raise China’s image a little bit in the United States more than stopping the flow of fentanyl.”

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Associated Press journalist Sagar Meghani in Washington contributed to this report.

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India superstar Virat Kohli makes history at Cricket World Cup with record 50th ODI century

Roshan Bilung
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India superstar Virat Kohli makes history at Cricket World Cup with record 50th ODI century

India superstar Virat Kohli makes history at Cricket World Cup with record 50th ODI century

BY CHETAN NARULA

MUMBAI, India (AP) — For Virat Kohli, his latest record-breaking moment couldn’t have been scripted any better.

As he got up off his knees, removed his helmet and took in the acclaim of the Mumbai crowd after reaching his record 50th ODI century, the India superstar looked up to his wife — movie actress Anushka Sharma — and blew her kisses.

He bowed toward Sachin Tendulkar, his cricketing hero and the man whose record he’d just broken inside the Wankhede stadium.

READ MORE : Ravindra Jadeja credits Virat Kohli for gritty hundred on tough wicket

Before long, he’d be congratulated by soccer icon David Beckham, who couldn’t have timed his first trip to India any better.

“If I could paint the perfect picture,” Kohli said, “I would want this to be the picture.”

Kohli hit his landmark hundred in the Cricket World Cup semifinals against New Zealand on Wednesday, continuing his dominance of a tournament he is making his own.

There’ve been unbeaten knocks of 103 against Bangladesh and 101 against South Africa but this innings of 117 was the most special, breaking a record many believed was there to stay.

The 50-year-old Tendulkar, the highest run-scorer in ODI and test cricket, had scored his 49 ODI centuries in 452 innings. Kohli, remarkably, has overtaken that landmark in 279 innings and in his 291st ODI.

Tendulkar was his childhood cricket idol. In 2011, Tendulkar carried Kohli on his shoulders around the Wankhede after India won its second World Cup title.

So no wonder Kohli was emotional Wednesday after flicking New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson to backward square leg for two runs to bring up his hundred. He raised his arms aloft while leaping high, then sank to his knees and looked to the sky.

“To witness a piece of history with the atmosphere today, it’s goose bumps,” said Beckham, who is in India in his role as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and was taking in his first Cricket World Cup game. “Before the match even started, you walk out here and feel there’s something special happening.

“I’m lucky to be here.”

Kohli called it the “stuff of dreams.”

“My life partner, the person I love the most, she is sitting there,” he said. “My hero, he is sitting there. I was able to get the 50th in front of all of them in this historic venue.”

The 35-year-old Kohli, nicknamed “The King” in India and arguably the world’s most famous cricketer, is 15 years into his ODI career.

He scored his first hundred in the format — 107 off 114 balls — against Sri Lanka at Kolkata in December 2009 and rose to stardom with 133 not out off 86 balls against Sri Lanka at Hobart in a tri-series also involving Australia.

He scored a career-high 183 against Pakistan in 2012 then notched the fastest-ever ODI hundred for an Indian batter — off just 52 balls — against Australia at Jaipur in October 2013.

While Kohli has scored three hundreds in the current tournament, he had previously made only two hundreds in his three previous World Cups.

He finished the group stage as the top run-scorer in the tournament with 594 and averaging exactly 99. That figure is now up to 101.57.

“All this for me feels like a dream, honestly,” Kohli said. “It’s too good to be true. I never thought I’d be here in my career.

“Big game today and I had to play the role I’ve played throughout the tournament so the guys around me can go and express themselves. Just glad that everything has come together so nicely.”

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Finland considers closing border crossings with Russia to stem an increase in asylum-seekers

Shasi Kumar
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Finland considers closing border crossings with Russia to stem an increase in asylum-seekers

Finland considers closing border crossings with Russia to stem an increase in asylum-seekers

BY JARI TANNER

HELSINKI (AP) — The government in Finland is considering whether to close some crossing points on the country’s long border with Russia to prevent people from trying to enter without proper documentation, the Nordic nation’s interior minister and prime minister said Tuesday.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said the number of migrants at Finland’s southeastern border crossings has risen substantially since August due to what the government suspects is a change in Russia’s border policy and enforcement.

Finnish and Russian border authorities have for years cooperated in stopping people without the necessary visas or passports before they can attempt to enter either of the two countries. But Russia has started allowing undocumented travelers to access the border zone and enter crossing stations where they can request asylum in Finland, Rantanen said.

READ MORE : Illegal border crossings into the US drop in October after a 3-month streak of increases

“It is clear that these people get help to get to the border. This seems like a very conscious decision,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters. “The government’s message is clear: We must take this seriously and safeguard the security of our border.”

The number of migrants showing up at the Finland-Russia border so far has remained small, with 71 arriving last week, Finnish border authorities said. About half were from Iraq and the rest from countries that included Syria, Yemen, Turkey and Somalia, they said.

Rantanen was unable to explain why Moscow’s border policy suddenly changed.

“Maybe (Russian officials) are annoyed by something in Finland`s activities. You have to ask the Russian authorities about that,” she said. “We do hope that Russia changes its policy back as it was before.”

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Finland applied to join NATO and became the Western military alliance’s 31st member in April.

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen accused Russia of deliberately ushering migrants toward the border zone as a type of “hybrid warfare.” Officials in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have made the same allegation against Belarus in recent years.

Häkkänen said he would inform NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the European Union about the situation. Finland’s 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia serves as the EU’s external border and NATO’s eastern flank.

Thousands of migrants, also mainly from the Middle East, attempted to cross Finland’s northernmost border crossing with Russia in 2015-2016.

——

Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

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Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron makes shock return to UK government as foreign secretary

Shasi Kumar
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Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron makes shock return to UK government as foreign secretary

Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron makes shock return to UK government as foreign secretary

BY JILL LAWLESS

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister David Cameron made an unexpected return to high office on Monday, becoming foreign secretary in a major shakeup of the Conservative government that also saw the firing of divisive Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed Cameron, who led the U.K. government between 2010 and 2016 and triggered the country’s exit from the European Union, as part of a Cabinet shuffle in which he also sacked Braverman and named James Cleverly, who had been foreign secretary, to replace her.

Braverman, a law-and-order hardliner, drew anger for accusing police of being too lenient with pro-Palestinian protesters. Sunak made additional changes to the government throughout the day, naming Victoria Atkins as the new health secretary and moving her predecessor, Steve Barclay, to the environment portfolio.

READ MORE : US, Japan, South Korea defence chiefs to share North Korea missile data in December

The bold changes are an attempt by Sunak to reset his faltering government. The Conservatives have been in power for 13 years, but opinion polls for months have put them 15 to 20 points behind the opposition Labour Party amid a stagnating economy, persistently high inflation, an overstretched health care system and a wave of public sector strikes.

Cameron’s appointment came as a surprise to seasoned politics-watchers. It’s rare for a non-lawmaker to take a senior government post, and it has been decades since a former prime minister held a Cabinet job.

The government said Cameron had been appointed to Parliament’s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords. The last foreign secretary to serve in the Lords, rather than the elected House of Commons, was Peter Carrington, who was part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s.

Cameron, 57, said Britain was “facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East.”

The Prime Minister has asked me to serve as his Foreign Secretary and I have gladly accepted, David Cameron tweets

“While I have been out of front-line politics for the last seven years, I hope that my experience — as Conservative leader for 11 years and prime minister for six — will assist me in helping the prime minister to meet these vital challenges,” he said in a statement.

Cameron’s foreign policy legacy is mixed. As prime minister, he backed NATO-led military intervention in Libya in 2011 that toppled Moammar Gadhafi and deepened that country’s chaos. In 2013, he tried and failed to gain Parliament’s backing for U.K. airstrikes against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria. He also announced a short-lived “golden era” in U.K.-China relations shortly before that relationship soured.

And he will be forever remembered as the unwitting author of Brexit, a rupture that roiled Britain’s politics, economy and place in the world. Cameron called a 2016 EU membership referendum, confident the country would vote to stay in the bloc. He resigned the day after voters opted to leave.

Bronwen Maddox, director of international affairs think-tank Chatham House, said Cameron “will bring undoubted strengths into the top team and to the U.K.’s relationships abroad,” where many will welcome “a heavyweight and moderate foreign secretary.”

“The concern must be, however, that these could be outweighed by the controversial legacy he brings too,” she said.

Sunak was a strong backer of the winning “leave” side in the referendum. But his decision to appoint Cameron and dismiss Braverman is likely to infuriate the Conservative Party’s right wing and inflame tensions in the party that Sunak has sought to soothe.

Prominent right-wing lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said sacking Braverman was “a mistake, because Suella understood what the British voter thought and was trying to do something about it.”

Sunak had been under growing pressure to fire Braverman — a hard-liner popular with the party’s authoritarian wing — from one of the most senior jobs in government, responsible for handling immigration and policing.

In a highly unusual attack on the police last week, Braverman said London’s police force was ignoring lawbreaking by “pro-Palestinian mobs.” She described demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in Gaza as “hate marchers.”

On Saturday, far-right protesters scuffled with police and tried to confront a large pro-Palestinian march by hundreds of thousands through the streets of London. Critics accused Braverman of helping to inflame tensions.

Last week, Braverman wrote an article for the Times of London in which she said police “play favorites when it comes to protesters” and acted more leniently toward pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Black Lives Matter supporters than toward right-wing protesters or soccer hooligans.

The article was not approved in advance by the prime minister’s office, as would usually be the case.

Braverman said Monday that “it has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary,” adding that she would “have more to say in due course.”

Braverman, a 43-year-old lawyer, has become a leader of the party’s populist wing by advocating ever-tougher curbs on migration and a war on human rights protections, liberal social values and what she has called the “tofu-eating wokerati.” Last month she called migration a “hurricane” that would bring “millions more immigrants to these shores, uncontrolled and unmanageable.”

As home secretary, Braverman championed the government’s stalled plan to send asylum-seekers who arrive in Britain in boats on a one-way trip to Rwanda. A U.K. Supreme Court ruling on whether the policy is legal is due on Wednesday.

Critics say Braverman has been building her profile to position herself for a party leadership contest that could come if the Conservatives lose power in an election expected next year.

Last month Sunak tried to paint his government as a force of change, saying he would break a “30-year status quo” that includes the governments of Cameron and other Conservative predecessors.

“A few weeks ago, Rishi Sunak said David Cameron was part of a failed status quo. Now he’s bringing him back as his life raft,” said Labour lawmaker Pat McFadden.

As well as bringing about Brexit, Cameron’s government imposed years of public-spending cuts after the 2008 global financial crisis that have frayed the country’s welfare system and state-funded health service. After leaving office he was caught up in a scandal over his lobbying for Greensill Capital, a financial services firm that later collapsed.

Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Cameron’s appointment was a sign of the government’s “desperation.”

“It’s difficult to believe that this is going to impress voters, whether they are convinced Brexiteers who despise David Cameron for being a remainer or convinced remainers who despise David Cameron for holding and losing a referendum,” Bale said.

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Taiwan plans to hire 1 lakh Indian workers While China Tensions Brew

Shasi Kumar
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Taiwan plans to hire 1 lakh Indian workers While China Tensions Brew

Taiwan plans to hire 1 lakh Indian workers While China Tensions Brew

NEW DELHI (BLOOMBERG) – India is forging closer economic ties with Taiwan with a plan to send tens of thousands of workers to the island as early as next month, according to senior officials familiar with the matter, potentially angering neighbor China.

Taiwan is looking to hire as many as 1 lakh Indian workers to fill labor shortages in factories, farms, and hospitals. The two sides are expected to sign an employment mobility agreement by as early as December, Bloomberg reported.

The move comes as Taiwan faces a shrinking workforce due to its low birth rate and aging population. The government is hoping that the influx of Indian workers will help to boost the economy and meet the needs of key industries. Taiwan is shown to become a ‘super aged’ society by 2025 as the elderly people comprise over a fifth of the population.

READ MORE : Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught US-China relations

The employment agreement, however, is expected to exacerbate geopolitical tensions with China, which opposes any official exchange with Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own. China shares a Himalayan border with India and is separated from Taiwan by a thin body of water. For the past two decades, it has also been India’s primary source of imports.

Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that the pact between India and Taiwan is currently in the final stages of negotiation.

In Taiwan, the unemployment rate has slumped to the lowest levels since 2000 and the recent decision has been taken in order to achieve and maintain the target of a $790 billion economy.

This comes as India is signing the employment pacts with developed countries facing aging workforces.
The employment mobility agreement will reportedly allow Indian workers to stay in Taiwan for up to three years and to bring their families with them. The workers will also be entitled to the same benefits as Taiwanese workers, such as minimum wage, social security, and paid leave.

According to the report, the Indian government has signed agreements with 13 countries, including Japan, France and the UK, and is in the process of making similar arrangements with the Netherlands, Greece, Denmark and Switzerland.

Report By Bloomberg and Busines today

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Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught US-China relations

Endrit Pjetri
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Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught US-China relations

Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught US-China relations

BY AAMER MADHANI AND COLLEEN LONG

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Wednesday in California for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught U.S.-Chinese relations in the first engagement in a year between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies.

The White House has said for weeks that it anticipated Biden and Xi would meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, but negotiations went down to the eve of the gathering, which kicks off Saturday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement the leaders would discuss the “continued importance of maintaining open lines of communication” and how the they “can continue to responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community.”

READ MORE : Yellen warns Beijing: Chinese firms aiding Russia face ‘significant consequences’

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday that Xi would attend APEC from Tuesday to Friday at Biden’s invitation and would take part in the U.S.-China summit.

Two senior Biden administration officials, who earlier briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said the leaders would meet in the San Francisco Bay area but declined to offer further details because of security concerns. Thousands of protesters are expected to descend on San Francisco during the summit.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met for a second day of talks on Friday in San Francisco, the latest in a string of senior level engagements between the nations in recent months aimed at easing tensions.

Yellen said that during the talks she emphasized that the U.S. seeks a healthy economic relationship with China. She called on China to crack down on private Chinese firms and financial institutions that the U.S. believes are skirting international sanction to do business with Russia and she raised concerns about Chinese export controls on graphite in other critical minerals. Graphite is a key raw material in electric vehicle batteries.

Yellen, who visited China in July, said she accepted an invitation to make a return trip to Beijing next year.

“There is no substitute for in-person diplomacy,” said Yellen, who added that she believed the two laid the groundwork for a productive meeting between Biden and Xi. “During our discussions, we agreed in-depth and frank discussions matter, particularly when we disagree.”

The Biden-Xi meeting is not expected to lead to many, if any, major announcements, and differences between the two powers certainly won’t be resolved. Instead, one official said, Biden is looking toward “managing the competition, preventing the downside risk of conflict and ensuring channels of communication are open.” The officials said they believed it would be Xi’s first visit to San Francisco since he was a young Communist Party leader.

The agenda includes no shortage of difficult issues.

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng’s yesterday meeting’s Photo. Source : @SecYellen

Differences in the already complicated U.S.-Chinese relationship have only sharpened in the last year, with Beijing bristling over new U.S. export controls on advanced technology; Biden ordering the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon after it traversed the continental United States; and Chinese anger over a stopover in the U.S. by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen earlier this year, among other issues. China claims the island as its territory.

Biden will also likely press Xi on using China’s influence on North Korea, during heightened anxiety over an increased pace of ballistic missile tests by North Korea as well as Pyongyang providing munitions to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

The Democratic president is also expected to let Xi know that he would like China to use its burgeoning sway over Iran to make clear that Tehran or its proxies should not take action that could lead to expansion of the Israel-Hamas war. His administration believes the Chinese, a big buyer of Iranian oil, have considerable leverage with Iran, which is a major backer of Hamas.

Biden and Xi last met nearly a year ago on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. In the nearly three-hour meeting, Biden objected directly to China’s ”coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward Taiwan and discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other issues. Xi stressed that “the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations.”

The Chinese foreign ministry said this time Biden and Xi would focus on “in-depth communications on the strategic, overall and directional issues of the China-US relations as well as major issues concerning world peace and development.”

Next week’s meeting comes as the United States braces for a potentially bumpy year for U.S.-Chinese relations, with Taiwan set to hold a presidential election in January and the U.S. holding its own presidential election next November.

Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make the island’s decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step U.S. leaders say they don’t support. Under the “One China” policy, the U.S. recognizes Beijing as the government of China and doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it has maintained that Taipei is an important partner in the Indo-Pacific. Biden intends to reaffirm the U.S. wants no change in the status quo, one official said.

The officials also said Biden would underscore U.S. commitment to the Philippines, following a recent episode in which Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested shoal in the South China Sea.

The Philippines and other neighbors of China are resisting Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims over virtually the entire sea.

“I want to be very clear,” Biden said in October. “The United States’ defense commitment to the Philippines is iron clad.”

Both sides appeared to be carefully considering security for the meeting, declining to publicize the venue of the much-anticipated talks.

Thousands of people protesting climate destruction, corporate practices, the Israel-Hamas war and other issues are expected to descend on San Francisco during the summit.

San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott said his department expects several protests a day but doesn’t know which ones will materialize where and when. He said the city respects people’s right to mobilize peacefully but will not tolerate property destruction, violence or any other crime.

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Associated Press writers Janie Har and Michael Liedtke in San Francisco, Fatima Hussein in Washington and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed reporting.

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Yellen warns Beijing: Chinese firms aiding Russia face ‘significant consequences’

Kyung An
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Yellen warns Beijing: Chinese firms aiding Russia face ‘significant consequences’

Yellen warns Beijing: Chinese firms aiding Russia face ‘significant consequences’

By David Lawder and Ann Saphir

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said the U.S. government had seen evidence that Chinese firms may be aiding in the flow of equipment to Russia’s war effort despite Western sanctions, and said she had urged China to crack down.

Yellen said she raised the issue during two days of meetings with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, expressing concern that equipment “helpful to Russia’s military” was evading sanctions and getting to Moscow to aid its war against Ukraine.

READ MORE : US and India reaffirm security ties as their top diplomats and defense officials hold talks

“I stressed that companies must not provide material support to Russia’s defense industrial sector and that they will face significant consequences if they do,” Yellen told reporters at a news conference in San Francisco.

“We are determined to do all that we can to stem this flow of material that aids Russia in conducting this brutal and illegal war,” Yellen said, warning that any companies aiding Moscow’s war effort could face sanctions.

She said the U.S. government had already imposed sanctions against a number of private firms, including some in China, that were helping Russia get equipment, along with some financial institutions that could be aiding that effort.

She welcomed  to China’s Vice Premier yesterday and tweets

“We would like to see China crack down on this, especially when we’re able to provide information,” she said. She gave no further details on the names of the companies involved or He’s reaction.

Yellen stressed the Chinese firms in question were private and said she was not suggesting that this was occurring with knowledge of the Chinese government.

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Indian authorities seize $3 million property from Hero MotoCorp’s Munjal

Roshan Bilung
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Indian authorities seize million property from Hero MotoCorp’s Munjal

Indian authorities seize $3 million property from Hero MotoCorp’s Munjal

BENGALURU, Nov 10 (Reuters) – India’s financial crime agency has seized property worth about 249.5 million rupees ($3 million) belonging to Hero MotoCorp (HROM.NS) Chairman Pawan Munjal in relation to an ongoing money laundering investigation, the agency said on Friday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it seized three properties in New Delhi, under the country’s provisions of The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

READ MORE : Indian authorities seize $65 mln of property in Jet Airways fraud case

This takes the total value of seizures and attachments in the case to about 500 million rupees, it added.

Hero did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment, while Munjal could not be immediately reached for comment.

Last month, Delhi Police registered a case against Hero and Munjal on allegations of forgery and fraud by Brains Logistics, which provided manpower services to the two-wheeler maker. ($1 = 83.3625 Indian rupees)

Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza

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US and India reaffirm security ties as their top diplomats and defense officials hold talks

Shasi Kumar
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US and India reaffirm security ties as their top diplomats and defense officials hold talks

US and India reaffirm security ties as their top diplomats and defense officials hold talks

BY ASHOK SHARMA

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and the U.S. underlined their commitment to boosting security ties Friday as their top diplomats and defense chiefs met to discuss regional security, China and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with their Indian counterparts in New Delhi as part of an Asian trip aimed at showing unity over Russia’s war in Ukraine and preventing differences on the Israel-Hamas war from deepening.

Blinken said the U.S. and India were continuing to “deepen our collaboration on everything from emerging technologies to defense to people-to-people ties” and align diplomacy for “an Indo-Pacific region that’s free, that’s open, that’s prosperous, that’s resilient.”

READ MORE : G7 nations urge ‘urgent action’ to help civilians trapped in Gaza, including pauses in the fighting

He said the two sides discussed the crisis in the Middle East and “we appreciate the fact that from day one India has strongly condemned the attacks of Oct. 7. And as our joint statement makes clear, India and the United States stand with Israel against terrorists.”

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the situation in the Middle East was a big concern. While India has condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, it balances its position by calling for talks on “a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders, side-by-side at peace with Israel.”

Blinken met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “reaffirmed their shared vision for close partnership in the Indo-Pacific,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

“They emphasized working together to address ongoing crises such as Russia’s war against Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East,” Miller said.

Vinay Mohan Kwatra, India’s top bureaucrat in the foreign ministry, said India’s tense ties with China also were discussed at the official-level talks, but declined to give details.

India’s relationship with China has deteriorated since 2020, when Indian and Chinese troops clashed along their disputed border in the Himalayan Ladakh region, leaving 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead. A standoff involving thousands of soldiers in the eastern Ladakh region continues, despite several rounds of military and diplomatic talks.

Blinken said he also discussed with the Indian side a diplomatic dispute that erupted when Canada alleged that India was involved in the assassination of a Sikh separatist in Canada.

Blinken said that the U.S. wants the two sides to resolve their differences in a cooperative way and urged India to “work with Canada on its investigation.”

The dispute started when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in suburban Vancouver in western Canada. India rejected the accusation.

India and the U.S. have held so-called two-plus-two talks between India’s external affairs and defense ministers and the U.S. secretaries of state and defense since 2018 to discuss issues of concern and strengthen bilateral ties.

Austin and his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh, discussed a roadmap for defense industrial cooperation that will fast-track technology cooperation and co-production of defense systems, India’s defense ministry said.

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken,left, with Defense Secretary Lioyd Austin, speaks during the so-called “2+2 Dialogue” with Inida’s Foreign Minister Subramanyam J and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh at the foreign ministry in New Delhi, India, Friday, Nov.10,2023. Photo : Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP

“We’re integrating our industrial bases, strengthening our inter-operability, and sharing cutting-edge technology,” Austin said in his opening remarks.

Washington expects India to be a leading security provider in the Indo-Pacific region.

During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States in June, the two sides adopted a policy guide for defense industries to enable them to produce advanced defense systems together and collaborate on research and testing of prototypes.

The two sides reached an agreement that will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones.

A joint statement at the conclusion of Blinken and Austin’s visit to New Delhi on Friday said the two sides reaffirmed their roadmap for defense industrial cooperation to strengthen India’s capabilities, enhance its defense production, facilitate technology-sharing, and promote supply chain resilience.

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Associated Press writer Matt Lee contributed to his story.

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8 dead in crash after police chased a suspected human smuggler, Texas officials say

Endrit Pjetri
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8 dead in crash after police chased a suspected human smuggler, Texas officials say

8 dead in crash after police chased a suspected human smuggler, Texas officials say

BY ACACIA CORONADO AND ELLIOT SPAGAT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eight people died Wednesday when the driver of a car suspected of carrying smuggled migrants fled police and smashed into an oncoming vehicle on a South Texas highway.

The crash happened around 6:30 a.m. when the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic tried to outrun deputies from the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office and attempted to pass a semi truck, the state Department of Public Safety said. The Civic collided with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, which caught fire.

Everyone in both vehicles was killed, according to DPS. That includes the 21-year-old driver of the Civic, who was from Houston, and his five passengers. Some of the passengers were from Honduras, department spokesman Christopher Olivarez said in a statement. The two people in the Equinox were from Georgia.

READ MORE : Hundreds leave to join Mexico migrant caravan headed for US

The identities of those killed will be released to their families first, Olivarez said.

It was unclear how fast the vehicles were going, but photos provided by law enforcement show both were mangled and most of the Equinox was burned.

Wednesday’s crash near Batesville — about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio — is the latest deadly vehicle crash involving migrants, marking the highest death toll since 13 people died in a collision in remote Holtville, California, in March 2021.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has tallied 106 deaths in Border Patrol vehicle pursuits from January 2010 to June of this year. Deaths averaged 3.5 a year through 2019 but spiked in 2020, leading officials to develop a new policy for vehicle pursuits with an eye toward increasing safety.

The policy announced in January stops short of prohibiting chases but, according to CBP, “provides a clear framework for weighing the risks of conducting pursuits, such as the dangers they present to the public, against the law enforcement benefit or need.”

Local law enforcement agencies have been involved in fatal crashes as well in recent years. In June 2022, four migrants were killed in a smuggling attempt following a police chase in the South Texas city of Encinal, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Wednesday’s crash.

The Zavala County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

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Spagat reported from San Diego.

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