Donald Trump effort to keep US tech out of China alarms American firms

The Trump administration’s crackdown has already prompted foreign firms to shun American components and technology over concerns that access to parts they need could be abruptly cut off.

The US administration’s push to prevent China from dominating the market for advanced technologies has put it on a collision course with the same American companies it wants to protect. Firms that specialise in microchips, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other industries have grown increasingly alarmed by the administration’s efforts to restrict the flow of technology to China, saying it could siphon expertise, research and revenue away from the United States, ultimately eroding America’s advantage.

The concerns, which have been simmering for months, have taken on new urgency as the Commerce Department considers adopting a sweeping proposal that would allow the United States to block transactions between American firms and Chinese counterparts. Those rules, on top of new restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States and proposed measures that would prevent American companies from exporting certain products and sharing technology with foreign nationals, have the tech industry scrambling to respond.

The Trump administration’s crackdown has already prompted foreign firms to shun American components and technology over concerns that access to parts they need could be abruptly cut off. American companies are watching warily as the United States considers restricting export licenses for companies that sell products or share intellectual property with China, including General Electric, which sells aircraft parts to China as part of a joint venture with Safran, a French firm…Keep Reading

Trump acquitted in historic impeachment vote as re-election campaign looms

Trump was acquitted largely along party lines on two articles of impeachment approved by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Dec. 18

President Donald Trump was acquitted on Wednesday in his U.S. Senate impeachment trial, saved by fellow Republicans who rallied to protect him nine months before he asks voters in a deeply divided America to give him a second White House term.

The businessman-turned-politician, 73, survived only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history – just like the two other impeached presidents – in his turbulent presidency’s darkest chapter. Trump now plunges into an election season that promises to further polarize the country. Trump was acquitted largely along party lines on two articles of Donald Trump impeachment approved by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Dec. 18. The votes to convict Trump fell far short of the two-thirds majority required in the 100-seat Senate to remove him from office under the U.S. Constitution.

The Senate voted 52-48 to acquit Trump of abuse of power stemming from his request that Ukraine investigate political rival Joe Biden, a contender for the Democratic nomination to face him in the Nov. 3 election. Republican Senator Mitt Romney joined the Democrats in voting to convict. No Democrat voted to acquit. The Senate then voted 53-47 to acquit him of obstruction of Congress by blocking witnesses and documents sought by the House. Romney joined the rest of the Republican senators in voting to acquit on the obstruction charge. No Democrat voted to acquit…

China records first coronavirus death in Beijing as toll climbs to 106

Though cases of the virus have been confirmed in other countries, no fatalities have been reported outside China

The new strain of coronavirus spreading across China claimed its first victim in Beijing, officials said on Tuesday, as the death toll climbed to 106, the United States warned citizens against trips to the country and financial markets recoiled again at the potential impact on the world’s second-biggest economy.

Amid mounting concern about the virus on Chinese social media, the National Health Commission said in a statement that all but six of those killed by the previously unknown flu-like virus were in Wuhan, Hubei province. Though cases of the virus have been confirmed in other countries, no fatalities have been reported outside China. The city of 11 million, where the Coronavirus emerged late last year, is now under effective lockdown. Footage shared on China’s Twitter-like Weibo social media platform showed residents of apartment compounds in the city chanting “Wuhan, you can do it!” and singing the national anthem out of their windows.

Tuesday’s death toll was up from 81 as of the day before, while the number of total confirmed cases in China surged to 4,515 as of Jan. 27, from 2,835 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said. Global stocks fell, oil prices hit three-month lows, and China’s yuan dipped to its weakest level in 2020 as investors worried about damage to the economy from travel bans over the Lunar New Year holiday period, which China extended in a bid to keep people at home.

Japan minister warns coronavirus outbreak may rattle profits, production

China is Japan’s second largest export destination and a huge market for its retailers

Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Tuesday warned that corporate profits and factory production might take a hit from the coronavirus outbreak in China that has rattled global markets and chilled confidence.

Asian stocks extended a global selloff as the outbreak in China, which has killed 106 people and spread to many countries, fuelled concern over the damage to the world’s second largest economy – an engine of global growth. “There are concerns over the impact to the global economy from the spread of infection in China, transportation disruptions, cancellation of group tours from China and an extention in the Lunar Holiday,” Nishimura told a news conference after a regular cabinet meeting.

“If the situation takes longer to subside, we’re concerned it could hurt Japanese exports, output and corporate profits via the impact on Chinese consumption and production,” he said. China is Japan’s second largest export destination and a huge market for its retailers. The Chinese make up 30% of all tourists visiting Japan and spent nearly 40% of the total sum foreign tourists used last year, an industry survey showed.

The outbreak could hit Japanese department stores, retailers and hotels, which count on a boost to sales from an inflow of Chinese tourists visiting during the Lunar Holiday. Automaker Honda Motor, which has three plants in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and the epicentre of the outbreak, plans to evacuate some staff..Keep Reading

Coronavirus: China death toll now at 80; virus spreads to Beijing, Shanghai

The newly identified coronavirus has created alarm because much about it is still unknown, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people

The death toll from China’s new coronavirus grew to 80 on Monday as residents of Hubei province, where the disease originated, were banned from entering Hong Kong amid global efforts to halt the rapid spread of the outbreak. The number of deaths from the flu-like virus in Hubei province climbed from 56 to 76 overnight, health commission officials said, with four deaths elsewhere. The total number of confirmed cases in China had risen about 30% to 2,744. U.S. S&P500 e-mini futures fell more than 1% in Asian trade on Monday on mounting worries the outbreak of the virus could severely disrupt the Chinese economy, an engine of global growth.

Kicking off the Asian trading day, New Zealand shares fell with travel and tourism-related stocks among the worst performers as the speed of the outbreak’s spread raised alarm over its future impact on movement. China’s cabinet said it would extend the week-long Lunar New Year holiday by three days to Feb. 2 in a bid to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. The Hubei city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, is already under virtual lockdown, with severe restrictions on movement in place in several other Chinese cities.

Beijing has called for transparency in managing the crisis, after public trust was eroded by a cover-up of the spread of SARS, a coronavirus that originated in China and killed nearly 800 people globally in 2002 and 2003. The newly identified coronavirus has created alarm because much about it is still unknown, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Harvey Weinstein raped me, ‘Sopranos’ actress Annabella Sciorra tells court

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping actress Jessica Mann

– “The Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra’s voice cracked as she told a court Thursday that being raped by Harvey Weinstein left her feeling like she was having “a seizure” and caused her to self-harm.

In emotional testimony at Weinstein’s trial, Sciorra described how he barged into her New York apartment late at night in the early 1990s and attacked her while she was wearing a nightgown. “It was just so disgusting that my body started to shake in a way that was very unusual. I didn’t really even know what was happening,” the 59-year-old said.

Sciorra faced the jury as she held her hands above her head and clasped her wrists to demonstrate how Harvey Weinstein, then three times her weight, held her down on her bed and sexually assaulted her. “He got on top of me and he raped me,” she said, under questioning by lead prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon. “He put his penis inside of my vagina and he raped me,” Sciorra repeated.

Weinstein, 67, avoided eye contact and gestured towards one of his lawyers as Sciorra told the New York state court that the former film producer then performed oral sex on her. “I didn’t have very much fight left inside me at this point. My body just shut down,” said Sciorra, wearing a navy blue dress with long sleeves. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping actress Jessica Mann, in proceedings seen as key to the #MeToo movement…

Impeachment trial: Trump repeatedly, flagrantly abused power, say Democrats

President Trump used the powers of his office to solicit a foreign nation to interfere in our elections for his own personal benefit: Democrats

International News: Democrats told President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Thursday that he openly and dangerously abused his powers to gain political advantage. House impeachment managers laid out the evidence for the first of two articles of impeachment against the US leader in the second day of arguments, methodically dismantling Republican claims that Trump did nothing wrong in soliciting electoral help from Ukraine last year.

As the 100 senators sat as jurors, the prosecutors played old videos in which two of the president’s closest defenders said that abuse of power is a clear impeachable offense, puncturing a key White House argument that the US constitution requires a specific crime to remove a president.

“President Donald Trump used the powers of his office to solicit a foreign nation to interfere in our elections for his own personal benefit,” House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, one of the impeachment managers, told the chamber. “Since President George Washington took office in 1789, no president has abused his power in this way,” Nadler said. “The president has repeatedly, flagrantly, violated his oath… The president’s conduct is wrong. It is illegal. And it is dangerous.”

Saudi prince may have sent spyware via Whatsapp to hack Bezos’ phone: Probe

Saudi authorities rejected the latest allegations on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman

Amazon chief Jeff Bezos’s phone was likely infected by spyware hidden in a message from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, according to an analysis released Wednesday, prompting calls for an official investigation.

A forensic analysis by technical experts retained by Bezos after a leak of his personal information in early 2019 suggested that the Bezos iPhone was compromised by “tools” procured by a close associate of the Saudi de facto ruler. The suggestion of the Saudi prince’s role in the hacking prompted calls for further investigation by UN human rights officials looking into the October 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and contributor to The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos.

“The alleged hacking of Mr Jeff Bezos’s phone, and those of others, demands immediate investigation by US and other relevant authorities,” UN Special Rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and David Kaye said in a statement in Geneva. Any investigation should also look at the “continuous, multi-year, direct and personal involvement of the Crown Prince in efforts to target perceived opponents,” they added.

Callamard, the UN expert on summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and Kaye, the expert on freedom of expression, said the latest revelation “suggests the possible involvement of the Crown Prince in surveillance of Mr Bezos, in an effort to influence, if not silence, The Washington Post’s reporting on Saudi Arabia.”

As SC starts CAA hearings, Congress looks to broad base protests to economy

It would get difficult for Congress to champion the cause of anti-CAA protesters if the apex court were to find the controversial law constitutional

As protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rage across the country, Congress is increasingly feeling the need to broad-base them to encompass issues of economic slowdown, joblessness, inflation and farm distress.

On January 28, days ahead of the Union Budget, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address a public meeting in Jaipur. The focus of his speech would be unemployment and inflation. This will be the first of several such meetings he will address across the country, party sources said. The former Congress president is also likely to address a rally in Madhya Pradesh, where he will focus on issues confronting the farmers, tribals and rural workers. Further, he is likely to address a meeting of small and medium industrialists, traders and professionals at Mumbai. Interestingly, the party is yet to schedule any meeting in Delhi, which will vote to elect its new Assembly on February 8.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will start hearing over a hundred petitions challenging Citizenship Amendment Act as unconstitutional from Wednesday. Congress strategists, and those of other opposition parties, understand it would get difficult for them to champion the cause of anti-CAA protesters if the apex court were to find the controversial law constitutional. They are uneasy that such a situation might trigger further protests, and with mainstream political parties unable to stand with the protesters, radical elements could take over the protests.

The issue of the National Population Register (NPR) is similarly vexed. The Congress-led state governments, and those of other opposition parties, cannot afford to flout the Centre’s notification to conduct the NPR. If they do, these state governments could run the risk of getting sacked.

Back immigration or risk missing out on tech boom: Microsoft CEO Nadella

“…people will only come when people know you’re an immigrant friendly country.”, Nadella said.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said he worries that mistrust between the US and China will increase technology costs and hurt economic growth at a critical time. Using the $470 billion semiconductor industry as an example of a sector that is already globally interconnected, Nadella said the two countries will have to find ways to work together, rather than creating different supply chains for each country.

“All you are doing is increasing transaction costs for everybody if you completely separate,” Satya Nadella said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead conference in Davos. That’s a concern as the executive said the world is on the cusp of a revolution around technology and artificial intelligence. “If we take steps back in trust or increase transaction costs around technology, all we are doing is sacrificing global economic growth,” he said.

The Trump administration is considering steps to further limit the ability of US companies to supply Huawei Technologies, China’s flagship tech company, in addition to pressuring countries around the world to avoid using its equipment for 5G mobile networks.The agreement signed last week between the US and China was “not sufficient,” said Nadella. Yet, he represented “progress” on the issue of intellectual property protections for US technology companies working with China…

Amazon founder Bezos’s phone ‘hacked by Saudi crown prince’ in 2018: Report

According to The Guardian, a digital forensic analysis revealed that the encrypted message from the number used by Mohammed bin Salman included a malicious file that infiltrated his phone

Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos’s mobile phone was hacked after receiving a message from the Saudi Arabian crown prince, The Guardian newspaper reported.

According to the British daily, a digital forensic analysis revealed that the encrypted message from the number used by Mohammed bin Salman included a malicious file that infiltrated his phone. The analysis also found that the intrusion could have been triggered by an infected video file sent from the account of of the Saudi prince.

While the details of the data taken from the is unclear, the revelation of the security breach comes almost a year after Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie announced that they would be separating after 25 years of marriage. After the divorce was finalised, Bezos, in a blog post, accused National Enquirer – a US tabloid – of threatening to publish embarrassing text messages and photos unless he publicly affirmed that there was no political motivation or outside force behind the tabloid’s coverage.

The National Enquirer had earlier disclosed an extramarital affair between Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, a former television anchor, in a series of reports that relied, in part, on intimate text messages sent by Bezos. However, Gavin de Becker, a security consultant for Bezos, told The Guardian that he believed the Saudi Arabian government had accessed Bezos’s phone before the Enquirer exposed the affair…

Russian government resigns after President Putin announces reforms

Putin requested that Medvedev’s Cabinet continue working until the new Cabinet is shaped.

Russia’s administration surrendered in a stun declaration on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin proposed a progression of sacred changes. In a broadcast meeting with the Russian president, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the recommendations would roll out huge improvements to the nation’s perceived leverage thus “the administration in its present structure has surrendered”.

“We ought to furnish the leader of our nation with the likelihood to take all the vital measures” to do the changes, Medvedev said. “Every single further choice will be taken by the president.” Vladmir Putin asked Medvedev, his long-lasting partner, to proceed as head of government until another administration has been delegated. “I need to thank you for everything that has been done, to express fulfillment with the outcomes that have been accomplished,” Putin said.

“Not all things work out, however everything never works out.” He additionally proposed making the post of representative leader of the Security Council, recommending that Medvedev take on the position. Prior Wednesday Putin proposed a submission on a bundle of changes to Russia’s constitution that would fortify the job of parliament. The progressions would incorporate enabling parliament to pick the leader and senior bureau individuals, rather than the president as in the present framework.

Dozens arrested over Iran airline downing protests in Tehran: Judiciary

The Ukraine International Airlines plane was brought down by a missile shortly after takeoff from Tehran last Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew

Some 30 people have been arrested in Iran, the judiciary said Tuesday after protests over authorities’ handling of the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner last week. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili gave no further details on the arrests.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane was brought down by a missile shortly after takeoff from Tehran last Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew. Tehran initially dismissed Western assertions the Boeing 737 had been downed by an Iranian missile, before admitting Saturday that it had been shot down due to “human error”. That angered some Iranians.

AFP correspondents said around 200 students gathered Tuesday at Tehran University locked in a tense standoff with youths from a militia loyal to the establishment, on the fourth consecutive day of protests over the downing and Iran’s delay in accepting responsibility. Protesters had chanted “Death to the dictator” on Sunday, Fars news agency reported in a break from state media’s usual practice of referring to demonstrators as “rioters” and refraining from carrying such slogans.

Esmaili told journalists Tuesday that “extensive investigations have been carried out and some people have been arrested”, without giving details. President Hassan Rouhani has said everyone responsible for the disaster must be “punished”…Keep reading

‘Clerics get lost!’: Iran protests rage on over passenger plane disaster

Video showed students on Monday chanting slogans including “Clerics get lost!” outside universities in the city of Isfahan and in Tehran, where riot police were filmed taking positions on the streets

US Iran Tensions: Protesters denouncing Iran’s clerical rulers took to the streets and riot police deployed to face them on Monday, in a third day of demonstrations after authorities acknowledged shooting down a passenger plane by accident. Demonstrations in Iran, some met by a violent crackdown, are the latest twist in one of the most serious escalations between Washington and Tehran since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Video showed students on Monday chanting slogans including “Clerics get lost!” outside universities in the city of Isfahan and in Tehran, where riot police were filmed taking positions on the streets. Images from the previous two days of protests showed wounded people being carried and pools of blood on the ground. Gunshots could be heard, although the police denied opening fire.

US President Donald Trump, who raised the stakes last week by ordering a drone strike that killed Iran’s most powerful military commander, tweeted to Iran’s leaders: “don’t kill your protesters.” Tehran has acknowledged shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner by mistake on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard, hours after firing at US targets in Iraq to retaliate for the killing on January 3 of General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad…

Iran protests intensify, leaders face resignation calls after plane downed

The Ukraine International Airlines plane was downed minutes after taking off from Tehran bound for Kiev on Wednesday

Protests erupted across Iran for a second day on Sunday, increasing pressure on the Islamic Republic’s leadership after it admitted its military shot down a Ukrainian airliner by accident, despite days of denials that Iranian forces were to blame. “They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here,” one group of protesters chanted outside a university in Tehran, according to video posted on Twitter.

Other posts showed demonstrators outside a second university and a group of protesters marching to Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square, as well as protests in other cities. Some state-affiliated media carried reports of the university protests, which followed demonstrations on Saturday sparked by Iran‘s admission that its military mistakenly shot down the plane on Wednesday, killing all 176 aboard, at a time when Tehran feared US air strikes.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane was downed minutes after taking off from Tehran bound for Kiev on Wednesday. Many on board were Iranians with dual citizenship, while 57 were holders of Canadian passports. Residents of the capital told Reuters that police were out in force on Sunday. Some protesters in Azadi Square first called on officers there to join them, then turned their anger on the authorities, chanting anti-government slogans including “Down with the dictator” – a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to social media posts and Iranian media reports…

Iranian investigators say Ukrainian flight was on fire even before crash

The crash occurred hours after Iran launched missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, leading some to speculate that the plane may have been hit

A Ukrainian airliner was on fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran, killing all 176 on board, according to an initial report by Iranian investigators. The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport. The report, by Iran’s civil aviation organisation, cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at high altitude as saying the jet was on fire while still aloft.

The three-year-old Boeing jet, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Jan. 6, encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off and started to head towards a nearby airport before it crashed, the report said. The technical problem was not specified in the report. However, a Canadian security source told Reuters there was evidence one of the jet’s engines overheated.

The crash occurred hours after Iran launched missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, leading some to speculate that the plane may have been hit. Five security sources – three Americans, one European and the Canadian – who asked not to be named, told Reuters the initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies was that the plane had suffered a technical malfunction and had not been brought down by a missile.

Pak senate rushed through bills to extend General Bajwa’s tenure: Group

The bills to extend the retirement age from 60 to 64 years for the chiefs of army, navy and air force, and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee sailed through the Senate

The bills giving three years extension to General Qamar Bajwa as army chief was “rushed” through parliament without debate, a group of dissident Pakistanis said.

The bills to extend the retirement age from 60 to 64 years for the chiefs of army, navy and air force, and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee sailed through the Senate or the upper house despite protests from minor parties, Geo News said. Under the banner of the South Asians Against Terrorism and For Human Rights (SAATH) Forum, the group on Wednesday voiced concern at the manner in which the Pakistan government and main opposition parties “rushed through parliament” amendments to the Army Act.

The bills were passed “without debate as to the desirability or necessity of such legislation, and without due consideration to the implications of such an action on the future of democracy in Pakistan”, the group that includes former journalists and envoys said in a statement. Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani adjourned the session as soon as the bills were passed. The Senate session lasted only 20 minutes and no other agenda other than the laying of a few reports was taken up, the Dawn said. The bills were already approved by the Standing Committee on Defence…

US justifies killing Soleimani to UN, says will protect interests in region

In a letter to the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Kelly Craft said the United States also stands ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran

The United States told the United Nations on Wednesday that the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani was self-defense and vowed to take additional action “as necessary” in the Middle East to protect US personnel and interests.

In a letter to the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Kelly Craft said the United States also stands “ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran, with the goal of preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime.” The killing of Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday was justified under Article 51 of the UN Charter, wrote Craft in the letter seen by Reuters, adding “the United States is prepared to take additional actions in the region as necessary to continue to protect US personnel and interests.”

Under Article 51, countries are required to “immediately report” to the 15-member Security Council any measures taken in exercising the right of self-defense. The United States used Article 51 to justify taking action in Syria against Islamic State militants in 2014…

Iran launches missiles on US base in Iraq hours after Soleimani funeral

Tehran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from Iranian territory against at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US-led coalition personnel, the US military said on Tuesday

Iran launched a missile attack on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

Tehran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from Iranian territory against at least two Iraqi facilities hosting US-led coalition personnel at about 1:30 a.m. local time, the US military said on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump said in a tweet late on Tuesday that an assessment of casualties and damage from the strikes was under way and that he would make a statement on Wednesday morning.

“All is well!” Trump said in the Twitter post. Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps confirmed they fired the missiles to retaliate for last week’s killing of Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on state TV. The statement advised the United States to withdraw its troops from the region to prevent more deaths and warned US allies including Israel not to allow attacks from their territories.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement that the bases targeted were al-Asad air base and another facility in Erbil, Iraq. “As we evaluate the situation and our response, we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend US personnel, partners, and allies in the region.” Trump, who visited the al-Asad air base in December 2018, was briefed on reports of the attack and was monitoring the situation, White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said....

PM Modi speaks to Donald Trump, expresses desire to enhance cooperation

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) also said that Modi conveyed his New Year greetings to the US president.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with US President Donald Trump and expressed his desire to continue to work with him to enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest, a PMO statement said on Tuesday.

Modi conveyed his New Year greetings to the US president, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.During the conversation, the prime minister noted that India-US relations, which are built on trust, mutual respect and understanding, “have grown from strength to strength”, it said.

Modi highlighted the significant progress made in deepening the strategic partnership between the two countries in the previous year and expressed his desire to continue to work with President Trump for enhancing cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, the statement said. President Trump wished the people of India prosperity and progress in the New Year. He expressed satisfaction at the achievements in the relationship in the last few years and reiterated his readiness for further deepening bilateral cooperation, according to the statement…