Indian origin patient among those healed completely of cancer in drug trial

 An Indian origin patient was among those who had a “miracle” cure using a cancer medication that is being tried out by a research centre here achieving an unprecedented healing rate

An Indian origin patient was among those who had a “miracle” cure using a cancer medication that is being tried out by a research centre here achieving an unprecedented healing rate when all 14 patients in the trial had their cancers disappear.

“It’s a miracle”, Nisha Varughese said about the immunotherapy drug’s efficacy in curing her. In the trial at the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York using dostarlimab, “the rectal cancer disappeared after immunotherapy — without the need for the standard treatments of radiation, surgery, or chemotherapy — and the cancer has not returned in any of the patients, who have been cancer-free for up to two years,” the MSK said.

According to researchers, this was the first time that all the patients in a cancer trial were completely healed with a medication and they did not have serious side effects. The results of the trial were disclosed over the weekend in the New England Journal of Medicine and at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology….

New York to raise age to buy assault rifle to 21, ban body armor

 Citing the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, local officials said they wanted to close loopholes and address the gaps in laws exposed by the back-to-back massacres

Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders pledged to raise the legal age to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle in New York to 21 years old from 18, and pass a package of measures to tighten gun laws before the end of the state’s legislative session this week.

Citing the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, local officials said they wanted to close loopholes and address the gaps in laws exposed by the back-to-back massacres. The bills would prohibit the purchase of body armor for civilians, require a license to purchase a semiautomatic rifle, make threatening mass harm a crime and strengthen the state’s “red flag laws”. The measures would also require new pistols to be equipped with microstamping technology, which uses lasers to imprint markings on a firearm to make it easier to trace guns to registered owners.

Biden to nominate Indian-American Gautam Rana as Slovakian ambassador

 Earlier, Rana served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Charg d’Affaires ad interim at the US Embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia

US President Joe Biden is set to nominate Indian-American career diplomat Gautam Rana as the new US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Slovakia. In a statement on Wednesday, the White House announced the president’s intent to send Rana’s nomination for further ratification.

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, US – with rank of Counselor, Rana is currently Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Algeria and was the Charg d’Affaires ad interim there from August 2020 to February 2022. Earlier, Rana served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Charg d’Affaires ad interim at the US Embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Among other positions, Rana was Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council staff and the Deputy Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in New Delhi.

California moves to consider adoption and regulation of digital currencies

 Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order for state agencies to move in tandem with the federal government to craft regulations for digital currencies

California, which would have the world’s fifth-largest economy if it was a country, on Wednesday became the first US state to formally begin examining how to broadly adapt to cryptocurrency and related innovations, following a path laid out by President Joe Biden in March. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order for state agencies to move in tandem with the federal government to craft regulations for digital currencies. It also calls for officials to explore incorporating broader blockchain computer coding into the government operations of the state where much of the world’s technological innovation is born.

Evolving blockchain and cryptocurrency technology is potentially an explosive creator of new companies and new jobs and new opportunities, said Dee Dee Myers, a senior advisor to Newsom and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. So there are a lot of opportunities, she said. There’s also a lot of unknowns in the industry and so that’s another reason we want to engage early. Newsom’s order says the state home to Silicon Valley and financial innovators like PayPal and Square should be out front in figuring out how to adapt to new technologies.

US congratulates Shehbaz Sharif, says looking forward to working with him

 The United States has congratulated the new Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif and said it is looking forward to working with him

The United States has congratulated the new Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif and said it is looking forward to working with him. Pakistan has been an important partner on wide-ranging mutual interests for nearly 75 years and we value our relationship, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said on Wednesday.

The United States congratulates newly-elected Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and we look forward to continuing our long-standing cooperation with Pakistan’s government, Blinken said in a statement. The United States views a strong, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan as essential for the interests of both of our countries, he said days after Sharif took the oath of office and replaced Imran Khan as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan.

US 'bluntly' warns China to avoid supporting Russia's invasion in Ukraine

 US adviser Jake Sullivan warned a Chinese official about Beijing’s support for Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, even as Kremlin denied reports stating that it had requested Chinese weapons to use in war

Washington [US], March 15 (ANI): US President Joe Biden‘s National Security Adviser warned a top Chinese official on Monday (local time) about Beijing’s support for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, even as the Kremlin denied reports stating that it had requested Chinese military equipment to use in the war. US adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi met in Rome earlier today. Sullivan held an “intense” seven-hour meeting with his Chinese counterpart and laid out potential consequences of Beijing assisting Russia in the war in Ukraine.

“The national security adviser and our delegation raised directly and very clear our concerns about the PRC’s support to Russia in the wake of the invasion, and the implications that any such support would have for the PRC’s relationship not only with us but for its relationships around the world,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price, using the initials for the People’s Republic of China…Read More

Western ban on oil imports will double price to $300 a barrel: Russia

 A Western ban on Russian oil imports may more than double the price to $300 a barrel and prompt the closure of the main gas pipeline to Germany, Moscow warned on Monday

A Western ban on Russian oil imports may more than double the price to $300 a barrel and prompt the closure of the main gas pipeline to Germany, Moscow warned on Monday, as talks on Ukraine hardly advanced amid efforts to agree on civilian safe passage. Russia’s invasion, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, has created 1.7 million refugees, a raft of sanctions on Moscow, and fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.

Sieges and the bombing continued as Kyiv rejected possible humanitarian corridors to Russia and Belarus, but said some limited progress had been made on agreeing logistics for the evacuation of civilians. Moscow would give the residents of the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Mariupol the choice of moving elsewhere in Ukraine on Tuesday, setting a deadline in the early hours for Kyiv to agree, Russian news agencies reported.

Seeking to ratchet up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United States said Washington and its European allies were considering banning Russian oil imports. Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008. “A rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, saying the price could more than double to over $300 per barrel.

Russian attack on Ukraine possible any day, diplomacy still an option: US

 As Russia masses more than 100,000 troops near the border, Moscow has said it is not planning an invasion but could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met

Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an attack on Ukraine within days or weeks, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned on Sunday, as Washington and its European allies continued efforts to offer Putin a diplomatic way out of the crisis.

“We are in the window. Any day now, Russia could take military action against Ukraine, or it could be a couple of weeks from now, or Russia could choose to take the diplomatic path instead,” Sullivan told the “Fox News Sunday” program. Sullivan made the comments in television interviews after two U.S. officials on Saturday said Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has in place about 70% of the combat power it believes it would need for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

As Russia masses more than 100,000 troops near the border, Moscow has said it is not planning an invasion but could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met. Those include a promise that NATO will never admit Ukraine, a demand the United States and the 30-nation Western security alliance have called unacceptable. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, the White House said. That call came ahead of a visit by Macron to Moscow on Monday, the culmination of days of French contacts with Russia and Ukraine to try to de-escalate tensions….Read More

Tesla's Elon Musk says he'll pay over $11 billion in taxes this year

 The billionaire may face a tax bill of more than $10 billion for 2021 if he exercises all his options due to expire next year, calculations last week by Bloomberg News showed.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., said on Twitter that he’ll pay more than $11 billion in taxes this year, an amount that could constitute a record payment to the U. S. Internal Revenue Service. The billionaire may face a tax bill of more than $10 billion for 2021 if he exercises all his options due to expire next year, calculations last week by Bloomberg News showed.

The unusually high levy comes after Elon Musk Musk exercised almost 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to those transactions. That was following a Twitter poll last month when he asked followers whether he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric carmaker, whose shares have rocketed more than 2,300% over the past five years.

US violated international trade rules with tariffs on China, says WTO

A panel of three WTO trade experts on Tuesday said the US broke international rules when it imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018

The World Trade Organization undercut the main justification for US President Donald Trump’s trade war against China, saying that American tariffs on Chinese goods violate international rules. A panel of three WTO trade experts on Tuesday said the US broke international rules when it imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018. Washington has imposed levies on more than $550 billion in Chinese exports.

The panel said in its report “that the United States had not met its burden of demonstrating that the measures are provisionally justified.” While the ruling bolsters Beijing’s claims, Washington can effectively veto the decision by lodging an appeal at any point in the next 60 days. That’s because the Trump administration has already paralyzed the WTO’s appellate body, a tactic that has rendered toothless the world’s foremost arbiter of trade.

Section 301

The dispute centers on the Donald Trump administration’s use of a 1970s-era US trade law to unilaterally launch its commercial conflict against China in 2018. China claimed the tariffs violated the WTO’s most-favored treatment provision because the measures failed to provide the same treatment to all WTO members. China also alleged the duties broke a key dispute-settlement rule that requires countries to first seek recourse from the WTO before imposing retaliatory measures against another country.

The US tariffs against China were authorised under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which empowers the president to levy tariffs and other import restrictions whenever a foreign country imposes unfair trade practices that affect US commerce. The Trump administration has claimed the tariffs were necessary to confront China’s widespread violations of intellectual property rights and forced technology transfer policies…

Malaysia detects new Covid-19 strain that’s 10 times more infectious

The mutation called D614G was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine

Malaysia has detected a strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious. The mutation called D614G was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine. The man has since been sentenced to five months in prison and fined. The strain was also found in another cluster involving people returning from the Philippines.

Fauci says new mutation may speed the spread of coronavirus

The strain could mean that existing studies on corona vaccines may be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation, said Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah.

ALSO READ: Covid-19 Factoid: India’s fifth block of 10,000 deaths came in just 10 days

The mutation has become the predominant variant in Europe and the U.S., with the World Health Organization saying there’s no evidence the strain leads to a more severe disease. A paper published in Cell Press said the mutation is unlikely to have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines currently being developed. “People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia,” Noor Hisham wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “The people’s cooperation is very needed so that we can together break the chain of infection from any mutation.”..

No indication of attack in Beirut: US defencNo indication of attack in Beirut: US defence officials contradict Trumpe officials contradict Trump

US defence department officials say they do not know what Trump was talking about, CNN reports

Officials of the US Defence Department have contradicted President Donald Trump, saying that there is no clear indication that the massive explosion in Beirut attack“. The three officials of the US Defence Department said that they do not know what Trump was actually talking about, CNN reported.

As per CNN, one official said that if there were indications of anyone in the region pulling something off of this scale, it would have triggered an automatic increase in force protection for US troops and assets in the region. Earlier, while speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump had offered sympathy to the people of Lebanon after the explosion took place and he labelled the incident as “terrible attack”.

ALSO READ: More than 70 dead, thousands injured as massive explosion rocks Beirut

“Looks like a terrible attack. It would seem like it based on the explosion. I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was not a — some kind of manufacturing explosion type of event. This was a — seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind,” CNN quoted Trump as saying.

Politics may compromise on safety of coronavirus vaccine, fear scientists

Operation Warp Speed has moved along at a rapid clip. But some professionals involved in the making of the drug caution on pressure to deliver an October surprise for US President Donald Trump

In April, with hospitals overwhelmed and much of the US in lockdown, the Department of Health and Human Services produced a presentation for the White House arguing that rapid development of a coronavirus vaccine was the best hope to control the pandemic.

“DEADLINE: Enable broad access to the public by October 2020,” the first slide read, with the date in bold. Given that it typically takes years to develop a corona vaccine, the timetable for the initiative, called Operation Warp Speed, was incredibly ambitious. With tens of thousands dying and tens of millions out of work, the crisis demanded an all-out public-private response, with the government supplying billions of dollars to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, providing logistical support and cutting through red tape.

It escaped no one that the proposed deadline also intersected nicely with US President Donald Trump’s need to curb the virus before the election in November. The ensuing race for a vaccine — in the middle of a campaign in which the president’s handling of the pandemic is the key issue after he has spent his time in office undermining science and the expertise of the federal bureaucracy — is now testing the system set up to ensure safe and effective drugs to a degree never before seen.

One dead in Texas, court set on fire in California as protests spread in US

A protester in Austin, Texas, who was apparently armed with a rifle was shot and killed after witnesses say he approached a car that had driven through a march against police violence

Protests took a violent turn in several US cities overnight, with demonstrators squaring off against agents outside a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house and setting fire to vehicles during unrest in California and Virginia. 

A protester in Austin, Texas, who was apparently armed with a rifle was shot and killed after witnesses say he approached a car that had driven through a march against police violence. And someone was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said.

The unrest Saturday and early Sunday stemmed from the weeks of protests over racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color that flared up after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, who was Black and handcuffed, died after a white police officer used his knee to pin down Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes while Floyd begged for air.

In Seattle, police officers retreated into a precinct station early Sunday, hours after large demonstrations in the city’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood. Some demonstrators lingered after officers filed into the department’s East Precinct around 1 am, but most cleared out a short time later, according to video posted online....

US weekly jobless claims rise to 1.4 mn as $600 benefit is set to expire

Weakening of the labour market has raised fears the economy will shed jobs again in July, after sharp hiring gains in May and June

The US got another dose of bad economic news Thursday as the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose last week for the first time since late March, intensifying concerns the resurgent coronavirus is stalling or even reversing the economic recovery. And an extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits, provided by the federal government on top of whatever assistance states provide, is set to expire at the end of the week. It is the last major source of economic help from the $2 trillion relief package that Congress approved in March.

A small business lending program and one-time $1,200 payment have largely run their course. With the count of US infections passing 4 million and the aid ending, nearly 30 million unemployed people could struggle to pay rent, utilities, or other bills and economists worry that overall consumer spending will drop, adding another economic blow.

‘I’m broke’

“I’m going to be broke”, said Melissa Bennett, who was laid off from her job at a vacation time-share in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. “I’ll be broke-broke. I want to go to work, I want health insurance, I want a 401K. I want a life; I have no life right now.” Without the extra unemployment benefits, Bennett will receive just $200 a week, and she’ll have to decide whether to pay her mortgage or her utilities first…Read More

US leading the world in Covid-19 testing, India at second, says Trump

Trump assures that the vaccines against the novel coronavirus will be coming a lot sooner than expected

The United States is leading the world in terms of Covid-19 testing and India is at second position, President Donald Trump said while giving an update on his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. So far more than 140,000 Americans have died due to coronavirus and 3.8 million have tested positive. While the US economy is slowly coming back to normal, the pandemic is now spreading in the Sun Belt of the country.

“As one family, we mourn every precious life that’s been lost. I pledge in their honour that we will develop a vaccine and we will defeat the virus. We’re doing very well with vaccine development and therapeutic development,” Donald Trump said at a White House news conference on Tuesday, his first on coronavirus after several weeks. “We’ve learned so much about this disease. And we know who the vulnerable are, and we are going to indeed shield them,” he said.

Trump assured that the vaccines against the novel coronavirus will be coming a lot sooner than expected. Replying to a question, Trump said the US is leading the world” in terms of Covid-19 testing. “We’re going to be over 50 million tests,” he said, adding that “second country is India with 12 million (tests). Then you have seven million, six million, and four million. I think that we are doing a tremendous amount of testing.”

With 17 new cases, Covid-19 in China's northwest city continues to surge

China had largely contained local transmission of the virus before the Urumqi outbreak and has taken swift action to bring it under control

Numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases in China’s northwestern city of Urumqi continue to rise, with another 17 reported on Monday, bringing the total in China’s latest outbreak to at least 47. Another five cases were brought from outside the country, according to the National Health Commission.

No new deaths were reported, leaving the total at 4,634 among 83,682 cases, and 249 people remain in treatment. Another 158 people were being monitored in isolation for showing signs of having the virus or for testing positive without displaying symptoms. China had largely contained local transmission of the virus before the Urumqi outbreak and has taken swift action to bring it under control. The city has cut subway, bus and taxi service, closed some communities, imposed travel restrictions and ordered widespread testing.

Social controls are already tight across the Xinjiang region of which Urumqi is the capital as part of what Beijing calls a campaign to curb terrorism and religious extremism. Rights groups and foreign government have accused China on widespread human rights abuses against the region’s Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups.

Tibetan leader Dalai Lama condoles demise of US Congressman John Lewis

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has offered condolences on the passing away of US Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has offered condolences on the passing away of US Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.

He expressed his sadness on his passing away while noting the great legacy of the deceased civil rights pioneer whose impact on the civil rights movement and US politics remains a huge inspiration for Americans and activists across the world. “I am saddened to learn of the passing of Congressman John Lewis. He was not only a leader of the American civil rights movement; his principled commitment to non-violence and justice made him an inspiration and a moral beacon to the world at large.

“Like millions of people throughout the world, I am an admirer of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Whenever I talk about non-violence, I cite the examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Dr Martin Luther King. Congressman Lewis not only knew Dr King but also gave him crucial support. Although I did not have the privilege of meeting Dr King myself, in meeting Congressman Lewis, I feel I have made a direct connection with him,” the spiritual leader said in a statement…Read More

Indoor airborne spread of Covid-19 under certain conditions possible: WHO

In a change to its previous thinking, WHO noted that studies evaluating C-19 outbreaks in restaurants, choir practices and fitness classes suggested the virus might have been spread in air

The World Health Organisation is acknowledging the possibility that Covid-19 might be spread in the air under certain conditions after more than 200 scientists urged the agency to do so. In an open letter published this week in a journal, two scientists from Australia and the US wrote that studies have shown beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air.

The researchers, along with more than 200 others, appealed for national and international authorities, including WHO, to adopt more stringent protective measures. WHO has long dismissed the possibility that the coronavirus is spread in the air except for certain risky medical procedures, such as when patients are first put on breathing machines.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: India records over 25,000 cases in a day, US adds 61,000

In a change to its previous thinking, WHO noted on Thursday that studies evaluating COVID-19 outbreaks in restaurants, choir practices and fitness classes suggested the virus might have been spread in the air. Airborne spread "particularly in specific indoor locations, such as crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces over a prolonged period of time with infected persons cannot be ruled out, WHO said.

58 Indian-origin executives employ over 3.6 mn across 11 countries: Survey

Indian leaders surveyed are as young as 37 and the median age is 54, according to a group called Indiaspora.

A group of 58 Indian-origin executives heading various companies across 11 different countries, including the US, Canada and Singapore, collectively employ more than 3.6 million people and account for a combined $1 trillion in revenue, $4 trillion in market capitalisation, according to a list released by a US-based top Indian diaspora organisation.

Indian-origin business leaders are reaching the pinnacle of corporate success in greater numbers than ever, many use their platforms for social change advocacy, said Indiaspora, a nonprofit organisation of global Indian diaspora leaders from various backgrounds and professions.

The Indiaspora Business Leaders List of 58 executives head companies headquartered across 11 different countries, including the US, Canada, England, and Singapore and these companies have delivered annualised returns of 23 per cent during the tenure of these executives, outperforming the S&P 500 by 10 per cent. These companies collectively employ more than 3.6 million worldwide and account for a combined $1 trillion in revenue and USD 4 trillion in market capitalisation...Read More