India, China got ‘tremendous advantage’ of developing country status: Trump

Deccanchronicle: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday complained that his country has not been "treated fairly" by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), stating that the United States is not considered a "developing nation" while China and India are, by the global trade body.

"But the World Trade Organisation -- as you know, I've had a dispute running with them for quite a while, because our country hasn't been treated fairly. China is viewed as a developing nation. India is viewed as a developing nation. We're not viewed a developing nation," the US President said while speaking at a press conference, according to a transcript by the White House.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're a developing nation, too. But they got tremendous advantages by the fact that they were considered "developing" and we weren't. And they shouldn't be. But if they are, we are. And we're talking about a whole new structure for the deal, or we'll have to do something," said Trump.

The US President stressed that the WTO has been "very unfair to the United States for many, many years"

J&K ahead of water deadline from country, Industrial Policy in final stage: Ministers

Dailyexcelsior: an 22: On Day 5 of the Central Government’s public outreach programme, nine Union Ministers visited Jammu region today spreading message of the Centre for development of Jammu and Kashmir post abrogation of special Constitutional provisions of the erstwhile State and its conversion into the Union Territory with Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat declaring that J&K Government will achieve the task of providing piped water supply to all houses by December 2021 as against 2024 deadline set by Modi Government

Shekhawat on Day 2 of his visit to Jammu e-inaugurated 42 Water Supply Schemes completed at a cost of Rs 73.86 crore which will provide drinking water to 46,400 functional household tap connections in six districts of the Union Territory including Baramulla, Kulgam, Anantnag, Poonch, Kathua and Jammu.
Apart from inauguration of series of developmental projects and reviewing progress on others, the Central Ministers told the people during interactions that abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A and making J&K State a Union Territory will go long way in development of the UT.
The Union Ministers were of the view that the two Articles had hampered progress of Jammu and Kashmir with the politicians at the helm of affairs earlier paid no heed towards development at grass-root level which, they pointed out, was evident from the fact that Panchayat and Block Development Council (BDC) elections were held in J&K and Ladakh after gap of several years following imposition of Central rule.

Nagaland shutdown: Students protest against CAA, boycott classes

Siasat:Over a thousand students from St Joseph’s College Jakhama gathered outside Raj Bhavan in Nagaland capital Kohima to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) on Wednesday.

 Spearheaded by the Students’ Council, the apex students’ body of the college, protesters gathered outside Kohima Law College and marched towards Raj Bhavan. However, the protest was shortly called off by the district administration as the students’ body failed to obtain a police permit and a No Objection Certificate (NoC) from the concerned authorities.

Nobody can dare touch Muslim citizens: Defence Minister

Siasat:In an attempt to allay apprehensions prevailing among Muslims,

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that nobody can dare touch any Indian Muslim. He told this while addressing a rally in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act in Meerut.

Dismissing apprehensions that the community will be targeted if the National Population Register and National Register of Citizens are brought in, Mr Singh said: “… But they say you are making NPR register and then you will bring NRC and banish all Muslims. I want to tell Muslims present here that nobody can dare touch any Muslim who is an Indian citizen. I want to assure you. If anyone has any complaint they can come to us… we will stand with that Muslim citizens.” NDTV quoted him as saying.

PAKISTAN TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH KASHMIRIS: FM QURESHI

News One: Prime Minister Imran has decided to spearhead a new campaign for the rights of the people of occupied Kashmir from January 25, so those ground realities of the Indian-held territory are shown to the world

a press conference at the Foreign Office. He said the purpose of the campaign was to inform the youth and foreigners about the ground realities in the Indian-held territory.

India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads ever since New Delhi decided to illegally annex the occupied territory by scrapping Article 370 of the Indian constitution which recognised the valley as a special territory.

FM Qureshi said every fundamental right was being denied to the masses in occupied Kashmir and that Indian policies were reflective of its growing “unilateralism” on the issue of occupied Kashmir

Soleimani's successor to face same fate if he kills Americans, warns US diplomat

The Express Tribune: The United States special representative for Iran said the successor to Qaseem Soleimani, the Iranian commander killed in a US drone strike, would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path of killing Americans, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

“If (Esmail) Ghaani follows the same path of killing Americans then he will meet the same fate,” Brian Hook told the Arabic-language newspaper, adding that US President Donald Trump had long made it clear “that any attack on Americans or American interests would be met with a decisive response.”

“This isn’t a new threat. The president has always said that he will always respond decisively to protect American interests,” Hook said in the interview in Davos.

Border trade: A collateral victim of Indo-Pak tensions

The Express Tribune:The tensions between India and Pakistan, resulting in snapping of trade ties have affected 50,000 people directly in India’s border city of Amritsar, according to a study conducted by an Indian research and consulting organisation.

The Sikh holy city of Amritsar, in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab, 28km from the border, is losing $4.2 million every month it used to earn because of the India-Pakistan trade through Attari-Wagah border.

The losses accounted for are collateral damages, not including the larger costs incurred by the traders, dealing in cross-border trade, said a study by the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF).

Britain and US to conclude trade deal this year: Mnuchin

The Express Tribune:A post-Brexit trade deal between the United States and Britain is a top priority and expected to be reached by the end of this year, said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The top US economic official made his comments before heading to London to lay out ways London and Washington could reach the quick accord after the UK leaves the EU at the end of this month.

Mnuchin’s UK counterpart, Sajid Javid, will embark on trade talks with both the EU and US, in the hopes of sparing the British economy from any short or medium-term shocks of Brexit.

Javid told the US “they wanted to accomplish both these deals in 2020.”

“That’s obviously an aggressive timeline,” Mnuchin said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

A UK-US deal “is an absolute priority for President (Donald) Trump and we expect to complete that with them this year, which we think will be great for them and great for us,” Mnuchin added.

World court to rule on emergency measures in Rohingya genocide case

The Express Tribune: The International Court of Justice on Thursday will rule on a request by Gambia for emergency measures in Myanmar to protect Rohingya Muslims, to halt violence immediately, and to preserve evidence of past abuses against the ethnic minority.

The small, mostly Muslim West African country launched the lawsuit at the UN’s highest body for disputes between states in November, accusing Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya, in violation of a 1948 convention.

FATF stands for Finishing America-Taliban Fight

The Express Tribune: In the movie Limitless, Bradley Cooper tells Robert Deniro, “Share prices aren’t really based on how the company works, it’s about how mass psychology works.” Pakistan’s being on the FATF grey list and its exit from it isn’t really about whether or not Pakistan is successfully curbing terror financing, but about how Washington’s psychology works. While one quid pro quo is driving the impeachment trial in Washington, another one is driving America’s exit from Afghanistan.

Truth be told, the Paris-based body doesn’t aim to curb terror financing which by the way would be achieved much better by not providing aid to and doing business with terrorist states such as India and Israel. The ulterior motive is that the FATF is a whip to ensure Pakistan’s help in achieving a face-saving deal in Afghanistan. That quid pro quo is what could eventually drive Pakistan out of this grey list, provided Pakistan plays its cards right.