WASHINGTON, July 11:The United States recorded 63,643 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

As of 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Saturday), 774 people died of COVID-19 in the country in the past 24 hours, the Baltimore-based university said.
The worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic, the US has recorded a total of 133,969 deaths out of 3.18 million cases.
Thursday saw a record surge in cases, with 65,551 new infections. Experts fear there will soon be a spike in deaths.
In recent days, Texas and Florida reported record numbers of virus deaths.

“As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don’t think you can say we’re doing great,” top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci told political analysis website FiveThirtyEight on Thursday.

President Donald Trump, for his part, hit out at the respected scientist, telling Fox News: “Dr Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.”

The US leader, who continues to downplay the spike in coronavirus cases, traveled to outbreak hotspot Miami on Friday for a high-dollar campaign fundraiser and other events. (AFP)

KATHMANDU, April 16: A 45-year old man has died of coronavirua in the United States on Thursday.

According to his family sources, Pawan Kamar Malla died while at isolation in his rented apartment in Woodside.

The former Assistant Sub-inspector had been living in the US for the past eight years. He used to drive taxi for his living.

His family sources added that he had been suffering from fever and had breathing difficulty for some days.

So far, four Nepalis have died in the US due to the pandemic.

The virus has infected 644,348 and killed 28,554 people in the US.

KATHMANDU, March 31: The United States on Tuesday evacuated its citizens stranded in Nepal due to nationwide lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

According to Ambassador of US to Nepal Randy Berry, 302 US citizens including some Embassy representatives who were airlifted to Kathmandu from Pokhara, Mustang and Langtang regions of the country have been sent home.

“Today we flew 302 #AmericansHome – the result of hundreds of hrs of hard work. I’m so proud of my @USEmbassyNepal team but I know that we did not do this alone. Thank you @nepaltourismb @hello_CAANepal @MoFANepal & so many Nepali friends & partners who made this happen!” ambassador Berry wrote in his twitter account today.

The chartered Qatar Airways flight will head to Dulles International Airport via Doha, according to the US Embassy.

Earlier, about 900 German, French and tourists from other European Union nations were evacuated from Nepal.

Australia is also repatriating its citizens tomorrow.

Likewise, the United Kingdom is also planning to evacuate its citizens very soon.

Photos: Mukunda Kalikote

AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS TO BE EVACUATED ON WEDNESDAY

KATHMANDU, March 30: The United States is evacuating its citizens stranded in Nepal due to nationwide lockdown on Tuesday.

“A chartered flight operated by Qatar Airways is scheduled for 12:00 noon on March 31. The flight will depart from Kathmandu en route to Doha and then proceed to Dulles International Airport in the Washington, DC area,” the Embassy of US in Nepal stated in a notice.

Although it is now yet known how many US tourists are currently in Nepal, the embassy said that there are more US citizens seeking to return to the US than there are seats on the plane.

“We are already working toward being able to provide a second repatriation flight, but that will likely not be confirmed until Tuesday,” the embassy stated.

As the US has the world’s most infections with 142,178 confirmed cases and death toll doubling over just one week from 1,000 to 2,484, the embassy has prioritized the returning citizens based on the risk.

“First, we will prioritize US citizens at higher risk from the Coronavirus, along with their immediate household family members.  In the case of COVID-19, priority will be given to older adults (65 years and older) and people of any age with underlying health conditions, such as diabetes, lung disease, or heart disease,” the embassy stated.

“Next, US citizen minors will receive the next level of prioritization.  A US citizen minor who is traveling with a parent or legal guardian with legal entry status, such as having valid LPR status.

“Third, adult US citizens in need of medical assistance who do not fall into a higher priority group.  And finally, all other US citizens, on a first-come, first-served basis.  We will be using the online form that most of those interested in returning to the US have already completed,” the notice read.

About 900 German, French and tourists from other European Union nations were repatriated on Saturday and Sunday.

The Embassy of Australia is also sending back its citizens on April 1.

Embassy of Australia in Nepal said, “We currently have 407 Australians registered with the Australian Embassy as being in Nepal. We have a further 187 permanent residents. Based on these numbers, the flight will be oversubscribed.”

The embassy is also preparing to make some seats available to New Zealand citizens in Nepal.

Italy reported almost 1,000 deaths on Friday — the worst death toll from the coronavirus anywhere around the world and the number of infections reached 104,256 in the United States as the death toll from the virus climbed to 27,370 globally with 597, 458 infections.

With record new deaths, Italy’s death toll has reached 9,134. Spain also reported its deadliest day as the number of deaths from the virus in the country has reached 5,138. France is another worst-hit region in Europe with 1,995 deaths and 32,964 confirmed cases. Germany has recorded 351 deaths and 50,871 infections. Europe alone has now more than 300,000 cases.

In the US, the deaths toll from the virus climbed to 1,704 as President Donald Trump also signed the largest stimulus package in US history, worth $2 trillion.

In West Asia, Iran’s death toll is more than the US, with 2,378 deaths and 32,332 infections.

60 percent of the world’s country is under lockdown due to the virus while 80 countries have already requested emergency aid from the International Monetary Fund.

(With inputs from agencies)

LONDON, June 6: The US-led military campaign to oust the Islamic State (IS) group from the Syrian city of Raqa in 2017 killed hundreds of civilians in indiscriminate bombing, amounting to possible war crimes, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The military operation failed to take “adequate account” of civilians and the “precautions necessary to minimize harm” to them in the city, IS’s de facto capital in Syria, the human rights group said in a report.

“Coalition claims that its precision air campaign allowed it to bomb IS out of Raqa while causing very few civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny,” the report concluded.

“The coalition strikes detailed in this report appear either disproportionate or indiscriminate or both and as such unlawful and potential war crimes.” Coalition spokesman US Colonel Thomas Veale criticized Amnesty for the report, saying the group had not checked findings with the military or asked for comment.

But he said his biggest objection was Amnesty’s assumption that the coalition violated international law. “They are literally judging us guilty until proven innocent,” Veale told Pentagon reporters.

“That’s a bold rhetorical move by an organization that fails to check the public record or consult the accused.” The United States led a four-month campaign of air strikes from June last year, dubbed a “war of annihilation” by US Defense Secretary James Mattis, to oust IS from Raqa.

Amnesty researchers travelled to the devastated city in February and spent two weeks visiting 42 coalition air strike sites, interviewing 112 witnesses and survivors. AFP

SEOUL, Nov 7: President Donald Trump arrived in South Korea on Tuesday on the second leg of his first official Asian tour. While Trump will be looking to use his trip to strengthen Washington’s alliance with Seoul and reaffirm their joint push to maximize pressure on North Korea over its nuclear program, he will also be faced with several thorny issues weighing on the relationship. Here’s a look at some of them.

NORTH KOREA

Both Trump and South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in agree that it’s time to ramp up sanctions and pressure on North Korea, which has ignored international condemnation as it moves forward with its nuclear and missile tests.

But Moon, a former human rights lawyer, still favors dialogue as a way to defuse the nuclear tension and vehemently opposes a potential military clash, which experts believe would cause enormous casualties in South Korea. This contrasts with Trump, who has threatened the North with “fire and fury” and exchanged warlike rhetoric with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The world will be watching what kind of language Trump will use in his comments on North Korea. A hint at a military option or crude insults directed at Kim — like the term “Little Rocket Man” he previously used to deride the young North Korean dictator — is certain to enrage North Korea, which could react with weapons tests and threats of war.

Increasing animosity would be a burden for Moon.

TRADE

Renegotiating South Korea’s bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S., dubbed KORUS, is likely be high on the agenda during the Trump-Moon summit. Trump has criticized the deal as a source of the UStrade deficit with South Korea, an argument officials there dismiss.

Before Trump’s presidency, many in South Korea and the United States regarded the deal as a key pillar of their alliance. But Trump has made scrapping trade deals a hallmark of his presidency. Earlier this year, reports that Trump was considering triggering a withdrawal from the deal caused uproar not just in South Korea but also in the United States.

The two countries eventually started talks this summer on renegotiating the deal, which went into effect five years ago. Many South Koreans are watching if Trump will make off-the-cuff remarks on the trade deal during news conferences or on Twitter.

US TROOPS

Trump wants South Korea to pay more for the US military presence on its soil, which is chiefly aimed at deterring potential aggression from North Korea.

During election campaigning, Trump said South Korea and Japan must make more contributions for together hosting 80,000 US troops or he might withdraw those soldiers. Security jitters subsequently flared among many in South Korea and Japan.

Since taking office in January, Trump hasn’t publicly threatened to pull out the troops but he harkened back to an election campaign request for greater burden-sharing with South Korea during his first summit talks with Moon in late June.

South Korea currently pays more than 900 billion won ($800 million) annually and negotiations with the United States are to start in the coming months to try to determine a new amount for South Korea to contribute.

US MISSILE DEFENSE

South Korea’s recent agreement with China to try to end disputes over an advanced USmissile defense system deployed in South Korea could be an issue.

While announcing the deal last week, Beijing, which views the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system as a security threat, said it noted that Seoul stated it won’t do several things: deploying an additional THAAD battery, helping develop security cooperation with Japan and the US into a trilateral military alliance and joining a global USmissile defense network. South Korea’s foreign minister made similar remarks during a parliament committee meeting earlier last week.

Critics say the South Korean moves, dubbed by local media as its “Three No” policies, could undermine the operational capability of the allied South Korea-US forces and Trump’s push to bolter three-way cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo to put more pressure on Pyongyang.

Other issues at stake are South Korea’s hope to regain the wartime operational control of its troops, currently placed at the hands of the chief of the 28,000 UStroops in the South, and Seoul’s possible purchase of high-tech USweapons systems. AP

WASHINGTON, July 2: Less than three months after President Donald Trump and China’s leader strolled the manicured lawns at Mar-a-Lago, the White House is suddenly engaged in a multipronged pressure campaign against Beijing, born of frustration with the limited results of their much-touted cooperation on ending North Korea’s nuclear threat.

Delivering a one-two punch to China on Thursday, the Trump administration approved a $1.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan and blacklisted a small Chinese bank over its business ties with North Korea. The State Department earlier in the week gave Beijing a dismal grade in a new human trafficking report that was endorsed by Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser.

The actions culminated days of increased irritation among the president and his top aides over China’s reluctance to tighten the economic screws on Pyongyang. Until recently, American officials had been hailing the improved coordination with China and describing it as the centerpiece of their strategy for preventing North Korea’s isolated totalitarian government from being able to strike the U.S. homeland with nuclear weapons.

Trump hinted at his loss of patience last week, tweeting that his bid to secure a tougher Chinese approach “has not worked out.” China represents about 90 percent of North Korea’s trade. After a meeting Friday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that focused heavily on North Korea, Trump made no reference to Beijing.

The shifts in Trump’s China policy in some way reflect the natural ebbs and flows that are to be expected in great power relations. The U.S. and China have the world’s two biggest economies, with all the commercial opportunities and headaches such a dynamic entails. While America’s military is by far the strongest, the gap with China is rapidly narrowing. On security, diplomacy, foreign investment and other matters, it’s only natural that U.S. and Chinese interests will collide.

But Trump’s rapid flip-flops on China are a departure from the practice of past U.S. presidents, who found persistent behind-the-scenes pressure and engagement of Beijing more likely than headline-grabbing confrontations to produce deals on everything from carbon emissions to currency exchange rates.

Trump was blisteringly critical of China as a candidate, saying he would not allow the Chinese “to rape our country.” He also fielded a call from Taiwan’s president weeks after his election victory. Trump’s tone drastically shifted in the run-up to the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida. He toned down threats to upend the U.S. “One China” policy, which acknowledges Beijing’s claim to Taiwan. And he said China doesn’t manipulate its currency.

Amid the unpredictability, China’s government has relied heavily on a close relationship that has developed between its U.S. ambassador, Cui Tiankai, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Kushner, who is heavily involved in foreign policy, speaks frequently with the ambassador.

“I think that channel has not provided them with the correct understanding with what they need to do on a range of issues,” said Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “On North Korea, they just didn’t hit the mark.”

The White House insisted that its actions this week were not aimed at punishing China for its reluctance to ramp up pressure on North Korea. The State Department said the arms sale to Taiwan was approved under a long-standing U.S. policy to help the self-governing island’s self-defense. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who announced the sanctions on the Chinese bank, said that “we are in no way targeting China.”

But officials, particularly at the White House, have voiced increased exasperation in recent days.

Dennis Wilder, who spent four years as President George W. Bush’s top East Asia adviser and six years as senior editor of President Barack Obama’s daily intelligence briefing, pointed to what he heard was a disappointing U.S.-China security dialogue last week in Washington. Instead of engaging in an open back-and-forth on North Korea strategy, he said, Chinese officials including foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi presented Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis with well-recited policy positions.

“The Trump administration was looking for a candid dialogue, not talking points,” said Wilder, now a Georgetown University professor, adding that Mattis and Tillerson left with the impression that China was “very reluctant” to take on its banks doing illicit business with North Korea. “The body language was clear: China is still not willing to see North Korea as a strategic problem.”

Briefing foreign policy experts this week on China and other matters, a senior U.S. official noted that Tillerson has raised the problem of North Korea and China in every one of his meetings with top foreign diplomats. The U.S. has made clear to China that Chinese banks and companies conducting business with Pyongyang will face sanctions, if there is no movement on North Korea’s nuclear activities, said the official, according to a participant in the meeting. The individual wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and asked that his name and that of the senior official be withheld.

The Trump administration may not have harbored lofty expectations for its diplomacy with Beijing. Several administrations have wearied with diplomatic efforts to change China’s thinking on everything from environmental and economic policy to stopping a North Korean nuclear program that will soon be able to threaten America’s West Coast.

For Trump, the desire for a quick breakthrough runs head-on into China’s focus on long-term objectives. As frustrating a partner as Pyongyang has been for the Chinese, experts see Beijing still preferring Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian regime over a unified Korean peninsula on its border, solidified by a U.S. alliance. Trump and Xi’s personal bond, however strong, is unlikely to change such thinking.-AP