Both India and China have expressed a desire to de-escalate, and we support a peaceful resolution of the current situation,’ says State Department spokesperson
The U.S. supports a “peaceful resolution” of the current conflict between India and China, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed on Monday along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan area in Ladakh.
“We are closely monitoring the situation between Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control. We note the Indian military has announced that 20 soldiers have died, and we offer our condolences to their families,” a State Department spokesperson told The Hindu via email on Wednesday morning (India time). “Both India and China have expressed a desire to de-escalate, and we support a peaceful resolution of the current situation.”
Asked if U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had spoken to his counterpart, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, on the issue or if the U.S. had reached out to India at any other level, the spokesperson referred to the June 2 phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump, saying the two leaders had discussed the border situation then.
A White House readout for the June 2 call had referred to Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump discussing “regional security issues” — without naming China while a readout of the same call from the Prime Minister’s Office referred explicitly to “the situation on the India-China border.” The U.S.-China relationship is currently under strain due to bilateral trade and intellectual property issues between the countries as well as China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic and its recent legislative actions in Hong Kong.
“We are monitoring the situation between Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh,” a senior administration official separately told The Hindu, offering their “deepest condolences” to the families of the soldiers who died.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “silent” on the fierce clash between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh, and said that the country needs to know what has happened. Twenty Indian Army personnel including a colonel were killed in the clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region. “Why is the PM silent? Why is he hiding? Enough is enough. We need to know what has happened,” Gandhi said on Twitter.
Why is the PM silent? Why is he hiding?
Enough is enough. We need to know what has happened.
How dare China kill our soldiers? How dare they take our land?
At least 20 Indian Army personnel and 43 Chinese troops were killed in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night during a violent military faceoff along the LAC.
Commanding Officer of the Chinese Unit involved in the face-off with Indian troops in the Galwan Valley among those killed: Sources confirm to ANI
India-China standoff: How the Galwan Valley clash unfolded
Twenty Indian soldiers, including a Colonel, were killed and several others grievously injured in a violent physical skirmish with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley region of eastern Ladakh on Monday, in a massive build-up of military confrontation in the high-altitude region since early-May even though no bullets were fired. This is the first clash involving fatalities on both sides since 1975. Here is the timeline of the physical skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops
The medicine is used to treat bacterial infections, including skin, bone, respiratory and urinary tract infections, and certain types of diarrhoea.
The government has found sufficient evidence that China is dumping a key medicine, Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride, below cost in the Indian market and hurting the domestic pharmaceutical industry, two officials aware of the development said.
The medicine is used to treat bacterial infections, including skin, bone, respiratory and urinary tract infections, and certain types of diarrhoea.
After a thorough investigation, the government has found that the volume of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride imported from China has increased significantly and at a pace that is undercutting prices in the domestic industry, the officials cited above said, requesting anonymity.
China alone accounts for about 98% of the total Indian imports of the medicine.
“Domestic medicine had a price disadvantage of up to $3.3 per kg over Chinese products,” an official of a pharmaceutical association said on condition of anonymity.
Even as domestic manufacturing capacity of the medicine has increased, actual production and sales of local industry have declined and the market share of Chinese ciprofloxacin hydrochloride in India has increased, causing losses to the Indian pharma industry, the officials said.
“DGTR (Directorate General of Trade Remedies) on June 15 provisionally concluded that the domestic industry has suffered material injury and its preliminary findings favoured the imposition of an anti-dumping duty on Chinese import,” one of the officials said.
DGTR may take a final view on the matter after hearing all interested parties again next month, he added.
DGTR, previously known as the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties, is an arm of the ministry of commerce and industry and acts as a single-window agency providing a level playing field to domestic industry against unfair trade practices.
The finance ministry will consider imposing an anti-dumping duty on the Chinese medicine if DGTR recommends such a step, the second official cited above said. DGTR had initiated the investigation against the dumping of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride from Chine in January after domestic manufacturers accused the neighbouring country of engaging in an unfair trade practice.
Dumping is an unfair trade practice that entails the export of a product at a price lower than its value and is countered by a punitive duty, which is an acceptable measure under multilateral trade agreements, the second official said.
Complaints have been received by domestic industry that China was dumping several products . All such complaints are being investigated, he said.
HT reported on May 11 that India could extend anti-dumping duties and safeguards on more than two dozen Chinese goods ranging from calculators and USB drives to steel, solar cells and Vitamin E amid concern that a flood of imports would kill domestic manufacturers who will lose duty protection soon against such products. Anti-dumping duties on these products were imposed five years ago and are expiring this year.
India has taken a tough position against unfair Chinese trade practices as it is committed to protecting domestic industry under the government’s Make in India campaign, the officials said.
India-China bilateral trade is heavily tilted in favour of China. According to trade figures released by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) in mid-January 2020, India’s trade deficit with China was $56.77 billion in 2019; bilateral trade amounted to about $92.68 billion last year, a 1.6% annual increase.
“Dumping of goods below their actual cost harms the domestic industry, and anti-dumping duty is one of the means to protect local manufacturing from such unfair trade practices,” Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) executive director Ashok Madan said.
The scientists believe it is possible that the novel coronavirus may alter glucose metabolism that could complicate the condition of preexisting diabetes or lead to new mechanisms of disease.
COVID-19 may trigger the onset of diabetes in healthy people, and also cause severe complications in diabetic patients, according to an international group of 17 leading experts.
Based on clinical observations made so far, the scientists, including Stephanie A. Amiel from King’s College London in the U.K., said there is a bi-directional relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes.
In a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, they explained that diabetes, on the one hand, is associated with increased risk of COVID-19 severity and mortality with 20 to 30% of patients who died with the infectious disease reported to have diabetes.
On the other hand, the researchers said new-onset diabetes and atypical metabolic complications of pre-existing diabetes — including life-threatening ones — have been observed in people with COVID-19.
However, they said it is still unclear how SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, impacts diabetes.
Earlier studies had shown that the protein ACE-2 which binds to SARS-Cov-2 and allows the virus to enter human cells is not only located in the lungs, but also in organs and tissues involved in glucose metabolism such as the pancreas, the small intestine, the fat tissue, the liver and the kidney.
According to the researchers, by entering these tissues, the virus may cause multiple and complex dysfunctions of glucose metabolism.
The scientists believe it is possible that the novel coronavirus may alter glucose metabolism that could complicate the condition of preexisting diabetes or lead to new mechanisms of disease.
Based on previous research, they said virus infections can also precipitate type 1 diabetes – a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin.
“Diabetes is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases and we are now realising the consequences of the inevitable clash between two pandemics,” said Francesco Rubino, Professor of Metabolic Surgery at King’s College London.
However, given the short period of human contact with this new coronavirus, the exact mechanism by which the virus influences glucose metabolism is still unclear, the scientists said.
“We don’t know whether the acute manifestation of diabetes in these patients represent classic type 1, type 2 or possibly a new form of diabetes,” Mr. Rubino added.
“We don’t yet know the magnitude of the new onset diabetes in COVID-19 and if it will persist or resolve after the infection, and if so, whether or not or COVID-19 increases risk of future diabetes,” said Paul Zimmet, Professor of Diabetes at Monash University in Melbourne.
According to the researchers, assessing routinely collected clinical data can help examine insulin secretory capacity, insulin resistance, and autoimmune antibody status to understand how COVID-19 related diabetes develops, its natural history, and best management.
“We are calling on the international medical community to rapidly share relevant clinical observations that can help answer these questions,” Zimmet said.
New Delhi: A total of 20 Indian Army personnel were killed during a violent clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday night, escalating the already volatile border standoff between the two sides, an army statement said Tuesday.
Initially, the army said one officer and two soldiers were killed. Later in the night, an army statement said 17 more soldiers who “were were critically injured in the line of duty at the stand off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20.”
“Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged at the Galwan area where they had earlier clashed on the night of 15/16 June 2020,” it said, adding that the “Indian Army is firmly committed to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation.
Multiple sources in government and military establishments told PTI that the fierce clashes continued for several hours.
The sources said the Chinese side also suffered “proportionate casualties” but chose not to speculate on the numbers.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about last night’s clash as well the overall situation in eastern Ladakh after he held a high-level meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs.
According to a senior military officer, it is the first incident involving the casualty of an Indian soldier in a violent clash with the Chinese Army after 1975 when four Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush at Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh.
Military sources said the two armies held major general-level talks at the site of the clash.
“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place on Monday night with casualties. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers,” the Army said in a brief statement.
“Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation,” it said.
Congress, Left parties ask how Centre proposes to meet the challenge.
Opposition parties on Tuesday asked the Narendra Modi government to tell the nation what the “actual situation” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was, and how it proposed to meet the challenging situation after Indian soldiers were killed on Tuesday in a violent face-off with Chinese troops on the Ladakh border.
Describing the incident as “deeply shocking, horrifying and unacceptable”, the Congress questioned the government’s silence on it.
The Left parties said the government must explain what had happened on the border even as it advocated talks and de-escalation of the conflict.
“The nation is waiting for an official statement from the Ministry of Defence or Army HQ. Will it come tonight? The PM has maintained a worrying silence since May 5. Can you imagine any other Head of Government not saying a word for 7 weeks since the intrusion of foreign troops into a country?” asked former Union minister P. Chidambaram in a series of tweets.
China slammed
Slamming China for border violations, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said Indian soldiers and officers cannot be killed for defending the borders.
“It is time now for the Govt of India to take some stringent measures. Each sign of weakness on our part makes the Chinese reaction more belligerent,” he said on Twitter while expressing his condolences.
“Words cannot describe the pain I feel for the officers and men who sacrificed their lives for our country. My condolences to all their loved ones. We stand with you in this difficult time,” former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
‘Break silence’
In a statement, Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh should break their silence on the issue. “In the last five decades, not a single casualty or martyrdom of our soldiers has occurred or happened on Indo-China Border, that is the LAC…Will the PM and Raksha Mantri take the Nation into confidence as to how could our officer and soldiers be killed as the Chinese were reportedly withdrawing from our territory in the Galwan Valley?” Mr. Surjewala asked.
“Will the Prime Minister tell the Nation as to how the government proposes to meet this challenging situation which has serious ramifications for India’s ‘National Security and Territorial Integrity’?” Mr. Surjewala added.null
Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah wondered that if such deaths took place during a de-escalation process, how escalated the situation must be in the first place. “This is what happens when the media propagates the government line that asking questions is anti-national,” Mr. Abdullah tweeted.
‘Talks imperative’
“The Government of India should come out with an authoritative statement as to what actually happened. It is imperative that both the Governments immediately initiate high level talks to defuse the situation and advance the process of disengagement on the basis of the agreed understanding on maintaining peace and tranquility on the border,” the Communist Party of India-Marxist Politburo said in a statement.
Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja said any military confrontation between the two major Asian countries not only impacted the cooperation and friendship between the two countries but could also jeopardise peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. “We feel that both the sides have to intensify their efforts keeping in mind their core interest in achieving a mutually acceptable solution to the India-China boundary question as soon as possible,” Mr. Raja said.null
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Twitter said that his father and former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had on many occasions warned the government of the “dangers and challenges from the Chinese side but it was met with indifference”. “When will the government respond to this [Ladakh incident]?” Mr. Yadav asked.
Border tension more serious than in the past, say former Generals
Bahujan Samaj Party MP Kunwar Danish Ali tweeted: “Shocked and anguished over killing of our brave officer and 2 soldiers in Galwan Valley. There are more disturbing reports emerging about the clash at LAC even as Govt talks of de-escalation. Govt. should come clean on LAC situation and act swiftly to defend borders.”
A cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus.
The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say.
The drug is part of the world’s biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
It cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth.
Had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved, researchers say.
And it could be of huge benefit in poorer countries with high numbers of Covid-19 patients.
The UK government has 200,000 courses of the drug in its stockpile and says the NHS will make dexamethasone available to patients.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was a genuine case to celebrate “a remarkable British scientific achievement”, adding: “We have taken steps to ensure we have enough supplies, even in the event of a second peak.”
Chief Medical Officer for England Prof Chris Whitty said it would save lives around the world.
About 19 out of 20 patients with coronavirus recover without being admitted to hospital.
Of those who are admitted, most also recover but some may need oxygen or mechanical ventilation.
And these are the high-risk patients dexamethasone appears to help.
The drug is already used to reduce inflammation in a range of other conditions, including arthritis, asthma and skin some conditions.
And it appears to help stop some of the damage that can happen when the body’s immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight off coronavirus.
In the trial, led by a team from Oxford University, about 2,000 hospital patients were given dexamethasone and compared with more than 4,000 who were not.
For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40% to 28%.
For patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25% to 20%.
Chief investigator Prof Peter Horby said: “This is the only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality – and it reduces it significantly. It’s a major breakthrough.”
Lead researcher Prof Martin Landray said the findings suggested one life could be saved for:
every eight patients on a ventilator
every 20-25 treated with oxygen
“There is a clear, clear benefit,” he said.
“The treatment is up to 10 days of dexamethasone and it costs about £5 per patient.
“So essentially it costs £35 to save a life.
“This is a drug that is globally available.”
When appropriate, hospital patients should now be given it without delay, Prof Landray said.
But people should not go out and buy it to take at home.
Dexamethasone does not appear to help people with milder symptoms of coronavirus who do not need help with their breathing.
The Recovery Trial, running since March, also looked at the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which has subsequently been ditched amid concerns it increases fatalities and heart problems.
The antiviral drug remdesivir, meanwhile, which appears to shorten recovery time for people with coronavirus, is already being made available on the NHS.
The first drug proven to cut deaths from Covid-19 is not some new, expensive medicine but an old, cheap-as-chips steroid.
That is something to celebrate because it means patients across the world could benefit immediately.
And that is why the top-line results of this trial have been rushed out – because the implications are so huge globally.
Dexamethasone has been used since the early 1960s to treat a wide range of conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.
Half of all Covid patients who require a ventilator do not survive, so cutting that risk by a third would have a huge impact.
The drug is given intravenously in intensive care and in tablet form for less seriously ill patients.
So far, the only other drug proven to benefit Covid patients is remdesivir, which has been used for Ebola.
That has been shown to reduce the duration of coronavirus symptoms from 15 days to 11.
But the evidence was not strong enough to show whether it reduced mortality.
Unlike dexamethasone, remdesivir is a new drug with limited supplies and a price has yet to be announced.
BREAKING @ians_india: Some Indian Army officers & soldiers are MISSING; they were probably held captive by Chinese Army during the violent face-off at LAC in Galwan Valley of Ladakh, according to sources. PLA is threatening to throw them off a hill to inflict massive casualties.
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday demanded a rollback of hike in fuel prices, saying the government’s decision to increase the prices of petrol and diesel during the coronavirus crisis is “wholly insensitive” and “ill-advised”.
The government is doing nothing short of “profiteering off its people” when they are down and out, she said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 10th day in a row on Tuesday.
“I am deeply distressed that in these exceedingly difficult times since the beginning of March, the government has taken the wholly insensitive decision to increase petrol and diesel prices on no less than ten separate occasions,” Gandhi said in her letter.
She accused the government of earning an additional revenue of nearly Rs 2.6 lakh crore through these “ill-advised” hikes in excise duty and increase in prices of petrol and diesel.
“I urge you to roll back these increases and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country.
“If you wish for them to be ‘self-reliant’ then do not place financial fetters on their ability to move forward,” the Congress president said.
Gandhi also urged the government to use its resources to put money directly into the hands of those in need in these times of severe hardship.
