oppn parties US Versus China: President Trump And The Intelligence Establishment Differ In Their Opinion

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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US Versus China: President Trump And The Intelligence Establishment Differ In Their Opinion

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2020-05-01 19:02:16

Two conflicting news items from the US showed how the Covid-19 crisis is being viewed differently by different sections of the decision making machinery in that country. In the first item, the US Office for the Director of National Intelligence issued a statement confirming Covid-19 originated in China. But it also said that "the intelligence community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the Covid-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified." The agency also reported that the intelligence chiefs were working to find out whether Covid-19 "began through contact with infected animals, or if it was the result of an accident in a laboratory in Wuhan."

In direct contrast to this, US President Donald Trump seemed to trash intelligence reports and suggested that he had evidence to prove that the Chinese made the virus and released it. When he was asked if he had seen anything that has given him such a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the source of the outbreak, Trump replied in the affirmative. Trump said he could "do it differently" and act in "probably a little bit more of a forthright manner" when asked about reports that he could cancel US debt obligations to China.

President Trump had earlier accused China of spreading the virus and misleading the world and the WHO in this regard. He even stopped the US funding for the WHO pending an inquiry. It is now clear that he will make China’s involvement in releasing and allowing the spread of the Covid-19 virus his main reelection plank. But since reports are emerging from the scientific community that suggests that the virus does not show any genetic modification and is probably not man-made, it remains to be seen how the US public will take his assertions in the absence of any solid proof linking China’s active involvement.

It seems his charge of China’s initial attempt to mislead the world is going to stick. China did not do enough to alert the other countries or the scientists across the world about the emergence of a novel off-shoot of the coronavirus which was not responding to any current vaccines or medicines. Neither did it act promptly to stop its spread by imposing travel restrictions. Hence, Trump’s ire with China is justified. But the US public will also question his initial carefree attitude, despite the problems that were being faced in Europe, that allowed the virus to spread so rapidly in the United States.

 

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