June 2018

22 June 2018
WORLD
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
SLOW DOWN TO
follow China’s 6.6%
growth in 2018: IMF
Iran busts terrorist cell
near Pakistan border
Tehran, Iranian security
forces dismantled a terrorist
cell in the southeast province of
Sistan-and-Baluchestan, seizing
a considerable amount of
weapons and munitions, Press
TV reported on Wednesday.
The terrorist cell was disbanded
in Saravan region near
Pakistan border following the
clash between security forces
and terrorists, the police chief
of the province said.
“During this operation, significant
amounts of light and
heavy weapons, several booby
traps and suicide vests, and significant
amounts of ammunition
were confiscated from terrorists,”
Brigadier General
Mohammad Qanbari was quoted
as saying.
The suicide attacker of the
terrorist group was also killed,
but police forces suffered no
casualty, he said. The report did
not specify the time of clash
and the affiliation of the group.
Beijing, The IMF on Wednesday
pegged the growth of the Chinese economy
at a slightly slower pace of 6.6 per cent in
2018, followed by a gradual slow down
over the next five years.
An IMF mission, led by its Asia and
Pacific Assistant Director James Daniel,
was in Beijing and southern business-hub
Shenzhen from May 17 to 30 and presented
the results of an annual report on the
Chinese economy, known as Article IV, in
a press conference on Wednesday. “China’s
economic growth accelerated in 2017 and
is expected to weaken only slightly in 2018
to 6.6 per cent and moderate gradually to
about 5.5 per cent by 2023,” the team said
in a press release cited by Efe news.
The IMF mission met representatives of
the government, the People’s Bank of
China (China’s central bank), private companies
and educational institutions to
exchange views about China’s economic
growth outlook, progress of reforms and
challenges facing the country. They said
that the Chinese economy was performing
well and the reforms were making good
progress.
“Reforms progressed in several key
areas: financial sector de-risking accelerated
with a wide range of decisive measures
adopted, credit growth slowed, overcapacity
reduction progressed, anti-pollution
efforts intensified and opening up continued,”
said the press release. The team also
praised the government for shifting the policy
focus from “high-speed to high-quality
growth” adding that the earlier high growth
rates were unsustainable and advocated a
shift from excessive investment to consumption,
which could ensure a cleaner
environment and reduce risks.
The IMF also urged the Chinese authorities
to allow market forces to play a decisive
role in the economy, reduce the power
of the public sector and ensure just competition.
Referring to recent trade disputes
between China and the US, the mission
said trade tensions could be harmful both
Trump replaces steak
with fish to lose weight
Washington :
Dietitians to Donald Trump has replaced
his favourite steak with fish and have also discarded cheeseburgers,
after the US President acknowledged in private that
he needed to lose weight, a media report said.
President Trump had embarked upon a mission
to shed 10 to 15 pounds in January by
altering his diet and with a new exercise plan to
pull back from borderline obesity, CNN said in
the report on Wednesday.
Five months into his regimen, people close
to him said that they have detected small
changes, mostly in how he eats.
But they have not identified a discernible
exercise routine beyond the weekend rounds of
golf the President enjoys with the help of a cart.
Trump himself has continued to downplay the
importance of exercise, even questioning
whether it presents more risk than reward. In January, Ronny
Jackson, the White House doctor, acknowledged to a room
full of reporters that Trump didn’t exercise regularly, CNN
reported. Inside the White House kitchens, chefs have been
by the direct impact of tariffs and due to
uncertainty affecting the confidence of
investors and consumers.
The IMF also supported Beijing’s Belt
and Road Initiative for its potential to
improve connectivity and eliminate trade
barriers, although adding that resources
should be appropriately distributed among
the countries involved.
UN official voices concern over situation in Idlib
United Nations, The top UN official for humanitarian affairs on Tuesday expressed
concern over the security and humanitarian situation in Syria’s Idlib.
“The situation in Idlib is alarming, with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups,
overcrowding and severely stretched basic services deepening the suffering of both displaced
people who have fled there and host communities,” Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary-general
and emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council, Xinhua
reported. More than 80,000 newly displaced people have arrived in Idlib since March.
Keeping pace with the increase in needs in the northwestern governorate has involved
redirecting resources from other activities, he said. Many of the most recent new arrivals
in Idlib have come from northern rural Homs. Some 35,000 people were evacuated from
this area in the south earlier this month, after a significant escalation of conflicts, said
Lowcock. An inter-agency convoy — the first in more than two months — is due to go
to northern rural Homs on Wednesday with assistance for nearly 93,000 people, following
receipt of facilitation letters from the Syrian authorities on Sunday.
instructed to find ways to limit fat and calories in the dishes
they prepare for Trump’s meals, including the lunches and
dinners he convenes almost daily with members of his
Cabinet, lawmakers, outside advisers or visiting
foreign dignitaries.
Earlier this year, a registered dietitian was dispatched
from the Walter Reed National Military
Medical Centre to consult with White House
kitchen staff on reducing calories and fat in
Trump’s meals, a person familiar with the matter
told CNN.
Trump’s most recent predecessors were exercise
fiends.
Former President Barack Obama played basketball
until his knees began troubling him,
switching later to cardio work on machines in
the White House residence. Former President
George W. Bush asked for workout equipment, including an
elliptical machine and dumbbells, to be installed in a poolside
cabana steps from the Oval Office, and a fold-up treadmill
to be placed aboard Air Force One.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov
arrives in Pyongyang: KCNA
Seoul : Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in
Pyongyang on Thursday, North Korea’s state media said, ahead
of a landmark summit between
Donald Trump and North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un. Lavrov’s visit
comes amid a flurry of diplomatic
activity to organise next month’s
summit, with US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo also meeting Kim’s
right-hand man Kim Yong Chol in
New York late on Wednesday.
“Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister of the Russian Federation,
arrived here today at the invitation of Ri Yong Ho, foreign minister
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North
Korea)”, KCNA news agency said in a brief dispatch. It gave
no further details but Russia’s Tass news agency said the two
foreign ministers had begun talks at the Supreme People’s
Assembly building in Pyongyang. The Russian Foreign
Ministry said earlier they were expected to discuss “vital issues
of bilateral relations and key international and regional issues”.
Lavrov is paying a visit to North Korea for the first time since
2009, Tass said. Lavrov spoke to his US counterpart Pompeo
by telephone for the first time yesterday ahead of the Secretary
of State’s dinner meeting with Kim Yong Chol.
Washington is pressing North Korea to quickly give up all
its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for lifting
sanctions and economic relief. But analysts say North Korea
will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given
security guarantees that the US will not try to topple the
regime.
Russian Parliament invites
Zuckerberg to address lawmakers
Moscow, Russia’s Federation Council, the Upper House of
the Parliament, has invited
Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg to speak at one of
its plenary meetings, Speaker
Valentina Matviyenko said on
Wednesday. “We have sent an
invitation and we will try to
organise his arrival,”
Matviyenko was quoted by
TASS news agency as saying.
“Whether he will be able to
come is another question,”
she said. The suggestion to invite Zuckerberg came from
Senator Anton Belyakov, who said that the US billionaire
might appear at one of the parliamentary “Hour of the Expert”
events, in which guests normally address the lawmakers and
hold a Q&A session. Matviyenko said that the Federation
Council may invite other well-known foreign experts to speak
on topical issues.
China says reserves
right to retaliate to
US actions against
its investments
Beijing : The United States’
measures against
China’s investments
are against World
Trade Organization
rules, and China
reserves the right to
take countermeasures,
the commerce
ministry said on Thursday.
China is not willing to see an
escalation in Sino-US trade frictions,
and believes the two countries
have a huge potential for cooperation,
Ministry of Commerce
spokesman Gao Feng told reporters
at a regular news briefing.
After trade tensions between the
two countries appeared to cool following
talks in Washington earlier in
the month, the US on Tuesday said it
still holds a threat of imposing tariffs
and will press ahead with restrictions
on investment by Chinese
companies in the United States.