After attack on its embassy in Iraq, US to send more troops to Middle East

Current Affairs
The United States has said it is sending hundreds additional soldiers to the Middle East after a horde of ace Iranian demonstrators raged its government office compound in Iraq, setting flames and reciting "Passing to America!"
Enraged by US air strikes that killed two dozen paramilitary contenders on Sunday, several nonconformists spilled through checkpoints in the high-security Green Zone Tuesday, requesting the ouster of American soldiers from Iraq and voicing devotion to an amazing Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the assault was "coordinated by psychological oppressors," one of whom he named as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Muhandis has been recognized as second-in-direction of the Tehran-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary gathering which incorporates Kataeb Hezbollah, the gathering that was focused in the US air strikes.
Guard Secretary Mark Esper said in an explanation that around 750 soldiers from a quick reaction unit of the 82nd Airborne Division are set up to send throughout the following a few days to the locale. "This organization is a fitting and preparatory move made in light of expanded danger levels against US staff and offices, for example, we saw in Baghdad today," he said.

The US had just flown a fast reaction group of Marines into Baghdad to fortify its international safe haven after the assault Tuesday, which left smoke and flares ascending from the government office entrance and further elevated pressure among Tehran and Washington. Esper's declaration is the most recent move by Washington to step up its safeguards in the area since US President Donald Trump in May 2018 hauled out of a global atomic arrangement with Iran and re-forced devastating financial authorizations.

Pepsico India wins US award for saving more than 17 billion litres of water

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday presented the prestigious Award for Corporate Excellence to Pepsico India for its efforts to save more than 17 billions of litres of water through community water programs and positively impacting thousands of community members.

Established in 1999, the ACE recognizes US companies that promote and uphold high standards as responsible members of their communities where they do business.


Today we honour one of PepsiCo's regional arms, PepsiCo India. It is India's largest purchaser of potatoes. And it uses this to power good, sourcing sustainably from 24,000 small Indian farmers. It also has a program aimed at replenishing water in stressed areas, through which it has restored nearly five billion litres of water, he said.

Other recipients of the award are Chambers Federation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Procter and Gamble Asia Pacific in Singapore and Agilis Partners in Uganda.

Our four winners today demonstrate the power of free enterprise. They demonstrate to our foreign partners that working with our businesses is a path to prosperity and stability, Pompeoe said at the awards ceremony held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

These companies, he said represents America's free market values by creating good jobs here in the United States and around the world, investing sustainably, operating transparently, and offering the highest quality products and services in the world.

PepsiCo India has been named the global ACE winner in sustainable operations in the multinational enterprise category for its sustainable farming initiative in India.

The award recognises the company's effort to save more than 17 billion litres of water through its community water programs and replenishing over 5 billion litres of water, positively impacting 60,000 community members.

Govt sources refute Trump's claim, says India's tariffs are not that high

Company News

India's taxes are not unreasonably high contrasted with other creating nations, government sources told Reuters on Thursday, responding to United States President Donald Trump's call to pull back what he said were high levies.
Prior Trump tweeted that he anticipated gathering Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in Japan, however said that for a considerable length of time India had put "high duties against the United States". Including: "This is unsatisfactory and the duties must be pulled back!" This month, India slapped higher duties on 28 US items in counter for Washington's withdrawal this long stretch of tax unhindered commerce for certain Indian merchandise.
India's duties are in accordance with the World Trade Organization administers, the administration sources stated, including that US levies a few things were a lot higher than India's.
"I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the tariffs even further," Trump said on Twitter. "This is unacceptable and the tariffs must be withdrawn!" said Trump, who will meet Modi at this week's G20 summit in Japan.
Trump's remarks could further worsen a trade row that has led to tit-for-tat tariffs from India and the United States and created an unease over the depth of their security alliance.

 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was in New Delhi on Wednesday, sought to reduce heightened trade tension with India, promising a renewed focus on negotiating better ties, but giving few specifics of how they would overcome disputes over trade and investment.Trade between the United States and India stood at about $142.1 billion in 2018.

From trade to Russia arms deals, Pompeo faces thorny issues on India visit

Company News

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived on Tuesday for talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi, where he is expected to tackle a host of delicate issues from trade to India's longstanding defence and energy ties to Russia and Iran.Relations between the United States and India have improved dramatically since the Cold War but they have still fallen short of their promise and now have run into serious problems over tariffs, flows of data and tighter Indian rules on online commerce in one of the world's fastest growing large markets.
Pompeo landed in New Delhi late on Tuesday night after an unannounced trip to Kabul.
He will kick off his visit to India by calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was re-elected for a second term last month with a powerful mandate that analysts say gives him the chance to take bold reforms to propel Asia's third largest economy towards faster growth.
BEFORE THE MODI-TRUMP TALKS
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will hold talks on Wednesday; Pompeo will later call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi
India’s data norms opposed by US digital majors, contentious trade issues, H1B visa, and terrorism are likely to come up for discussion
Pompeo’s visit comes ahead of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit later this month

 Just ahead of his visit, New Delhi imposed tariffs on some U.S. goods after President Donald Trump's administration threw India out of a group of countries that were allowed duty free access for some of their products into the large U.S. market.

Pompeo to discuss 'ambitious agenda' for strategic partnership with PM Modi

Company News

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will discuss "an ambitious agenda" for the US-India strategic partnership when he meets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar later this month in New Delhi, the State Department said.
Pompeo will travel to four countries in the Indo-Pacific region from June 24 to 30: India, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea.The four Indo-Pacific swing by Pompeo is to broaden and deepen America's partnerships with key countries to advance their shared goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said Tuesday.
(And) Prime Minister Modi's recent election victory provides an excellent opportunity for him to implement his vision for a strong and prosperous India that plays a leading role on the global stage, Ortagus said.In his meeting with Modi and Jaishankar, Pompeo will discuss our ambitious agenda for the US-India strategic partnership, she said, without elaborating.
From New Delhi, Pompeo will travel to Colombo, where he will express America's solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka as they stand united against the despicable Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.
He will also discuss promising opportunities for US-Sri Lanka cooperation based on shared commitments to a free and open Indo-Pacific region, the spokesperson said.Pompeo will travel to Osaka to participate in the G20 Leaders' Summit, the first such gathering hosted by Japan.

 On the margins of the summit, Pompeo will join US President Donald Trump in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to coordinate on the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and to discuss ways to strengthen trilateral cooperation with South Korea on their unified approach towards the North and other shared challenges, she said.

Trump's trade deal with China may relieve Huawei from espionage charges

International News

The US-led campaign against Huawei Technologies Co., China’s telecom giant, has attracted a lot of attention for the indictment of the company’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou. On Thursday, Huawei’s lawyers pleaded not guilty in a New York federal court to 13 counts of fraud involving an elaborate scheme to violate US sanctions against Iran.

That case is no doubt important, not only because of the possibility that Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, could face incarceration. It is also a major irritant in US-China trade talks.
That said, the case is a sideshow. Of greater consequence is a renewed US campaign to pressure and persuade America’s allies to keep Huawei technology and equipment out of the next generation of wireless networks, known as 5G. The stakes in this campaign are much bigger than U.S. market share or the effectiveness of Iran sanctions. If Huawei’s chips and routers find their way into this new network, everything from digital privacy to intellectual property could be at risk.

US intelligence agencies, along with those of many of its allies, have concluded that Huawei’s equipment provides China’s military with a backdoor into the telecom systems that use it.
“Huawei is a spy agency for the Communist Party of China, thinly veiled as a technology company,” says Senator Ted Cruz in a March 14 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.


 The U.S. intelligence community has been sounding this alarm for years. Only recently, however, have these worries begun to inform policy. Pompeo himself has been the public face of it, warning last month on a tour of Eastern Europe that it would be “difficult” for the U.S. to partner with countries that use Huawei equipment...Read More