Section:GDN 1N PaGe:27 Edition Date:190724 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 23/7/2019 17:52 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Wednesday 24 July 2019 The Guardian •
World^27
Outrage at Trump claim
that India asked him to
mediate over Kashmir
Rebecca Ratcliff e
India’s foreign minister has fi rmly
denied Donald Trump’s claim that
the Indian government invited him
to mediate in the Kashmir dispute.
Trump’s remarks, made on Mon-
day as he sat alongside the Pakistani
prime minister , Imran Khan, pro-
voked uproar in the Indian parliament
and demands for the prime minister,
Narendra Modi, to respond.
Pakistan has called for third-party
involvement over the dispute, but
India has always insisted it can only
be resolved through direct talks.
Kashmir is claimed by both coun-
tries in full and ruled in part by both.
An insurgency has waxed and waned
on the Indian side for 30 years with
tens of thousands of people killed.
Trump’s suggestions were quickly
rejected by Delhi and, following heated
exchanges in parliament yesterday,
the foreign minister, Subrahmanyam
Jaishankar , issued a strenuous denial.
But opposition members walked out ,
demanding a response from Modi.
During his fi rst visit to Washington
as prime minister this week, Khan told
Trump: “You will have the prayers of
over a billion people if you can medi-
ate or resolve this issue.” Khan later
appeared on Fox News, saying: “TheUS could play a big part; President
Trump certainly can play a big part.”
In response , Trump said he had had
a similar request from India, adding:
“If you would want me to mediate or
arbitrate, I would be willing to do it.”
Analysts believe it is likely Trump
misinterpreted India’s calls for greater
international pressure on Pakistan to
crack down on extremism. If Modi
had asked for US intervention, this
would amount to India “changing
its policy on third party involvement
entirely, and turning it on its head,”
said Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy , asso-
ciate director of the Institute of Peace
and Confl ict Studies in Delhi.
“One of the possible scenarios that
could have been misinterpreted by
Mr Trump, is that ... [India may] have
asked the US to exert pressure on Paki-
stan to end terror sanctuaries,” he said.
Brad Sherman , a Democrat mem-
ber of the House foreign affairs
committee, said he apologised to the
Indian ambassador in Washington for
Trump’s statement , which, in a tweet,
he called “amateurish and delusional.
And embarrassing.”Immigration
offi cers in US
given powers
to deport
without appeal
The son also writes
Donald Trump Jr is to join his sister
Ivanka ; mother, Ivana ; and father,
Donald Sr; on the bookshelves.
Trump Jr’s own literary eff ort ,
entitled Triggered: How the Left
Thrives on Hate and Wants to
Silence Us, will be published in
November by Center Street, a
rightwing non-fi ction imprint that
has the former Republican speaker
Newt Gingrich among its authors.
A description says the book
will “expose all the tricks that the
left uses to smear conservatives”
and how “no topic is spared from
political correctness”. Trump
posted: “This is the book the leftist
elites don’t want you to read!”
The book will span topics from his
“childhood summers in communist
Czechoslovakia that began his
political thought process”, through
to the “major achievements of
president Trump’s administration”.
Kate LyonsIn brief
Russia
LGBT activist murdered
after vigilante threatsUnited States
‘Abnormalities’ in brain
scans of envoys to CubaDisease
Drug-resistant malaria
spreading across AsiaRussian campaigners said a
woman found stabbed to death in
St Petersburg was a well-known
activist who had been threatened
over her protests for LGBT rights
and opposition causes.
Activists and media named a
41-year-old woman found strangled
and stabbed on Sunday as Yelena
Grigoryeva, a campaigner for several
unpopular causes in Russia, such as
LGBT rights and Ukrainian political
prisoners. A suspect has reportedly
been arrested. Grigoryeva ’s name
was on a list of LGBT activists
published by a recently blocked
website urging vigilante s to attack
them. Shaun Walker and agenciesDrug-resistant forms of malaria-
causing parasites are spreading
across south-east Asia, leading to
“alarmingly high” treatment failure ,
researchers have warned.
Studies in the Lancet Infectious
Diseases journal revealed that in
parts of Thailand, Vietnam and
Cambodia up to 80% of the most
common malaria parasites were now
resistant to the two most common
antimalarial drugs. Plasmodium
falciparum is also now resistant to
one of the most potent new drug
treatments. Scientists warned of the
“terrifying prospect” of the parasite
spreading to Africa, where most
malaria cases occur. AFP ParisBrain scans of 40 US embassy
staff who became ill in mysterious
circumstances while serving in
Cuba have revealed potential
abnormalities that may be related to
their symptoms. The scans of the US
government workers, who suff ered
concussion-like symptoms, revealed
brain features that looked diff erent
from those of healthy volunteers.
On average they had lower
volumes of white matter, the tissue
made from nerve bundles that
send messages around the brain.
There were also micro-structural
and other diff erences that could
aff ect auditory and visuospatial
processing. But the University of
Pennsylvania team that performed
the scans said the fi ndings were
not conclusive. They d id not
match what was normally seen in
brain injuries, and the severity of
symptoms did not vary with the
extent of the brain diff erences.
Independent experts said it was
still unclear whether the diplomats
were victims of any attack.
Ian SampleAssociated PressThe Trump administration has
expanded the authority of immig-
ration officers to deport migrants
without the right to appear before
judges. It is the second big policy shift
on immigration from the federal gov-
ernment in the last eight days.
From yesterday, anyone in the US
unlawfully for less than two years can
be fast-tracked out. Previously, “expe-
dited removal” was largely limited to
people arrested almost immediately
after crossing the US-Mexico border.
Kevin McAleenan , acting homelandsecurity secretary, portrayed the
decision as another Trump adminis-
tration eff ort to address an “ongoing
crisis on the southern border” by free-
ing up beds in facilities and reducing a
backlog of 900,000 court cases. Lack
of detention space for people arrested
on the border had led to the release of
hundreds of thousands with notices
to appear in court, McAleenan said.
Cases can take years to resolve.
The American Civil Liberties Union
said it would sue to block the policy.
“ Immigrants ... would be deported
with less due process than people get
in traffi c court,” said Omar Jawdat of
the ACLU ’s immigrants’ rights project.
Expedited removal was createdin 1996 but it was not until 2004 that
homeland security said it would be
used for those arrested within two
weeks of entering the US by land
caught within 100 miles of the border.
McAleenan said 20,570 people
arrested in the interior from October
2017 to September 2018 had been in
the US less than two years.
Last week, the administration said
it would deny asylum to anyone who
had passe d through other countries
without seeking protection.▲ A Guatemalan migrant appeals to
a member of the Mexican national
guard to be allowed into the US
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