BIDEN SAYS US TRADE DEAL HINGES ON UK 'RESPECT' FOR GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT

US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has warned the United Kingdom

it must honour Northern Ireland's 1998 peace agreement as it withdraws from

the European Union or there would be no separate United States trade deal.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is proposing new legislation that would break

the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit divorce treaty that seeks to

avoid a physical customs border between British-ruled Northern Ireland and

EU-member Ireland.

"We can't allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern

Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit," Biden said in a tweet on Wednesday.

"Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for

the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period."

Johnson insists he is defending not threatening the Good Friday pact, which

ended 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland between pro-British

Protestant unionists and Irish Catholic nationalists.

He accuses the EU of trying to divide the UK and of putting a revolver on

the table in talks to set rules for an estimated $1 trillion in annual trade

after the UK's post-Brexit transition period expires at year-end.

"The PM has been clear throughout that we are taking these steps precisely

to make sure that the Belfast Agreement is upheld in all circumstances and

any harmful defaults do not inadvertently come into play," Johnson's

spokesman said.

US PROVIDED 'STRONG AND UNAMBIGUOUS SUPPORT' TO INDIA DURING BORDER CRISIS

WITH CHINA: WH OFFICIAL

China's recent actions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have caused

the U.S. to develop its partnership with India to counter Chinese

aggression, a top Trump administration National Security Council (NSC)

official said.

China's recent actions on the LAC have "further reinforced the importance of

the U.S.-India strategic partnership and it has strengthened the U.S.

resolve to work towards building that relationship as a bulwark against

Chinese aggression," NSC Director for South and Central Lisa Curtis said.

The U.S. had provided India with "strong and unambiguous support" throughout

the crisis and the two countries' cooperation had "certainly" grown closer,

according to Ms. Curtis. Her comments were made during a webinar organised

by the Carnegie Endowment, a think tank.

Ms. Curtis said India and the U.S. should focus on the issues where there

are converging interests, and operationalise their cooperation around those

specific issues, and accept that there will be policy differences between

them on other issues.

Responding to a question on burden sharing in the Indo-Pacific and whether

India would be comfortable making contributions to aid U.S. objectives, Ms.

Curtis said, "When it comes to the South Asia region, we have seen India

reluctant, I think, for the U.S. to become more involved, but I think you

will see that changing because of the situation that we are finding

ourselves in." She referred to China becoming more involved in the political

dynamics of South Asian countries.

Ms. Curtis said countries would have to become more comfortable with

cooperating and burden sharing towards similar goals.

US ENVOY TO UN HAS 'HISTORIC' MEETING WITH TAIWAN OFFICIAL

US Ambassador Kelly Craft had lunch with Taiwan's top official in New York,

a meeting she called "historic" and a further step in the Trump

administration's campaign to strengthen relations with the self-governing

island that China claims as part of its territory.

Craft said her lunch with James K J Lee, director of the Taipei Economic and

Cultural Office in New York, on Wednesday at an outdoor restaurant on

Manhattan's East Side was the first meeting between a top Taiwan official

and a United States ambassador to the United Nations.

"I'm looking to do the right thing by my president, and I feel that he has

sought to strengthen and deepen this bilateral relationship with Taiwan and

I want to continue that on behalf of the administration," she told The

Associated Press.

The Trump administration is pressing for Taiwan's inclusion as a separate

entity in international organisations like the World Health Organisation and

International Civil Aviation Organisation, and is pushing back against

Beijing's diplomatic victories over Taipei this year that have included

several small countries abandoning diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in

favour of China.

Craft said the 24 million people in Taiwan "need to be heard and they're

being marginalised by Beijing." "It really is a shame because they should be

able to participate in UN affairs just like everyone else," she said.

"If the US doesn't stand up to China then who's going to when it comes to

Taiwan, and not only Taiwan but Hong Kong and others?" Craft said she and

Lee "discussed different ways that we can best help Taiwan become more

engaged within the UN."

JAPAN NEW PM BEGINS 1ST FULL DAY, VOWS TO PUSH REFORMS

Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga started his first full day in

office on Thursday with a resolve to push forward popular reforms.

"I'm determined to work hard for the people and get results so we can live

up to their expectations," Suga told reporters as he walked into the Prime

Minister's office.

In a departure from Abe, Suga said he will discontinue cherry

blossom-viewing parties. Abe was accused of using taxpayers' money to

entertain constituents at the annual gathering.

Suga told reporters on Thursday that there will be no longer a budget for

such events. Suga did not say if he planned to investigate if cherry blossom

party funds were properly handled in the past.

He also pledged to speed up Japan's lagging digital transformation and

appointed a special minister to promote digitalization in education,

healthcare and businesses. Suga has also campaigned to lower cellphone fees

and said he will seek further cost reductions.

Unlike Abe, who floated grand goals such as Constitutional revisions, Suga

looks set to take a more populist approach to address people's everyday

concerns, analysts said.

Suga said his priorities are fighting the coronavirus and turning around an

economy battered by the pandemic. He is also expected to continue Abe's

economic and diplomatic stance.

As a self-made politician born the son of a farmer, Suga has opposed the

hereditary politics and factionalism within his party, and made systemic

reforms one of his top policy goals.

CORONAVIRUS: WHO WARNS EUROPE OVER 'VERY SERIOUS' COVID SURGE

Surging coronavirus figures across Europe should serve as "a wake-up call",

the World Health Organization's regional director has said.

Hans Kluge said in the past two weeks the number of new cases had doubled in

more than half of European member states.

"We have a very serious situation unfolding before us," he said.

He was speaking as the number of confirmed infections worldwide crept

towards the 30 million mark.

More than 942,000 people have died since the coronavirus emerged in China

late last year.

Speaking in Copenhagen on Thursday, Mr Kluge said 300,000 new infections

were reported across Europe last week alone and weekly cases had exceeded

those reported during the first peak in March.

"Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows

alarming rates of transmission across the region," he told reporters.

Mr Kluge said the figures "should serve as a wake-up call for all of us".

According to the WHO, there have been five million confirmed cases and more

than 228,000 fatalities across Europe since the pandemic began.

"We have fought it back before and we can fight it back again," he said.

TWITTER PLACES WARNING LABEL ON TRUMP'S TWEET ABOUT VOTING BY MAIL

Twitter Inc on Thursday placed a warning label on a tweet by US President

Donald Trump, saying his post included potentially misleading information

about the mail-in voting process.

"Because of the new and unprecedented massive amount of unsolicited ballots

which will be sent to "voters", or wherever, this year, the Nov 3rd Election

result may NEVER BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED, which is what some want. Another

election disaster yesterday. Stop Ballot Madness!," Trump tweeted.

Twitter's warning label redirected users to a curated page, "Voting by mail

is legal and safe, experts and data confirm", which contained more

information on mail-in voting.

The social network has previously attached labels to tweets posted and

shared by the president, including adding fact-checking notices on his

tweets.

Twitter had faced fierce scrutiny from the Trump administration in May, when

for the first time it prompted readers to check the facts in Trump's tweets

about unsubstantiated claims of mail-in voting fraud.

PAK. TO MAKE GILGIT-BALTISTAN A FULL-FLEDGED PROVINCE: REPORT

Pakistan has decided to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan's status to that of a

full-fledged province, a Pakistani media report on Thursday quoted a senior

Minister as saying.

India has clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire union territories of

Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan,

are an integral part of the country by virtue of its fully legal and

irrevocable accession.

According to a report in the Express Tribune, Minister for Kashmir and

Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs, Ali Amin Gandapur, on Wednesday said that Prime

Minister Imran Khan would soon visit the region and make the formal

announcement to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan to the status of a full-fledged

province with all constitutional rights.

Mr. Gandapur said Gilgit-Baltistan would be given adequate representation on

all constitutional bodies, including the National Assembly and the Senate.

After consultation with all stakeholders, the federal government has decided

in principle to give constitutional rights to Gilgit-Baltistan, the Minister

told reporters.

PAK TO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO CURB RAPE, CHILD ABUSE

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government would soon

introduce a three-tier legislation providing for registration of sex

offenders, exemplary punishment for rape and child abuse and effective

policing.

Khan made the announcement while addressing a joint sitting of parliament

after passage of a number of Financial Action Task Force-related bills on

Wednesday.

"Such incidents ruin the lives of victims and their families also have to

suffer," he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

Khan was referring to the gang-rape of a French-Pakistani woman in front of

her three children near a highway in Lahore on September 9 which sparked

widespread outrage.

One of the suspects wanted in the case was arrested on Monday and confessed

to his crime.

Noting that the main suspect in the gang-rape case was a history-sheeter,

Khan said that global data indicated that such criminals were repeat

offenders and therefore maintaining their data was important.

He said the legislation being prepared would not only provide for exemplary

punishment for rape and child abuse offences, but would also contain

provisions for registration of sex offenders and effective policing, the

report said.

He admitted that only a very small percentage of such cases were reported to

police in the country.