BIDEN CALLS SAUDI KING BEFORE EXPECTED RELEASE OF KHASHOGGI REPORT

US President Joe Biden reaffirmed the US commitment to Saudi Arabia’s defense but stressed the importance of human rights Thursday in a long-delayed first call with Saudi King Salman, the White House said.

They discussed “the US commitment to help Saudi Arabia defend its territory as it faces attacks from Iranian-aligned groups,” a statement said.

However, Biden also “affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law” in the call, which came over a month after Biden entered office.

The conversation was overshadowed by the expected imminent release of US findings on whether the Saudi king’s son approved the October 2, 2018, killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s authoritarian consolidation of power, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. US intelligence agencies concluded in 2018 that the prince likely ordered the killing, a finding reported by news media but never officially released.

A White House readout of the call made no mention of the killing or the report.

The White House said Biden on Thursday discussed with King Salman the two countries’ “longstanding partnership” and welcomed the kingdom’s recent releases of an advocate for women’s rights and some of its other political detainees.

The language came in contrast to Biden’s pledge as a candidate to make Saudi Arabia “a pariah” over the killing. The White House offered no immediate explanation for his milder tone with the king.

The report’s findings, and Biden’s resulting next steps, at a minimum will set the administration’s tone for dealing with the ambitious 35-year-old prince.

PAKISTAN STAYS IN FATF ‘GREY LIST’, GIVEN JUNE DEADLINE

Pakistan was retained in the “grey list” of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which examined its efforts to counter terror financing and money laundering. The decision was taken at the meeting of the multilateral watchdog on Thursday.

"Pakistan should continue to work on implementing the three remaining items in its action plan to address its strategically important deficiencies, namely by: demonstrating that TF investigations and prosecutions target persons and entities acting on behalf or at the direction of designated persons or entities; demonstrating that TF prosecutions result in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions and demonstrating effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all 1267 and 1373 designated terrorists, specifically those acting for or on their behalf," the FATF said in a statement to.

The anti-terror financing organisation noted today that Islamabad has now largely addressed 24 of the 27 action items and gave Islamabad time till June 2021 to complete the full action plan.

FATF president Marcus Pleyer said that Pakistan has made "significant progress" but "some serious deficiencies remain" and all these deficiencies are "in the realm of terror financing". Pleyer added that Pakistan "remains under increased monitoring".

"I strongly urge the completion of the action plan," he said.

The FATF concluded its three-day virtual plenary meeting today, following several rounds of meetings of its working groups since February 11.

PRESIDENT XI CLAIMS COMPLETE VICTORY IN ERADICATING ABSOLUTE POVERTY IN CHINA

President Xi Jinping on Thursday declared that China has scored a "complete victory" in its fight against poverty by lifting over 770 million people out of it in the last four decades, calling it another "miracle" created by the country that will go down in history.

Absolute poverty has been eradicated in the world's most populous country, Xi announced while addressing a gathering held here to mark the country's accomplishments in poverty alleviation and honour its model poverty fighters.

China has a population of around 1.4 billion.

"No country has been able to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in such a short time," Xi said.

Xi said that all poor people in rural areas have been lifted out of poverty.

With this, China has achieved the UN goal of poverty eradication 10 years ahead of the 2030 deadline, he said.

Over the past eight years, the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line have all been lifted out of poverty. All the 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 impoverished villages have been removed from the poverty list, he said.

Since the launch of the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, 770 million impoverished rural residents have shaken off poverty when calculated according to China's current poverty line, he said.

China has contributed to more than 70 per cent of global poverty reduction over the same period, Xi, also General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), said.

With such achievements, China has created another "miracle" that will "go down in history," he said.

US PRESIDENT BELIEVES IT'S IMPORTANT TO MODERNISE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM: WH

US President Joe Biden believes that it is important and long overdue to modernise the immigration system, and this includes taking steps to help ensure high skilled workers can stay in the country, the White House has said.

Biden has revoked a policy issued by his predecessor during the Covid-19 pandemic that blocked many Green Card applicants from entering the US, a move that will benefit many Indians working in America on the H-1B visa.

A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently.

"The president believes that it's important and long overdue to modernise our immigration system, and that includes taking steps to help ensure that high skilled workers can stay in the country and can go through the proper processes to stay in the country,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference on Thursday.

"So, we are eager to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to get that done,” she said a day after Biden issued the proclamation reversing the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump.

FACEBOOK BANS MYANMAR MILITARY FROM ITS PLATFORMS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT

Facebook on Thursday said it had banned the Myanmar military from using its Facebook and Instagram platforms with immediate effect, as pro-democracy demonstrators continued to stage rallies to protest the military seizing power.

"Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban," Facebook said in a blog post. "We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) on Facebook and Instagram are too great."

The army seized power this month after alleging fraud in a November 8 election swept by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), detaining her and much of the party leadership.

At least three protesters and one policeman have been killed in violence at rallies.

The US tech giant said it would also ban all "Tadmadaw-linked commercial entities" from advertising on its platforms.

US UNDERMINING STABILITY: CHINA

The Chinese military criticised the United States (US) on Thursday for undermining regional peace and stability after a US Navy warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier.

A spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said in a statement the Chinese military tracked the USS Curtis Wilbur as the destroyer made what the US Navy called a “routine Taiwan Strait transit”.

In the US, a legislation has been introduced in the Congress for countering the Chinese propaganda by creating a new sanctions authority against state-backed disinformation networks. Republican Study Committee Chairman Congressman Jim Banks and Senator Tom Cotton on Wednesday introduced the Countering Chinese Propaganda Act.

The Bill requires the Secretary of State to examine whether or not the United Front Work Department meets the criteria to be sanctioned under this new authority. The legislation is based on recommendations from the Republican Study Committee's National Security Strategy and authorises sanctions against the United Front Work Department, which is an overseas influence arm of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).

The United Front participated directly in the Uyghur genocide and the oppression of Christians in China, but its ultimate goal is to spread those persecutory tactics around the globe, Banks said. “The leadership in Washington may have changed, but China's political warfare hasn’t. It's fallen to Congress to expose and counter Communist Party disinformation. We can't back down now,” he said.

“The Chinese Communist Party expands its disinformation campaign each day - concealing information on the origin of Covid-19, lying about its oppression of Uighurs and other religious minorities,” Cotton said.

BIDEN APPROVES US AIRSTRIKE ON IRAN-BACKED MILITIAS IN SYRIA

The US military has carried out an airstrike targeting Iran-backed militias in Syria, the Pentagon says.

The attack destroyed "multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups", it said.

President Joe Biden approved the action in response to recent attacks against US and coalition personnel in Iraq.

A civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack on US targets in Iraq earlier this month.

A US service member and five other contractors were injured when the rockets hit sites in Irbil, including a base used by the US-led coalition.

Rockets have also struck US bases in Baghdad, including the Green Zone which houses the US embassy and other diplomatic missions.

The Pentagon named Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada as two of the Iran-backed militias it targeted in Thursday's strike in eastern Syria.

It called the action a "proportionate military response" that was taken "together with diplomatic measures", including consulting coalition partners.

"President Biden will act to protect American and Coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq."

CORONAVIRUS | BRAZIL COVID-19 DEATH TOLL PASSES A QUARTER MILLION

Brazil's COVID-19 outbreak has killed 251,498 people, the Health Ministry reported on Thursday, as it reported 1,541 deaths in the past 24 hours, the second-highest daily death toll since the pandemic hit the country a year ago.

With 65,998 new coronavirus cases reported on Thursday, the South American country has now registered 10,390,461 cases, in the world's third-worst outbreak behind the United States and India and its second-deadliest.

Brazil is facing a new stage of the pandemic with variants of the virus that are three times more contagious, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello told reporters.

Mr. Pazuello said Brazil had distributed 13 million to 14 million vaccine doses and the government plans to have inoculated half of the country's 210 million residents by midyear.

Brazil is negotiating to buy all the vaccines it can and Congress is looking at legislation to allow the government to buy shots from Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen subsidiary, Mr. Pazuello, an army general, said.