American lawmakers seek assurances, transparency on U.S.-Taliban peace deal
Published: The Hindu

28 Feb 2020

Nearly two dozen American lawmakers have sought assurances and transparency prior to the signing of a landmark peace deal between the US and the Taliban in Doha on Saturday to end the brutal war in Afghanistan, urging the Trump administration not to make a commitment that would embolden America’s adversaries and undermine its allies.
The U.S. is set to sign a historic peace deal with the Taliban on Saturday provided that a week-long reduction in violence across the war-torn Afghanistan holds.Click here to read...

India to attend signing of landmark peace deal between US and Taliban in Doha on Saturday
Published: The Economic Times

28 Feb 2020

India's Ambassador to Qatar will attend the signing of the landmark peace deal between the US and the Afghan Taliban in Doha on Saturday, official sources said on Thursday. The deal would allow for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. Sources said India has been invited by the Qatar government for the ceremony where the deal will be signed and Indian ambassador P Kumaran will attend it.Click here to read...

Dozens of Turkish soldiers killed in strike in Idlib in Syria
Published: The Guardian

28 Feb 2020

Dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province, in a dramatic escalation in the battle for control of the country’s last opposition stronghold.
Turkish officials have blamed the Syrian regime for the attack, but several sources in Idlib and unverified footage of the nighttime strike suggested it had been carried out by the Russian air force, which has helped Damascus conduct a ferocious three-month-old offensive on Idlib.Click here to read...

US professor charged with hiding link to China on NASA-funded project
Published: The Hindu

28 Feb 2020

A professor at the University of Tennessee has been arrested on charges that he hid his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving research grants from the federal government, the Justice Department said Thursday.
"This is just the latest case involving professors or researchers concealing their affiliations with China from their American employers and the U.S. government,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said in a statement. “We will not tolerate it.”Click here to read...

Pakistan’s new bid to combat terror allows widening of trade ties US Commerce Secy
Published: Hindustan Times

27 Feb 2020

Pakistan’s fresh efforts to fight terrorism and promote security is “affording” the US to expand trade between the two countries and in the region, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said after meeting the country’s top leadership here. Ross was in Islamabad on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump concluded his high-profile maiden visit to India, and called on Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Minister of Energy Omar Ayub Khan and others.Click here to read...