The United States and India must work together to confront the threat posed by China to security and freedom, US&nbsp;Secretary Mike&nbsp;Pompeo&nbsp;said on Tuesday as he prepared for talks with Indian leaders.

Pompeo&nbsp;arrived in New Delhi on Monday along with Defense Secretary Mark Esper for an annual strategic dialogue at a time of heightened tension in the region, with Indian troops confronting Chinese forces on the Line of Actual Control.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/india-and-united-states-to-ink-beca-military-deal-338190/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"Today is a new opportunity for two great democracies like ours to grow closer,"&nbsp;Pompeo&nbsp;said before the talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

"There is much more work to do for sure. We have a lot to discuss today: Our cooperation on the pandemic that originated in Wuhan, to confronting the Chinese Communist Party’s threats to security and freedom to promoting peace and stability throughout the region.”

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/rajnath-singh-mark-esper-discuss-joint-service-cooperation-in-bilateral-meet-338063" hreflang="en">Rajnath Singh, Mark Esper discuss joint service cooperation in bilateral meet</a>

US&nbsp;President Donald Trump has made being tough on China a key part of his campaign to secure a second term in next week's presidential election and&nbsp;Pompeo&nbsp;has been trying to bolster allies to counter China's growing influence in the region.

In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese troops on their high-altitude border, hardening the mood in India against China and driving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to seek closer military ties with the United States.

This month, India invited Australia to join naval drills it holds each year with the United States and Japan, brushing off Chinese concerns that the exercises destabilise the region.

"Our focus now must be on institutionalising and regularising our cooperation to meet the challenges of the day and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific well into the future," Esper said.

The two sides will later on Tuesday sign a military agreement that will give India access to advanced US&nbsp;satellite and map data for better accuracy of its missiles and drones.

The United States and India must work together to confront the threat posed by China to security and freedom, US Secretary Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday as he prepared for talks with Indian leaders.

The United States and India must work together to confront the threat posed by China to security and freedom, US Secretary Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday as he prepared for talks with Indian leaders. Pompeo arrived in New Delhi on Monday along with Defense Secretary Mark Esper for an annual strategic dialogue at a time of heightened tension in the region, with Indian troops confronting Chinese forces on the Line of Actual Control. "Today is a new opportunity for two great democracies like ours to grow closer," Pompeo said before the talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. "There is much more work to do for sure. We have a lot to discuss today: Our cooperation on the pandemic that originated in Wuhan, to confronting the Chinese Communist Party’s threats to security and freedom to promoting peace and stability throughout the region.” Also read: Rajnath Singh, Mark Esper discuss joint service cooperation in bilateral meet US President Donald Trump has made being tough on China a key part of his campaign to secure a second term in next week's presidential election and Pompeo has been trying to bolster allies to counter China's growing influence in the region. In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese troops on their high-altitude border, hardening the mood in India against China and driving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to seek closer military ties with the United States. This month, India invited Australia to join naval drills it holds each year with the United States and Japan, brushing off Chinese concerns that the exercises destabilise the region. "Our focus now must be on institutionalising and regularising our cooperation to meet the challenges of the day and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific well into the future," Esper said. The two sides will later on Tuesday sign a military agreement that will give India access to advanced US satellite and map data for better accuracy of its missiles and drones.

US, India must focus on threat posed by China: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

The coronavirus was gathering lethal speed when President Donald Trump met his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, on March 7 for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Bolsonaro had canceled trips that week to Italy, Poland and Hungary, and Brazil’s health minister had urged him to stay away from Florida, too.

But Bolsonaro insisted, eager to burnish his image as the “Trump of the Tropics.” His grinning aides posed at the president’s resort in green “Make Brazil Great Again” hats. Trump declared he was “not concerned at all” before walking Bolsonaro around the club shaking hands.

Twenty-two people in Bolsonaro’s delegation tested positive for the virus after returning to Brazil, yet he was not alarmed. Trump had shared a cure, Bolsonaro told advisers: a box of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, the unproven treatment that Trump was then promoting as a remedy for COVID-19.

“He said the trip was wonderful, that they had a great time, that life was normal at Mar-a-Lago, everything was cured, and that hydroxychloroquine was the medicine that was supposed to be used,” recalled the health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was fired by Bolsonaro the next month for opposing reliance on the drug.

“From that time on, it was very hard to get him to take the science seriously.”

The Mar-a-Lago dinner, which would become infamous for spreading infection, cemented a partnership between Trump and Bolsonaro rooted in a shared disregard for the virus. But even before the dinner, the two presidents had waged an ideological campaign that would undermine Latin America’s ability to respond to COVID-19.

Together, the two men, fierce opponents of Latin America’s leftists, took aim at Cuba’s great pride: the doctors it sends around the world. Trump and Bolsonaro drove 10,000 Cuban doctors and nurses out of impoverished areas of Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and El Salvador. Many left without being replaced only months before the pandemic arrived.

Then, the two leaders attacked the international agency most capable of fighting the virus — the Pan-American Health Organization, or PAHO — citing its involvement with the Cuban medical program. With help from Bolsonaro, Trump nearly bankrupted the agency by withholding promised funding at the height of the outbreak, to an extent not previously disclosed.

And with help from Trump, Bolsonaro has made hydroxychloroquine the centerpiece of Brazil’s pandemic response, despite a medical consensus that the drug is ineffective and even dangerous. The Food and Drug Administration warned last April against most uses of the drug to treat COVID-19. A month later, Trump announced after a phone call with Bolsonaro that the United States would send Brazil 2 million doses.

Weak health systems and overcrowded cities made Latin America inherently vulnerable. But by driving out doctors, blocking assistance, and pushing false cures, Trump and Bolsonaro made a bad situation worse, dismantling defenses.

Now Latin America, with a third of the world’s deaths, has suffered more acutely from COVID-19 than any other region.

The two most powerful leaders in the Americas, Trump and Bolsonaro are both ardent nationalists defiant of mainstream science. Both have put economic growth and short-term politics ahead of public health warnings. Both are deeply hostile to the region’s leftist governments — especially in Cuba, a cause that helps Trump with Cuban American voters in the swing state of Florida.

“In their zeal to get rid of the Cuban doctors, the Trump administration has punished every country in the hemisphere, and without question that has meant more COVID cases, and more COVID deaths,” said Mark L. Schneider, a former head of strategic planning for PAHO who was a State Department official in the Clinton administration. “It is outrageous.”

Smaller, less powerful countries like Ecuador felt the pain. Ecuador acceded to U.S. pressure and sent home nearly 400 Cuban health care workers shortly before the pandemic. Then the country also suffered from the Trump administration’s freeze on funding for the health organization, which hampered its ability to provide emergency supplies and technical support.

“No one from the Pan-American Health Organization was here, and we felt their absence,” said Dr. Washington Alemán, a senior infectious disease specialist and a former deputy health minister in Ecuador, who diagnosed the country’s first confirmed case of COVID-19. “The support was not like it used to be in previous years, in previous epidemics.”

Previous Republican and Democratic administrations have almost all regarded the public health of Latin America as of urgent national interest, because infectious diseases can spread easily between South and North America.

‘Bread From Heaven’

Jair Bolsonaro roared into power in Brazil in October 2018, styling himself as a Trumpian populist, speaking favorably of “dictatorship,” and accusing his country’s left-leaning establishment of taking lessons from communist Cuba. He promised to expel more than 8,000 Cuban medical workers.

A predecessor had invited the Cubans five years earlier to help care for more than 60 million people, mostly in small communities in the Amazon basin, many of whom had never before seen a doctor. Academic studies reported high levels of patient satisfaction and reduced infant mortality rates. PAHO oversaw the Cuban doctors in Brazil and promoted their work as a model; the Obama administration raised no objection.

For decades, Cuba has sent medical workers to fill holes in health systems in Latin America and beyond. Cuba paid the doctors as much as $900 a month compared with the $50 a month they might earn at home. But Havana charged their host governments much more — about $4,300 a month for each doctor in Brazil — and pocketed the difference. Cuba called the program humanitarian; critics, noting that Cuba limited the freedom of the doctors, called it forced labor and human trafficking.

During Bolsonaro’s fiery election campaign, a newspaper disclosed 6-year-old diplomatic cables suggesting that Brazilian officials had routed payments for the program through the health organization in part to avoid a debate in the Brazilian Congress over dealing with Cuba.

Bolsonaro accused the health organization of abetting “modern-day slavery” and vowed to get rid of the doctors. Cuba recalled them even before he was sworn in.

Roughly 6,500 miles away, in Miami, Tony Costa saw a rare opportunity.

An 80-year-old veteran of the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion, Costa has spent decades working to topple the communist leadership in Havana. When he connected the allegations of Cuban forced labor with the Washington-based PAHO, he knew he had something that would captivate Congress and the White House.

“This is like bread from heaven!” he recalled thinking.

Costa soon discovered Ramona Matos Rodríguez, a Cuban doctor who had defected to Miami from a mission to Brazil, and helped her become the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit accusing PAHO of forced labor and human trafficking.

In a court filing, lawyers for the organization said the allegations were “grossly inaccurate” and “bear almost no resemblance to reality.” Experts say the lawsuit is at best a long shot, but, in politics, it made an impact.

Citing the accusations, the State Department pressured Ecuador, Bolivia and El Salvador until they expelled more than 1,000 Cuban medical workers last year.

But the bigger blows hit the Pan-American Health Organization.

The Trump administration focused intensely on the organization’s ties to Cuba, even though its involvement with the Cuban doctors had ended about a year earlier, when they left Brazil. The U.S. stopped paying its annual dues of $110 million, more than half the agency’s core budget. Bolsonaro’s government also froze payment of its $24 million in dues.

By the end of 2019, the agency faced a funding crisis. It had sharply reduced international travel, frozen hiring and cut contracts for the medical consultants who do most of its hands-on work.

Within six weeks, COVID-19 began seeping into Latin America.

Bodies on the Streets

Perched on Ecuador’s southern coast, Guayaquil is a busy port city surrounded by hillsides covered in slums.

Bella Lamilla, 70, arrived from Spain on Feb. 15, to visit her nearby birthplace. But while there, she developed pneumonia.

Ecuador had no labs with the supplies or capacity to test for the coronavirus, but Lamilla’s family happened to take her to a private clinic that employs Alemán, the former deputy health minister. He used his contacts to get a sample sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

She became Ecuador’s first confirmed case on the night of Feb. 29. Within two weeks, every intensive care unit in the city was overwhelmed.

Doctors in Guayaquil say that more hands-on advice from PAHO might have helped detect the virus much sooner, before it had penetrated the city so deeply.

More direct support from PAHO consultants “could have prevented not only that mistake but many others,” Alemán said.

During past disease outbreaks, local doctors credit PAHO with procuring supplies or rushing in skilled consultants to provide face-to-face technical help to laboratories and hospitals.

The agency’s officials say that this time they faced special challenges. Testing materials and protective equipment became scarce globally. By late March, shutdowns of commercial air travel made it difficult to deploy experts.

But the funding crisis caused by Trump’s freeze also loomed large, even as leaders tried to compensate by shifting resources to prioritize COVID-19 response.

The forced departure of 400 Cuban medical workers from the country did not help, either. At the Martha de Roldós Health Center on the outskirts of Guayaquil, the director, Hugo Duarte, said two Cubans had to leave months before the pandemic.

Ecuadorean doctors would have been just as good, he said, if the Health Ministry had paid enough to fill the vacancies. But the loss had strained the clinic, especially when he was sickened for weeks.

“People were falling dead on the sidewalk, just outside the health center,” Duarte said.

Dubious Medical Advice

As the epidemic was exploding in Ecuador, Bolsonaro returned to Brazil from Mar-a-Lago. He quickly summoned Nise Yamaguchi, a São Paulo oncologist who had become a prominent champion of hydroxychloroquine.

Yamaguchi told the president that the outbreak left no time for the kind of clinical trials other doctors were waiting for.

Brazil had been known for one of the strongest public health systems in Latin America for fighting infectious diseases. But when two health ministers refused to support the drug, Bolsonaro replaced them with a loyal military officer, while Yamaguchi became his most trusted adviser.

Ignoring a medical consensus, Brazil’s Health Ministry still provides free hydroxychloroquine to anyone with COVID-19. And critics say Bolsonaro’s promotion of the drug, coupled with his refusal to wear a mask or socially distance, has undermined public health.

Brazil has suffered more than 157,000 deaths from COVID-19, a total second only to the United States.

The coronavirus was gathering lethal speed when President Donald Trump met his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, on March 7 for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Bolsonaro had canceled trips that week to Italy, Poland and Hungary, and Brazil’s health minister had urged him to stay away from Florida, too.

The coronavirus was gathering lethal speed when President Donald Trump met his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, on March 7 for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Bolsonaro had canceled trips that week to Italy, Poland and Hungary, and Brazil’s health minister had urged him to stay away from Florida, too. But Bolsonaro insisted, eager to burnish his image as the “Trump of the Tropics.” His grinning aides posed at the president’s resort in green “Make Brazil Great Again” hats. Trump declared he was “not concerned at all” before walking Bolsonaro around the club shaking hands. Twenty-two people in Bolsonaro’s delegation tested positive for the virus after returning to Brazil, yet he was not alarmed. Trump had shared a cure, Bolsonaro told advisers: a box of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, the unproven treatment that Trump was then promoting as a remedy for COVID-19. “He said the trip was wonderful, that they had a great time, that life was normal at Mar-a-Lago, everything was cured, and that hydroxychloroquine was the medicine that was supposed to be used,” recalled the health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was fired by Bolsonaro the next month for opposing reliance on the drug. “From that time on, it was very hard to get him to take the science seriously.” The Mar-a-Lago dinner, which would become infamous for spreading infection, cemented a partnership between Trump and Bolsonaro rooted in a shared disregard for the virus. But even before the dinner, the two presidents had waged an ideological campaign that would undermine Latin America’s ability to respond to COVID-19. Together, the two men, fierce opponents of Latin America’s leftists, took aim at Cuba’s great pride: the doctors it sends around the world. Trump and Bolsonaro drove 10,000 Cuban doctors and nurses out of impoverished areas of Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and El Salvador. Many left without being replaced only months before the pandemic arrived. Then, the two leaders attacked the international agency most capable of fighting the virus — the Pan-American Health Organization, or PAHO — citing its involvement with the Cuban medical program. With help from Bolsonaro, Trump nearly bankrupted the agency by withholding promised funding at the height of the outbreak, to an extent not previously disclosed. And with help from Trump, Bolsonaro has made hydroxychloroquine the centerpiece of Brazil’s pandemic response, despite a medical consensus that the drug is ineffective and even dangerous. The Food and Drug Administration warned last April against most uses of the drug to treat COVID-19. A month later, Trump announced after a phone call with Bolsonaro that the United States would send Brazil 2 million doses. Weak health systems and overcrowded cities made Latin America inherently vulnerable. But by driving out doctors, blocking assistance, and pushing false cures, Trump and Bolsonaro made a bad situation worse, dismantling defenses. Now Latin America, with a third of the world’s deaths, has suffered more acutely from COVID-19 than any other region. The two most powerful leaders in the Americas, Trump and Bolsonaro are both ardent nationalists defiant of mainstream science. Both have put economic growth and short-term politics ahead of public health warnings. Both are deeply hostile to the region’s leftist governments — especially in Cuba, a cause that helps Trump with Cuban American voters in the swing state of Florida. “In their zeal to get rid of the Cuban doctors, the Trump administration has punished every country in the hemisphere, and without question that has meant more COVID cases, and more COVID deaths,” said Mark L. Schneider, a former head of strategic planning for PAHO who was a State Department official in the Clinton administration. “It is outrageous.” Smaller, less powerful countries like Ecuador felt the pain. Ecuador acceded to U.S. pressure and sent home nearly 400 Cuban health care workers shortly before the pandemic. Then the country also suffered from the Trump administration’s freeze on funding for the health organization, which hampered its ability to provide emergency supplies and technical support. “No one from the Pan-American Health Organization was here, and we felt their absence,” said Dr. Washington Alemán, a senior infectious disease specialist and a former deputy health minister in Ecuador, who diagnosed the country’s first confirmed case of COVID-19. “The support was not like it used to be in previous years, in previous epidemics.” Previous Republican and Democratic administrations have almost all regarded the public health of Latin America as of urgent national interest, because infectious diseases can spread easily between South and North America. ‘Bread From Heaven’ Jair Bolsonaro roared into power in Brazil in October 2018, styling himself as a Trumpian populist, speaking favorably of “dictatorship,” and accusing his country’s left-leaning establishment of taking lessons from communist Cuba. He promised to expel more than 8,000 Cuban medical workers. A predecessor had invited the Cubans five years earlier to help care for more than 60 million people, mostly in small communities in the Amazon basin, many of whom had never before seen a doctor. Academic studies reported high levels of patient satisfaction and reduced infant mortality rates. PAHO oversaw the Cuban doctors in Brazil and promoted their work as a model; the Obama administration raised no objection. For decades, Cuba has sent medical workers to fill holes in health systems in Latin America and beyond. Cuba paid the doctors as much as $900 a month compared with the $50 a month they might earn at home. But Havana charged their host governments much more — about $4,300 a month for each doctor in Brazil — and pocketed the difference. Cuba called the program humanitarian; critics, noting that Cuba limited the freedom of the doctors, called it forced labor and human trafficking. During Bolsonaro’s fiery election campaign, a newspaper disclosed 6-year-old diplomatic cables suggesting that Brazilian officials had routed payments for the program through the health organization in part to avoid a debate in the Brazilian Congress over dealing with Cuba. Bolsonaro accused the health organization of abetting “modern-day slavery” and vowed to get rid of the doctors. Cuba recalled them even before he was sworn in. Roughly 6,500 miles away, in Miami, Tony Costa saw a rare opportunity. An 80-year-old veteran of the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion, Costa has spent decades working to topple the communist leadership in Havana. When he connected the allegations of Cuban forced labor with the Washington-based PAHO, he knew he had something that would captivate Congress and the White House. “This is like bread from heaven!” he recalled thinking. Costa soon discovered Ramona Matos Rodríguez, a Cuban doctor who had defected to Miami from a mission to Brazil, and helped her become the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit accusing PAHO of forced labor and human trafficking. In a court filing, lawyers for the organization said the allegations were “grossly inaccurate” and “bear almost no resemblance to reality.” Experts say the lawsuit is at best a long shot, but, in politics, it made an impact. Citing the accusations, the State Department pressured Ecuador, Bolivia and El Salvador until they expelled more than 1,000 Cuban medical workers last year. But the bigger blows hit the Pan-American Health Organization. The Trump administration focused intensely on the organization’s ties to Cuba, even though its involvement with the Cuban doctors had ended about a year earlier, when they left Brazil. The U.S. stopped paying its annual dues of $110 million, more than half the agency’s core budget. Bolsonaro’s government also froze payment of its $24 million in dues. By the end of 2019, the agency faced a funding crisis. It had sharply reduced international travel, frozen hiring and cut contracts for the medical consultants who do most of its hands-on work. Within six weeks, COVID-19 began seeping into Latin America. Bodies on the Streets Perched on Ecuador’s southern coast, Guayaquil is a busy port city surrounded by hillsides covered in slums. Bella Lamilla, 70, arrived from Spain on Feb. 15, to visit her nearby birthplace. But while there, she developed pneumonia. Ecuador had no labs with the supplies or capacity to test for the coronavirus, but Lamilla’s family happened to take her to a private clinic that employs Alemán, the former deputy health minister. He used his contacts to get a sample sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She became Ecuador’s first confirmed case on the night of Feb. 29. Within two weeks, every intensive care unit in the city was overwhelmed. Doctors in Guayaquil say that more hands-on advice from PAHO might have helped detect the virus much sooner, before it had penetrated the city so deeply. More direct support from PAHO consultants “could have prevented not only that mistake but many others,” Alemán said. During past disease outbreaks, local doctors credit PAHO with procuring supplies or rushing in skilled consultants to provide face-to-face technical help to laboratories and hospitals. The agency’s officials say that this time they faced special challenges. Testing materials and protective equipment became scarce globally. By late March, shutdowns of commercial air travel made it difficult to deploy experts. But the funding crisis caused by Trump’s freeze also loomed large, even as leaders tried to compensate by shifting resources to prioritize COVID-19 response. The forced departure of 400 Cuban medical workers from the country did not help, either. At the Martha de Roldós Health Center on the outskirts of Guayaquil, the director, Hugo Duarte, said two Cubans had to leave months before the pandemic. Ecuadorean doctors would have been just as good, he said, if the Health Ministry had paid enough to fill the vacancies. But the loss had strained the clinic, especially when he was sickened for weeks. “People were falling dead on the sidewalk, just outside the health center,” Duarte said. Dubious Medical Advice As the epidemic was exploding in Ecuador, Bolsonaro returned to Brazil from Mar-a-Lago. He quickly summoned Nise Yamaguchi, a São Paulo oncologist who had become a prominent champion of hydroxychloroquine. Yamaguchi told the president that the outbreak left no time for the kind of clinical trials other doctors were waiting for. Brazil had been known for one of the strongest public health systems in Latin America for fighting infectious diseases. But when two health ministers refused to support the drug, Bolsonaro replaced them with a loyal military officer, while Yamaguchi became his most trusted adviser. Ignoring a medical consensus, Brazil’s Health Ministry still provides free hydroxychloroquine to anyone with COVID-19. And critics say Bolsonaro’s promotion of the drug, coupled with his refusal to wear a mask or socially distance, has undermined public health. Brazil has suffered more than 157,000 deaths from COVID-19, a total second only to the United States.

How Trump and Bolsonaro broke Latin America’s COVID-19 defenses

Britain and the United States have been living under the same political weather vane for the past four years, so it is fitting that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is borrowing one of the White House’s most familiar daily rituals, the televised press briefing, for No 10 Downing St.

The fact that Johnson is doing so at a time when the Trump White House’s briefings have become a grim spectacle of patently erroneous claims and base-pleasing antagonism toward the news media is not lost on critics in Britain.

Some worry that a milder version of that cage match could take root in Downing Street. Even if it does not, they warn that a mix of hungry reporters, a close-to-the-vest press secretary and TV cameras will blow up a system that has operated comfortably for decades in a more collegial style. Until now, the prime minister’s spokesman has quietly briefed a designated circle of journalists without being identified by name.

Creative destruction is perhaps what Johnson and his communications aides are after. Televised briefings could be a way to get their message directly to the public, unfiltered by a political press corps that has become increasingly critical of Downing Street over its erratic handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Johnson has recruited a well-connected former political journalist, Allegra Stratton, who most recently headed communications for the chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak. When she takes the podium next month, Stratton, 39, will instantly become one of the government’s most visible officials. Some worry that it is the equivalent of putting a big red target on her back.

“Quite frankly, she’s being sold a pup,” said Bernard Ingham, who served as Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary during her 11 years as prime minister, using a British expression meaning to be tricked into accepting a raw deal. “Look at the background against which she is starting.”

There is little good news for Johnson’s press secretary to promote these days. The virus has hit Britain harder than any other major European country, economically and epidemiologically. The prime minister’s lockdowns are stirring up rebellions from northern mayors and members of his own Conservative Party. Brexit negotiations with the European Union are bumpy and rife with reversals.

“It will deflect criticism from Johnson and his key aides to the press spokeswoman,” said Michael White, a former political editor at The Guardian, who once worked with Stratton. “She is a smart, tough woman, but it’s going to be very difficult for her. It’s a 24/7 job.”

White, who was a Washington correspondent in the 1980s, recalled useful off-camera briefings that President Ronald Reagan’s spokesman, Larry Speakes, held with reporters. Even if those sessions were at times adversarial, they were worlds away from the acrid encounters that reporters now have with President Donald Trump’s current press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.

“I’m rather afraid that No. 10 wants to use the Trump model and not the Reagan model,” White said. “Using the briefing as a bully pulpit to go directly to the voters, believing that the problem is not their performance but the press.”

Stratton did not reply to a request for an interview, and a Downing Street spokesman declined to discuss her new assignment.

Some critics object to televised briefings on constitutional grounds: They say they may subvert the role of Parliament, where the prime minister and members of his Cabinet are expected to account for government policies. Johnson, who suspended Parliament last year at the height of the debate over Brexit, has come under fire more recently for imposing virus-related restrictions without consulting the House of Commons.

“The PM’s word should always be stronger than that of a spokesman, and in our system that means Parliament,” said Alastair Campbell, who served as spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair and is an outspoken critic of the current prime minister. “Johnson is basically still a journalist masquerading as a prime minister, so he always thinks another media fix is the answer.”

Before entering politics, Johnson was the Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and later the editor of The Spectator, a right-leaning weekly magazine that has close ties to the Conservative Party.

In the incestuous tradition of British politics and media, The Spectator has even closer ties to Stratton. She is married to James Forsyth, a political reporter and editor for the magazine who writes knowing, if anonymously sourced, columns about the machinations inside Downing Street.

Adding to the politics as one large cocktail party vibe, Sunak, the government’s No. 2 official who has recently emerged as something of a rival to Johnson within the party, served as Forsyth’s best man at his marriage to Stratton (they were schoolmates).

This web of social ties further complicates Stratton’s task.

“I don’t do spin,” Stratton once said to The Telegraph, an assertion backed up by her former colleagues.

Johnson’s aides hope to build on the success of the coronavirus briefings that the prime minister and his scientific advisers conducted every day as the virus first swept through the country last spring.

Unlike the freewheeling, often fractious, briefings that Trump gave at the White House during the early days of the pandemic, the Downing Street sessions were laden with a sense of national crisis. Reporters asked earnest questions, and the officials offered equally earnest answers. The drama proved a ratings bonanza.

But the ratings waned, and Downing Street stopped holding the sessions regularly. Now, with British solidarity giving way to angry divisions over the government’s lockdown policies, the cordial tone of those briefings would most likely be replaced by the cut-and-thrust of everyday political coverage.

Introducing cameras, former White House press secretaries said, only intensifies that dynamic. Too often, they said, briefings become platforms for showboating rather than well-intentioned efforts to extract or convey information.

“If the press secretary is strong, articulate and fast on her feet, she can represent the PM well,” said Ari Fleischer, who was press secretary to George W. Bush. “But still, it will likely become a TV show that debases everyone.”

There is a reason that Downing Street press secretaries have long been wary of too much visibility. In Ingham’s time, reporters were forced to attribute information from him to a “person close to the prime minister,” a restriction that led papers to briefly boycott Downing Street briefings.

Under Campbell, reporters were allowed to attribute information to the “prime minister’s official spokesman,” but not to Campbell by name — a requirement that still holds in Downing Street today.

Mike McCurry, who as Bill Clinton’s press secretary first allowed live television coverage of White House briefings in 1995, recalled Campbell quizzing him about the merits of the White House approach early in Blair’s tenure as prime minister. But Campbell said he never considered allowing cameras because he believed they would undermine the minister's briefings to Parliament.

McCurry said he now regretted bringing in cameras. Regardless, he said he hoped Johnson’s experiment would be a success.

“The British press is vigorous, and I’m sure the sessions with Stratton will be boisterous,” McCurry said. “But the guiding principle should be: ‘The public has a right to know. The government has an obligation to tell.’ ”

Britain and the United States have been living under the same political weather vane for the past four years, so it is fitting that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is borrowing one of the White House’s most familiar daily rituals, the televised press briefing, for No 10 Downing St.

Britain and the United States have been living under the same political weather vane for the past four years, so it is fitting that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is borrowing one of the White House’s most familiar daily rituals, the televised press briefing, for No 10 Downing St. The fact that Johnson is doing so at a time when the Trump White House’s briefings have become a grim spectacle of patently erroneous claims and base-pleasing antagonism toward the news media is not lost on critics in Britain. Some worry that a milder version of that cage match could take root in Downing Street. Even if it does not, they warn that a mix of hungry reporters, a close-to-the-vest press secretary and TV cameras will blow up a system that has operated comfortably for decades in a more collegial style. Until now, the prime minister’s spokesman has quietly briefed a designated circle of journalists without being identified by name. Creative destruction is perhaps what Johnson and his communications aides are after. Televised briefings could be a way to get their message directly to the public, unfiltered by a political press corps that has become increasingly critical of Downing Street over its erratic handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson has recruited a well-connected former political journalist, Allegra Stratton, who most recently headed communications for the chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak. When she takes the podium next month, Stratton, 39, will instantly become one of the government’s most visible officials. Some worry that it is the equivalent of putting a big red target on her back. “Quite frankly, she’s being sold a pup,” said Bernard Ingham, who served as Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary during her 11 years as prime minister, using a British expression meaning to be tricked into accepting a raw deal. “Look at the background against which she is starting.” There is little good news for Johnson’s press secretary to promote these days. The virus has hit Britain harder than any other major European country, economically and epidemiologically. The prime minister’s lockdowns are stirring up rebellions from northern mayors and members of his own Conservative Party. Brexit negotiations with the European Union are bumpy and rife with reversals. “It will deflect criticism from Johnson and his key aides to the press spokeswoman,” said Michael White, a former political editor at The Guardian, who once worked with Stratton. “She is a smart, tough woman, but it’s going to be very difficult for her. It’s a 24/7 job.” White, who was a Washington correspondent in the 1980s, recalled useful off-camera briefings that President Ronald Reagan’s spokesman, Larry Speakes, held with reporters. Even if those sessions were at times adversarial, they were worlds away from the acrid encounters that reporters now have with President Donald Trump’s current press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. “I’m rather afraid that No. 10 wants to use the Trump model and not the Reagan model,” White said. “Using the briefing as a bully pulpit to go directly to the voters, believing that the problem is not their performance but the press.” Stratton did not reply to a request for an interview, and a Downing Street spokesman declined to discuss her new assignment. Some critics object to televised briefings on constitutional grounds: They say they may subvert the role of Parliament, where the prime minister and members of his Cabinet are expected to account for government policies. Johnson, who suspended Parliament last year at the height of the debate over Brexit, has come under fire more recently for imposing virus-related restrictions without consulting the House of Commons. “The PM’s word should always be stronger than that of a spokesman, and in our system that means Parliament,” said Alastair Campbell, who served as spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair and is an outspoken critic of the current prime minister. “Johnson is basically still a journalist masquerading as a prime minister, so he always thinks another media fix is the answer.” Before entering politics, Johnson was the Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and later the editor of The Spectator, a right-leaning weekly magazine that has close ties to the Conservative Party. In the incestuous tradition of British politics and media, The Spectator has even closer ties to Stratton. She is married to James Forsyth, a political reporter and editor for the magazine who writes knowing, if anonymously sourced, columns about the machinations inside Downing Street. Adding to the politics as one large cocktail party vibe, Sunak, the government’s No. 2 official who has recently emerged as something of a rival to Johnson within the party, served as Forsyth’s best man at his marriage to Stratton (they were schoolmates). This web of social ties further complicates Stratton’s task. “I don’t do spin,” Stratton once said to The Telegraph, an assertion backed up by her former colleagues. Johnson’s aides hope to build on the success of the coronavirus briefings that the prime minister and his scientific advisers conducted every day as the virus first swept through the country last spring. Unlike the freewheeling, often fractious, briefings that Trump gave at the White House during the early days of the pandemic, the Downing Street sessions were laden with a sense of national crisis. Reporters asked earnest questions, and the officials offered equally earnest answers. The drama proved a ratings bonanza. But the ratings waned, and Downing Street stopped holding the sessions regularly. Now, with British solidarity giving way to angry divisions over the government’s lockdown policies, the cordial tone of those briefings would most likely be replaced by the cut-and-thrust of everyday political coverage. Introducing cameras, former White House press secretaries said, only intensifies that dynamic. Too often, they said, briefings become platforms for showboating rather than well-intentioned efforts to extract or convey information. “If the press secretary is strong, articulate and fast on her feet, she can represent the PM well,” said Ari Fleischer, who was press secretary to George W. Bush. “But still, it will likely become a TV show that debases everyone.” There is a reason that Downing Street press secretaries have long been wary of too much visibility. In Ingham’s time, reporters were forced to attribute information from him to a “person close to the prime minister,” a restriction that led papers to briefly boycott Downing Street briefings. Under Campbell, reporters were allowed to attribute information to the “prime minister’s official spokesman,” but not to Campbell by name — a requirement that still holds in Downing Street today. Mike McCurry, who as Bill Clinton’s press secretary first allowed live television coverage of White House briefings in 1995, recalled Campbell quizzing him about the merits of the White House approach early in Blair’s tenure as prime minister. But Campbell said he never considered allowing cameras because he believed they would undermine the minister's briefings to Parliament. McCurry said he now regretted bringing in cameras. Regardless, he said he hoped Johnson’s experiment would be a success. “The British press is vigorous, and I’m sure the sessions with Stratton will be boisterous,” McCurry said. “But the guiding principle should be: ‘The public has a right to know. The government has an obligation to tell.’ ”

Cage match or PR opportunity? Boris Johnson bets on live press briefings

China's top cyber authority said on Monday it would carry out a "rectification" of Chinese mobile internet browsers to address what it called social concerns over the "chaos" of information being published online.

China's strict internet censorship rules have been tightened numerous times in recent years and in the latest crackdown, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has told firms operating mobile browsers that they have until November&nbsp;9 to conduct a "self-examination" and rectify problems.

The problems include the spreading of rumours, the use of sensationalist headlines, and the publishing of content that violates the core values of socialism, it said in a statement.

"For some time, mobile browsers have grown in an uncivilised way ... and have become a gathering place and amplifier for the dissemination of&nbsp;chaos&nbsp;by 'self-media'," the CAC said, referring to independently operated social media accounts, many of which publish news.

"After the rectification, mobile browsers that still have outstanding problems will be dealt with strictly according to laws and regulations until related businesses are banned."

The campaign will initially focus on eight of the most influential mobile browsers in China, including those operated by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding's UCWeb, and Xiaomi Corp, it said.

Others include the QQ platform owned by Tencent, Qihoo-owned 360, Oppo, and Sogou.

Huawei's browser unit said in a statement on Tuesday it would conduct a comprehensive self-examination and clean-up in line with the regulator's requests, and would also place strict controls over 'self-media' accounts.

Xiaomi and UCWeb declined to comment, while Tencent, Oppo, Sogou and 360 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Legislation introduced in recent years by China include measures to restrict media outlets, surveillance measures for media sites and rolling campaigns to remove content deemed unacceptable.

China's top cyber authority said on Monday it would carry out a "rectification" of Chinese mobile internet browsers to address what it called social concerns over the "chaos" of information being published online.

China's top cyber authority said on Monday it would carry out a "rectification" of Chinese mobile internet browsers to address what it called social concerns over the "chaos" of information being published online. China's strict internet censorship rules have been tightened numerous times in recent years and in the latest crackdown, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has told firms operating mobile browsers that they have until November 9 to conduct a "self-examination" and rectify problems. The problems include the spreading of rumours, the use of sensationalist headlines, and the publishing of content that violates the core values of socialism, it said in a statement. "For some time, mobile browsers have grown in an uncivilised way ... and have become a gathering place and amplifier for the dissemination of chaos by 'self-media'," the CAC said, referring to independently operated social media accounts, many of which publish news. "After the rectification, mobile browsers that still have outstanding problems will be dealt with strictly according to laws and regulations until related businesses are banned." The campaign will initially focus on eight of the most influential mobile browsers in China, including those operated by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding's UCWeb, and Xiaomi Corp, it said. Others include the QQ platform owned by Tencent, Qihoo-owned 360, Oppo, and Sogou. Huawei's browser unit said in a statement on Tuesday it would conduct a comprehensive self-examination and clean-up in line with the regulator's requests, and would also place strict controls over 'self-media' accounts. Xiaomi and UCWeb declined to comment, while Tencent, Oppo, Sogou and 360 did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Legislation introduced in recent years by China include measures to restrict media outlets, surveillance measures for media sites and rolling campaigns to remove content deemed unacceptable.

China launches crackdown on mobile web browsers, decries 'chaos' of information

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended greetings on the occasion of Infantry Day and stated that India is proud of the role played by infantry in protecting our nation.

"Greetings to all ranks of our courageous infantry on the special occasion of Infantry Day. India is proud of the role played by the infantry in protecting our nation. Their bravery continues to motivate millions," PM Modi said in a tweet.

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Greetings to all ranks of our courageous infantry on the special occasion of Infantry Day. India is proud of the role played by the infantry in protecting our nation. Their bravery continues to motivate millions. <a href="https://t.co/R3GmvUcXhf">pic.twitter.com/R3GmvUcXhf</a>
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The Indian Army celebrates October 27 every year as the 'Infantry Day', as it was on this day that the 1st Battalion of the Sikh Regiment landed at Srinagar airbase and displayed resoluteness and extraordinary courage to thwart the evil designs of the Pakistan Army, who had invaded Kashmir with the help of tribal raiders in 1947.

The Chinar Corps of the Indian Army on Tuesday celebrated the 74th Infantry Day at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar to honour the supreme sacrifice of the gallant soldiers in fighting the Pakistani invaders in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947.

The celebration began with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony by Lieutenant General BS Raju, General Officer Commanding, Chinar Corps. Officers of all ranks paid tributes to the fallen soldiers at War Memorial at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended greetings on the occasion of Infantry Day and stated that India is proud of the role played by infantry in protecting our nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended greetings on the occasion of Infantry Day and stated that India is proud of the role played by infantry in protecting our nation. "Greetings to all ranks of our courageous infantry on the special occasion of Infantry Day. India is proud of the role played by the infantry in protecting our nation. Their bravery continues to motivate millions," PM Modi said in a tweet. Greetings to all ranks of our courageous infantry on the special occasion of Infantry Day. India is proud of the role played by the infantry in protecting our nation. Their bravery continues to motivate millions. pic.twitter.com/R3GmvUcXhf — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2020 × The Indian Army celebrates October 27 every year as the 'Infantry Day', as it was on this day that the 1st Battalion of the Sikh Regiment landed at Srinagar airbase and displayed resoluteness and extraordinary courage to thwart the evil designs of the Pakistan Army, who had invaded Kashmir with the help of tribal raiders in 1947. The Chinar Corps of the Indian Army on Tuesday celebrated the 74th Infantry Day at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar to honour the supreme sacrifice of the gallant soldiers in fighting the Pakistani invaders in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. The celebration began with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony by Lieutenant General BS Raju, General Officer Commanding, Chinar Corps. Officers of all ranks paid tributes to the fallen soldiers at War Memorial at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar.

India is proud of role played by infantry in protecting our nation: PM Modi

&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;leader Carrie Lam will travel to Beijing next week for a three-day visit to discuss plans to revive the global financial hub's economy which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-government protests.

Lam, speaking at a weekly news briefing on Tuesday, said she would leave on November&nbsp;3 for the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where she will take a coronavirus test before traveling to Beijing.

"My trip to Beijing this time is solely on the economic side that is in light of the economic situation, which of course is very serious in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong," Lam said on Tuesday.

"We need more support measures from the mainland of China, especially in light of the overall direction that&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;should move to better integrate with the mainland of China especially in the Greater Bay Area."

The Beijing-backed leader postponed her annual policy address earlier this month in order to travel to the mainland for talks on how the central government can support the former British colony's economic recovery.

She said she still plans to deliver her policy address by the end of November.

Lam has repeatedly touted the importance of the Greater Bay area - a region that includes&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong, Macau, and nine cities in China's Guangdong province - as a key pillar to provide economic benefits to the Chinese-ruled city.

Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;is reeling from the double blow of anti-government protests that plunged the city into its biggest crisis in decades last year and the impact of coronavirus.

Beijing imposed a national security law on&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;in June that punishes what authorities broadly define as secession, sedition and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail, following a year of sometimes violent demonstrations.

Western governments and international human rights groups have expressed concern the law will crush freedoms in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong.

Authorities in Beijing and&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;have said the law is necessary to bring stability to the city.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam will travel to Beijing next week for a three-day visit to discuss plans to revive the global financial hub's economy which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-government protests.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam will travel to Beijing next week for a three-day visit to discuss plans to revive the global financial hub's economy which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-government protests. Lam, speaking at a weekly news briefing on Tuesday, said she would leave on November 3 for the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where she will take a coronavirus test before traveling to Beijing. "My trip to Beijing this time is solely on the economic side that is in light of the economic situation, which of course is very serious in Hong Kong," Lam said on Tuesday. "We need more support measures from the mainland of China, especially in light of the overall direction that Hong Kong should move to better integrate with the mainland of China especially in the Greater Bay Area." The Beijing-backed leader postponed her annual policy address earlier this month in order to travel to the mainland for talks on how the central government can support the former British colony's economic recovery. She said she still plans to deliver her policy address by the end of November. Lam has repeatedly touted the importance of the Greater Bay area - a region that includes Hong Kong, Macau, and nine cities in China's Guangdong province - as a key pillar to provide economic benefits to the Chinese-ruled city. Hong Kong is reeling from the double blow of anti-government protests that plunged the city into its biggest crisis in decades last year and the impact of coronavirus. Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in June that punishes what authorities broadly define as secession, sedition and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail, following a year of sometimes violent demonstrations. Western governments and international human rights groups have expressed concern the law will crush freedoms in Hong Kong. Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have said the law is necessary to bring stability to the city.

Hong Kong leader to visit Beijing to discuss plans to revive economy

The largest party in&nbsp;Malaysia's ruling coalition declared its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, providing some respite for the premier who has faced calls to resign after a failed bid to impose a state of emergency.

Muhyiddin, who has a razor-thin majority in parliament, is under pressure from unhappy coalition partners who have demanded more powerful positions amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases and a pandemic-battered economy.

Calls for him to resign grew after the king on Sunday rejected his request for him to declare emergency rule amid a leadership challenge. Critics have accused the premier of using the pandemic as a pretext to suspend parliament and avoid a test of his majority.

The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party, which had earlier this month threatened to withdraw support for Muhyiddin, said it will now back him as the time has come for national reconciliation between political parties to ensure political stability and to focus efforts on managing the pandemic.

UMNO also said it will not work with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's party, rejecting a proposal by former&nbsp;Malaysian premier and now-ruling party lawmaker Najib Razak.

Last month, Anwar declared that he had secured majority support from federal lawmakers to form a new government, sparking the political crisis.

In a Monday meeting of the former ruling Barisan Nasional coalition led by UMNO, Najib asked lawmakers in the alliance to endorse Anwar, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Najib's backing of Anwar marks a striking turnaround in their relationship. Anwar was one of the key leaders in a coalition that defeated Najib in a historic election in 2018.

Muhyiddin has maintained a tenuous alliance with UMNO, whose backing was key in his bid to secure the premiership in March after a bout of political wrangling led to the collapse of the administration led by veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad.

Leaders in UMNO, which had led the country for over 60 years until its defeat in a 2018 election, have balked at playing second fiddle to Muhyiddin's party. Some of UMNO's corruption-tainted leaders, including Najib, have been trying to revive their political fortunes.

The largest party in Malaysia's ruling coalition declared its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, providing some respite for the premier who has faced calls to resign after a failed bid to impose a state of emergency.

The largest party in Malaysia's ruling coalition declared its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, providing some respite for the premier who has faced calls to resign after a failed bid to impose a state of emergency. Muhyiddin, who has a razor-thin majority in parliament, is under pressure from unhappy coalition partners who have demanded more powerful positions amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases and a pandemic-battered economy. Calls for him to resign grew after the king on Sunday rejected his request for him to declare emergency rule amid a leadership challenge. Critics have accused the premier of using the pandemic as a pretext to suspend parliament and avoid a test of his majority. The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party, which had earlier this month threatened to withdraw support for Muhyiddin, said it will now back him as the time has come for national reconciliation between political parties to ensure political stability and to focus efforts on managing the pandemic. UMNO also said it will not work with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's party, rejecting a proposal by former Malaysian premier and now-ruling party lawmaker Najib Razak. Last month, Anwar declared that he had secured majority support from federal lawmakers to form a new government, sparking the political crisis. In a Monday meeting of the former ruling Barisan Nasional coalition led by UMNO, Najib asked lawmakers in the alliance to endorse Anwar, three sources familiar with the matter said. Najib's backing of Anwar marks a striking turnaround in their relationship. Anwar was one of the key leaders in a coalition that defeated Najib in a historic election in 2018. Muhyiddin has maintained a tenuous alliance with UMNO, whose backing was key in his bid to secure the premiership in March after a bout of political wrangling led to the collapse of the administration led by veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad. Leaders in UMNO, which had led the country for over 60 years until its defeat in a 2018 election, have balked at playing second fiddle to Muhyiddin's party. Some of UMNO's corruption-tainted leaders, including Najib, have been trying to revive their political fortunes.

Malaysia's PM Muhyiddin gets reprieve from key ally in political crisis

With exactly one week to go for the US election 2020,&nbsp;Dave Wasserman, the polling guru who forecasted Republican candidate Donald Trump's 2016 win, is betting on Democratic&nbsp;candidate Joe Biden this time.

Wasserman believes that while polls are more stable in comparison to four years ago, President Trump is underperforming and though the race may tighten in the upcoming week, his path looks increasingly difficult.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/us-election-2020-opinion-polls-show-joe-biden-holding-substantial-lead-337842/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by a solid margin in Wisconsin and maintains a narrower advantage in Pennsylvania with just over a week until November 3.

<img alt="Trump" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9d39d742-f6eb-4801-a174-3455da9357a2" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Capture%208256_0.PNG" />

Wasserman has predicts that&nbsp;six states,&nbsp;Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona,&nbsp;will play critical roles in deciding whether Trump wins a second term in office or if Biden ousts him.

He highlighted the possibility of&nbsp;the race getting&nbsp;closer to where it was in September, which was when Biden had an average lead of more like 7 or 8 points than 10.&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/who-will-be-americas-future-us-election-2020-new-york-direct-338147/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Trump does not have a lot of margin for error&nbsp;as Biden has a much more stable lead in comparison to Hillary Clinton for years ago.

Biden's lead increased in October after Trump, who faced criticism for downplaying coronavirus pandemic as a ''flu'' and a ''hoax'', himself contracted the novel virus.

As COVID-19 hits swing states, Biden and Trump showed sharp contrast. While Trump said America was turning the corner in the fight against COVID-19 and mocked Biden's more cautious campaigning style. Biden&nbsp;warned that the cold months ahead could be even harsher due to a resurgence of the virus, which has killed more people in the United States than anywhere else and is on the rise in several battleground states.

Wasserman says that in 2016, polls chronically undersampled Trump’s base of support, and that led a lot of the media astray. And the polls are far from perfect in US election 2020 as well as&nbsp;there’s a lot of disagreement between online polls and live-interview polls.

With exactly one week to go for the US election 2020, Dave Wasserman, the polling guru who forecasted Republican candidate Donald Trump's 2016 win, is betting on Democratic candidate Joe Biden this time.

With exactly one week to go for the US election 2020, Dave Wasserman, the polling guru who forecasted Republican candidate Donald Trump's 2016 win, is betting on Democratic candidate Joe Biden this time. Wasserman believes that while polls are more stable in comparison to four years ago, President Trump is underperforming and though the race may tighten in the upcoming week, his path looks increasingly difficult. Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by a solid margin in Wisconsin and maintains a narrower advantage in Pennsylvania with just over a week until November 3. Wasserman has predicts that six states, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona, will play critical roles in deciding whether Trump wins a second term in office or if Biden ousts him. He highlighted the possibility of the race getting closer to where it was in September, which was when Biden had an average lead of more like 7 or 8 points than 10. Trump does not have a lot of margin for error as Biden has a much more stable lead in comparison to Hillary Clinton for years ago. Biden's lead increased in October after Trump, who faced criticism for downplaying coronavirus pandemic as a ''flu'' and a ''hoax'', himself contracted the novel virus. As COVID-19 hits swing states, Biden and Trump showed sharp contrast. While Trump said America was turning the corner in the fight against COVID-19 and mocked Biden's more cautious campaigning style. Biden warned that the cold months ahead could be even harsher due to a resurgence of the virus, which has killed more people in the United States than anywhere else and is on the rise in several battleground states. Wasserman says that in 2016, polls chronically undersampled Trump’s base of support, and that led a lot of the media astray. And the polls are far from perfect in US election 2020 as well as there’s a lot of disagreement between online polls and live-interview polls.

US election 2020: Polling guru who forecasted Donald Trump's 2016 win, reveals this year's winner

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko defied an ultimatum to surrender power by midnight on Sunday, challenging his opponents to make good on their threat to paralyse the country with a national strike.

Eleven weeks after a disputed presidential election, the crisis in the former Soviet republic entered a new phase with the expiry of the "People's Ultimatum" set by opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

Lukashenko's refusal to quit after 26 years in power will test whether the opposition has the mass support it needs to bring enterprises across the country of 9.5 million people to a halt.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/belarus-and-russia-will-respond-to-external-threats-lukashenko-tells-pompeo-337919/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Tikhanovskaya, a 38-year-old political newcomer, fled&nbsp;Belarus&nbsp;after claiming victory in an August presidential election that Lukashenko, 66, himself claimed to have carried for a sixth term. She has been rallying support from European leaders and calling for new elections.

During a visit to Copenhagen on Friday to meet Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod she called for a repeat ballot "as soon as possible", and in a separate statements said a date for the vote must be decided by the end of the year.

Also see:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/we-come-in-peace-belarusian-women-dressed-in-white-protest-against-corrupt-leadership-321060">We come in peace: Belarusian women dressed in white protest against corrupt leadership</a>

Yet she also conceded that it was unclear how many Belarusians would answer the call for a general strike Monday, with many people anxious about government intimidation and dismissal from positions at state-run enterprises.&nbsp;

Lukashenko has scoffed at the calls, asking "Who will feed the kids?" if workers at state-owned enterprises go on strike.

Tsikhanouskaya on Sunday called for the strike to go ahead after police forces loyal to Lukashenko fired stun grenades and detained scores of people in a clampdown on protests by tens of thousands in Minsk and elsewhere.

"The regime once again showed&nbsp;Belarusians that force is the only thing it is capable of," she wrote in a statement. "That's why tomorrow, October&nbsp;26, a national strike will begin."

The standoff is being closely watched by neighbouring Russia and by Western governments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has no desire to see another leader toppled by protests in a former Soviet state, as happened in Ukraine in 2014 and in Kyrgyzstan earlier this month. He too has faced street demonstrations at various times, including for the past three months in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk.

Since the crisis began, Moscow has backed Lukashenko with a $1.5 billion loan and increased security cooperation, including a series of joint military exercises and a visit last week by the head of Russia's foreign intelligence agency.

Security lockdown

Lukashenko, 66, claimed victory in the August&nbsp;9 election with an official vote share of more than 80 per cent, but the opposition accused him of vote-rigging on a massive scale.

He has responded to mass street protests by arresting around 15,000 people, though most have since been released, and jailing opposition leaders or forcing them to leave the country.

A UN&nbsp;human rights investigator said last month that thousands of people had been "savagely beaten" and there were more than 500 reports of torture, which the authorities deny.

The United States, European Union, Britain, and Canada have imposed travel bans and asset freezes against a string of officials accused of election fraud and human rights abuses.

Tsikhanouskaya presented her ultimatum on Oct. 13 after the government said police would be authorised to use combat weapons against protesters if needed.

Three days later, a senior police official repeated the threat.

"We will of course humanely use weapons against them, including firearms, and we will remove the most dangerous ones from the streets," said Nikolai Karpenkov, head of the police unit in charge of fighting organised crime.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko defied an ultimatum to surrender power by midnight on Sunday, challenging his opponents to make good on their threat to paralyse the country with a national strike.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko defied an ultimatum to surrender power by midnight on Sunday, challenging his opponents to make good on their threat to paralyse the country with a national strike. Eleven weeks after a disputed presidential election, the crisis in the former Soviet republic entered a new phase with the expiry of the "People's Ultimatum" set by opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Lukashenko's refusal to quit after 26 years in power will test whether the opposition has the mass support it needs to bring enterprises across the country of 9.5 million people to a halt. Tikhanovskaya, a 38-year-old political newcomer, fled Belarus after claiming victory in an August presidential election that Lukashenko, 66, himself claimed to have carried for a sixth term. She has been rallying support from European leaders and calling for new elections. During a visit to Copenhagen on Friday to meet Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod she called for a repeat ballot "as soon as possible", and in a separate statements said a date for the vote must be decided by the end of the year. Also see: We come in peace: Belarusian women dressed in white protest against corrupt leadership Yet she also conceded that it was unclear how many Belarusians would answer the call for a general strike Monday, with many people anxious about government intimidation and dismissal from positions at state-run enterprises. Lukashenko has scoffed at the calls, asking "Who will feed the kids?" if workers at state-owned enterprises go on strike. Tsikhanouskaya on Sunday called for the strike to go ahead after police forces loyal to Lukashenko fired stun grenades and detained scores of people in a clampdown on protests by tens of thousands in Minsk and elsewhere. "The regime once again showed Belarusians that force is the only thing it is capable of," she wrote in a statement. "That's why tomorrow, October 26, a national strike will begin." The standoff is being closely watched by neighbouring Russia and by Western governments. Russian President Vladimir Putin has no desire to see another leader toppled by protests in a former Soviet state, as happened in Ukraine in 2014 and in Kyrgyzstan earlier this month. He too has faced street demonstrations at various times, including for the past three months in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk. Since the crisis began, Moscow has backed Lukashenko with a $1.5 billion loan and increased security cooperation, including a series of joint military exercises and a visit last week by the head of Russia's foreign intelligence agency. Security lockdown Lukashenko, 66, claimed victory in the August 9 election with an official vote share of more than 80 per cent, but the opposition accused him of vote-rigging on a massive scale. He has responded to mass street protests by arresting around 15,000 people, though most have since been released, and jailing opposition leaders or forcing them to leave the country. A UN human rights investigator said last month that thousands of people had been "savagely beaten" and there were more than 500 reports of torture, which the authorities deny. The United States, European Union, Britain, and Canada have imposed travel bans and asset freezes against a string of officials accused of election fraud and human rights abuses. Tsikhanouskaya presented her ultimatum on Oct. 13 after the government said police would be authorised to use combat weapons against protesters if needed. Three days later, a senior police official repeated the threat. "We will of course humanely use weapons against them, including firearms, and we will remove the most dangerous ones from the streets," said Nikolai Karpenkov, head of the police unit in charge of fighting organised crime.

Belarus opposition prepares mass strikes after Lukashenko ignores deadline to quit

Singapore&nbsp;has temporarily halted the use of two influenza vaccines as a precaution after some people who received them in South Korea died, becoming among the first countries to publicly announce a halt of the vaccines' usage.

South Korea reported that 48 have died as of Saturday after getting flu shots, but said it would carry on with the state-run vaccination programme as they found no direct link between the deaths and the shots.

No deaths associated with influenza vaccination have been reported in&nbsp;Singapore&nbsp;to date, but the decision to halt the use of SKYCellflu Quadrivalent and VaxigripTetra was precautionary, the health ministry and the Health Sciences Authority (HAS) said in a statement late on Sunday.

The HSA is in touch with the South Korean authorities for further information as they investigate to determine if the deaths are related to influenza vaccinations.

SKYCellflu Quadrivalent is manufactured by South Korea's SK Bioscience and locally distributed by AJ Biologics, while VaxigripTetra is manufactured by Sanofi&nbsp;and locally distributed by Sanofi Aventis.

Two other influenza vaccines that have been brought into&nbsp;Singapore&nbsp;for the Northern Hemisphere 2020/21 influenza season may continue to be used,&nbsp;Singapore&nbsp;health authorities said.

Singapore has temporarily halted the use of two influenza vaccines as a precaution after some people who received them in South Korea died, becoming among the first countries to publicly announce a halt of the vaccines' usage.

Singapore has temporarily halted the use of two influenza vaccines as a precaution after some people who received them in South Korea died, becoming among the first countries to publicly announce a halt of the vaccines' usage. South Korea reported that 48 have died as of Saturday after getting flu shots, but said it would carry on with the state-run vaccination programme as they found no direct link between the deaths and the shots. No deaths associated with influenza vaccination have been reported in Singapore to date, but the decision to halt the use of SKYCellflu Quadrivalent and VaxigripTetra was precautionary, the health ministry and the Health Sciences Authority (HAS) said in a statement late on Sunday. The HSA is in touch with the South Korean authorities for further information as they investigate to determine if the deaths are related to influenza vaccinations. SKYCellflu Quadrivalent is manufactured by South Korea's SK Bioscience and locally distributed by AJ Biologics, while VaxigripTetra is manufactured by Sanofi and locally distributed by Sanofi Aventis. Two other influenza vaccines that have been brought into Singapore for the Northern Hemisphere 2020/21 influenza season may continue to be used, Singapore health authorities said.

Singapore temporarily halts use of two flu vaccines after South Korea deaths

Japan&nbsp;on Monday set a 2050 deadline&nbsp;for the world's third-largest economy to&nbsp;attain&nbsp;a zero-emissions, carbon-neutral society,&nbsp;significantly firming up the country's climate change commitments.

Tokyo had previously said it would achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible in the second half of the century, rather than set an explicit target, and its swing brings it into line with the European Union, which set a carbon neutrality target of 2050 last year.

Also read| <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/japan-to-release-radioactive-water-from-fukushima-nuclear-plant-into-sea-report-335626">Japan to release radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear plant into sea: Report</a>

"Responding to climate change is no longer a constraint on economic growth," Suga said in a prepared speech, his first policy address to parliament since taking office last month.

"We need to change our thinking to the view that taking assertive measures against climate change will lead to changes in industrial structure and the economy that will bring about great growth."

Also see:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/underground-parthenon-protecting-tokyo-from-floods-334941">Underground 'Parthenon' protecting Tokyo from floods</a>

Japan is the world's fifth-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, and while moves are being made to increase renewable energy, the country also plans to roll out new coal stations.

Suga did give a precise timeline for how Japan, a country still heavily reliant on coal, will achieve the goal but said the technology would be essential.

"The key is innovation," Suga said, citing examples including next-generation solar batteries.

He said Japan would also push the use of renewable energy and nuclear power, stressing that safety would be a priority,&nbsp;a key point in a country that suffered the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Japan, which is a signatory to the Paris agreement, was the sixth-biggest contributor to global greenhouse emissions in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency.

Tokyo has been struggling to cut carbon emissions after shutting down its nuclear reactors following the 2011 meltdown in Fukushima sparked by a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Reliance on fossil fuels like coal increased in Japan after the Fukushima disaster, as public anger over the accident pushed all of the country's nuclear reactors offline temporarily.

Japan on Monday set a 2050 deadline for the world's third-largest economy to attain a zero-emissions, carbon-neutral society, significantly firming up the country's climate change commitments.

Japan on Monday set a 2050 deadline for the world's third-largest economy to attain a zero-emissions, carbon-neutral society, significantly firming up the country's climate change commitments. Tokyo had previously said it would achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible in the second half of the century, rather than set an explicit target, and its swing brings it into line with the European Union, which set a carbon neutrality target of 2050 last year. Also read| Japan to release radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear plant into sea: Report "Responding to climate change is no longer a constraint on economic growth," Suga said in a prepared speech, his first policy address to parliament since taking office last month. "We need to change our thinking to the view that taking assertive measures against climate change will lead to changes in industrial structure and the economy that will bring about great growth." Also see: Underground 'Parthenon' protecting Tokyo from floods Japan is the world's fifth-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, and while moves are being made to increase renewable energy, the country also plans to roll out new coal stations. Suga did give a precise timeline for how Japan, a country still heavily reliant on coal, will achieve the goal but said the technology would be essential. "The key is innovation," Suga said, citing examples including next-generation solar batteries. He said Japan would also push the use of renewable energy and nuclear power, stressing that safety would be a priority, a key point in a country that suffered the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Japan, which is a signatory to the Paris agreement, was the sixth-biggest contributor to global greenhouse emissions in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency. Tokyo has been struggling to cut carbon emissions after shutting down its nuclear reactors following the 2011 meltdown in Fukushima sparked by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Reliance on fossil fuels like coal increased in Japan after the Fukushima disaster, as public anger over the accident pushed all of the country's nuclear reactors offline temporarily.

Japan announces deadline for attaining zero-emissions, carbon neutral society

Six-times world champion Lewis&nbsp;Hamilton&nbsp;became the most successful Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins on Sunday with a dominant 92nd career victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver, who took the chequered flag a huge 25.592 seconds ahead of second-placed teammate Valtteri Bottas, had equalled Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's record 91 wins at the previous race at the Nuerburgring.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/lewis-hamilton-eyes-michael-schumachers-f1-track-record-with-8th-win-314011">Lewis Hamilton eyes Michael Schumacher's F1 track record with 8th win</a>

Victory, along with a bonus point for fastest lap, stretched the Briton's championship lead over Bottas to 77 points with five races remaining.

"You are re-writing the history books," Mercedes told&nbsp;Hamilton&nbsp;over the team radio, with team boss Toto Wolff adding: "Lewis, 92. 92."

"I owe it all to these guys here and back at the factory," said&nbsp;Hamilton.

"It's just been such a privilege working with them," added the Briton, who was joined on the podium by race engineer Peter 'Bono' Bonnington.

"Today was tough but it was all about temperatures."

Dutch youngster Max Verstappen finished third for Red Bull at the Algarve circuit near Portimao that was hosting the country's first grand prix in 24 years.

Hamilton&nbsp;lapped all but the three drivers behind him but it had not looked so simple at the start when he dropped to third from pole position on a lively opening lap with occasional rain complicating matters.

Bottas, who had gone ahead, was then passed on lap two by McLaren's Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who had started seventh on the soft tyres, with the Mercedes pair struggling to get heat into the medium rubber.

Verstappen had meanwhile dropped to fifth after tangling with Racing Point's Mexican Sergio Perez, who pitted and dropped to last but recovered to finish seventh.

Bottas retook the lead on lap six as the tyres fired up, with&nbsp;Hamilton&nbsp;moving up to second, and stayed ahead until his team mate overtook him on lap 20 to lead for the first time since the opening lap.

Hamilton, whose father was at the circuit to see his triumph, reported cramp with seven laps to go but then proceeded to set a series of fastest laps.

"I could never have dreamed of being where I am today," he said after his eighth win of the season and 71st since he joined Mercedes.

"I didn't have a magic ball when I chose to come to this team and partner with great people, but here I am and what I can tell you is I'm trying to make the most of it every single day.

"It's going to take some time to sink in. I was still pushing flat out coming across the line."

Bottas said he just had no pace. "I was pushing hard but couldn't go faster," complained the Finn.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished fourth with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly fifth.

Sainz was sixth with Renault's Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo eighth and ninth.

Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel took the final point for Ferrari.

Lance Stroll, who missed the last race and then tested positive for COVID-19, was the only retirement of the afternoon with the team reporting floor damage. The Canadian had already collected multiple penalties by then.

Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton became the most successful Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins on Sunday with a dominant 92nd career victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton became the most successful Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins on Sunday with a dominant 92nd career victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver, who took the chequered flag a huge 25.592 seconds ahead of second-placed teammate Valtteri Bottas, had equalled Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's record 91 wins at the previous race at the Nuerburgring. Also read: Lewis Hamilton eyes Michael Schumacher's F1 track record with 8th win Victory, along with a bonus point for fastest lap, stretched the Briton's championship lead over Bottas to 77 points with five races remaining. "You are re-writing the history books," Mercedes told Hamilton over the team radio, with team boss Toto Wolff adding: "Lewis, 92. 92." "I owe it all to these guys here and back at the factory," said Hamilton. "It's just been such a privilege working with them," added the Briton, who was joined on the podium by race engineer Peter 'Bono' Bonnington. "Today was tough but it was all about temperatures." Dutch youngster Max Verstappen finished third for Red Bull at the Algarve circuit near Portimao that was hosting the country's first grand prix in 24 years. Hamilton lapped all but the three drivers behind him but it had not looked so simple at the start when he dropped to third from pole position on a lively opening lap with occasional rain complicating matters. Bottas, who had gone ahead, was then passed on lap two by McLaren's Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who had started seventh on the soft tyres, with the Mercedes pair struggling to get heat into the medium rubber. Verstappen had meanwhile dropped to fifth after tangling with Racing Point's Mexican Sergio Perez, who pitted and dropped to last but recovered to finish seventh. Bottas retook the lead on lap six as the tyres fired up, with Hamilton moving up to second, and stayed ahead until his team mate overtook him on lap 20 to lead for the first time since the opening lap. Hamilton, whose father was at the circuit to see his triumph, reported cramp with seven laps to go but then proceeded to set a series of fastest laps. "I could never have dreamed of being where I am today," he said after his eighth win of the season and 71st since he joined Mercedes. "I didn't have a magic ball when I chose to come to this team and partner with great people, but here I am and what I can tell you is I'm trying to make the most of it every single day. "It's going to take some time to sink in. I was still pushing flat out coming across the line." Bottas said he just had no pace. "I was pushing hard but couldn't go faster," complained the Finn. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished fourth with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly fifth. Sainz was sixth with Renault's Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo eighth and ninth. Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel took the final point for Ferrari. Lance Stroll, who missed the last race and then tested positive for COVID-19, was the only retirement of the afternoon with the team reporting floor damage. The Canadian had already collected multiple penalties by then.

Hamilton overtakes Schumacher with record 92nd F1 win

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