A significant trial of a daily weight-loss pill has found that it helped people to shed the pounds and reduce their blood sugar levels, making it a contender to join the new wave of drugs that combat obesity and diabetes. People who took a 36mg pill of orforglipron lost an average of 7.3kg (16lbs) over nine months, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial reported by the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, on Thursday. The trial, which enrolled 559 obese people with type 2 diabetes from the US, China,…
Tag: India
UK ‘helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine’ via loophole on refined oil imports
The UK has been accused of “helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine” by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels. Government data analysed by the environmental news site Desmog shows that imports of refined oil from India, China and Turkey amounted to £2.2bn in 2023, the same record value as the previous year, up from £434.2m in 2021. Russia is the largest crude oil supplier to India and China, while Turkey has become one of the biggest importers of Russian oil…
Pro-China party wins landslide victory in Maldives parliamentary elections
Maldives voters have backed President Mohamed Muizzu’s tilt towards China and away from traditional benefactor India, with his party winning control of parliament in an election landslide. Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 of the first 86 seats declared, according to the Elections Commission of Maldives, already more than enough for a super-majority in the 93-member parliament. The vote was seen as a crucial test for Muizzu’s plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China, including building thousands of apartments on controversially reclaimed land. The Maldives is…
Global defence budget jumps to record high of $2440bn
Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report. The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history. For the first time, analysts at the thinktank recorded a rise in military outlay in all five geographical regions: Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania and the Americas. Nan…
Ditching European trade for China and India was ever a poor bet. Now it’s a farce | Will Hutton
The world has changed since, post-Brexit, “Global Britain” set itself to “pivot” from sclerotic Europe towards booming Asia. Always a fanciful idea that disregarded Asian realities, it has now become farcical. Neither China nor India are proving the easy pickings on which “buccaneering” Britain could ride to economic success, denied through being tied to the “corpse” of an EU economy allegedly shackled by regulation and tax. Brexiter ambitions are turning to ashes. Instead, there is China, run by an ever more openly dictatorial and militarily ambitious communist government. Its economy is…
India and Pakistan tried to meddle in Canada elections, spy agency says
Canada’s spy agency has declared that the governments of India and Pakistan probably attempted to meddle in its elections. As a closely watched public inquiry investigates the scope of foreign interference, on Thursday night the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) released a report suggesting a growing number of countries see Canada – and particularly its large diaspora populations – as a target for subterfuge. It said India had “intent to interfere and likely conducted clandestine activities” in the 2021 Canadian federal election, including the use of a government proxy agent…
Who congratulated Putin on his election victory and what does it say about global alliances?
After Vladimir Putin’s landslide presidential election victory on Sunday, western governments lined up to characterise the win as unfair and undemocratic. The elections underlined the “depth of repression” in Russia, according to British foreign minister David Cameron, while the US state department said the jailing and disqualification of opponents meant the process was “incredibly undemocratic”. The comments from leaders across Europe and the US stood however in sharp contrast to messages of congratulation that flowed from countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. These contrasting reactions underscore the geopolitical faultlines…
China’s Exports Surge Are Drawing a Global Backlash
China’s factory exports are powering ahead faster than almost anyone expected, putting jobs around the world in jeopardy and setting off a backlash that is gaining momentum. From steel and cars to consumer electronics and solar panels, Chinese factories are finding more overseas buyers for goods. The world’s appetite for its goods is welcomed by China, which is enduring a severe downturn in what had been the economy’s biggest driver of growth: building and outfitting apartments. But other countries are increasingly concerned that China’s rise is coming partly at their…
‘Big bullies’: Maldives turns away from India as calculating China woos it with aid
Since Mohamed Muizzu was elected president of the Maldives in September, a wave of anti-India sentiment has swept the country. This week, it was made clear to New Delhi exactly where his government’s allegiances now lie. “There will be no Indian troops in the country come 10 May. Not in uniform and not in civilian clothing. The Indian military will not be residing in this country in any form of clothing. I state this with confidence,” Muizzu said in a public address on Tuesday. A few days earlier, the two…
The Maldives Is a Tiny Paradise. Why Are China and India Fighting Over It?
Between a few flecks of coral in the Indian Ocean, a ribbon of highway more than a mile long swoops up from the blue. Since 2018, the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge has connected this archipelago’s hyper-dense capital, Malé, and the international airport — expanded by Chinese companies — one island to the east. But China is not alone in chasing friendship with the Maldives. A 20-minute walk across the capital, next to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, an even longer sea bridge will link Malé with islands to the west. This one…