News in Brief (2022-03-26)

Trump sues Hilary Clinton
WASHINGTON, Mar 25: Former US president Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Hillary Clinton, Democratic Party leaders and others alleging they falsely accused him of colluding with Russia ahead of the 2016 election. "In the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable plot-one that shocks the conscience and is an affront to this nation's democracy," the complaint filed in a federal court in Florida said. — AFP

Australian journalist detained in China to face trial
SYDNEY, Mar 25: Australian journalist Cheng Lei will face trial in China next week on charges of supplying state secrets, according to a report Friday, two years after she was detained by Beijing authorities. Cheng Lei disappeared in August 2020 and was formally arrested for "illegally supplying state secrets overseas" in February last year. — AFP

India tells visiting Chinese minister that border face-off impedes ties
NEW DELHI, Mar: India sees the complete disengagement of Chinese and Indian troops from a face-off on their remote border as key to better relations, its foreign minister said on Friday, following talks in New Delhi with his Chinese counterpart. Wang Yi is the most senior Chinese official to visit India since border clashes in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh in June 2020 led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the Asian giants. Both nations have deployed thousands of troops on the high-altitude border. But there has been little progress in more than a dozen rounds of talks between senior military officers to try and defuse the situation. "I was very honest in my discussions with the Chinese foreign minister, especially in conveying our national sentiments," India's Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told a news briefing after his three-hour meeting with Wang. — Reuters

'China's Fauci' calls for protecting 'normal life' in Omicron fight
SHANGHAI, Mar 25: A top doctor in China's pandemic fight who came under pressure last year for questioning the country's zero-Covid policy has called again for balancing anti-virus measures with maintenance of normal life as China struggles with an Omicron surge. Shanghai infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong-who has been called "China's Fauci" after US disease expert Anthony Fauci-also said in a blog post that the city's medical resources were becoming "strained" as cases climb, but he expects the metropolis to turn the corner soon. — AFP

Australia confirms new mass bleaching event in Great Barrier Reef
SYDNEY, Mar 25: Australia's Great Barrier Reef is being devastated by another mass bleaching event, officials have confirmed. It is the fourth time in six years that such severe and widespread damage - caused by warm sea temperatures - has been detected. Only two mass bleaching events had ever been recorded until 2016. Scientists say urgent action on climate change is needed if the world's largest reef system is to survive. — BBC