India offers red carpet, not red tape: Modi

September 2, 2014

Tokyo, Sep 2: Telling Japanese investors that there was no better place than India to set up their overseas enterprises, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said: "I've come to assure you there is no red tape but only red carpet that awaits you in India."

Delivering the keynote address at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, co-hosted by Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro), Modi said India was also the only place where the Japanese industry will pleasantly find all the three 'Ds" -- democracy, demography and demand.

"I have come here to assure you that if you have to look anywhere outside Japan, you do not need to look here or there," he said, adding: "We particularly want to encourage and invite small and medium enterprises, as also small-scale industries."

The prime minister said India now has a government that is working on development and wants to step up manufacturing. He said he wished for India what he himself experienced when he was young when he did not have to think twice if a product said "Made in Japan".

Modi also recalled the major initiative launched by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- the Look East Policy -- to strengthen India-Japan relations and said it had now taken firm shape.

"Just as India is focusing on Look East policy, it seems Japan is now pursuing a 'Look at India Policy'," he said, adding India will strive to replicate the Japanese model of work culture so as to attract more Japanese investment.

According to the organisers, some 4,000 people had wanted to hear Modi speak at the event, hoping for an interaction as well, but only 2,000 could be accommodated.

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KFC closes 100 restaurants in Malaysia over boycott against pro-Zionists

News Network

April 30,2024

US fast-food chain KFC has been forced to close over 100 restaurants in Malaysia over a pro-Palestine boycott of the company.

The Straits Times reported on Monday that the American restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken had to reduce its operations across Malaysia, mostly in north-eastern Kelantan state, following calls for a boycott of the company amid protests over the US government’s backing of the Israeli regime in its genocide of the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Nearly 80 percent, or 21 KFC outlets, in Kelantan state stopped their operations, followed by 15 outlets in Johor and 11 in Selangor, the most industrialized state in Malaysia.

Citing a local Chinese-language newspaper, the Straits Times added the local franchisor of the Louisville, Kentucky-headquartered company in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation, QSR Brands Holdings Bhd, is temporarily suspending operations in more than 100 KFC outlets after about half a year of boycott movement. “QSR Brands, which owns and operates the KFC fast-food franchise in Malaysia, is suspending 108 outlets nationwide.”

In this regard, chairman of the pro-Palestinian group Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) in Malaysia, Professor Mohd Nazari Ismail, told the Singapore-based newspaper that, “KFC is not on the BDS list of targeted companies. But many Malaysians see any American fast-food operator to be related to Israel, including KFC.” The BDS has been pushing for various forms of boycott movement against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.

KFC was also forced to shut its first branch in Algeria earlier this month, just two days after its opening, following protests over US support to Israel.

The boycott action has severely affected worldwide operations of American fast-food giants McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, etc., with the pro-Palestine campaign having the potential to spread further across the globe.

Boycotted US companies are either perceived by pro-Palestinians to have taken pro-Israeli stances in the genocidal war on Gaza, or have financial ties to the Israel regime and/or have made illegal investments in the occupied Palestinian lands.

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AstraZeneca to withdraw Covid-19 vaccine globally as demand dips after admitting side effects

News Network

May 8,2024

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic.

The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe.

"As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

According to media reports, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side-effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

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