Budget 2018-19

  False claims are fueling vaccine hesitancy in pockets, undermining efforts to vaccinate some of the most vulnerable people in Asia. Though Gerry Casida is on the priority list for a free Covid-19 vaccine in the Philippines because of his asthma, he’s isn’t planning to get the shot any time soon. A video he found on social media of a woman claiming vaccines are being used for genocide helps explain why. “I’ve read a lot of posts on Facebook about how many died in other countries because of vaccines, and how that’s being concealed,” the construction worker, 43, from Manila said. “My mom also consulted a folk healer, who said the vaccines could affect my heart.” Millions of people like Casida in some of the worst  Covid hotspots  in Southeast Asia are in no rush for inoculation or just saying no, swayed by disinformation on social media from both local sources as well anti-vaccination movements in the U.S. Those false claims are fueling vaccine hesitancy in some pockets of...

  During a broadcast interview, the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said he’s “quite concerned” about the Delta variant in the US Washington [US], July 1 (ANI): The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is the greatest threat to the United States’ attempt to eradicate COVID-19, White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday. During a broadcast interview, the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said he’s “quite concerned” about the Delta variant in the US. Dr Fauci told US media that the delta variant can spread “much more efficiently” and “cause more severe disease”. “The  Delta variant  has the capability of spreading much more efficiently from person to person. It also can cause more severe disease. So there are two things about it that are troublesome,” said the top US COVID-19 expert. Fauci further said that the good news is that COVID-19 vaccines have shown to be very ef...

  Biden came up well short on his goal of delivering 80 mn doses of coronavirus vaccine to rest of world by end of June as a host of logistical and regulatory hurdles slowed pace of US vaccine diplomacy President Joe Biden came up well short on his goal of delivering 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to the rest of the world by the end of June as a host of logistical and regulatory hurdles slowed the pace of US vaccine diplomacy. Although the Biden administration has announced that about 50 countries and entities will receive a share of the excess  COVID-19 vaccine  doses, the US has shipped fewer than 24 million doses to 10 recipient countries, according to an Associated Press tally. The White House says more will be sent in the coming days and stresses that Biden has done everything in his power to meet the commitment. It’s not for lack of doses. All the American shots are ready to ship, the White House said. Rather, it’s taking more time than anticipated to sort ...

President  Xi Jinping  on Thursday called for building a strong military to defend the country and warned that Chinese people will never allow any foreign force to “bully, oppress, or subjugate them” President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for building a strong military to defend the country and warned that the Chinese people will never allow any foreign force to “bully, oppress, or subjugate them”, as the country marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Communist Party. Addressing the centenary celebrations of the  Communist Party of China  (CPC) at the historic Tiananmen Square here, Xi in over an hour-long address also said that integrating Taiwan with the Chinese mainland is a historic mission of the ruling party. No one should underestimate the great resolve, the strong will, and the extraordinary ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said. We must accelerate the modernisation of nation...

  The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it favours in-person Chartered Accountant (CA) exams and refrained from passing any direction to postpone the schedule commencing on July 5. The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it favours in-person Chartered Accountant (CA) exams and refrained from passing any direction to postpone the schedule commencing on July 5. A bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said students with Covid should get opt-out option. The bench comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose directed Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to present a note incorporating the court's suggestions, other deliberations and also ICAI's stand on them. The bench said it will pass orders on the petitions connected with the CA exams after perusing the note and adjourned the matter for Wednesday. The bench in principle agreed that CA exams can be held from July 5, and asked ICAI to consider its suggestions for granting chance to candidates to opt f...

  Priced at over Rs 1.1 lakh each, a special feature of these programmes will be flexibility afforded to the participants by a judicious mix of synchronous and asynchronous content After Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, leading online learning platform Coursera has now collaborated with IIM Kozhikode to launch four certificate programmes in the high-demand fields of business, strategy, marketing, and product management. Designed as 6-8 month graduate-level offering, each programme will comprise interactive learning, including synchronous and asynchronous sessions with IIM-K faculty and advanced learning tools backed by technology and programme support from Coursera. Announcing the tie-up,  IIM Kozhikode  director Debashis Chatterjee said that the collaboration with Coursera seamlessly dovetails with the premier business school (B-school)’s ideals of keeping itself relevant by constantly innovating and reinventing its content and delivery. “Coursera, with its robus...

  Multiple users complained about an outage affecting Alphabet Inc’s search engine Google as well as its streaming and email services, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector (Reuters) – Multiple users complained about an outage affecting Alphabet Inc’s search engine Google as well as its streaming and email services, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector. Platforms including Google,  YouTube  and Gmail were down Monday evening, with users complaining of difficulty in logging in and accessing the website in parts of North America, according to Downdetector. More than a thousand users were having difficulties with the search engine at one point, the outage monitoring website showed, and users were also facing issues with YouTube TV and  Google Drive . The issue affecting the platforms was not immediately clear. Google did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment after business hours. Downdetector tracks outages by collating s...

  FB says its interim report will be out on July 2; Twitter remains tightlipped Technology giants  Facebook  and  Google  will soon publish reports, as mandated by the new Information Technology Rules, providing information about the actions they took on user complaints in India. While Facebook said on Tuesday it will publish an interim report on July 2 as mandated by the IT rules, Google will publish its transparency report as required under the new IT Rules in India. “In accordance with the IT Rules, we’ll publish an interim report for the period May 15-June 15 on July 2. This report will contain details of the content that we have removed proactively using our automated tools. The final report will be published on July 15 containing details of user complaints received and action taken. The report on July 15 will also contain data related to  WhatsApp,  which is currently being validated,” said a Facebook spokesperson. Twitter did not immediately res...

  A total of 360 Indians, who were stranded in Pakistan due to Covid-19 induced restrictions, returned via the Attari-Wagah border, officials said on Monday A total of 360 Indians, who were stranded in Pakistan due to COVID-19 induced restrictions, returned via the Attari-Wagah border, officials said on Monday. While speaking to ANI, Protocol Officer (Police) Arunpal Singh said, “360 Indians and 50 No Obligation to Return to India (NORI) visa holders, who were stranded in Pakistan due to COVID restrictions, returned via Attari-Wagah border yesterday.” Liyaqat Ali, a resident of Baramulla, at the  Attari-Wagah border  near Amritsar told ANI, “I went to Pakistan in December last year to meet my maternal uncle and got stuck due to COVID-induced restrictions…. I am happy to be back home after 6 months.” People were seen carrying huge suitcases and bags and arranging them inside the vehicle. Last year, on December 29, 2020, a total of 137 people who had arrived in India before...

  Google took down two Google Maps documents on Monday that had listed the names and addresses of hundreds of Thai activists who were accused by royalists of opposing the monarchy SINGAPORE/BANGKOK (Reuters) – Google took down two Google Maps documents on Monday that had listed the names and addresses of hundreds of Thai activists who were accused by royalists of opposing the monarchy, the technology company said. Thai royalist activist Songklod “Pukem” Chuenchoopol told Reuters he and a team of 80 volunteers had created the maps and planned to report everyone named on them to police on accusations of insulting the monarchy. A spokesperson for Alphabet’s Google said by email “the issue is now fixed”, and noted: “We have clear policies about what’s acceptable for user generated My Maps content. We remove user generated maps that violate our policies.” A version of one of the maps seen by Reuters included the names and addresses of nearly 500 people, many of them students, together w...

  Includes credit guarantee schemes, steps to revive tourism, strengthen health infra Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced the much-awaited fiscal package to revive the economy ravaged by the second pandemic wave, keeping the fiscal outgo limited for the current year. The Rs 6.28-trillion package included a new credit guarantee scheme for health, tourism and micro borrowers, besides expanding the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by half to Rs 4.5 trillion and extending the  Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana . “Measures announced by the FM will enhance public health facilities, especially in under-served areas, boost private investment in medical infrastructure and augment critical human resources. Special focus is on strengthening healthcare facilities for our children,” Prime Minister  Narendra Modi  tweeted. The new announcements include extending credit guarantees of Rs 2.6 trillion and schemes worth Rs 2.4 trillion, spread o...

  This study, published on the Lancet pre-print server, means all possible vaccination schedules involving the Oxford-AstraZeneca and  Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines  could potentially be used against Covid-19 Amid the global shortage of the Covid-19 vaccines, a study conducted by Oxford University has found out that alternating doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines generate robust immune responses against the coronavirus. According to the study, ‘mixed’ schedules of these vaccines induced high concentrations of antibodies against the SARS-CoV2 spike IgG protein when doses were administered four weeks apart. This study, published on the Lancet pre-print server, means all possible vaccination schedules involving the  Oxford-AstraZeneca  and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines could potentially be used against Covid-19. “The Com-COV study has evaluated ‘mix and match’ combinations of the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines to see to what extent these vaccines can be used in...

  An all-party meeting has unanimously decided to send Rs 10 lakh financial assistance directly to the bank accounts of Dalit beneficiaries to make them financially self-sufficient An all-party meeting has unanimously decided to send Rs 10 lakh financial assistance directly to the bank accounts of Dalit beneficiaries under the Chief Minister Dalit Empowerment Programme to the eligible beneficiaries to make them financially self-sufficient and enable independent decision making. According to the Telangana Chief Minister’s office, in the first phase, the assistance would be given to 100 families selected from each of the 119 Assembly Constituencies. For this, the all-party meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao decided to earmark Rs 1,200 crore for the Chief Minister Empowerment Programme and to give financial assistance directly to the bank accounts of the selected dalit beneficiaries to their bank accounts as was done in the case of Rythu Bandhu Schem...

  South Africa is imposing new restrictions to curb the third wave of the  coronavirus disease , as well as the spread of the Delta variant, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa is imposing new restrictions to curb the third wave of the coronavirus disease, as well as the spread of the  Delta plus variant , President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. According to the country’s leader, the new variant has been detected in five provinces and is displacing the Beta variant as the dominant one. “Based on scientific advice we received from the Ministerial Advisory Committee and further consultation with our provinces and metros and traditional leaders, and on the recommendation of the National Coronavirus Command Council, Cabinet has decided that the country should move to Adjusted Alert Level 4. Cabinet decided that to ensure that our response is appropriate and proportionate to the current situation, the additional restrictions we are announcing this evening will be in ...

  Accused Debanjan Deb, who allegedly organised fake Covid-19 vaccination camps impersonating an IAS officer, has confessed to having organised two such camps in the city, said Kolkata police Accused Debanjan Deb, who allegedly organised fake COVID-19 vaccination camps impersonating an IAS officer, has confessed to having organised two such camps in the city, said Kolkata police on Sunday. Police said the accused confessed to organising fake vaccination camps at — City College and Kasba”He claims that he wrote a mail to Serum Institute of India for sending  Covishield . This is being verified. He has also confessed to organising two camps. One at City College and one in his office at Kasba. No other camp for vaccination was organised elsewhere,” police said. They informed that accused Deb’s staff and ex-staff are being examined by police. “Ten such persons have been summoned for examination or are being examined. Apart from this, we are examining more people called for cross-e...

  Militants shot dead a special police officer, his wife and daughter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said on Monday. Militants shot dead a special police officer, his wife and daughter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said on Monday. The ultras barged into the house of SPO Fayaz Ahmad at Hariparigam in Awantipora area at around 11 pm on Sunday and opened fire on the family, the officials said. The injured were rushed to a hospital where the SPO succumbed. His wife Raja Begum and daughter Rafia also died later on. Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the assailants but no arrests have been made so far, the officials said on Monday. Militants have intensified attacks on cops and security forces. While an inspector and a constable were killed in Nowgam and Eidgah areas of Srinagar last week, a civilian died in a grenade attack on security forces at Barbarshah in the heart of the city.

  Pakistan has deliberately left loopholes in small savings accounts to help financing terrorist groups, many of whom enjoy the patronage of the state Pakistan has deliberately left loopholes in small savings accounts to help financing terrorist groups, many of whom enjoy the patronage of the state to dodge the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) scrutiny. The FATF has been asking Pakistan to comply with international standards and rules of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws and regulations. Fabien Baussart, writing in a blog post of The Times of Israel said that although Pakistan has complied with some of the conditions set by FATF, with great reluctance, there is one area which has not paid due care to plug the terrorist financing – small savings accounts. Small savings in Pakistan generate over Rs 4 trillion in over seven million accounts held by individuals, equal to 28 per cent of all bank deposits. The possibility of terrorist groups and individuals holdin...

  A former Chicago businessman will remain in the United States as a federal judge in Los Angeles weighs whether he will be extradited to India for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack A former Chicago businessman will remain in the United States as a federal judge in Los Angeles weighs whether he will be extradited to India for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that killed more than 160 people.  Tahawwur Rana  (tuh-HOW’-ur RAH’-nah), a Pakistani-born Canadian, is wanted by Indian authorities for his alleged involvement in the deadly attacks that are sometimes referred to as India’s 9/11. An Indian warrant for his arrest was issued in August 2018. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian on Thursday ordered the defense attorneys and prosecutors to file additional documents by July 15. Rana will remain in federal custody. Indian authorities allege that Rana conspired with his childhood friend David Coleman Headley to assist the Pakistani terror gr...

  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked the government why “large-scale testing is not being done” to check and prevent the spread of the Delta plus variant of coronavirus Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked the government why “large-scale testing is not being done” to check and prevent the spread of the Delta plus variant of coronavirus and how effective are the vaccines against it. Many experts feel that the Delta plus variant, which has been declared as a ‘variant of concern’ by the Union health ministry, may trigger a third wave of COVID-19 infections in the country. “Questions to the Modi government on  Delta plus variant : Why is testing not being done on a large scale to check and prevent it? How effective are the vaccines against it and when will complete information be available? What is the plan to control it in the third wave of the virus,” he posed in a tweet in Hindi. India was hit severely by a brutal second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in April ...

  Women took on 173 additional hours of unpaid child care last year, compared to 59 additional hours for men, study says. Child care demands at home skyrocketed during the pandemic, but men and women did not split the burden equally. Globally, women took on 173 additional hours of unpaid child care last year, compared to 59 additional hours for men, a study released Friday by the Center for Global Development, a poverty non-profit, found. The gap widened in low- and middle-income countries, where women cared for children for more than three times as many hours as men did. Women have felt many of the pandemic’s worst economic effects, including an estimated $800 billion in lost income, in large part due to increased demands on their time at home. The Covid-19 recession unraveled gains in pay equality, female labor force participation and unemployment, particularly among Black and Latina women in the U.S. Global job loss rates among women were roughly 1.8 times larger than those amon...

  The Delta variant, the significantly more transmissible strain of Covid-19, is expected to become a dominant lineage if current trends continue, the WHO has warned The  Delta variant,  the significantly more transmissible strain of COVID-19, is expected to become a dominant lineage if current trends continue, the WHO has warned after it was reported in 85 countries and continues to be detected in more places around the world. The COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update released on June 22 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that globally, the variant Alpha has been reported in 170 countries, territories or areas, Beta in 119 countries, Gamma in 71 countries and Delta in 85 countries. Delta, now reported in 85 countries globally, continues to be reported in new countries across all WHO Regions, 11 of which were newly reported in the past two weeks, the update said. WHO said the four current ‘Variants of Concern’ being monitored closely  Alpha ,  Beta ,...

Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,774.96 per ounce, as of 0251 GMT. US gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,776.10. (Reuters) – Gold was subdued on Thursday, as a stronger dollar made bullion more expensive for holders of other currencies, while investors digested mixed signals from Federal Reserve officials on rate hike and awaited more U.S. data to gauge inflationary pressures. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,774.96 per ounce, as of 0251 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,776.10. The dollar index held firm below an 11-week high against its rivals. [USD/] “With a lack of clear direction and contradictory themes coming from Fed officials and the news headlines, expect  gold rate  to continue its choppy range-bound trading,” Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA said. “The market remains nervous about earlier lift-off entrenched inflation type headlines and so gold will remain a sell on rallies into the end of the week.” Two Fed officials on Wednesday said that a period of hig...

  A single dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine offers around 60 per cent protection against infection A single dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine offers around 60 per cent protection against infection from SARS-CoV-2 in adults aged 65 years and above, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. To obtain real-world data on the effectiveness of these vaccines in care homes, the researchers from the University College London (UCL) in the UK used data from the VIVALDI study. That research investigated SARS-CoV-2 transmission, infection outcomes, and immunity in residents and staff in long-term care facilities in England for adults aged 65 years and older since June 2020. This analysis included long-term care facility residents undergoing routine asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 testing between December 8, 2020 — the date the first vaccine was administered in the study cohort — and March 15, 2021 using national testing data linked within the COVID-19...

  ‘Al-Rumayyan joining our Board is also the beginning of internationalisation of Reliance,’ says RIL Chairman at 44th AGM Reliance Industries chairman  Mukesh Ambani  told shareholders at the company’s 44th AGM on Thursday that the country is in midst of humanitarian crisis owing to coronavirus pandemic. “Our business and financial success since last AGM have exceeded expectations despite Covid pandemic. But what has given me far greater happiness than our business performance is RIL’s humanitarian efforts during these exceedingly difficult times,” said Mukesh Ambani. Even in a challenging environment, RIL’s performance continued to be outstanding. Consolidated revenue was Rs 5.4 trillion, consolidated EBITDA was Rs 98,000 cr, and almost 50% of EBITDA was contributed by consumer businesseses, added Ambani. RIL’s contribution to Indian economy remained unmatched in FY21 – 6.8% of India’s merchandise exports, 75,000 new jobs, Rs 21,044 crore of customs plus excise, Rs 85,3...

  Special Envoy of the   UN Secretary-Gene ral on Myanmar has warned that the regional threat of the crisis is real About 10,000 refugees have fled from Myanmar to India and Thailand as nationwide clashes in the country led to “acute” new displacements of hundreds of thousands of civilians, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Myanmar has said, warning that the regional threat of the crisis is real. In my daily contacts with stakeholders in Myanmar, I hear first-hand accounts about the dire situation. People suffer from deprivation, have no hope and live in fear, Christine Schraner Burgener, Special Envoy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Myanmar, told the UN General Assembly on Friday. In the absence of international action, civilians are forming people’s  defence forces , she said. They use self-made weapons and receive military training from ethnic armed organisations in their resistance grounded on democratic solidarity. Multiple regions of the country ...