Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Varun Gandhi has turned down the Oxford Union's invite to speak at a debate on whether India is on the right path under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he sees no merit or integrity in voicing domestic challenges at an international forum and that such a step will be a "dishonourable act".
The Wold Health Organisation has granted approval on June 1 to China's second COVID-19 vaccine, Sinovac, which was expected to strengthen China's vaccine diplomacy.
The most immediate challenge for growth is the disruption of the global economy brought about by the Ukraine war and related sanctions, the Covid shutdowns in China and the rising tide of inflation, points out Nitin Desai.
'Delta continues to be the dominant lineage for new cases across all parts of India in recent samples and remains the most rapidly rising lineage globally that is responsible for multiple outbreaks, including across Southeast Asia, which shows the fastest growth in new cases globally,' the INSACOG said.
'A policy that covers a wider range of diseases will offer greater peace of mind.'
Air pollution is the third highest cause of death among all health risks in India, ranking just above smoking.
'This means that there is a higher likelihood of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 to be reinfected with the Omicron variant'
Sindhu has agreed to compete in next month's Thomas and Uber Cup after deciding to pull out of the event earlier due to personal reasons
'A large number of people are suddenly waking up to the fear of losing jobs,' says Shyamal Majumdar.
The owners of IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sun TV, on Monday donated Rs 30 crore towards COVID-19 relief work being undertaken by the state and central governments along with various NGOs.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint session of the United States Congress, delivered on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on the sidelines of the climate summit here and discussed ways to further sustainable development, steps to mitigate climate change and vaccine research. The meeting between Modi and the American business magnate, whose foundation is focusing on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, took place after the former launched the Initiative for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) for developing infrastructure of small island nations. Prime Minister Modi expressed appreciation for the work being done by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
Flipkart has promoted several of its leaders into newer roles at a time when the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant has internally raised its IPO (initial public offering) valuation target to about $60 billion and aims for a US listing in 2023, according to the sources. "I am delighted to announce the promotion of some of our exemplary leaders," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group, in an internal note, and which has been reviewed by Business Standard. "Each of them has been instrumental in delivering impact and creating long-term value for Flipkart.
Summary of all that made news on Monday
Laxman Narasimhan, a veteran in leading and advising global consumer-facing brands, has been named as the new CEO of coffee giant Starbucks, joining a growing cohort of Indian-origin business leaders at the helm of global corporations.
Experts say companies wanting to launch IPOs will have to scale back their expectations given the fall in valuations.
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Some analysts believe that markets are expected to remain unclear and would have to wait until tomorrow's US non-farm payrolls data.
The leaders of the Quad comprising India, the United States, Australia and Japan are set to demonstrate that the grouping is a 'force for global good' and has a unifying commitment to a rules-based international order amid China's increasingly intimidatory behaviour.
Less than three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the idea, the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday adopted an India-led resolution declaring June 21 as 'International Day of Yoga', recognising that 'Yoga provides a holistic approach to health and well-being'.
It underlined that anyone can catch the virus if they have had prolonged or repeated contact with an infected individual.
The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India and was divided in three lineages -- B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3.
The PM directed officials to evaluate various technology tools to ensure efficient and timely vaccination in due course of time. He also emphasised that detailed planning for such large scale vaccination should be undertaken immediately.
The states were advised to conduct surveillance and report district-wise severe acute respiratory illness and influenza-like illness cases on a daily basis and also to send these for genome sequencing to the mapped INSACOG laboratories.
This is the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country and a commitment by the American people to help protect people around the world from COVID-19, the White House said ahead of the announcement by Biden at the G-7 Summit in the UK.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, also show that, in countries that have not yet reached the peak of active cases, lockdowns must remain in place for at least 60 days and deconfinement must be gradual in order to decrease the risk of second waves.
We cannot predict tomorrow, Health Minister Mandaviya said.
Asserting that it is for the first time that BRICS has taken a collective position on strengthening and reforming multilateral systems, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "We have to ensure that BRICS is more productive in the next 15 years".
It is our only chance of avoiding a repeat of our catastrophic second wave, asserts Naushad Forbes.
Experts said the strain has not propelled a surge in cases like Omicron, but advised strict adherence to COVID-19-appropriate behaviour.
Giants like Pepsi and Coke are fast losing shelf-space to healthier, functional options.
Hindu and Sikh leaders will share stage with Pope Francis during a prayer service in New York
Reliance Jio, together with partners, has tested its 5G solutions in India, successfully demonstrating speeds of over 1 GBPS, and its 'Made in India' solution is "globally competitive", RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Thursday. Ambani also exuded confidence that the company will be the first to launch full-fledged 5G services in the country. Jio is not just working to make India '2G-mukt' (free from 2G) but also '5G-yukt' (5G empowered), he added. Jio's engineers have developed a 100 per cent home-grown and comprehensive 5G solution that is fully cloud native, software defined, and digitally managed.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which monitors data related to the pandemic, said the sub-lineage known as BA.2 shows a low number of cases in the country, with the original Omicron lineage BA.1 still dominant.
Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday donated Rs one crore to procure oxygen concentrators for COVID-19 patients in the country as it battles a severe second wave of the global pandemic.
During a video conference, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates and Prime Minister Modi agreed that given India's willingness and capacity to contribute to global efforts, it was important for New Delhi to be included in the global discussions for coordinating responses to the pandemic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to make this decade a "techade" for India and the push for 5G, semiconductors and transformation through digital services is going to boost the technology sector in the country, industry players said on Monday. Modi, in his speech on the 76th Independence Day, touched upon all-round development of technology in the country, from 5G to push for electronic chips, laying of optical fibre cable (OFC) network across villages and enablement of digital entrepreneurship in villages through Common Services Centres, making the present decade as "techade" for India. Homegrown mobile devices maker Lava International's Chairman and Managing Director Hari Om Rai said electronics and technology sectors create about $4 trillion of revenue.
Don't be surprised if growth in the second half of the financial year drops below 4%, which is where it was in the year before the pandemic, warns T N Ninan.
India's national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand wants Badminton World Federation (BWF) to come up with "radical" solutions to restart the sport smoothly in a post coronavirus world, suggesting that conducting more tournaments at a single venue could be the way forward. The coronavirus outbreak, which has so far infected over 41 lakh people and caused close to 3 lakh deaths worldwide, forced BWF to suspend all events, including the Olympic qualifiers, till end of July.
In the video, the police officers were seen dancing to the tunes of Kalakkatha from the Malayalam action-drama thriller Ayyappanum Koshiyum while demonstrating the right technique for washing hands.
Since jobs will remain scarce for the foreseeable future, an unemployment allowance should be the next big social-security initiative, suggests T N Ninan.
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