The UK's medicines regulator on Friday approved the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12 to 15 year olds.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato declined to give details but said Japan would make every effort to protect the Games from possible hacking attempts.
The plan is to establish a consultative panel and appoint mediators to address various domestic issues, both at the central government and state levels.
The country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund also increased by $ 3.6 million to $ 3.344 billion.
There was speculation that a one-time special Covid-19 cess would be imposed and that it would raise an estimated Rs 18,000 crore.
Initial data has shown immunity triggered by the two mRNA vaccines -- Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna -- lasts for at least six months
India conceding ground to bring only top 100 digital companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix into the global taxation pact may have revenue implications. This will mean that New Delhi will have to withdraw the contentious 2 per cent equalisation levy on e-commerce operators by 2023. This may have revenue implications for India, experts pointed out, as the equalisation levy has a much lower annual revenue threshold of Rs 2 crore (euro 0.2 million) as against euro 20 billion agreed by 130 countries at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). India, along with other developing countries, was pitching for at least euro 1 billion threshold to cover at least 5,000 global entities. India collected Rs 2,057 crore from the equalisation levy in 2020-21, an 85 per cent growth over Rs 1,136 crore in the previous fiscal.
Google LLC has contended that the information technology rules for digital media are not applicable to its search engine, and urged the Delhi high court on Wednesday to set aside a single judge order which applied the rules on the company while dealing with an issue related to removal of offending content from the internet.
Head of WHO's emergency programme, Dr. Mike Ryan said the decision regarding future of the Tokyo Games will be made 'very soon'.
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WhatsApp on Wednesday said it expects to facilitate the purchase of "affordable sachet-sized" health insurance through its platform by the end of the year as part of its efforts to provide users in India with greater access to financial solutions. The Facebook-owned company noted that its 'Payments' feature is now available to users across the country (currently up to 20 million users) with support from banking partners - State Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank.
The volunteers are asked to keep an eye on posts which are against the sovereignty and integrity of India, against the defence of India, against the security of the state, against friendly relations with foreign states, content aimed at disturbing public order, disturbing communal harmony and child sex abuse material.
The value of the gold reserves increased $78.2 million to $22.764 billion
Amid increasing popularity of virtual currencies in various parts of the world, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said it is open to exploring the possibility of a digital version of fiat currency. Host of private digital currencies, virtual currencies and cryptocurrencies have gained popularity in recent years, though Indian authorities continue to remain sceptical about them. "In India, the regulators and governments have been sceptical about these currencies and are apprehensive about the associated risks. "Nevertheless, the RBI is exploring the possibility as to whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat currency and in case there is, then how to operationalise it," the RBI said in its booklet on 'Payment Systems in India -- Journey in the Second Decade of the Millennium'.
The partnership will also see the two parties cooperate on technology initiatives, including development of affordable smartphones.
The most prominent changes deal with how WhatsApp shares information with Facebook and its subsidiaries.
The Tokyo Olympics should be called off to spare athletes the "stress" of trying to train in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, UK Athletics chairman Nic Coward said on Friday.
After a report mentioned that Facebook overlooked its hate speech policies in cases of BJP MLA T Raja Singh and 3 others, Shashi Tharoor, chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, said the committee 'would certainly wish to hear from Facebook'.
Reacting to India's ban on the Chinese apps at a foreign ministry briefing, spokesman Zhao Lijian said, "The Indian government has the responsibility to uphold the legitimate and legal rights of the international investors including the Chinese ones."
The new PN3 norms and lack of clarity on what constitutes beneficial ownership are the primary reasons for the decline in investments from China and Hong Kong.
Political controversies aside, Twitter's business in India is expanding, and creating opportunities for Indians, reports Neha Alawadhi.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed banks and financial institutions to provide services related to cryptocurrencies by setting aside the RBI's 2018 circular which had prohibited them. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice R F Nariman, said the Reserve Bank of India circular is liable to be set aside on the ground of "proportionality". "Accordingly, the writ petitions are allowed and the circular dated April 6, 2018 is set aside," said the bench, also comprising justices Aniruddha Bose and V Ramasubramanian.
WhatsApp will not delete any account for not accepting its new privacy update, but users not agreeing to the controversial terms after "several weeks" will not be able to access their chat list, and eventually, will not be able to answer incoming phone or video calls over the app.
French security researcher Robert Baptiste posted a screenshot suggesting the micro-blogging platform that offers a Twitter-like experience in Indian languages had Chinese connections.
The main sectors that receive the maximum foreign inflows include services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, trading, construction, automobile, and power.
From its March 2020 low, Bitcoin has gained a massive 474 per cent and has surged 214 per cent year-to-date.
The high court pointed out that only an interim RGO was appointed by Twitter and a wrong impression was given to the court on May 31 as it was not informed that the appointment was on interim basis.
The IT ministry has now written to all these companies, warning that continued availability and operation of these banned apps, directly or indirectly, is not only illegal but also an offence under the Information Technology Act and other applicable Acts, which would attract penal provisions.
The company is planning to bring IT operations into India which will include application development and desktop managed services.
A WhatsApp spokesperson said the update 'does not impact the privacy of personal messages for anyone'.
The silver lining is that after two years, e-commerce has emerged as the top sector with $689 million in investments across 15 deals, accounting for 43 per cent of all investments in January 2021.
The I-T department issued a circular allowing manual filing of Form 15CA/15CB (required for foreign remittances) with banks till June 30, so that business transactions may go on. The forms will be uploaded online on the e-filing portal later, it added.
There are no regulations governing virtual currencies in India and the RBI has not given any licence to any entity/company to operate such currencies.
In an interview to PTI, WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said the Facebook-owned company remains committed to privacy and security of users across India and will continue to explain to users that their messages are end-to-end encrypted.
WhatsApp on Tuesday said its latest policy update does not affect the privacy of messages as the Facebook-owned company sought to address concerns around security of user data on the platform.
"Virtual currencies, also variously referred to as crypto currencies and crypto assets, raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering, among others," RBI said.
The government has objected to Twitter using 'manipulated media' tag for tweets on an alleged Congress toolkit used to target the Centre over its COVID-19 handling, sources said.
At $37 per dose, the Pfizer vaccine is much more expensive compared to $3 per dose for the Covishield.
Some critics contend that Japan's rush to secure supplies is driven largely by a political desire to show the world it is fully committed to hosting the Games.
The institute expects to complete both, phase-2 and 3 trials in India by the end of this year.
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