Chinese embassy issued warning to two Turkish politicians for flagging the Uyghur crisis. Turkey summoned China’s ambassador after the embassy suggested on Twitter that it could take action against two Turkish politicians who criticised Beijing’s treatment of its Muslim Uyghur community. A Foreign Ministry official said the ambassador was summoned to the ministry on Tuesday, but did not elaborate. The official provided the information on condition of anonymity in line with the ministry’s rules.Earlier on Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy tagged Meral Aksener, the head of the opposition Good Party, and Ankara’s mayor, Mansur Yavas, in two Twitter posts in which…
Author: Mike Harrison
As the agency gears up for a detailed statement in the coming week, it said the benefits of taking the shot outweigh the risks. A top official at the European Medicines Agency says there’s a causal link between AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine and rare blood clots, but that it’s unclear what the connection is and that the benefits of taking the shot still outweigh the risks of getting COVID-19.Marco Cavaleri, head of health threats and vaccine strategy at the Amsterdam-based agency, told Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper on Tuesday that the European Union’s medicines regulator is preparing to make a more definitive…
U.S. President Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday that all adults across America will be eligible for Covid-19 shots within two weeks, while economic powerhouse California set a June 15 target to fully reopen businesses.The positive news from the United States — which has reported the most coronavirus deaths of any country but is now a leader in the vaccine rollout — came amid renewed global economic optimism, with the IMF predicting a stronger rebound.Mr. Biden was due to announce in a White House speech that he is moving up the deadline for all adults to be eligible for vaccines…
Officials in a few polling stations in the city and Tiruvallur district had to undergo an unpleasant experience due to lack of ventilation and toilet facilities. They expressed their displeasure over working under such circumstances. In one of the polling booths in Choolaimedu, a woman polling official said, “I had to stay here last night. The toilet facility here is so poor and I felt so uncomfortable bathing here at 4 a.m. At the time of such a pandemic, nearly 10 persons are sitting very close to each other in a very small space.”Similarly, in a few booths in Villivakkam,…
First-time voters walked into polling booths to exercise their franchise in the Assembly election with enthusiasm in different parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.Many of these voters, between the ages of 18 and 23 years, said they followed the speeches of political leaders on social media forums, went through the election manifestos of different parties and had discussions on WhatsApp groups on the candidates in their zones. Some of them said they would choose the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option as they did not find any candidate up to the mark.Nineteen-year-old Gautam Ravi, a B.Tech student, cast his vote…
While a majority of booths in the State had ramps and access to wheelchairs, persons with disabilities still faced accessibility issues in some booths, when it came to badly constructed ramps, an absence of volunteers to help out with wheelchairs and a non-availability of candidate lists in braille for the visually-impaired. K. Raguraman, a visually-challenged person in Chengalpettu, said when he went to cast his vote, polling officials were unaware of the availability of the list of candidates in braille. “Making the list in braille is a step towards ensuring we are able to vote independently, and its absence means…
Diversified Max Group has sold a 13% stake in Max Life Insurance Company to the country’s third largest private sector lender Axis Bank, which will now be a co-promoter of the insurer. The completion of the deal comes more than a year after Max Financial Services and Axis Bank announced their intent to have a strategic partnership for the former’s insurance venture. Financial details were not disclosed. Max Financial Services — the holding company of Max Life — has offloaded 12.99% stake in the insurer to Axis Bank and its subsidiaries — Axis Capital and Axis Securities Ltd., according to…
The Indian women’s 4x100m relay team will make its World Athletics Relays debut at the Silesian Stadium at Chorzow, Poland, on May 1 and 2.The team includes under-20 World champion Hima Das, World University Games gold medalist Dutee Chand and S. Dhanalakshmi, who came with some impressive times in the recent Grand Prix.The Athletics Federation of India announced a 20-member team (4x100m and 4x400m) for the World Relays on Tuesday and it will be the first international event for the sprinters after the 2019 Asian championships in Doha.Kiran Pahal, who came into prominence with an impressive 52.73s as a 19-year-old…
Myanmar activists daubed roadways with red paint Tuesday to protest against the junta’s bloody crackdown on protests, as an online fundraising drive to support the movement neared the $10 million mark.The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, rocked by daily clashes between protestors and authorities that have left at least 570 people dead.Ten of Myanmar’s ethnic rebel armies voiced support for the protest movement at the weekend, stoking fears that the country could slide into broader civil conflict, while the UN has warned of a looming “bloodbath”. On…
Sri Lanka has decided to buy 6 million more Sputnik V vaccines, raising the total it plans to purchase from Russia to 13 million doses. The government plans to inoculate 14 million people out of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, and so far has approved the vaccines from Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm. Cabinet ministers approved the health minister’s proposal for the purchase, Cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said Tuesday. It comes two weeks after the government said it would buy 7 million Sputnik V doses at a cost of $69.65 million. Sri Lanka has vaccinated 903,000 people with…