The study finds out that people who received their second dose of the vaccine had a 92% lower chance of getting any form of infection at all compared to those who were unvaccinated The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has proven 94% effective in a study involving 1.2 million people in Israel, the first peer-reviewed real world research confirming the power of mass immunization campaigns to bring the pandemic to a close.The paper, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, also demonstrated there is likely a strong protective benefit against infection, a crucial element in breaking onward…
Author: Mike Harrison
Haryana’s Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala was unanimously re-elected as the president of the Table Tennis Association of India (TTFI) for another four-year term at Panchkula on Wednesday.For the post of secretary, M.P. Singh made way for Arun Banerjee while Gurpreet Singh became the treasurer, a post vacated by Banerjee.For all 22 posts, the decision was unanimous.Mr. Dhanraj Choudhary was named the chief executive officer (CEO), M. P. Singh takes over from Choudhary as advisor, and V.K. Bawa will be the chief financial officer.The following committees and their chairmen were also finalised: Technical Committee: N. Ganeshan; Athletes Commission: Manjit Dua;…
Facebook is willing to support news media while reiterating its concerns over mandated payments, says Nick Clegg Facebook on Wednesday pledged to invest at least $1 billion to support journalism over the next three years as the social media giant defended its handling of a dispute with Australia over payments to media organizations.Nick Clegg, head of global affairs, said in a statement that the company stands ready to support news media while reiterating its concerns over mandated payments.”Facebook is more than willing to partner with news publishers,” Mr. Clegg said after Facebook restored news links as part of a compromise…
Facebook official Ajit Mohan urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday to recognise right to silence as a virtue in these “noisy times”.Appearing before a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, senior advocate Harish Salve said the right to silence was as important as the right to free speech.The court heard and reserved its orders on a petition filed by Mr. Mohan against the summons issued to him by a Delhi Legislative Assembly Committee. Mr. Mohan had challenged the summons and the threat of breach of privilege posed by the committee in case he failed to come and testify about…
Luka Doncic drained a 3-pointer to snap a tie with one-tenth of a second remaining in the fourth quarter, lifting the host Dallas Mavericks to a 110-107 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.After making a 3-pointer to stake Dallas to a 107-105 lead with 15.8 seconds left, Doncic provided the fireworks following Jaylen Brown’s tying layup. Doncic calmly sank a high-arcing attempt for the eventual winning shot.Doncic collected 31 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Mavericks, who posted their sixth win in seven outings.Stephen Curry ended a scoring drought by sinking a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:38 to…
“It’s home and patron to largest number of internationally proscribed terrorist entities” India on Wednesday hit out at Pakistan at the High Level Segment of the 46th Session of the Human Rights Council and said the recent release of Al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is a “clear example” of the connection between the Pakistani state and terrorists. Responding to the comments of Pakistan and Turkey on Kashmir and other issues, the Indian diplomatic team said the government of India is “fully cognizant” of its human rights obligations. “Pakistan has been the home and patron to the largest number of…
Defending Rahul’s speech, party accuses Centre of indulging in diversionary tactics. Defending former Congress president Rahul Gandhi who was caught on the wrong foot for his speech in Thiruvananthapuram where he lauded the voters in Kerala for being more interested in issue-based politics in comparison with the north, the Congress on Wednesday said the north-south divide was a ‘toolkit’ being adopted and sold by the BJP to the news channels and to the public.Party general secretary Randeep Surjewala told reporters that Mr. Gandhi had given a “clarion call to people of India to question the governments of the day” but…
It seeks to replace the ordinance promulgated in November last year that provides for imprisonment up to 10 years and a maximum fine of ₹50,000 for violators. Amid protests by the Opposition, the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed by voice vote a Bill aimed at curbing religious conversions by fraudulent or any other undue means, including through marriage.The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2021 seeks to replace the ordinance promulgated in November last year that provides for imprisonment up to 10 years and a maximum fine of ₹50,000 for violators.The Bill was passed in…
A five-member Constitutional Bench on Feb. 23 annulled the Oli government’s “unconstitutional” decision to dissolve the 275-member Lower House of Parliament Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli will not resign immediately and implement the Supreme Court’s verdict against him by facing Parliament that is due to convene within two weeks, an official representing the embattled Premier said on Feb. 24.Also read: Setback to PM Oli as Nepal SC reinstates House of RepresentativesIn a landmark ruling, a five-member Constitutional Bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher on Feb. 23 annulled the Oli government’s “unconstitutional” decision to dissolve the 275-member Lower House…
The West African nation of 30 million has recorded 81,245 cases and 584 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to figures from Ghana’s Health Services on Tuesday. Ghana has become the first country in the world to receive vaccines acquired through the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative with a delivery on Wednesday of 6,00,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India.The vaccines, delivered by UNICEF, arrived at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport early Wednesday and are part of the first wave of COVID-19 vaccines that COVAX is sending to several low- and middle-income countries. Ghana…