Author: Mike Harrison

Opposition parties flayed President Ram Nath Kovind’s address on Friday, calling it a laundry list of the government. The President in his speech said that the three farm laws were passed after extensive deliberations. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury called it a gross misrepresentation. “Such gross misrepresentation vindicates the decision to boycott this address,” Mr. Yechury tweeted. The Left MPs boycotting the President’s address had staged a protest march in front of Parliament on Friday morning. Mr. Yechury said that the farm bills were passed in a din, not allowing any discussion, negating voting and suspending MPs who demanded a…

England asst. coach says the Indians have a potent pace attack too Whenever a non-subcontinent team travels to India, the focus is on how the travelling batsmen handle the spinners.But in the last two home series, against South Africa and Bangladesh, Indian pacers have accounted for more wickets than spinners.It is something England assistant coach Graham Thorpe is aware of and he warned against focusing too much on spin considering India’s potent pace attack.“One thing about the Indian bowling attack is that it is not just about spin,” Thorpe said on Friday during a virtual media interaction. “Their seam attack…

Experts from the World Health Organization visited a Wuhan hospital on Friday as the fieldwork began in a closely watched coronavirus origins probe that will take in a food market presumed to be “ground zero” of the pandemic.The WHO investigation has been hobbled by delays, and there are fears over access and the strength of evidence a year after the virus emerged in the central Chinese city.The team met Chinese officials on Friday and then left their Wuhan hotel in a fleet of cars, trailed by a media pack reflecting the intense global scrutiny on a visit whose aim is…

Earlier, U.S. blamed the militants for not reducing violence The Taliban on Friday rejected Washington’s accusations that it had not lived up to its promises in Afghanistan, in turn claiming the U.S. was ‘bombarding civilians’.The U.S. signed a landmark deal with the insurgents last year, agreeing to withdraw its troops from the country in return for security guarantees after a stalemate on the battlefield. “The other side have violated the agreement, almost every day they are violating it,” Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesman said.“They are bombarding civilians, houses and villages, and we have informed them from time to time, these…

Drive starts a day after arrival of a consignment of 5 lakh doses gifted by India Sri Lanka on Friday commenced its COVID-19 vaccination drive, a day after receiving a consignment of 500,000 doses of Covishield vaccines gifted by India. Three Army personnel and a senior doctor received the first jabs, marking the launch of the roll-out at six main hospitals in Sri Lanka’s Western Province. A total of 150,000 health workers and 120,000 members of the tri-forces, police and security forces, tasked with combating the coronavirus pandemic in the country, will be covered in the first round, the government…

U.S. biotech firm Novavax said on Thursday its two-shot COVID-19 vaccine showed an overall efficacy of 89.3% in a major Phase 3 clinical trial in Britain, and remained highly effective against a variant first identified there. But it offered significantly less protection against a highly transmissible variant of from South Africa.Novavax said it began working on new vaccines against emerging strains in early January and expects to select ideal candidates in the coming days, then begin clinical testing in the second quarter of the year.“NVX-CoV2373 has the potential to play an important role in solving this global public health crisis,”…

The Bill empowers the government to appoint a competent authority in cases pertaining to any financial establishment which is spread over in more than one district. With increased fraudulent transactions by financial firms, the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments (Amendment), Bill, 2020, was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Friday to authorise the State government to investigate complaints in fraudulent transactions.The Bill empowers the government to appoint a competent authority in cases pertaining to any financial establishment which is spread over in more than one district.It also enable the secretary of the Revenue Department to extend…

China says it will no longer recognise the British National Overseas passport as a valid travel document or form of identification amid a bitter feud with London over a plan to allow millions of Hong Kong residents a route to residency and eventual citizenship.The announcement by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Friday throws up new uncertainty around the plan just hours after the UK said it would begin taking applications for what are called BNO visas beginning late Sunday.Under the plan, as many as 5.4 million Hong Kong residents could be eligible to live and work in the UK…

The group claiming to be locals residents have been wanting the farmers to clear the area that has been occupied for over two months. Clashes broke out between a group of local residents and farmers at the Singhu border on Friday. Delhi Police had to fire tear gas and lathi charge to bring the situation under control. A group of locals started pelting stones after entering the protest site where farmers have been demanding a repeal of the three farm laws passed by the Central government. The group claiming to be locals residents have been wanting the farmers to clear…

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the Economic Survey that details the state of the economy ahead of the government’s Budget for fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021.The Economic Survey 2020-21, authored by a team led by Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, details the state of different sectors of the economy as well as reforms that should be undertaken to accelerate growth.Here are the updates: Highlights of the SurveyV-shaped economic recovery due to mega vaccination drive, robust recovery in the services sector and robust growth in consumption and investmentV-shaped recovery is due to resurgence in high frequency indicators such…