New Delhi: On the back of Russia announcing independence of two separatist regions in Ukraine, Western countries have issued crushing sanctions against the nation. Germany made the first big move, taking steps to halt certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia a massive, lucrative deal long sought by Moscow but criticised by the US for increasing Europe’s reliance on Russian energy supplies. In Washington, US President Joe Biden announced financial sanctions as punishment for what he called the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden ordered heavy US financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs on…
Author: Karthikeyan Halan
New Delhi: An average of 22.62 per cent voting was recorded today in the first four hours of polling in 59 Assembly constituencies spread over nine districts of Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission said. The districts where the polling is being held are Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda, and Fatehpur. This is the fourth of the seven phases of the Assembly polls in the State. As many as 624 candidates are in the fray in this round of voting. Surrounded by scores of policemen and paramilitary personnel, Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni voted at a…
Jerusalem: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye has warned Israel against maintaining its policies in East Jerusalem and held it responsible for any possible future conflict between the two sides. “The Palestinian citizens in East Jerusalem are subjected to the most horrific policies and practices of persecution, racism, and ethnic cleansing to displace them from their homes and replace them with settlers,” Ishtaye said in a statement. He added that the Palestinians, either in East Jerusalem or the West Bank and everywhere, will not succumb to these policies and will resist them with all strength and determination, Xinhua news agency reported.…
Dublin: Ireland will remove the rules of mandatory mask wearing in indoor public facilities and on public transport starting from 28 February, said the Irish government on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the specific protective measures currently in place in primary and secondary schools as well as in early learning and school-aged childcare facilities will also be removed, said the government in a statement. The specific measures aimed at protecting local primary, secondary and pre-school children include pods, social distancing and staggering breaks, it added. Pods refer to the practice that students must be grouped in a limited number while participating in an…
Moscow: With Western fears of war rising, the White House said U.S President Joe Biden’s national security team told him they still believed Russia could launch an attack in Ukraine “at any time” and he planned to convene his top advisers on Sunday to discuss the crisis. Foreign Ministers from the G7 group of rich nations said they had seen no evidence Russia is reducing its military activity in the area and remained gravely concerned about the situation. After Kyiv and Moscow traded accusations over new shelling near the border, France and Germany urged all or some of their citizens…
Mumbai: Vistara plans to significantly ramp up its staff strength to a total of 5,000 by the end of this year as the full-service carrier focuses on increasing capacity utilisation, expanding fleet, and further improving overall services. Currently, the airline has around 4,000 people. After being significantly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, including the third wave that negatively impacted air traffic which was on the recovery path late last year, the airline industry is again seeing an improvement in traffic numbers. Against this backdrop, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan, in a not-so-common move, last week, admitted that the airline did not…
Mumbai: The Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on Tuesday met under the chairpersonship of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Council noted the need for a constant vigil on financial conditions and the functioning of financial institutions in the country. The Council deliberated on the various mandates of the FSDC and major macro-financial challenges arising in view of global and domestic developments, Finance Ministry said in a statement. The Council noted that the Government and all regulators need to maintain a constant vigil on the financial conditions and functioning of important financial institutions, especially considering that it could expose…
Chennai: Hiranandani Group has announced foray into technology-led emerging consumer services with Tez Platforms, which will focus on ‘large opportunities in the arena of social media, entertainment, gaming and e-sports, e-commerce, personal mobility, artificial intelligence and blockchain linked solutions’. Darshan Hiranandani, CEO-Hiranandani Group said, ‘Yotta Infrastructure will continue to be the vehicle for us to invest in areas of cloud computing, interconnectivity, enterprise applications and enterprise cyber security technologies, which are enhanced by our hyperscale and edge datacenter roll-outs. Separately, through Tez Platforms we intend to incubate and work with leading technologies and partners (both domestic and global) in other…
New Delhi: With 15,102 fresh infections, India’s Coronavirus caseload rose to 4,28,67,031 today. According to Union Health Ministry data updated this morning, the country’s Covid-19 death toll climbed to 5,12,622 with 278 fresh fatalities. The active cases declined to 1,64,522. India’s Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 2020, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December.…