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11:19 AM

Results of Delhi, Gujarat unfortunate, time to fulfil promises made to Himachal: Sonia Gandhi

"Results of Delhi civic polls, Gujarat assembly elections unfortunate, time to fulfil promises made to people of Himachal Pradesh," says Congress leader Sonia Gandhi

 

11:12 AM

Railways to start tracking 30,000 wagons using GPS

Indian railways will reportedly initiate Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking for 30,000 wagons to prevent pilferages under its Wagon GPS Project. The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has invited expressions of interest for participating in a knowledge gathering exercise on the freight wagons, a report in the Economic Times (ET) said.

Officials said that theft of goods has been a long-standing concern of the railways. The "missing wagons" also lead to disputes with the companies. Also, there have been instances when the return of goods trains that cross Indian borders has been delayed.

This is one of the many initiatives Indian Railways has undertaken recently, focussing on efficiency. Read more

10:53 AM

Manish Tewari gives sixth adjournment notice in LS on Tawang faceoff

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Wednesday gave a notice to move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha to discuss the Chinese transgression at the Arunachal Pradesh border.

This is Tewari's sixth notice on the issue. The earlier notices were not allowed by the chair.

The notice stated, "That this House do suspend Zero Hour and other businesses of the day to have a detailed discussion on the grave situation at the border with China in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh. This is the first physical clash between the two armies since August 2020 which took place at Rinchen La in eastern Ladakh. We have had the Hon'ble Defence Minister give a statement.

 

10:41 AM

Follow Covid protocols in Bharat Jodo Yatra: Mandaviya writes to Rahul Gandhi, Gehlot

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has written a letter to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking to follow the Covid-19 guidelines strictly during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"Follow the COVID guidelines strictly during Bharat Jodo Yatra which is going on in Rajasthan. Use of masks-sanitiser should be implemented. Only vaccinated people should participate," Mandaviya said in his letter written on Tuesday. Mandaviya has also requested to postpone the foot march if the following protocol is not possible.

"If following Covid protocol is not possible then the Bharat Jodo Yatra be postponed in the national interest, taking note of the public health emergency," the letter further stated.

10:34 AM

Sonia Gandhi, other Oppn leaders protest outside Parliament over Tawang faceoff

Congress MP Sonia Gandhi and other Opposition leaders protest in front of the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament premises demanding a discussion on the faceoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang

10:28 AM

Health minister to hold meeting over Covid situation in India

"Today we're holding a meeting under the chairmanship of Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya. We will review as to what's the situation of Covid-19 in other countries and what needs to be done for India. Yesterday's guidelines were issued for doing genome sequencing," says MoS Health Dr B Pawar, quotes ANI.

 

10:17 AM

India records 131 fresh Covid-19 cases, tally climbs to 44,676,330

India's Covid-19 tally climbed to 44,676,330 today with 131 fresh infections, while the number of active cases came down to 3,408, according to Union health ministry data. The toll due to the viral disease increased to 5,30,680 with three more fatalities, including two deaths reconciled by Kerala and one reported from West Bengal in the last 24 hours. 

The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections. The nation's Covid-19 recovery rate increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the ministry's website.

 

10:11 AM

Foggy morning in Delhi, visibility drops to 400 m; road, rail traffic hit

Fog cloaked Delhi on Wednesday morning, lowering visibility to 400 metres and affecting road and rail traffic.

A Railways spokesperson said around 18 trains are running late by one-and-a-half to five hours.

Operations at the Delhi airport remained normal, an official said.

On Tuesday night, three flights were returned or diverted to the Delhi airport due to bad weather in Chandigarh, Varanasi and Lucknow, he said.

The Palam airport logged the lowest visibility level of 400 metres at 2:30 am. Visibility dropped to 500 metres at the Safdarjung airport at 5:30 am, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

9:57 AM

US condemns Taliban's restrictions on women's education in Afghanistan

The United States has condemned the recent decision of the Taliban with regard to imposing restrictions on education of women in Afghanistan.

The United States condemns the Taliban's indefensible decision to prevent Afghan women from receiving a university-level education, White House NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said on Tuesday.

This deplorable decision is the latest effort by Taliban leadership to impose additional restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan and prevent them from exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms, he said.

9:27 AM

Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra by Congress enters Haryana

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' entered Haryana Wednesday morning in the presence of senior party leaders from the state.

The Yatra entered Haryana from Mundaka border in Nuh. It had crossed over from Rajasthan into Haryana.

While Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accompanied it from his state, it was welcomed in Haryana by senior leaders, including former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, Deepender Singh Hooda, state party chief Udai Bhan, among others.

The first phase of Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana will conclude on December 23.

 

9:06 AM

IMF approves new program to support Ukraine's macroeconomic stability

The IMF has approved a new programme for Ukraine to support its macroeconomic and financial stability and catalyse donor financing, the National Bank of Ukraine said.

The four-month Program Monitoring with Board Involvement does not directly provide financial assistance, but creates instruments for transitioning to a new, long-term upper-credit tranche programme of the IMF, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

The programme is aimed at mobilising state budget revenues, strengthening the financial sector, and improving management transparency and effectiveness for state-owned enterprises, Xinhua news agency reported.

8:41 AM

Russia intensifies crackdown targeting human rights group and maps

The Russian government has intensified its crackdown on critics and what it sees as harmful information about its special military operation in Ukraine with moves to ban a human rights group and publication of maps that omit annexed Ukrainian land.

The crackdown fits a theme Russian President Vladimir Putin sounded Tuesday in a video address honouring Russia's military and security agencies. Putin, a former KGB operative, called on those forces to redouble their efforts to protect the stability of society and the security of the government against direct threats to internal security.

 

8:20 AM

Congress moves to ban TikTok from US government devices

TikTok would be banned from most US government devices under a spending bill Congress unveiled early Tuesday, the latest push by American lawmakers against the Chinese-owned social media app.

The $1.7 trillion package includes requirements for the Biden administration to prohibit most uses of TikTok or any other app created by its owner, ByteDance Ltd. The requirements would apply to the executive branch with exemptions for national security, law enforcement and research purposes and don't appear to cover Congress, where a handful of lawmakers maintain TikTok accounts.

TikTok is consumed by two-thirds of American teens and has become the second-most popular domain in the world. But there's long been bipartisan concern in Washington that Beijing would use legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or try to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.

7:54 AM

Elon Musk says will step down as Twitter CEO after finding successor

Elon Musk on Wednesday said that he will resign as CEO of Twitter CEO as soon as a successor is found. In a tweet, Musk said, "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams." On Monday, Musk held a poll on Twitter asking whether he should step down as chief executive officer of Twitter Inc. The billionaire is currently facing a myriad of issues ranging from banning journalists and other social media platforms amid Tesla stock nosediving. Read more

 

7:52 AM

Centre to review Covid situation as cases rise in China, other nations

The health ministry will hold a meeting on Wednesday to review the rising cases of Covid-19 in China and other countries and assess the situation in India. Government has also written to all states to ramp up genome sequencing and send all positive samples to designated Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium-INSACOG laboratories. In a letter to states, Rajesh Bhushan, health secretary said the public health challenge of Covid-19 persists around the world, with about 3.5 million cases reported weekly. “Such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures for the same,” Bhushan said. Read more