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  The Telegraph India,   |   New Delhi   |  G.S. Mudur    17.09.20, 02:11 AM “The phase 1 and phase 2 results have shown promise. We will be conducting phase 3 trials in India to meet the requirements of Indian regulators,” DRL managing director G.V. Prasad said in the statement. Vaccine researchers say a clinical trial in India, if approved by the regulatory authority, would likely involve a few thousand healthy volunteers. The proposal to distribute 100 million doses is intended to support a mass vaccination campaign, the researchers said. “They are meant for population-wide general use — a mass vaccination campaign,” a spokesperson for the RDIF told The Telegraph, adding that an application for the clinical trials in India would be filed soon. The application will need to be filed with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), India’s regulatory authority for drugs and vaccines. Under standard procedures, any mass ...

  The Telegraph 17.09.20, 01:31 AM  The weapons packages from Lockheed Martin Co, Boeing and General Atomics are moving their way through the export process The Trump administration has become more aggressive with China in 2020 and the sales would land as relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest point in decades over accusations of spying, a lingering trade war and disputes about the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Trump administration has become more aggressive with China in 2020 and the sales would land as relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest point in decades over accusations of spying, a lingering trade war and disputes about the spread of the novel coronavirus. The US plans to sell as many as seven major weapons systems, including mines, cruise missiles and drones, to Taiwan, four people familiar with the discussions said, as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on China. Pursuing seven sales at once is a rare departur...

  The Indian Express Krishn Kaushik , Nirupama Subramanian September 17, 2020 7:59:32 am Top officer says Indian patrolling points in area blocked since April; Army steps up presence, on alert to foil any ingress attempt elsewhere along LAC.An IAF jet in Leh on Wednesday amid the prolonged India-China face-off. PTI Clearing the air on the situation in the Depsang Plains in Ladakh, where China has been blocking India’s access to four traditional patrolling points since April this year, a top security officer has told The Indian Express that while there has been no loss of ground this time around, Indian troops have not had access to a large chunk of territory on their side of the Line of Actual Control for “more than 10 to 15 years” now. The officer also said that other than the regular ceasefire violations and infiltration, no mobilisation of troops by Pakistan is evident either along the Line of Control, or near Siachen, located 80 km west of the Depsang Plains. Pakistan though ha...

 Express News Service | New Delhi |  September 17, 2020 7:26:09 am Responding to reports by The Indian Express on how it was tracking 2.5 million individuals across the world, including over 10,000 in India, Zhenhua Data communicated through official sources in the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, and said it “does not offer any analytical services on the collected data”. China spying, china,China is watching, Zhenhua, China surveillance, Indian Express investigation, Chinese military, Indian Express The Indian Express had reported the firm’s clients included government and Chinese military, as claimed by the firm itself in its website. The reports over the last two days did not state that the owners/ partners have military/ government background. Shenzhen-based technology firm Zhenhua Data has said it was privately owned and its partners did not have any background in the Chinese military or the Chinese government, and that its operation was not illegal or unreasonable. Respondi...

  The Indian Express  Ludhiana  Divya Goyal  September 17, 2020 6:47:50 am Today, the three women in the Afghan government’s 21-member team that is holding peace talks with an all-male Taliban delegation in Qatar’s Doha have drawn the line for any roadmap that emerges: “We are here to tell the Taliban that it has to face, respect and accept the new Afghanistan.” THEY FACED the threat of mutilation for wearing nail polish or lipstick. They were publicly flogged for violating the dress code. They were barred from stepping out of home without a male companion. They were denied education. Today, the three women in the Afghan government’s 21-member team that is holding peace talks with an all-male Taliban delegation in Qatar’s Doha have drawn the line for any roadmap that emerges: “We are here to tell the Taliban that it has to face, respect and accept the new Afghanistan.” “We aren’t reading from any book, but speaking from what we have experienced; what we, the women, h...

 The Indian Express, New Delhi  Sunny Verma  September 17, 2020 7:34:13 am In the current year, as of September 11, loans worth Rs 59,192 crore have been disbursed. (File) Mudra loan disbursements by state-owned banks rose to Rs 3.82 lakh crore in 2019-20, from Rs 3.05 lakh crore in 2018-19 and Rs 2.12 lakh crore in 2017-18. NPAs as a percentage of total loans rose to 4.92 per cent in 2019-20 from 3.42 per cent in 2017-18.  Public sector banks (PSBs) have seen a sharp surge in the amount of Mudra loans turning into non-performing assets (NPAs) over the last three years. NPAs in Mudra loans has spiked to Rs 18,835 crore in 2019-20, from Rs 11,483 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 7,277 in 2017-18, according to Finance Ministry data. Bad loans jumped along with a steady rise in disbursements by PSBs. Mudra loan disbursements by state-owned banks rose to Rs 3.82 lakh crore in 2019-20, from Rs 3.05 lakh crore in 2018-19 and Rs 2.12 lakh crore in 2017-18. NPAs as a percentage of to...

  Indian Express Jahangir Aziz  September 17, 2020 8:50:57 am What is needed is ample income support for households and firms now so that the recovery is not hamstrung by excessively damaged balance sheets Migrant labourers start coming to Delhi from various part of Uttar Pradesh in August . Even a cursory reading of Brazil’s recent history will confirm that the adoption of the all-encompassing cap on government spending in late 2016 was critical in rescuing the economy from the crisis of 2014-16. After riding the commodity boom of the 2000s, economic mismanagement and a series of corruption scandals pushed the country into an economic and political crisis in 2014-16, which ended the 14-year rule of the Workers Party (PT). During its rule, PT had implemented sweeping social programmes (such as Bolsa Familia) to reduce inequality and eradicate poverty. Although contested, most assessments suggest that these programmes helped in improving living conditions (income, health, and e...

  Hindustan Times, Islamabad  Imtiaz Ahmad Sep 16, 2020 21:14 IST The Imran Khan government’s desperate move is part of efforts to get Pakistan out of Financial Action Task Force’s ‘grey list’ and to prevent it from going further down to a ‘black list’. After a series of defeats in Senate, Pakistan government on Wednesday pushed all pending legislations on terror financing linked to FATF compliance through a joint session of parliament amid loud protests and a walkout by Opposition members. The Imran Khan government’s desperate move is part of efforts to get Pakistan out of the Financial Action Task Force’s ‘grey list’ and to prevent it from going further down to a ‘black list’. The global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering is set to review Pakistan’s compliance in October. FATF put Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action by the end of 2019, but the deadline was extended due to the coronavirus pandemic. The joint ...

  Hindustan Times, Dehradun Sep 17, 2020 07:57 IST Accused are being probed for alleged diversion of funds accumulated by fraudulent sale of farm land as commercial land for receiving higher compensation. The enforcement directorate has been probing the case since 2018 which has alleged complicity of  revenue officers of the state as well. The enforcement directorate has been probing the case since 2018 which has alleged complicity of revenue officers of the state as well.   The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable properties to the tune of Rs 11.62 crore belonging to seven accused in the multi-crore national highway-74 corruption case on Wednesday, said an official release by the Central agency. The case pertains to wrongdoing in land acquisition for construction and widening of the 374-km long Haridwar-Bareilly stretch of national highway (NH)-74 in Uttarakhand. Some select beneficiaries are alleged to have incorrectly sold farmland as co...

 The Financial Express September 17, 2020 7:45 AM In the US, one of the world’s largest consumers of fossil fuels and one of its largest polluters (absolute and per capita), fossil fuels account for 75% of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission. Against such a backdrop, BP’s belief that peak oil demand has been reached and there will either be a decline or no increase hereon should come as a relief. Against such a backdrop, BP’s belief that peak oil demand has been reached and there will either be a decline or no increase hereon should come as a relief. Oil supermajor BP predicts a high likelihood of oil demand growth weakening sharply, hastened by the crash caused by the pandemic. As per a report in Bloomberg, BP’s most optimistic scenario for oil will see demand stay “broadly flat” over the next two decades, with social preference and government policy catalysing a shift away from fossil fuels. It is difficult to say whether BP’s predictions will materialise; oil-exporting nat...

 Hindustan Times Associated Press | Paris Posted by Kanishka Sarkar Sep 16, 2020 22:51 IST The OECD upgraded its forecast for the US economy, anticipating a contraction of 3.8% this year instead of a plunge of 7.3% forecast previously. The global economy is expected to rebound and grow by 5% next year, the organization said. The global economy is expected to rebound and grow by 5% next year, the organization said.  The global economy is not doing as bad as previously expected, especially in the United States and China, but has still suffered an unprecedented drop due to the coronavirus pandemic, an international watchdog said Wednesday. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report that the world’s gross domestic product is projected to decline by 4.5% this year - less than the 6% plunge it had predicted in June. The global economy is expected to rebound and grow by 5% next year, the organization said. Yet the OECD notes that its outlook is “subjec...

  Hindustan Times, New Delhi Rajeev Jayaswal Sep 16, 2020 09:02 IST There has been rampant violation of “rules of origin” that have opened floodgates for dumping of Chinese goods in India through third countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia A stringent scanning of imported goods will start from September 21 to curb rampant violations of “rules of origin” that have opened floodgates for dumping of Chinese goods in India through third countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia with which New Delhi has free trade agreements (FTAs), two officials said requesting anonymity. “The Customs are armed with the new mechanism of verification that kicks in from September 21. It gives them full authority to check all FTA imports such as mobile phones, white goods, set-top boxes, incense sticks, cameras and other electronic gazettes more closely,” said one of the officials, who works for the Union finance ministry. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Augu...