CHANDIGARH: The State Election Commissioner, Punjab, Mr.Jagpal Singh Sandhu, here today announced the schedule for Elections/Bye Election of 08 Municipal Corporations and 109 Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats . With the announcement of the schedule, the 'Model Code of Conduct' has come into force with immediate effect within the municipal areas of the municipalities where elections will be held. The Code of Conduct would be in force till the completion of the electoral process.

LEH: Leading from the front in the fight against Covid-19, a group of 20 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel on Saturday registered themselves in the list of the three lakh people across the country who received the first dose of the vaccine. The world's largest vaccination drive began in India after its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

NEW DELHI: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Saturday joined scores of healthcare workers across the country who were administered Covid-19 vaccine shots on the first day of the nationwide vaccination drive. Dr Guleria said mild infection or adverse reaction after vaccination is a good sign because it shows the immune system of the body is reacting to the vaccine and creating antibodies.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Saturday said he too will get a vaccine shot against the Coronavirus.
Launching the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the state at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, Palaniswami told reporters that he too will get vaccinated against Coronavirus and added that the State had received 556,500 doses of vaccines -- 536,500 doses of Covishield and 20,000 doses of Covaxin.

NEW DELHI: Despite supporting the ongoing farmers' agitation in the country, the image of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has not come up to the mark to pose a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose approval rating and popularity remain intact despite the odds of the Covid-19 pandemic and the farmers' stir, as per the IANS C-Voter State of the Nation 2021 survey.

NEW YORK:New York City is on course to run out of Covid-19 vaccine supply next week and has asked the federal government to send additional doses, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

NEW DELHI: AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria and Niti Aayog member Vinod K. Paul, who heads a government panel on vaccine strategy, were on Saturday administered the first doze of Covid-19 vaccine with the launch of the world's largest vaccination programme in India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modis charisma and popularity are holding the reins of the BJP juggernaut, which is now facing anti-incumbency at the Chief Minister and MP-level, as per the IANS C-Voter State of the Nation 2021 survey.

BHUBANESWAR: The Covid-19 vaccination drive began at 161 sites spread across 30 districts of the state on Saturday.
Biranchi Nayak, 51, a sweeper in Capital Hospital of Bhubaneswar became the first person to get the Covid vaccine Covaxin on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: On the day of the launch of the massive immunisation drive against Covid-19 that the country has embarked upon, Dr B.L. Sherwal, Director at Delhi government-run Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH), said that better communication could have reduced the hesitancy towards the vaccine among the people.

LONDON: After the news broke that 23 elderly patients died in Norway following their immunization with the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19, the country has launched a detailed investigation into the reported fatalities that has shocked the world.

CHANDIGARH: A 20-year-old man, who works as a part-time sweeper at the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital in Sector 16 here, was the first person in the city inoculated against Covid-19 on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: India began the world's largest Covid-19 vaccination programme on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching the drive aimed at ending the pandemic which so far has killed 1,52,093 people in the country and ravaged the economy.

CHANDIGARH: Even as he prepared to kickstart the process of vaccination of 1.74 lakh health workers, with 40,000 to be covered every day over the next five days in the first phase, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking free vaccine delivery to the poor population of the state.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has rationed the tranche of two Covid-19 vaccines it has stocked in 81 hospitals finalised for the launch of a massive immunization drive against the novel coronavirus in the national capital.

ISTANBUL: Turkey launched the mass vaccination program against Covid-19 with the vaccines developed by China's Sinovac company.
According to the Turkish Health Ministry, the first doses will be given to over 1 million health workers across the country, followed by adults living in nursing homes, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: A day ahead of the commencement of the world's biggest immunization exercise, the national capital has completed all the preparations to innoculate its priority groups, with healthcare workers, who will be the first to receive the silver bullet, clearly excited.

CHANDIGARH: The Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab Government is all ready to roll out most awaited corona vaccination programme under which firstly, Health Care Workers (Central, State & Armed Forces Medical Services) to be vaccinated with their consent at dedicated 59 sites in the State.

WASHINGTON: The overall global coronavirus caseload has topped 93 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.99 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Friday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 93,051,654 and 1,991,997, respectively.

NEW DELHI: With 15,590 new coronavirus infections reported in the last 24 hours, India on Friday continued with its streak of low single-day cases, increasing the overall tally to 1,05,27,683, according to the Union Health Ministry.

ABU DHABI: Sri Lankan medium-fast bowler Isuru Udana believes India skipper Virat Kohli is the best batsman in white-ball cricket at the moment.
I think the best batsman in whit-ball cricket is Virat Kohli, best bower I'll go for Mitchell Starc and I like Ravindra Jadeja an all-rounder," said Udana.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Friday confirmed that grades 9-12 will resume from January 18 as planned, while primary classes will reopen nationwide from February 1.

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles County, the most populous in the US, recorded nearly 2,000 Covid-19 deaths in one week as the virus is "running rampant", local health officials said.
The county, home to 10 million residents, on Thursday reported 17,323 new confirmed cases and 287 fatalities, pushing its cumulative infection tally to 975,299 with 13,234 deaths, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported in a daily release.

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden has highlighted a growing economic divide between those few people "at the very top" and the rest of America, calling on further relief to provide financial assistance to those who need it the most.

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill, which includes another round of direct payments to individuals, aid for state and local governments, increased unemployment benefits, as well as more funding for testing and vaccine distribution.

NEW YORK: A media strategist, Garima Verma, has been named the digital director for Jill Biden, who will become the First Lady next week.

NEW DELHI: An expert on energy and climate change, Sonia Aggarwal, was named on Thursday by President-elect Joe Biden as the senior advisor for climate policy and innovation, the latest of several key Indian American nominees for his administration.

NEW DELHI: The president of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Dushyant Dave, resigned from his post with immediate effect on Thursday, saying he has forfeited his right to continue.

PATNA: While the police in Patna are facing criticism over the sensational murder of an Indigo state head, a section of people in Bihar are apprehensive that they might be entering into a phase of 'Jungle Raj 2.0'

NEW DELHI: The year 2021 is likely to add to the shine of the gold as consumer demand which has largely been subdued amid the pandemic may rise on the back of economic recovery of the emerging markets, said a report by the World Gold Council (WGC).

SAO PAULO: A leading Chinese Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Sinovac Biotech, has been found to be 50.4 per cent effective in Brazilian clinical trials, researchers have found.

NEW DELHI:The third phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 3.0) will be launched on Friday in 600 districts across India.
Spearheaded by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), this phase will focus on new-age and Covid-related skills.

JALANDHAR: Kanya Maha Vidyalaya- the Heritage & Autonomous institution, Seat of Women Empowerment with Top National and State Rankings by India Today Survey of Best Colleges 2020 (various categories) & Outlook Magazine celebrated the festival of Lohriwith fervour& enthusiasm. The celebrations commenced with the address of Principal Prof. Dr Atima Sharma Dwivedi. During her address, Prof. Dwivediextended her Lohri wishes to each and every member of KMV family. Prof. Dwivedi averred that we at KMV have so many reasons to celebrate this festival.

NEW YORK: This was coming for a long time in a country that accounts for the world's highest coronavirus caseload and deaths. A CNN reporter broke down on live television earlier this week while reporting from Los Angeles about a woman who lost both her parents to Covid-19 and had to hold her mother's funeral in a parking lot because there's no place for the dead.

BHOPAL: The first batch of the coronavirus vaccine has reached Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal. The consignment was dispatched to Bhopal via airplane from Pune. As many as 4.5 lakh people would be vaccinated during the first phase.