ISLAMABAD: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has approved a Covid-19 vaccine by China's Sinopharm for emergency use amid an unabated resurgence in the country.

SYDNEY: Fighting the Australian government over its news media bargaining code, Google has announced it providing businesses and users with a combined $53 billion in benefits every year in the country.

GANDHINAGAR: While carrying out the the virtual ground breaking ceremonies of the the Surat Metro project and the second phase of Ahmedabad Metro project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that due to lack of modern vision and any metro policy in previous governments, works of only 225 kilometre Metro network were operational, while the present government's modern vision had helped complete more than 450 km of Metro line and work was in progress in more than 1000 km in 27 cities.

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden has named Uzra Zeya, an Indian-American diplomat who quit her State Department job in protest against the outgoing administration's alleged racial and sexist bias, as his Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.

NEW DELHI: China has slammed the US media for its silence over the deaths of 23 Norwegian elderly patients who were vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Twenty-three elderly Norwegian people died after receiving Pfizer vaccines and the country has launched a detailed investigation into the fatalities that have shocked the world.

MOHALI: Department of Mechanical Engineering of University School of Engineering and Technology of the Rayat Bahra University organized an expert talk on the `Scientific Heritage of Punjab’ by eminent scholar Dr Arun Kumar Grover, a former Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh.

KAPURTHALA: Covid vaccination drive in kapurthala today started successfully at three government hospitals namely at Kapurthala, Phagwara and Bholath as 300 health workers got the fisrt shot of covishield vaccine.

NEW DELHI: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Saturday filed a petition in the Supreme Court with the prayer to direct WhatsApp to withdraw its new privacy policy which is encroaching upon various fundamental rights of the citizens granted by the Constitution of India.

NEW DELHI: From artificial intelligence to autonomous weapon systems to quantum block chains and now robotics, the Indian Army is now into offensive technology.
For the first time, the force demonstrated use of offensive drone technology during the Army Day Parade held at Delhi Cantonment on Friday. The Indian Army has, in fact, also bought offensive drones since August last year. In August, 2019, the force procured five drones, in October 20 drones and in December 35 drones.

MUMBAI: The trailer for the much-awaited film, Aadhar is out starring the Mukkabaaz actor Vineet Kumar Singh. A social drama, the film is slated to release theatrically on February 5th.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government has so far given facelift to 7842 government schools by converting them Into smart schools through complete renovation of the school infrastructure thereby enhancing the enrollment in government schools by more than 14 per cent this year on one hand and imparting quality education to students on the other.

NEW DELHI: Amid active border disputes with both China and Pakistan, the Indian Army spent Rs 18,000 crore last year to add to its firepower and provide logistics to its men, including emergency purchases worth Rs 5,000 crore, COAS General Manoj Mukund Naravane said on Friday.

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.

CHENNAI: Creation of a Ministry of Possibilities, incentivising industries to be set up in backward areas, holding of quarterly summit of government-industry-academia-civil society as the think-tank headed by the Chief Minister are part of the seven-point agenda of the Kamal Haasan promoted Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party for the industry, that was announced on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: Leading edtech company BYJU'S is reportedly acquiring Delhi-based offline test preparatory services provider Aakash Educational Services for $ one billion (nearly Rs 7,300 crore), the media reported.The deal may close in the next two-three months, reports Bloomberg.

NEW DELHI: Wishing the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) on completion of its five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the crop insurance scheme benefited crores of farmers and mitigated their risks against the vagaries of nature.

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan is hosting the second Pakistan-Turkey-Azerbaijan trilateral meeting here on Wednesday to discuss global and regional issues.The Pakistan Foreign office said "the three sides would also explore possibilities of deepening trilateral cooperation in all areas of common interest, including peace and security, trade and investment, science and technology, education and cultural cooperation".

KAPURTHALA: A webinar was organized by Science City to celebrate National Youth day. More than 200 students and teachers from different schools of Punjab participated in the event. Sh. DPS Kharbanda, IAS Special secretary/ Director Sports and Youth Services, Punjab was the Chief Guest at this occasion. Giving his inaugural address he said that energy, creativity, enthusiasm, determination, and spirit of youth needs to be channelized to achieve progress in the field of science & technology, finances, health, sports and nation building. He informed that during COVID pandemic, 13000 Youth Clubs of Punjab participated in the sanitization drive initiated by the respective District Administration.

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has appointed renowned civil rights attorney and advocate Roy L Austin to establish the company's new civil rights organisation.
Austin will take on the role of VP of Civil Rights and Deputy General Counsel beginning on January 19, and will be based in Washington, DC, the company said in a statement late on Tuesday.

CHANDIGARH: Under the leadership of Punjab Education Minister Mr. Vijay Inder Singla and guidance of Education Secretary Mr. Krishan Kumar the education department has released an amount of Rs. 4 crore to convert government schools into smart schools.

NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing debate around the safety and efficacy aspects of Covid vaccines, the president of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has advised the public to not worry too much about it.

PANAJI: The First Information Reports filed against more than 100 protesters agitating against an upcoming IIT campus project in Goa, will be withdrawn if the Congress party comes to power, spokesperson Vijay Bhike said on Monday.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed a woman's plea seeking the termination of her 28-week pregnancy on the ground that the foetus suffered from a serious birth defect in which a baby is born with an underdeveloped brain and incomplete skull.

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested two accused in an on-going investigation of a case related to the alleged sale/purchase of child sexual abuse material over Instagram and other social media platforms.

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Budget 2021, the government has hinted at rationalization of various taxes in the aviation sector, which is among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 induced economic meltdown.

NEW YORK: US President-elect Joe Biden, continuing to fill out top posts to align with a diverse country's shifting demographics, on Friday appointed to his national security council "incredibly accomplished" Indian Americans who will serve under National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

NEW DELHI: Imphasizing that the whole of India stands together, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the country has the strongest and most vibrant democracy in the world.

LUDHIANA: The College of Animal Biotechnology, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana has started one week online training program on ‘Skill development in viral disease diagnosis and prophylaxis’. Dr Dipak Deka, Sr. Scientist and Organising Secretary of the training informed that this training has been organized as a part of the research project ‘Molecular characterization of canine distemper virus field isolates for selection of suitable vaccine candidate(s)’ under the aegis of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

NEW DELHI: Chinese short-video making app Tikok hs released its first augmented reality (AR) filter that uses iPhone 12 Pro's LiDAR camera.
The filter utilises the iPhone 12 Pro's LiDAR sensor that helps improve AR experiences by enabling apps to more quickly see and recognise the room around them.

NEW DELHI: Chip maker Intel has introduced RealSense 3D cameras with an on-device solution for facial recognition, designed to perform facial authentication on consumer devices such as point-of-sale (PoS) systems, ATMs and kiosks.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Mr. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said that no case of bird flu has been reported in the state so far, but the state government has taken all precautionary measures to deal with any situation. While addressing a press conference today here at Punjab Bhawan to list the achievements of the departments under him, Mr. Bajwa said that the people who eat eggs and meat do not need to be afraid, they just need to eat these products cooked properly.

PHAGWARA:GNA University hold a Webinar on Blockchain and Hands-on Ethereum. Dr. Mayank Aggarwal, Associate Professor & HoD CSE, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar was the Resource person for the Webinar. The main objective of the Webinar was to motivate the students to upgrade themselves with the latest technologies.

SAN FRANCISCO:  Taking India's example of banning more than 200 Chinese apps, US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order that blocks transactions with Chinese companies running eight apps, including Jack Ma-owned Ant Group's Alipay, Tencent's QQ and WeChat Pay applications.