India
Vietnam's PM to visit India this year-end
Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will undertake his maiden foreign visit to India this year-end, the country's envoy in Delhi has said.
"Our Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is scheduled to pay an official visit to India at the end of 2021 to discuss with PM Modi measures to advance our bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership forward," Vietnam's Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau told the media Wednesday.
Ambassador Chau, in fact, made the announcement during an interaction with the media on the sidelines of an event at a park in Delhi's diplomatic enclave Chanakyapuri, where the bust of Vietnam's founding father Ho Chi Minh was unveiled.
In July, Prime Minister Modi congratulated Chinh -- two months after he assumed office -- and invited him to visit India at the earliest.
Read: Two top Bengal Ministers charged in cash-for-favours scam
India-Vietnam relations have been exceptionally cordial since their foundations were laid by the founding fathers of the two countries -- President Ho Chi Minh and India's first President Rajendra Prasad and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru -- in the late Fifties and early Sixties.
India granted the 'Most Favoured Nation' status to Vietnam in 1975 and both nations signed two bilateral trade and investment agreements -- one in 1978 and another in 1997.
In recent times, political contacts have bolstered between the two countries -- all thanks to India's thrust under the 'Look East' policy and Vietnam's growing engagement in the region. India and Vietnam closely work in regional forums such as ASEAN.
Two top Bengal Ministers charged in cash-for-favours scam
Two top Bengal Ministers and two other politicians have been charged by the country's premier economic intelligence agency for their alleged role in a cash-for-favours scam, more than three months after their arrests.
The four politicians named in the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate are serving ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and former ministers Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee, an official told the media in state capital Kolkata on Wednesday.
While Firhad and Subrata are Urban Development and Panchayati Raj Ministers, respectively, Madan is a legislator of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's ruling Trinamool Congress party.
Sovan, on the other hand, is Kolkata's former Mayor. He left the Trinamool in 2019 to join India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, but quit the outfit just before the assembly polls. The four were caught accepting bribes on tapes in a sting operation some seven years ago.
In May, all the four politicians were arrested by the country's premier probe agency -- the Central Bureau of Investigation -- after Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar approved a plea to prosecute the four accused in the Narada tapes scandal.
Read: Mamata slams Modi govt as nephew summoned over coal scam
"Governor accorded sanction for prosecution... being the appointing authority of ministers @MamataOfficial under article 164 and thus competent authority," Dhankhar tweeted on May 9.
The Narada scandal was a sting operation carried out by a journalist that caught on tape several ministers and senior officials of the Mamata government accepting cash bribes in exchange for doling out favours to a private firm looking to set up business in Bengal.
Earlier in May, Mamata scripted history by single-handedly pulling off an astounding win in the assembly election. She had not only defied anti-incumbency but also staved off a huge challenge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Bengal had witnessed the most high-profile contest in India's recently held state elections. While Mamata harped on being Bengal’s daughter, the BJP had asked people to vote for "change and socio-economic development" after years of Communist and Trinamool rule.
India’s COVID-19 vaccine supply jumps, raising export hopes
India’s rising output of COVID-19 vaccines and the inoculation of more than half its adult population with at least one dose are raising hopes the country will return as an exporter within months, ramping up from early next year, reported Gulf News.
After donating or selling 66 million doses to nearly 100 countries, India barred exports in the middle of April to focus on domestic immunisation as infections exploded, upsetting the inoculation plans of many African and South Asian countries.
India’s daily vaccinations surpassed 10 million doses on Friday, with national vaccine production more than doubling since April and set to rise again in the coming weeks. New production lines have been set up, a vaccine developed by Cadila Healthcare won recent approval, and commercial production of Russia’s Sputnik V is starting in India.
Also read: Covid-19: India entering 'endemecity', 26.8% of world fully vaccinated
The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker, is now producing about 150 million doses a month of its version of the AstraZeneca shot, more than twice its April output of about 65 million, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
“No fixed timeline on exports but the company hopes to restart in a few months,” said the source, who declined to be named without approval to talk on the matter.
SII, which has previously indicated exports could resume by year-end, did not respond to a request for comment.
Global vaccine sharing platform COVAX hopes India will restart foreign sales sooner than later.
“With successful national vaccination and the arrival of more products, we are hoping that Indian supply to COVAX will resume as quickly as possible,” a spokesperson for the platform’s co-lead GAVI told Reuters in an email.
Also read: Manipal Hospitals launches the first Radixact System with Synchrony technology in India
India, a major international producer of many other vaccines, could play a “similarly transformative role in the global response to COVID-19,” the spokesperson said.
India’s health ministry and the foreign ministry, which coordinates vaccine exports, did not respond to a request for comment.
Bharat Biotech, the maker of India’s first domestically developed COVID-19 shot, on Sunday inaugurated a new factory with a production capacity of 10 million doses a month. It said it was “marching towards” a goal of a total annual capacity of about 1 billion doses of the drug, Covaxin.
Infections, meanwhile, are again rising in India after an explosive outbreak in April and May. But the country has administered more than 633 million vaccine doses, with at least one dose to 52% of its 944 million adults and two doses to more than 15%.
A government source told Reuters in June the U.S. experience showed that vaccinations tend to slow down after a big majority of people get their shots. That might give SII a chance to export excess output, said the source.
The chief of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party said this month India could produce as many as 1.1 billion vaccine doses between September and December, enough to fully immunise all adults in the country this year.
India has so far given emergency authorisation to six COVID-19 shots, four of which are being produced locally. One more domestic vaccine is expected to be approved soon while many more are going through mid-stage trials.
At UN, India reiterates 2-state solution on Palestinian issue
Chairing a meeting at UNSC on the "Middle East Peace Process", including on the Palestinian question, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla called on all parties to the conflict to respect the ceasefire and refrain from acts that could exacerbate tensions and worsen the security situation reported Times of India.
Shringla chaired four meetings of the Security Council on Monday, a day before the end of India's presidency of the Council. Officials said India successfully steered discussions during its presidency on Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, and the Middle East Peace Process.
In the discussions on the Palestine issue, Shringla reiterated India’s "long standing and firm commitment" to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine, within secure, recognized and mutually agreed borders, living side by side with Israel in peace and security.
Also read: What's happening with Afghanistan evacuations?
"We're concerned by recent escalation in Gaza Strip, which once again underscores the fragility of ceasefire and urgent need for addressing the underlying causes that have triggered the escalation," said Shringla.
"I reaffirm India’s call for regular & predictable transfer of aid & other essential items to Gaza to ease humanitarian situation & facilitate early reconstruction, as well as for appropriate use of such aid," he added.
The foreign secretary also noted that early commencement of direct peace negotiations was the best opportunity to resolve all final status issues and achieve a ‘two-state’ solution. He said the decision by Israel to increase number of work permits to Palestinians will help strengthen both economies.
Also read: India ready to deal with any terrorism flowing out of Afghanistan: Top General
Shringla also chaired a meeting on Mali sanctions resolution that strongly condemned the activities in Mali and the Sahel region of ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida-linked terrorist organizations such as Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), IS in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
India begins direct communication with Taliban
India Tuesday began direct communication with the Taliban since the terrorist group's lightning takeover of Afghanistan two weeks back.
Indian envoy in Qatar Deepak Mittal held talks with Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the Taliban's Political Office in the Gulf state, at the country's Embassy in Doha, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
At the meeting, Ambassador Mittal raised India's concern that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner, to which Stanekzai assured him that these issues would be positively addressed, according to the statement.
"Discussions focused on safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan. The travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities, who wish to visit India also came up," it added.
Read: Bangladesh observing Afghanistan situation, in touch with stranded citizens
The meeting comes days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up a high-level committee to keep a tab on the developments in Afghanistan. "A wait-and-watch approach has been adopted by the government," a top diplomat told the Indian media.
The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan on August 15, with the American troops ending their 20-year military presence in the South Asian country.
Last week, India's top military man -- Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat -- apparently issued a warning to the Taliban, saying the country "is ready to deal with any terrorism spilling out of Afghanistan".
Though Afghanistan has closed its airspace for all civilian flights, India has been evacuating its nationals from that country. In the past few weeks, the Indian Air Force has airlifted more than 600 of its nationals, including its Ambassador, from Kabul.
Read: Taliban guard airport as most NATO troops leave Afghanistan
Earlier, India had evacuated all its diplomatic staff and their family members from its three consulates in Afghanistan -- Kandahar, Jalalabad and Herat.
India is particularly worried about the implications of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, given it has already infused over three billion USD worth development aid into that country and the horrific memories of the Taliban's role in the hijacking of an Indian airliner in 1999.
Covid-19: India entering 'endemecity', 26.8% of world fully vaccinated
The global Covid-19 caseload has surpassed 216 million with the world still struggling to contain the pandemic, but there may be better news for one of the worst-hit countries from the virus in the days ahead.Covid-19 in India may be entering a stage of ‘endemicity’ where there is low or moderate level of transmission going on, Chief Scientist of the World Health Organisation Dr Soumya Swaminathan said over the weekend.“We may be entering some kind of stage of endemicity where there is low level transmission or moderate level transmission going on but we are not seeing the kinds of exponential growth and peaks that we saw a few months ago," Dr Swaminathan said.
Read:How Long Will Your COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccination Protection Last?According to Dr Swaminathan, the endemic stage is when a population "learns to live with a virus". It’s very different from the epidemic stage when a virus overwhelms a population.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that endemic “refers to the constant presence and/or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area."In the endemic stage, disease spread and rates of infection are said to be fairly predictable.India's COVID-19 tally rose to 32,695,030 (32.7 million) on Sunday, as 45,083 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry's latest data.Besides, 460 deaths due to the pandemic since Saturday morning took the total death toll to 437,830 - the world's third-highest after the USA and Brazil.According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total caseload and fatalities globally stand at 216,364,257 (over 216 million) and 4,500,596 (over 4.5 million) respectively, as of Monday morning.
Read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: '76% leprosy-affected people face severe financial crisis'So far, 5,191,645,799 (almost 5.2 billion) vaccine doses have been administered across the globe. That number includes 3.1 billion, or 40 percent of the world population that has received at least one dose, and 2.1 billion, or 26.8 percent of the world population now fully vaccinated.The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 38,796,236 cases while 637,525 people have lost their lives to Covid to date, according to JHU.Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India.The country has recorded 20,741,815 cases with 579,308 fatalities so far, according to the health ministry.Situation in BangladeshWith millions of people still waiting to receive their first doses of coronavirus vaccines, the deadly virus claimed 89 more lives in Bangladesh in 24 hours till Sunday morning and infected another 3,948 people.The country's single-day death toll fell below 100 for the first time in more than two months with 80 deaths reported on Saturday.
Read: Covid fatalities shrink below 100 after 2 monthsSince the start of the Covid pandemic in March last year, Bangladesh recorded 14,93,537 infections and 26,015 deaths, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).The fresh cases were reported after testing 27,921 samples raising the daily case positivity rate to 14.14% from Saturday’s 13.67%.Meanwhile, the recovery rate rose to 94.79 per cent, while the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.74% during the period.
Pilot suffers heart attack; Biman flight makes emergency landing in India
A Dhaka-bound Biman Bangladesh passenger flight made an emergency landing at an airport in India Friday after its pilot suffered a heart attack mid-air, officials said.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-8, was carrying 126 passengers from Muscat.
An aviation official told the media the plane was near the central state of Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur when its co-pilot contacted the air traffic controller in the eastern city of Kolkata for an emergency landing.
READ: Biman flight makes emergency landing at Dhaka airport
"The Kolkata ATC, in turn, asked the co-pilot to land at the nearest airport. Around 11.40 am, the passenger plane safely landed at Nagpur airport in the western state of Maharashtra," the official told the media.
The pilot was soon rushed to a nearby hospital, the official added.
READ: Biman aircraft makes emergency landing in Chattogram
40 ambulances arrive in Bangladesh
Forty more ambulances -- a gift from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- arrived in Bangladesh through the Benapole land port on Thursday morning.
Additional Commissioner of Benapole Customs House, Neyamul Islam said that the 40 ambulances entered Bangladesh in the morning from the Petrapole border on the Indian side.
Read: India sends 40 more ambulances to Bangladesh
"Necessary paperwork is underway to get the clearance done. Once complete, the ambulances will leave for Dhaka later in the day," he said.
According to the Indian High Commission, Prime Minister Modi announced the gift of 109 ambulances to Bangladesh during his state visit on March 26-27, to help bolster healthcare, especially in the shared effort to contain the Covid pandemic.
All the ambulances have ventilation support, said sources.
Read: 30 ambulances arrive in Bangladesh from India
So far, 71 ambulances have arrived in Bangladesh and the remaining are expected to come by mid-September.
Of these, the first ambulance arrived on March 21, 30 more ambulances arrived on August 7, and 40 on Thursday.
Banned Indian drugs worth Tk 30 lakh seized at Benapole
A covered van carrying a large quantity of banned Indian drugs was seized by the customs IRM team at Benapole port Wednesday.
According to customs house sources, Deputy Commissioner (DC) SM Shamimur Rahman with IRM team after receiving a tip-off that a large consignment of banned drugs was being smuggled through Benapole port, raided the port and seized a large quantity of drugs in a covered van.
Read: 10 Bangladeshis who illegally entered India, return via Benapole
However, the driver and helper of the vehicle managed to escape.
Benapole customs house DC SM Shamimur Rahman, said a covered van with a large quantity of banned Indian medicines worth Tk 30 lakh was seized.
Operations were underway to nab main culprits of the smuggling gang, he said.
India may be entering endemic stage of Covid: WHO
Covid-19 in India may be entering some kind of stage of endemicity with a low or moderate level of transmission going on, according to the chief scientist of the UN health agency.
The endemic stage is when a population learns to live with a virus. It is very different to the epidemic stage when the virus overwhelms a population.
Read:India gives emergency approval for world's first COVID-19 DNA vaccine
"As far as India is concerned that seems to be what is happening and because of the size of India and heterogeneity of population and immunity status in different parts of the country in different pockets. It is very feasible that the situation may continue like this with ups and downs in different parts of the country, particularly where there are more susceptible populations," World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said in an interview Wednesday.
"We may be entering some kind of stage of endemicity where low-level transmission or moderate level transmission is going on but we are not seeing the kinds of exponential growth and peaks that we saw a few months ago," Swaminathan said.
During April-May this year, India witnessed a devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read:'India likely to have Covid shot for children by September'
"I hope by the end of 2022, we will be in that position that we have achieved vaccine coverage, say 70%, and then countries can get back to normal, " Swaminathan said.
"Although it is possible that children could get infected in a third wave in large numbers, it is very unlikely that they will fall seriously ill. However, it is advisable to be prepared for more infections in children," the WHO chief scientist said.