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Eco/Invest/Demography

Maharashtra imposes new COVID-19 lockdowns in some areas

Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said daily cases in the state had risen to almost 7,000 from about 2,000 earlier this month, demanding stricter measures from Monday to control the spread of the virus in four districts of the state.

“The second wave has been knocking on our door. Whether it has come or not will be confirmed in next eight to 15 days,” he said in a televised address, adding that restrictions could be widened beyond those four districts if necessary.

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Delhi reported steep spike in cybercrimes during lockdown period: Police

According to data shared by the city police, 62 per cent of the cybercrimes reported in Delhi were related to online financial fraud, 24 per cent were related to social media and 14 per cent to other cybercrimes.

The data showed that from March to May 2020, when restrictions were in place due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there was a rise in cases related to cybercrimes. It went up from around 2,000 such cases in March to more than 4,000 in May.

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Pfizer jab 95.8% effective against Covid: Israel health ministry

Israel’s inoculation campaign is regarded as the world’s fastest, with one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine administered to 4.25 million people out of its nine million-strong population since December, according to the latest health ministry figures.

Some 2.88 million people have received the recommended full course of two jabs.

The health ministry said on Saturday the vaccine had proved 95.8 percent effective in preventing coronavirus infection among those vaccinated two weeks after receiving their second shot compared to unvaccinated people, according to data compiled up to February 13.

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GIFT City: Modi’s plan to make a Singapore in Gujarat has fallen flat

In hosting an international financial center, Singapore stole a march over rival Hong Kong, where the bankers were initially against more competition. But it wasn’t tall buildings that made the experiment a success. A freely convertible currency, pragmatic regulation, a stable tax regime, rule of law and speedy dispute resolution played a huge role. (Good schools and pubs helped, too.)

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Will make electric vehicles mandatory for officials of my department, says Gadkari

“If 10,000 electric vehicles are brought into use in Delhi, then about Rs 30 crores per month spent on fuel can be saved and it will reduce pollution. I will make electric vehicles mandatory for officials of my department,” he said. Gadkari also said that electric fuel is a major alternative for fossil fuels which have an import bill of Rs 8 lakh crores.

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Upsurge in daily new COVID-19 cases in Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and MP: Govt

Only two states, Maharashtra and Kerala, account for 75.87 per cent of total number of active COVID-19 cases, the ministry added.

The ministry said nine states have administered more than five lakh doses each. These are Uttar Pradesh (11,52,042), Maharashtra (8,60,386), Gujarat (8,56,657), Rajasthan (7,99,719), West Bengal (6,50,976), Karnataka (6,29,420), Madhya Pradesh (6,26,391), Bihar (5,50,433) and Odisha (5,01,713).

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Nigerian court freezes Shell accounts ahead of Aiteo lawsuit

The lawsuit is latest in a string of legal headaches for the biggest international oil company operating in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil exporter.

A British court last week cleared the way for local communities to sue the company over oil spills in the West African nation, and last month Shell lost a case brought in the Netherlands by Nigerian farmers and fisherman over pollution claims.

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