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China, in major policy shift, announces families can have three children

“To further optimise the birth policy, (China) will implement a one-married-couple-can-have-three-children policy,” Xinhua said in a report on the meeting.
In 2016, China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy – initially imposed to halt a population explosion – with a two-child limit, which failed to result in a sustained surge in births as the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities deterred many couples from starting families. read more

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Punjab National Bank to divest stake in Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance

PNB, however, has not disclosed how much stake it will dilute in Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance.

It is also a promoter of another insurer PNB Metlife Insurance, owning the highest stake of 30 per cent. The company was set up in 2001, in which other shareholders include US-based Metlife with 26 per cent, Elpro (21 per cent) and M Pallonji & Company (18 per cent).
The erstwhile OBC held 23 per cent stake in the life insurer, which by virtue of amalgamation has come to PNB.

Canara Bank owns 51 per cent stake, while HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Ltd as a foreign partner owns 26 per cent.

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Can people vaccinated against COVID-19 still spread the coronavirus?

COVID-19 poses a particular challenge because people with asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infections can spread the disease and insufficient contact tracing and testing mean those without symptoms are rarely detected.

Some scientists estimate that the number of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections in the overall population could be 3 to 20 times higher than the number of confirmed cases.

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There needs to be one price for COVID-19 vaccines across the nation,” Supreme Court questions Central govt on dual policy

“Centre says it gets vaccines at low pricing since it buys in bulk, if this is the rationale then why do states have the higher price? There needs to be one price for the vaccines across the nation. Pandemic has evolved in last two months,” the Court said.
“In this case, if the purpose is to procure vaccines then why should the centre confine itself to only post 45 age people and leave pre 45 age entirely to state for arranging logistics. How do we look at the marginalised and economically weaker ones?” asked the Apex Court.

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B1617 variant spreading worldwide at ‘frightening speed’: Experts

“What is frightening is the speed at which this variant is able to spread and circulate widely within the community, often surpassing the capability of contact-tracing units to track and isolate exposed contacts to break the transmission chains, a Professor Teo Yik Ying, Dean of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, was quoted as saying.

“It has the potential to unleash a bigger pandemic storm than the world has previously seen,” Ying added.

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Only 30% of firms in US, Europe to embrace full return-to-office model

“By shifting conversations to focus on the working environments that best suit employees’ needs moving forward, organisations can ensure that their employees feel they are being heard and that they have the autonomy and tools to do their jobs effectively,” said Keith Johnston, VP and group research director at Forrester.

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