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Here is a masonry blog layout with no sidebarNew, more contagious coronavirus strain in UK does not appear to be deadlier: Vivek Murthy
“This news from the UK appears to be about a new strain of the virus that’s more transmissible, more contagious than the virus we’ve seen prior to this,” he said.
“While it seems to be more transmissible, we do not have evidence yet that this is a more deadly virus to an individual who acquires it,” Murthy told NBC News on Sunday.
Hacked networks will need to be burned ‘down to the ground’
It’s not clear exactly what the hackers were seeking, but experts say it could include nuclear secrets, blueprints for advanced weaponry, COVID-19 vaccine-related research and information for dossiers on key government and industry leaders.
“We have a serious problem. We don’t know what networks they are in, how deep they are, what access they have, what tools they left,” said Bruce Schneier, a prominent security expert and Harvard fellow.
Climate change ravages Kashmir’s ‘red gold’ saffron crop
Warming temperatures caused by climate change have made rainfall erratic, depleting the thirsty saffron fields of water. Shrinking glaciers across the Himalayan region have also cut water flows to the foothills downstream.
Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice; collecting it involves plucking the crimson threads from inside purple crocus flowers
Supplying enough Covid-19 vaccines for half the country’s nearly 1.4 billion people can be daunting:Bharat Biotech
“We have started producing at risk because we know that it will be an uphill task — in the Indian context it’s small,” Ella said in an interview from Hyderabad on Monday. “That’s a huge challenge in front of us when we think of the hundreds of millions of doses even if half the country needs to be vaccinated.”
Gas pipeline blast kills one, destroys houses in Gujarat
It was not immediately clear who ran the pipeline – state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) denied media reports that it was the operator. Local company Sabarmati Gas, partly-owned by Bharat Petroleum Corp, also said it was not involved.
It was not immediately clear who ran the pipeline – state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) denied media reports that it was the operator. Local company Sabarmati Gas, partly-owned by Bharat Petroleum Corp, also said it was not involved.
It was not immediately clear who ran the pipeline – state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) denied media reports that it was the operator. Local company Sabarmati Gas, partly-owned by Bharat Petroleum Corp, also said it was not involved.The massive explosion destroyed two houses in a residential area near ONGC’s Kalol field in Gandhinagar district, trapping people under the debris, officials said.
Senior Gandhinagar official Kuldeep Arya told Reuters a gas leakage could have triggered the blast.
India finds five with coronavirus on UK flight, testing for strain
The discovery of the new strain, just months before vaccines are expected to be widely available, sowed new panic in a pandemic that has killed about 1.7 million people worldwide and more than 67,000 in Britain.At least two other flights from Britain have landed in India since the announcement of the flight ban, one in Mumbai and the other in the northern city of Amritsar.
WHO calls meeting on new virus variant, European head says
“Limiting travel to contain spread is prudent until we have better info. Supply chains for essential goods & essential travel should remain possible,” WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge said on Twitter, urging increased preventive measures.
South Africa has announced that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus is driving the country’s current resurgence of the disease, which is seeing higher numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
SBI Life and Bandhan Bank bid for Reliance Life, Major PEs line up to acquier Reliance General Insurance
For Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, in which RCAP owns 51 per cent controlling stake, has received 16 bids, including Bain Capital, NIIF, Arpwood Partners, Dabur Investments, Bandhan Bank, and Multiples Asset Management among others.
For Reliance General Insurance, which is owned 100 per cent by Reliance Capital , there are 18 bidders and prominent among them are, Chryscap, J.C. Flower, Blackstone, KKR, CVC Capital Partners, and Bain Capital.
Pollution deaths in India rose to 1.67 million in 2019 -Lancet
NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Toxic air killed more people in India in 2019 than in 2017, The Lancet said in a report shared by the government on Tuesday, with 1.67 million deaths accounting for 18% of all fatalities. India, whose cities top global pollution lists, faces a...
New Delhi airport aims to start distributing COVID vaccine in January
Scientists say UK strain unlikely to affect efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, warn against more mutations
According to Jeremy Farrar, director of the London-based research charity Wellcome Trust UK, there is no indication at the moment that the new strain would evade treatments and vaccines.
However, the mutation is a reminder of the power of the virus to adapt, and that cannot be ruled out in the future. Acting urgently to reduce transmission is critical, Farrar said in a statement.
Nine in 10 India Employees Feel Prepared to Work Remotely for the Long-Term
However, employees shared concerns about not having access to the right technologies and the blurring of boundaries between work and personal lives in a long-term remote work arrangement.
The research also found that the most in-demand technology resources that employees want are productivity equipment or tools, remote access to internal company resources and cloud technology.
Govt plans to set up a development finance institution:DFS Secy
“We need a development financial institution as infra financing needs patient capital, and banks are currently not suited for lending for long term projects which do not generate any cash for years,” Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda told PTI in an interview.
Even deepening the bond market with regard to infrastructure financing is a matter which is receiving attention of the government and there is a need to do something more in order to have a robust bond market for infrastructure financing, he said.
44% rural Indians willing to pay for COVID-19 vaccine; 51% consider coronavirus ‘Chinese conspiracy’: Survey
The survey, conducted by Gaon Connection among 6,040 rural respondents across 60 districts in 16 states and one union territory, found that 36 per cent said they would not want to pay for it. The remaining 20 per cent said they are yet to decide on paying for the vaccine.
Of those who were willing to pay, two-third said they can pay up to Rs 500 for two doses of the vaccine, whenever it is available.
Industry bodies to press for holding back new wage definition in meeting with govt on Dec 24
The source also said that lobbyists want the government to hold back the new definition and fear that this would result in major cut in take-home salaries and also put additional burden on employers.
The industry bodies want that the implementation should be put on hold till the economy rebounds again and buoyancy returns.
Emergency no 112 to be available for disaster relief in 2 yrs;alert protocol in 4 yrs: NDMA official
”The MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) is working on public safety… it is 112 single number emergency response system. It is being implemented for police, fire emergency, women and child protection and the next evolution is for disaster on which we are working. This will be rolled in two year or so,” NDMA Advisor, Operations and Communications, Brig Ajay Gangwar said
he said the government is also working on priority call routing which will give precedence to officials and agencies that will be first point of response for relief and rescue operations during any disaster like earthquake, cyclone or floods. Gangwar said NDMA has done a pilot project for common alert protocol which sends out automated alerts to people and it will implemented across country in four years.
US population growth smallest in at least 120 years
Population growth in the U.S. already was stagnant over the past several years due to immigration restrictions and a dip in fertility, but coronavirus-related deaths exacerbated that lethargic-growth trend, said William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brooking Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
“I think it’s a first glimpse of where we may be heading as far as low population growth,” Frey said. “It’s telling you that this is having an impact on population.”
The U.S. population grew by 0.35% from July 2019 to July 2020, an increase of 1.1 million people in a nation whose estimated population in July was more than 329 million residents, according to Census Bureau estimates.
Drugmakers rush to test whether vaccines stop coronavirus variant
The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70% more infectious and more of a concern for children. It has sown chaos in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country.
Moderna expects immunity from its vaccine to protect against the variant and is performing more tests in coming weeks to confirm, the company said in a statement to CNN.