British billionaire Richard Branson on Sunday soared more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert aboard his Virgin Galactic rocket plane and safely returned in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space, a symbolic milestone for a venture he started 17 years ago. Watch the video for the related information and also the India connection.
As several key Indian states witness record petrol and diesel prices, OPEC’s failure to fix a target for oil production output could hit countries like India even more. Watch this video to understand implications for the Indian economy from Vandana Hari, Founder & CEO of Vanda Insights, a Singapore-based provider of oil markets macro-analysis.
Brent crude futures zoomed past $77.5 a barrel-mark on Tuesday, after OPEC+, on Monday, called off its meeting unexpectedly. This comes after the UAE rejected a proposal by the alliance on increasing oil production. What does this episode mean for the oil markets? Vandana Hari, Founder & CEO of Vanda Insights, a Singapore-based provider of oil markets macro-analysis, explains it in detail. Watch the video
While Delta Plus is not a variant of concern yet for the Indian government, it is certainly causing concern among doctors and researchers across the world. But what are Delta and Delta Plus variants, where did they originate and are vaccines effective against them? Watch the video to find out.
Fugitive Diamantaire Mehul Choksi who was held in Dominica after his mysterious disappearance from Antigua and Barbuda alleged that his 'friend' Barbara Jabarica was instrumental in his abduction which involved musclemen claiming to be Antiguan Police and mercenaries looking like Indians. Now, Barbara has come out with her side of the story. Watch the video and see what she has to say about the allegation and Choksi.
China's ruling Communist Party has once again tweaked its strict two-child policy to allow all couples to have up to three children. We look at the reasons behind the world's most populous nation's drastic change in policy. Watch the video.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has asked neighbouring Dominica, where fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi was caught, to hand the diamantaire over to India directly. Watch the video for his full statement.
New Delhi, May 25 (ANI): Amid rising coronavirus cases in Japan and Sri Lanka, the US State Department issued a travel advisory warning against travel to the respective countries due to COVID transmission concerns. "This week, the following Travel Advisories have been assessed and reissued with updates, raised to a Level 4 - Do Not Travel: Japan, Sri Lanka," the State Department said on Monday. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a new alert that Americans should avoid all travel to Japan and advised anyone who does have to visit the country to get vaccinated prior to traveling there. "Because of the current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to Japan," it added. This comes few months before the Olympics are set to be held in Tokyo in July. The Olympics were already postponed once due to the pandemic. Japan has been witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases as i
Bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, has been under pressure from a series of tweets from Tesla boss Elon Musk. Cryptocurrency price declines last week were sparked by Musk's reversal on Tesla accepting bitcoin as payment. His subsequent tweets caused further confusion over whether the carmaker had shed its holdings of the coin. Every time the charismatic billionaire has made a statement about crypto, he’s sparked off financial turmoil. How and why? The video based on Business Standard's Devangshu Datta article "Why cryptocurrency jumps and falls on Elon Musk's tweets" explains in detail. Watch it now. Story link: https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/explained-why-cryptocurrency-jumps-and-falls-on-elon-musk-s-tweets-121051801378_1.html
The Government of India announced that the gap between the first and second doses of the Covishield COVID-19 vaccine has been increased to 12-16 weeks - from the existing 6-8 weeks. This is for the second time in three months that Covishield dosage intervals have been widened and this move has once again garnered criticism, as a cover-up for not having enough vaccines for the people in India. Watch the video to know what White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has to say on India's vaccine policy and things Modi government should do to contain the surge of the pandemic.
New Delhi, May 13 (ANI): Amid the deepening unrest between Israel and Palestine, the death toll in Gaza has reached 65, and 7 in Israel as the Hamas group launched a new barrage of airstrikes. Al Jazeera reported that heavy bombardment on the Gaza Strip continued, killing Hamas Gaza City commander, Bassem Issa, in one of the Israeli airstrikes along with our senior members, the Hamas group confirmed. The death toll in Gaza rose to 65 Palestinians, including 16 children and five women, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. At least 365 people have been wounded, including 86 children and 39 women. Meanwhile, a five-year-old boy was killed and at least 20 Israeli were hurt as Gaza launched a fresh spade of rocket attacks that set off warning sirens in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and cities in the south on Wednesday night, reported The Times of Israel.
Tel Aviv (Israel), May 13 (ANI): In a virtual conference, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked international community to condemn launching of rockets from Gaza strip and to recognize public Israel's rights to self-defence. "Each and every step that we took to de-escalate the situation and avoid conflict was answered with more terrorism and violence by Hamas. We expect international community to condemn launching of rockets from Gaza strip and to recognize public Israel's rights to self-defence," said Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Lior Haiat at a virtual conference.
Tel Aviv (Israel), May 13 (ANI): Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the recent attack by Palestine, a 'terror attack' which is coordinated and planned by Hamas terrorist group to target millions of civilians. "Israel is under a terror attack -- coordinated and planned by Hamas terrorist group targeting millions of civilians... Israel has the right to self-defence and we'll act to defend our citizens. Our action is against terrorists. Every rocket that is being launched from Gaza strip is a double war crime. They are using their own people as human shields. Between 20-30% of over 1000 missiles that have been launched in last 48 hours landed in Gaza strip," said Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Lior Haiat at a virtual conference.
The coronavirus variant B.1.617 first identified in India last year has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO )as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily, But are vaccines effective against this variant? Watch this video to find out.
As India is in the grasp of a devastating second wave of Covid-19, World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan termed the rate of infections and deaths in the country as "worrying" and called on governments to boost exercises on reporting actual numbers. She also said that the global health body strongly believes that Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver to Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should be done. Watch the video for more
New Delhi, May 04 (ANI): In their first in-person meeting in London on May 03, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the COVID-19 challenge, vaccine production capacity, supply chains amid the second wave of pandemic in India. Meeting was held on sidelines of G7 foreign ministers' meeting. Both ministers looked forward to a further conversation at the G7 plus Guests meeting starting from today.
Speaking to reporters a day after he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden noted that when America was facing a major health crisis, India helped his country by sending key drugs. Biden assured Modi that the United States and India will work closely together in the fight against Covid-19. Watch the video to know what the US President said regarding extending help to India.
Buckinghamshire (UK), Apr 25 (ANI): Britain on April 25 announced to send life-saving medical equipments to India as the COVID-19 situation has gone out of control in the country. UK government is sending over 600 medical devices including oxygen concentrators and ventilators to India to assist in fight against pandemic. Equipments were loaded in a truck in Buckinghamshire's Milton Keynes.
Kathmandu (Nepal), April 14 (ANI): Amid rising cases of coronavirus disease in the Himalayan Nation, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has warned of possible lockdown in coming days. Marking the occasion of Nepali New Year, KP Sharma Oli urged people to follow COVID-19 protocols as second wave infection is surging in Nepal. Nepal has witnessed a surge in COVID cases in recent days. A total of 2,321,670 tests using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method has been carried out. Nepal currently hosts active cases of 3,608 with total number of infection standing at 280,984. A total of 274,318 people have recovered from the virus whereas 3,058 people succumbed to the virus.
From Centre vs Maharashtra government over vaccine stocks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi receiving the second dose of coronavirus vaccine to New Zealand banning entry for all travellers from India, we bring to you seven key updates on the pandemic that you can't afford to miss. watch the video.