Month: July 2022

With over 400 cases every day, China is witnessing a new outbreak of COVID-19. More than 20 provincial-level regions in the Chinese mainland have reported locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, and daily caseloads have begun to flare up in recent days.

An expert from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that more subvariants have emerged during the new round of outbreaks, such as BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5, and the fact that they are more transmissible and harder to find poses challenges for the country’s COVID-19 control efforts, Global Times reported.
On Tuesday, the country reported 108 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 47 in Gansu, 21 in Guangxi, and 20 in Guangdong province, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday.

Provincial-level regions such as Anhui, Guangxi and Gansu became the latest hotspots. Anhui’s Sixian, which witnessed a spike of cases in early July, resumed normal life and production last week, but other small cities in Anhui, such as Bengbu’s Huaiyuan county, are still struggling with the increasing cases.

Epidemiologists said this new wave is challenging the coping ability of more inland and small cities, which are not as well equipped as metropolises, and emerging subvariants of Omicron further press anti-virus efforts as they spread faster and are harder to detect, the Global Times reported, Global Times reported.

Previously, from July 2 to 11, over 300 cases were reported every day. Some 199 confirmed cases and 539 silent carriers were reported on Tuesday.

The CDC expert said that compared with previous outbreaks since March, the latest outbreak exposed a new trend, that is the infection has sneaked into inland and small cities.

“Compared with cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Jilin, which faced the severest onslaughts during the last round of outbreak, those that are seeing a surge this time are less equipped medically, and in a poorer condition to cope with the virus,” he added.

Apart from large-scale outbreaks in small cities, big cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin also reported an increase in the cases in recent days, the expert said.

A new subvariant of Omicron BA.2.12.1 was found in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, said Chengdu’s health authorities on Sunday, noting it is 1.2 times as transmissible as BA.2, and no homologous sequence was found in the Chinese mainland.

Recently, around 500 people were found infected with COVID-19 over five days at a tourist resort in China’s Guangxi region.

Global Times reported that the outbreak left over 2,000 tourists stranded in Beihai city due to a coronavirus flare-up that hit the holiday resort.

The city of Beihai located in the south of Guangxi is one of the most popular tourist resorts in the region.

According to the local health commission of Guangxi, a number of cities including Beihai, Nanning, Guilin, Hezhou and Chongzuo have been affected by the outbreak.

The new wave of COVID-19 cases has been triggered by new emerging Omicron sub-variants, with nine such sub-variants all classified as forms of Omicron reportedly having been spreading among 12 regions since July, Global Times reported.

Recently, China enforced a lockdown in Xian, home to 13 million people after the city reported the first cases of a new Omicron subvariant. The lockdown was implemented after Xian reported 18 COVID-19 infections from Saturday to Monday, all of which are of the Omicron BA.5.2 subvariant, according to local disease control officials.

BA.5.2 is a sub-lineage of BA.5, which is already dominant in the US and appears to escape antibody responses among both people previously infected with COVID-19 and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to researchers.

It is the first time the subvariant has been reported in China, one of the last places in the world still adhering to a stringent zero-Covid policy.

Due to the latest outbreak in Beijing, millions of people are facing mandatory testing and thousands are under targeted lockdowns, just days after the city started to lift widespread curbs that had run for more than a month to tackle a broader outbreak since late April. (ANI)

The Supreme Court began hearing on Wednesday petitions filed by both factions of the Shiv Sena relating to the control of Shiv Sena party and the recent political crisis in Maharashtra, which brought down the Mahavikas Aghadi (Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP) government in the state.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli hearing the petitions filed by Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions said time is not an issue but some of the issues are important constitutional issues which should be settled. The pleas one by the Shinde camp and five by the Thackeray camp pertain to the disqualification proceedings, the election of Speaker, recognition of whip, floor test and others.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal representing Uddhav Thackeray’s camp told the apex court that every elected government in this country can be toppled if this case can be accepted. “Democracy is in danger if state governments can be toppled despite the bar under the 10th schedule,” Sibal said.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve for the Eknath Shinde camp said that inner party democracy has been throttled by disqualification proceedings. He has sought time to file reply on the petitions filed by Thackeray camp and asks to post the hearing next week.

In his arguments Sibal said: “Forty members of Shiv Sena by their conduct are deemed to have incurred disqualification by giving up party membership. By voting for a candidate put up by the BJP as Speaker in violation of the official whip, they have attracted disqualification. By voting in the vote of confidence violating official whip, they have incurred disqualification,” said Sibal.

He further said that the Governor should not have sworn-in to the new government when the Supreme Court was hearing the matters.

“Speaker recognizing a whip other than the official whip nominated by the party is mala fide,” he said.

Sibal said that the issue of the political party is itself in question. When disqualified members elect a person and they stand disqualified, then the election itself is bad.

“What happens to the verdict of the people who elected the government,” Sibal asks.

He said that the Schedule that has been used to prevent defection has been used to instigate defection. The tenth schedule has been turned topsy-turvy. Every day’s delay will play havoc with democratic decisions. An illegitimate government should stay for a single day, he added.

Senior advocate Singhvi appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp also told the Supreme Court that the so-called departing faction sent a letter to the then Deputy Speaker seeking his removal and they sent it from an unauthorized email followed by a letter by an advocate. Deputy Speaker didn’t take it on record saying no MLAs came before him.

Singvhi said the condition in the 10th Schedule is that not only you should have two-thirds going but also the 2/3rd should merge with another party. They have not merged with another party and they are not calling themselves BJP either. It is common ground that they have not merged. Yet they are not disqualified. They can vote in a floor test and form a contrived majority. We are beseeching the court to uphold a very important moral, ethical, legal and constitutional aspect, he added.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve for the Eknath Shinde camp said that inner party democracy has been throttled by disqualification proceedings.

“If a large number of people in a party feels that another man should lead, what is wrong with that. The moment someone gathers enough strength within the party and stays within the party to question the leader without leaving the party and says we will defeat you in the house, that is not defection. Defection is only when they leave the party and join hands with one another, not when they stay in the party,” he said.

Salve further said that the inner party matter and the court has never interfered in the workings of a political party.

Earlier, the top court had asked the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Rahul Narwekar not to take any action on the new disqualification notices issued against the members of Shiv Sena.

It had asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Maharashtra Governor, to inform its direction to the newly-appointed Assembly Speaker.

Uddhav Thackeray-led faction had approached the top court challenging the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s decision to invite Eknath Shinde to form the government and also the Speaker’s election and floor test.

They had also challenged the newly appointed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s action recognising the whip of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group as the whip of Shiv Sena. The plea said the newly appointed Speaker has no jurisdiction to recognise whips nominated by Shinde as Uddhav Thackeray is still the head of the Shiv Sena official party.

However, the Shinde group challenged the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker to 16 rebel MLAs as well as the appointment of Ajay Choudhary as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader, which is also pending before the apex court. (ANI)

Renowned former Olympic track and field athlete PT Usha on Wednesday took the oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Constitution as Rajya Sabha MP.

Usha, along with renowned composer Ilaiyaraaja, screenwriter V Vijayendra Prasad and spiritual leader Veerendra Heggade, were nominated to the Upper House of Parliament by the government in what was seen as part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) outreach to southern India.
“Pilavullakandy Thekkeyaparambil Usha (Nominated) to make the prescribed oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Constitution,” mentions Rajya Sabha List of Business.

Usha, was recently nominated to the Rajya Sabha, by the central government. A day ago, she met BJP president J P Nadda who extended his congratulations to her for being nominated as Upper House MP and wished her the very best.

Born in a small village in Kozhikode district in Kerala, Usha is one of India’s most iconic sportspersons.

Popularly known as the Payyoli Express, she has represented the country and won medals at various international sporting events, including the World Junior Invitational Meet, Asian Championships, and Asian Games. She has set and broken many national and Asian records during her career.

Usha has been a role model and inspiration for lakhs of young girls across the country who have dreamt of taking up a career in sports, especially track and field events.

In the 1984 Olympics, she missed winning India’s first medal in track and field in a photo-finish as she stood fourth in women’s 400M hurdles and lost the Bronze medal by 1/100 second.

Earlier on Monday, cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, Misa Bharti, daughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla took oath along with nearly 25 other leaders as Rajya Sabha members.

Others included A Rao Meena, Vijay Sai Reddy, Kheeru Mahto, Shambhala Saran Patel, Ranjeet Ranjan, Maharashtra Majhi, Aditya Prasad, Praful Patel, Imran Pratapgarhi, Sanjay Raut, Sasmit Patra, Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Vikramjeet Singh Sahani.

Randeep Singh Surjewal, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, R Girl Rajan, S Kalyan Sundaram, KRN Rajesh Kumar, Javed Ali Khan, V Vijendra Prasad were others among those who took the oath on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties forced adjournment of both the Houses of Parliament till 2 pm amid sloganeering and ruckus.

Both the Houses of Parliament are witnessing repeated adjournments following the ruckus by the Opposition leaders since the commencement of the Monsoon session on July 18. (ANI)

The Lower House of the Parliament has been adjourned till 2 pm on Wednesday after ruckus and sloganeering by Opposition parties on Day 3 of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on issues of inflation and GST hike.

Adjourning the House over sloganeering by Opposition MPs, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said, “I want to tell those members who are indulging in sloganeering that they should take part in discussions. The public wants the Parliament to work.”
Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted for the third straight day after Opposition members created a ruckus over inflation. Shortly after Leader of Opposition in the Parliament Mallikarjun Kharge began addressing the issue amid chaos, Upper House Chairman Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House till 2 pm.

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh hit out at the ‘obstinacy’ of the PM Modi government after the Rajya Sabha was adjourned without discussion on price rise and GST hike. He said the business in Parliament was suffering to the government’s denial of a debate on the issues.

“This morning in the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition led by the Congress demanded an URGENT debate on price rise and senseless GST rates on food items. This was denied. The House was adjourned till 2 pm. Modi Sarkar’s obstinacy continues. Business in Parliament is suffering,” tweeted Ramesh today.

Prior to the commencement of today’s Monsoon Session, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani lashed out at Congress MPs for disrupting the Parliamentary proceedings and said, “Rahul Gandhi never posed a question and always disrespected Parliamentary proceedings…He’s the one to have less than 40 per cent attendance in the House… Today, the person who’s been politically unproductive is dedicating himself to ensuring there’s no debate in Parliament”

The Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on July 18 and will continue till August 12. There will be 18 sittings during the Session. (ANI)

Overnight heavy rain near the Kahara village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Tuesday resulted in floods which have caused a lot of damage in the area.

“The village area is currently experiencing floods caused by very heavy rainfall which has destroyed many houses and caused loss of property, including the Allama Iqbal Memorial Academy and the building and grounds of Tourism,” said the local.
The people urged the District Administration and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) to deploy teams and take appropriate measures.

The India Meteorological Department on Monday had predicted scattered to fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms/lightning over Jammu and Kashmir for three days and a fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls over the region on Tuesday and Wednesday (i.e., July 19 and July 20).

Earlier on July 14, heavy rains and flash floods had damaged a foot-over bridge in the hilly areas of Rajouri causing much inconvenience to the people, due to which people were forced to cross the rivulet in waist-deep water for commuting.

The heavy rains in Rajouri had also damaged the crops of the local farmers.

Speaking about the situation, DDC Chairman Panchayati Raj, Naseem Liqat said that he requested Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to declare it a state disaster.

A cloudburst struck the holy cave area of Amarnath on July 8 and resulted in a heavy discharge of water in the ‘Nallah’ adjoining the holy cave, claiming 16 lives.

In the tragic incident, at least 36 people were reported missing.

Amarnath Yatra was partially suspended after the said cloudburst incident, but it later resumed on July 11 from the Nunwan Pahalgam side.

A cloudburst triggered by the heavy rains blocked the Srinagar-Leh highway on July 5, after flash floods occurred in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Flash floods also occurred in the Shah Mohallah Kullan area of Kangan in the Ganderbal district on July 3, inundating several houses and causing damage.

Apart from J-K, several other parts of the country are also facing flood-like situations after torrential rainfall this monsoon. (ANI)

The Customs sleuths have arrested a passenger who had flown in from Dubai and seized air guns, telescopic sights and arms accessories worth Rs. 20,54,000 at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, informed the officials on Tuesday.

The materials were recovered from a passenger coming from Dubai via flight no. IX-194.
The passenger was intercepted on the basis of database while attempting to pass through green channel without any declaration to Customs.

“During the examination of his luggage 10 air Guns, telescopic sights mountable on arms and other misc. arms accessories were recovered. During subsequent interrogation, the pax was found to be not in possession of licit documents,” read an official statement.

The goods have been seized for contravention of Customs Act, 1962 read with Baggage Rules, 2016, Foreign Trade (D&R) Act 1992 and Arms Rules, 2016.

The passenger has been arrested and will be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) Lucknow for judicial custody.

Further investigations are underway.

Earlier on July 14, the Customs department at Indira Gandhi International airport arrested an Indian couple who had arrived from Vietnam and seized at least 45 guns worth more than Rs 22 lakh from their bags.

According to the Commissioner of Customs, the accused couple admitted their previous involvement in the smuggling of 25 guns having a value of more than Rs 12 lakh.

“An Indian couple that arrived from Vietnam was nabbed and 45 guns worth over Rs 22 lakh from two trolley bags seized. They admitted their previous indulgence in smuggling 25 pieces of guns having a value of over Rs 12 lakh,” said the Commissioner of Customs, Indira Gandhi International Airport and General.

While the National Security Guard (NSG) has confirmed the functionality of the seized guns in a preliminary report, the Customs said that a ballistic report will confirm whether they are genuine.(ANI)

On the repeated adjournments of both the Houses of the Parliament by the Opposition, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that Wayanad MP who has been politically unproductive is now hell-bent on ensuring to bring down the productivity of Lok Sabha.

The BJP MP remark came ahead of the third day’s proceedings in the Monsoon Session, the BJP on Wednesday hit out at the Opposition, accusing it of “disrespecting Parliament, bringing down its productivity”.

Addressing a press conference, Irani said that Rahul Gandhi never posed a question, always disrespected Parliamentary proceedings and he is the one to have less than 40 per cent attendance in Parliament.

The opposition has been holding protests in Parliament on GST price rise, inflation and other issues but Smriti Irani specifically attacked Rahul Gandhi, saying, ” A gentleman who has made his political collogue to ensure that productive debate does not take place in Parliament had a chequered Parliamentary history. As the Amethi MP he never posed any questions in Parliament once he abandoned Amethi and went to Wayanad his attendance in the Winter Session of Parliament in 2019 was merely 40 per cent.”

“A gentleman who has never proposed a private member bill in Parliament in his parliamentary journey today yet again wants to ensure that health, productive debate, discuss in Parliament does not take place. Today adamant to bring down the productivity of the Lok Sabha,” said BJP MP.

The Union Minister further said that Rahul Gandhi’s entire political history has been dotted with showing disrespect to Parliamentary procedure and constitutional means of engagement.

“A gentleman whose entire political history has been dotted with showing disrespect to Parliamentary procedure and constitutional means of engagement needs to recognize the Parliament of India reflects the spirit, expectations and aspirations of the people of India. The citizen of India hopes that we use the Parliament as a productive platform to bring forth issues of national importance which will have a socio-political and economic impact on the discourse of the nation,” said Irani.

“Yet again Rahul Gandhi, in yet again session of Parliament shows nothing but disrespect to parliamentary procedures of engaging in productive constitutionally enabled discussion,” she added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi joined the opposition protest against inflation and 5 per cent goods and service tax (GST) price on essential items, in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament, on the second day of the Monsoon session.

Standing before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Parliament premises, they shouted slogans, calling for the government to reduce the prices of essentials. The first day of the monsoon session saw ruckus and disruption amid the opposition stir in both the houses, which were adjourned within hours.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on July 18 and will continue till August 12. There will be 18 sittings during the Session. (ANI)

The central government on Wednesday cut the windfall tax on crude oil to Rs 17,000 per tonne from earlier Rs 23,250 per tonne. This move comes amid the latest decline in global crude oil prices.

Taking into account windfall gains being accumulated by the domestic crude producers due to rising global crude prices in recent months, the Centre had on July 1 imposed a cess of Rs 23,250 per tonne on crude oil. The domestic crude producers sell crude to domestic refineries at international parity prices.
A tax levied on an unforeseen or unexpectedly large profit is called windfall tax.

The new rates will be effective from today – i.e. Wednesday, a government notification said.

Besides, the recently imposed special additional excise duty at Rs 13 per litre on diesel on exports has been reduced to Rs 10 now.

For petrol, the export tax has been removed. On July 1, the export tax of Rs 6 per litre on petrol was imposed.

As exports were becoming highly remunerative, it was noticed that certain refiners were drying out their pumps in the domestic market, an official statement had said then.

“While crude prices have increased sharply in recent months, the prices of HSD and Petrol have shown a sharper increase. The refiners export these products at globally prevailing prices, which are very high,” the government had explained the rationale behind the export tax move. (ANI)

Indian-origin former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak retained the lead in the fourth round of voting on Tuesday to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister, while one candidate was eliminated.

Sunak came on top with 118 votes, followed by Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt with 92 votes and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 86 votes.

Former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch was eliminated from the contest, reducing the number of the contestants to three, according to the 1922 Committee of Conservative Party backbenchers.

The other two survivors are International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (92 votes) and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (86 votes).

The three survivors are former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak (118 votes), International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (92 votes) and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (86 votes). Sunak has won each of the past four voting rounds. Mordaunt is a consistent second, followed by Truss,” Xinhua News Agency reported.

The last vote among MPs is scheduled to take place on Wednesday. This will produce the final two candidates just before the parliamentarians go to summer recess on Thursday.

Notably, the 1922 Committee aims to whittle down the field to two candidates in successive rounds of voting before the British parliamentarians break up for the summer recess on July 21.

The final two contenders will then go through a postal ballot of all the Conservative members, numbering around 200,000, over the summer and the winner will be announced on September 5, becoming the new Tory leader and the UK’s next Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May as Prime Minister in 2019 and announced on July 7 that he was stepping down as Prime Minister and leader of the UK Conservative Party.

A total of 58 ministers quit the government following an ethics scandal which ultimately forced the UK Premier to resign. Johnson, 58, managed to remain in power for almost three years, despite allegations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament and was dishonest to the public about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules.

Johnson would continue to remain in office until October as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader is elected.

Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general election in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the ‘Partygate’ scandal and Pincher scandal involving his appointment of a politician accused of sexual misconduct.

Johnson, however, defended his record as prime minister in the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, as he touted his achievements of pulling off the Brexit deal, rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine and helping Ukraine.

“It’s perfectly true that I leave not at a time of my choosing,” he said, insisting “I’m also proud of the leadership that I have given and I will be leaving soon with my head held high,” read Johnson’s statement. (ANI)

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said there is a very serious crisis in Sri Lanka and India has approached the situation in the neighbouring country in a very humanistic way as part of its neighbourhood first policy.

The minister told the all-party meeting that the situation in Sri Lanka is unprecedented and India is worried about it but drawing comparisons is uninformed.

Briefing reporters after the all-party meeting which was attended by representatives of 28 political parties, the minister said if there is instability in any neighbouring country or any violence, “that is a matter of deep concern to us”.

Referring to USD 3.8 billion support that India has given to Sri Lanka, he said “no other country has given this level of support”. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades.

The minister said that big lessons of Sri Lanka are to be drawn on fiscal prudence and good governance and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “we have both in very ample measure”.

Jaishankar said that fishermen’s issue also came up during the meeting.

“We have long-standing issues there. Some of the issues came up in terms of fishermen’s issues.

“So, naturally the level of concern, as well as the worry that there would be spillover to India, is there. If there is instability in any neighbouring country or any violence, that is a matter of deep concern to us,” he said.

The minister said many members were concerned about lessons of Sri Lanka and “we had anticipated that question”.

“We also have seen some very misplaced speculation in press saying something has happened in Sri Lanka so should we be worrying about situations in parts of India,” he said.

“So, we had asked Finance Ministry to make a presentation that brought out, statewise, the expenditure to the revenue comparison, liabilities to GSDP, growth rate or liablities of various Indian states, budget borrowings that they have done, mortgaging of assets.

“The unpaid power dues to GENCOMs and DISCOMs and the outstanding guarantees that states have. So we had a very good discussion. Members were very keen to know how much we have done,” he added.

The minister said that as Sri Lanka’s discussions with IMF go forward, India will give whatever support it can give in terms of working with relevant agencies.

“We’ve approached it(Sri Lanka situation)in a very humanistic way as part of our neighbourhood first policy. They’re still in a very delicate situation. As their discussions with IMF go forward, whatever support we can give in terms of working with relevant agencies, we’ll do,” he said.

He said there were two presentations during the meeting including that from a political perspective

“We had done two presentations. One was done from a political perspective, from a foreign policy perspective which explained to all leaders that the political turbulence in Sri Lanka, economic crisis which was there – the debt situation,” he said.

“The support that India has given of 3.8 Billion dollars assistance – no other country has given this level of support to Sri Lanka this yr & the initiative that we’re taking -how to help them & facilitate their engagement with other bodies including IMF and other debtors,” he added.

He said the meeting was government initiative and 38 leaders from political parties attended the meeting.

“There’s a very serious crisis in Sri Lanka, the situation there is unprecedented in terms of what we are seeing and the financial, social and political consequences of that. It’s our very close neighbour,” he said.

In his remarks at the all-party meeting, Jaishankar said that the situation in Sri Lanka is unprecedented “and India is worried about it”. “But drawing comparisons is uninformed,” he said

The minister said 46 parties were invited for the meeting. There were eight ministers, including Pralhad Joshi and Purshottam Rupala,” he said. (ANI)