India sees lowest COVID-19 cases in 45 days



International Desk, Barta24.com
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India's COVID-19 graph continued to show declining trend with 1.73 lakh new Covid cases recorded in the last 24 hours, the lowest daily spike in 45 days.

Earlier this month, the country's daily cases hit a grim world record with 4.14 lakh infections.

Here are ten points on daily Covid cases in India:

Even as India continues to see an alarming surge in cases as compared to other nations in the world, this is the second consecutive day that less than 2 lakh cases have been registered. The positivity rate has been less than 10 per cent for the last five days.

The government on Friday reiterated that it aims to vaccinate the entire country by the end of this year. "The Health Ministry has given a blueprint. 108 crore people - with 216 crore doses - will be vaccinated by December," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a televised briefing amid attacks from the Congress's Rahul Gandhi.

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is in the United States and he said the pandemic and vaccines are an important part of the discussion with top officials of the Joe Biden administration. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said India was there for the US in the early days of COVID-19, something which the country "will never forget".

The government is looking for import of vaccines for "swift vaccination of the entire population," the Health Ministry stressed yet again on Friday evening in a tweet.

Over 28 lakh vaccines were administered on Friday, the government said, adding that 20.86 crore doses have been administered thus far. "Production of Covaxin vaccine will hit six crore by July/August under Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 Mission COVID Suraksha. Almost 90 Lakh doses (are) committed for the month of June," an official statement read.

After the second wave hit India, the "terrible" surge in Covid cases led to a shortfall of 190 million doses, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI, news agency PTI reported.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said his government will start unlocking the city gradually from Monday. The national capital has been under a lockdown since April 19 as it saw an unprecedented surge in Covid cases and health infrastructure buckled under the pressure of an increase in the number of patients.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said his government will extend the lockdown-like restrictions after June 1, and ease the curbs in a phased manner. The state has the country's highest caseload but Mumbai, among other cities, has now been witnessing a drop in positivity rate.

After United States, the European Union has also cleared Pfizer shots for 12-15 year olds.

The WHO's European director warned Friday that the Covid-19 pandemic won't end until at least 70 percent of people are vaccinated, and criticized Europe's vaccine rollout as "too slow". "The pandemic will be over once we reach 70 percent minimum coverage in vaccination," the regional director said.

Source: NDTV 

   

We are ashamed to look at the development of Bangladesh: Pakistan PM



International Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif praised the economic progress of Bangladesh and said that they are ashamed to look at the development of Bangladesh.

According to a report by Pakistan-based media Dawn on Thursday (April 25), Shahbaz Sharif said this in a view exchange meeting with business representatives at the Sindh Chief Minister's residence in Karachi on Wednesday (April 24).

He said that before independence, Bangladesh i.e. East Pakistan at that time was considered a burden to the country. But they have made tremendous progress in the growth of industrialization.

Shahbaz Sharif said, I was very young when...we were told that it was a burden on our shoulders. Today you all know where that burden has reached (in terms of economic growth). And now when we look at them, we feel ashamed.

Currently, Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan in almost all indicators of the socio-economic sector.

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Mass arrests could not stop anti-Israel protests at American universities



International Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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US universities have erupted in protest over Israel's military operation in the Palestinian-besieged Gaza. This pro-Palestinian movement is being suppressed even after mass arrests. Rather, as the days go by, the protests are spreading.

The news agency Reuters reported that police made mass arrests at Atlanta's Emory University amid protests. A graduation ceremony at the University of Southern California was canceled due to the protests.

Emory University officials said protesters not affiliated with the college entered campus grounds early Thursday morning. When they refused to leave, the police used chemical spray to disperse them.

According to CBS News, about 108 people were arrested at Emerson College in the city on Wednesday night local time. Earlier in the evening, 93 people were taken into police custody from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

Anti-Israel protests have spread to dozens of US universities within a week of starting at New York's Columbia University.

Meanwhile, a clash between protesters and police took place at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. Later, authorities said that 34 people were arrested from there. These new arrests came after massive arrests of protesters at Columbia, Yale and New York universities.

Students gathered Wednesday (April 24) to protest at the University of Southern California's Alumni Park. At this time they were stopped by the riot police. Protesters were told to leave within 10 minutes by an announcement from a police helicopter. However, the students who remained at the scene were arrested for trespassing.

The protests at the University of Southern California were reportedly peaceful at first. Later the tension spread with the presence of the police. Protesters threw water bottles at the police when they tried to arrest a woman. At this time, they kept shouting slogans - 'Let him go'. Besides, they surrounded the police officers and shouted slogans like 'I want the liberation of Palestine'.

It should be noted that on October 7, the Palestinian independence organization Hamas entered Israeli territory and carried out an ambush. 1200 people were killed. Because of this, since that day, the Israeli forces continue to attack Gaza indiscriminately. 34 thousand 305 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip in the attack that lasted for more than six months. Apart from this, there is a severe humanitarian crisis due to lack of food, water and medical equipment.

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Iran is cracking down on women who don't wear Hijab



International Desk, Barta24.com
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Iran is cracking down on women and girls who don't wear Hijab. The country has started a new campaign named 'Noor' from last April 13. Since then, the implementation of the Hijab law has started to become stricter.

Iran has strict laws on wearing the Hijab. Strict action is taken against those who break this law.

Some videos of women being assaulted have gone viral on social media. In them, it is seen that women who go out without Hijab are forcibly picked up in cars by the members of the 'Morality Police'.

A video shows a mother and daughter walking through Tehran's busiest square in the capital. At that time, they were surrounded by five female and two male members of the police. When they tried to evade arrest, they were violently beaten and taken into a car.

Dina Ghalibaf, a female student at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, wrote on the micro-blogging site X that she was barred from boarding the metro. When she insisted, she was taken to a room. She claimed that she was beaten and sexually harassed there.

The student was arrested a day after making such a post and taken to Evin prison.

British newspaper The Guardian spoke to some of those arrested. One of them told the media that eight members of the police surrounded her last Saturday. At that time, she was called "prostitute", "naked American prostitute" and insulted her. Apart from this, the young woman claimed that men also touched her during the arrest.



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Boeing incurs huge losses after door open incident



Special Correspondent, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Boeing lost a huge amount of money due to the opening of the doors of the Boeing aircraft of Alaska Airlines in mid-air. US aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported a loss of US dollar 343 million in the first quarter of this year (January-March).

An unused door on an Alaska Airlines Boeing Max 9 collapsed moments after takeoff from Portland, Oregon last January. Although the Alaska Airlines plane was able to land safely in this incident, questions about Boeing's safety have been raised around the world.

As a result, Boeing reduced the production of the aircraft according to their target. As a result, Boeing is forced to pay huge losses in the first quarter of this year.

After the Alaska Airlines incident, the United States Aviation Agency ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing Max 737 aircraft. In the wake of the incident, Boeing's chief immediately admitted the mistake and promised to fix the problem with 100% transparency. But even this did not save the end. Boeing's CEO was eventually forced to resign.

In order not to cut the heat of this incident, a former Boeing engineer recently talked about the manufacturing defects of the Dreamliner 787. He recommended grounding all Dreamliner aircraft worldwide. In this incident, the safety of Boeing was questioned again.

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