BY SFOORTI MISHRA New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) As India entered phase-3 of the lockdown on Monday due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, women who already face domestic violence may have to suffer more for the government's decision to open liquor shops, according to women's rights activists.   Speaking to IANS, social activist and Director of the Centre for Social Research (CSR), Dr. Ranjana Kumari said, "According to the government's own National Family Health survey data, th

NEW YORK, May 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - With all the economic damage China wrought by covering up Covid-19’s spread, why should Uncle Sam pay back the $1.1 trillion it owes the People’s Republic? To do otherwise would cause market chaos, potentially trash the dollar’s status as a reserve currency and fail to slow the pandemic’s course. But President Donald Trump would find it surprisingly easy to effectively renege on those obligations. And as he sets out on a re-election cam

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) The trust level of Indians in Prime Minister Narendra Modi has zoomed in the last two years with more than three fourths, or 76.3 per cent, expressing "lot of trust", according to the IANS-CVoter tracker conducted across the country.   PM Modi's ratings have galloped as compared to 2018 when 58.6 per cent respondents in the tracker had expressed "lot of trust" in his leadership.   The spectacular ratings come at a time when India is battlin

BY DODUL MONDAL IANS | May 3 So, we have entered the third phase of nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial turbulence has now settled down to a great extent in terms of peoples' acceptance and willingness to follow this lockdown. Apart from a few stray incidences of rule violations, India has been doing much better than many other countries in the world, better than many first world countries.   The rate of increase in active cases is also not

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam March 2, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/Pool/File Photo   By Sangmi Cha   May 2 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in three weeks, state media reported on Saturday, after an unexplained absence fuelled questions about who would take over the nuclear-armed state in the event of his death.  

AP Photo   New Delhi, May 1 (PTI): Majority of respondents favoured continuation of the lockdown for another two weeks to fight coronavirus, according to a survey by think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research.   The government on Friday extended the lockdown for another two weeks from May 4. It had imposed a 21-day nationwide lockdown on March 25 and extended it further till May 3 to contain the spread of deadly coronavirus.   The second r

Migrant workers arrive at the Mawa Ferry Ghat in Munshiganj district, Bangladesh April 30, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain   Strict curfews, lockdowns and travel bans enforced in the wake of COVID-19 decimate jobs and slash remittances   ROME/AMMAN, May 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Fathy called his family back home in Egypt a week ago, they asked him to send money, as he had for the past year. But he had none, having lost his job as a car painter in

San Francesco, April 30 (IANS) As COVID-19 impacts every aspect of work and life globally, Microsoft has seen two years' worth of digital transformation in just two months of its third quarter (January-March period), according to CEO Satya Nadella.   "From remote teamwork and learning to sales and customer service to critical cloud infrastructure and security, we are working alongside customers every day to help them stay open for business in a world of remote everything," h

Mumbai, April 30 (PTI) Rishi Kapoor''s death is the end of an era in Hindi cinema, said co-stars and friends Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar as they reminisced about the time spent with the actor who loved to live larger-than-life. The actor, 67, died on Thursday at HN Reliance hospital here after a two year long battle with leukemia, his elder brother Randhir Kapoor confirmed with PTI.   His family said the actor remained "jovial and determined to live

Health workers wearing protective suits screen resident of Dharavi in Mumbai during a house-to-house health survey. Photograph: PTI Photo   New Delhi, April 30 (PTI): As the May 3 deadline for the lockdown nears, medical experts feel the next month can be "make or break" for the fight against COVID-19 and an aggressive containment strategy for hotspots along with insulation of green zones is essential while giving some relaxations.   The experts also suggeste

Philanthropist Bill Gates (L) embraces Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg during an announcement of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to "cure, prevent or manage all disease" by the end of the century during a news conference at UCSF Mission Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S. September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach   World's billionaires could close a huge funding gap in solving global woes with philanthropy or taxes, researchers say   NEW YORK, April 30 (Thomson Reu

A view of the destruction caused by Cyclone Fani after its landfall, in Puri, Friday, May 3, 2019. (PTI Photo)   The displacements were a result of a combination of increasing hazard intensity, high population exposure and high levels of social and economic vulnerability, a report says.   New Delhi, April 29 (PTI): Five million people were displaced in India last year, the highest in the world, due to disasters, including cyclones and monsoon floods, a new report by

Raphael AVL Malchhanhima with the two ambulance drivers -- Chinnathanbi and Jeyanthiran, who travelled for over 3,000 km back to Mizoram. Photograph: @ZoramthangaCM/Twitter   Home is where the heart is, in life and in death, too.   New Delhi, April 29 (PTI): 23-year-old Raphael AVL Malchhanhima was a distraught man when his friend Vivian Lalremsanga died of a suspected heart attack on April 23 in Chennai.   The lockdown had shuttered the city and c

A message encouraging hand washing is seen above the Buckhead Theater days before the phased reopening of businesses and restaurants from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage   LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Reuters) - It started centuries ago as a symbol of peace, a gesture to prove you weren't holding a weapon, and over time it became part of almost every social, religious, professional, business and spo

New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon, feels that India should start opening its lockdown from May 3 and become fully operational by end of June.   In an exclusive interview with IANS, Shaw said that data indicate that India is entering into a safe zone and has done a phenomenal job of flattening the Covid-19 curve.   Shaw added that the government will also have to provide a huge financial stimulus to boost industrial pro

A rickshaw puller wearing a facemask sleeps on his rickshaw in Dhaka on April 27. — AFP   Rules making people wear masks in public are hitting the poor hardest and exposing deep inequalities   KABUL/COLOMBO, April 28 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Buy a mask and let his family go hungry, or buy food and go out into the crowded city without one - that is the stark choice facing Hayatullah Khan, an Afghan labourer whose daily earnings have fallen below $1.50 durin

Mumbai, April 27 (IANS) Noted for her eye-catching saris, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Monday turned heads for a different reason - when she donned the sparkling white uniform of a caring nurse with a cap, much like the iconic Italian-born British nurse, Miss Florence Nightingale.   The move - coming barely a fortnight before the world celebrates the 200th birth anniversary of Nightingale on May 12 - was intended to boost the morale of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporat

BY VISHAL GULATI Chandigarh, April 27 (IANS) More than 2.5 lakh Indian nationals, including about one lakh students, are stranded in Australia amid coronavirus pandemic. But their families back home have nothing to worry about.   India's High Commissioner to Australia, A. Gitesh Sarma, told IANS in an exclusive interview on Monday that Indian students are valued in Australia. Their welfare and well-being remain the highest priority at all times.   In a virtual

By Bharat Upadhyay   New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) As the field of alternative medicine gains immense popularity in the wake of COVID-19, the ancient practice of Ayurveda with India as its land of origin can don the role of quiet yet powerful armed forces in the fight against the coronavirus, according to a seasoned Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.     Weill Cornell Medicine is the biomedical research un

BY SAEED NAQVI IANS | April 26   A piquant picture of the post pandemic world appeared in the spa town of Lazne Bohdanec east of Prague when Czech police patrol ordered a bevy of committed nudists to "cover up" -- with face masks, the new fig leaf. The police penetration of their idyllic parks has caused deep consternation: nudism brought them close to nature, of course, but also helped them tan. The latter objective stands compromised because of the pigmentation difference