While fresh COVID-19 cases in India remain at manageable levels, doctors in India, as medical experts globally, grapple with a mysterious spike in unexplained hepatitis in children who have tested positive for the infection.A team of doctors from the Bundelkhand Medical College (BMC), Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research, Chandigarh, report that 37 (about 8%) of 475 children who tested COVID-19 positive from April to July in 2021 developed COVID-acquired hepatitis (CAH).
Finland’s government declared a “new era” is underway as it inches closer to seeking NATO membership, hours before Sweden’s governing party on Sunday backed a plan to join the trans-Atlantic alliance amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.Russia has long bristled about NATO moving closer to its borders, so the developments will be sure to further anger Moscow.
Sri Lanka on May 15 said it will “duly investigate” the information flagged by Indian intelligence agencies — that ex-LTTE were “regrouping to launch attacks” in the island— and “strengthen security”, a day after authorities denied the claim reported in The Hindu.On May 13 The Hindu, citing Indian intelligence sources, reported that “some erstwhile cadre” had entered Tamil Nadu to “plan and execute” attacks in Sri Lanka that is in the grips of a crippling economic crisis and political uncertainty. The attacks were being timed with the ‘Mullivaikkal anniversary’, sources had indicated. They were referring to the civil war anniversary marked by Sri Lanka’s Tamils on May 18 every year, to remember the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians who were killed during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war in May 2009, when Sri Lankan forces crushed the LTTE.
Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Sunday assumed charge as the 25th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). Mr. Kumar succeeds Sushil Chandra, who retired on Saturday.After assuming charge, Mr. Kumar said a lot had been done over the past 70 years by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure free and fair elections. “The Commission will follow the time-tested and democratic methods of consultations and consensus- building in bringing about any major reforms responsible under the Constitution. ECI will not shy away from taking tough decisions,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the construction of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage on Monday during a day-long visit to Lumbini in Nepal. The visit will coincide with the celebrations to mark the Buddha Jayanti.Lumbini is the place where Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born around 623 BC.He later attained enlightenment at Bodhgaya in Bihar district and came to be known as the Buddha.
Remission or premature release of a convict has to be considered in terms of the policy applicable in the State where the crime was committed and not where the trial was transferred to and concluded, the Supreme Court has said.A Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath said under Section 432(7) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, there cannot be a concurrent jurisdiction of two State governments on the issue of remission.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lumbini, Nepal, though only for a few hours, is full of symbolism and substance. No Indian Prime Minister has visited Lumbini in the last few decades. Mr. Modi’s visit is a combination of personal desire and political and strategic goals. For him, it is the fulfilment of a wish articulated in 2014 when he first became Prime Minister.
Road safety is an issue of universal concern. All of us are road users. Yet, it barely captures our attention, except when it involves a celebrity hit-and-run case. The statistics are startling. Every year, mega Indian cities witness nearly 50,000 accidents. A quarter of them are fatal. More than half of these are on account of over speeding and a quarter due to dangerous driving. Nearly half of those who lose their lives are pedestrians. Almost half of these avoidable deaths are due to collisions with buses and trucks. The burden of death is borne by the young. The opportunity cost of lost human lives is immense.
In a brief order delivered in S.G. Vombatkere vs Union of India, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India effectively suspended the operation of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. The provision, which criminalises sedition, has been used by successive regimes, including by governments post-Independence, to suppress democratic dissent.
A division Bench of the Delhi High Court recently delivered a split verdict on whether exception two to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, i.e., marital rape exception, is unconstitutional. This exception states that sexual acts by a man with his adult wife are not rape.The two judgments discuss several important issues in coming to their diametrically opposed decisions.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 apparently to stop NATO’s further expansion into its neighbourhood. But in less than three months, the same invasion has pushed two countries in that neighbourhood to consider NATO membership. Last week, the Prime Minister and President of Finland, which has stayed neutral since the end of the Second World War, said they hoped their country would apply for NATO membership “without delay”.