On Wednesday, India’s civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia invited the Montreal-based United Nations agency to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Scindia interacted with various national executives and representatives at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). He also met with the president of the Executive Council of ICAO Salvatore Sciacchitano. After his meeting, Scindia tweeted, “Together with other ICAO members, India is committed to playing an instrumental role in growing the global civil aviation market”. In his meeting, he focused on the “demo
On Monday, Germany committed 10 billion euros to help India achieve its climate action target set for 2030. The target will include a 50% energy requirement from renewables and the installation of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel electricity capacity. After the sixth India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGS), the joint statement was released after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, “Germany intends to strengthen its financial and technical cooperation and other assistance to India with a long-term goal of at least 10 billion euros of ne
On Monday, New Zealand dropped most of its remaining pandemic border restrictions and welcomed back tourists from the US, Canada, Britain, Japan and more than 50 other countries for the first time in more than two years. Before the pandemic hit the globe, more than 3 million tourists visited each year in New Zealand. The tourist industry alone accounted for more than 20% of the national foreign income and more than 5% of the overall economy. Due to the pandemic, the nation imposed some of the world’s toughest border restrictions and that remained in place as the government focused on eli
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) picks Nand Mulchandani as its first-ever Chief Technology Officer. Mulchandani is an Indian-American Silicon Valley IT expert who studied at Delhi school and has more than 25 years of expertise working in Silicon Valley. Director William J Burns announced the appointment through social media. CIA said in a tweet, “CIA Director William J. Burns appoints Nand Mulchandani as CIA’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO). with more than 25 years of experience, Mr Mulchandani will ensure the Agency is leveraging cutting-edge innovations to further CIA’s
On Tuesday, a $32 million humanitarian project was launched by Saudi Arabia and France to help alleviate Lebanon’s crushing financial crisis. The agreement was made between the French foreign ministry, the French Development Agency, and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre. The aid will provide nearly 30 million Euros to the first humanitarian initiatives with many more to come. It will provide monthly food assistance to 7,500 people, support hospitals in Tripoli and north Lebanon, and distribute baby formula to needy families as part of the first programme. The other part
On Sunday, an experimental treatment from Japanese drugmaker Shionogi & Co. Ltd showed a rapid clearance of the virus causing COVID-19. The data on pill S-217622 was revealed by the Japanese drugmaker. Shionogi said in the statement that the pill “demonstrated rapid clearance of the infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus”, citing Phase-2b results from the Phase II/III clinical trial of the drug. According to Shionogi, the data also showed “there was no significant difference in the total score of 12 COVID_19 symptoms between treatment arms”, however, the pill showed improvement in a co
The Food and Drug Administration issued the first breath test device to detect COVID-19 infection. The InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer can be used in doctor’s offices, hospitals and mobile testing sites due to its small size. InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer utilizes a technique called gas chromatography gas mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to separate and identify chemical combinations and quickly detect five volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in exhaled breath. The agency said, “InspectIR expects to be able to produce approximately 100 instruments per w
Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms turns 96-year-old today. Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born on 21 April 1926 in Mayfair, England and took the queen's title on June 2, 1953. Gun salutes will ring and rounds will be fired from the Tower of London and Hyde Park where a military band will play “Happy Birthday”. During this year's official birthday celebration, four days of public events will be held from June 2 to 5 to commemorate the queen's 70 years on the throne. The royal family of the United Kingdom has had a difficult year, with fears about the qu
On Monday, The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its COVID-19 international travel advisory system by removing all countries from its ‘Do Not Travel’ list. The updated advisory comes a day after a federal judge in Florida recently struck down a national mask requirement for public transportation across the country. The Transportation Security Administration announced on Monday it wouldn't enforce a security directive that applies to aeroplanes, airports, taxis and other mass transit systems that were set to take effect in January 2021. Major airline
On Monday, The White House announced a global summit to put an end to the COVID-19 crisis and prepare for the future upheaval that will occur on May 12. Despite President Joe Biden's struggles to get vital pandemic funding from Congress, the virtual gathering will be co-chaired by the US with the current G7 German president, G20 president Indonesia, African Union chair Senegal, the current chair of the CARICOM Caribbean grouping and Belize. A joint statement was released by the countries stating, “The summit will redouble our collective efforts to end the acute phase of the Covid-19 p