Mumbai, India — The government of India has proposed raising the smoking age from 18 to 21, banning the sale of loose cigarettes, and doing away with designated smoking areas in public places. The proposal also includes provisions for increasing the penalty for selling tobacco products to anyone under the legal smoking age from two years’ imprisonment and a fine of INR 1,000 ($13.62) up to seven years’ imprisonment and up to INR 1 lakh fine ($1,361). While the prevalence of smoking in India has declined since 2010, according to Statista data, it is projected to reach 10 percent by…
Author: zenger.news
New Delhi, India — With a $2.8 billion loss, India was the “most economically impacted nation” due to internet curbs in 2020, a report from a UK firm states. Major internet shutdowns in 21 countries cost the world economy $4.01 billion, with India’s losses accounting for around 70 percent of the total, according to a report by TOP10VPN, a digital privacy and security research group. Even as the economic cost of global internet shutdowns was down by 50 percent from 2019, the duration of major disruptions went up by 49 percent — from 18,225 hours in 2019 to 27,165 in…
Pune, India — India’s Supreme Court plans to form a committee of agricultural experts and independent members to end the protests over three new farm laws, which have continued through seven rounds of talks to resolve matters. The court said there has been “no improvement” in talks between the government and a representative group of thousands of protesting farmers and adjourned the case until Jan. 11 without issuing any orders. Farmers, mainly from the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at the borders of the national capital for more than a month despite cold and rainy…
Legendary amateur music talent show judge Simon Cowell will join the judging panel on “The X Factor Israel” in its long-awaited fourth season, to be aired in 2021. Cowell created the singing competition 16 years ago and was formerly a judge on “The X Factor” in the U.K. and U.S. He also judges contestants on “Britain’s Got Talent” and “America’s Got Talent” and reportedly is working on a new American reality TV series, “50 States to Stardom.” “The X Factor Israel” has never had a foreign judge. The panel has included local stars Subliminal, Ivri Lider, Rami Fortis, Shiri Maimon…
HAIFA, Israel – An Israeli start-up is being recognized for an innovative technology that’s designed to make hydrogen fuel much more affordable. Israeli startup H2Pro has been named “best company in the scale-up track” in Royal Dutch Shell’s New Energy Challenge competition. H2Pro was one of five finalists, and the only one from Israel. First, a bit of background: Hydrogen is an ideal “green” replacement for fossil fuels. When hydrogen is burned or converted into electricity using a fuel cell, the only byproduct is water; there are no harmful CO2 emissions. And one kilogram of hydrogen packs as much energy…
NEW Delhi — Despite the economic downturn in India, a new housing scheme for 2021 has generated interest from 3,000 potential buyers for 1,354 apartments in just four days. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) launched the scheme on Jan. 2 for apartments in various parts of the city. In 2019 the DDA had offered 18,000 new apartments and received 45,012 applications, but it cut the number of flats for sale to 10,294 due to poor response. It ultimately sold only 8,438 units. DDA’s housing scheme 2021 is linked to a subsidy program under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, or Housing for All (Urban). Though there is…
LAHORE — Human rights activists have welcomed a ruling by a Pakistani court to outlaw a “virginity test” for survivors of sexual assault. The high court in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, on Jan. 4 issued the judgment in response to petitions filed by rights activists and journalists that claimed the intrusive and demeaning practice is unreliable, unnecessary and has no scientific basis. Justice Ayesha Malik said the virginity test “offends the dignity of the female victim” and is contradictory to Article 9 and Article 14 of the Constitution, which are related to the security and dignity of a person.…
PUNE, India — In another step toward turning India into a natural gas-based economy, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Jan. 5 inaugurated a 450-kilometer (280-mile) liquid natural gas pipeline between two coastal cities during a video conference. Built at a cost of INR 3,000 crore (approximately $410 million) by GAIL (India) Ltd., the Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline is meant to provide a resource that is cheap, convenient and environmentally friendly, “India is shifting its focus to gas-based economy, and a lot of work is being done on ‘One Nation, One Gas Grid.’ The gas-based economy is extremely crucial for Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India),”…
Covid-19 vaccines built with mRNA are the future. Genetic messengers that carry instructions to cells to make proteins, to treat or prevent disease, can be harnessed to keep the pandemic sickness at bay. The same technology was used to treat cancer in mice in the laboratory of Professor Dan Peer, vice president for research and development and head of the Laboratory of Precision Nanomedicine at the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at Israel’s Tel Aviv University (TAU). The novel lipid nanoparticle-based delivery system, called CRISPR-LNPs, carries mRNA that encodes for the enzyme Cas9. This enzyme acts as a…
SPAIN — Open Arms, a Barcelona-based non-governmental organization, has rescued 265 migrants, including 14 women and 63 minors, at the Mediterranean sea in two separate operations. The migrants were rescued on Dec 31 and Jan 2 and will be shifted to Italy regarding safety concerns. The boat is expected to arrive in Italy on Tuesday. Open Arms shared videos of the two operations. Both migrant vessels are reported to have started their journey from Libya. “We were given a sailboat, Astra, that we turned into a rescue and surveillance boat,” reads the website of Open Arms. “Our flagship missions, our…