US panel votes yes to Pfizer Covid boosters for over-65s and high-risk people

Federal advisory panel approves booster shots for older Americans and other high-risk groups.

The World Health Organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization will take up Covaxin approval on October 5. 

Union petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday continued to attack opposition parties over spreading misinformation which led to hesitancy in taking the vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India. Read more

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday arrested an associated of Dawood Ibrahim, Mohammad Azim Abu Saleem. Saleem was involved in extortion and smuggling of drugs. "Cases of extortion and robbery have been registered against him at several police stations," the NCB said. 

Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Maharashtra governor, courted a controversy after he took off the face mask of a woman whom he felicitated at an event in the city on Friday. Read more

The beating retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab has resumed with limited number of attendees, news agency ANI reported on Friday. 

Finance minister Sitharaman said on Friday that bringing petrol and diesel were brought under GST on the basis of Kerala high court's order. Read more

Sitharaman also said that in order to ensure that skill development is given prominence, training programmes which are wholly funded by the Centre or state governments will be exempted from GST. 

Finance minister Sitharaman said that transport of export goods by vessel and air has been exempted from GST. “This exemption was given because of the difficulties faced by exporters in getting refund of ITC, due to technical issues on the GST portal," she said, adding the exemption has been extended by one more year.

Union finance minister said during Friday's briefing that drugs used for muscular atrophy including Zolgensma have been exempted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST). 

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharman is addressing a press conference on the outcome of the 45th GST council meeting. Sitharaman said that people-friendly decisions were taken during the meeting. 

Dutch defence minister Ank Bijleveld has resigned from the top post after the parliament condemned her handling of evacuation of refugees from Afghanistan in August. 

On Friday, terrorists fired at a policeman in at Wanpoh area in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, news agency ANI reported. The policeman has been shifted to a hospital. More details are awaited. 

Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form the government in Telangana in 2024. “BJP does not do politics of appeasement. We are not scared of the Majlis,” Shah added. 

The Centre said on Friday that over 20 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 were administered during the day. Read more

The Telangana high court on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of the 30-year-old man suspected in the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old tribal girl in Hyderabad last week. Read more

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with healthcare workers and beneficiaries of the vaccination programme against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Goa, according to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). 

The national capital's caseload of the coronavirus disease climbed to 1,438,428 on Friday after 33 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours. One more patient died while 56 recovered from the viral disease, taking the cumulative count of deaths and recoveries to 25,085 and 1,412,936 respectively. The active cases in Delhi stand at 407, the bulletin added. 

High courts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana among others will get new chief justices, news agency PTI reported on Friday. 

The Delhi Fire Services informed on Friday that the fire which broke out at the CBI building at the CGO complex in Lodhi Road has been brought under control. 

The Delhi government on Friday listed 14 points for construction sites to follow to prevent dust pollution in the national capital, environment minister Gopal Rai said on Friday. 

A fire broke out in the basement of the CBI building at the CGO complex in Lodhi Road in the national capital on Friday, news agency ANI reported. Eight fire tenders have been rushed to the spot. All officers and staff in the building have been evacuated. Further details awaited. 

The Income Tax department on Friday conducted searches at multiple premises linked to senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with a tax evasion probe, sources told news agency PTI. The sources added that the raids are being carried out at Mumbai, Nagpur and also in Rajasthan's Jaipur. 

India has already administered 10 million covid vaccine doses till 1.34pm as part of centre’s vaccine sewa call on Modi’s birthday, the data on Co-Win portal showed. This is the fourth time that 10 million doses have been administered in a single day.

In a joint operation, security forces apprehended wanted Naxal Madkam Raja in Sukma, Chhattisgarh: Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)