Breaking News, February 26

As the Delhi government lifts all COVID-19 related restrictions from February 28 onwards, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Saturday announced that the metro will now run without any restrictions, with 100 per cent capacity. The DMRC, in a statement, said, "Passengers will be allowed to travel in the Metro without any restrictions i.e, they can travel in both standing and sitting manner." All gates of metro stations will also remain open to facilitate passenger entry throughout the day.

Delhi High Court Chief Justice D N Patel on Saturday said the disputes of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) may look private in nature but they also involve an element of public interest. Delivering the welcome speech at the "National Seminar on Adjudication of IPR Disputes in India", Justice Patel said protection of intellectual property does not only include business opportunities but also the sense of mental satisfaction of the creator. "IPR is not a simple subject, this field is undoubtedly a complex one with no geographical boundaries. Undeniably, the disputes relating to intellectual property may look private in nature but in reality, most of the time, they also involve an element of public interest," he said. While Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana was the chief guest, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was the guest of honour. Besides, judges of the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, various other high courts and district courts, advocates and bureaucrats were also present on the occasion.

Four women police personnel were injured, three of them critically, after being hit by a car in Bhopal city when they were returning home after watching a movie, an official said on Saturday. The incident occurred near Depot Chowk here shortly after midnight on Saturday, he said. "The four women police constables were walking down to their place after watching a movie, when the speeding car knocked them down around 12.30 am. All of them were admitted to a hospital, where the condition of three of them is stated to be critical," T T Nagar police station inspector Chan Singh Raghuvanshi told PTI. They had gone to watch movie after finishing their police duty for the day, he said, adding that they had been transferred to the state capital recently and they were with the traffic police. The driver of the car was arrested and his vehicle has been impounded.

Several market associations in the national capital are hopeful that their business will be back on track, which was affected due to the COVID-19 restrictions, after the city government decided to withdraw all curbs, including night curfew. On Friday, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, decided to withdraw all restrictions from Monday, reduce the fine for not wearing masks from Rs 2,000 to Rs 500 and resume physical classes in Delhi schools from April 1. Ashok Randhawa, president of the Sarojini Nagar mini-market traders’ association, said that the lifting of the night curfew comes as the "biggest" relief. “We welcome this move by the Delhi government, the lieutenant governor and the DDMA. With the lifting of the night curfew, we will get more time to do business. During weekdays, most of the customers come to the market for shopping after their office hours. As the restrictions were in place and the market used to close by 8 pm, many of them returned home without shopping.

Reliance Industries has effectively taken over the operations of Future Retail stores and has offered jobs to its employees, even as the Kishore Biyani-led group is locked in a bitter battle with e-commerce major Amazon at several judicial forums over the sale of its business to the retail arm of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate. Reliance Retail has started to take possession of the premises in which Future Retail is operating its stores such as Big Bazaar and replaced them with its brand stores, said sources close to the development. It has also started to offer jobs to employees of Future Retail stores and bring them on Reliance Retail's payroll, they added. When contacted, Amazon declined to comment on the development.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal was leading in 249 Zilla Parishad Zones (ZPZ) seats while BJP candidates are ahead in 30 and Congress in 13 as per early trends of Odisha Panchayat polls, officials said on Saturday. The counting of votes for 315 Zilla Parishad Zone seats began at 8 am in different block headquarters on Saturday under strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines, State Election Commission (SEC) officials said. Trends are available for 299 Zilla Parishad seats with BJD ahead in 249 seats, BJP in 32, Congress in 13, they said. The counting for the remaining 307 ZP zone seats will be done on February 27 and 229 Zilla Parishad zone seats on February 29, they said.

Thousands of migratory Australian flamingos arrive in Tamil Nadu's Rameswaram. 

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 432.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.93 million and vaccinations to over 10.46 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 432,816,460 and 5,936,924, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 10,461,731,731. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 78,883,101 and 947,417, according to the CSSE. The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (42,894,345 infections and 513,226 deaths), followed by Brazil (28,679,671 infections and 648,496 deaths). The other countries with over 5 million cases are France (22,765,934), the UK (18,938,546), Russia (15,819,594), Germany (14,504,870), Turkey (13,841,889), Italy (12,693,320), Spain (10,977,524), Argentina (8,887,973), Iran (7,023,904), the Netherlands (6,242,891), Colombia (6,058,715), Poland (5,637,646), Mexico (5,473,489) and Indonesia (5,457,775), the CSSE figures showed. The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Russia (342,397), Mexico (317,303), Peru (210,116), the UK (161,797), Italy (136,166), Indonesia (147,586), Colombia (138,501), France (138,972), Iran (136,166), Argentina (125,958), Germany (122,634), Ukraine (112,459) and Poland (111,056).

Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launches Polio National Immunization Day, as part of National Immunization Drive; administers polio drops to children less than five years old.

Fresh snowfall and multiple landslides at different places on Saturday forced the closure of the 270 km Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, officials said. The Banihal-Qazigund sector of the highway experienced overnight snowfall while landslides and shooting of stones from the hillocks were triggered by heavy rains at Rompadi-Banihal, Shalgardh-Wagan, Moumpassi-Ramsu, Panthiyal, Digdole, Maroog, Monkey Morh, Cafeteria Morh and Mehar in Raman district, the officials said. They said a truck driver Waseem Ahmad Dar of Baramulla was injured when his vehicle was hit by a rolling boulder at Mehar around 4.30 am.

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Haryana: A class 10 student died by suicide by jumping off 10th floor of a building on Feb 24; left a suicide note. FIR lodged. Action being after a complaint from the deceased's mother against a student who allegedly harassed her son mentally, says Subey Singh,Faridabad Police PRO.

Singapore reported 18,597 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Friday, bringing the total tally to 679,795. Of the new cases, 3,186 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 15,411 through ARTs (antigen rapid tests), according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health. Among the PCR cases, 3,070 were local transmissions and 116 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 15,313 local transmissions and 98 imported cases. A total of 1,584 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 46 cases in intensive care units, Xinhua news agency reported.

Delhi Metro operations on a section of the busy Yellow Line will not be available in the initial few hours on Sunday due to a planned maintenance work on the segment, officials said. The affected section will be between Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate metro stations, due to maintenance work at Rajiv Chowk station. To undertake the scheduled track maintenance work at Rajiv Chowk metro station of Yellow Line, train services on the morning of Sunday on this corridor, will be briefly regulated, officials said today. Train services will be suspended between Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk stations from the start of services till 6:30 AM. Hence, three metro stations, namely, Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar and New Delhi will be closed till resumption of train services in the section i.e., up to 6:30 AM, they said.Yellow Line connects Samyapur Badli in Delhi to HUDA City Centre in Gurgaon.

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NHRC Core Group on Children held its meeting on Friday and called for strategic filling up of vacant teaching posts in a time-bound manner, officials said. The meeting was held to discuss the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on learning outcomes of children and to suggest measures to be taken for bridging the gap. NHRC Member Jyotika Kalra, on the basis of the deliberations by the participants called upon that it is "an omission on part of the State and urged for strategic filling up of the 11 lakh vacant teaching posts in a time bound manner".

Former Odisha Chief Minister and prominent tribal Congress leader Hemananda Biswal died while undergoing treatment for pneumonia here at the age of 82 years Friday, family members said. Biswal’s daughter Sunita said the former chief minister breathed his last at a private hospital here. He was suffering from pneumonia and is survived by five daughters- Sabita, Sanjukya, Manjiulata, Sunita and Anita. Mourning his death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on twitter "anguished by the passing away of former Odisha CM Shri Hemendra Biswal ji. He was active in public life and worked extensively among people. In this sad hour my thoughts are with his family and supporters."

Delhi on Friday reported 460 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths, while the positivity rate dropped to 0.81 per cent, according to the data shared by the city health department. With this, the national capital's case count increased to 18,58,614 and the death toll climbed to 26,117, the latest health bulletin stated. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago stood at 56,984, it said. Delhi on Thursday reported 556 cases with a positivity rate of 1.10 per cent, and six deaths.