CMYK SONIA IS STILL CLUELESS ON DEALING WITH FACTIONAL FIGHTS IN CONGRESS OPINION Rs. 3 PATNA FRIDAY, 6 MAY, 2022 PG-12, YEAR—8, ISSUE—160 (RNI NO: BIHENG / 2014 / 59124) ‘I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT HEALTH AND HAPPINESS GO HAND IN HAND’ PEOPLE & LIFE Morning India Modi, Macron call for 'immediate end to suffering' of Ukrainians AGENCIES PARIS: Expressing "serious concern" over the RussiaUkraine conflict, India and France have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to bring parties together to promote dialogue and diplomacy for finding an immediate end to the suffering of the people. The two countries called for promoting dialogue and diplomacy in a joint statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday. The two leaders discussed at length bilateral as well as global issues and agreed on an ambitious agenda for the next phase of the IndiaFrance Strategic Partnership. According to the joint statement, France reiterated its "strong condemnation" of the "unlawful and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine by Russian Forces". India and France expressed "serious concern" at the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, it said. "They unequivocally condemned civilian deaths in Kids’ fight ends in clashes in Delhi, 3 held AGENCIES NEW DELHI: Three persons have been arrested and 37 detained after a scuffle between two groups of people from different communities following a quarrel among children playing in a park in the Welcome area of Delhi, officials said on Thursday. On Wednesday, around 9.50 pm, the police received information about a quarrel near Photo Chowk in the area under the Welcome police station, they said. A police team rushed to the spot and extra force was also mobilised, they said. Preliminary enquiry revealed the quarrel took place among children playing in the park of X and Y blocks of Welcome. It then escalated into a scuffle between two groups of people from different communities, a senior police officer said.As more people gathered in the park, the locals made calls to the police fearing communal tension, the officer said. Ukraine and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to bring parties together to promote dialogue and diplomacy to find an immediate end to the suffering of the people," the statement said. Both countries also underlined the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, it said. Modi and Macron discussed the regional and global implications of the conflict in Ukraine and agreed to intensify coordination on the issue. India and France also expressed deep concern about the current aggravation of global food security and nutrition, already impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and especially in developing countries. The statement said the two countries are committed to enabling a coordinated, multilateral response to address the risk of aggravated food crisis because of the conflict in Ukraine, including through initiatives such as the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission, which aims at ensuring well-functioning markets, solidarity and long-term resilience. At a media briefing on Prime Minister Modi's visit to France, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said that on Ukraine, there was a broad understanding of each other's position. "The two leaders agreed that close coordination and engagement was important. So that both India and France can play a constructive role in the evolving situation," he said. Asked whether there were any discussions on how India and France could use their friendship or their influence to bring this Russia and Ukraine war to some kind of a conclusion, Kwatra said the developments in Ukraine did come up for discussion between the two leaders and they exchanged their perspectives on the developments there. Death. Devastation. Destruction: Scenes From Putin's Invasion Of Ukraine "Prime Minister Modi gave a very elaborate understanding of the space from where Indian position originated...which calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the resolution to the ongoing situation through diplomacy and dialogue," he said. The two leaders also spoke very extensively, exchanged views very extensively on the cascading effect of the situation in Ukraine, in terms of global food shortages, short- India's active Covid tally rises to 19,719 AGENCIES NEW DELHI: India logged 3,275 new coronavirus infections in a day, pushing the number of active cases to 19,719 and the overall tally to 4,30,91,393, according to the Union health ministry data updated Thursday. The data released at 8 am also showed that 55 fatalities -- 52 of them from Kerala alone -- were reported in a 24-hour span, taking the cumulative death toll to 5,23,975. The active cases constitute 0.05 per cent of the total infections, the health ministry said, adding the country's COVID-19 recovery rate is 98.74 per cent. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.77 per cent while the weekly figure was recorded at 0.78 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 210 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload which now stand at 19,719. The number of people who The active cases constitute 0.05 per cent of the total infections have recuperated from the disease rose to 4,25,47,699, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.22 per cent. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 189.63 crore. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. It crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. The 31 new fatalities 52 from Kerala and one each from Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, the data showed. WHO estimates 14.9m excess Covid deaths in ’20, ’21 AGENCIES GENEVA: New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million). "These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO DirectorGeneral. "WHO is committed to working with all countries to strengthen their health information systems to generate better data for better decisions and better outcomes." Excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that have occurred and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic based on data from earlier years. "Excess mortality includes deaths associated with COVID-19 directly (due to the disease) or indirectly (due to the pandemic's impact on health systems and society). Deaths linked indirectly to COVID-19 are attributable to other health conditions for which people were unable to access prevention and treatment because health systems were overburdened by the pandemic," the WHO said in a press release. The estimated number of excess deaths can be influenced also by deaths averted during the pandemic due to lower risks of certain events, like motor-vehicle accidents or occupational injuries. Most of the excess deaths (84 per cent) are concentrated in South-East Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Some 68 per cent of excess deaths are concentrated in just 10 countries globally. Middle-income countries account for 81 per cent of the 14.9 million excess deaths (53 per cent in lower-middleincome countries and 28 per cent in upper-middle-income countries) over the 24-month period, with high-income and low-income countries each accounting for 15 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. The estimates for a 24month period (2020 and 2021) include a breakdown of excess mortality by age and sex. They confirm that the global death toll was higher for men than for women (57 per cent male, 43 per cent female) and higher among older adults. The absolute count of the excess deaths is affected by the population size. The number of excess deaths per 100,000 gives a more objective picture of the pandemic than reported COVID-19 mortality data. "Measurement of excess mortality is an essential component to understand the impact of the pandemic. Shifts in mortality trends provide decision-makers information to guide policies to reduce mortality and effectively prevent future crises. Because of limited investments in data systems in many countries, the true extent of excess mortality often remains hidden," said Dr Samira Asma, Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Delivery at WHO. "These new estimates use the best available data and have been produced using a robust methodology and a completely transparent approach." ages of commodities, such as fertiliser and how the two countries can partner together in order to address some of these challenges which are very real and felt on the ground, Kwatra said. "There is a very clear understanding of each other's position and they did agree to stay in touch and coordinate very closely. So that as the situation evolves, they can both individually or together play a constructive role in this situation, so that all these challenges, which I talked about, can be resolved," he said. Prime Minister Modi left for home early on Thursday after concluding his threenation European tour during which he held a series of bilateral meetings to boost ties in a range of areas including trade, energy and green technology. Modi, who was in Paris for the final leg of his threenation European tour, discussed with Macron issues of bilateral and mutual interests as well as regional and global developments. Macron held a tete-a-tete with Modi before the delegation-level talks at the Elysee Palace - the official residence of the French President. Cross-border 'terror tunnel' detected in J-K, alert sounded AGENCIES JAMMU: The Border Security Force on Thursday said it has detected a cross-border tunnel along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district and claimed to have foiled the plans of Pakistan-based terrorists to disrupt the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. An alert has been sounded in the Jammu region.The 1 50metres-long tunnel was detected in an area under the Chak Faquira border outpost in Samba on Wednesday evening, BSF officials said. "With the detection of this tunnel, BSF-Jammu has foiled the nefarious designs of Pakistan-based terrorists to disrupt the upcoming Amarnath yatra," BSF DIG S P S Sandhu said. The tunnel was freshly dug and originated from the Pakistan side. Its opening was about 2 feet and so far 21 sandbags, used to strengthen the exit of the tunnel, have been recovered, he said. Sandhu said the tunnel will be searched in detail during the day. An official, on condition of anonymity, said, "A newly dug tunnel at a distance of 150 metres from the International Border and 50 metres from the border fence was detected.” SC to hear pleas against sedition law on May 10 Govt to file reply by Monday AGENCIES NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would hear arguments on May 10 on the legal question whether the pleas challenging the colonial era penal law on sedition be referred to a larger bench, and granted time to the Centre to file its response. A special bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya kant and Hima Kohli commenced hearing arguments on a batch of pleas against the sedition law and after some time adjourned it to next Tuesday. At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, sought few more days' time for filing the reply, saying the draft response made by lawyers awaits approval by the competent authority as the issue is of extreme importance. Secondly, some fresh matters have been served recently and the contents of those pleas also needed a response. ”List this matter on next Tuesday at 2 pm. The solicitor general to file counter (affidavit) by Monday. No further adjournments (will be granted),” the CJI said. The bench, on April 27, had directed the central government to file a reply saying it would commence the final hearing in the matter on May 5 and would not entertain any request for adjournment. Concerned over the enormous misuse of the penal law on sedition, the top court in July last year had asked the Centre why it was not repealing the provision used by the British to silence people like Mahatma Gandhi to suppress the freedom movement. Agreeing to examine the pleas filed by the Editors Guild of India and former Major-General S G Vombatkere, challenging the constitutionality of Section 124A (sedition) in the IPC, the apex court had said its main concern was the "misuse of law" leading to rise in number of cases.