Junior Digest

London, Dec 25,2020: More than 600,000 people have received the Pfizer vaccine against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the UK’s Department of Health said on Thursday night.

“Thanks to a huge effort from the NHS [National Health Service] to overcome significant logistical challenges, 616,933 people across the UK have had their jab of the coronavirus vaccine,” Sputnik quoted the ministry as saying.

More than 521,000 people got vaccinated in England, over 56,000 in Scotland, more than 22,000 in Wales and over 16,000 in Northern Ireland.

“Over the coming weeks and months, the rate of vaccination will increase as more doses become available and the programme continues to expand, with more vaccines being delivered direct to care homes,” the department added.

Last week, the UK identified a new variant of the coronavirus that is 70 per cent more transmissible than other SARS-CoV-2 virus strains. Subsequently, many countries, including India, temporarily banned flights from and to UK.

UK was the first country to approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech pharmaceutical companies.

London,Dec 21,2020: Viruses change all the time. Seasonal influenza mutates every year, so it was of little surprise to scientists that variants of COVID-19 have been detected since the pandemic started.

But in recent days, concerns have grown over a new strain identified in the United Kingdom.

Vaccines should still be effective against it and the new strain is not believed to be any more deadly, but people are increasingly worried because this mutation appears to be 70 percent more infectious.

The new variant, which has been named VUI-202012/01 (the first Variant Under Investigation in December 2020), is thought to have first occurred in mid-September in the country’s southeast, in the capital London or the county of Kent.

Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said the agency notified the government on December 18 when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain. The UK submitted its findings to the World Health Organization the same day.

Since then it spread quickly in the southeast, becoming the dominant form of the virus there.

In London, 62 percent of cases were due to the new variant in the week of December 9. That compares with 28 percent three weeks earlier.

Faced with this rapid development, the UK government has moved to enforce stricter lockdown measures over the coming Christmas period.

Earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been committed to allowing people to meet for festivities. But amid rising criticism and on the advice of his scientific advisers, many Britons are now banned from mixing households until at least the end of December, when the new measures will be reviewed.

Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, said the new variant may be in other countries as well but might have started in the UK.

The Netherlands and Belgium reacted quickly, banning travellers from the UK in a bid to stop the new strain from spreading.

Dutch authorities said they had at found at least one case of the new strain and flights carrying UK passengers have been banned until January 1. Belgium is suspending flight and train arrivals from the UK for at least 24 hours, according to Prime Minister Alexander De Croo who spoke to Belgian television channel VRT.

According to the UK’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, current swab tests are able to identify the new variant.

Scientists say the new strain contains 23 changes, many associated with alterations in a protein made by the virus.

UK Health Minister Matt Hancock has suggested the new lockdown measures might stay in place for some time.

“Given how much faster this new variant spreads, it’s going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out,” Hancock said.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Twitter that cases of the mutant strain were lower in Scotland “than the rest of the UK,” but warned, “preventative action may be necessary to stop the faster-spreading strain taking hold.”

More than 67,000 people have died of COVID-19 to date in the UK, making it one of Europe’s worst-hit along with Italy.

NEW DELHI ,19,2020: India’s coronavirus tally breached the 10 million mark on Saturday, the world’s second highest, even though the number of new daily cases has fallen sharply since a mid-September peak.

It reported 25,152 new infections and 347 deaths in the past 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed. The virus has so far killed 145,136 people in the country.

After hitting a peak of nearly 98,000 cases in September, daily cases are now down to an average of 27,000.

New Delhi, Dec 22,2020: The Union Government on Tuesday decided not to conduct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Board examinations in February next year, in view of the global Novel Coronavirus pandemic.

This information was given by Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a tweet.

The Union Minister said he has received a lot of requests from various students and teachers to postpone the CBSE Board exams for Classes 10 and 12.

‘Keeping the #COVID19 pandemic in mind & after various consultations, we have decided that #board exams will not be held in February,’ he tweeted.

‘Exact dates will be announced soon. Our govt is in favour of #students,’ the Minister said in another tweet.

Islamabad, Dec 19,2020: Pakistan Prime Minster Imran Khan said on Friday that the verbal attacks of PML-N supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his party against the top military leadership has created “a lot of anger” within the army over, but that the COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was tolerating all this for the sake of democracy in the country.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has while addressing the anti-government rallies of the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance, alleged that Chief of Army Staff Gen Bajwa and ISI head Lt General Faiz Hameed orchestrated his ouster in 2017 and rigged the 2018 general elections to “impose the incompetent Imran Khan” upon the nation, Dawn reported.

He said although there was “a lot of anger” within the army ranks, “I know General Bajwa is tolerating all this because he firmly believes in democracy.”

Attacking the opposition Khan said they are today accusing him of being a “puppet”, saying it wanted to talk to the establishment. “This means they’re putting pressure on the army to remove a democratically elected government, adding that they were also pressurising the army to remove Gen Bajwa and the ISI chief if they did not remove him from office.

He further said the establishment had helped Nawaz Sharif in the 2013 elections but their ties were strained because the establishment did not support him in 2018.

The prime minister dismissed the PDM’s demand that he quit by January 31, saying the opposition did not have the public on its side.

About the PDM’s announcement of staging a long march to the capital if the PTI government refuses to resign, Imran said if the alliance did indeed go ahead with such a march, it would “make it clear whether I have to resign or they have to”.

Tokyo, Dec 21,2020: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said that the country will not hold the general election to the House of Representatives until the COVID-19 outbreak brought under control, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday.

“We should not do it unless we can completely prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” Suga said as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.

According to the opinion poll conducted by the media outlet, public support for Suga dropped from 63 per cent to 50.3 per cent in three months after he assumed the post in September.

Japan’s constitution stipulates that the next general election of members of the house of representatives should be held on or before October 22, 2021.

The general election is followed by parliament members electing the prime minister and subsequent appointment of a new cabinet.

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 23 ,2020: Eminent Malayalam poet, conservationist and women”s activist, Sugathakumari, who had tested positive for COVID-19 and was undergoing treatment, died at the government medical college hospital here on Wednesday. She was 86 and leaves behind daughter Lakshmi Devi, family sources here said.
Fondly being called as ”Sugatha Teacher” by her hundreds of admirers and followers, the activist-poet had been admitted to the intensive care unit of the medical college after being diagnosed with the viral infection on December 21. One of the most celebrated Malayalam poets of the contemporary era, Sugathakumari was known for her unique poems filled with compassionate empathy, human sensitivity and philosophical quest. In her poetic career spanning over six decades, she, through her subtle and sublime lines, fought against the injustices in this world especially against the ruthless oppression of women and indiscriminate exploitation of nature. A fearless and tireless fighter in real life, she led several agitations for the environmental cause and conservation of nature. She had spearheaded the fiercest environmental campaign witnessed by Kerala–against a proposal to set up a hydel project in the Silent valley in Western Ghats three decades ago, and was also in the forefront of the recent agitation against construction of an airport at Aranmula. The poet had been a constant presence and invitee wherever there was an environmental issue in the state until some years ago before she became physically weak due to age related issues.
Always been a constant supporter and solace for destitute and molested women, Sugathakumari had been running for over three decades ”Abhaya”, an organisation for the deprived women, including financially poor, rape survivors, domestic violence victims and drug addicts.
Born as the second daughter of freedom fighter and poet, Bodheswaran and wife Karthiyayini Amma on January 22, 1934, Sugatha had entered into the world of poetry in 1960 with her first collection of poems- Muthuchippikal. Since then, she had captured the Malayali consciousness through her soft but hard-hitting verses in a handful of poetry collections including Pathirapookkal, Krishna Kavithakal, Ratrimazha, Ambalamani, Radha Evide, Thulavarshapacha and so on. Though her early works concentrated more on subjective themes and personal quests, her poetry, in course of time, broadened its peripheries assimilating social concerns and philosophical voyages into it as its themes.
Also the first chairperson of the Kerala State Women”s Commission, Sugathakumari had been a recipient of several honours and recognitions. The country had bestowed her with Padma Shree in 2006 while the higher literary award Saraswati Samman reached her in 2013 for her poetic collection “Manalezhuth” (The Writing on the Sand). She also bagged almost all prestigious literary awards in the state including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Vayalar Award,Odakkuzhal Award, Ashan Prize and so on. The poet also won the union government”s first ”Vriksha Mitra” award. Writer and scholar, late K Velayudhan was her husband. Noted writers and academicians, late Hridaya Kumari and Sujatha Devi were siblings.

New Delhi, Dec 24,2020: As the farmers’ protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws at Delhi’s periphery entered the 29th day, the Union government on Thursday reiterated that it was ready to logically address all the issues raised by the agitating farmers’ organisations.

The Centre has written a letter to the protesting farmer unions, asking them to decide the date and time for further talks.

The letter, addressed to the peasants’ unions, said the Centre was committed to reaching logical solutions of the issues raised by the farmers.

The letter further asked the ryots to decide the date and time for the next round of talks.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar here at Krishi Bhawan and supported the new farm laws.

Earlier in the day, former Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed the recently enacted farm laws as ‘anti-farmer’ and said the peasants gitating on the capital’s borders will return only when these laws are repealed.

Talking to reporters after meeting and handing over the memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind along with a Congress delegation here, Mr Gandhi said the letters with two crore farmers’ signatures in support of the their demands, were given to the President and it has been conveyed to him that the nation’s farmer is against the new agri-laws, while the government is adamant on not accepting their demand.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Farmer Unions on Wednesday had said that the Government needs to come up with concrete proposal in writing with an open mind, so that the next round of talks can be initiated.

KATHMANDU,Dec 21,2020: Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P.Sharma Oli on Monday said his decision to dissolve parliament was the only way to resolve disputes and non-cooperation in his party that have led to a “state of inaction”.

Nepal’s president dissolved parliament on Sunday at the request of the 68-year-old Oli and announced general elections would be held more than a year ahead of schedule, prompting about a dozen petitions in the country’s top court.

Police detained about a dozen protesters near Oli’s office to prevent large-scale rallies against him.

Seven ministers stepped down after the dissolution, saying it violated the popular mandate given to them in a 2017 general election.

The dissolution of parliament is the first since Nepal became a republic in 2008. Constitutional lawyers said Oli’s decision could plunge the Himalayan country into political turmoil.

“I fear there will be more political instability,” said Bhimarjun Acharya, a constitutional lawyer.

Oli has lost support within his Nepal Communist Party (NCP) over recent months, with some members accusing him of ignoring them when making policy decisions and appointments.

They had called on Oli to step down.

Diplomatic sources in Kathmandu said the dissolution was a last resort to safeguard Oli’s political career after he lost majority support in the party.

“The dissolution of parliament and fresh elections were not my choice,” Oli said in his first comments on television after the decision. It was aimed at taking the country out of a “state of inaction,” he said.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Sunday set April 30 and May 10 as dates for the general election on the advice of Oli’s cabinet.

But court hearings on petitions against the dissolution were set to begin this week.

“Under the constitution, the prime minister has no prerogative to dissolve parliament,” said lawyer Dinesh Tripathi, who is one of the petitioners.

“It’s a constitutional coup. I’m seeking a stay order from the court.”

The political upheaval adds to the problems posed for Nepal’s tourism-and-remittance-dependent economy by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nepal has registered 254,514 coronavirus infections and 1,795 deaths.

New Delhi, Dec 18 ,2020: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the government is seeking to ensure that farmers in the country get more incomes and that would be possible with more value addition in farm produce and greater engagement with the needs of the world.

Goyal called for realigning the country’s trade and economic policies with that of the world and said with 3B objectives — Bigger trade basket, Better trade basket, Balanced trade- “we can see huge and exponential growth in our trade relationship. ”

“We wish to ensure that the farmers of India get even greater incomes which would only be possible with more value-added on our farm produce and greater engagement with the rest of the world, to meet the needs of the international community, ” he said, addressing the CII partnership summit.

He said there is “tremendous scope” for Australian investment into India as the country has opened up food processing sector to greater value addition.

Goyal also said that diversification of supply chains is critical for managing the risks associated with the supply of inputs, including disciplining non-transparent and opaque economies.

He said the trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative among India, Japan and Australia will help diversify the supply chain of various inputs.

The minister said that areas like tourism will create a lot of jobs under the new framework of labour codes and make tourism projects in India more viable and invited Australian companies to look at the Indian potential.

New Delhi,Dec 21,2020: Farmers’ leaders sought to step up pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to repeal three agricultural reform laws on Monday by starting a 24-hour relay hunger strike.

Modi’s government is urging the farmers to engage in further talks to end a deadlock which has led to thousands camping on the outskirts of New Delhi for more than three weeks.

The protests have blocked roads connecting the national capital with neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, hitting public transport and the supply of fruit and vegetables.
“We are going on a 24-hour relay hunger strike, skipping meals, to press our demands of repealing three agricultural laws,” Yogendra Yadav, a prominent protest leader, said.

Leaders called on their supporters to skip one meal on Dec. 23, in solidarity with the protests against new laws, approved by parliament in September without much debate, which farmers fear could pave the way for ending state procurement of crops, while helping big retail buyers.

Modi has defended the laws saying these would help increase farmers income as it would encourage more private investments in cold-stores, procurement and distribution.

New Delhi, Dec 21,2020: Continuing with the downward trend in daily spike of COVID cases of less than 30,000 for over a week, India registered 24,337 fresh infections in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry update said on Monday.

Now, the country’s COVID-19 tally rose to 1,00,55,560, according to the data update.

However, 333 more lives were claimed by the virus since Sunday, pushing the nation’s pandemic death toll to 1,45,810.

Meanwhile, with daily recoveries continuing to be more than the new cases, active case load on the peninsular has further dropped by 1,705 since the past one day, and presently, India is home to 3,03,639 active cases of the contagion.

There were 25,709 patients who defeated the highly contagious virus in the past 24 hours, and now the total recoveries in the country stand at 96,06,111 till date.

According to the ICMR, 16,20,98,329 cumulative samples have been tested till date for nCoV.

In percentage, the active cases are now 3.02 per cent, discharged/cured 95.53 per cent and the deaths 1.45 per cent of the total case count.

Dec 23,2020:“There’s no question of repealing from the government’s side. We have ample support from many farmers’ organisations,” Gopal Krishna Agarwal, spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday, for the first time making clear the government’s refusal to back down.
Tens of thousands of protesters have camped out on the outskirts of New Delhi and blocked national highways for more than three weeks to protest against three farm laws passed in September – the most sweeping changes to the sector in decades.

The government said the laws would increase farmers’ income through more private investments. It aims to link potential bulk buyers, such as Walmart Inc, Reliance Industries Ltd and Adani Enterprises Ltd, directly with farmers, bypassing government-regulated wholesale markets and layers of commission agents.

Earlier on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to the protesting farmers to hold further talks. “We assure our farmers that we’ll listen to them with an open mind,” Tomar told reporters.

The government has offered to amend the laws, including by giving a written assurance that the farmers will continue to get a guaranteed minimum price for grains, including rice and wheat at state-controlled wholesale markets.

The farmers, however, want the laws scrapped as their protests resonate around the world.

Urging India’s diaspora to help the government to convince farmers, Tomar said the policy changes would make agriculture more attractive for farmers.

The protesters have received support from overseas Indians mainly from the state of Punjab, who have organised demonstrations in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

“Farmers have decided they won’t go back till the government takes back all three farm laws,” said Rakesh Tikait, spokesman for Bhartiya Kisan Union, one of more than 30 protesting unions of farmers.

MUMBAI,Dec 21,2020: The New Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed India’s Future Retail’s plea that sought to restrain its partner Amazon.com Inc from interfering in its $3.4 billion asset sale deal with Reliance Industries.

Amazon is locked in a bitter legal dispute with Future Group, which in August sold its retail assets to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries. The deal breaches agreements made in 2019 by Future, according to the U.S. online retailer.

In October, Amazon had won an injunction to halt Future’s deal with Reliance from a Singapore arbitrator both sides had agreed to use in case of disputes.

Future later said the order was not binding, prompting Amazon to lodge a complaint with India’s market regulator.

Amazon cannot be barred from writing to regulators on account of potentially irreparable damage, Justice Mukta Gupta of the Delhi High Court said in the verdict.

Moscow , December 21,2020: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was earlier scheduled to visit India in late 2020, may visit the country during the first six months of the next year, said Russia’s ambassador to India, Nikolay Kudashev, on Monday.
“It became more difficult to maintain contacts due to the pandemic. It has affected the frequency of face-to-face meetings, but the Russian-Indian political and economic dialogue has not become less intense. Summits are the highest point of the dialogue. The summit was due to be held in October. There have been large-scale preparations, but it has been decided by mutual agreement to postpone the meeting until the next year. When will the meeting take place? The sooner the better. I hope we will receive the Russian president in India in the first half of the coming year,” Sputnik quoted Kudashev as saying.
Kudashev further said that the bilateral commission for military cooperation between the two nations could be convened during early 2021.

According to Sputnik, the Russian envoy also informed that a free trade deal may be signed next year between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which comprises of countries like Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
“If we talk about which documents and agreements were decisive for the trade and economic agenda and which agreements and documents need to be formalized next year, then I would probably mention the following — well, first of all, there is an interesting agreement on formalizing a deal on a free trade zone between India and the EAEU … Several rounds of technical negotiations took place,” said the ambassador.
Kudashev also said that Moscow and New Delhi may sign several bilateral agreements in 2021 that includes a deal on protecting and promoting investment, while adding that the two countries also plan to update the current deal on avoiding double taxation.

BRUSSELS ,dec 24,2020: Just a week before the deadline, Britain and the European Union struck a free-trade deal Thursday that should avert economic chaos on New Year’s and bring a measure of certainty for businesses after years of Brexit turmoil.

Once ratified by both sides, the agreement will ensure Britain and the 27-nation bloc can continue to trade in goods without tariffs or quotas after the U.K. breaks fully free of the EU on Jan. 1.

Relief was palpable all around that nine months of tense and often testy negotiations had finally produced a positive result.

The Christmas Eve breakthrough was doubly welcome amid a coronavirus pandemic that has left some 70,000 people in Britain dead and led the country’s neighbors to shut their borders to the U.K. over a new and seemingly more contagious variant of the virus spreading in England.

“We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny,” declared British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who posted a picture of himself on social media, beaming with thumbs up.

Washington, Dec 22 ,2020: The total number of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in US on Monday surpassed the grim milestone of 18 million-mark, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US coronavirus case tally now stands at 18,006,061, the varsity said.

The COVID-19 death toll in the country reached 319,190, it added.

The US has been the most-affected country in the world.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have received the approval for the Covid vaccination in the country.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received his first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on live television to assure the country that inoculations were safe.
Washington, Dec 22 (UNI) The total number of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in US on Monday surpassed the grim milestone of 18 million-mark, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US coronavirus case tally now stands at 18,006,061, the varsity said.

The COVID-19 death toll in the country reached 319,190, it added.

The US has been the most-affected country in the world.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have received the approval for the Covid vaccination in the country.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received his first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on live television to assure the country that inoculations were safe.

KATSINA, Nigeria ,Dec 19,2020: Parents sobbed, mobbed their children in hugs and even kissed the ground in gratitude on Friday as they reunited with scores of schoolboys who had been kidnapped a week earlier in northwest Nigeria.

Hundreds of adults jostled to find their offspring among the 344 dusty and dazed looking children who had arrived by bus in Katsina state on Friday morning. Those who succeeded cheered and grabbed their children, but scores more were still waiting by early evening.

“I feel like God has granted me paradise because I am so happy,” said an ebullient Hamza Kankara after she found her son, Lawal, in the crowd.

Another man knelt and kissed the ground, thanking God for the return of his young son, before clutching the boy and sobbing.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had come under mounting pressure to free the boys and deal with insecurity in the north.

One boy, who did not give his name, said their captors had told him to describe them as members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, although he suspected they were armed bandits.

“They beat us morning, every night. We suffered a lot. They only gave us food once a day and water twice a day,” he told Nigeria’s Arise television.

Gunmen on motorbikes raided the boys’ boarding school in the town of Kankara in Katsina state a week ago and marched hundreds of them into a vast forest that spans four states.

Authorities said security services rescued them on Thursday. The army said it had acted on “credible intelligence” and freed all 344 kidnapped boys.

Many details surrounding the incident remain unclear, including who was responsible, why they kidnapped the boys, whether ransom was paid and how the release was secured.

The abduction gripped a country already incensed by widespread insecurity, and evoked memories of Boko Haram’s 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls in the northeastern town of Chibok.

The boys’ abduction was particularly embarrassing for Buhari, who comes from Katsina state and has repeatedly said that Boko Haram has been “technically defeated”.

Any Boko Haram involvement in this kidnapping would mark a geographical expansion in the militant group’s activities from its base in the northeast.
TEARS OF JOY, PRAYERS OF THANKS

Hours before the rescue of the boys was announced on Thursday, a video started circulating online purportedly showing Boko Haram militants with some of the boys. Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the footage or who released it.

The rescued boy interviewed by Arise TV was one of those who had appeared in the online video.

“They said I should say they are Boko Haram and gangs of Abu Shekau,” he said, referring to a name used by a Boko Haram leader. “Sincerely speaking, they are not Boko Haram … They are just small and tiny, tiny boys with big guns.”

Another of the freed boys told Reuters that the kidnappers had initially taken them to a hiding place.

“But when they saw a jet fighter, they changed the location and hid us in a different place. They gave us food, but it was very little,” he said.

Earlier on Friday the boys, flanked by soldiers and armed police officers, were taken to meet the governor. They then underwent medical checks before meeting with Buhari.

Anxious parents had waited hours to be reunited.

Hajiya Bilikisu, in a cream-coloured veil, said she had started to lose hope that she would ever see her son, Abdullahi Abdulrazak, again.

“I was just crying, crying with joy, when I saw them, my son” in pictures after the release, she told Reuters.

“They have to recover psychologically,” she said. “They went through trauma. We have to try to counsel them, so they can now become normal persons.”

Kabul, Dec 19 ,2020: A major explosion in the eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province on killed 15 children and injured another 20 people, officials and police sources said on Saturday.

Officials said that it is still not clear as to what caused the explosion which happened in the Gilan district, but witnesses said that a bomb went off in the back of a rickshaw, BBC report said.

Some other witnesses suggested that a piece of unexploded ordnance blew up when children tried to sell it to a vendor.

Taliban militants also said that the explosion happened accidentally.

The explosion happened close to a house in a village where a Koran recital ceremony was under way.

A bomb went off after a man driving a motorised rickshaw entered the village and was surrounded by children, Wahidullah Jumazada, a spokesman for the Ghazni provincial governor said.

The spokesman further added that the death toll could rise.

Levels of violence in the country have remained high despite the start of negotiations between Afghan and Taliban officials.

SHANGHAI,Dec19,2020: China published rules on Saturday for reviewing foreign investment on national security grounds, potentially broad measures that it insisted did not amount to protectionism.

The review system announced by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) covers foreign investments in military sectors and the acquisition of controlling stakes in such sectors as energy, natural resources, agriculture, internet technology and financial services.

“Only by tightening the fence against security risks can China lay the solid foundations for a new round of opening up that is broader, wider and deeper,” the commission said.

This was in line with international practice and would help balance the economic benefits of further opening with the need to ensure national security, the NDRC said.

The announcement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump ratchets up tensions with China in his final weeks in office. Washington added dozens of Chinese companies to a trade blacklist on Friday.

Publishing the investment rules is “not protectionism or backtracking from opening-up policies,” the NDRC said, asserting that “opening up without protection is not sustainable.”
Major economies like the United States, the European Union, Australia, Germany and Japan have established or improved their review mechanisms on foreign investment in recent years, it said.

The new system will establish a body dedicated to security reviews, headed by the NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce. The rules, which take effect in 30 days, follow a foreign investment law published last year aimed at broadening market access for overseas investors.

Last year’s foreign investment law made it clear China would set up a review mechanism for foreign investment, and foreign companies and trade associations have been awaiting the new rules so that they can make investment decisions, the NDRC said.