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Gauri killing: Bengaluru gears up for ‘resistance convention’

coastaldigest.com news network
September 11, 2017

Bengaluru, Sept 11: Thousands of fans of slain journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh are expected to participate in the ‘resistance convention’ being organized by the ‘Gauri Lankesh Hathya Virodhi Horata Vedike’ on Tuesday at Central College Grounds in Bengaluru.

According to organizers, about 50,000 people, including religious heads of various sects and progressive seers will participate in the national event aimed at condemning and resisting such attacks on free expression.

A procession would be taken out from Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station, which will culminate into a rally at the Central College grounds. P Sainath, Teesta Setalvad, Sagarika Ghose, Anand Patwardhan, Prashant Bhushan, Medha Patkar, Kavita Krishnan and Prakash Rai are among those who will take part in the rally.

There would be songs, street plays, screening of short films and paintings and music concerts expressing resistance against the assassination.

“We want to resist efforts to silence dissent in the country. We want to show that Gauri’s murder hasn’t shaken us and we are committed against communalism, fundamentalism, fascism and extremism,” writer Prof K Marulasiddappa told reporters here on Sunday.

Gauri’s assassination was similar to those of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M M Kalburgi. She always opposed rightist ideology. The RSS regularly targeted all the four. In this context, needle of suspicion points towards communal forces, he said.

Prof Chandrashekhar Patil said the Vedike did not directly point fingers at any one individual or organisation. “Gauri was facing threats from communal organisations, which forces us to conclude that communal forces claimed her. However, the investigation should bring out the truth,” he said.

Regarding the ongoing investigation, they said they had faith in the SIT and were open for a Supreme Court-monitored probe at a later stage.

On Naxalite angle to the murder, Prof Patil said the Vedike members did not get any confirmation from any police source regarding involvement of naxals.

“Kalburgi’s murder did not get much publicity as it was the first such murder in the state. The government itself was shocked after Gauri’s murder and took up the issue with all seriousness,” he said.

Writer and former minister B T Lalitha Naik said, “Gauri’s father the late P Lankesh used extremely harsh words while criticising a person or an ideology. But, nobody dared to kill him. The British tolerated Mahatma Gandhi for about 50 years. It was extremely easy for them to eliminate him. Those who claimed Gauri are heinous than the British,” she said.
 

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Agencies
July 29,2020

If everything goes as Russia’s expectation, it will be world’s first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread in the second week of August despite safety and efficacy concerns, according to a report. The adenoviral vector-based vaccine developed by Russian military and government researchers is currently in phase 2 trials.

According to a report from CNN, Russian officials are hoping to get approval for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute on Agust 10 or even before that. The officials told the outlet that the vaccine will be approved for public use with frontline healthcare workers receiving it first.

“It’s a Sputnik moment,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is financing Russian vaccine research, referring to the successful 1957 launch of the world’s first satellite by the Soviet Union, according to CNN.

“Americans were surprised when they heard Sputnik’s beeping. It’s the same with this vaccine. Russia will have got there first,” he was quoted as saying.

However, Russia is yet to release the scientific data on its coronavirus vaccine trials, hence, questions remain about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, said the report. The vaccine is in the second phase of testing with developers planning to launch the phase 3 trials sometime after August 3.

Earlier, Interfax reported, citing Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, that the vaccine will be widely used in parallel with phase 3 trials. He said the country plans to vaccinate medics who are at high-risk for COVID-19 next month before clinical trials are completed.

Murashko added that individuals at higher risk of getting infected with the coronavirus such as older people or those with health conditions will also be prioritised for the vaccine, although he did not estimate or reveal when that would happen. The minister added 800 people will be recruited for the phase 3 trials.

Meanwhile, health officials were more cautious considering the fact that human testing of the vaccine is incomplete, and the state registration is expected to begin after August 3, reported The Moscow Times.

On Monday, Moderna and Pfizer announced the commencement of the final phase 3 trials of their candidate vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has so far claimed at least 654,477 lives and infected 16,514,500 people worldwide. 

Researchers will recruit up to 30,000 volunteers in separate trials both backed by the US government. India's first indigenous coronavirus vaccine, COVAXIN, is undergoing phase 1 human clinical trials across the country. More than 150 COVID-19 vaccines are being developed all over the world with at least six candidates already in late-stage clinical trials.

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News Network
April 1,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 1: The rush for purchase of essential commodities has eased in several places in Dakshina Kannada with the relaxation of lockdown from Wednesday between 7 am and 12 noon by the district administration. However, a few markets in Mangaluru still had queues in front of vegetable shops on Wednesday.

Vegetable shops and markets in Mallikatte, Kadri, Bejai-Kapikad, Urwastore, Mannagudda and Carstreet areas were crowded with people violating social distancing norms due to the coronavirus crisis.

To avoid swelling of crowds at Central Market in Mangaluru, the market was opened only for wholesalers to collect vegetables. The entry of public to Central Market was prohibited.

MCC Commissioner Ajith Kumar Hegde Shanady said that retail sale is prohibited at Central Market.

The Surathkal market too has been closed from April and traders from the market are allowed to sell essential commodities at alternative locations from 7 am to 12 noon.

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News Network
February 22,2020

Johannesburg, Feb 22: To meet shortage of skilled nursing staff, private hospitals in South Africa are recruiting senior Indian nurses for their good work ethics and ability to become efficient trainers for the local staff, according to a media report.

A report at a 2018 jobs summit indicated that the country had a shortage of more than 47,000 nurses.

The shortage of the skilled nursing staff has been attributed to several factors, including preference of highly qualified nurses to emigrate or take up contract employment in countries such as the UK, the United Aarb Emirates, Saudi Arabia or New Zealand for want of higher salaries, a report in the weekly Business Times said.

Mediclinic, one of South Africa's largest private hospital groups, confirmed that it is recruiting 150 nurses from India this year.

“To supplement our training, as an internal strategy, we will continue to recruit senior registered nurses from India,” a Mediclinic spokesperson told the Business Times.

Mediclinic started recruiting nurses from India in 2005 but could not provide details about how many among the more than 8,800 nurses it employs at its hospitals are from India.

Another company, Life Healthcare SA, said it employed 135 Indian nurses between 2008 and 2014.

Top managements at the hospital groups lauded senior Indian nurses as being very efficient trainers for local staff.

“But we find that many of them prefer coming here on short-term contracts due to family commitments," a hospital executive said on the basis of anonymity.

The official said that the few who apply for long-term positions are usually young newly-qualified nurses, which is not the group in demand.

“They work hard, with a patient-oriented work ethic, and do not have the nine-to-five approach of many local nurses, especially those who are unionised," the official said.

“We would be very happy to take in more nursing staff from India," the official added.

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