The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved booster doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for all people aged 18 and over.

The EMA said in a statement on Monday that data for the vaccine had shown a rise in antibody levels when a booster shot is administered approximately six months after the second dose in people aged 18 to 55, reports Xinhua news agency.

A group of protesting farmers blocked Delhi-Amritsar national highway at Shambhu toll plaza late on Monday following the detention of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni.

Chaduni was detained on Monday, while he was on his way to Lakhimpur Kheri.

India recorded 18,346 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the lowest in over 6 months, the Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday.

With this, the active caseload of the country stands at 2,52,902; accounting for less than 1 per cent of the total cases.

As per the ministry, the recovery rate of India is at its highest since March 2020 and currently stands at 97.93 per cent.

The Punjab Cabinet on Monday observed a two-minute silence to pay homage to four farmers who lost their lives in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh.

The Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi prayed to the Almighty to give courage to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss in this hour of grief and grant eternal peace to the departed souls, the Punjab government said in an official statement.

Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth has fallen by nearly $7 billion in a few hours, knocking him down a notch on the list of the world’s richest people, after a whistleblower came forward and outages took Facebook Inc.’s flagship products offline.

A selloff sent the social-media giant’s stock plummeting around 5% on Monday, adding to a drop of about 15% since mid-September.

India's coal ministry has asked state-run Coal India to diversify its interests to areas such as electric vehicles and charging stations, according to an agenda document on the ministry's website.

Coal India must diversify its business and must explore prospects in sunrise industries electric charging pods, electric vehicles etc, the coal ministry said in a document titled Ministry of Coal's agenda for 2021-22.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Monday demanded that Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra be sacked and that his son be arrested in connection with the death of farmers during a protest here.

He also demanded Rs one crore compensation and a government job for the family members of the deceased farmers.

Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on Monday after the pump prices of both fuels rose simultaneously for four consecutive days taking up its retail rates by over Rs 1 per litre.

Benchmark crude prices have settled at a tad lower level of $ 79 a barrel now after shooting over a three-year high level of $ 80 a barrel early last week. This has given some room to OMCs to halt fuel price rise.

India reported 20,799 new COVID-19 infections and 180 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

India's active caseload stands at 2,64,458 which is the lowest in the last 200 days. The active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total cases, currently at 0.78 per cent, the lowest since March 2020.

Barely a day after the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, the Uttar Pradesh Police has registered an FIR against Union Minister Ajay Mishra and his son over alleged involvement in the violent clashes yesterday in the area, during which at least eight people have been killed.

After the violent events unfolded in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri, there were rising demands from farmer leaders, urging the arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra and his son for their involvement in the violence. BKU’s Rakesh Tikait and Sanyukt Kisan Morcha asked the UP government to take action against the two repeatedly since yesterday.

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