Superstar Rajinikanth, chosen for the 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award by the Centre for the year 2020, said that Monday will be "an important occasion for him" when he will receive the prestigious honour.

The day will also be important for him as his daughter Soundarya Vishagan will launch a voice-based social media platform, saying it will be a useful app for the people.

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 243.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.94 million and vaccinations soared to over 6.80 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number number of vaccine doses administered stood at 243,637,026, 4,947,878 and 6,801,414,981, respectively.

Judicial infrastructure is important for improving access to justice, but it is baffling to note that its improvement and maintenance was being carried out in an ad-hoc and unplanned manner in the country, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana said on Saturday.

Noting that an effective judiciary can help in the growth of the economy, the CJI said courts are extremely essential for any society that is governed by rule of law.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday arrived here on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, his first since the revocation of Article 370, during which he will review the security situation in the valley.

Shah was received at the Srinagar airport by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha where other senior officials of the Jammu and Kashmir administration were also present, officials said.

In a surprise development, N Sivaraman, managing director and group Chief Executive, of rating agency ICRA has resigned with immediate effect citing personal reasons. He joined ICRA in July 2020.

Ramnath Krishnan has been appointed as new MD and group CEO, the rating agency said in a statement. ICRA is an unit of global rating agency Moody's.

India saw a single-day rise of 16,326 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 34,159,56, while the active cases have declined to 173,728, the lowest in 233 days, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Saturday.

The death toll has climbed to 453,708 with 666 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

Federal health regulators said late Friday that kid-size doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine appear highly effective at preventing symptomatic infections in elementary school children and caused no unexpected safety issues, as the US weighs beginning vaccinations in youngsters.

The Food and Drug Administration posted its analysis of Pfizer's data ahead of a public meeting next week to debate whether the shots are ready for the nation's roughly 28 million children ages 5 to 11.

Ten gram of 24-carat gold was on Saturday selling at Rs 47,460, down Rs 10 from yesterday’s trading price. Silver was at Rs 65,300 per kg, down Rs 200 from yesterday’s trading price, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the fourth consecutive day across the country on Saturday.

With a hike of Rs 0.35, the petrol prices increased to Rs 107.24 per litre in the national capital while the price of diesel was raised by the same amount to Rs 95.97 per litre.

Walmart Inc is recalling about 3,900 bottles of an aromatherapy spray due to the possible presence of a rare and sometimes fatal bacteria, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said on Friday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tested a version of the Better Homes and Gardens-branded spray and found Burkholderia pseudomallei, which causes the potentially fatal condition melioidosis.

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