The World Health Organisation has granted an emergency authorization to AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, a move that should allow the UN agency's partners to ship millions of doses to countries as part of a UN-backed programme to tame the pandemic.

In a statement Monday, the WHO said it was clearing the AstraZeneca vaccines made by the Serum Institute of India and South Korea's AstraZeneca-SKBio.

On the occasion of Vasant Panchami and Saraswati Puja, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday extended greetings to the people of the country.

"Hearty greetings to all countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Vasant Panchami and Saraswati Puja. I wish that the arrival of spring brings happiness and prosperity in the lives of all the countrymen," President Kovind tweeted (in Hindi).

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and WhatsApp within four weeks on a fresh plea alleging lower standards of privacy for Indians in comparison to European users of the messaging app.

The top court said that people have grave apprehensions that they will lose their privacy, and it is our duty to protect them.

The Japanese government has approved its first vaccine against the Covid-19, kick-starting a massive rollout programme for the country of 126 million people.

Pfizer Inc.'s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine got the final approval for emergency use on Sunday from health minister Norihisa Tamura, two days after a government committee gave the shot its seal of approval, paving the way for inoculations to start as early as Wednesday, The Japan Times reported.

As many as 8 bodies have been recovered from Chamoli's Tapovan tunnel in the Uttarakhand glacier burst incident, said National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Deputy Commandant Aditya Pratap Singh on Monday.

A total of 8 bodies have been recovered from here (Tapovan tunnel) so far. Operation is still underway. NDRF is working 24/7. A total of seven bodies have been recovered in Raini, so a total of 15 bodies have been recovered from the two work sites, said NDRF Deputy Commandant.

Petrol price is nearing to touch an all-time high of Rs 89 per litre in the national capital.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 26 paise and 29 paise per litre each on Monday to touch Rs 88.99 and Rs 79.35 respectively, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies. The diesel prices stood at Rs 78.38.

Venture capital consortium Indian Angel Network (IAN) is planning to invest over Rs 100 crore in start-up firms across sectors in 2021, according to a governance committee member and co-founder of the network.

IAN co-founder Padmaja Ruparel told PTI that the consortium members will evaluate opportunities in biotechnology, augmented reality, manufacturing and in environment space.

India's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to1,09,16,589with11,649new infections being reported in a day, while the daily deaths were recorded below100 for the ninth time this month,according to the Union Health Ministry data updated onMonday.

Thedeath toll increased to1,55,732with 90 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment is likely to complete the process to finalise the rules for four new labour codes or laws soon and they are likely to be implemented from the coming fiscal year. While there are proposals about four-day week and overtime limit, one thing that will directly affect the salary of employees is the impact of Cost-to-company (CTC) and the take-home pay.

As per a report by Hindustan Times, the new labour laws will prompt the companies to restructure the CTC as they cap several allowances including LTA, house rent, overtime and conveyance at 50% of the total CTC.

The government on Sunday said it has made FASTags mandatory from February 15 midnight and any vehicle not fitted with it will be charged double the toll at electronic toll plazas across the country.

Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry announced all lanes in the fee plazas on the National Highways shall be declared as 'FASTag lane of the fee plaza' with effect from the midnight of 15-16 February, informed an official statement.

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