The first meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Congress is likely to be held here on Saturday to finalise the names of candidates for the first two phases of the West Bengal and Assam Assembly polls.

The meeting will be held via video-conferencing. Senior leaders of the party and leaders of Congress's West Bengal and Assam units will also participate in the meeting.

The head of the World Health Organization called Friday for patent rights to be waived until the end of the coronavirus pandemic so that vaccine supplies can be dramatically increased, saying these unprecedented times warrant the move.

At a press briefing, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries with their own vaccine capacity should start waiving intellectual property rights as provided in special emergency provisions from the World Trade Organization.

Canada announced its approval of the use of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, making it the fourth vaccine that can be administered in the country.

After a thorough, independent review of the evidence, the Department has determined that the vaccine meets Canada's stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements, Health Canada said in a statement on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

M G George Muthoot, chairman and whole time director of the Muthoot Group, passed away on Friday. He was 72.

He was the mentor and visionary leader who played a pivotal leadership role through his long career in building one of the most trusted financial power houses in the country.

Amid a fresh surge of COVID-19, Delhi recorded 312 new cases of coronavirus with three deaths on Friday. This is the highest number of cases in nearly one-and-a-half month's time. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.53% after authorities conducted 59,122 tests.

This takes the Capital's infection tally to 640,494 and fatalities to 10,918. Daily infections crossed the 300-mark in Delhi for the first time on Friday since January 14, 2021, when 340 cases were reported in the city.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kevadia today, to address the closing ceremony of the National Director-General (DG) conference on national security, being held at the Statue of Unity Tent city from March 3 to 6. Prime Minister is scheduled to reach Kevadia from Ahmedabad at 8.50 am by Air Force helicopter.

The PM will review the operational situation on the China and Pakistan fronts as well as the progress towards setting up tri-Service integrated commands and structures during the CCC, which is being held with all top commanders of the Army, Navy, and IAF at Kevadia in Gujarat from March 4 to 6.

The farmers' agitation against the Centre's farm laws on Saturday will complete 100 days. The protests, which started on November 26, are still going on as eleven rounds of talks held between the government and the protesting farmer unions over their demand to repeal farm laws yielded no results.

To commemorate the day, plans are in works to block a major expressway outside New Delhi today.

Calling the inflated fuel price a 'dharam sankat' (dilemma) for the government, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the state and the Centre both earn revenue on petroleum products and both sides should discuss it.

Ideally, it is a matter which both States and Centre should discuss because it's not just Centre which has duties on petroleum price, States are also charging. When the Centre draws revenue, 41 percent of it goes to the state. This is a layered issue and therefore, I would like both state and Centre to discuss together, said the Finance Minister while answering a media query during the 'Indian Women's press corps' event.

The Income Tax Department's raid at filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actress Taapsee Pannu's house and office premises are still on. This is the third day of the raid after the I-T department first carried out searches at over 30 locations in Mumbai and Pune, including the premises of the above-mentioned two celebrities and filmmaker Vikas Bahl. Premises of the Phantom Films and former partner of Phantom Films, Madhu Mantena and some executives of Kwann Talent management were also raided.

The Supreme Court on Friday said that the new guidelines formed by the government regarding the regulation of content on OTT platforms likes Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have 'no teeth' as there's no provision of prosecution.

The apex court added that a law has to be framed to put in place a mechanism to control OTT platforms instead of mere guidelines.

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