- Night curfew in parts of Gujarat, MP: The Gujarat government has announced night curfew in Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19. The curfew will be imposed on weekends from 9pm to 7am starting November 21. The development comes a day after the state imposed a “complete curfew” in Ahmedabad. Following suit, the Madhya Pradesh government has also imposed curfew in Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Vidisha and Ratlam.
- Gehlot attacks BJP over love jihad: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has slammed the BJP over the “love jihad” controversy. The Congress leader said the term was coined by the BJP to divide the nation and disturb harmony. He said bringing in a law to curb it would be “completely unconstitutional”.
- Modi lauds security forces: Lauding the efforts of the security forces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the forces thwarted Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terror plot to wreak “major havoc” and target “grassroots level” democratic exercises in Jammu and Kashmir. The statement comes a day after four suspected infiltrators were gunned down in a three-hour encounter on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
- Cong sets up policy panels: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has set up three separate committees to discuss policy issues related to economic affairs, foreign affairs and national security. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Veerappa Moily and Shashi Tharoor, who had earlier sought a revamp of the party, were appointed members of the committee.
- WHO advises against Remdesivir: A World Health Organization panel has said Gilead’s Remdesivir should not be used for patients hospitalised with Covid-19, regardless of how ill they are, as there is no evidence the drug improves survival or reduces the need for ventilation.
- FDA on emergency Covid vaccine use: Hours after Pfizer Inc applied for the authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine, the US Food and Drug Administration’s outside advisers have decided to meet on December 10 to discuss whether to authorise the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech for emergency use.
- Sivasankar moves HC: M. Sivasankar, former principal secretary to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Friday moved Kerala High Court seeking bail in an Enforcement Directorate case related to money laundering charges in the gold smuggling racket.
- Allow devotees to take holy dip in Tungabhadra: AP BJP chief: Andhra Pradesh BJP president Somu Veerraju has appealed the state government to allow devotees to take dips in river Tungabhadra during the Tungabhadra Pushkaram which commenced on Friday. He said there is no purpose of spending Rs 200 crore on developing the pushkaram ghats if the devotees would not have the facility to take the holy dip in the river directly.
- Cabinet expansion in 3 days: BSY: Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday said the much-awaited expansion or reshuffle of his cabinet will be finalised within three days and a programme will be planned thereafter for the swearing-in of new ministers.
- K’taka gets Rs 1.20 lakh cr investments during Covid: The Karnataka government attracted investments worth Rs 1.20 lakh crore during the Covid-19 pandemic, deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan has announced. Karnataka is looking at achieving $300 billion business from the IT/ITeS sectors through Karnataka Digital Economy Mission in the next five years.