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The orders by Akasa, which is backed by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, are incremental orders, a Boeing executive said. Akasa Air on Tuesday placed an order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX jets, valued at nearly $9 billion at list prices – a deal that could help the US planemaker regain lost ground in one of the world’s most promising markets. The order by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed airline comes months after air safety regulator allowed the country’s airlines to fly the MAX jet, ending its nearly two and a half…

With this, Pfizer’s oral antiviral Covid-19 medication will be available more cheaply in poorer countries, if it passes trials and regulatory approval. US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on Tuesday announced a deal to make its prospective antiviral Covid-19 pill available more cheaply in the world’s least wealthy countries. Pfizer will sub-licence production of its promising Paxlovid pill to generic drug manufacturers for supply in 95 low- and middle-income nations covering around 53 percent of the world’s population. Under the deal struck with the global Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Pfizer — which…

Purvanchal Expressway Inauguration: Over 2,000 buses were diverted for the big event, the opposition claimed this morning as locals in some parts said they faced inconvenience. Prime Minister Narendra Modi this afternoon launched the 340-km Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh, built at a cost of ₹ 22,500 crores, shortly after he landed in an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft on the highway. Here are ten points on the Purvanchal Expressway event: PM Modi said the highway “will unite UP”, adding, “When I laid the foundation stone of the highway three years…

Hyderpora Encounter: The killed businessmen – Dr Mudasir Gul and Altaf Bhat – had shops in the commercial complex at Hyderpora where the encounter took place last evening. Four persons, including two businessmen, were killed during an anti-terror operation by security forces in Srinagar. The police said that two terrorists were killed in the operation and the killed businessmen were “terrorist supporters”. The killed businessmen – Dr Mudasir Gul and Altaf Bhat – had shops in the commercial complex at Hyderpora where the encounter took place last evening. Mudsir Gul,…

A large number of vehicles including trucks are also stranded on the road as it has been for safety. Two terrorists were shot dead in an ongoing operation by security forces in Srinagar this evening, the police said. The encounter between the terrorists and the security forces started at Hydepora bypass. Minutes after the shootout started, police said a terrorist was killed. In a subsequent update, the police tweeted that one more unidentified terrorist has been killed. Some residents said they were trapped when the encounter started. “My brother is…

Delhi Air Pollution: Supreme Court said in its order that “the major culprit of pollution” is industry, transport and road dust and “some part” is stubble burning. Farm fires only have a 10 per cent share in Delhi’s severe pollution, the central government today told the Supreme Court in a hearing on the air quality crisis in India’s capital. The contribution of stubble-burning – or burning of farm waste — to Delhi’s air pollution is 10 per cent, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court, stating that industry and road…

Schools in four districts of Haryana that are close to the national capital will be shut till Wednesday, the Haryana government has ordered. In view of toxic smog and bad air quality in Delhi for over a week now, all government and private schools have been ordered to remain shut in the adjoining districts of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. This order comes just a day after the Delhi government announced similar measures.  Construction activities, stubble burning, and burning of trash by municipal bodies have also been banned…