WORLD

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake off Japan's Fukushima injured dozens of people, authorities said Sunday, nearly 10 years after the eastern region was hit by a huge quake that sparked a tsunami and nuclear meltdown.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said no casualties had so far been reported after the late-night quake, which did not trigger a tsunami warning.

"We have received reports of many injuries in the Fukushima and Miyagi regions. But so far we have not received any reports of deaths," he told an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday morning.

The disaster agency said 74 injuries had been reported in the region and also around Tokyo, where the quake was felt strongly just after 11 pm on Saturday.

India and China have agreed to hold the 10th round of military-level talks within 48 hours after the completion of disengagement process in the Pangong Lake area, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday. 

The two countries had agreed to disengage troops from the North and South banks of Pangong lake in a phased and coordinated manner, over nine month after being locked in the confrontation. As per the agreement, China will keep its troops to the east of the Finger 8 at the north bank of Pangong Lake, while India will keep its troops at its permanent base near Finger 3.

Address media, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that while no date has yet been fixed for the next round of talks, the meeting will discuss the remaining issues. "The two sides have also agreed to convene 10th round of senior commanders meeting within 48 hours after complete disengagement in the Pangong lake area to address the remaining issues. No date has been set so far for the WMCC," he said, as quoted by a news agency.

For months, China resisted allowing World Health Organization experts into the country to trace the origins of the global pandemic, concerned that such an inquiry could draw attention to the government’s early missteps in handling the outbreak.

After a global uproar, the Chinese government finally relented, allowing a team of 14 scientists to visit laboratories, disease-control centers and live-animal markets over the past 12 days in the city of Wuhan.

But instead of scorn, the WHO experts on Tuesday delivered praise for Chinese officials and endorsed critical parts of their narrative, including some that have been contentious.

President Joe Biden is moving quickly on immigration.On his first day in office, he outlined a proposal for a sweeping immigration bill that would cover everything from giving Green Cards to undocumented foreigners to codifying the employment rights of the spouses of certain H-1B visa holders.

With control over both houses of Congress, his prospects appear good at first glance. But in reality, his path to victory is by no means clear.

India is expecting big things from President Biden. His immigration pledges to the Indian American community included providing a route to permanent residency for an estimated 5,00,000 Indians living illegally in America, increasing the number of work-based Green Cards when economic conditions permit, and removing country caps on employment-based immigrant visas.

The Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that between 2015 and 2019, over 6,76,074 Indians gave up Indian citizenship. The ministry made the remarks while ruling out the proposal of allowing people to hold dual citizenship.

As per data, 1,41,656 Indians gave up their citizenship in 2015 and opted for other countries' nationalities. In 2016, 1,44,942 Indian people changed their citizenship, 1,27,905 in 2017, 1,25,130 in 2018 and 1,36,441 in 2019, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai stated.

A total of 1,24,99,395 Indian citizens are living abroad the MHA quoting information available with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told the parliament.