News Dabba for 23 December 2022: Five stories for a balanced news diet

Indie Journal brings you the daily updates that the internet is talking about through various news websites. Here's a glance through some of the National and International news updates, from Parliament session adjourning sine die, Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine launching, to US winter storm alert.

The Hindu reports that Parliament session adjourned sine die with record productivity

The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die, around a week ahead of schedule. The Hindu report that Speaker Om Birla mentioned that the Lok Sabha recorded a productivity rate of 97 percent and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar informed members that the Rajya Sabha recorded a 102 percent productivity rate. Prior to adjournment, the Rajya Sabha experienced some chaos over Mr. Dhankar’s remarks pertaining to Congress MP Sonia Gandhi and demand for discussion of Chinese aggression, the report adds. MP John Brittas also expressed concern over the recommendations of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language to implement Hindi as the medium of instruction in central universities and institutes of national importance. Read the full report here. 

Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine, hospital Covid drills from today, NDTV reports

Bharat Biotech's intranasal Covid vaccine has been approved by the Union Health Ministry for inclusion in the vaccination programme as a booster dose for those above 18 years of age. NDTV reports that those who have taken Covishield and Covaxin can take the nasal vaccine as a heterologous booster dose. The needle-free vaccine will be available at private centres. It is said it will be introduced on the Co-WIN platform on Friday evening. Meanwhile, the report adds, mock drills will be conducted at hospitals across the country from Tuesday onwards in view of a spike in Covid cases in some countries. Read the full report here.

BBC report on the US winter storm alert

A powerful Arctic winter storm has placed more than 135 million people under weekend weather alerts, BBC reports. The alerts stretch from coast to coast and reach as far south as the US-Mexico border and Florida, the Sunshine State. BBC says experts are warning plunging temperatures wreaking havoc across the US and Canada can lead to frostbite on bare skin in only five to 10 minutes. Major airports have cancelled thousands of flights as the storm intensifies. The cold snap could bring the iciest Christmas in decades, say forecasters. Read the full report here.

AlJazeera on January 6 panel's report describing Trump ‘conspiracy’

The US House of Representatives January 6 committee’s final report asserts that former United States President Donald Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election. It said he failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol. The 845-page report (PDF) released on Thursday concludes an 18-month investigation into the former president. It comes after the panel interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, the report states, held 10 hearings and obtained millions of pages of documents. Read the full report here.

Taliban minister defends closing Afghan universities to women, The Straits Times

Afghan universities were declared off limits to women because female students were not following instructions including a proper dress code, the Taliban’s minister for higher education said, as per a report by the Straits Times. The ban announced earlier this week is the latest restriction on women’s rights in Afghanistan ordered by the Taliban. It has drawn global outrage, including from Muslim nations. But Mr Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the minister, insisted on Thursday that women students had ignored Islamic instructions – including on what to wear or being accompanied by a male relative when travelling. Read the full report here.