QUAD LEADERS' VIRTUAL SUMMIT TO BE HELD ON MARCH 12

The first ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’, also known as the Quad leaders' virtual summit, is all set to take place on March 12.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in an official statement, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating, along with Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga and President of USA. Joseph R. Biden, in the first Leaders’ Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework, being held virtually on 12th March 2021.”

The MEA on Tuesday said that the leaders will discuss “bilateral” and “global” issues of “shared interest”.

The focus would certainly be on how to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.\

“The Leaders will discuss regional and global issues of shared interest, and exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The Summit will provide an opportunity to exchange views on contemporary challenges such as resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change,” read the MEA statement.

Ahead of the announcement of the Quad meeting, China had issued a conciliatory hand.

"China and India should stop undercutting each other, shed mutual suspicion and create enabling conditions by expanding bilateral cooperation to resolve the border issue," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had said on Sunday.

The Australian PM emphasised that the Quad is not going to be a big bureaucratic structure with a big secretariat, it is going to be “four leaders, four countries, working together constructively for the peace, prosperity and stability of the Indo-Pacific, which is good for everyone in the Indo-Pacific.”

FRENCH TEACHER BEHEADING: SCHOOLGIRL WHO CRIED ISLAMOPHOBIA SAYS 'I LIED'

13-year-old student, who earlier claimed that she was part of the class in which Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was beheaded outside his school in Paris last year, showed cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, has now backtracked on her claims.

The 13-year-old student, who was taken into police custody on November 23 and had accused Samuel Paty of Islamophobia, admitted in custody that she lied and that she had not attended the free speech course offered by the professor, according to the French daily newspaper Le Parisien.

Samuel Paty, 47, was killed by an 18-year old Chechen refugee in October last year outside the school. According to reports, the teen wanted to "punish" the teacher for showing his students cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in a civics class on freedom of expression.

Reports suggested that Samuel Paty, although, described by his pupils and their parents as "caring and professional", was killed after becoming the "target of an angry campaign on social media".

A part of that angry social media campaign was a video posted on Facebook by the father of this 13-year-old student demanding the resignation of the professor prior to his assassination.

The first sign of an issue with Paty's civics lesson emerged on October 7 last year when the parent of the student, who claimed to have attended the class, posted an angry video on Facebook in which he said the teacher had shown the cartoons of Mohammad and that his daughter, a Muslim, had been disciplined for expressing her displeasure.

As per the Le Parisien report, the student was taken police custody on November 23 and charged with “defamatory denunciation” on November 25. She earlier maintained her version that the 47-year-old teacher asked his Muslim students to raise their hands and then leave the classroom so he could show a caricature of Prophet Muhammad.

The girl has now admitted that she was expelled for two days, the reason of which was related to her behaviour, and that she never attended the class where Paty allegedly showed the caricatures of the Prophet.

RUSSIA TO MAKE SPUTNIK V VACCINE IN ITALY, A FIRST IN EU

Russia has signed a deal to produce its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Italy, the first contract in the European Union, the Italian Russian Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday.

The deal was signed with Adienne Srl, the Italian subsidiary of a Swiss-based pharmaceutical company, and Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Production of a planned 10 million doses this year is set to launch in July.

“The innovative production process will help create new jobs and allow Italy to control the entire production of the compound,'' the chamber said in a statement. Financial terms were not released.

Sputnik V has not yet been approved for use in the EU, but the body's regulator, the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, started a rolling review of the vaccine last week.

Russian authorities are working on 20 similar collaborations in Europe and the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 45 nations worldwide, the chamber said.

NEW ZEALAND OPENS FIRST BIG VACCINATION CLINIC

New Zealand has opened its first large vaccination clinic as it scales up efforts to protect people from the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The clinic in south Auckland will initially target household members of border workers. New Zealand has stamped out community spread of the virus and considers border workers and their families the most vulnerable to catching the disease from infectious travellers.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said that initially about 150 people a day will get vaccinated at the clinic, although the numbers will be rapidly increased. Health officials plan to open two more clinics in Auckland over the next few weeks.

“I know a lot of our old people are probably scared of getting the vaccine but getting it today, it doesn’t hurt, and it is important for everybody to get it,” said Denise Fogasavaii, the sister of an Air New Zealand employee who has already been vaccinated.

New Zealand this week announced it plans to use the Pfizer vaccine for all inoculations, and it hopes to complete its vaccination programme by the end of the year.

PAKISTAN TO GET 45 MILLION DOSES OF INDIAN-MADE VACCINE VIA GAVI: REPORT

As many as 45 million doses of Indian coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine Covishield will reach in Pakistan in March, according to a report published in Pakistan daily The Nation. This will be the first batch of Covishield, the vaccine developed by the Serum Institute Of India (SII), to reach India's neighbouring country.

The doses will be received under an agreement with Gavi, the vaccine alliance, the report said, adding that additional 16 million doses will be received by June this year.

Gavi, a public-private partnership that helps provide vaccines to developing countries, had signed an agreement with Pakistan to provide Covid-19 vaccine in September 2020, the report said.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE ENDS SILENCE ON HARRY, MEGHAN RACISM ALLEGATIONS

Buckingham Palace issued a statement on Tuesday, saying the family was “saddened” to learn of the struggles that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed this week — and that they would be taken very seriously.

The statement is the first comment by the palace following Prince Harry and Ms. Markle’s two-hour television interview with Oprah Winfrey in which they alleged that Ms. Markle had experienced racism and callous treatment during her time in the royal family.

“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning,’’ the palace said in a statement issued on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. “While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.’’

The statement also said that “Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members."

The palace often tries to stay above controversy by remaining silent and riding out the storm, but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s charges were so damaging that the family had to respond.

Ms. Markle durng the interview said a member of the royal family had expressed “concerns” to Prince Harry about the colour of her unborn child’s skin.   

Ms. Winfrey later said Prince Harry told her off camera that the family member wasn't Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip, sparking a flurry of speculation about who it could be.

British heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles declined to comment on Tuesday after he was asked about what he thought of Meghan and his son Prince Harry's Oprah Winfrey interview.

As he left a vaccination centre in London, Charles was asked what he thought of the interview in which she said a member of the royal family had made a racist comment and she had been pushed to the point of considering suicide. Charles stopped and looked up, but then turned and walked off.

TWITTER CEO DORSEY TO CONVERT PROCEEDS FROM AUCTION OF FIRST-EVER TWEET TO BITCOIN

Twitter Inc boss Jack Dorsey said on Tuesday he will convert proceeds from the digital auction of the first ever tweet on the platform to bitcoin for charity.

"just setting up my twttr" - the first ever tweet went live for sale after Dorsey listed it as a unique digital signature on a website for selling tweets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

NFTs are digital files that serve as digital signatures to certify who owns photos, videos and other online media. Dorsey, a known bitcoin enthusiast, said the auction will end on March 21.

Payments company Square Inc, also led by Dorsey, invested $170 million more in bitcoin last month, adding to the mainstream acceptance of the digital currency that has been winning support from several big investors.

Dorsey's 15-year old tweet could attract bidders to pay a high price for the digital memorabilia. The highest bid for the tweet stood at $2.5 million as of 17:05 GMT on Tuesday.

The proceeds are being donated to GiveDirectly, a fundraising project to give cash directly to families experiencing extreme poverty in Africa.

EU PARLIAMENT STRIPS FORMER CATALAN PRESIDENT, TWO OTHERS OF IMMUNITY

The European Parliament on Tuesday lifted the immunity of the former President of Spain's Catalonia region, Carles Puigdemont, and two of his associates, a move that could pave the way for their extradition and reopen the scars of separatism in Spain.

The Spanish government immediately welcomed the decision by the European Union's legislature as a victory for the rule of law and against those who sought to break the rich northeastern region away from the rest of Spain.

The decision will likely also extend the 3 1/2-year legal saga on the fate of the three separatists by months, if not years, since many avenues for appeal remain open before any possible extraditions. In the decision on Puigdemont, 400 legislators voted for the waiver of immunity, 248 were against and 45 abstained. The measures to lift the immunity of his associates — former Catalan Health Minister Toni Comín and former regional Education Minister Clara Ponsatí — were by largely similar margins. “We have lost our immunity, but the European Parliament has lost more than that. And as a result, European democracy, too," Puigdemont said. "This is a clear case of political persecution.” He said: “The European Parliament has unfortunately fallen into this strategy.”

Puigdemont and a number of his separatist colleagues fled to Belgium in October 2017, fearing arrest after holding an independence referendum for Catalonia that the Spanish courts and government said was illegal. In 2019, Puigdemont and his two associates won seats in the European Parliament and were afforded protection as members of the EU assembly. Ponsatí said the three would appeal the assembly's decision to the EU's higher courts in Luxembourg.

SECOND OFFICIAL DIES IN CUSTODY, JUNTA STEPS UP MEDIA CRACKDOWN

An official from deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) died in custody after he was arrested early on Tuesday, the second party figure to die in detention in two days, as security forces broke up street protests against the military junta.

The police also cracked down independent media, raiding the offices of two news outlets and detaining two journalists. Myanmar has been in crisis since the army ousted Suu Kyi's elected government in a coup on February 1, detained her and other NLD officials, and set up a ruling junta of generals. The NLD's Zaw Myat Linn died in custody on Tuesday after he was arrested in the country’s main city of Yangon around 1.30 am, said Ba Myo Thein, a member of the dissolved upper house of parliament.

CHINA COULD INVADE TAIWAN WITHIN NEXT SIX YEARS: TOP US COMMANDER

China could invade Taiwan within the next six years, as Beijing accelerates its moves to supplant American military power in Asia, a top US commander said Tuesday.

Democratic and self-ruled Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by authoritarian China, whose leaders view the island as part of their territory and which they have vowed to one day take back.

"I worry that they're (China) accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order... by 2050," said Washington's top military officer in Asia-Pacific, Admiral Philip Davidson.

"Taiwan is clearly one of their ambitions before that. And I think the threat is manifest during this decade, in fact, in the next six years," he told a US Senate committee.

CHINA LAUNCHES COVID TRAVEL PASS

China has launched a digital Covid-19 vaccination certificate for its citizens planning cross-border travels, joining other countries issuing similar documents as they seek ways to reopen their economies.

As vaccines are globally being rolled out, a few countries including Bahrain have already introduced certificates identifying vaccinated people, and the EU agreed to develop vaccine passports under pressure from tourism-dependent southern countries.

The certificate issued by China will have details about the holder’s Covid-19 vaccination information and coronavirus test results, the department of consular affairs under China’s foreign ministry said.

US SANCTIONS COMPLICATE SYRIA'S RETURN TO ARAB LEAGUE: UAE

The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday that tough US sanctions on war-ravaged Syria make it more challenging for Damascus to return to the Arab League.

Through Washington's Caesar Act, a law that took effect in June last year, the United States is hoping to prevent any reconstruction effort or normalisation of trade without accountability for atrocities under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said that while efforts were required by both the Syrians and the Arab League bloc, the "bigger challenge today facing coordination and working with Syria is the Caesar Act".

"To keep the Caesar Act as it is today makes this path very difficult, not only for us as a nation, but also for the private sector," he added, during a press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

Abdullah said it was an issue that "should be part of dialogue we address clearly with our friends in the United States".

UNILEVER BEAUTY, PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS TO NOT USE WORD 'NORMAL'

Unilever announced on Tuesday that it was dropping the word "normal" from its beauty products in an effort at a more inclusive and equitable image of its personal care brands.

The word "normal" is often used in beauty products to describe what type of skin -- normal to oily skin for example -- is recommended for any product or brand.

"The decision to remove 'normal' is one of many steps that we are taking to challenge narrow beauty ideals, as we work towards helping to end discrimination and advocating for a more inclusive vision of beauty," the consumer goods giant said in a statement.

"It comes as global research into people's experiences of the beauty industry reveals that using 'normal' to describe hair or skin makes most people feel excluded."

The company added that in addition to removing the word "normal" as part of its Positive Beauty strategy, Unilever will not "digitally alter a person's body shape, size, proportion or skin colour in its brand advertising, and will increase the number of advertisements portraying people from diverse groups who are under-represented."

Sunny Jain, the head of Unilever's beauty business, said the aim was to get rid of stereotypes and to have a "far more inclusive definition of beauty."