UK abolishes tampon tax
London, Jan 3: As a part of wider government actions to end period poverty, the UK government has announced that from January 1, 2021, value-added tax (VAT) no longer applies to women’s sanitary products. The move “honours a government commitment to scrap the tax and is part of a wider strategy to make sanitary products affordable and available for all women”, including the rollout of free sanitary products in schools, colleges and hospitals, Xinhua news agency quoted the Treasury as saying in a statement on Saturday. As the Brexit transition period ended on December 31, 2020, the UK is no longer “bound by the EU VAT Directive which mandates a minimum 5 per cent tax on all sanitary products”, said the Treasury. (IANS)
Global COVID cases top 84.5mn
Washington, Jan 3: The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 84.5 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.83 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Sunday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 84,517,989 and 1,834,963, respectively. The US is the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 20,396,243 and 349,933, respectively, according to the CSSE. India comes in second place in terms of cases at 10,305,788, while the country’s death toll soared to 149,218. (IANS)
Talks on Nile dam to resume
Khartoum, Jan 3: Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia will hold a new round of talks on Sunday over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile river under the patronage of African Union (AU). “This meeting will discuss Sudan’s proposal aimed at reactivating the negotiations via giving a greater role for the AU experts to reach a binding legal agreement on the GERD according to Sudan’s previous request and then look into the draft of understanding prepared by the AU experts to reach a satisfactory deal for the three parties,” Xinhua news agency quoted Sudanese state media as saying in a report on Saturday. Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Irrigation of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia are expected to participate in the talks. (IANS)