16-01-2021 The Asian Independent

14 16-01-2021 to 31-01-2021 NEWS
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
US woman charged over Capitol riots
Washington. A woman from
the US state of Missouri, who
was seen with a fractured sign
belonging to House of
Representatives Speaker Nancy
Pelosi during the January 6
Capitol riots, has been charged,
according to court documents.
On Saturday, the documents
filed in the US District Court
for the District of Columbia
revealed that Emily Hernandez
was slapped with five charges a
day earlier in connection to the
riot staged by supporters of outgoing
President Donald Trump,
The Hill news website reported.
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation received tips from
at least three persons identifying
Hernandez, who was
allegedly seen in a video circulated
by the UK's ITV news network.
According to The Hill news
report, in the video the rioters
are seen entering the Capitol
and a few minutes later, they
were seen going in and out of a
room, which had a wooden sign
above it saying, "Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi".
Next, a woman, donning a
pair of sunglasses and a white
and grey hat, is seen standing
outside the room and then later
she holds up a broken engraved
piece of wood, in which the
words "the House" and "Nancy"
are clearly visible, the report
added. The court documents further
revealed that Hernandez has
been charged with knowingly
entering or remaining in any
restricted building or grounds,
disorderly conduct which
impedes the conduct of government
business; stealing, selling,
conveying or disposing of any
thing of value to the US; disruptive
conduct in the Capitol
Buildings; and parading, demonstrating,
or picketing in the
Capitol Buildings.
But it remains unclear is she
has been arrested as of now.
The attack on the Capitol
building on January 6 took place
while Congress was in session
considering the ratification of the
electoral college votes electing
Joe Biden as President and
Kamala Harris as Vice President.
Earlier that day outside the
Capitol, Trump addressed his
supporters during which called
for "patriots" to take a stand
against the 2020 election results
Five people, including a
police officer, were killed during
the riots.
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation has issued a warning
about plans of armed
protests from January 16
through January 20 at all the 50
state capitols, and from January
17 through January 20, the day
of the inauguration, at the
Capitol in Washington D.C.
Up to 25,000 National Guard
members have been authorised
by the Pentagon for Washington
D.C., more than the amount of
the troops currently stationed in
Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
Rising trade deficit to dampen rupee's prospects
DNA test can identify pneumonia in patients with severe Covid
London. Researchers have developed
a DNA test to quickly identify secondary
infections in Covid-19 patients,
who have double the risk of developing
pneumonia while on ventilation.
For patients with the most severe
forms of Covid-19, mechanical ventilation
is often the only way to keep them
alive, as doctors use anti-inflammatory
therapies to treat their inflamed lungs.
However, these patients are susceptible
to further infections from bacteria
and fungi that they may acquire while in
hospital -- so called 'ventilator-associated
pneumonia'.
"Early on in the pandemic, we
noticed that Covid-19 patients appeared
to be particularly at risk of developing
secondary pneumonia, and started using
New Delhi. Rising trade deficit
along with chances of a populist
budget might dampen rupee's
prospects during the coming
week.
Nevertheless, persistent interest
of FIIs in India's equity market
will arrest any sharp depreciation
moves.
"The 25-month high trade
deficit may put brakes for strong
rupee appreciation. Equity markets
also looks stretched and a
cool-off looks imminent now.
Eyes will be on the budget and
the ballooning fiscal deficit,
which can be a challenge for the
local currency," said Sajal
Gupta, Head, Forex and Rates,
Edelweiss Securities.
On the other hand, new IPOs
and hopes of healthy Q3 earning
results will retain FIIs' interest in
equities. "We have two IPO subscriptions
next week, which can
attract FII participation and keep
the USDINR spot lower," said
Rahul Gupta, Head of Research-
Currency at Emkay Global
Financial Services.
"However, RBI's intervention
will be eyed. In spot 73 is acting
as strong support, a break of
which will push prices towards
72.70-72.75 and then the 72.50
zone. However, 73.50 will act as
immediate resistance," he added.
Till now in January, FIIs have
invested around $ 2.3 billion in
equities.
Consequently, the rupee continued
to appreciate and closed
at 73.07 to a greenback.
"We have an important event
this week. President-elect Joe
Biden and Vice President-elect
Kamala Harris will be sworn in
during the 59th inaugural ceremony
in Washington DC on
January 20. It is important that
this event passes peacefully in
a rapid diagnostic test
that we had developed for
just such a situation," said
co-author Andrew
Conway Morris from the
University of Cambridge.
"Using this test, we
found that patients with
Covid-19 were twice as
likely to develop secondary
pneumonia as other
patients in the same
intensive care unit," Conway added.
Normally, confirming a pneumonia
diagnosis is challenging, as bacterial
light of the recent violent attack
by Trump supporters on the US
Capitol. We expect rupee to consolidate
in the range of 72.75 to
73.3 for this week with depreciating
bias," said Devarsh Vakil,
samples from patients need to be cultured
and grown in a lab, which is timeconsuming.
The test takes an alternative
approach by detecting the DNA of different
pathogens, which allows for
faster and more accurate testing,
according to a paper published in the
journal Critical Care.
The test uses multiple polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) which detects the
DNA of the bacteria and can be done in
around four hours, meaning there is no
need to wait for the bacteria to grow.
IT runs multiple PCR reactions in
Deputy Head of Retail Research
at HDFC Securities.
The swearing-in assumes significance
since the incoming US
administration has announced a
new stimulus package. If enacted,
the $1.9 trillion package will
deliver a further jolt of fiscal
stimulus to the struggling US
recovery.
"As the newly elected President
takes charge more clarity on the
stimulus package will be important
to watch. Market participants will
also be keeping an eye on the ECB
and Bank of Japan policy statement;
expectation is that the both
the major central banks are expected
to maintain a dovish outlook,"
said Gaurang Somaiya, Forex &
Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal
Financial Services.
(Rohit Vaid can be contacted
at rohit.v@ians.in)
parallel, and can simultaneously pick up
52 different pathogens, which often
infect the lungs of patients in intensive
care. At the same time, it can also test
for antibiotic resistance.
"We found that although patients
with Covid-19 were more likely to
develop secondary pneumonia, the bacteria
that caused these infections were
similar to those in ICU patients without
Covid-19," said lead author Mailis
Maes from the varsity. "This means that
standard antibiotic protocols can be
applied to Covid-19 patients," Maes
added.