As India's COVID-19 tally surpassed the 9-million mark on Friday, phase three trials of Covaxin, India's indigenous Covid vaccine began in the country's northern Haryana state. One of the candidates to take a shot of the potential vaccine was Haryana's Health Minister Anil Vij, who offered to be the first volunteer for the trial dose. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering on Friday launched RuPay card Phase-II that will allow Bhutanese card holders to access the RuPay network in India. The RuPay card is an Indian debit and credit card payment network, with acceptance at ATMs, POS devices and e-commerce websites. A Pakistani court has sentenced Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai siege, to 10 years in prison on two charges of terrorism financing. This comes as Pakistan tries to avoid punitive blacklisting by global dirty money watchdog which judges a country's ability to combat illicit financing, including to militant organizations. Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has appealed independent candidates in Gilgit Baltistan to not trade their victory with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party's government which he said was about to end in January. This comes as PTI is poised to form the government in the illegally-occupied region as five victorious independent candidates have joined the party. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan held talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on Thursday at a time when peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives have stalled and violence is rising. The two countries agreed on a shared vision to support peace and stability in both the countries and the wider region, and affirmed their intention of looking towards a future relationship built on trust. Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Thursday inaugurated the first airport developed by the current administration at the northernmost Haa Alif Atoll. The airport is expected to ease travel and provide a boost to tourism. Navies of India and the U.S. participated in advanced air operations in the Arabian Sea on Friday, as part of quad grouping military exercise, with Japan and Australia. Indian Navy's aircraft carrier was seen participating in the drills, along with Russian-origin MiG-29k aircraft. U.S. Navy's F-18 also participated in the exercise. A month-long training workshop on the traditional Kashmiri folk theatre 'Bhand Pather' concluded this week in Budgam district of India's Jammu and Kashmir. The workshop aimed to revive the dying art form and make people aware of its importance.
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