Here are the top 5 news updates of Wednesday, January 20, 2021:
Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris will take oath as the first woman Vice President on Wednesday, amidst heightened security concerns after a mob of pro-Trump extremists violently breached the Capitol two weeks ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office to 78-year-old Biden just after the clock strikes 12 (local time) at the West Front of the Capitol - the traditional location for presidential inaugural ceremonies.
The historic inauguration will be held under the unprecedented security umbrella of more than 25,000 National Guards, who have transformed the capital into a garrison city, mainly because of the threat of more violent protests by the supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, who is skipping the event.
Biden will take the oath on his 127-year-old family Bible, which will be held by his wife, Jill Biden.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed strong displeasure over the aspersions cast by some farmers' unions on members of the court-appointed committee to resolve the impasse over new farm laws and said it has not given any adjudicating authority to the panel.
On the issue pertaining to the committee, a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it had appointed experts in the panel as the judges are not experts on the subject.
Controversy had erupted after the apex court appointed the four-member committee as some of the members had earlier reportedly expressed their views and favoured the contentious farm laws, following which one of the members had recused himself.
"Where is the question of bias in this? We have not given adjudicating powers to the committee. You don't want to appear is understandable, but casting aspersions on someone because he expressed his view is not done. You don't need to brand anybody like this," said the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The Centre, meanwhile, withdrew its petition seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor rally by farmers on the Republic Day after the apex court said it was a police matter.
A day after India asked it to withdraw changes to its privacy policy, WhatsApp on Wednesday said the proposed change does not expand its ability to share user data with Facebook and that it is open to answering questions on the issue.
"We wish to reinforce that this update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook. Our aim is to provide transparency and new options available to engage with businesses so they can serve their customers and grow," a WhatsApp spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that WhatsApp will always protect personal messages with end-to-end encryption so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see them.
The Indian government had on Tuesday posed 14 questions to WhatsApp on its "invasive" changes in Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
The letter noted that with over 400 million users in India, the changes will have a disproportionate impact on the country's citizens.
Well-known Chinese businessman and founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma has finally resurfaced in the public eye, quelling persistent rumours about authorities taking action against him.
According to a Bloomberg report, Ma made a virtual appearance at an event, addressing scores of teachers. Reportedly, his appearance has been confirmed by those familiar with the matter.
Ma had dropped out of public view several months ago, sparking immense speculation. In the ensuing months, there had been a crackdown against Ant Group Co. and Alibaba Group Holding and many had been left wondering about Ma's fate.
5. TRP scam: Ex-BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta’s bail plea rejected by sessions court in Mumbai
A sessions court has rejected the bail plea of former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta who was arrested last month in the TRP rigging case.
The bail was sought on the grounds that no TV channel or advertiser has filed a cheating complaint against him in the TRP rigging case. His advocates Arjun Thakur and Shardul Thakur had argued that advertisers are not naive to go solely by TRP as they know that it comprises a small sample and pointed out that no advertiser had complained to police either.
They had also informed the court that his health is in fragile condition, with him being admitted in JJ hospital in an unconscious condition due to his blood sugar shooting up and the condition may recur if he is continued to be lodged in jail.
(With inputs from agencies)
