Dear reader, and the question on everyone’s mind: Will FB-ownedWhatsApp stay true to its threat of disabling features if users don’t accept privacy updates? We are hearing conflicting reports so can’t say for sure. In this edition, we find out why FB is doing this; the Middle East crisis is expanding and little turtles are wreaking havoc for other turtles in Northeast India.
Coronavirus News
💉 Sputnik launched: Distribution to other cities to begin soon and should be available by mid-June. From July, more firms will market the vaccine and that should bring down the price. At Rs 995 for Centre, states and private hospitals, it is the most expensive in India but likely to cost less than Covaxin at private hospitals.
💉💉 Vaccination drive: Centre to supply 19 million doses for free to states; the UK is going to speed up its drive in the face of the Indian variant surge.
🦠 Sturdy variant: Study by ICMR says that Covishield and Covaxin are less effective against the Indian variant producing on half as much antibodies.
🧒 Kids are fine: WHO chief urges rich nations to donate vaccines instead of vaccinating children who are “low risk”: “Pandemic going to be deadlier this year.”
🚷 Lockdown: Kerala extends to May 23, Sikkim till May 24.
😔 Tragedy continues: 13 more die in Goa hospital due to O2, toll now 75.
1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣Uncounted: Gujarati newspaper Divya Bhaskar claimed 61K deaths not reported based on the death certificates issue from March 1 to May 10.
🙏 Dead: Ex-AAP MLA Jarnail Singh (47).
🗣️ House Closed: Parliamentary committees cannot meet virtually as rules do not allow for it, says RS secretariat. Opposition has been asking for meets to deliberate on strategies and scrutinise govt response.
👥 Isolation No Escape: 21 members of some of India’s oldest tribes in Odisha test +. They had escaped the 1st wave as they kept to themselves.
🚨 Misplaced: Telangana revokes its bar on ambulances entry without e-pass. It had forced 60 ambulances away at the border citing shortage of beds. Two patients died.
👪 Kids are ours: Delhi government decides to provide free education and financial aid to children who lost both parents to the disease, and financial aid to families who lost sole earning member.
📦 Quota: Maharashtra says it will provide Bharat Biotech 11 hectares in Pune to set up a vaccine plant and will ask for 50% of its production in return.
Other India News
Guv 🆚 Govt: Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar visits Assam where people who fled violence stayed. “They are facing political vendetta… lawlessness in Bengal,” he said. TMC says Governor being partisan. National Commission for Scheduled Castes also toured Bengal and says police helped miscreants.
🌧️ Monsoon Watch: IMD says rains may arrive early in Kerala. 🌀Cyclone Tauktae will be a “very severe” storm.
🐢 Turtle Power: Red-eared slider turtles brought from the US as pets grow fast, leave nothing for local turtle species in Northeast India to eat. [“`VISIT BLOG: For more on this turtle“`]
🛒 Vocal for Local: More urban youngsters prefer organic and ayurvedic products, finds survey. 70% consumers prefer local brands for FMCG, personal and home care, health and apparel.
😧 Cage no bar: A prisoner in UP’s Chitrakoot jail managed to smuggle in a pistol and killed 2 gangsters inside. Later, police shot him dead.
Misuse of Law: Andhra Pradesh Police charges ruling YSRCP Parliament member Raghu Rama Krishna Raju with sedition. Raju is a known critic of the chief minister YSR Jagan Mohan Reddy.
🆕 Punjab’s 23rd: Malerkotla now a district.
World News
⚔️ Middle East: Clashes spread in Israel-occupied West Bank. At least 126 people have been killed in Gaza and 8 in Israel since the fighting began; UN says at least 10K Palestinians have been forced to leave home. Border with Lebanon and Jordan too is tense. Meanwhile, US Democratic Congress members speak out against military support to Israel and the Arab world is only condemning Israel in words, not action.
👾 Another ransomware: Week after the US pipeline was hit, Ireland’s state health provider was forced to shut its IT network, cancel appointments, and other services affected. Washington DC police suffers massive leak of info.
🇨🇳 Huǒxīng: That is what the Chinese call Mars (here is the pronunciation) in Mandarin and that is where China’s landed today morning becoming only the 2nd country to do so. Its rover Zhurong (Chinese god of fire) will be deployed in a few days.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan: Taliban and Afghan govt resume talks in Qatar; 12 killed in Kabul mosque explosion
🇨🇱 New Constitution: Chile will elect 155-member– almost equal men and women– assembly to write it. In 2019, mass uprising against the govt led to the demand for education, healthcare, pension and a new constitution.
🐗 Ham Burglar: Wild boars in Rome pursued and surrounded a woman and stole her shopping.
💬 FB’s goal: FB wants to see WhatsApp become like rival WeChat, an app that does everything — chat, shopping, pay bills and contact govt services– and also integrate with itself. If not signing up: No incoming calls, no chat and no notification.
🎨Master artist: Picasso painting titled Woman Sitting near Window sold for $103 mn in auction.
🏴Not Refugees: The two men that Glasgow residents freed from immigration officials turned out to be Indians.
🛍️🍎🔎🪟🪟 Big Tech Weighs In: Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and others say eliminating H-4 visas for employees’ spouses is a very bad idea.
News of Yesterday
News Of Today 