Good morning! Earlier this week we brought you the story of a UK team finding that side effects were more likely if two different Covid shots were administered. Now a Spanish team finds just the opposite! There appears to be little relief in the Middle East even in wake of hard diplomacy, and the GoI is having an image problem and is throwing the kitchen sink at it. Also, an iconic natural structure has fallen.
Coronavirus News
🇪🇺 T-20 : In a draft document, G-20 nations have not agreed to vaccine patent waiver or more funding to WHO. The group mostly contains European countries who do not believe in tech transfer as a solution.
💉 Logistics: Pfizer jab can now be stored at between 2C and 8C for a month. Bangladesh has requested for more vaccines from India, US.
💉💉 More vaccines: Biological E. will produce J&J vector vaccine alongside its own protein subunit vaccine. GSK-Sanofi’s vector jab registers strong Phase II results.
👨👩👦👦 Kids Again: Singapore to vaccinate 12-15 year-olds despite WHO recommendation not to as cases surge.
🤦♂️ Kejritalk: Delhi CM thinks third wave will arrive from Singapore variant.
👨🔬 Mix ‘n match: Spanish study finds that mixing Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines is very safe and effective.
📤 SIIgh: SII CEO Adar Poonawalla says his company did not export vaccines “at the cost of Indians”.
🧔🏼 Modi Down: Modi’s approval ratings down to lowest since 2019 at 63%. Another poll reported that 59% said Modi handling pandemic well, down from 89% last year.
🖌️ Image problem: Indian Embassy is reaching out to students in the US to help counter “biased and negative narrative” against the govt country.
🪛 Toolkit, again: BJP alleges Congress prepared elaborate toolkit to tarnish PM Modi and India’s image.
👷🏻 Joblessness: Rural unemployment up to 14%, almost double from previous week and at a 50-week high. Urban unemployment too 14%.
🛍️ Economy: Revenge spending after months of lockdown had helped India out of recession last year. But now, with most middle class homes affected, this may not happen as quickly. 16 states under lockdown form 90% of GDP.
⚰️ Counting Dead: UP teachers’ body says 1,600 staff died of Covid while on poll duty, govt says only 3.
🙏 Dead: Former Union minister BJP’s Chaman Lal Gupta (86), Hisar official Praveen Kumar (43) who led a team that cremated 300 people.
🚷 Lockdown: Odisha till June 1
India News
🌀 Cyclone’s Wake: Three days of Tauktae leaves over 30 dead and many missing. Indian Navy and Coast Guard rescued 317 from a barge that went adrift, but 390 missing. Now, IMD warns of a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal.
🕌 Mosque falls: Barabanki district administration razed a mosque saying it was illegal. But the Waqf Board says that it was over 100 years old and that the high court had ordered it protected till May 31.
🏘️ Bengal House: Cabinet agrees to set up a second house, or Vidhan Parishad.
🤔 Kerala surprise: Pinarayi Vijan drops previous govt ministers for new faces, including face of state’s health crisis response K K Shailaja. 500 people will attend inauguration.
🗳️ Lying?: While TMC leaders mentioned the Narda case (for which they were arrested yesterday) in their nomination forms to EC, BJP leaders did not.
😧 Heartless: Three men held for killing Kenyan man over Rs 500 cab fare in Delhi. Kenyan had come to India for treatment for a heart condition. Suspects allegedly took his bags to prevent identification, but forgot phone.
✍🏽 Law Misused: Manipur scribe Kishorchandra Wangkhem booked under NSA for FB post on death of state BJP chief. He wrote that cow urine and dung were not cures for infection.
🤑 Poll Money: SBI says electoral bonds worth Rs 695 crore purchased during Assembly polls last month — the highest for any such poll and most encashed.
💰 Another tax challenge: Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co has begun arbitration proceedings against GoI after Income Tax dept raised a Rs2,400 crore tax demand over a 2007 transaction.
World News
🇮🇱 ⚔️ 🇵🇸 Some Relief: Air raids continued on Gaza even as EU leaders called for ceasefire, while Biden is said to have told Netanyahu that he could hold out “only for so long”. But the US, for the 4th time, blocked a UNSC joint statement. Israel also blocked aid from reaching Gaza through key point. Egypt has drawn up plans for a truce that Hamas has accepted.
🇨🇳 Panic in China Town: One of China’s tallest buildings began wobbling sending people scurrying for cover. There was no earthquake.
🇨🇱 Chile’s Verdict: Right wing lost vote to new constituent assembly paving way for Left and Independents. Before the vote, rules had been put in place for gender parity, but women did so well that it was the men that benefitted.
⛷️ Boycott event: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called on American diplomats to not go to China for Winter Olympics over treatment to Uyghurs.
Environment
🌡️ Scrap Oil Projects: To keep to Paris Agreement and net-zero emissions by 2050, all future fossil fuel projects had to be scrapped, says IEA report that will inform negotiators during the Conference of Parties-26th summit in Glasgow in November. Also: Sale of new internal combustible engine cars had to stop in 2035 and energy efficiency would have to grow at 4% yearly, which is almost 3X current trajectory. Investment should be $40bn a year.
🗳️ Shell’d: 30% of energy firm Shell’s shareholders voted to set binding carbon emission targets.
🧃 Lion’s Share: Just 20 firms are responsible for 55% of the world’s plastic waste, with ExxonMobil #1. Australia is the country that generates most.
🪨 Natural wonder collapses: Iconic Darwin’s Arch collapses due to natural erosion.
News of Yesterday
News Of Today 