Good morning everyone! New testing and vaccination protocols are in and you may want to give that a look. It is not a good sign when someone uses the word “apartheid”, least of all when South Africa used it to describe Israel and WHO chief used it to describe how bad the vaccination coverage was between the rich and poor countries. Those who stay till the end will find a rather amusing News of Yesterday section and John le Carré fans have a treat!
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, forget what you did, but will never forget how you made them feel”
Maya Angelou, author
Coronavirus News
4️⃣5️⃣2️⃣9️⃣ : Number of deaths reported on Wednesday in India, highest in the world. India (184mn at least one dose) is among the top-3 in vaccinations, China (421mn) and the US (274 mn) are higher. But the vaccination graph continued to dip for the sixth day.
👃 Up yours: ICMR approves an antigen test kit that can be done at home without prescription but will require one to push a cotton swab into the nose. Results in 15 mins, cost Rs 250.
😠 Do your job: Ukraine suffered oxygen shortage, failed to prevent the second wave and recorded 48,000 deaths. On Tuesday, govt fired the health minister.
🇮🇪💉 To make more: Pfizer will produce vaccines in Ireland, investing $40 mn.
🦠💉 When to get jab?: Centre said those who recovered from Covid or got plasma therapy must wait three months (UK and the US do not have such a limit) for their first or second shot. Lactating mothers too can get the shot.
🇪🇺 Open Sesame!: EU agrees to fully open borders to vaccinated visitors and countries considered safe from Covid. Individual countries can have their own rules.
⛵ All Aboard!: Wealthy people spent $1bn, enough to vaccinate everyone in Nepal, on buying yachts to escape lockdowns.
🧱 Kejri(hits)wall: Delhi CM’s comments on “Singapore Variant” not received well in that country and its minister says they could invoke their anti-fake news law against him. Surprisingly, MEA confirms that Singapore lodged a complaint, and said that Kejriwal’s comments were “irresponsible” and he “did not speak for India”. It is rare for the MEA to do so.
🙏 Dead: Ex-NSG chief J K Dutt (72, led 26/11 ops against terrorists), Rajasthan BJP MLA Gautam Leela Meena (56)
🏥 Covid Insurance: As on May 14, customers have claimed Rs 22,955 crore from insurance firms. Only about 51% settled. About 40% of treatment cost is from out-of-pocket as schemes do not cover overheads.
🇪🇺 EU Plan: After opposite patent waiver, Europe says (i) keep export restrictions at minimum (ii)Vaccine producers must pledge to increase supply
India News
💬 Get Back in Line GoI tells WhatsApp to withdraw privacy updates as it undermined privacy and data security, and to not discriminate Indian and European users (who did not have such “accept-or-leave” conditions). WhatsApp had earlier said it had deferred the new policies. Here is a little explainer on what the policy changes are.
🌀 Tauktae Impact: Delhi records lowest maximum temp in May in 70 years at 23.8C, and highest ever May rainfall at 60mm. Another cyclone over the Bay of Bengal is expected to take shape around May 22 and hit Bengal/Odisha on May 26.
👺 My Party’s Way: CM Pinarayi Vijayan acknowledges people’s sentiments over dropping K K Shailaja, but says won’t budge. Oath taking today.
🛕 Temple Running: Tamil Nadu will put all temples’ assets in public domain, all temples’ assets and land records to be made under deity.
🦗 Pests attack: UN agency has warned Rajasthan that Jaisalmer could see locust attack as the pests are likely to grow in Iran and then move east.
🐑 Guv Annoyed: Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has asked for a police report into protests outside Raj Bhawan. One man brought with him sheeps! Probably because lockdown orders do not apply to them!
📺 Int’l Audience: Prasar Bharati is planning a channel “like the BBC” called DD International with bureaus around the world.
World News
🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 Middle East: No ceasefire on the table, says Israel in response to a Egypt brokered truce plan. Hamas expects a ceasefire in a few days. South Africa says Israel is an “apartheid” state.
🇺🇸👉👈🇮🇱 Testing friendship: US had negotiated a $735 million arms deal with Israel before the conflict, now some Democrats want it to be withheld till tensions are reduced. Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with attack even as Biden told him to de-escalate. The US still vetoed France’s joint statement in the UN.
🍊 Trump Probe-1: The civil inquiry into claims that Trump inflated the value of his assets while seeking loans and understated them to lower taxes has just turned into a criminal inquiry (when act may have affected society or state).
🍊🍊 Trump Probe-2: Sharply divided House voted for an independent commission to look into Capital Riots, but this may not pass the Senate as Republicans want to forget about it.
🇼🇸 Samoa: Fiame Naomi Mata’afa is first woman prime minister, beating world’s 2nd-longest serving (20 years) PM Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.
🕵🏻 Last One: Renowned author John le Carré had 25 novels written in his lifetime and now one will be published a year after his death. Publisher Vikings has confirmed that “Silverview” will be out in October.
Business
🪙 Nervous Crypto: Bitcoin fell for the second time this week reporting a loss of 10% value (<$34K a coin) after China imposed curbs on cryptocurrencies and warned bank customers that they would not be protected for any losses.
👾 I know that’s a highly controversial decision… I didn’t make [that decision] lightly. I will admit that I wasn’t comfortable seeing money go out the door to people like this… But it was the right thing to do for the country.
Joseph Blount, Colonial Pipeline CEO admits to paying $4.4mn ransom to hackers
📱 On Hold: Major phone companies in India have shut/reduced ops for manufacturing as domestic sales have crashed.
Climate Change
🖼️ Artist Unknown: World’s oldest animal cave painting — a wild pig painted almost 45,500 years ago — is fading due to accelerated salt build up that expands and shrinks, and destroys the pigments.
🐧 Artist Known: If emissions continue the way they are at present, Antarctica ice sheet will cross a critical threshold by 2060 that will be irreversible and sea levels could rise much faster, finds study. A giant slab of ice, as big as New York, broke off the continent to become the largest floating iceberg
🛰️ Coral Tool: Scientists have created a tool that will allow the monitoring of coral reefs in real-time using satellite imagery. Even if we manage to keep global warming to under 1.5C, nearly 70-80% of corals will be lost by the end of century.
News of Yesterday
News Of Today 
Impressed that GoI actually cares about Indians’ data. Will WhatsApp actually ‘fall in line’?
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