Military history buffs could soon be in for a treat as the Union govt has allowed for declassification of documents. The G7 is going at it against China and the remaining seat on Jeff Bezos’s New Shepard shuttle to space has just been sold.
CORONAVIRUS NEWS
💰GST: 5% tax on vaccines to remain; tax cut on certain medicines (including for black fungus), oximeters, ventilators, testing kits.
💉Private jabs: Centre asks states to collate demand for vaccines at private centres and either share it themselves or let Centre do it.
🕋 Hajj Limit: Saudi Arabia has restricted pilgrims to only those from the kingdom, and only those between 18 to 65 and vaccinated. No foreigners.
💉💉AstraZeneca: Italy to vaccinate only people over 60 with AstraZeneca jab after European body detects another rare blood clot side effect.
📵 Virus in Pak: The country’s Punjab government has decided to block SIM cards of those refusing vaccination.
🚷 Lockdown: Goa extends curfew till June 21.
INDIA NEWS
👎 Lakshadweep: After sedition against filmmaker Aisha Sultana, local BJP leaders have quit in protest.
😣 US Concerned: A top US official has said that India’s recent “increasing restrictions on freedom of expression and the detention of human rights activists and journalists” were inconsistent with democratic values.
🤝 Punjab tie-up: After breaking off with the BJP, the Akalis are tying up with BSP for state elections next year.
🪖Defence Stories: New policy to allow for declassifying war histories and records of military ops older than 25 years. Govt will have discretion over some records, including the Henderson-Brooks-Bhagat report on the 1962 war.
G7 Meet
🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹🇯🇵🆚🇨🇳 : G7 plans to compete with China on Silk Road and Belt initiative, human rights, support to Taiwan and Covid origin story. But the group has asked the US not to push China so hard that it refuse to cooperate over other issues such as climate change.
🗺️ Climate Change: No sign of cash commitment, only old promises promised again.
The natural world today is greatly diminished… Our climate is warming fast… Our societies and nations are unequal … But the question science forces us to address specifically in 2021 is whether as a result of these intertwined facts we are on the verge of destabilising the entire planet. If that is so, then the decisions we make this decade … are the most important in human history.
David Attenborough, naturalist
🇮🇳@G7: Modi pitches for a united approach to Covid and gives it “One Earth, One Health” slogan.
WORLD NEWS
🇭🇺 No means No: Hungarian public’s protest against a Chinese University in Budapest has forced the govt to backtrack.
⚔️ Attacks: 18 die as hospital bombed in rebel-held city; 7 killed in Kabul blast; Gunmen storm Nigerian village and kill 53.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
🚀💺 Full: Spare seat on Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’s New Shepard flight to space sold for $28mn after auction that started off at $4.8mn.
NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of Ernesto Miranda on this day in 1966, giving rise to the famous “You have the right to remain silent…” Miranda Warnings against self-incrimination.
News Of Today 