AS the world crosses another grim milestone in its fight against COVID-19, we ought to remember these are not just number but someone. Someone’s father, mother, friend, child and even, legends. Importantly, the same consideration should be extended to the living, including J-K where the political process to conduct polls has reportedly begun. In what is considered a “rarity” in the UN, countries have come together to call on the world to stop arms trade with Myanmar. Guess which is the most liveable Indian city?
CORONAVIRUS NEWS
4️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ : That is the grim milestone that the world crossed on Friday in terms of deaths due to the disease. India 3rd with 385K deaths.
🙏 Dead: Milkha “Flying Sikh” Singh, 91, is no more. He won India its first Commonwealth Gold in 1958.
- Partition scarred Milkha, but Pakistan called him ‘The Flying Sikh’
- Rare Photos of Milkha Singh
- The moment Milkha Singh lost out on an Olympic medal
🚌🏫 No schools for now: Niti Aayog member Dr V K Paul says that schools will be allowed to reopen only after proper consultations and evidence.
“If we look at the global scenario, many countries reopened schools and then saw a surge in cases and then shut again. We cannot put our teachers and children in a similar situation.”
V K Paul, Niti Aayog
🇮🇱💉🇵🇸 Israel-Palestine Deal: Israel will give Palestine 1mn doses of Pfizer-BioNTech jabs that is nearing expiry, and Palestine will give it 1mn when its shipment arrives in Sept/Oct. Israel has vaccinated 55% people with both doses, while Palestine has managed just 30% with at least one dose.
🧠 Brain Affected: A study of 800 people revealed grey matter loss in their brain that showed damage to areas that controlled smell, taste and even cognition and decision-making. The effects were significant in the left hemisphere of the brain. [THIS STUDY HAS NOT YET UNDERGONE SCIENTIFIC SCRUTINY]
💉 Another Vaccine?: Zydus will seek emergency use permission in India for its vaccine ZyCoV-D. If it passes, it could be the first DNA-based vaccine in the world. The efficacy is still unknown but the delivery will be through a skin patch. Even if it gets approval, the company’s production capacity, at the moment, isn’t much.
INDIA NEWS
👨⚖️ Oh, Why (didn’t we think of that)? Supreme Court said it was surprised over Delhi HC bail order to Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha, but said it will not stay it. The court’s “surprise” was over the HC’s examination of the UAPA and said the order will not be used as a precedent in any court.
🎥 Maximum Govt: The Centre has sought public comments on a bill that would give it powers to re-examine a film that had been already certified. It would also add jail term to piracy and include age-based certification.
🗳️❓ Finally: The Centre has reached out to political parties in J-K for a meeting next week to discuss the delimitation exercise. This could be the first step towards assembly elections in the UT where central govt people are said to be satisifed with security situation and development.
👨⚖️ Unhappy TMC: Trinamool feels a judge hearing Mamata Banerjee’s challenge to Suvendu Adhikari’s election victory will be partial to the BJP as he was seen sharing the dais with its leaders, including state unit chief.
💬 Tweets Meet: Parliamentary panel on information technology asked Twitter why it was not following Indian law and issues related to tagging a BJP spokesperson’s tweet as manipulated media. Twitter apologised for delay in following law but said its “manipulated media” tag was based on its policy and entirely on an algorithm.
🏠 Ease of Living: Bengaluru is top city, according to a list prepared by Centre for Science and Environment. This followed by Chennai, Shimla, Bhubaneswar and Mumbai. Delhi is worst in citizens’ perception among capitals in India.
WORLD NEWS
🇮🇱💉🇵🇸 Israel-Palestine Tensions: Israeli forces enter Al-Aqsa mosque compound and to control a rally conducted in response to a Jew rally that allegedly insulted the Prophet. Three Palestinians injured.
🌍 UN Report: Global displacement rose to 82 million last year, almost 2X the number a decade ago, and children made 42%. In 2020 alone the displacement was 3 million.
🇲🇲 Stop Arms Trade: The United Nations has issued a rare call to the world to stop suppling arms to Myanmar. It was issued by the General Assembly and although not legally binding, it is significant as it has the support of 119 countries. Russia and China, the biggest supplier of arms to Myanmar, abstained.
⛪ Target, Biden: Despite the Vatican’s opposition, the US’s Catholic Bishops voted for a resolution that would debar Biden from Holy Communion due to his stand on abortion rights.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
⛽ Bargain!: As fuel prices rocket towards Rs 100/litre in many cities, the central govt is speaking to private and public oil majors to get global suppliers to agree to better price.
🪙 GST Exemption: Supplying food to schools and anganwadis under mid-day meal scheme.
💃🏻🤳 Dancing To Glory: ByteDance, which owns TikTok, revenue doubled in 2020, while gross profit increased 93%.
🏦 PMC takeover: Centrum Financials and BharatPe will take over the co-operative bank two years after it failed and defaulted on payments. The two companies will set up a small finance bank in the next 120 days after which the RBI will begin process of amalgamating it with PMC. This is because only a bank can be merged with another bank.
✈️ Air Sale: Air India will sell its properties to raise Rs 300 crore but these may not see much takers as the country’s real estate sector had been badly hit by Covid-19.
🏦 Gold Low: Gold prices in India have been falling after the US’s Federal Reserve hiked its interest rates. Higher interest rate => more $ in bank => less $ in supply => no one wants gold.
🥉 Adani’s Fall: Losing $13bn in four days after a massive sell-off in Adani Group, Gautam Adani now back to being #3 richest Asian after just a few weeks at #2.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND TECH
🥵 Global Warming: NASA finds that the Earth is now trapping almost twice the heat it trapped in the year 2005, which is unprecedented. Even with this report, things are looking grim for the upcoming Conference of Parties in November as little progress being made into climate talks at the UN.
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NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Kuwait no longer a protectorate of Great Britain on this day in 1961.
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