India is moving to curb the spread of Delta+ with a new surveillance system. Hopefully that will prevent anything like the third wave. The AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have shown serious, but very rare, side effects prompting govts around the world to make a move. In the Black Sea, Russian and British Navy have conflicting reports on what transpired on Wednesday but the tension over the last few months, maybe years, is spilling over.
CORONAVIRUS NEWS
🦠 March of the Variant+: 40 cases of Delta+ detected in India. A new surveillance system has been put in place to control the spread of the variant. First death due to variant reported from Madhya Pradesh.
💉🇦🇺 Aussies Abandon: The country has decided to abandon AstraZeneca vaccine by October and offer it only on request. The vaccine was tied to rare blood clotting disorder and Australians grew sceptical about it.
⚠️ Warning: US FDA will add warnings to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have been linked to an “extremely rare” heart inflammation in children and young adults. Benefits still outweighed the risks and it urged everyone to get the shot.
🏦💉 Walled Out: Investment bank Morgan Stanley will bar all those who haven’t been vaccinated, including staff and clients, from its New York office. Many of these so-called “big banks” have said the WFH model is not sustainable.
🛕 Kumbh Scam: The Haridwar collectorate had earlier rejected Max Corporate Services, the company that is at the “heart” of the scam involving fake Covid test results. The collector said it had no prior experience. But on March 26, it got the contract. The owners had “political influence”, The Wire finds.
✈️🍔🥬🗄️ Jab Deal: IndiGo, Grofers, McDonalds and Godrej are offering discounts to customers who can show proof of vaccination.
🤔 Jab Pay: Assam tells its departments to check the vaccination status of its employees, who are front line workers, before releasing their pay.
INDIA NEWS
🤝 Meeting today: J-K political parties will meet PM Narendra Modi today to discuss UT’s future. Meanwhile, the Ladakh UT is demanding a separate legislature.
“We had so far been demanding safeguards under 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution to address people’s apprehensions relating to land, reservation to jobs, culture, language and environment after abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A. However, we have now changed our demand to a UT with legislature for Ladakh.”
Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, BJP MP.
🤝 🇮🇳🇰🇿🇨🇳🇰🇬🇵🇰🇷🇺🇹🇯🇺🇿 SCO Meet: At meeting of national security advisers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe, India’s Ajit Doval and Pak’s Moeed Yusuf joined others against terrorism, extremism, separatism and religious radicalism.
🏦⚖️👩🏼🦱 Tell them: Delhi consumer commission has told banks that they must intimate borrowers of changes in interest rates and seek their consent.
🤑 Scam Kings: Diamantaire Nirav Modi’s appeal against extradition has been dismissed by the UK high court although he can file a renewed appeal in the next five days. Meanwhile, about 40% of the money lost in scams by three businessmen – Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and Modi – had been recovered.
Vijay Mallya 
Nirav Modi 
Mehul Choksi
🗳️ Back Again: NCP’s Sharad Pawar and ace political strategist Prashant Kishor meet for the third time in two weeks. This comes a day after Pawar hosted a meeting of opposition leaders, except the Congress.
✋Act Now: Congress has told Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to act on his electoral promises in a time-bound manner.
💵🧺 Report to Us: The Enforcement Directorate has called three top fashion designers – Saybyasachi Mukherjee, Ritu Kumar and Manish Malhotra – to appear before it in a money laundering case involving Punjab Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira who had paid them around Rs 15 lakh in 2018-’19.
😤 Bone to Chew: An audio clip of BJP MP Maneka Gandhi’s abusive tirade against a veterinarian over the amputation of a dog’s leg has gone viral. Vets all over held a “Black Day” protest against her.
⛔ Shut it: The government has ordered social media websites to shut down fake profiles within 24 hours of a complaint. Also to be removed immediately: nuditiy, obscenity.
💰🗳️ Kerala Soup: Another audio has emerged of Janadipathya Rashtriya Samiti (JRS) chief C K Janu allegedly being promised Rs 25 lakh more (over the Rs 10 lakh already paid) by BJP state chief Surendran if the party returned to the NDA fold.
👨🏻⚖️ Dropped: Criminal cases against Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy when he was in opposition are being dropped at many places. The high court has taken suo motu cognizance of this, which the govt says is not proper.
Media Rumble: Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami tells Mumbai Police investigating the TRP scam that he was not aware of all decisions taken in his company. Times Now has settled a lawsuit with more than 30 film production houses over its coverage in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, it has said it will not air “defamatory” content. Many media houses have approached the Madras High Court saying that the Centre’s IT rules should apply to them and says it gags free speech. Buzzfeed, meanwhile, is likely to go public.
WORLD NEWS
🇳🇵 Nepal Turmoil: The Supreme Court says caretaker PM K P Sharma Oli’s move to drop members of his cabinet and appoint 20 people from a junior coalition partner was against the spirit of the Constitution and dropped them.
🇷🇺🇬🇧 Crisis in the Black Sea: Russia claims it fired warning shots at the UK’s HMS Defender and even dropped bombs in its path. But UK said it was aware of a “gunnery exercise” in the region, ship was in Ukrainian waters and there were no firings at her. A BBC correspondent on board the Defender says they were “harassed” by Russian boarts and jets.
🇵🇰💣 Explosion: An explosion outside Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s home in Pakistan has killed three people. Saeed is wanted in India over his alleged role in the 26/11 attack.
🙏 Dead: John McAfee whose company released the first commercial antivirus software was found dead in Spanish jail where he was lodged for tax evasion.
🇭🇰📰 Apple Eaten: Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily has shut. Its editor is under detention, founder in jail and assets frozen.
🇪🇹 Civilian casualties: Dozens were believed to have been killed in an Ethiopian air strike against its own people in a market in Tigray region.
🤳☠️ Where’s Regulation?: “Like” a Myanmar Army fan page on FB that didn’t violate rules, and algorithm tends to promote pages that incites violence against coup protesters, finds a study. This includes bounty on people, fake news & death threats.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY NEWS
⬇️ Cutting Growth: Moody cuts India GDP growth forecast to 9.6% from the earlier 13.9%. It said a faster vaccination rate can help matters.
⬆️ Call Centres: With competition from Mexico, the Philippines and Malaysia rising, the government has liberalised the BPO sector.
🚢 Settled: Evergreen shipping company that owns Ever Given, the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal in March, has come to an understanding with Egypt over an amount it will pay the government for losses in revenue and rescue effort.
🛫 Adani Wins: A company in the Adani Group has gotten rights to operate the Navi Mumbai international airport that is coming up in Panvel.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE & TECH
🌬️☀️💡 Renewables: Solar and wind power cost have fallen by as much as 85% and 56%, respectively. Almost 2/3 renewable plants built last year can provide cheaper power than cheapest new coal plants. In India, it would be 87% to 91% cheaper.
NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Lionel Messi was born on this day in 1987
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