The WHO has said that the pandemic isn’t slowing down and warned that there could be a day when the virus may evolve into something that even the vaccines can’t protect against. With that in mind and seeing pictures of the so-called “revenge travellers”, India’s Covid Task Force has warned people from behaving recklessly. At the India-Russia talks in Moscow, much of the focus was on Afghanistan where the Taliban is said to control 85% of the country although this is impossible to verify.
INDIA NEWS
👨🏻⚖️ For Uniformity: The Delhi high court has backed the uniform civil code. It said that India was “gradually becoming homogenous” and that traditional barriers of caste and community are dissipating.
🤔 For anything now: An IPS officer from Chhattisgarh has been booked for sedition after he was suspended over a corruption case.
💬 Will Hold: WhatsApp has said that it will put its new privacy policy on hold till India finalises its data protection law, which might take a long time. The prompts to accept the new policy will continue, the firm said.
“Taliban have the same equipment, weapons and ammunition that we have. Our superiority lies in air support and we appreciate the support that the US has recently promised, that they would support us with more air support. We call on all responsible countries in the region, including Russia, Iran and India, to provide us the required air support.”
Farid Mamundzay, Afghan ambassador
🇷🇺🇦🇫🇮🇳 Legitimate Ruler: MEA S Jaishankar said that there was a need for immediate reduction of violence in Afghanistan and that India and Russia will play a major role in this.
🦠🦟 Zika virus: 14 confirmed cases in Kerala. Centre has rushed a team to check the situation.
☠️ More deaths: There is fresh evidence of the number of Covid deaths being far higher during the second wave than the 168,927 that had been reported. The evidence lay in the Health Management Information System of the National Health Mission that showed a large deviation during April and May over the last three years.
👩⚖️ Telangana Law: The Supreme Court was surprised that bail in Telangana had practically no meaning in Telangana. The police could invoke the Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act if the suspect got bail in the case and keep him/her under preventive detention.
🤦🏻♂️ Kerala’s Loss: The state has lost a Rs 3,000 crore project from private company KITEX, which is the world’s second largest kids apparel maker, after its chairperson said the ruling CPM treated the company as “traitors”. The company will move to Telangana.
🇮🇷 Welcome: Iran President-elect Ebrahim Raisi has invited India to his swearing-in ceremony on August 5.
WORLD NEWS
🚗🗳️ Bucks Stops: Toyota has decided to discontinue funding a few Republicans US Congress members who supported Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud.
😞 Tragedy: Over 50 people died in a fire in a Bangladesh food and beverage factory.
🍽️ Hunger bigger killer: Oxfam has reported that 11 people die of hunger every minute and that there is a six-fold increase in famine-like conditions over the past year. Covid in comparison kills 7 per minute, it said.
🦠 Pandemic still on: The WHO said that the worst of Covid-19 was over for some countries but that there was every chance that the virus could evolve into something that would be resistant to the vaccines we have now.
🦠💉 Cuban Vaccines: Cuba has authorised the use of its homegrown spike-protein based vaccine, the Carribean’s first, called Abdala, which it says has a 92% efficacy. A second vaccine, said to be a ‘conjugate’, called Soberna 2 is on the anvil that has a similar efficacy.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
💰 More Backing: After the G7 and OECD, G20 finance ministers too have backed the global tax reforms that will see MNCs be required to pay tax in the countries they do business and not just where they are based.
👕 Clothesline: Top fashion brands have contributed to poverty in many Asian countries and should be held for wage code violations, says a report. Many of these companies have almost total control over the workers’ subsistence, it said. This includes factories in India.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE & TECH
🐼 Black n White: Years of conservation efforts have paid off with China removing giant pandas from the ‘endangered’ species list with almost 1,800 now in the wild. The IUCN had removed it in 2016 itself, but the country did not as they felt they had more to do.
SPORT
⛷️ Mixing: EU has voted in favour of a non-binding resolution that calls for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics set to be held in Beijing.
😠 Sexual harassment: Renowned athletics coach P Nagarajan has been accused of sexual harassment by several women.
NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Telstar 1, the first communications satellite to transmit live television signals and telephone conversations across the Atlantic Ocean, was launched on this day in 1962.
News Of Today 