IN A FIRST, DRONES STRIKE AT IAF STATION IN JAMMU AIRPORT; 2 INJURED

In what is the first time terrorists have used drones to strike vital installations, two bombs were dropped at the IAF station in Jammu airport in the early hours of Sunday, officials said.

Two Indian Air Force personnel were injured in the explosions that took place around 1.40 am within six minutes of each other. The first blast ripped off the roof of a single-storey building at the high security technical area of the airport manned by the IAF in Satwari area on the outskirts of the city. The second one was on the ground, the officials said.

“The attack at the IAF station in Jammu is a terror attack," Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbag Singh said.

He said the police and other agencies were working with IAF officials to unravel the plan behind the attack. A team from anti-terror probe agency National Investigation Agency (NIA) was also at the spot. An FIR was registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, officials said, while indicating the case may be taken over by the terror probe agency NIA. It was not immediately clear from where the drones had taken off and investigations were on to ascertain their flight path, officials said.

Investigators scanned CCTV footage, including from cameras installed on the boundary walls of the airport, in an effort to determine from where the drones came. However, all the CCTV cameras focused on the roadside, officials said.

Drones cannot be detected by radars deployed at border areas to monitor enemy activity, they said, suggesting that a different radar system that can detect drones as small as a bird be installed.

The drones dropped the explosive material and were either flown back across the border or to some other destination during the night, the officials said. The aerial distance from the Jammu airport to the international border is 14 km.

While officials were investigating the drone attack, another major strike was averted when a person, probably owing allegiance to the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, was arrested along with an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing around six kg, the director general of police said. “The suspect has been detained and is being interrogated. More suspects are likely to be picked up in this foiled IED blast attempt,” Singh said. Officials said three more have been rounded up for questioning.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 5,68,048

New Cases in last 24 hours: 46,617

Recovered in last 24 hours: 58,925

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -13,289

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 981 (3,96,761)

Daily Tests (Saturday): 24,53,209

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 2.0%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 20.0% / 4.3%

Most Affected States:

(S. No. / State / No. of Active Cases / New Cases in last 24 Hrs / Deaths in Last 24 Hrs)

1          Maharashtra     1,22,252           /           9,974    /           405

2          Karnataka         1,01,042           /           3,604    /           89

3          Kerala  99,590  /           10,905  /           62

4          Andhra Pradesh            44,773  /           4,250    /           33

5          Tamil Nadu       42,801  /           5,127    /           91

6          Odisha 29,128  /           3,408    /           39

7          Assam  25,790  /           1,523    /           37

8          West Bengal     21,884  /           1,836    /           29

9          Telangana        14,302  /           748       /           8

10        Chhattisgarh     6,596    /           244       /           4

11        Manipur            5,824    /           669       /           16

12        Jammu and Kashmir     5,292    /           415       /           8

13        Meghalaya        4,558    /           462       /           2

14        Mizoram           4,193    /           233       /           Nil

15        Punjab  4,020    /           297       /           12

16        Tripura 3,788    /           485       /           3

17        Gujarat 3,687    /           112       /           3

18        Uttar Pradesh   3,165    /           212       /           75

19        Puducherry       2,672    /           231       /           3

20        Goa      2,511    /           215       /           7

21        Arunachal Pradesh        2,495    /           165       /           Nil

22        Uttarakhand      2,465    /           82        /           2

23        Bihar    2,141    /           185       /           1

24        Sikkim  2,137    /           170       /           Nil

25        Himachal Pradesh         1,754    /           118       /           2

26        Rajasthan         1,733    /           162       /           4

27        Haryana           1,685    /           115       /           17

28        Delhi    1,568    /           259       /           4

29        Nagaland          1,523    /           111       /           Nil

30        Jharkhand        1,030    /           81        /           1

31        Madhya Pradesh           816       /           39        /           21

32        Lakshadweep    302       /           28        /           Nil

33        Chandigarh       203       /           20        /           Nil

34        Andaman and Nicobar Islands   62        /           9          /           Nil

35        Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu      45        /           4          /           Nil

I HAVE TAKEN VACCINE, SO HAS MY MOTHER; DON’T BELIEVE RUMOURS: PM MODI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged citizens to shed vaccine hesitancy, and underlined that both he and his nonagenarian mother were fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

The Prime Minister interacted with residents of Dulariya village in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh on his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, and urged them to trust science and the country’s scientists who have worked round the clock to produce a safe vaccine quickly.

He counselled them not to believe rumours about the vaccine, and to also persuade their neighbours to participate in the country’s ongoing inoculation drive against Covid-19.

“I’ve myself been vaccinated with both doses,” Modi said. “And my mother is close to a hundred years of age…she too has taken both doses!” the PM said.

“If someone says corona is gone, do not be under this mistaken notion,” the Prime Minister said. The virus is a “master of disguise” that can take new forms, he said, referring to its mutants.

“Those who are spreading rumours on vaccines, let them do so… We all will do our work and ensure people around us get vaccinated. The threat of Covid remains and we have to focus on vaccination as well as follow Covid-19 protocols.”

Modi began his address by congratulating sportspersons who will be representing India at the Tokyo Olympics, and paying tribute to Milkha Singh, who recently lost the battle to Covid-19.

JUST END COVID-19 VACCINE SHORTAGE: RAHUL TO PM MODI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should end the “shortage” of Covid-19 vaccines, which should be available to every citizen, and not make excuses to distract from this important issue.

He said this after the prime minister in his “Mann Ki Baat” monthly radio address talked about ending vaccine hesitancy.

“The only thing to do is to end the shortage of vaccines. The rest are all excuses for diverting attention,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi using the hashtag ‘Mann ki Baat’.

“Just make the vaccine available to all fellow citizens. Then you can also say your ‘mann ki baat’,” he said in another tweet with hashtag ‘VaccinateIndia’.

Hitting back at the Congress leader, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused him of spreading “misconceptions, confusion and lies” about COVID-19 vaccines due to which many people were “putting their lives in danger” by refusing to take the doses.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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IMRAN KHAN CALLING OSAMA BIN LADEN A ‘MARTYR’ WAS A ‘SLIP OF THE TONGUE’

One year after Prime Minister Imran Khan described slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a “shaheed” (martyr), Pakistan’s information minister on Sunday clarified that it was a “slip of the tongue” by his boss.

Speaking in Parliament on June 25 last year, Khan said the American forces entered Pakistan and killed bin Laden without informing the government after which everyone started abusing his country. “I don’t think there’s a country which supported the war on terror and had to face embarrassment for it. Pakistan was also openly blamed for US’ failure in Afghanistan,” Khan had said.

“For Pakistanis across the globe, it was an embarrassing moment when the Americans came and killed Osama bin Laden at Abottabad...martyred him. The whole world started abusing us after that. Our ally came inside our country and killed someone without informing us. And, 70,000 Pakistanis died because of US’ war on terror,” he told lawmakers, drawing criticism from the Opposition as well as from the media.

Speaking on Geo News programme Jirga, aired on Sunday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, “It was a slip of the tongue. He had clarified it,” the minister said while referring to Khan’s controversial remarks.

The controversy surfaced again last week when Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi refrained from calling Osama bin Laden a terrorist in an interview with Afghanistan’s Tolo News. When the interviewer quoted Prime Minister Imran as calling bin Laden a “martyr”, Qureshi said: “Well, again. Out of context. He (the PM) was quoted out of context.”  Asked if he would disagree, the foreign minister paused for a while and then said: “I will let it pass.”

DELTA SURGE SHUTS DOWN ASIA-PACIFIC

The Delta variant of Covi-19 is feeding fresh outbreaks in Southeast Asia and Australia where authorities have brought back or extended restrictions. More than five million Sydney residents endured their first full day of a two-week lock-down on Sunday. Restaurants, bars and cafes were shuttered and stay-at-home orders were issued, leaving the city centre virtually deserted. More than 110 Covid-19 cases have been reported in Sydney since a driver for an international flight crew tested positive in mid-June for the Delta variant.

Australia’s northern city of Darwin also entered a separate snap 48-hour lockdown on Sunday after a handful of cases were linked to a coronavirus outbreak on a remote gold mine. New Zealand extended restrictions in the Wellington region for two days despite finding no evidence yet that an Australian tourist with Covid-19 spread the virus while visiting the city last weekend. Gathering limits and social distancing requirements will remain in place until at least midnight on June 29.

Indonesia set a new daily infection record of more than 21,000 cases. Hospitals are flooded with patients in the capital Jakarta and other Covid-19 hotspots. Indonesia has moved to temporarily beef up restrictions on movement, but it has so far held off imposing strict lockdowns. Thailand will from Monday reimpose restrictions on restaurants, construction sites and gatherings in the capital Bangkok. In neighbouring Malaysia, the PM announced that a nationwide lockdown in place for about a month will continue, and he gave no date for the lifting of restrictions. Bangladesh said it would impose a new national lockdown from Monday, with offices shut for a week and only medical-related transport allowed.

THE REST

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NO ALLIANCE WITH OWAISI’S AIMIM, BSP TO FIGHT SOLO IN UP: MAYAWATI

The BSP will not enter into any alliance for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Assembly polls, party chief Mayawati said on Sunday.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the former chief minister categorically denied any tie-up with the AIMIM for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh due next year.

“A news channel is broadcasting news since yesterday that in the upcoming UP Assembly elections, BSP will contest along with (Asaduddin) Owaisi’s party AIMIM. This news is completely wrong, misleading and devoid of any fact. There is not even an iota of truth in this. The BSP vociferously denies this.

“The party wants to clarify that barring Punjab, the BSP will be contesting the Assembly elections to be held in UP and Uttarakhand alone, and will not be entering into any alliance with anyone,” Mayawati said in another tweet.

After showing 'good performance' in the Bihar Assembly elections, the AIMIM party on Sunday announced that it would contest 100 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 2022.

TWO JABS PROTECT, SHOWS SURVEY OF COVID-HIT IN MUMBAI

Of the 2.9 lakh Covid patients in Mumbai, who were surveyed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from January 1 to June 17, just 26 reported being infected after receiving the second vaccine dose and 10,500 after the first dose.

According to data compiled by the BMC’s war rooms, Mumbai recorded 3.95 lakh Covid cases during this period, which includes the severe second wave. Of these, the war rooms were able to contact 2.9 lakh patients who were in home isolation. “Entries for about 1 lakh patients, who were hospitalised, are yet to be filled. We expect the trend to more or less remain the same,” Dr Mangala Gomare, BMC’s executive health officer, said.

“These numbers indicate that vaccines are effective in preventing serious infection in a majority of the population,” said an official.

According to the latest government data, 53.83 lakh people have been vaccinated so far in Mumbai, including 10 lakh who have received both doses.

INDIAN MISSIONS WORKING ON WAR FOOTING TO GET MEDICINES FOR MUCORMYCOSIS: CENTRE TO SC

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that Indian missions all over the world have been working on a “war footing” for sourcing medicines like Amphotericin or additional and alternative drugs for the treatment of Covid related Mucormycosis (CAM) in the country.

The Union health ministry, in a 375-page affidavit filed in the apex court on Saturday, responded in detail to the query of an apex court bench about the steps being taken to ensure drug availability for Mucormycosis.

It said the projected production of L-Amphotericin B by domestic manufacturers in August is likely to be 5.525 lakh units of injections and in order to maintain equitable distribution, states are given the medicines in accordance with the proportion of their reported caseload.

Besides ramping up domestic production facilities of medicines like Amphotericin, the government said it has also issued guidance on the judicious use of the drug, and states and UTs have been required to put in place transparent arrangements for allocation to private and government hospitals.

HAVE CAPACITY TO STORE COVID VACCINES REQUIRING LOW TEMPERATURES: CENTRE TO SC

India has the capacity to store vaccines that may require a lower temperature in the range of minus 15 to minus 20 degrees Celsius and there are over 29,000 cold chain points (CCPs) across the country where vaccines are stored at the recommended temperatures, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.

In an affidavit filed in the apex court in a suo motu case on distribution of essential supplies and services during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre has said at present, the two vaccines—Covishield and Covaxin—are required to be stored at a temperature range of two to eight degrees Celsius.

The Centre has said the requirement for cold storage may change with the arrival of other Covid-19 vaccines in the future and it is fully prepared to take appropriate steps as and when such vaccines are available.

AMID TUSSLE WITH GOVT, TWITTER'S INTERIM GRIEVANCE OFFICER FOR INDIA QUITS

Twitter's interim resident grievance officer for India has stepped down, leaving the micro-blogging site without a grievance official as mandated by the new IT rules to address complaints from Indian subscribers.

Dharmendra Chatur, who was recently appointed as interim resident grievance officer for India by Twitter, has quit from the post. The social media company's website no longer displays his name, as required under Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

The development comes at a time when the micro-blogging platform has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules.

INDIANS TRAIN THEIR SIGHTS ON CRYPTOCURRENCIES

The cryptocurrency aficionados’ mantra that Bitcoin is equivalent to digital gold is winning converts among the world’s biggest holders of the precious metal.

In India, investments in crypto grew from about $200 million to nearly $40 billion in the past year. That’s despite outright hostility toward the asset class from the RBI and a proposed trading ban.

The growth in India is coming from the 18-35 year old cohort. “They find it far easier to invest in crypto than gold because the process is very simple,” said Sandeep Goenka, who co-founded ZebPay and spent years representing the industry in discussions with the government on regulation. “You go online, you can buy crypto, you don’t have to verify it, unlike gold.”

One of the biggest barriers preventing wider adoption is the regulatory uncertainty. Last year, the Supreme Court quashed a 2018 rule banning crypto trading by banking entities, resulting in a trading surge.

However, authorities show no signs of embracing cryptocurrencies. The nation’s central bank says it has “major concerns” about the asset class and six months ago the Indian government proposed a ban on trading in digital coins – though it has been silent on the topic since.

INDIAN ARCHERS PUT ON A GOLDEN DISPLAY AT WORLD CUP STAGE 3

Star archer Deepika Kumari led the show with supreme authority to grab a hat-trick of gold medals as India made an unprecedented clean sweep at the World Cup Stage 3 in Paris yesterday for a perfect build-up to the Tokyo Olympics.

In the absence of the world No. 1 South Korea, the Indians faced little challenge to win the women’s individual, team and mixed pair events, with Deepika a constant in each of them, playing back-to-back four matches in less than five hours.

Having secured Olympics qualifications, South Korea, along with other Asian heavyweights like China and Chinese Taipei, skipped all the World Cups in the build up to the Tokyo Games.

India topped the medals tally with four gold medals as Abhishek Verma had clinched the solitary top medal in the compound section on Saturday.

EURO 2020: CZECH REPUBLIC, BELGIUM ENTER QUARTER FINALS

Tomas Holes and Patrik Schick scored second-half goals Sunday to give the Czech Republic a 2-0 victory over 10-man Netherlands and a place in the European Championship quarterfinals.

The Netherlands central defender Matthijs de Ligt was sent off for a handball in the 55th minute when under pressure from Schick. The red card was given following a video review. Holes then put the Czechs ahead in the 68th minute with a powerful close-range header. He sprinted into the left of the penalty area and squared the ball to give Schick his fourth goal of the tournament in the 80th.

The Czechs will next face Denmark in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In the second match yesterday, Thorgan Hazard's stunning first-half strike ended the Portugal’s reign as European champions, taking Belgium to  1-0 win.

Portugal had the early sniffs of goal with Diogo Jota dragging wide and Cristiano Ronaldo, seeking to become the outright top scorer in the history of international football, stinging the palms of Thibaut Courtois with a free-kick. The Red Devils failed to trouble Rui Patrício until close to the interval, then Hazard's vicious swerving effort fizzed past the Portugal No1 to break the deadlock.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Men get opinions as boys learn to spell, by reiteration chiefly. - Elizabeth Barret Browning

OFF TRACK

A wife asked her techie husband, "Honey, could you please run to the store and get a carton of milk, and if they have eggs, get a dozen."

Reluctantly, the husband tears himself from his computer and heads out. A while later he’s back with a dozen milk cartons.

Staring incredulously at the 12-pack case of milk, his wife asked, "Why the hell did you buy so much milk?"

Her husband said, "They had eggs."