CHARGE BASELESS, WORLD KNOWS PAK’S RECORD ON TERROR: MEA

Four days after Pakistan made serious allegations against India, terming the June 23 bomb blast near the home of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed as “India-sponsored terrorism”, New Delhi broke its silence on Thursday — the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs rejected Islamabad’s accusation as “baseless propaganda”.

The international community knows Pakistan’s record on terrorism, spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at the weekly media briefing. “It is not new for Pakistan to engage in baseless propaganda against India. Pakistan would do well to expend the same effort in setting its own house in order and taking credible and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from its soil and terrorists who have found safe sanctuaries there,” he said.

“The international community is well aware of Pakistan’s credentials when it comes to terrorism. This is acknowledged by none other than its own leadership, which continues to glorify terrorists like Osama bin Laden as ‘martyrs’,” Bagchi said.

Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf had told reporters in Islamabad on Sunday that the mastermind of the attack that killed three people and injured 24, “is an Indian citizen and he is associated with R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing)”.

NO ROOM FOR COMPLACENCY IN COVID FIGHT: PM TO NEW MINISTERS

Expressing his concern over the sight of crowded places with people not following COVID-19 norms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that there should be no space for carelessness or complacency and that a single mistake would have far-reaching impact and may weaken the fight against the pandemic.

Interacting with members of the Council of Ministers a day after he reshuffled and expanded it, he said India's fight against the pandemic is underway with full vigour with steady vaccination drive and high testing, while sounding a note of caution against any complacency.

PM said that with the Covid infection numbers being fewer than what they were in the recent months, people may want to venture out. However, everyone must remember that the threat of COVID-19 is far from over. Many other nations are seeing surges in infections. The virus is also mutating.

The PM is said to have told the new ministers that those no longer part of the government have made contributions and newcomers can learn from them. In a word of advice, he said it is the work that only matters and the ministers should not get trapped in the vicious circle of grabbing media attention. He said ministers should avoid making unnecessary statements.

INDIA TO OIC: DON’T LET ‘VESTED INTERESTS’ SUBVERT PLATFORM

India on Thursday called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to not allow “vested interests” such as Pakistan to “subvert” the grouping’s platform for anti-India propaganda through biased and one-sided resolutions.

The strong comments by the Ministry of External Affairs came in response to the OIC secretary-general proposing to send a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir in line with relevant resolutions by the grouping’s council of foreign ministers.

In a meeting with Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ausaf Sayeed, OIC secretary-general Yousef Al-Othaimeen also asked about the possibility of a meeting between India and Pakistan. “During the meeting, a wide range of issues were discussed. Our ambassador conveyed the need to correct some of the misperceptions about India that are perpetrated by vested interests in the OIC,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. “Further, the OIC should be watchful that their platform is not subverted by these vested interests for comments on internal affairs of India or for anti-India propaganda through biased and one-sided resolutions,” he said.

CABINET CLEARS RS 23K CRORE BOOSTER TO TACKLE COVID

Creation of paediatric units in all 736 districts, installation of 1,050 liquid medical oxygen storage tanks with medical gas pipeline systems that will support one unit per district, and expansion of the teleconsultation platform that will offer 5 lakh consultations per day. These are among the key components to be funded through phase-II of the Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Preparedness package, the Union Cabinet announced.

On Thursday, the new Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the new package to the tune of Rs 23,123 crore, designed especially to augment state governments’ existing response to the second wave, and to prepare in advance for a probable third wave.

In his first media briefing, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya underlined that the package focuses on augmenting infrastructure of paediatric care at the district level, increase in the number of beds in rural, peri-urban areas (outskirts), and support to districts’ creation of buffer stocks of essential medicines.

Mandaviya said: “….we know the requirement of beds, according to the demand we saw during the peak of the second-wave. We had a detailed consultation with the states on what should be done to ensure that in future there should not be a crisis in supply of medical oxygen. We have also created a mechanism to ensure that there is no shortage of essential medicines in future.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 4,53,210

New Cases in last 24 hours: 43,514

Recovered in last 24 hours: 44,259

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -1,655

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 910 (4,05,967)

Daily Tests (Tuesday): 18,93,800

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 2.4%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 22.2% / 5.2%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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BIDE DEFENDS AF PULLOUT, SAYS DID NOT GO TO NATION-BUILD

President Joe Biden made an impassioned case on Thursday that the US could no longer afford the human cost or strategic distraction of fighting the war in Afghanistan, arguing that the US had achieved its initial objective — routing al-Qaida from the country and hunting down Osama bin Laden — and that Afghanistan government and forces must be responsible for their own future.

He said all US troops would be out of the country by August 31. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build,” Biden said. “And it’s the right and the responsibility of Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.”

“No nation has ever unified Afghanistan, no nation. Empires have gone there and not done it,’’ he said in a reference to the British occupation of the country in the 19th century and the Soviet bid to gain control three decades ago. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan, with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome. ”

COVID DEATHS GO PAST 4 MILLION GLOBALLY

The world crossed a grim milestone on Wednesday, with Covid-19 deaths crossing the four million mark.

Although the daily death count has come down to an extent, between 6,000 and 8,000 deaths are still being reported every day from across the world.

Brazil has been reporting a large number of deaths since August-September last year, and so has Mexico. But in the last few months, countries like Peru, Colombia and Argentina have seen a very sharp rise in Covid-19 deaths. In fact, Peru has now emerged as the country with the highest number of deaths per million population — nearly 6,000, when the world average is only about 515.

The high fatality rates in countries like Peru and Colombia has triggered global attention towards the Lambda variant of the virus. This variant is the most dominant one in circulation in Latin America, and accounts for over 80% of all infections in Peru. As of now, the Lambda variant has not been linked to increased fatality, but researchers also note that there haven’t been enough studies on this variant.

The death count is showing a declining trend in the countries with relatively better penetration of vaccines. The US and countries in Europe that have the best access to vaccines are seeing much fewer deaths now, even when there is a rise in the number of cases.

THE REST

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FRENCH COURT FREEZES INDIAN ASSETS WORTH OVER $24 MILLION IN PARIS

A French court froze 20 residential properties worth over 20 million euros ($24 million) belonging to the Indian government in Paris while upholding a petition filed by Cairn Energy seeking to force the Narendra Modi government to fork out a $1.7-billion international arbitration award.

The Narendra Modi government has refused to pay the sum after losing a tax dispute with Cairn Energy that dates back to 2014.

Cairn has already filed similar lawsuits in the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Mauritius and the Netherlands in an attempt to grab the Indian government assets and realise its arbitration dues. France is the first country where it has been successful in pressing its claims.

The Modi government yesterday said it would wait for a copy of the French court’s order and then decide how best to pursue legal remedies while keeping the door “open for an amicable solution to the dispute within the country’s legal framework”.

UNDERSTANDING KERALA’S COVID NUMBERS

Kerala has been discovering between 11,000 and 13,000 cases every day for almost a month now.

As the national Covid-19 curve trends downward, Kerala continues to be the outlier.

Over the last two days, the state has reported a significant rise in new infections, which has led to an increase in active cases at the national level for the first time in two months.

During this same period, the daily count in the country has halved — from more than 80,000 a day to about 40,000 a day. Nearly every major state other than Kerala has reported a significant decline in the daily case count.

Since June 15, Kerala has been the biggest contributor to the national caseload. Of late, the state has accounted for more than a third of all new cases reported in the country.

Kerala has recorded more than 90,000 cases per million population, almost four times India’s overall number of about 24,000. Only Goa has a higher ratio.

Relatively fewer Covid-19 deaths in Kerala has long been cited as evidence of the state’s better record on tackling the pandemic. But its relatively low case fatality ratio of 0.47, against the country average of 1.32, can partly be attributed to the large number of cases. In absolute terms, Kerala’s Covid-19 death toll of 14,157 is the country’s eighth highest.

As a proportion of population, other smaller states such as Sikkim, Puducherry, Manipur, Goa, and Himachal Pradesh have worse death figures than Kerala’a. But Kerala’s 424 deaths per million population is much higher than the all-India number of 311.

Part of the explanation for the high numbers in Kerala lies in the better reporting in the state. This has been corroborated by serosurveys as well. The last national serosurvey had shown that for every infection that is detected, about 25 go unreported. A similar survey in Kerala earlier this year found only about five unreported infections for every reported case.

But that does not explain the continuing high positivity rate in the state. Kerala has been finding almost 13 infections per 100 tests.

Kerala’s new Health Minister Veena George attributed this to the strategy of targeted instead of random testing. “When a person tests positive, we test all close contacts of that person, family members, etc. This kind of targeted testing is keeping the test positivity rate high.

HURRIYAT CALLS FOR KASHMIR TALKS, LISTS STEPS TO BUILD CONFIDENCE

Advocating dialogue between India, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir for resolution of the Kashmir dispute, separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference has listed a series of steps to build an atmosphere for the talks. In its first significant political statement after abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories, the Hurriyat, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has listed, among others, a halt on demographic change, revocation of laws that “disempower” the people of J&K, and release of the youth and political prisoners as steps to help build an atmosphere for talks.

“(We have) always advocated peace and growth for all the people of the region and it’s strong belief that this can actually be achieved with the resolution of the Kashmir conflict through dialogue among India and Pakistan and the people of J&K,” the organisation said in a “policy statement” on Thursday.

In its statement, the Hurriyat stopped short of seeking restoration of the position before August 5, 2019, a continuous demand made by Pakistan for resumption of dialogue with India.

SC DISMISSES FACEBOOK PLEA CHALLENGING SUMMONS BY DELHI ASSEMBLY

Underlining that “the capital of the country can ill-afford any repetition” of an occurrence like the February 2020 riots, the Supreme Court Thursday came down heavily on social media platform Facebook, saying its role “in this context must be looked into by the powers that be” and this was why it had been summoned by the Delhi Assembly.

The bench of Justices S K Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy, ruling on a plea challenging summons issued to Facebook by a committee of the Delhi Assembly, said “while Facebook has played a crucial role in enabling free speech by providing a voice to the voiceless and a means to escape state censorship”, the court “cannot lose sight of the fact that it has simultaneously become a platform for disruptive messages, voices, and ideologies”.

It did not accept Facebook’s argument that it is “merely a platform posting third party information and has no role in generating, controlling or modulating” information.

India’s population, the bench said, makes it an important destination for Facebook. “We are possibly more diverse than the whole of Europe in local culture, food, clothing, language, religion, traditions and yet have a history of what has now commonly been called ‘unity in diversity’” and “this cannot be disrupted at any cost or under any professed freedom by a giant like Facebook claiming ignorance or lack of any pivotal role.”

It said Facebook has about 2.85 billion monthly active users — over a third of the world population — as of March 2021. It also has about 270 million registered users in India. The bench said “such vast powers must necessarily come with responsibility. Entities like Facebook have to remain accountable to those who entrust them with such power”.

ZOMATO'S RS 9,375-CR IPO TO OPEN ON JULY 14

Food delivery company Zomato’s Rs 9,375-crore initial public offering (IPO) will open for subscription on July 14. The company initially was looking to raise Rs 7,500 crore through the offering. Investment banking sources said the issue size has been increased because of the robust demand from investors.

On the other hand, Info Edge, the only selling shareholder in the IPO, has cut its offer for sale (OFS) size from Rs 700 crore to Rs 375 crore.

Market sources said the price band for the IPO could be in the range between Rs 70 and Rs 72 per share. They said the company is eyeing valuation between Rs 55,000 crore and Rs 60,000 crore on a post-diluted basis.

'THAT'S SELECTORS' CALL': GANGULY ON REPLACEMENT FOR GILL IN ENGLAND

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday tried to steer clear of the controversy surrounding the national selectors' decision to not send a replacement for injured opener Shubman Gill in England, saying it is a matter for the selection committee to consider.

The Indian team management on June 28, through administrative manager Girish Dongre, had requested for two openers as replacement, preferably Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal.

But chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma, till a couple of days back, hadn't sent any formal reply to that mail as four openers are already in the UK.

When asked about the issue of whether BCCI will agree to send Shaw and Padikkal to UK, Ganguly, while addressing reporters on his 49th birthday on Thursday, replied: "That's selectors' call."

Both Shaw and Padikkal are currently with the Shikhar Dhawan-led Indian team in Sri Lanka for a six-match limited overs series.

Under regular skipper Virat Kohli, India is set to play a five-match Test series against England, starting August 4. Thi is the first series of the second cycle of ICC World Test Championship 2021-23.

Ganguly also expressed optimism about hosting the suspended leg of this year's IPL in the UAE in September.

Ganguly reiterated the BCCI was forced to shift this year's ICC World T20 also, which was to be held in India, to the UAE keeping in mind the safety and security of all stakeholders. "There will be regret but no one has witnessed such a situation in their entire lifetime. These are exceptional circumstances.

WIMBLEDON: IT’LL BE ASH BARTY VS KAROLINA PLISKOVA IN SATURDAY FINAL

Top seed Ash Barty became the first Australian woman to reach the Wimbledon singles final for 41 years after beating former champion Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-6(3) on Thursday. The 25-year-old will now aim to emulate Evonne Goolagong who won the second of her two Wimbledon crowns in 1980.

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova reached her maiden Wimbledon final after coming back from a set down to beat second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday.

The Czech goes into Saturday's decider looking to capture her first Grand Slam title, having only ever reached one other final when she finished runner-up to Angelique Kerber at the 2016 US Open.

INDICATORS

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GBP 0.72 /US$, Euro 0.84 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.99 /US$, Aus$ 1.34 /US$, Sing 1.35 /US$, Bang Taka 83.32 /US$, Can$ 1.25 /US$, Mal Ring 4.17 /US$,

Pak Re 158.68 /US$, Phil Peso 49.95 /US$, Russian Rouble 74.83 /US$, NZ$ 1.43 /US$, Thai Baht 32.45 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.07 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 32,859

Dollar Index 92.44 Brent Crude 73.88  BDI 3,281

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,807 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,798 / 4,698, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 73,500

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Most people think happiness is about gaining something, but it's not. It's all about getting rid of the darkness you accumulate. - Carolyn Crane

OFF TRACK

I’m an avid bird watcher. A couple of months ago I stood in my backyard and heard an owl hoot. I too hooted back. To my surprise and delight the bird hooted again. The next night the same scenario occurred.

All through these past two months, my feathered friend and me hooted back and forth. I even kept a log of the "conversations." Just as I thought I was on the verge of a breakthrough in inter species communication, my wife had a chat with her next-door neighbor.

"My husband spends his nights calling to owls," she said.

“It's odd," the neighbor replied. "So does my husband.”