COVID: BOOSTER FOR ALL ADULTS FREE AT GOVT CENTRES FROM TOMORROW

For 75 days starting July 15, persons aged 18 to 59 years will be able to avail of free Covid vaccine booster dose at any govt centre.

The decision was approved at a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. “Vaccination is an effective means to fight Covid. Today’s Cabinet decision will further India’s vaccination coverage and create a healthier nation,” PM Modi tweeted.

Data show less than 1 per cent of the eligible 77.10 crore people aged 18 to 59 years have taken the booster shot. However, 25.84 per cent of the eligible 16.80 crore persons aged 60 years and above and health and frontline workers have taken the free precaution dose. India’s booster rate (number of persons who have been administered the shot per 100 people) is among the lowest worldwide at 3.2 per cent as against Bangladesh’s 17 per cent and Pakistan’s 11 per cent. Germany and Italy have a 68 per cent booster administration rate.

SUPREME COURT RULES OUT BLANKET STAY ON DEMOLITIONS ACROSS COUNTRY

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay demolition of properties of accused involved in violent protests in various states across India as it wondered if such an omnibus order could be passed at all.

“What omnibus directions can we issue?” a Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice PS Narasimha wondered. Asking the parties to complete filing of documents and affidavits in the matter, the Bench posted Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind’s petition against demolitions for hearing on August 10.

The bench said: "If we pass such an omnibus order, won’t we not prevent authorities from taking action as per law?"

The UP Govt told the top court that the petitioner was protecting illegal builders by filing covert and shadow petitions. In an affidavit, it said the Muslim body, which has sought directions to UP and other states not to demolish properties of accused in recent cases of violence, was taking to “proxy litigation”.

From the Muslim body’s side, senior advocate Dushyant Dave said the matter was “extraordinarily” serious and referred to a news report where someone was accused of murder and his house was demolished. “We don’t want this culture. Lordships will have to decide for once and all.... They (authorities) cannot take advantage of municipal laws and demolish house of someone who is merely accused of crimes.”

BJP CITES PAKISTANI JOURNALIST'S CLAIMS TO ATTACK FORMER VP HAMID ANSARI

The BJP on Wednesday accused former vice president Hamid Ansari of inviting to India a Pakistani journalist who has claimed to have spied for the ISI, but Ansari dismissed the charge as a 'litany of falsehood' and said he never met or invited him.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia cited purported claims of the Pakistani journalist, Nusrat Mirza, to allege that Ansari shared many 'sensitive and highly classified' information with him.

Bhatia also cited comments of a former operative of RAW, India's external spy agency, to allege that Ansari had harmed the country's interests when he was its envoy to Iran.

Ansari, who was the vice president between 2007-17 and before that had served as India's envoy to several countries including Iran, rejected this charge also and said that his work as ambassador to Iran was at all times within the knowledge of the govt of the day.

Rebutting the BJP's claim of inviting Mirza, Ansari said it is a known fact that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice-President of India are on the advice of the govt generally through the Ministry of External Affairs.

BJP spokesperson Bhatia also slammed the Congress, which was in power between 2004-14, and asked its leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to come clean on the allegations.

COVID 'NOWHERE NEAR OVER', SAYS WHO

As a new wave of infections spreads across Europe and the US, the WHO urged govts and healthcare institutions to take action to stop COVID-19 transmission. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated at a briefing in Geneva on July 12 that sub-variants of the omicron strain were increasing the number of cases and resulting in additional fatalities. To stop the spread, Tedros suggested reviving standards like mask use.

The WHO is concerned that, despite a recent increase in cases, surveillance of the virus and any new possible varieties is waning. According to Tedros, a WHO committee reiterated that the COVID-19 outbreak is still a public health emergency of global concern, which is how the WHO categorises pandemics.

“New waves of the virus demonstrate that COVID-19 is nowhere near over," Tedros said, adding that he is “concerned about a rising trend of deaths."

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST / July 14

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Wednesday  20,139

Active Cases 1,36,076 (+3,619)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 5,25,557 (22)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

EMERGENCY DECLARED IN SRI LANKA AS PRESIDENT GOTABAYA FLEES TO MALDIVES

Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as angry protesters stormed the prime minister's office in Colombo, hours after president Gotabaya Rajapksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet,

Rajapaksa, the 73-year-old leader who had promised to resign on Wednesday, appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the acting President hours after he fled the country, escalating the political crisis and triggering a fresh wave of protests.

Announcing that Rajapaksa has appointed Wickremesinghe to act to perform his functions while he is abroad, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said the vote for the new President will take place on July 20.

In a special televised statement, Wickremesinghe declared a nationwide emergency and imposed a curfew in Colombo and surrounding areas. "We must end this fascist threat to democracy. We can't allow the destruction of state property," Wickremesinghe said.

However, the development enraged anti-govt protesters, who wanted both the President and prime minister to quit over mishandling the economy.

The Maldivian govt's argument is that Rajapaksa is still the President of Sri Lanka, and that he hasn't resigned or handed over his powers to a successor. Therefore, if he wanted to travel to the Maldives, it could not have been denied. The Maldives govt though has not yet officially commented on his presence in the island nation.

However, the Maldives National Party (MNP) leader and former Maldives foreign minister Dunya Maumoon said it was very disappointing that the Maldivian govt did not care about the sentiments of the Sri Lankan people.

Acting President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday asked Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to nominate a prime minister who is acceptable to both the govt and the Opposition.

RISHI SUNAK WINS FIRST ROUND OF VOTE IN UK PM RACE

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended his lead in the United Kingdom prime ministerial race on Wednesday with the highest number of votes at 88 in the first round of voting by Conservative Party MPs, which narrowed down the race from eight to six candidates on the shortlist.

Fellow Indian-origin candidate, Attorney General Suella Braverman, features last on the latest tally with 32 votes, behind Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (67 votes), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (50 votes), former minister Kemi Badenoch (40 votes) and backbencher Tom Tugendhat (37 votes).

While Sunak, 42, has maintained a steady lead among his Tory parliamentary colleagues since he declared his intention to run for party leadership last week, the Conservative Party membership base which will have the final say seems to be building momentum behind Penny Mordaunt.

THE REST

=========

LOK SABHA BOOKLET OF UNPARLIAMENTARY WORDS.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has compiled a booklet for ready reference with regard to unparliamentary words.

The booklet comes ahead of the Monsoon Session beginning July 18, during which the use of words like ashamed, abused, betrayed, corrupt, anarchist, dictatorial, Shakuni, taanashah, Jaichand, vinash purush, and khoon se kheti would also be expunged if used during debates or otherwise in both the Houses.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has further listed words like dohra charitra, nikamma, nautanki, dhindora peetna and behri sarkar as unparliamentary expressions, according to the booklet.

The compilation contains references to words and expressions declared unparliamentary in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state legislatures in India during 2021, besides those disallowed in some of the Commonwealth countries in 2020. Baloney, batshit crazy, bloody, Covid spreader, gropers, paedophiles, shit, etc., banned in a few Commonwealth nations, have been included in the booklet.

Some of the ther words to be expunged in parliament include Gaddar, girgit, ghadiyali ansu, apmaan, asatya, ahankaar, kala din, kala bazaari, khareed farokht, danga, dalal, daadagiri, chamcha, chamchagiri, chelas, bloodshed, bloody, betrayed, ashamed, abused, cheated, childishness, corrupt

EAM JAISHANKAR’S KERALA VISIT RAISES HACKLES

By standards of his usual travels, the visit to Kerala should have been pretty unremarkable for Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. However, Jaishankar’s three-day stay in the state has become the latest point of conflict between the BJP and ruling CPM in the state.

As the two parties fight it out over development stakes, particularly in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan did not take kindly to Jaishankar’s interactions with beneficiaries of various Central govt schemes and, particularly, his on-site review of road development under the NHAI, during his visit.

The matter even made it to the state Assembly on Wednesday, with Kerala PWD Minister P A Mohammed Riyas taking a jibe at “visiting Union ministers”, saying they should “count and fill” potholes on national highways instead of just clicking pictures of almost-finished projects and posting them on their social media pages.

Officially, Jaishankar’s visit was part of the BJP’s campaign of sending Union ministers to states to take stock of Central govt schemes.

43 J’KHAND SCHOOLS CHANGE WEEKLY OFF TO FRI, MGMT DISSOLVED

Two years after 43 state-run schools unilaterally changed their weekly break from Sunday to Friday, the Jharkhand govt on Wednesday said it has dissolved their management committees and ordered Sunday as holiday.

“This had been happening after lockdown but was brought to my notice recently,” Jamtara district education officer said. Outraged over the school off day switch to Friday, Dumka MP Sunil Soren said he has written to Union HRD ministry and urged the Centre to take cognizance of the matter. “Such arbitrary moves are being made under the patronage of the ruling Mahagathbandhan govt, which had supported the day off switch to Friday,” he said.

Congress party’s Jamtara MLA Irfan Ansari backed Friday as day off for schools.

NTA CHIEF ON CUET: NORMALISATION WILL ENSURE LEVEL FIELD

The common University Entrance Test for undergraduate courses (CUET-UG), starting July 15, has been designed to ensure that students taking the test earlier than their peers in the staggered format will not be placed at any disadvantage as the scores will be based on a normalisation process, National Testing Agency (NTA) director Vineet Joshi said.

The normalisation process, which is used by the agency in the case of engineering entrance tests, ensures equity as it takes into consideration various factors that could lead to one set of students performing better for reasons other than academic competence.

The CUET-UG, which is the country’s largest common entrance for college admissions, is scheduled to take place on July 15, 16, 19 and 20 in the first phase — and on August 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 20 in the second phase.

Over 14.9 lakh aspirants have registered for the test.

SCIENTISTS DEVELOP NOVEL MECHANISM TO COMBAT SARS-COV-2 INFECTION

A new class of synthetic elements has been developed that can not only block the entry of SARS-CoV-2 virus into body cells but also clump the virus particles together, thereby reducing their ability to spread infection. This novel approach can provide an alternative mechanism to render viruses like Corona inactive.

It is an established fact that protein-protein interaction is often like that of a lock and a key. This interaction can be hampered by synthetic peptide that mimics, competes with and prevents the key from binding to the lock and vice versa.

Scientists at the Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, in collaboration with researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, have exploited this approach to design peptides that can bind to and block the spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 virus. This binding was further characterised extensively by various biophysical methods.

The researchers tested the peptide for toxicity in mammalian cells in the laboratory and found it to be safe. When hamsters were administered doses of the peptide and subsequently exposed to a high dose of SARS-CoV-2 virus, they showed decreased viral load as well as much lower cell damage in the lungs as compared to hamsters exposed only to the virus, the statement added.

TWITTER SUES MUSK FOR VIOLATING $44-BILLION TAKEOVER AGREEMENT

With an aim to force Elon Musk to follow through with his $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal, the microblogging site has now sued the tech billionaire as he walked out of the deal.

“In April 2022, Elon Musk entered into a binding merger agreement with Twitter, promising to use his best efforts to get the deal done. Now, less than three months later, Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” the complaint reads.

“Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,” it added.

“Oh the irony lol," Musk tweeted shortly after news of the suit was filed.

RHEA CHAKRABORTY, HER BROTHER LINKED TO DRUG RACKET: NCB

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has claimed that actress Rhea Chakraborty and others were allegedly involved in a major criminal conspiracy to run a drugs racket for Bollywood and other high society people.

In its draft charges filed before a Mumbai Special NDPS Court on Tuesday, the NCB has detailed how between March and December 2020, Rhea, her brother Showik and 34 others, accused in the death case of the Sushant Singh Rajput, were part of a plot to finance, procure, sell, transport and distribute drugs like ganja, charas, cocaine, LSD to high-profile end users.

The probe agency revealed how Siddharth Pithani, a friend of Rajput, had used a private bank app of Rajput to source ganja and other drugs from his bank account, describing them as ‘puja samagri’ (prayer material) and accordingly, abetted Rajput’s extreme addiction to drugs.

BILL GATES VOWS $20BN TO ‘STEM GLOBAL SUFFERINGS’

Bill Gates, concerned about the “significant suffering” caused by global setbacks including the Covid-19, announced on Wednesday that he will donate $20 billion to his foundation so it can increase its annual spending. The donation, combined with longtime board member Warren Buffett’s $3. 1 billion gift last month, brings The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s endowment to approximately $70 billion.

The foundation hopes the increased spending will improve education, reduce poverty and reinstate the global progress toward ending preventable disease and achieving gender equality that has been halted in recent years.

ALLEGATIONS OF SEVERE CORRUPTION IN UTTARAKHAND CRICKET

Over Rs 1.74 crore for food and catering, including Rs 35 lakh for bananas; Rs 49.5 lakh in daily allowances; Rs 11 crore spent during the Covid lockdown; non-payment of players’ dues; dodgy selection policies. And then, extortion and death threats.

The Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) is in the middle of a storm of allegations, ranging from financial impropriety to intimidation of players.

CAU secretary Mahim Verma, the team’s head coach Manish Jha and the association spokesperson Sanjay Gusain were questioned by the Uttarakhand Police after they were named in an FIR by the father of a former India Under-19 cricketer.

VIRAT KOHLI RESTED BUT SELECTORS KEEP WORLD T20 DOOR OPEN

Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies. Kuldeep Yadav will make his comeback to the Indian team after his finger injury. However, it’s learnt that the selection committee led by Chetan Sharma will continue to back Kohli and he remains an integral part of the team plan for the T20 world cup to be held in November.

India are currently playing England in an ODI series where they lead 1-0. Kohli, who was out of the 1st ODI with a groin injury, is likely to miss the second one as well.

The selectors wish to be careful about the injury lest it flares up into something more serious. Groin strains can easily aggravate into a proper tear if the player rushes himself into the thick of things. A quick single or a swift turnaround during a double can unknowingly worsen a player’s condition if he takes the field without being hundred percent fit.

The selection committee has also given rest to Bumrah keeping the workload management in mind. Bumrah has been playing non-stop cricket and with the Indian team to play a few more series before the T20 World Cup, the selectors felt it would be better to let him have a break.

The five-match T20I series against the West Indies will start from July 29 and will go on till Aug 7.

INDICATORS

Sensex 53,514 (-372), Nifty 15,967 (-92), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 42,405

Nasdaq 11,248 (-17) Dow 30,773 (-209), S&P 3,802 (-17)

(US$-Rs. 79.52 GBP-Rs. 94.62, Euro-Rs. 79.90, UAE Dhm-Rs.21.64, Can$-Rs. 61.18, Aus$- Rs. 53.81

GBP 0.84 /US$, Euro 0.99 /US$, Jap.Yen 137.21 /US$, Aus$ 1.47 /US$, Sing 1.40 /US$, Bang Taka 91.87 /US$, Can$ 1.29 /US$, Mal Ring 4.43 /US$,

Pak Re 207.30 /US$, Phil Peso 56.29 /US$, Russian Rouble 58.54 /US$, NZ$ 1.63 /US$, Thai Baht 36.15 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 29.25 /US$)

Bitcoin - USD 20,225

Dollar Index 108.19 Brent Crude 99.78 BDI 2,002

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,730 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,095 / 4,670, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 61,700

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Be assured those will be thy worst enemies, not to whom thou hast done evil, but who have done evil to thee. And those will be thy best friends, not to whom thou hast done good, but who have done good to thee. – Tacitus

OFF TRACK

A 16-year-old girl bought herself a very tiny bikini.  Very proud she came home and put it on. She then showed her mother how she looked in it.  "What do you think mom?" she asked.

Her mother replied, "If I wore that when I was your age, you would have been 5 years older."