News Postcard

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Two drones were spotted over the military installations on Wednesday in Jammu city which were fired upon by alert troops forcing them to withdraw. http://dlvr.it/S2lZmL

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed the Centre after it announced the Covid-19 financial package, calling it a 'hoax'. http://dlvr.it/S2hCLq

India on Tuesday reported 37,566 daily new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union health ministry at 9 am. The country has reported less than 40,000 daily new cases after 102 days. With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 3,03,16,897. The death toll remained below 1K mark for the second day in a row. http://dlvr.it/S2gg4K

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A study of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, suggests that current vaccines may be less effective against the Beta variant first identified in South Africa. ​​​Present on the surface of SARS-COV-2, spike proteins enable the virus to attach to and enter our cells, and all current vaccines are directed against them. http://dlvr.it/S2cMPS

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India on Sunday reported 50,040 new Covid-19 infections over the last 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed. The death toll climbed to 3,95,751 with 1,258 more people succumbing to the viral disease in a day. http://dlvr.it/S2XzNl

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Rich countries are opening up societies and vaccinating young people who are not at great risk from Covid-19, while the poorest countries cruelly lack doses, the World Health Organization said on Friday, condemning a global failure.The situation in Africa, where new infections and deaths jumped by nearly 40% last week compared to the previous week, is "so dangerous" as the Delta variant spreads globally, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. http://dlvr.it/S2VHlc

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The virus that causes Covid-19 could have started spreading in China as early as October 2019, two months before the first case was identified in the central city of Wuhan, a new study showed on Friday. http://dlvr.it/S2QljP

The WHO forecasts that people most vulnerable to Covid-19, such as the elderly, will need to get an annual vaccine booster to be protected against variants. Vaccine makers Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc have been vocal in their view that the world will soon need booster shots to maintain high levels of immunity. http://dlvr.it/S2Qlhq

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The Delta variant, the significantly more transmissible strain of Covid-19, is expected to become a “dominant lineage” if current trends continue, the WHO has warned after it was reported in 85 countries and continues to be detected in more places around the world. http://dlvr.it/S2LwZn

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India has become the second country in the world after the US to record more than 3 crore Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The country’s caseload went past the sombre milestone on Tuesday, just 50 days after crossing the 2-crore mark, making it the fastest addition of 1 crore cases by any country. http://dlvr.it/S2H5Qj

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CBSE on Monday told the Supreme Court that optional Class 12 board examinations for students not satisfied with their assessment would be held any time between August 15 and September 15, subject to the situation being conducive. It, however, said the examination will be conducted only in the main subjects and "the marks obtained by a candidate in this examination will be treated as final". http://dlvr.it/S2BDCs

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Mehbooba's indecision stems from the agenda for the meeting, a PDP official said. "Delimitation and elections in J&K are not our priorities right now. Before convening a dialogue on these topics, the Centre should have taken some confidence-building measures," he said. Unofficially, the constituents of the five-party Gupkar alliance — including the Left — are said to be keen on joining the meeting. http://dlvr.it/S26fcq

Hangars, shelters, maintenance facilities and infrastructure for the Rafales have come up at both Ambala and Hasimara airbases. The Hasimara airbase, close to the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction, was established with Toofani aircraft after the 1962 war with China. The IAF is "absolutely on target" on the Rafale induction plan, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said on Saturday. http://dlvr.it/S26fZz

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Regional parties including PDP, National Conference and People's Conference are careful in assessing the implications of the initiative and highlight the centrality of their demands like restoration of statehood. Any discussion on elections is currently a future scenario as the delimitation commission must first submit its recommendations for new MLA and Lok Sabha constituencies. http://dlvr.it/S245KY

Lok Sabha has sought legal opinion on who - the Speaker or Lokpal - should be the competent authority for green-signalling chargesheeting of MPs in a corruption case. Former Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Achary said the issue was settled by SC that the Speaker would be the appointing authority for Lok Sabha MPs and such sanction was only necessary in corruption cases. He added that the Lokpal Act did not change the situation. http://dlvr.it/S245HG

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has said the country is heading towards social unease if solutions on economic front are not found. 'The time has come for all the political parties to decide whether they want political success for the sake of it or for finding solutions on the economic front. Social unrest would be a harsh word to describe it, but the country is heading for social unease for sure," he said. http://dlvr.it/S23lQh

With the security forces continuing to have an upper hand in Jammu & Kashmir and the state appearing to reap a “safety” dividend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a meeting of all political parties in the state on June 24. The meeting will be seen as a bid to move the political process in the UT after a gradual easing of restrictions on internet and detention of political leaders. http://dlvr.it/S21LF3

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It took a second intervention in less than 48 hours by the Delhi HC to finally ensure Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha and JNU’s Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal were released from Tihar jail on Thursday. Despite getting bail from the HC on Tuesday, the trio, who had been arrested in May last year under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case, had to remain behind bars. http://dlvr.it/S1xhtx

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Given the acute shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, one way to ramp up the vaccination programme is by providing a smaller quantity of the vaccine in an intradermal (ID) way, said experts. This means injecting 0.1ml into the skin, which is a fifth of the volume of the current dose of 0.5ml given intramuscularly in the shoulder. In short, a 0.5ml dose now given to one recipient will be able to vaccinate five persons by the intradermal route. http://dlvr.it/S1svsf

Even as the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic wanes in India, five states still reported more than one lakh cases over the last 14 days (June 1-14) with Tamil Nadu on top with 2.43 lakh cases, followed by Kerala with 1.8 lakh cases during the period. http://dlvr.it/S1svqC

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After falling sharply on the previous day, daily Covid cases and deaths in India registered a slight rise on Tuesday. The country reported 63,868 fresh cases and 1,459 fatalities, up from 59,915 and 1,326, respectively, on Monday. The marginal rise is consistent with the weekly cycle, with cases falling sharply every Monday and then rising a bit on subsequent days. Overall, the falling trend of cases and deaths continues. http://dlvr.it/S1p6MR

The comparative data of the first and second wave dispels the impression that more young people and children were at risk in the recent surge in Covid infections as there is no significant change in the proportion of persons who contracted the disease in the different age groups. http://dlvr.it/S1p6Kb

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A day after G7 members reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change, India on Monday reminded rich nations of their responsibilities citing their historical emissions and said they still owe $1.1 trillion to developing countries as per what was promised 11 years ago. http://dlvr.it/S1kJ8N

In a contemporary version of the palace coups of yore, Lok Janshakti Party founder Ramvilas Paswan’s brother and nephew combined to depose the late Dalit leader’s son Chirag Paswan as leader of the family outfit in Lok Sabha. http://dlvr.it/S1kJ6j

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