DH Evening Brief: August 1, 2021

Here are the top headlines this evening.

Sensational Sindhu tames China's Bingjiao to secure second successive Olympic medal

Star Indian shuttler P VSindhuon Sunday became the second Indian to win two Olympic medals, securing a bronze after a straight-game win over world no.9 He Bingjiao of China in the women's singles third-place play-off. Read more

Karnataka cabinet expansion: Uneasy calm prevails among senior BJP leaders

Uneasy calm prevails in the BJP Karnataka state unit leaders' camp as they have got the news that the party is keen on replacing the elderly leaders with new faces, sources said. According to sources in the party, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and the party top brass are said to have agreed upon giving chance to 6 new faces in the cabinet. Read more

Kerala rape victim moves SC seeking permission to marry 'tormentor'

A victim of rape has approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to marry her 'tormentor', a 53-year-old Kerala Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumchery who has been sentenced to 20 years in jail and was dismissed from priesthood by the Vatican. Read more

The rise of India's 21st century women athletes

As archer Atanu Das and boxer Amit Panghal crashed out of the Tokyo Olympics in quarterfinal and pre-quarterfinal respectively, coinciding with Kamalpreet Kaur qualifying for the women’s discus throw final, a cheeky but instructive post on social media began doing the rounds: “From weddings to Olympics... India always expects women to bring home gold.” Read more

We need to count the pandemic’s invisible deaths

Eighteen months into the Covid-19 pandemic, we don’t know exactly how many people have died. A true global tally is not just overdue. It’s vital.The task is a Herculean one, given that so much of the world struggles to record basic information about deaths even in normal times. But without a better grasp of the toll, we will strain to assess the precise, real-world impact of vaccines and other preventative measures, or to understand just how lethal variants have been. Absent efforts to fill the gaps even in developed nations, the wealthy will be counted, but too many of the rest will not, making it easy for economic recovery to overlook the underserved. Read more

Watch: Covid Tracker - Breakthrough Infections

In the past few days, Covid-19 cases have started to rise in India as well as the rest of the world. For many who have been vaccinated, this may be baffling. Breakthrough infections are normal, but relaxing mask and testing guidelines is not. In this week's Coping with Coronavirus, Suraksha tells you all about these breakthrough infections and why it might not be a good idea to relax testing criteria for the fully vaccinated. Watch video

Northeastern states' borders to be demarcated through satellite imaging

The Centre has decided to demarcate boundaries of the Northeastern states through satellite imaging to settle inter-state border disputes that are often becoming a cause of concern and sometimes even leading to violence. Read more

Why are some people hesitant towards vaccination?

Vaccine deniers are mostly led by a generalised negative attitude towards vaccines and believe that jabs lead to serious side effects, according to a new study.A team led by the Jagiellonian University and the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Wroclaw, Poland conducted a study using data from a total of 492 participants, who have self-identified as either ambiguous towards vaccination or oppose it entirely. Read more

Billionaire Anil Agarwal's Sterlite Power hires banks for IPO

Sterlite Power Transmission Ltd., controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, has hired JM Financial and Axis Capital for a planned initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firm, part of the Vedanta group, plans to raise about 30 billion rupees ($403 million) in the financial year through March, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. A prospectus is expected to be filed by September, they added. Read more