DH Evening Brief: July 17, 2021

Here are the top headlines this evening.

What was in those bags BSY carried to Delhi? HDK asks

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday said Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi piqued his curiosity.“According to my information, Yediyurappa had six bags with him. What was in those bags?” Kumaraswamy wondered, amid speculation that Yediyurappa was on his way out. Read more

Finish final year exams by Aug 31: UGC to colleges

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked colleges to complete the final year examinations of the current academic year by August 31 and begin the first year classes of the new academic year from October 1. Read more

Vaccinations reduce chance of Covid-19 death in India to 0.4%

Vaccines targeting Covid-19 are able to curb deaths and hospitalisation in patients substantially, including those infected by the highly-transmissible delta variant that drove India’s devastating second wave and is now triggering curbs from Los Angeles to Melbourne. Read more

Not at all: CM BSY dismisses news of his resignation

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday denied rumours that the party top brass asked him to resign."The party top leaders have not asked me to resign. I will continue as the CM," the CM told reporters here after meeting BJP National president J P Nadda. Read more

Danish Siddiqui's photos unveil the world's dark side

In shock and grief, India mourned the death of photojournalist Danish Siddiquiin Afghanistan, during clashes between the Afghan forces and Taliban. Siddiqui's untimely demise triggered an outpouring on social media that highlighted his vast body of work that ranges from the Afghanistan war to Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, from India's Covid-19 crisis to Myanmar, where his photographs on the plight of Rohingya refugees were marked with a Pultizer Prize. Here are Siddiqui's photographs that reveal the unseen: See pics

Common medication used to reduce cholesterol levels may lessen Covid severity

In a new study researchers confirmed that patients taking statin medications had a 41 per cent lower risk of in-hospital death from Covid. The study is led by researchers from the UC San Diego School of Medicine, was published in the journal 'PLOS ONE'. Statins are commonly used to reduce blood cholesterol levels by blocking liver enzymes responsible for making cholesterol. Watch video

Can ‘viral shedding’ after the Covid vaccine infect others?

Fears of “viral shedding” and other concerns after the Covid vaccine has led some businesses to ban vaccinated customers from the premises, believing vaccination poses a health risk to others. We’ve seen this in Australia, in the northern New South Wales town of Mullumbimby and on the Gold Coast in Queensland. We’ve also seen this internationally. Read more

First case of Covid-19 in Tokyo Olympic Village

A person has tested positive for Covid-19 at the Tokyo Olympics athletes' village, organisers said on Saturday, in the first such case that adds to concerns about infections at the Games which begin next week. Read more

Congress Punjab puzzle likely to be resolved soon

The Congress crisis in Punjab appeared to be turning into a jigsaw puzzle with Captain Amarinder Singh reiterating that he would abide by whatever party chief Sonia Gandhi decides even as his detractor Navjot Sidhu was on a meeting spree with state leaders including PPC chief Sunil Jakhar. Read more

It's time to implement a four-day work week in India

More than a century ago, American labour rights activist William Dudley Haywood argued that treating employees as merely a means to achieve the goals of the employer was wrong. He was essentially arguing based on philosopher Immanuel Kant’s ‘Categorical Imperative’ approach to principles of morality, which prohibits ‘rational beings’ from using others as means to achieve a certain end, even if that end is for the larger good of humanity. This meant that one shouldn’t use others as a commodity or an object to solely derive benefit from. This principle was rooted in the idea that everybody is equal, and they have basic rights that are inalienable. Read more

Your bed probably isn't as clean as you think

There’s nothing quite like crawling into bed, wrapping up in your blankets, and nestling your head into your pillow. But before you get too comfortable, you might want to know that your bed isn’t all that dissimilar to a petri dish. Read more