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From the Newsroom: Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, six injured

Last Updated 07 August 2020, 13:25 IST

In today’s episode, landslides resulting from heavy rain in Western Ghats had lead to traffic disruption and IMD issues orange alert in certain parts; Rhea Chakraborty appeared before the Enforcement Directorate, and Serum Institute of India (SII) has entered into a new landmark partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for India and low and middle-income countries.

Here are the top news of today, Friday: August 7, 2020:

An army official has said that six civilians were injured as Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Naugam and Tangdhar sectors of Jammu and Kashmir today by resorting to unprovoked firing towards Indian positions.


He said six civilians were injured due to Pakistani shelling in Tangdhar sector while no casualties had been reported from Naugam sector so far.


He said a "befitting response" was given to the Pakistani aggression by the Indian Army.


Over the past couple of months, the Indian government citing security concerns related to user privacy data, banned more than 105 Chinese apps including the TikTok, ShareIT, Mi Browser, and others.

Now, popular mobile maker Xiaomi announced that it will be releasing a special MIUI update for the Indian market, which will clean pre-loaded apps, which were recently blocked by the government.


Also, Xiaomi clarified that Clean Master, which is often confused as the app developed by the notorious Cheetah Mobile, is not present in any of the Redmi, Mi, or any other Xiaomi-branded phones. The company added it has its own clean app used to clear memory to improve the response time of the phone. To allay the fears, the MIUI Cleaner app is being disabled by default via a firmware update. Users can manually update the software on Settings by going to System apps updater.


Also, the company iterated that the user-data of the citizens using the Xiaomi phones are stored in India and also asked consumers not to fall prey to misinformation on social media sites over unsubstantiated reports of Xiaomi not adhering to Indian government orders on blocking some Chinese apps. It can be noted that the company formally opened the local data centers in 2018.


An "in principle" government approval has come for the BCCI to take the IPL to the UAE this year and the eight franchises have started their preparations by initiating quarantine and Covid-19 testing protocols for their players and support staff.


A BCCI source told PTI that the permission in writing is due to come any time in the next few days.


"We have got the approval in principle to go ahead and the papers will be landing anytime," a top source said.


Most of the franchises will be leaving base after August 20 mandated by the BCCI. The Chennai Super Kings are set to leave on August 22.


The Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, has quarantined its Indian players at its base.


Some franchises are arranging Covid-19 tests for their players in their respective cities before heading for departure bases (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru) for UAE.


Amid mounting pressure, actor and model Rhea Chakraborty appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday in the wake of her pending petition in the Supreme Court.


Rhea (28) has been accused by Sushant Singh Rajput’s family of abetting the actor’s suicide and swindling off his money.


The ED has registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) based on the first information report (FIR) lodged in the Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna.

The CBI has now taken over the case after the Bihar government wrote to the Centre.


The ED had summoned Rhea to appear before it on Friday, however, her lawyer Satish Maneshinde in a brief message in the morning saying: “Rhea has requested that the recording of her statement be postponed till Supreme Court hearing.”


The ED, however, decided to register a case of non-compliance with summons, after which Rhea drove to Mumbai’s ED office and presented herself and joined investigations.


The Serum Institute of India (SII) has entered into a new landmark partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for India and low and middle-income countries (LMICs).


The collaboration will provide upfront capital to SII to help them increase manufacturing capacity now so that, once a vaccine, or vaccines, gains regulatory approval and WHO prequalification, doses can be produced at scale for distribution to India and LMIC as part of the Gavi COVAX AMC mechanism as early as the first half of 2021.


The funding will support at-risk manufacturing by SII for candidate vaccines from AstraZeneca and Novavax, which will be available for procurement if they are successful in attaining full licensure and WHO Prequalification. The institute has set an affordable ceiling price of US $3 per dose, a press statement said here on Friday.

The arrangement also provides an option to secure additional doses if the vaccines pillar of the ACT Accelerator sees a need for it.


The landslide at Pettimudi near Maunnar in Idukki occurred almost exactly one year after Kerala witnessed two major landslides. The state is also witnessing natural calamities in the month of August for the third year in a row.


The landslide at Pettumudi took place during the early hours of Friday morning. It was on August 8 last year, that the state witnessed major landslides at Puthumala in Wayanad and Kavalapara in Malappuram districts that claimed 17 and 59 lives respectively. The total death toll in calamities during August 2019 was 121.


Back in Karnataka, the rain situation may be turning worse.

Let’s listen in to our correspondent in Coastal Karnataka Naina to know what’s happening there:


Flood and other natural calamities along with the pandemic may be the perfect recipe to criple the resources. Listen in to our today’s episode of The Lead to know the ground situation in Assam, a state that has seen floods three months now...

Source: DHNS/ PTI

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(Published 07 August 2020, 13:18 IST)

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