News Highlights: Covax supply hit due to Covid-19 crisis in India, USAID tells lawmakers

Brazil on drought alert as country faces worst dry spell in 91 years

Brazilian government agencies warned of droughts across the country this week as the nation faces its worst dry spell in 91 years, hurting hydroelectric power generation and agriculture while raising the risk of fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Late on Thursday, an agency linked to Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry recommended that the country's water regulator ANA recognize a state of "water scarcity," after a prolonged drought hit Central and Southern parts of Brazil along the Paraná river basin. (Reuters)

Mamata Banerjee takes stock of damages in Purba Medinipur caused by Cyclone Yaas

Nifty closes at record high of 15,436; Sensex rallies 300 points

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 308 points and NSE Nifty hit a fresh record on Friday, tracking gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and Kotak Bank amid positive cues from global markets.

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Haryana government extends summer holidays for all government and private schools till June 15

Randeep Hooda removed as ambassador of UN's environmental treaty over his 'joke' against Mayawati

Actor Randeep Hooda has been removed as the ambassador of Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), United Nation's environmental treaty, following the controversy over his derogatory comments against Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.

Hooda has been under fire since Wednesday when a nine-year-old video of him making a "joke", which social media users termed casteist and sexist, went viral online.

The 43-second-clip from an event organised by a media house in 2012 resurfaced when a Twitter user shared it. The video has Hooda cracking a joke and then laughing along with the audience.

Vaccines permanent solution against Covid: Rahul Gandhi

Lockdown, masks, social distancing are temporary solutions; vaccination is permanent solution to Covid: Rahul Gandhi

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee conducts aerial survey of cyclone-hit areas, say officials.

A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court against Twitter and Twitter India for allegedly not complying with the Centre's new IT and social media rules.

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Kerala High Court sought the view of the Lakshadweep Administrator Praful Khoda Patel challenging draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation 2021 and new changes brought by the Lakshadweep Administrator (ANI)

IOC tries to reassure Olympic athletes over virus waiver

Olympic athletes were told by the IOC on Thursday that a waiver they must sign releasing Tokyo organizers from liability for Covid-19 issues was "standard practice" for major sports events.

The issue was raised when IOC president Thomas Bach took questions to cap a two-day online conference hosted by the official Olympic commission representing athletes.

"I know this is a concern for a number of you," Bach said, before asking IOC chief operating officer Lana Haddad to give what he called "an expert's answer."

Daily new Covid cases are lowest in the last 44 days

India reports a dip in daily Covid-19 cases with 1.86 lakh cases. Daily new cases are lowest in the last 44 days.

Active caseload further declines to 23,43,152 with active cases decrease by 76,755 in last 24 hours.

Why India should buy Chinese Covid vaccines

There is a way out of the crunch, as long as authorities are realistic: acquiring vaccines from regional rival China.

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No end in sight as Colombia marks full month of protests

Colombia on Friday marks a full month of anti-government protests that have claimed dozens of lives and invited international condemnation of its police response. Observers fear the end is nowhere in sight.

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Japanese cargo ship collides with foreign vessel, three missing

A Japanese cargo ship collided with a foreign-registered vessel in the Seto Inland Sea off the island of Shikoku in western Japan late on Thursday, national broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

Millions in Myanmar struggle to buy food as coup price hike bites

Aye Mar sits with her seven children in their Yangon kitchen and worries whether their meal of rice and stringy vegetables -- all she can afford in coup-stricken Myanmar -- will satisfy their hunger.

The national economy and banking system have been paralysed since a military power-grab which pushed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi out of office in February.

Livelihoods have been lost after strikes and factory closures, fuel prices have shot up and those lucky enough to have bank savings face day-long queues to withdraw their cash. (AFP)

What we know about the origins of Covid-19

Scientists are revisiting a central mystery of Covid-19: Where, when and how did the virus that causes the disease originate?

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Global supply of COVAX hit due to coronavirus crisis in India, USAID tells lawmakers

Due to the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis in India, the global supply of COVAX has been badly hit, so much so that there are many parts of the world where one shot has been dispensed to health workers or frontline workers and the second shot has not been forthcoming, a top Biden administration official told lawmakers on Thursday.

Global temperatures could rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius within 5 years

There’s about a 40% chance that the global average temperatureforat least one of the next five years will be 1.5º Celsius higher than in pre-industrial times— and the odds are only going up.

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