LAC row | China reaches accord with India
China said on Wednesday it had “reached agreement” with India on the ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a day after India announced troops from both sides had begun a “partial disengagement” from some of the stand-off points.
Coronavirus | COVID-19 turns India’s urban blight
Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad have accounted for nearly 1,25,000 cases and 4,193 deaths, close to 43% of the overall cases and more than half of the total number of fatalities in India, signifying how the novel coronavirus has affected urban metropolitan centres. These cities continue to register the bulk of new cases and deaths.
BJP is trying to topple Gehlot government, says Congress
The BJP is trying to topple the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, the Congress said on Wednesday evening, as it sought to shore up its defences. The party has 107 MLAs and the support of 12 Independents in the 200-seat Assembly.
U.S. religious freedom report takes note of CAA, NRC, J&K status
The country report for India, which looks back on the developments in 2019, takes note of the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). It discusses in detail mob lynchings and anti-conversion laws and related issues.
About three in ten believe coronavirus was made in a lab, says survey
About 54% said the lockdown “helped overcome” the pandemic and 30% said the lockdown “created problems” including — a fifth of them saying — that they’d lost jobs and earnings and 3% saying that they faced “hunger and starvation.”
Gujarat’s pride grows as it now hosts 674 Gir lions
Once seen as threatened by extinction, the lion population has grown by almost 29% from the last count in 2015. Today, Asiatic lions are present in Protected Areas and agro-pastoral landscapes of Saurashtra covering nine districts, over an expanse of about 30,000 sq. km.
U.S. Black Lives Matter protests spur calls for India to wake up to Dalit discrimination
Dalit campaigners said they supported the Black Lives Matter protests in response to the death of African-American George Floyd after he was knelt on by a white police officer, and hoped it would ignite a similar conversation in India.
Sri Lanka to hold general elections on August 5
Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections, which was postponed twice in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, will be held on August 5, Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said on Wednesday.
Merkel, Macron urge EU to prepare for next pandemic
France, Germany and four other EU countries on Tuesday urged the European Union to take a greater role in preparing for any future pandemic, conceding that coronavirus responses had fallen short.
ICC postpones decision on 2020 T20 World Cup by at least a month
“We will only get one chance to make this decision and it needs to be the right one, and as such we will continue to consult with our Members, broadcasters, partners, governments and players and to ensure that we make a well informed decision,” stated ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney in a statement.
