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Economic Times | 31 Jul, 2020 | 08.33AM IST
Coronavirus News Updates: China reports highest daily cases since March
China reported 127 new cases on the mainland, the highest daily number since March 5.
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Facebook to expand WhatsApp partnership in India
"A big part of the partnership that we have with Jio will be to wire up and get thousands of small businesses across India on-boarded onto WhatsApp, to do commerce there. And we’re really excited about the opportunity there. And once we prove that out with Jio in India, we’re planning on expanding it to more folks in India and to other countries as well," Zuckerberg has said.
Three-day Afghan-Taliban ceasefire begins
- The Taliban and Afghani security forces begin a three-day ceasefire on July 31 - a rare respite that many hope will lead to peace talks and an eventual end.
- The halt in fighting is slated to last for the duration of the festival of Eid al-Adha and is only the third official truce in nearly 19 years of war.
- President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban have both signalled that peace talks could begin straight after Eid, and there are widespread calls for the warring parties to extend the ceasefire.
- Under a deal signed by the Taliban and the US in February, "intra-Afghan" talks were slated to start in March, but hit delays amid political infighting in Kabul and as a contentious prisoner exchange dragged on.
- That swap, which will see Kabul free 5,000 Taliban fighters and the insurgents release 1,000 government forces, is now nearly complete.
Spear-phishing attack on employees led to breach: Twitter
- The U.S. microblogging site said the hackers targeted about 130 accounts, tweeted from 45, accessed inbox of 36, and were able to download Twitter data from seven.
- Attackers also targeted specific employees who had access to account support tools, Twitter said, adding that it restricted access to its internal tools and systems ever since the incident occurred.
- Hackers had accessed Twitter's internal systems on July 15 to hijack some of the platform's top voices including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, former U.S. President Barack Obama and billionaire Elon Musk and used them to solicit digital currency.
- Blockchain records show the apparent scammers received more than $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
Oil prices bounce back from three-week lows
- Brent crude was up by 0.9%, at $43.34 a barrel. On Thursday, Brent closed down 1.9% but had recovered much of the ground lost from the lowest level since July 10.
- U.S. crude also gained 0.9%, to $40.27 after dropping 3.3% the previous session.
UN leaders to meet virtually; Trump might attend in person
"We're hoping that President Trump will actually be speaking in person in the General Assembly," Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has said, adding that he will be "the only" leader to speak in the assembly chamber.
Brazil: 57,837 new COVID-19 cases in 24h
- Total cases in Brazil rose to 26,10,102.
- The death toll has risen by 1,129 to 91,263.
- Brazil's first lady - Michelle Bolsonaro - tests positive.
Virus slows down Indian rice export
- Rice export prices rose this week as the worsening coronavirus crisis in India caused logistical snags.
- India's 5-percent broken parboiled variety was quoted at $380-$385 per tonne this week, up from last week's $377-$382 per tonne.
USA: 1,400 deaths due to COVID-19 in 24h
This is the third consecutive day with more than 1,200 deaths, even as the country recorded 72,238 new cases.
Odisha jail authority asks to conduct COVID-19 tests on accused
In an effort to mitigate the spread of coronavirus in state jails, the prisons authority in Odisha has asked police to conduct RT-PCR tests of accused people before sending them in for judicial custody.
China reports 127 new cases
The Asian nation reported its highest daily numbers since March 5.
NBA restarts after March suspension
New Orleans Pelicans play Utah Jazz in the first basketball game since the pandemic shut down sports events.
Australia wants tech giants to pay for news
Australia unveiled a draft law that is expected to ensure Google and Facebook will pay news media for their content in a "world-leading" initiative that could prompt a confrontation with the digital giants.
Biden campaign launches Indian-American outreach
Joe Biden's campaign announced the launch of its outreach to Indian-Americans in 14 different languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Urdu , Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya and Marathi.
