Here are the top 5 news updates of July 30, 2021:
1. India's COVID-19 R-value rising steadily; Kerala, northeastern states top list
India continued to show an upward trend in the COVID-19 graph as the country recorded a single-day rise of 44,230 cases today. The R-factor, which indicates the speed at which COVID-19 infection is spreading in the country, is climbing steadily with Kerala and the northeastern states occupying top spots fuelling worries about the pandemic rearing its head again. Meanwhile, Kerala has been reporting over 22,000 cases for the past three days now, which is half of what the country has been reporting. In the northeast, only Tripura has an R-value substantially lower than one while Manipur has gone only marginally below one. Among other states in India, Uttarakhand has an R-value very close to one at the moment.
2. Photographer Danish Siddiqui 'brutally murdered' by Taliban after they verified his identity: US magazine report
Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was not simply killed in a crossfire in Afghanistan, nor was he collateral damage, but was "brutally murdered" by the Taliban after verifying his identity, according to a Washington Examiner report. "Siddiqui was alive when the Taliban captured him. The Taliban verified Siddiqui’s identity and then executed him, as well as those with him. The commander and the remainder of his team died as they tried to rescue him,” the report said. The Taliban’s decision to hunt down, execute Siddiqui, and then mutilate his corpse shows that they do not respect the rules of war or conventions that govern the behaviour of the global community, the report added.
3. Google removes 11.6 lakh pieces of harmful online content in May and June complying to India's new IT Rules
Google today said that it has removed over 11.6 lakh pieces of harmful online content in the months of May and June in India, in accordance with the new IT (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. As part of its monthly transparency reports for the two months, Google said that in addition to the details of complaints received from users in India and the actions taken thereon, the reports now include the removal of actions taken as a result of automated detection processes across Google's platforms, classified as "Significant Social Media Intermediaries" ("SSMIs") under the IT Rules. Google has removed 634,357 pieces of harmful content for May and 526,866 for June 2021 via its automated detection processes.
4. Boxer Lovlina Borgohain assures India of first boxing medal at Tokyo Olympics
Debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) assured India of their first boxing medal at the ongoing Olympic Games when she upstaged former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei to enter the semifinals today. The 23-year-old Assam boxer prevailed 4-1 to make the last-four where she will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Ukraine's Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout. Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medallist and the first female boxer from Assam to qualify for the Games, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past.
5. Sensex closes modestly lower on fag-end sell-off
Equity benchmark Sensex slipped over 66 points to close at 52,586.84 today, hit by fag-end selling in finance and metal stocks following sluggish investor sentiment in global markets. The 30-share BSE index fell 66.23 points or 0.13 per cent to close at 52,586.84, while the broader NSE Nifty dipped 15.40 points or 0.10 per cent to 15,763.05. Bajaj Finance was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2.5 per cent, followed by SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Asian Paints and Axis Bank. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Bajaj Auto NTPC and HCL tech were among the gainers.