Junior Digest

Oct,18,2020: Michael Gove, the minister handling Brexit divorce issues for Britain, said on Sunday that the UK is “increasingly well-prepared” for a no-deal Brexit even as businesses urged Britain and the European Union to find a compromise over trade terms.

A tumultuous “no deal” finale to the United Kingdom’s five-year Brexit crisis would sow chaos through the delicate supply chains that stretch across Britain, the EU and beyond – just as the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic worsens.

“But if the choice is between arrangements that tie our hands indefinitely, or where we can shape our own future, then that’s no choice at all. And leaving on Australian terms is an outcome for which we are increasingly well-prepared”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that Britain should get ready for a deal with the European Union similar to the one Australia has, “based on simple principles of global free trade.”
A so-called “Australia deal” means that the United Kingdom would trade on World Trade Organization terms: as a country without an EU trade agreement, like Australia, tariffs would be imposed under WTO rules, likely causing significant price rises.

Johnson’s critics say that an Australian-style deal is simply code for no deal at all with Britain’s largest export market. Australia’s trade with the EU is dwarfed by Britain’s.

More than 70 British business groups representing over 7 million workers made a last-ditch attempt on Sunday to persuade politicians to get back to the negotiating table next week and strike a Brexit deal.

New Delhi, Oct 18,2020: Criticizing statements of Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh regarding Article 370, Information and Broadcasting Minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said that the Congress leaders are speaking in unison with the separatists.

Talking to mediapersons, Mr Javadekar asked whether the Congress will refer to the repeal of Article 370 in its manifesto for the Bihar Assembly elections?

The senior BJP leader said that Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh, while denouncing the decision to withdraw Article 370, have spoken of withdrawing it which is against the sentiments of the people of the country.

Mr Javadekar said, ‘ Rahul Gandhi (Congress leader) also continues to praise Pakistan. He likes to praise Pakistan and China on any subject.’

The senior BJP leader said that the people of the country had welcomed the decision of abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.

‘After the abrogation of Article 370, everyone has seen how much progress has been made in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh,’ Mr Javadekar said.

New Delhi, Oct 21,2020: With the onset of festival season, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made an impassioned appeal to people to follow COVID-19 guidelines, saying this is not the time to be careless as the virus is still around and even a small negligence can dampen the festive spirit.

In his seventh address to the nation following the COVID-19 outbreak, Modi cited examples of the US and several European countries to note that the coronavirus cases there have seen a sudden and worrisome rise after witnessing a fall, as he cautioned citizens against any laxity until an effective cure is found.

He said pictures and videos have of late emerged showing that many people have either stopped following precautions like wearing masks or have become negligent.

“This is absolutely not right. Those who have become negligent and are moving around without masks are putting themselves and their families, including children and elderly, at risk,” he said in his televised speech.

He noted that people have been getting on with their lives after the lockdown was lifted while economic activities are picking up and crowds are slowly returning to markets in the festive times.

At one point in his speech, he folded his hands to impress upon people to take precautions like wearing masks, sanitising their hands and maintaining social distance and said he wants to see them safe and their families happy.
Modi invoked sages like Kabir and the holy scripture of Ramcharitmanas to make his point about not taking a disease lightly until it is fully overcome.

People should continue to be careful and not be callous until a vaccine is found, Modi said.

Countries across the world are working at a war-footing to develop a vaccine, and scientists in India have also been working hard in this regard.

The prime minister said the government is making all efforts to ensure that a vaccine, whenever it is launched, reaches every Indian.
Modi also highlighted India’s “success” in saving lives in the fight against the disease compared to resourceful countries like the US, Spain, Brazil and Britain.

While there are 25,000 COVID cases for one million population in countries like the US and Brazil, the corresponding figure in India is only 5,500. The number of fatalities in India is 83 for a million population against more than 600 in nations like the US, Brazil, Spain and Britain, he said.

India now has more than 90 lakh beds for COVID-19 patients, 12,000 quarantine centres, 2,000 labs for testing, the prime minister said, adding that the total number of tests will soon cross 10 crores.

Festivals are a time of happiness but even a small amount of negligence can dampen our spirits, he said.

While Navratra and Durga Puja festivities have already begun, festivals like Diwali and Chhath will be celebrated next month.

Modi also greeted people for various festivals, including Eid-Milad-un-Nabi and Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary.

The number of new coronavirus infections reported daily in India dropped below 50,000 for the first time in nearly three months, taking the COVID-19 caseload to 75,97,063 on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

A total of 46,790 fresh infections were reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,15,197 with 587 fatalities being registered in a span of 24 hours, the data updated showed.

The number of new fatalities reported daily across the country was recorded below 600 for the second consecutive day.

The total recoveries crossed 67 lakh while active cases of coronavirus infection remained below 8 lakh for the fourth consecutive day. A total 67,33,328 people have recuperated from the disease so far pushing the national recovery rate to 88.63 per cent while the case fatality rate due COVID-19 stands at 1.52 per cent.

Washington, Oct 20:2020: The Trump campaign wrote a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates in which it demanded that the final round of presidential debates to be focused on foreign policy and dismissed as unacceptable proposals to allow the moderator to shut off the candidates’ microphones.

“For the good of campaign integrity and for the benefit of the American people, we urge you to rethink and reissue a set of topics for the October 22 debate, with an emphasis on foreign policy. This is what the campaigns had agreed to and it has been the tradition in past campaigns,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien wrote in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Stepien said that only a few of the topics announced by moderator Kristen Welker – Fighting COVID-19, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change, National Security, and Leadership – barely touch on foreign policy and almost all were discussed at length during the first debate.

Stepien sent the letter ahead of the Commission’s meeting on the issue of allowing the moderator to shut off the candidates’ microphones during the debate.

“It is completely unacceptable for anyone to wield such power and a decision to proceed with that change amounts to turning further editorial control of the debate over to the Commission which has already demonstrated its partiality to [Democratic nominee Joe] Biden,” Stepien said.

The second round of presidential debates was canceled last week after Trump contracted the novel coronavirus and quickly recovered, but refused to debate Biden virtually.

The third and last debate is scheduled to take place in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday.

Oct 18,2020:Global coronavirus cases rose by more than 400,000 for the first time late on Friday, a record one-day increase as much of Europe enacts new restrictions to curb the outbreak.

Europe, which successfully tamped down the first surge of infections, has emerged as the new coronavirus epicentre in recent weeks and is reporting on average 140,000 cases a day over the past week.

As a region, Europe is reporting more daily cases than India, Brazil and the United States combined.

Of every 100 infections reported around the world, 34 were from European countries, according to a Reuters analysis. The region is currently reporting a million new infections about every nine days and has reported more than 6.3 million cases since the pandemic began.

Major European countries – United Kingdom, France, Russia, Netherlands and Spain — accounted for about half of Europe’s new cases in the week to Oct. 18, according to Reuters tally.

France is reporting the highest seven-day average of new cases in Europe with 19,425 infections per day followed by the United Kingdom, Russia, Spain and Netherlands in worst affected European countries.

Several European countries are closing schools, cancelling elective surgeries and enlisting student medics as the authorities face a COVID-19 resurgence.

Russia is moving students to online learning and Northern Ireland is closing schools for two weeks and restaurants for four.

In Spain, authorities in Catalonia ordered bars and restaurants to close for 15 days and limited the numbers of people allowed in shops.

The Czech Republic has also shifted schools to distance learning and plans to call up thousands of medical students. Hospitals are cutting non-urgent medical procedures to free up beds.

Polish health officials have warned the country is on the brink of a disaster as a record 6,526 new coronavirus infections and 116 deaths were reported this week. Poland is ramping up training for nurses and considering creating military field hospitals.

Latin America is the worst-affected region with about 27% of total COVID-19 cases followed by Asia, North America and Europe, according to a Reuters analysis.

India is reporting fewer cases this month compared with September, with 69,000 cases per day, according to Reuters analysis. The numbers have fallen by more than 20,400 over the last three weeks, down 22% from its previous peak.

GUJRANWALA/LAHORE, Pakistan Oct17,2020: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday accused the country’s army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa of toppling his government, pressuring the judiciary, and installing the current government of Prime Minister Imran Khan in the 2018 elections.
Sharif was speaking via video link from London to a gathering of tens of thousands of people organised by opposition parties to kick-off a countrywide protest campaign in the eastern city of Gujranwala aiming to oust Khan’s government.
The former prime minister also accused the chief of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence spy agency of being involved in conspiring against his government.

Nine major opposition parties formed a joint platform called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) last month to begin a nationwide agitation against the government.

Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is the main opposition party, was sacked by the Supreme Court in 2017 on corruption charges and left for London last November for medical treatment.

Barcelona [Spain], October 21,2020: Lionel Messi achieved a new milestone as Barcelona defeated Ferencvaros in the Champions League here.
Barcelona registered an impressive 5-1 win over Ferencvaros. Messi scored one goal during the match and he became the first player in the Champions League to score in 16 consecutive seasons.

“Leo #Messi is the first player in @ChampionsLeague history to score in 16 consecutive seasons! #UCL,” Barcelona tweeted.
After the opening goal from Messi in the 27th minute, Ansu Fati netted a goal in the 42nd minute. Philippe Coutinho, Pedri, and Ousmane Dembele then scored one goal each in the second half to hand Barcelona a comfortable win.
Barcelona will now take on Juventus in the Champions League on October 29.

PARIS,October 19, 2020: French President Emmanuel Macron and Iraq Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi both highlighted the importance of the fight against terrorism following a meeting in Paris, a statement from Macron’s office said on Tuesday.

Macron hosted the meeting on Monday, which followed the French leader’s own trip to Iraq in September, when he expressed his support for Iraq’s sovereignty and said Iraq’s main challenges were Islamic State militants and foreign interference in its affairs.

The statement from the French president’s office also said the two leaders had also welcomed French group Alstom’s plans to work on a Baghdad metro project.

INDONESIA,Oct 21,2020: Japan opposes any actions that escalate tension in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Monday as he wrapped up a trip to Vietnam and Indonesia, and stressed the need for peaceful resolution of disputes.

Suga’s four-day visit to the two key Southeast Asian countries comes amid concerns about China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

Oct20,2020:The poll spending limit for candidates contesting Lok Sabha and assembly elections has been enhanced by 10 per cent based on the recommendation of the Election Commission that contestants be allowed to spend more on campaigning keeping in mind difficulties they may face due to COVID-19 curbs.

The hike in expenditure limit will help candidates contesting Bihar assembly poll as well asbypolls to one Lok Sabha and 59 assembly seats.

Over a month ago, the Election Commission had recommended a 10 per cent hike in expenditure for all elections to be held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hike was recommended keeping in mind the difficulties candidates may face in campaigning amid the restrictions imposed, including those on holding rallies amid the pandemic.

The notification issued by the Law Ministry on Monday night said the maximum expenditure a candidate can incur for campaigning in Lok Sabha polls is now Rs 77 lakh. It was so farRs 70 lakh.

For assemblies, it has been hiked from Rs 28 lakh to Rs 30.8 lakh.

The maximum expenditure limit for candidates to spend for their campaigning varies from state to state.

The notification, which amended the Conduct of Elections Rules, does not mention that the limit has been hiked keeping in mind the pandemic and whether it is limited for polls being held amid COVID-19.

The amended rules, the notification said,”Shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette and shall remain in force till such date as may be notified by the Central Government.”

“The maximum expenditure limit was enhanced for a reason. But the notification need not mention the reason,” explained a senior EC functionary.

The last time the expenditure ceiling was enhanced was in 2014 just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Assembly polls in Bihar will be held on October 28, November 3 and November 7.Most of the assembly bypolls will be held on November 3.

Bypolls to the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat in Bihar and some assembly seats in Manipur will take place on November 7.

Brasilia, Oct 21,2020: The Brazilian government said on Wednesday that they plan to use a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine as part of its nationwide immunisation programme against the virus.

This was confirmed by São Paulo Governor João Doria who said that the federal government has agreed to buy some 46 million doses of the vaccine CoronaVac, a BBC report said.

He further said that the immunisation programme would be the first of its kind in the world against COVID-19 and could begin as early as January 2021.

Brazil has been third worst affected country in the world from the coronavirus pandemic in terms of number o cases, after the United States and India.

The country has so far recorded nearly 5.3 million confirmed cases, and is second only to the US in terms of deaths, with nearly 155,000 registered so far.

If the drug is approved by the country’s health regulator, CoronaVac – which is being developed by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech – will be one of two vaccines included in Brazil’s immunisation programme.

The other vaccine is the one being created by England’s Oxford University and the drug giant AstraZeneca.

Mr Doria has previously touted Sinovac’s experimental vaccine, announcing plans to use it to inoculate residents of São Paulo.

The Chinese vaccine is being tested by São Paulo state’s research centre Butantan Institute.

The institute announced on Monday that the two-dose vaccine appeared to be safe in a late-stage clinical trial.

However, it warned the result was only preliminary, with testing still ongoing. It said data on how effective the vaccine is will not be released till the trial is over.

Washington, Oct 18,2020: The United States will be the first country to land people on Mars and the first to land a woman on the Moon, US President Donald Trump said.

“America will land the first woman on the Moon and the United States will be the first nation to land an astronaut on Mars, we’re getting very close,” Trump said at his campaign rally in Janesville, Wisconsin on Saturday.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Friday that his company was on track to launch its first uncrewed mission to Mars in four years, using the Starship reusable vehicle.

According to Musk, initially, the Starship launch vehicle should be able to carry over 100 metric tons of cargo to low Earth orbit once it is completed. The larger goal is to have Starship missions transport people to the moon and Mars. According to SpaceX, Starship lunar missions could start as early as 2022.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a virtual consortium on Wednesday that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected more than a dozen companies to develop technology to sustain US Moon operations.

“Together, NASA and industry are building up an array of mission-ready capabilities to support a sustainable presence on the Moon and future human missions to Mars,” Bridenstine said.

The awards totaled $370 million, about $270 of which will go to four companies that are developing cryogenic fluid management technologies needed for rocket fuel: one small business, Eta Space, plus three corporate giants, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance (ULA), NASA said in a statement.

Bridenstine said NASA plans the first human lunar settlement in 2028, four years after a scheduled visit to the Moon’s south pole by two American astronauts in 2024.

New Delhi, October 20,2020: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said that International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) headquarters could be shifted from the US to China as indicated by the current growth projection made by the global organisation after the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic.
“Is the IMF’s relocation to Beijing imminent?” Tharoor posed the question on his Twitter handle.
“The International Monetary Fund’s by-laws specify that its headquarters will be located in the world’s largest economy. For 75 years this placed it in Washington, DC. With the way the US and Chinese economies are moving after #Covid-19, is the IMF’s relocation to Beijing imminent?”
Citing the IMF data, the Congress leader further said that China will be the only major economy to grow this year while the US would shrink by 4.3 per cent.
“The IMF itself says China will be the only major economy to grow this year. It predicts that China will expand 1.9 per cent in 2020, while the U.S. would shrink by 4.3 per cent. China’s growth will accelerate to 8.4 per cent next year, says the IMF, compared to 3.1 per cent in the United States. Challenging!” he said in a tweet.

Washington, October 21,2020: Lack of sleep significantly impairs human ability to stop unwanted and unpleasant thoughts from entering the mind, a new study reveals.
The authors of the study say the findings could have implications for people suffering from psychiatric conditions associated with unwanted thoughts – such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and schizophrenia.
The study, from the University of York, tested the ability of participants to suppress intrusive thoughts when they were either sleep deprived or well rested. Sleep deprived participants suffered an increase in unwanted thoughts of nearly 50 percent compared to those who had a good night’s sleep.
“In everyday life, mundane encounters can remind us of unpleasant experiences. For example, a car driving too fast on the motorway might cause us to retrieve unwanted memories from a car accident many years ago. For most people, thought intrusions pass quickly, but for those suffering with psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, they can be repetitive, uncontrollable, and distressing,” Lead author of the study, Dr Marcus Harrington, from the Department of Psychology at the University of York, said.
“It is clear that the ability to suppress unwanted thoughts varies dramatically between individuals, but until now the factors that drive this variability have been mysterious. Our study suggests sleep loss has a considerable impact on our ability to keep unwanted thoughts out of our minds,” added Harrington.

For the study, sixty healthy participants learnt to associate faces with photographs of emotionally negative scenes (such as an image from a war zone) or neutral scenes (such as an image of a cityscape).
The following morning, after a night of either sleep or total sleep deprivation, participants were shown the faces and asked to try to suppress thoughts related to the scenes with which they were paired.
Compared to the sleep group, the sleep deprived participants had much more difficulty keeping unwanted thoughts of the emotionally negative and neutral scenes from their minds. While the task became easier with practice for the rested participants, for those who had gone without sleep, thought intrusions remained consistently high.
The sleep group’s success at suppressing unwanted thoughts caused them to view the negative scenes more positively after the suppression task, and they also showed a reduced sweat response when the negative scenes were presented. In contrast, the sleep deprivation group’s failure to keep unwanted thoughts out of mind meant that they did not experience this positive change in their responses.
“This study offers an important insight into the impact of sleep on mental health. Besides post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, our findings might have implications for our understanding of other disorders linked to sleep disturbances, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia,” Senior author of the study, Dr Scott Cairney, from the Department of Psychology at the University of York, said.
“The study also suggests that the onset of intrusive thoughts and emotional disturbances following bouts of poor sleep could create a vicious cycle, whereby upsetting intrusions and emotional distress exacerbate sleep problems, inhibiting the sleep needed to support recovery,” added Cairney.

Oct 18,2020: New Zealand voted to award Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern a second term in office on Saturday. Prime Minister Ardern’s liberal Labour Party won a historic mandate by securing 49 per cent of the vote in comparison to the 27 per cent bagged by its primary challenger, the conservative National Party.

In fact, this is the first time since New Zealand implemented a proportional voting system 24 years ago that a single party (Labour) won an outright majority of seats in Parliament. Jacinda Ardern was voted to the top job in 2017 when her Labour Party entered into an alliance with two other parties.

This time around, the Labour Party will be able to comfortable form a government on its own, a first for the party in 50 years. Its ally Green Party won 7.5 per cent of the voters while the libertarian ACT Party managed to increase its vote share to 8 per cent this time around. At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his New Zealand First party was voted out.

During the 2020 elections, New Zealanders also voted on two key issues- whether to legalise marijuana and euthanasia. Results to both referendums will be announced on October 30.

Siliguri (WB),Oct 20,2020: J P Nadda Monday said the execution of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has been delayed due to the pandemic and asserted that the law will be implemented soon.

Nadda, who was speaking at a meeting of social groups of north Bengal, accused the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal of indulging in “divide and rule politics” in the state to serve the political interests of her party – the TMC, unlike BJP which works for the development of all.

All of you will get the benefits of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. It has been passed in Parliament. We are committed to it,” he said at the meeting.

“Due to COVID-19 pandemic, implementation of CAA got delayed. But as the situation is slowing improving, work has started and rules are now being framed. It (CAA) will be implemented very soon. Nadda added.

DEHRADUN: Oct19, 2020: In recreation of famous ‘Chipko Movement’ dating back to 1973, thousands gathered in Thano of Dehradun on Sunday opposing felling of over 10,000 trees for expansion of Dehradun airport.

A 12-year-old ‘Global Climate Activist’ Ridhima Pandey termed as Greta Thunberg of India, who was also there to support ‘Save Thano Forest’ movement said, “We are hell-bent on destroying our ecosystem mercilessly. This is a threat to whole mankind. These forests are source of life. We will be protesting against the felling of trees until the decision is reversed.”
Thousands of locals of Thano, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Bhaniyawala gathered and tied ‘Raksha Sutras’ to the trees pledging to protect those trees.

Slogans were raised and Raksha Sutras were tied around trees which represent that ‘we the people’ are the protectors of the forest.
Activists, environmentalists are apprehensive that the move to cut the trees in the Thano range of the Dehradun forest division could affect wildlife movement in the elephant corridors and change course of a river in the vicinity of the forest.