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NCP minister Dhananjay Munde tests positive for coronavirus

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Dhananjay Munde at the Vidhan Bhavan for the second day of Maharashtra Legislature special three-day session to pass the state Goods and Services Tax (SGST) bill. The legislature will pass three bills - the main 116-page SGST Act, a bill related to the Compensation to Local Authorities and a bill on to the existing state laws that are to be repealed when the SGST comes into effect from July 1. This is for the first time that the Legislature will have a sitting on a Sunday that is May 21. Express photo by Amit Chakravarty, 21th May 2017, Mumbai. *** Local Caption *** Dhananjay Munde at the Vidhan Bhavan for the second day of Maharashtra Legislature special three-day session to pass the state Goods and Services Tax (SGST) bill. The legislature will pass three bills - the main 116-page SGST Act, a bill related to the Compensation to Local Authorities and a bill on to the existing state laws that are to be repealed when the SGST comes into effect from July 1. This is for the first time that the Legislature will have a sitting on a Sunday that is May 21. Express photo by Amit Chakravarty, 21th May 2017, Mumbai.

Maharashtra’s cabinet minister Dhananjay Munde has tested positive for COVID-19 infection. He has been admitted for treatments in the hospital, becoming the third minister of Maharashtra to test positive after Ashok Chavan and Jitendra Awhad. Munde had only recently attended the cabinet meeting as well as the party’s foundation day celebrations in Ballard Pier.

Sources report that he had displayed symptoms of COVID-19 infection and was immediately admitted at the Breach Candy hospital on Friday morning. Notably, a few staff members in Munde’s office had also been tested positive, despite being asymptomatic.

With three ministers testing positive already, some senior ones in the government have decided to remain indoors for the next few days.

As a COVID-19 precautionary measure, the Maharashtra cabinet has been avoiding large assemblies. The cabinet meetings are also being held through video conferencing with minimum number of people available at one location.

Animal baby births skyrocket in Palestinian zoo due to complete absence of visitors

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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A significant baby boom was witnessed in Palestine’s Qalqilya Zoo, as visitors completely vanished. Fifteen animals were born in the tiny zoo at West Bank, as the zoo was shut down for visitors for the past few months. The officials said that this birth rate was three times more than usual.

Peacocks, ostriches and baboons – these were all the animals that gave birth during this period, as they let nature take its course free from human distractions. It is to be noted that the baboon that gave birth had relatively lesser inclination to nurse it. The zoo doctor had to take it home and feed it.

While talking about it, the zoo veterinarian Sami Khader said, “The coronavirus spread at the same time that trips were expected at the zoo. They were cancelled and therefore the animals started to give birth”.

The zoo reopened in late May as Palestinian officials eased COVID-19 restrictions. Now zoo managers hope the new-born attractions will be enough of a draw to compensate for 200,000 lost visitors.

British PM calls the attack on statues as a “censoring of the past”, says they have been “hijacked by extremists”

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Talking about the vandalism of Churchill’s statue as well as the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the act is highly intolerable and abhorrent.

Coming out in response on Twitter, he wrote that Churchill’s statue is “a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country — and the whole of Europe — from a fascist and racist tyranny.” He added that tearing down statues amounts to “lying about our history” and that it is “absurd and shameful” for a monument to be treated with such disrespect.

Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol was toppled earlier this week, following which the statue of wartime hero Winston Churchill’s statue was vandalized with the graffiti “Churchill was a racist”. This came in the wake of the #Blacklivesmatter movement that has gained momentum all over the world.

Following this incident, a box was placed around the statue as a protective measure against further damage to the monument.

 

France’s coronavirus toll falls as lockdown is eased

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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A month after the eight-week lockdown in France ended, life has returned to normalcy. There have been no rise in cases reported in the country, with the number of additional deaths down to its lowest figure since March.

As the country has only just recovered from the pandemic, the fact remains that the forthcoming economic emergency is yet to be addressed with an iron clad plan to put the country back on its feet. Businesses all over France have reopened, holding the social distancing norms strictly in place. France had a huge shortage of masks in the peak of its pandemic effect, although now, there is a surplus supply of cloth masks, which is being unused because of the usage of disposable masks by most corporations.

Announcing the second phase of the lifting of restrictions at the end of last month, three weeks after the end of lockdown, the Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, said the health figures were better than hoped for. French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to address the country on Sunday.

France has had an estimated 29,319 deaths due to Covid-19, while, over 72,000 people who were diagnosed coronavirus positive have been cured and discharged from the hospitals.

Scientists study deep earth taking cue from deep space

By
The Commune
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The structure of the earth's crust.

The scientists at Johns Hopkins University are digging deep down the Earth using a new technique that was originally designed and used in exploring the cosmos. An unusual team of space and earth scientists have used a new novel algorithm called the Sequencer, which was initially developed to find various interesting trends in the astronomical datasets.

This algorithm is developed by Menard and a graduate student Dalya Baron to be used in the astrophysics and geology department.

The scientists have unveiled structures present deep down the Earth that has paved a new map of the Earth. This map will exactly describe how the interiors of the Earth look like.

These findings, after their completion, will be published in the Science magazine.

Scientists use seismic waves to look deep inside the Earth the same as the doctors use ultrasound to look deep inside the human body. But, these findings will have to wait for the Earth to have an earthquake because, without any disturbance or motion in the Earth’s interior, the scientists will not be able to trace the seismic waves and guess the composition of the earth.

The Sequencer algorithm drifts through thousands of seismograms for echoes and creates a new map of the Earth’s mantle. The map reveals hot and dense regions below the Hawaii and Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia in the Pacific.

Crisis expert back as TN Health Secretary

By
The Commune
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The Tamil Nadu government on Friday made some key changes at the higher bureaucracy by transferring Beela Rajesh IAS to the Commercial Taxes and Registration Department and bringing back J Radhakrishnan IAS as the Health Secretary.

The transfer order comes at a time when the state has over 38,000 cases with more than 27,000 cases in Chennai.

Dr. Beela Rajesh IAS has been posted as Secretary to Government, Commercial Taxes and Registration Department in the place of N Muruganandam IAS, who was holding the additional charge.

Though Dr. Radhakrishnan has been appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Health and Family Welfare Department, he will continue to hold the post of Principal Secretary/Commissioner of Revenue Administration until further orders.

A 1992 batch IAS officer, Dr. Radhakrishnan is known for his work during the 2004 Tsunami and the Kumbakonam school fire accident that happened in June the same year. Since then, Dr. Radhakrishnan has become the face of disaster management in the state. In November last year during Diwali, he was coordinating the rescue of the child Sujith Wilson who had fallen into a borewell and met with an unfortunate end. Earlier he was appointed as the Special Nodal Officer by the state government to coordinate the efforts against the pandemic.

Bihar lawyer files complaint against Chinese President, Trump and Modi mentioned as witness

By
The Commune
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In Bihar, a lawyer has filed a complaint against Chinese President, Xi Jinping, blaming him for the corona virus pandemic.

An advocate, Murad Ali, filed a complaint in Bettiah, West Champaran District, in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, blaming the Chinese President Xi and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for spreading the virus from Wuhan city in China to the entire world.

The court has given June 16 as a hearing date. The complaint mentions US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as witnesses.

Ali accused the Chinese President as responsible for the spread of the virus from Wuhan, China in December 19 throughout the world and WHO chief for hiding the issue of virus spread. He also alleged that China President and WHO chief conspired the spread of the corona virus in the whole world resulting in the death of millions of people.

He has demanded action under sections 269, 270, 271, 302, 307, 500, 504, and 120B of IPC. Ali has mentioned the sources of allegations as social media, print media and, other electronic media.

US President Donald Trump has also accused China repeatedly for the spread of the virus. He has blamed Beijing for concealing the information on the outbreak of the virus. Trump also accused the WHO of taking the side of China and “politizing” the corona virus pandemic.

Auto Driver rewarded for her humanity

By
The Commune
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In a heart-warming incident, Laibi Oinam, an auto driver in Manipur, took the initiative to make sure a recovered girl patient reaches her home by driving over 100 km.

Manipur CM N Biren Singh rewarded her for the exemplary act shown by her.

As per reports, a 21-year girl was discharged on recovering from COVID-19, from Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) and was trying to get transportation to reach her home in Kamjong District. Though an ambulance was provided, it denied crossing the district and dropping her at her home.

Fortunately, Oinam came forward to help and she, along with her husband took the girl to her village in Kamjong District Manipur. The 8 hour journey started on the intervening night between 31st May and 1st June. Both Laibi and her husband were kept in quarantine centres as they travelled with the just recovered girl.

Praising the efforts of Laibi, who was knowing that the girl is just recovered patient, the CM called her and handed over a cash reward of ₹1,10,00. Reports say that the amount was sponsored by some entrepreneurs from Manipur and some Manipuri diasporas from different countries as an encouragement for Oinam’s bravery and humane service.

Singh also tweeted about her exemplified hard work and “service above self”.

Indian-American Soil Scientist Rattan Lal wins 2020 World Food Prize

By
The Commune
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The World Food Prize for the year 2020 was awarded to renowned Indian-American soil scientist Rattan Lal, for developing and adopting a soil-centric approach to increase food production, an effort that will help in conserving natural resources and mitigating climate change. Rattan Lal, an Indian native and American citizen, will receive a monetary contribution of $2.5 lakh award that honors his contribution throughout his career. His illustrious career over 50 years and across four continents is dedicated to promoting innovative soil saving techniques that benefit over 500 million small farmers.

The technique holds support for the improvement in food and nutritional security of more than two billion people and saves hundreds of millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems.

Lal studied at Panjab Agriculture University (PAU) and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in the 1960s. He is the recipient of the MS Swaminathan Award and the Norman Borlaug Award.

Receiving the World Food Prize, Lal said that it reminded him of gratitude, privilege, and honor of working for farmers around the world. He said, “Still, the urgent work of feeding humanity is not over till every person has access to nutritious food grown on the healthy soil and clean environment.” Lal is currently serving as Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre at the Ohio State University (OHU).

Sourav Ganguly says IPL 2020 could be held in empty stadiums

By
The Commune
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BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has said that the board remained “optimistic” about the IPL which was postponed indefinitely in April due to the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and said that BCCI is open to conducting tournaments in empty stadiums with no audience.

Ganguly said that “The fans, franchisees, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year.”

IPL has been a money spinner for the BCCI. Earlier Indian sports minister Kiren Rijiju said that “It is difficult to confirm dates but I am sure we will have some kind of sporting events this year. We have to learn to live with the situation where sporting events will have to be carried forward without spectators in stadiums and sports venues.”

Ganguly added that “We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this.”

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TheCommune
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