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Air pollution comes in different forms -- they come from activities like residential and commercial biomass burning, coal burning, industrial emissions, stubble burning, diesel generators etc.  It is widely accepted that short-term and long-term exposure to air pollution can have an impact on disease burden and life expectancy. A new study, published in The Lancet, says that 16.7 lakh deaths in India were attributable to air pollution in 2019. That is nearly 18 per cent of total deaths!

It also paints a grim picture in the economic aspect. It says that the economic loss due to lost output from premature deaths attributable to air pollution in India in 2019 was $28.8 billion, and from morbidity attributable to air pollution was $8 billion. This is 1·36% of India's GDP.

We all know air pollution is a big problem in India, will we change?

The Redmi 9 Power is the new alternative to the Redmi 9 Prime which has been the most readily recommended in recent times. The 9 Power is a 6.5-inch phone and feels substantial, not small, and quite weighty though surprisingly light for a phone that has a 6,000mAh battery in it. That battery is, of course, the biggest though not the only selling point for this device because one can just keep going undisturbed for hours without having to stop for an anxious charging session. It takes about two hours to charge!

Listen to Mala Bhargava.

Scientists in the United Kingdom have revealed that they have found a new strain of the coronavirus, which sent shockwaves across the world.

On Saturday, scientists said that they have identified a strain of coronavirus, named N501Y, is up to 70 per cent more infectious than the original version, but it is not thought to be more deadly. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also announced strict lockdown rules ahead of the Christmas holidays and urged citizens to follow them.

Will the new strain cause more deaths? Will the Covid-19 vaccines work against it? Here's all need to know.

India crossed a grim milestone of 1 crore Covid cases this week. However, the number of active cases is low. 

On Sunday, India’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,00,31,223 with 26,624 new infections being reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,45,477 with 341 new fatalities.

The COVID-19 active caseload in India has dropped to 3.05 lakh, comprising just 3.04 per cent of the total infections.

Last week, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer began shipping the first batches of its long-awaited and newly-authorised coronavirus vaccine.

The US added a second COVID-19 vaccine to its arsenal on December 18, with USFDA authorized an emergency rollout of the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Gurudwara Rakab Ganj on Sunday and paid tributes to Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru. this is a part of his efforts to reach out to the protesting farmers. On Friday? he said, he said that farmers have already started to gain the benefits of the new farm laws

In International News, Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday dissolved Parliament at the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and announced new dates for mid-term general election in April-May.

President Bhandari has announced April 30 for the first phase and May 10 for the second phase of the mid-term election.

As the season of classical music and dance sets in, rasikas across the globe gear up for an experience like none other. After many decades, popular cultural festivals such as the Marghazhi festival and the Saptak will be conducting online performances. While some of the artists are relieved about the idea of digital concerts, and even dance recitals, one wonders about the lives of folk artistes from across the country. More importantly, these past nine months would have impacted the mental well-being of artistes who were left with no alternative option to earn a living.

In this episode of Stage Business, we speak with Gayathri Suryanarayanan, the founder of Samarpana. Samarpana is an organisation that works towards promoting performing arts and also providing adequate financial and moral support to artistes, especially folk artistes.

What do the weather gods have in store for us this week? If you are residing along the coasts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, brace yourselves for some showers. Listen to the podcast by Vinson Kurian.

Hello and welcome to News Explained. This is your host Siddharth Mathew.  

Recently, Facebook ran full-page advertisements in major newspapers criticizing Apple's plans to limit the ability of the Facebook mobile app to gather data from people's phones. The data could be used for targeted advertising. 

Facebook has accused rival Apple Inc of engaging in anti-competitive practices in a month-long standoff between the two tech giants over Apple's planned privacy changes for iOS14. 

Facebook Vice President for Ads and Business Products Dan Levy said: 

“Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of creators and small businesses” 

Levy also said that although Facebook disagreed with Apple's approach, it would comply with the new rules and display a prompt. He said:  

“We don't have a choice if we want our app to be available in the App Store.” 

 But Apple said that its new rules will not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising.  

Instead, it requires Facebook to give users on Apple devices a choice of whether to opt into those practices.  

In a statement, Apple said: 

“We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users. Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites and they should have the choice to allow that or not”  

Apple's own personalized ad platform would be exempt from the new prompt requirement the iPhone maker is planning to impose on other companies.  

In June 2020, Apple said that such activity will require a pop-up notification asking iOS users for permission to track them across apps and websites owned by other companies.  

Facebook and Apple have also tangled over commission fees the iPhone maker charges apps listed on iOS devices, with Facebook again aligning itself with small developers most affected by the policy. Facebook previously tried to push a notification to its users about Apple's fees but said Apple rejected its ”transparency notice.” 

Stay tuned for more episodes.

While acknowledging the right of farmers to protest peacefully, the Supreme Court said that the purpose of protest can be achieved if the government and the farmers held talks. A bench, headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde with justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, said it would set up an “impartial and independent” committee, which includes experts, farmer union representatives and government officials, to find a resolution to the deadlock over the new farm laws. 

But will this help resolve the farmers concerns over the new laws?

Listen to the podcast.

The prevailing easterly wave activity over the Bay of Bengal is expected to trigger scattered to fairly widespread rain/thundershowers over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, Mahe and Lakshadweep for four more days, according to an update by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The easterly wave has also spawned a cyclonic circulation over the South-West Bay of Bengal off the Sri Lanka coast, over the Comorin area and adjoining Sri Lanka. This circulation is helping to pull in the rain bands associated with the easterly wave to both over Sri Lanka and southern parts of Tamil Nadu.

Listen in.

Hello and welcome to News Explained, In today's podcast we look at the Vaccine distribution strategy across India.

The Bihar government has approved a proposal to provide free Covid-19 vaccine to the people of State in a cabinet meeting today. With this, the newly elected government is implementing a poll promise.

Not only Bihar, but other states are promising to do so. Recently, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is the latest to join this bandwagon, joining Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. 

Even as States announce their vaccination plans, the Centre is preparing the needed infrastructure for the immediate rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine, whenever one is ready. What is the Centre's plan?