INDIA India reported 64.5 thousand fresh Covid infections as the case tally reached 27.67 lakh. Recoveries rose by a record 60 thousand to 20.37 lakh. Deaths stood at nearly 53 thousand. Karnataka reported a record 8,642 new Covid infections yesterday as the case tally hit 2.5 lakh including 1.64 lakh recoveries and 4,327 deaths. India will now hold a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for multiple government jobs, twice a year in order to enable a smoother entrance opportunity into public sector employment. The Supreme Court gave nod to the CBI to probe the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, as the country’s media outlets are yet to find new headlines. Bihar’s DGP Gupteshwar Pandey with absolute grace said “Rhea Chakroborty does not have the aukat to comment on Bihar CM”. The statement reflected more on his own character than on Rhea’s. Think tank CMIE said that nearly 1.9 crore salaried jobs have been lost in the country since April. A 16 year old girl died by suicide in Uttar Pradesh, leaving behind a suicide note addressed to PM Modi. She expressed concern over pollution, corruption and deforestation. For the upcoming Ganesha festival, Bengaluru’s civic body said only idols less than 2 feet tall should be installed at home and immersion too must be held at home. The government is planning on setting up a Covid testing facility at the Delhi airport to screen international passengers for a more seamless travel experience by avoiding institutional quarantine. A jewellery shop has been temporarily shut in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore after at least 58 workers tested positive for Coronavirus. A complaint has been registered against the store's management under the Epidemics Diseases Act. To boost sales, automaker MG Motors has partnered with car sharing platform Zoomcar to launch subscription options for customers allowing them to rent their cars on 12-24-36 month timespans. In a subdued market, automakers are looking to explore the rental route as commuters are likely to avoid public transport due to the pandemic. Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday that 40% of India's population will live in urban centres by 2030, adding that India has to build a record number of projects every year to cater the population. UNITED STATES Apple became the first US company to hit a $2 trillion market valuation in trade yesterday. President Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear tires after reports that the company is prohibiting its workers from wearing apparel with political slogans such as “Make America Great Again” hats. “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES — They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS”, said Trump. Several states including Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan...and many more have filed lawsuits against the new US Postal Service postmaster. The Postmaster has cut funding and operations of the mailing service to hamper the possibility of an upcoming mail in ballot for the Presidential election. The first marijuana vending machines have sprung up in Colorado, allowing easy access to weed without the need to interact with a budtender amid the Covid pandemic. AROUND THE WORLD Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was forced to resign after mutinying soldiers detained him at gunpoint. “I want no blood to be spilled to keep me in power”, he said as he dissolved his government. From this week, Germany is starting to pilot a universal basic income scheme where people will get €1,200 every month for 3 years. The European Union President Charles Michel said that the EU rejected the result of the allegedly rigged Belarus election and warned of fresh sanctions against the government of President Lukashenko who has ruled the country for 26 years. Spain recorded over 3,700 new Coronavirus infections yesterday, a new daily record post its lockdown, as authorities around the country scramble to reimpose restrictions. A former professor at China’s elite Central Party School has issued an unprecedented rebuke

INDIA India reported a record 57.5 thousand fresh recoveries yesterday, as the recovery rate inched up past 73%. Testing too hit a record high of 9 lakh a day. Fresh cases rose at 55 thousand to 27 lakh including 19.7 lakh recoveries. India's unemployment rate hit a nine week high last week, touching 9.1% for the week ended August 16 with urban unemployment at 9.61% and rural unemployment at 8.86%. Home minister Amit Shah who had previously tested positive and subsequently negative for Covid has been admitted back into AIIMS New Delhi yesterday after he complained of fatigue and body aches for days. Indian pharma giant Biocon's MD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw tested positive for Coronavirus on Monday. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan met the First Lady of Turkey Emine Erdogan in Istanbul, as he was visiting the country to shoot his upcoming movie “Laal Singh Chaddha”. Several Indians quickly and heavily criticized the Muslim actor for the meeting as tensions between India and Turkey have turned sour lately. India is negotiating to establish air travel arrangements with 13 more countries including Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea & THailand, said Civil Aviation Minister Puri. India hasn’t officially opened up international travel, rather establishes “air bubbles” with specific countries to operate flights. So far, it has done so with the US, UK, Germany, France, UAE, Qatar & Maldives. Lufthansa is experiencing a surge in demand for international travel to and from India. “For India, one of our most important international markets, we are seeing positive developments after it was more or less cut off from the rest of the world since mid-March,” said a Lufthansa director. Hong Kong banned Air India flights for 2 weeks alleging that the Indian carrier was carrying too many Covid patients. The city has reportedly found 11 Covid cases linked to Air India flights from Delhi. Online gaming platform Dream11 won IPL 2020's title sponsorship with a ₹222 bid, replacing Chinese smartphone co Vivo which was paying ₹440 crore. Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries is looking to make a string out investments in Indian retailers, as he races to widen his footprint in the Indian market that's become a hot spot for global giants such as Amazon. Reported Bloomberg. Deals in the pipeline include online furniture store Urban Ladder, online retailer Milkbasket, lingerie maker Zivame and online pharmacy Netmeds. UNITED STATES “You know I hate politics”, said Michelle Obama before getting political. She inaugurated the Democratic National Convention talking about Trump more so than about the Democratic nominee Biden. “Trump is the wrong president for our country”, she added. The Donald said – “I know all of these people very well, I beat them all last time”. US housing starts jumped 22% in July, the most since 2016 as real estate continues to be resilient despite the pandemic's economic ramifications. Contrary to expectations that people will migrate out of urban areas, home inventories in major US cities have decreased amid the pandemic. However, San Francisco bucked the trend. Rather heavily. According to Zillow's report. After Microsoft, another US tech giant Oracle has entered negotiations with Chinese ByteDance to acquire its video sharing app TikTok. Reported Financial Times. Tesla’s shares are rallying for no apparent reason, adding tens of billions in a single day with no end in sight. AROUND THE WORLD Younger people are now leading the spread of Covid infections, said World Health Organization – “People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are increasingly driving the spread. Many are unaware they are infected”. Germany reported nearly 1700 fresh Covid infections yesterday, its highest in nearly four months. France is planning to make masks compulsory in most workplaces as Coronavirus infections are staging a resurgence in the country. In Malaysia, a cluster of Covid case

INDIA India recorded 58 thousand fresh infections and 941 deaths yesterday as the case tally topped 2.6 million. The total number of Covid tests conducted in the country surpassed 3 crore, one of the highest in the world. Over one crore jobs have been lost due to the Coronavirus outbreak, reported Moneycontrol. The worst loss of employment was recorded in sectors of Tourism, Travel and Hospitality, which cut about 93 lakh jobs. The government told them to go figure and be atmanirbhaar. Goa gave nod to an online Sunburn musical festival to be held on August 29. Chennai's pouring again. Finally, after nearly five months, liquor outlets are allowed to reopen from today in the Tamil Nadu capital. A Knight Frank survey found that Bengaluru's luxury home market is the fastest growing in the country, ahead of Mumbai and Delhi. In fact, globally the IT capital came in at #26. Even as prices dropped around the world, Bengaluru’s prices inched up 0.6% in Q2 to ₹19,727 per sq ft. In likely loss for China, 24 companies plan to set up mobile phone factories in India, reported Bloomberg. PM Modi in March announced incentives that make niche firms – electronics manufacturers – eligible for a payment of 4%-6% of their incremental sales over the next five years. South Korean giant Samsung is planning to shift a significant part of its smartphone manufacturing facilities out of Vietnam into India. It hopes to make phones worth over $40 billion in India over the next few years, mostly for exports. Market leader Apple has already been scaling up its manufacturing facilities in India. Mukesh Ambani's Jio told the Supreme Court that there's no legal basis for the firm to pay Anil Ambani led Reliance Com's AGR dues as they do not share liabilities and the firm has no interest in acquiring any asset of the latter. Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries is reportedly in negotiations to acquire online retailers Urban Ladder and Milkbasket, reported TOI, as the conglomerate looks to get a strong foothold in India’s retail, both online and offline. Separately, Reliance’s acquisition of Future Retail has reportedly hit a roadblock as Amazon, which holds a minority stake in Future, isn’t keen on the terms. Indian classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj passed away aged 90 at his New Jersey home on Monday. His nearly 80 year long career rewarded him with the Padma Shri, Padhma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, among others. UNITED STATES A recent survey found that nearly 40% Covid tests in the United States take too long to return results, ending up clinically meaningless. Experts say results need to be returned in less than three days, optimally two, to be clinically meaningful. Reported CNBC & Dynata. A new quick turn around saliva based diagnostic test for Coronavirus was developed by Yale Uni researchers and it received FDA's nod for emergency use. The country was facing criticism for its super long wait times of Covid tests which made most of them clinically useless. Further, the new tests are expected to be priced under $20 as compared with other saliva tests that go over $100. Following an unexpected market rally that just refuses to give up steam, Goldman Sachs has upgraded its S&P500 target by 20% – up from 3,000 points to 3,600 points by the end of this year. On Monday, the index opened higher at 3,380. Temperature at California's Death Valley rose to 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degree celsius) on Sunday in what could be the hottest temperature recorded in the United States in at least 107 years. Amid the USPS financial controversy, Americans are flocking to the postal agency to buy merchandise to support the organization, reported CNN. As one of the few companies to record a rise in sales lately, Domino's Pizza said that it will hire over 20,000 people in the US. AROUND THE WORLD Amid growing differences between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Pakistan's military chief Bajwa arrived in Riyadh to ask them to be cool and help them out. Saudi reporte

INDIA India reported 63.5 thousand fresh Covid infections yesterday as the case tally rose to . Deaths rose by over 900 to fifty thousand. Recoveries rose by the highest jump yet with over 57 thousand patients recovering in 24 hours. Delhi's Covid recovery rate has surpassed 90%, far above the national average. Fresh infections came in at 652, while more than double that – 1,310 patients recovered yesterday. One of the accused men involved in the recent violence in Bengaluru, Sayyad Nadeem died at a local hospital and was tested positive for Coronavirus post mortem. He was detained and questioned by police and following his test reports, health authorities are sanitizing the police station. Further Section 144 in these areas has been extended till August 18. In Uttar Pradesh, a 16 year girl accused a police inspector of making her sit in the police station till 1 am and dancing in front of him before accepting to register her FIR. Former Indian cricketer and UK Minister, Chetan Chauhan passed away aged 73, after he tested positive to Coronavirus. One out of five prisoners in the central jail in Srinagar Kashmir have tested positive for Covid. Amid the nepotism debate, the ‘Sadak 2’ trailer became the third most disliked video on Youtube globally, in less than a week from its release. The Mahesh Bhatt movie drew flak for starring Bollywood insiders Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sanjay Dutt. SUPREME The Supreme Court held advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt over two of his tweets. Because the Supreme Court is great and perfect and amazing and no one can criticize it or any of its judges. On June 29, the advocate had commented on a picture of the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle, saying: “CJI rides a 50 lakh motorcycle belonging to a BJP leader at Raj Bhavan, Nagpur, without a mask or helmet, at a time when he keeps the SC in Lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access Justice!” UNITED STATES US President Donald Trump said that he was considering a possible ban on Chinese tech giant Alibaba in the country, as tensions on Chinese firms continue to rise globally. Trump also said he will “take a look” at pardoning Edward Snowden, a former US intelligence contractor who is living in exile in Russia after he revealed that the US government was spying on its citizens. Second Amendment first – a US Appeals Court struck down California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, saying the law violates the Constitution’s protection of the right to bear firearms “for self-defense”. Donald Trump's younger brother Robert Trump died aged 71 on Saturday night in a New York hospital. He was the youngest of five Trump siblings, and worked on Wall Street before joining the family's real estate business. An Arizona public school district was forced to cancel its plans to reopen on Monday after 109 teachers and other staff members called in sick. Teacher unions are calling to strike while some parents and students are rallying to presume classes. A new lawsuit alleges that Facebook owned Instagram illegally harvests biometric data of more than 100 million Instagram users and profits from it without their knowledge or consent. Reported Bloomberg. Separately, Techcrunch said that Instagram didn't remove deleted photos and DMs from its services for over a year. AROUND THE WORLD The Japanese ship that ran aground in Mauritius last month spilling a thousand tonnes of oil has now broken apart posing an even bigger threat to the pristine marine life. The area – part of the Mauritius coral reef in the Indian Ocean – is a rare wildlife sanctuary. Oil companies are wondering if it's worth looking for oil anymore, reported Bloomberg. The pandemic is accelerating the shift to renewables as the oil industry enters a new era. Brazil President Bolsonaro's popularity has soared despite the country experiencing the world's second worst Covid outbreak. A new Datafolha poll found that nearl

INDIA India recorded 65 thousand fresh Covid infections yesterday as the case tally crossed 25.26 lakh. Deaths rose by a thousand to 49 thousand. Also, Prime Minister Modi said India's got three Covid vaccines in testing stages because his government is great. Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee said that India made a blunder by going into and exiting from the lockdown way too early. Most countries imposed a lockdown as cases rose and eased restrictions as cases fell, while India eased restrictions even before the infections peaked. The man who used to carry out daily Covid media briefings advising the country on how to prevent contracting coronavirus, Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal tested positive for coronavirus. Former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket. “Thanks...Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout”, he wrote. Following Dhoni, Suresh Raina too announced his retirement from international cricket saying “I choose to join you in this journey”. GVK Infra's auditor resigned as the scandal-hit firm's auditor citing a lakh of information being provided by the company. India's richest and the world's fourth richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is setting a succession plan for his family to provide an equal representation to all members. He's planned a 'family council' to let his three offsprings – Akash, Isha and Anant – are expected to take over Reliance Industries Ltd, the country's most valuable publicly trading company. In Andhra Pradesh, a man hammered his son’s head, killing him. Why? A dispute over property. UNITED STATES Top US infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci warned that if the US attempts to achieve herd immunity, “a lot of people are going to die”. California became the first US state to record over 600 thousand Covid cases, as the country continues to report over 50 thousand fresh infections every day. As the Covid-19 pandemic renders many American sports stadiums underutilized, and amid concerns over voting safety, the nation's four major sports leagues are teaming up to create “Election Super Centers.” Reported CNN. A California megachurch sued the state and Los Angeles County on Wednesday in an effort to stop officials from enforcing measures that prohibit large indoor gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. Los Angeles County on Thursday sued back. Reported NBC. The number of empty apartments for rent in Manhattan soared to their highest level on record as residents fled the city and landlords struggled to find new tenants. The number of apartments for rent, or listing inventory, more than doubled over last year and set a record for the 14 years since data started being collected, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel, said CNBC. Buffett goes for gold – Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is cutting his banking exposure including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan. His only purchase in the last quarter – a gold miner Barrick Gold Corp. BELARUS Widespread protests have taken an interesting turn in Belarus, as citizens call for an end of 'Europe's last dictator' Alexander Lukashenko's 26 year rule. Striking workers joined the protestors as did a group of soldiers & policemen, who put away their riot shields and embraced the demonstrations. Lukashenko won a landslide election that people believe was completely rigged. Opposition candidate Tikhanovskaya fled the country on Tuesday following severe threats against her. Lukashenko then said: “The aggression against Belarus is developing. We need to contact Putin, the president of Russia, so that I can talk with him now. Because this is already a threat not only to Belarus”. Later he came on air saying he did reach out to Putin and that Putin has assured security assistance to help Lukashenko. US Secretary of State Pompeo said that the United States is following the situation in Belarus closely. AROUND THE WORLD The United Nation Security Council defeated a US resolution to extend an arms san