INDIAIndia recorded over 96 thousand fresh COVID infections yesterday as the case tally rose to 52 lakh. Deaths reached 84 thousand while recoveries topped 41 lakh. BJP Member of Parliament, Sukhbir Jaunapuria, who claimed that bathing in mud and blowing a conch shell will get rid of coronavirus tested positive for it. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the domestic aviation sector is returning to pre-COVID figures with 1.16 lakh passengers flying on Thursday. Dubai Civil Aviation Authority suspended Air India Express operations for 2 weeks after the airline carried COVID positive patients onboard its flight to the UAE on September 4. Some good news: For the first time in six months – since Modi imposed a lockdown – gasoline sales rose in the first half of September by 2.2%. A small rise, but a rise nonetheless. A sign that people are moving and factories have turned it up a notch. E-commerce player Snapdeal is testing last-mile deliveries using robots. The autonomous robots were developed by startup Ottonomy IO and use machine learning, and another new tech to understand the external world. ‘India’s most valuable startup’/ 'India's largest payment gateway' Paytm was removed from the Google Play Store yesterday. Google alleged that Paytm repeatedly violated its policy. Google specifically prohibits online casinos and other unregulated gambling apps while Paytm promotes one such service on its app. Reported TechCrunch. Sports betting is expected to skyrocket as the IPL season kicks off and unemployment soars, with gambling apps luring consumers with easy money. Paytm reassured panicking users that their money is ‘completely safe’ and that the app will be restored on the Play Store ‘very soon’. The Indian Railways plans to levy a ‘user fees’ at major stations soon and use that funds to redevelop and modernise existing railway stations. UNITED STATES FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers Thursday that Antifa is an ideology, not an organization, delivering testimony that puts him at odds with President Donald Trump, who has said he would designate it a terror group. Reported AP. “And I look at them as a bunch of well-funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source, and allows them to get away with “murder”, said Trump. FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed that Russia is trying to influence the upcoming US Presidential elections to stop Biden from winning by using social media primarily. US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden warned the United Kingdom that it must honour Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement as it withdraws from the European Union or there would be no separate US trade deal. Reported Reuters. The devastating wildfires in the western US have sent smoke far and wide, even reaching Europe, said scientists from CAMS. The US will be banning WeChat and TikTok from US app stores from tomorrow, over national security concerns. Those who already have the apps downloaded can continue to use it until November 12, by which time owner ByteDance can possibly sort out its fate with the Trump administration. Reuters had previously reported on Thursday that Trump does not want ByteDance to maintain a controlling interest in TikTok. Facebook is being sued by an Instagram user for allegedly spying on Instagram users using their mobile phone cameras. Reported Bloomberg. Separately, Facebook partnered Rayban to develop smart glasses. Forrest Gump's writer Winston Groom passed away aged 77. His novel was made into a six-Oscar winning movie in 1994. Self-proclaimed “no-masker”, Paul Van Noy, a pastor in Idaho, is in the ICU after contracting coronavirus. Five other staff at his church too have been infected with the virus. AROUND THE WORLD Global COVID infections crossed 30 million on Thursday as countries around the world set new records. Casualties from the virus are at 950 thousand. The number