INDIA India recorded 75 thousand fresh COVID infections yesterday, its lowest in almost a month. Meanwhile, recoveries rose by over 1 lakh pushing recoveries to nearly 45 lakh. Deaths rose by over one thousand to nearly 89 thousand. India and China issued a joint statement that they agreed to stop sending more troops to the border and that they will refrain from unilaterally changing the status quo on ground. Pakistan denied issuing a visa to Indian diplomat Jayant Khobragade who was set to be appointed as acting head of Indian High Commission in Islamabad, on grounds that he was too senior for the post. Hong Kong suspended Air India flights after it was suspected of carrying COVID positive passengers into the island. The Parliament passed a bill to remove cereals, pulses, oil seeds, onions and potatoes among others from the list of essential commodities. Public sector banks reported frauds worth nearly twenty thousand crore during April – June this year, reported PTI. The highest by value was Bank of India which alone took a hit of over 5 thousand crores. As their relationships turned sour, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group is set to exit from the Tata Group, where it holds a 18% stake, ending a 70 year old relationship with the Indian conglomerate. Mukesh Ambani’s latest low cost weapon to dominate the Indian telecom market is the Jio Phone. India’s most valuable company is in talks with domestic assemblers to ramp up production and manufacture millions of Jio Phones which would run on Android and cost just around ₹4,000. Reported Bloomberg. Union Minister Piyush Goyal claimed that India’s imports from China declined by over 27% during Apr-Aug this year compared to last year. BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that “an unprecedented 20 crore people tuned in” to watch the IPL opener between Mumbai and Chennai on September 19. “Highest ever opening day viewership for any sporting league in any country”, he said. APPLES TO APPLES India, South Asia’s biggest economy has been ineffective in stamping out the coronavirus outbreak and it will show up in its economic performance: India is set to lag regional peers in the race to recovery. The relative success of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in containing the virus will help their economies recover at a faster pace than India, Capital Economics Ltd. said in a report to clients. Reported Bloomberg. AROUND THE WORLD The 2021 World Economic Forum planned for summer 2021 in Davos has been cancelled, and is likely to be moved to Switzerland. Late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is set to become the first woman ever to be laid to rest in state in the US Capitol, an honor given to the distinguished select few. Louisville police declared a state of emergency in the city, ahead of the grand jury's decision in the Breonna Taylor case. Breonna was shot dead by cops at her apartment earlier this year. Three NFL teams are being fined $250,000 each and their head coaches $100,000 each because their coaches were not wearing face coverings during games on Sunday, reported CNN. The teams include Seattle Seahawks, the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers. American electric vehicle maker Nikola's founder chairman Trevor Milton resigned from his role, after accusations of fraud, while dismissing the accusations as false. “The focus should be on the Company ... not me”, he said. The UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said that the epidemic is doubling roughly every seven days and that if it continues like this, the country’s cases could skyrocket to 50 thousand a day in a month's time. The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced fresh curbs fearing a second surge in COVID infections in the country, as he discouraged office goers from heading back into office and urged them to continue working from home. The new rules include making face coverings mandatory in many public places and higher fines for violators. China’s Global Times reported that Beijing is unlikely to approve