Live news: Putin's war hurls Russian economy back four years in one quarter
Live news updates: The jolt of international sanctions over the war disrupted trade and threw industries like car manufacturing into paralysis while consumer spending seized up
 "Vladimir Putin")
Bank of Russia predicts GDP will shrink 7% this quarter and possibly even more in the final three months of the year. | (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)
US sees a silent spread in undiagnosed polio cases
There must be several hundred cases of undiagnosed polio circulating in the US, according to a senior official with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This follows the news of an unvaccinated man paralysed by the virus in New York, last month, a first in nearly a decade in the country. The last known case was in 2013.
The New York case is "just the very, very tip of the iceberg" and an indication there "must be several hundred cases in the community circulating", Dr. Jose Romero, director of the CDC's National Centre for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases, was quoted as saying to CNN.
Raju Srivastava remains critical, PM dials his wife, offers support
Comedian Raju Srivastava continues to be critical even two days after he suffered a heart attack.
According to family sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, telephoned Raju Srivastava's wife Shikha to enquire about his health and offered support.
The comedian is still on a ventilator and his condition has not yet improved. He is being treated under the supervision of senior doctors of AIIMS, Delhi.
Raju Srivastava has not regained consciousness for the last 46 hours and doctors said that he has suffered brain damage.
Ex-German Chancellor Schroder sues parliament over revoked privileges
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder is suing the country's Parliament in a bid to restore special privileges he was stripped of in May, his lawyer confirmed on Friday.
The 78-year-old is demanding he be given back a parliamentary office in the lawsuit filed with the Berlin Administrative Court, his Hanover-based lawyer Michael Nagel told dpa news agency.
A German parliamentary budget committee in May ruled Schroder, long the subject of fierce criticism in Germany for his ties to Russia, must give up his right to an office at the Bundestag, though he was to continue to receive his pension and security detail.
Is Elon Musk coming up with new social meda site X.com amid Twitter legal feud?
Amid his ongoing legal battle against Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased a potential social media site of his own as a competitor for Twitter.
While responding to a question from one of his followers, Musk dropped a cryptic tweet, hinting at a potential new social media platform 'X.com'.
On Tuesday, a social media user asked the billionaire tech tycoon whether he had given any thought to creating his own social platform.
Apple asks suppliers to make 90 mn iPhone 14 units
Tech giant Apple seems confident despite analysts' predictions and is reportedly asking its suppliers to build at least 90 million next-generation iPhones.
In fact, Apple anticipates to assemble 220 million iPhones in total for 2022, citing Bloomberg, AppleInsider reported.
Apple has weathered the pandemic-era slumps well. Mac shipments, for instance, grew in the first quarter of 2022, even though the broader PC market slumped.
Facebook sees massive drop in teen usage in last 7 years, research shows
A new survey of American teenagers (ages 13 to 17) by the Pew Research Center has revealed a worrying trend for Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook as the share of teens who use the social media platform has plummeted from 71 per cent in 2014-15 to 32 per cent as of now.
Chinese short-form video platform TikTok has rocketed in popularity and is now a top social media platform for teens among Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.
Some 67 per cent of teens say they ever use TikTok, with 16 per cent of all teens saying they use it almost constantly.
India home to about 60 per cent of all Asian elephants: PM on World Elephant Day
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday reiterated India's commitment to protecting elephants on the occasion of the World Elephant Day.
He also noted that India is home to about 60 per cent of all Asian elephants.
Successes in the animal's conservation must be viewed in the context of the larger efforts underway in India to minimise human-animal conflict, and integrating local communities and their traditional wisdom in furthering environmental consciousness, he said.
McDonald's to reopen some branches in Ukraine
American fast food giant McDonald's wants to reopen some of its restaurants in Ukraine, despite the ongoing Russian war against Kiev.
"After lengthy consultations and discussions, we have a phased plan to resume operations at some restaurants in Kiev and western Ukraine," the company said in a statement posted on Facebook on Thursday.
It said work would be done in the coming months to restore supply chains and prepare restaurants that were closed at the start of the war on February 24.
McDonald's did not give an exact opening date.
After a week of logjam, star Pak cricketers sign PCB's amended central contracts
Top cricketers, including captain Babar Azam, pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan, have agreed to sign the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) amended central contracts after a week of stand-off between them and the board.
According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the group of players signed the dotted lines before departing for the Netherlands tour on the condition that they will once again hold discussions over a couple of other clauses in the contract with the board post the Asia Cup in September.
The senior players have expressed reservations about few aspects of the contracts.
Google gets poll panel nod to keep politician emails out of spam in US
Google has received a go-ahead from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in the US to keep politician campaign emails from being marked as spam.
Google will now allow candidates and political party committees to apply for its programme that would make their messages exempt from Gmail's spam detection systems, reports The Verge.
"I have a hard time getting around the fact that this is a unique benefit offered to political committees, and only political committees," FEC commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub sails quoted as saying in the report.
Comedian Raju Srivastava still on ventilator
Popular comedian-actor Raju Srivastava continues to be "critical and on ventilator" in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the AIIMS here, sources said on Friday.
The 58-year-old stand-up comic was admitted to the hospital after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday and later underwent angioplasty.
"Srivastava continues to be critical and on ventilator in the ICU," the source told PTI.
Kashmir to get its first multiplex cinema in September
Kashmir will get its first multiplex cinema in September which will screen latest Bollywood and Hollywood movies for the entertainment-starved locals.
Designed by INOX, the multiplex with a seating capacity of 520, will be the first cinema theatre in Kashmir after three decades since separatist violence broke out here in 1989.
It will have many food courts to attract youth and children besides providing them the feel of the most modern cinema entertainment.
Covid outbreaks in Tibet owing to Chinese tourism influx: Report
The reported Covid-19 outbreaks in Tibet may be the result of Chinese tourism encouraged by the government in Beijing, according to observers inside Tibet, that shut down all Buddhist venues including the iconic Potala Palace.
Commenters have also been complaining about inadequate infrastructure to combat the pandemic in Tibet.
Although China almost never allows journalists, diplomats and tourists from other countries to visit Tibet, it has encouraged local tourists to travel to the region as part of Beijing's intensifying campaign to assimilate Tibet into Chinese society.
Thane sees 212 new COVID-19 cases; active tally at 1,206
Thane district of Maharashtra recorded 212 new coronavirus positive cases, which took its overall infection tally to 7,36,029, a health official said on Friday.
With the addition of these cases on Thursday, there are now 1,206 active cases in the district, he said.
As no patient succumbed to the infection during the day, the death toll remained unchanged at 11,936, while the recovery count rose to 7,23,426, he added.
India logs 16,561 new coronavirus cases, 49 fatalities
India added 16,561 new coronavirus cases taking the total tally of Covid cases to 44,223,557, while the active cases dipped to 123,535, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The death toll climbed to 526,928 with 49 fatalities which include 10 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.53 per cent, the ministry said.
A decrease of 1,541 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
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First Published: Aug 12 2022 | 8:51 AM IST
