News in Short

• India became the third country in the world to officially record more than 5 lakh deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic, reaching the grim milestone.
• Only the US, with over 9.1 lakh Covid fatalities, and Brazil (nearly 6.3 lakh) have reported more deaths from the virus so far.
• At 3.3 lakh, the toll from the pandemic in Russia is the fourth highest, ahead of Mexico, which has so far logged just over 3.07 deaths.

• Prominent film personality Ramesh Deo, known for playing a diverse range of roles, in Marathi and Hindi movies, passed away.
• During his career spanning sever decades, the multi-faceted film personality has acted in over 450 Hindi and Marathi feature films, apart from working in several television shows and commercials.
• The veteran actor made his Hindi film debut with Rajshri Productions’ Aarti (1962). Eventually, he would go on to be part of several landmark Hindi movies.

• In a relief to industry groups in Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted an interim stay on a law providing 75 per cent reservation in the private sector for those who have a domicile in the state.
• The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020provides 75 per cent reservation in the private sector to job seekers who are “domiciled in State of Haryana”.
• The law covers private companies, societies, trusts and partnership firms and applies to jobs that offer a maximum gross monthly salary or wages of up to Rs 30,000.

• Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of Islamic State and one of the world’s most wanted men, has been killed during US special forces raid in north-west Syria.
• Qurayshi blew himself up as US forces approached his compound, and the explosion resulted in multiple civilian casualties. There were no US casualties.
• It was the biggest US raid in the country since the 2019 operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

• India announced a diplomatic boycott of the games just ahead of the opening ceremony. State broadcaster Doordarshan will not telecast the opening and closing ceremonies live.
• The decision came after a PLA regiment commander was selected for bearing the torch at a relay in Beijing.
• India had earlier expressed support for the Beijing Olympics, even as more than a dozen countries, led by the United States, had announced a boycott of the games.