News in Short

• Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the United Nations Security Council meeting that will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
•  The meet will be on Maritime Security andhappens at a time when India is the President of the council and decides the agenda of the high table.
• The participation of the Russian President shows Moscow's backing to the India-led initiative and the close relationship between both countries.

• A combination of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines elicits better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
• The findings suggest that immunisation with a combination of an adenovirus vector platform-based vaccine followed by an inactivated whole virus vaccine was not only safe but also elicited better immunogenicity.
• The immunisation programme against COVID-19 in India started with two vaccines — AstraZeneca’s ChAdOx1-nCov-19 (named Covishield in India) and inactivated whole virion BBV152 (Covaxin).

• The Zoological Survey of India, one of the premier organisations involved in taxonomic studies of fauna, got its first woman Director.
• Dhriti Banerjee, entomologist with an expertise in Diptera, has taken over as the 18th director of the 105-year institute on August 6. Headquartered in Kolkata, the ZSI has 16 regional centres and about 300 scientists.
• Dr. Banerjee spearheaded the ZSI faunal information system, multi-dimensional platform housing information, collections, spatial and temporal data as well as genetics and molecular information about the faunal species.

• Actor Anupam Shyam died in Mumbai at the age of 63 of multiple organ failure. The actor had been suffering from kidney.
• Known for playing antagonists, he began his Hindi film career in 1996 with Shyam Benegal’s Sardari Begum.
• While he started his television career with Benegal’sAmaravathikiKathaye, he found fame as Thakur Sajjan Singh in Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya (2009-2012).

• The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were declared closed by IOC chief Thomas Bach, who called the pandemic-delayed Games the “most challenging Olympic journey”.
• The Olympic flag was passed to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo for the 2024 Games at the Tokyo closing ceremony.
• The festivities began in front of VIPs after the Japanese flag was raised at the 68,000-seat venue, where fans are barred to prevent infections.
• Wrestler Bajrang Punia led the Indian contingent out during the parade of athletes during the closing ceremony of Tokyo 2020.