News in Short

• The Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) ran a three-day long operation codenamed “Operation Calypso” to bust an international drugs smuggling racket.
• Cocaine was concealed in a steam press iron from Trinidad and Tobago to Mumbai. Cocaine weighing 504 grams worth Rs3 crore to Rs4 crore in international market.
• Investigations have also revealed that this syndicate smuggled multiple consignments of cocaine in the past; the total quantity of cocaine smuggled via the same modus operandi is over 3.3kg since August 2020, valued at over Rs20 crore.
• DRI, Mumbai, had received an intelligence input from a reliable source about cocaine being smuggled to Mumbai from Trinidad and Tobago.

• Banking regulator RBI has announced a draft scheme to amalgamate the troubled Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) into DBS Bank India, which is fully owned by DBS Bank Ltd.
• As per the draft scheme of amalgamation of LVB with DBS Bank India, the entire amount of the paid-up share capital will be written off.
• DBIL will pay LVB’s depositors fully if they do not wish to continue to remain with the lender post-merger. Even employees are protected as far as the draft merger scheme goes.

• The only known white giraffe in the world has been fitted with a GPS tracking device to help protect it from poachers as it grazes in Kenya.
• The white giraffe now stands alone after a female and her calf were killed by poachers in March,
• A rare genetic trait called leucism causes the white colour, and it makes the one surviving giraffe stand out dangerously for poachers in the arid savannah near the Somalia border.
• Now the GPS tracking device, attached to one of the giraffe’s horns, will ping every hour to alert wildlife rangers to its location.

• Twitter has submitted a written apology to a joint parliamentary committee for incorrectly showing Ladakh as part of China.
• The panel, which is examining the Personal Data Protection Bill, had pulled up Twitter last month when its representatives appeared before it to present their views on the legislation.
• The representatives of Twitter had then apologised, but the panel took the view that an oral apology was not enough and asked the company to submit an affidavit.
• While the representatives of Twitter had told the panel that the company respects the sensitivities of India. It felt that Twitter’s location setting showing Ladakh in China amounted to a criminal offense.

• The Karnataka cabinet has approved the proposal to form the state’s 31st district - Vijayanagara, which will be carved out of Ballari district in the northern part of the state.
• It was earlier reported that of the 11 taluks in Ballari, five taluks — Ballari, Kurugodu, Siraguppa, Sandur, and Kudligi — will be part of Ballari while six taluks — Hosapete, Kampli, Hagaribommanahalli, Kottur, Hadagali, and Harappanahalli — will constitute Vijayanagara district.
• The government contended that the creation of a new Vijayanagara district will help promote tourism especially in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hampi. It was once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire.