News in Short

• US President Donald Trump said that America is terminating its relationship with the World Health Organization as he blamed it and China for the deaths and destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe.
• Trump announced a series of decisions against China including issuing proclamation to deny entry to certain Chinese nationals and tightening of regulations against Chinese investments in America. He also said that the funding of the WHO would now be diverted to other global public health organisations.
• Trump also announced that the US will end special treatment of Hong Kong in response to Chinese imposition of new controls.

• Bejan Daruwalla, the world-renowned astrologer, passed away. He was 89. He was suffering from pneumonia.
• Daruwalla was one of the most famous astrology columnists in the country. He had been associated with several newspapers, magazines and news channel in his decades-long career.
• Among his most famous predictions is the one about Narendra Modi beating his competitors hands down to “win the game”. He made the prophecy just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

• Ajit Jogi, who served as the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh after the formation of the state, died at 74 in Raipur after a cardiac arrest.
• Bureaucrat-turned politician Jogi was an MLA from Marwahi seat and helmed the first Congress government from November 2000 to November 2003.
• The former chief minister parted ways with the Congress in 2016 after he and his son Amit Jogi got embroiled in a controversy over the alleged fixing of the bypoll to Antagarh seat in Kanker district in 2014.

• Roger Federer became the world’s highest-paid athlete for 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic knocked football’s Lionel Messi off top spot, according to the annual Forbes list.
• The Swiss tennis great, owner of a men’s record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, earned $106.3 million in the last 12 months, including $100 million via endorsements, to move up four places and become the first player from his sport to top the list.
• Footballers Cristiano Ronaldo ($105 million), Messi ($104 million) and Neymar ($95.5 million) and American basketball player LeBron James ($88.2 million) rounded out the top five.

• Growth in the Indian economy slowed sharply in the January-March period, hurt by the global and local spread of the Covid-19 virus.
• The latest numbers mark the longest continuous deceleration in gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which has been slowing for six straight quarters.
• The numbers put India’s GDP growth in the first half of the current fiscal year at 4.8%, the lowest since the new GDP series was launched in 2012-13.