Daily briefing: Satellite picks up Chinese artillery near LAC; Google mulls taking stake in Vodafone Idea

After Facebook bought a stake in Jio, now Google is looking to invest in Indian telecom. The Financial Times reported that it is eyeing the debt-laden Vodafone Idea.

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China, referring to tensions along Line of Actual Control (LAC), recently said the “border area situation is overall stable and controllable”. However, satellite images show the presence of at least 16 tanks with a mix of infantry combat vehicles on their side of LAC opposite the Galwan valley. Sources said the images suggest permanent defences are being prepared by the Chinese in the area.

There may not be much talk about flattening of the curve these days as Covid-19 cases continue to surge, but there are some positives here. An analysis of statewise data shows that when it comes to Covid patients requiring critical care, their share, even in high-burden states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, remains low.

During the hearing on the migrant crisis before a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, objected as Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal rose to argue. Mehta asked Sibal, “What’s your contribution in the crisis?” Sibal replied: “Four crores. That’s my contribution.”

Heaven is, after all, in permanent Lockdown, without having to worry about haircuts, writes PB Mehta in his column today. Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and others dicuss Vallabhbhai Patel’s “favourite subject”, railways.

Kerala, which had flattened the Covid-19 curve in the previous two bouts, is now on the brink of community spread following a steady spike in cases in the last 20 days. “Most of them are from outside and infected through contacts in Kerala. That is a positive sign that we can still contain the spread of infection,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Jyoti Kumari Paswan has lost count of the media interviews she’s had to tackle over the last week — from 9 am to late evening, almost every day. The story of the 15-year-old’s decision to cycle her father from Haryana to her home in Bihar to escape the lockdown distress, has touched many — from politicians to bureaucrats, business tycoons to NRIs.

Laughter, it is often said, is the best medicine. And who couldn’t use a bit of that right now? An erroneous post on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Home Affairs, showing a picture of a table full of snacks and two bottles of Royal Stag whisky alongside photos of the cyclone relief work carried out in West Bengal, has left people amused on social media.

After Facebook bought a stake in Jio, now Google is looking to invest in Indian telecom. The Financial Times reported that it is eyeing the debt-laden Vodafone Idea. The global internet giant’s parent company Alphabet Inc is also looking to buy some stake in Vodafone Idea’s rival Reliance Jio Infocomm, the newspaper reported, without providing details.

While nine-year-old Krishna Mandal was surprised that Mumbai’s tallest buildings were suddenly as small as his fingers, his 12-year-old brother Suraj wanted to catch the clouds and eat them. The AirAsia flight from Mumbai to Ranchi will always be special for the two kids whose father was otherwise scrambling to gather money to return home.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who completed six months in office on Wednesday, was the guest at the Loksatta interactive web series programme, Sathicha Gazhal Maharashtracha. He spoke on cooperation between the Centre and states, lockdown, Covid-19 situation, among other things

🎧 In today’s episode of the Three Things podcast, Parthasarthi Biswas talks about how the current attack of locusts in India originated, why we need to worry and what can be done about it