News Flash (4th February 2021): Top 10 Stories Of The Day

1. FIR registered by Delhi Police against Greta Thunberg for standing with India’s farmers

An FIR has been lodged by the Delhi Police against climate change activist Greta Thunberg for tweeting and expressing her solidarity over farmers’ protests in India. The activist tweeted after American singer Rihanna tweeted about the same attracting the world’s attention to the protests. Greta tweeted, “We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India.”

2. Kangana’s multiple posts on farmer’s protest deleted by Twitter

Several tweets of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut were removed by social media giant Twitter on Thursday speaking on farmers’ protest, saying the tweets violated the rules of the platform. Two of her tweets were removed, one containing a verbal attack on singer Rihanna over her tweet on the farmers’ protests. The other deleted tweet was a response to cricketer Rohit Sharma’s tweet on the same issue.

3. Sharjeel Usmani of Aligarh Muslim University booked for hurting religious sentiments

A former student leader belonging to the Aligarh Muslim University, Sharjeel Usmani has been booked in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow under various charges, like sedition, as his speech at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on January 30, was deemed to be hurting religious sentiments and instigating the citizens against the UP government. The FIR was registered by a person named Anurag Singh, who watched Usmani’s speech on YouTube.

4. Facebook gets blocked by the Myanmar military amid protests against coup

Amid protests going on against the coup, Myanmar’s military run-government blocked Facebook. The social media service won’t be available till February 7 for the purpose of maintaining “stability” in the country, the nation’s Ministry of Communications and Information informed. The company, however, requested the government officials to restore connectivity and enable people to communicate with their families and friends and access crucial information.

5. Around 4,000 variants of the virus cause COVID-19 across the globe: United Kingdom

UK’s Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi recently informed that there are currently around 4,000 variants of the virus existent causing COVID-19 around the world. He also added that all the vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, are in constant efforts to improve their vaccines. He also informed that the country is maintaining a library of all the variants to respond to any unforeseen challenges.