UpFront
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World No Tobacco Day: 780 million people want to quit smoking but only 30% have access to tools to kick the habit
Grim global data reveals 90 percent new smokers are under 25, and two-thirds of smokers live in only 10 countries, including India
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Activists crashed Exxon's board, but forcing change will be hard
Getting Exxon, a behemoth company with $265 billion in revenue in 2019 and oil and gas fields around the world, to switch to cleaner energy will be a yearslong and difficult process
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Why Apple and Google's virus alert apps had limited success
Unlike virus-tracing apps that continuously track users' whereabouts, the Apple and Google software relies on Bluetooth signals, which can estimate the distance between smartphones without needing to know people's locations
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Ten interesting things we read this week
Some of the most fascinating topics covered this week are: Business (Embracing Jeff Bezos' 'Scope'; Electric-car lesson that China is serving up for America), Technology (Using AI to catch online defamation; International phishing expedition looking to hook India's big fish), Covid (Did people or nature open Pandora's box at Wuhan?; BMC Commissioner on tackling oxygen shortage, vaccination tsunami and more), and Extreme Sports (The toughest, weirdest race you've never heard of).
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HCQ to Ivermectin: Why India has got it wrong in Covid-19 treatment
There are drugs that continue to be on the health ministry's treatment protocol despite evidence not inspiring confidence, while the regulator is approving medicines without following due scientific process, experts say
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A temporary US-China trade truce starts to look durable
The prospects for a far-reaching new deal this year are slim, with the Biden administration drafting a comprehensive strategy toward China, a complex interagency procedure that could last into early next year
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US is said to have unexamined intel to pore over on virus's origin
In addition to marshalling scientific resources, Biden's push is intended to prod American allies and intelligence agencies to mine existing information as well as hunt for new intelligence to determine whether the Chinese government covered up an accidental leak
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US mass shooting epidemic: A look at the major incidents of 2021
On May 26, eight people lost their lives in San Jose in what is nearly the fifteenth major mass shooting incident in the US since the beginning of 2021
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Get, Set, Go: Why Ather Energy is ready to ride the hockey-stick growth
With a new factory, launch of its premium scooter 450X and expansion into several cities, the electric vehicle company is set to move into serious production mode. Positive unit economics have kicked in too, says its co-founders
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Biden orders intelligence inquiry into origins of virus
Even before Biden's order, US intelligence agencies had intensified their work on the origins of the pandemic, driven at least in part by the growing openness of some scientists to the theory that the coronavirus might have accidentally leaked out of the research lab
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Immunity to the coronavirus may persist for years, scientists find
Studies suggest that most people who have recovered from Covid-19 and were later immunised will not need boosters while vaccinated people who were never infected most likely will need the shots