Current Affairs in Short: 13 May 2022

Elon Musk puts Twitter deal on hold due to calculation of fake accounts

• Tesla Chief Elon Musk has announced that the deal to buy the social media platform Twitter has been put on hold because of the calculation of fake accounts.
• In a tweet, Elon Musk said that the Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting the calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of the users.
• Reportedly, Twitter shares fell by 20 per cent in the early trading after this announcement. Musk had also announced earlier this week that the ban on former US President Donald Trump was a mistake.
• The Social Media platform has recently agreed to be acquired by Elon Musk in a deal worth USD 44 billion.

CDL Kasauli clears over 21 lakhs mRNA COVID-19 vaccine doses

• The Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli has cleared more than 21 lakh mRNA COVID-19 vaccine doses for stockpiling.
• India has started its first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine is manufactured by Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
• The CDL in Kasauli which comes under Health Ministry is responsible for checking the safety and efficacy of the COVID vaccine.
• Gennova’s mRNA vaccine is an Omicron-specific vaccine and it has already tweaked its mRNA platform that will target Omicron.

India-UAE Economic Partnership Summit inaugurated

• The Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Economy Minister of United Arab Emirates Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri inaugurated India- UAE Economic Partnership Summit in Mumbai.
• Both the leaders also launched India-UAE start up bridge to boost the economy. The India-UAE Summit was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
• While speaking at the inaugural session, Goyal said that India-UAE have huge potential to work together and the partnership will open many doors.
• He added that India-UAE partnership is best defined by its tagline ‘Openness, Opportunity and Growth’ and that the trade between two countries is expected to grow to at least $100 billion.

Environment Ministry relaxes expansion of coal mining norms amid supply crunch

• The Environment Ministry has decided to relax the mandatory compliance norms for coal mining expansion projects because of the higher demand for coal.
• As per the revised norms, the coal mines with environmental clearances to expand by 40%, can now expand by up to 50% without any environmental impact assessment or public consultation.
• Reportedly, the condition is that the mining continues to be in the same lease area and available coal reserves.
• The Coal Ministry, earlier, had repeatedly clarified that the ongoing power crisis was not because of the shortage of coal but non-payment of dues to Coal India Ltd. by the states.

Sri Lanka court imposes travel ban on former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa

• A court in the Capital of Sri Lanka Colombo imposed a ban on the former Prime Minister of the country Mahinda Rajapaksa and several of his key allies from leaving the country.
• Reportedly, the ban has also been imposed on Rajapaksa’s son and the former minister Namal Rajapaksa, Sanath Nishantha, Johnston Fernando, Sanjeewa Edirimanne, among others.
• Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on May 9, 2022, following the weeks of anti-government protests amid an ongoing economic crisis in the country.
• Sri Lanka has been currently suffering its worst financial and economic crisis since its independence in 1948.