Current Affairs Today Headline- 21 March 2022

National News

• Second India-Australia virtual summit to kick-off today, Australia to announce ‘largest-ever’ investment worth Rs 1,500 cr in India.
• Manipur’s acting CM N Biren Singh unanimously elected as the Chief Minister of the State in the Manipur BJP legislature party meeting.
• Newly elected Uttarakhand MLAs to take oath tomorrow morning
• Union Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi to visit Australia soon.
• Cyclone Asani: Andaman and Nicobar Islands to experience heavy rain, strong winds today. 
• Mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, who was killed in a shelling attack in Ukraine’s Kharkiv on March 1st, arrives Bengaluru. 
• Former Union minister Sharad Yadav merges his  Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led by Lalu Prasad Yadav.
• Karnataka govt to provide ‘Y’ category security to judges who delivered the verdict upholding the Hijab ban. 
• MEA Dr S Jaishankar meets Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg at Hyderabad House, Delhi.
• NTAGI recommends reducing gap between two doses of Covishield: Sources
• The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended reducing gap between two doses of Covishield vaccine from 12-16 weeks to 8-16 weeks after the 1st dose.
• EAM Dr. S Jaishankar holds discussion with Austrian counterpart on tapping new economic possibilities.

International News

• Russian forces are continuing to encircle a number of cities across eastern Ukraine, as per UK Ministry of Defence.
• Ukraine rejects Russia’s demand to surrender Mariupol by Monday morning.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns of World War III if negotiations fail with Putin. 
• Russia claims to have used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine.
• Ten million people — more than a quarter of the population — have now fled their homes in Ukraine due to Russia’s “devastating” war, as per the United Nations refugees chief.
• China on March 20 imposed stay-at-home orders on millions more people in the country’s northeast as it battles its biggest Covid-19 outbreak in two years.
• North Korea fired multiple rocket launchers on March 20, which is latest in a series of provocations by the nuclear-armed nation.
• Eastern Antarctica recordes exceptionally high temperatures this week, over 30 degrees Celsius above normal.
• US President Joe Biden to travel to Warsaw, Poland on March 25 to hold a bilateral meeting with Poland President.
• US determines the violence committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity.
• Brazil’s Supreme Court judge lifts ban on messaging app Telegram.

Sports News

• Taylor Fritz stuns Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to win the ATP Indian Wells Masters and end the 21-time Grand Slam champion’s perfect 20-0 run to start 2022.
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc wins F1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix after reigning champion Max Verstappen was forced out with an electrical issue two laps before the end.
• India’s Lakshya Sen loses in two straight sets of 10-21 15-21 to World No.1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark  in the men’s singles final of All England Open Badminton Championships 2022.
• Bengaluru pitch used for 2nd India vs SL Test rated ‘below average’ by International Cricket Council.

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