Many verified Twitter accounts including that of noted celebrities like including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality television show star Kim Kardashian, former U.S. President Barack Obama, billionaire Elon Musk, and rapper Kanye West were hacked on Wednesday.

Others affected include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffett, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and the corporate accounts for Uber and Apple. Several accounts of cryptocurrency-focused organizations were also hijacked.

Following the ban on 59 Chinese apps by the Centre, Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce giants, has closed the operations of UC Browser and UC News in India.

The employees working in the company has been informed about the decision and the offices in Gurugram and Mumbai have been shut down.

As convalescent plasma therapy seems to have the desired effect on bringing down COVID-19 mortality rate, the Karnataka government on Wednesday announced an incentive of Rs 5,000 to plasma donors.

People who have recovered from the coronavirus infection can donate plasma to help cure other COVID-19 patients.

Tamil Nadu will launch a trial to study the efficacy of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine in reducing COVID-19 mortality rate in the elderly, state's Health Minister Dr C Vijayabaskar said on Wednesday.

As ordered by Chief Minister E Palaniswami, the BCG vaccine shall be administered on a trial basis, on adults aged 60-95, with the aim of reducing the COVID mortality rate in this age group, Vijayabaskar said.

The COVID-19 testing per million for India is consistently rising and has touched 8994.7, government data showed on Wednesday.

The cumulative number of samples tested, as of now is 1,24,12,664 with 3,20,161 samples being tested in the last 24 hours, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Amid outrage over 18% GST on alcohol-based hand sanitisers, the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday said it is a disinfectant like soaps and other anti-bacterial liquids and will attract similar tax.

The clarification was issued by the ministry after the Goa bench of Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) had recently ruled that alcohol-based hand sanitisers will attract 18% duty under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

The Congress on Tuesday stripped Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and two supporters of their ministerships and sacked Pilot as state Congress chief when he and his supporters disobeyed a party whip asking them to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting — but, not before Pilot inflicted significant damage to the government led by Ashok Gehlot.

The Congress now has just 100 MLAs, the half-way mark in the 200-member Assembly. Gehlot betrayed his anxiety on Monday by sequestering his MLAs at a resort in Jaipur, and while the government is safe for now, there is no telling when defections might take place.

Gold rices on Wednesday dropped to Rs 49,117 fom Rs 49,247 per 10 gram while silver prices fell Rs 438 to settle at Rs 51,355 per kg, according to Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

Google is in advanced talks to buy a $4 billion stake in Mukesh Ambani’s technology venture, people familiar with the matter said, seeking to join rival Facebook in the chase for growth in a promising internet market.

The Mountain View, California-based titan has been discussing the investment in Reliance Industries’ digital arm, Jio Platforms, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. An announcement could come as soon as the next few weeks, according to the people.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories, with the market waiting for more direction from a meeting later in the day on the future level of production by OPEC and its allies.

Brent crude futures were up 10 cents, or 0.2%, at $43 a barrel as of 0049 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crudefutures rose 14 cents, or 0.4%, to $40.43 a barrel.

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