(MENAFN- Live Mint) In our news wrap for the week ending July 21 – a massive, possibly the largest, IT outage hit the world, halting operations across sectors and industries; the Congress-led Karnataka government triggered a rows with its "100%" job quota bill; the Supreme Court directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to release NEET-UG 2024 results for all students by Saturday.
Here's your news wrap for the week (July 15 to July 20)1. Microsoft outage
The world stood still when a "defect found in a single content update" for Microsoft Windows hosts caused computers to crash globally. Microsoft said the issue began at 1900 GMT on Thursday, affecting Windows users running the CrowdStrike Falcon cybersecurity software.
In a Saturday blog post, CrowdStrike said it had released an update on Thursday night that caused a system crash and the infamous "blue screen of death" fatal error message.
This led to widespread halts in aviation, financial matters, stock exchanges, and several other services. In India, IndiGo had cancelled over 200 flights this week. Cybersecurity researcher Troy Hunt said in a post on X, "I don't think it's too early to call it: this will be the largest IT outage in history".
On Saturday, Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu said that airline systems across Indian airports have "started working normally" since 3 AM . He said in a statement that flight operations are going smoothly now. "There is a backlog because of disruptions yesterday and it is getting cleared gradually," the minister said.
2. Karnataka 100% quota row
On Tuesday, July 16, the Karnataka cabinet approved a bill mandating 100 percent reservation for Kannadigas in the private sector for Group C and D posts. The new Bill also sought to reserve 50 percent of management jobs and 75 percent of non-management jobs for locals in the private sector. The bill is called the State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024.
Soon, several industry leaders in the state objected to the move, saying that it is "discriminatory" and raising apprehensions that the tech industry may suffer. This heavy backlash prompted the Karnataka government to put the bill on hold "temporarily" .
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posted on X,“The bill intended to implement reservation for Kannadigas in private sector institutions, industries and enterprises is still in the preparation stage. A final decision will be taken after comprehensive discussion in the next cabinet meeting."
3. NEET-UG 'paper leak' Supreme Court hearing
On Thursday, the Supreme Court directed the NTA to declare by 12 noon of July 20 the centre and city-wise results of controversy-ridden NEET-UG 2024 while masking the identities of the aspirants. The court said it wanted to ascertain whether candidates appearing at allegedly tainted centres scored more marks than those elsewhere.
Also Read | NEET-UG 2024 paper 'leaked', solved in 45 min? SC flags NTA's 'hypothesis'
“We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students at the UG-2024 NEET examination, while, at the same time, without disclosing the identity of the students. The result should be declared city and centre wise by 12 noon on July 20, 2024 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said in its order.
4. Bangladesh protest
National curfew and violent protests gripped parts of Bangladesh this week. The protests in Bangladesh have been driven by demands for reform in the country's quota system for civil service jobs , which reserves positions for specific groups, including descendants of those who participated in the 1971 War of Independence against Pakistan. Bangladesh imposed a curfew, and the authorities have disabled mobile internet services nationwide, citing the need to curb disinformation, reported The Washington Post.
Amid escalating unrest in Bangladesh 40 Indian students, who were evacuated from Dhaka, safely crossed the Sonamura border in Tripura on Saturday. "The High Commission of India in Dhaka and our Assistant High Commissions are in regular touch with more than 4000 students remaining in various universities in Bangladesh and are providing necessary assistance. Students from Nepal and Bhutan have also been assisted with their crossing into India on request," the Ministry of External Affairs said.
5. Joe Biden to drop out of US presidential race?
US President Joe Biden, who remains hunkered at home with COVID, seems to be resisting unprecedented Democratic pressure to step aside in the race to become the US president again this year.
The 81-year-old Democratic Party's candidate is facing pressure as the number of senior Democratic lawmakers and donors asking him to back down grows. Democrats remain split on whether Biden can beat Trump in November, and on Friday, at least 10 Democrats joined the chorus calling on Biden to resign.
Recently, in an interview, Biden said he could drop his reelection bid if doctors found he had a medical condition. But can he step aside at this time of the election cycle? And if he does drop out of the race, what will happen next? Read here
6. Netflix's success in India
For Netflix Inc., India added the second-highest number of paid net subscribers in the world in the April-June quarter. The American streaming platform also clocked the third-highest revenue growth in percentage terms in India in the second quarter, it said in an earnings call to announce its Q2 results on Friday morning (India time).
7. Gold price declines 2% from all-time high on profit booking
Gold prices dropped over 2% on Friday as the dollar strengthene and investors took profits following bullion's record high earlier in the week, driven by increasing expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts in September.
By 1422 GMT, spot gold had decreased 1.8% to $2,401.49 per ounce. Earlier, on Wednesday, gold reached an all-time high of $2,483.60. Meanwhile, U.S. gold futures fell about 2.2% to $2,403.70.
On Saturday, June 20, the gold market resumed its upward trajectory with vigour. The price of gold, which opened in the low USD 2,300s in early July, quickly surpassed the $2,400 mark and achieved a high of $2,483 this Wednesday, according to Metals Focus report, ANI reported.
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