Russia's baseless claims about secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine are taking root in the US too, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of ex-President Donald Trump.

Despite rebuttals from independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon, the online popularity of the claims suggests some Americans are willing to trust Kremlin propaganda over the U.S. media and government.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to launch a massive membership drive in the southern states to build on the momentum of its stupendous victory in the Punjab Assembly polls.

The party will start its membership drive in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep, senior AAP leader Somnath Bharti said on Friday.

India’s equity market has broken into the world’s top five club in terms of market capitalisation for the first time. The country’s total market cap stands at $3.21 trillion, which is higher than that of the UK ($3.19 trillion), Saudi Arabia ($3.18 trillion), and Canada ($3.18 trillion).

This year, India has climbed two positions, despite a 7.4 per cent drop in its market cap. At the start of the year, the UK and France ranked fifth and sixth with a market cap of $3.7 trillion and $3.5 trillion, respectively.

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 455 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.03 million and vaccinations to over 10.66 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 455,021,350 and 6,036,020, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 10,667,182,216.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday informed that the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is deteriorating at an alarming pace.

An estimated 1.9 million have been internally displaced and more than 2.3 million people have crossed international borders out of Ukraine, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR.

Punjab chief minister-designate Bhagwant Mann will meet Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Saturday to stake claim to form the government in the state.

Mann was elected as the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday.

The Indian side on Friday pushed China for the resolution of remaining friction points in Ladakh, during the 15th round of Corps Commander level talks that lasted for around 13 hours, Army Sources said.

The sources said the Indian side pushed for a resolution to address the military standoff which started in April-May 2020.

With 3,614 fresh cases, the lowest since May 12, 2020, India's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 4,29,87,875, while the number of active cases of the infection has dipped to 40,559, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.

The death toll due to the viral disease has gone up to 5,15,803 with 89 more fatalities, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday presented the Budget for 2022-23 with a proposed expenditure of Rs 2.56 lakh crore and a projected revenue deficit of Rs 17,036 crore.

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath presented the ambitious budget although the government fell short of its expenditure estimates in 2021-22 by a whopping Rs 55,182 crore.

India and China on Friday are holding another round of high-level military dialogue to resolve the 22-month-long standoff in some friction points in eastern Ladakh, two months after the last round of such talks failed to yield any significant outcome.

The 15th round of Corps-Commander level talks was scheduled to begin at 10 am at the Chushul-Moldo border point on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, people familiar with the dialogue said.

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