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1. Novavax's COVID-19 jab is more than 90 percent effective, including against coronavirus variants, the vaccine maker says after a large-scale US study. The jab "demonstrates 100pc protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4pc efficacy overall," the company says in a statement, adding "the study enrolled 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the U.S. and Mexico to evaluate efficacy, safety and immunogenicity." 2. The BJP is set to start the second phase of a countrywide voluntary service to promote Covid vaccination, promote awareness and help people affected with the disease. The programme was initiated last month by BJP chief JP Nadda as the country grappled with the second wave of Covid and the opposition accused the government of being unprepared to deal with the crisis. Under the 'Seva Hi Sangathan' programme, Mr Nadda has instructed party workers to help with vaccination campaigns, relief programmes and training healthcare volunteers in villages. 3. Amid allegations that the Ram Temple trust paid an inflated price for a plot of land in Ayodhya, its general secretary Champat Rai asserts that the organisation is committed to full transparency even as some local property dealers say it actually got itself a good deal. Some local dealers claim that the market price for the 12,000-square metre plot bought in March by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Kshetra Trust in Ayodhya is actually three times what it paid. 4. Pashupati Kumar Paras, brother of the late Lok Janshakti Party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, now recognised as the party's floor leader in Lok Sabha in place of Paswan's son Chirag. Five of the LJP's six MPs had met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday and given him a written request for appointing Paras as their leader in place of Mr Chirag. 5. A television journalist based in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district died Sunday night in what the police have called a "motorcycle accident". Just a day before his death, Sulabh Shrivastava, who worked for ABP News and its regional arm, ABP Ganga, wrote to senior police officials saying he felt threatened following his recent reportage of liquor mafias in the district. 6. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces a four-week delay in the final stage of easing lockdown restrictions in England until July 19, as he says the link between coronavirus infections and hospitalisations remains at concerning levels due to the more transmissible Delta variant.

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