Top news of the day: India issues fresh air travel guidelines after reporting three COVID-19 variants; new Lt. Governor orders floor test in Puducherry on February 22, and more

The new SOP, which will come into effect at 11.59 p.m. on February 22 was released on late on February 17. Puducherry Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararjan on February 18 ordered a floor test for the Congress government in the Union Territory on February 22, to ascertain whether it has majority in the wake of a spate of resignations by the ruling party MLAs that has reduced its strength to 14. The Ministry of External Affairs said the Ministers will exchange views on regional and global issues, especially practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The remarks came even as a Supreme Court-appointed expert committee filed a report that said the felling of 300 heritage trees to construct five railway overbridges in West Bengal would cost India a staggering ₹2,23,50,00,000. A Reuters report, based on internal Amazon documents dated between 2012 and 2019, provided an inside look at the cat-and-mouse game Amazon has played with India’s government, adjusting its corporate structures each time the government imposed new restrictions aimed at protecting small traders.