5 saffron extremists including a Mangalurean are key suspects in Gauri Lankesh murder

When the black and white photos of the ‘London to Calcutta (Kolkata) bus service’ went viral on social media recently, the response of some of the netizens was “stop spreading fake news!” But, it isn’t a fake news. The late 1950s indeed offered people a lavish bus trip from London to Kolkata. 

While one of the viral images shows passengers at the Victoria Coach Station, London, boarding 'Albert', the other image show the same bus travelling through a valley. In another image the bus is stationed at a tourist spot. All these photos were captured during the bus’ maiden international journey in 1957.  

An image of the bus ticket is also making rounds on social media, that shows the route of the bus — London, Belgium, West Germany, Austria,Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, West Pakistan, India. The route in India followed Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Banaras and finally Calcutta.

The ticket shows that a one side travel cost 145 pounds (13,644 Rupees at the present day) back then, and it was inclusive of all the luxury provided during the run.

The luxurious bus provided the facilities of reading, individual sleeping bunks, radio/taped music for parties and pleasure and fan heaters, among other things. The brochure reads, "Your complete home while you travel."

Some of the tour highlights included Banaras on the Ganges, The Taj Mahal, The Raj Path, The Rhine Valley and The Peacock Throne. Passengers reportedly got free shopping days in New Delhi, Tehran, Salzburg, Kabul, Istanbul and Vienna.

Bengaluru, May 27: A yet incomplete state-wide survey has revealed that there are over 53.99 lakh households vulnerable to the infection in Karnataka. The survey is being conducted by the government to find COVID-19 vulnerable population particularly with comorbidities and cases like SARI and ILI.

The survey, which is 67.16% complete so far, finds 1.37 lakh households across Karnataka have people with comorbid conditions, excluding a further 13,341 households with symptoms of Influenza Like Illness (ILI), Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and Covid-19.

Over 48 lakh households have senior citizens, who on account of their age are at highest risk of death from the disease.

Munish Moudgil, Director of the State COVID War Room, clarified that households could have multiple types of vulnerable people. According to the survey data (which is dated May 26), Kalaburagi and Bengaluru Urban have the highest cases of SARI, ILI with 1,902 households and 1,703 households respectively, although these numbers are likely to rise, as the survey is still incomplete in these districts. 

A BBMP source said that 68% of the survey has been completed in the city, but the data has not been logged yet. The number of SARI/ILI cases is next highest in Shivamogga with 1,217 households, Mysuru with 1,200 and Davangere with 1,178.

The government regards SARI and ILI as indicators of coronavirus and on April 17, had passed an order instructing healthcare workers to test people with these conditions for the coronavirus. Consequently, 51 COVID-19 cases were discovered by testing people with these symptoms.

Belagavi, meantime, has reported the highest incidents of households with comorbid conditions with 12,427 identified so far, followed by Mandya with 9,289, Kalaburagi with 8,311, Shivamogga with 8,140 and Bengaluru Urban with 7,562. Importantly, 3,45,443 vulnerable people have been identified in Bengaluru Urban within 28.26% of data logged in so far.

Dubai, Apr 11: An Indian expat in the UAE is facing police action for allegedly insulting Islam on social media in response to a Facebook post on the coronavirus, according to a media report.

Rakesh B Kitturmath, who worked as a team leader at Emrill Services, an integrated facilities management (FM) headquartered in Dubai, was sacked on Thursday after his post sparked outrage on social media, the Gulf News reported.

“Kitturmath’s employment stands terminated with immediate effect. He will be handed over to Dubai Police. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards such hate crimes,” said Stuart Harrison, CEO of Emrill Services.

"As an organisation, we have worked hard over the years to embrace diversity and create a culture of inclusion, where every nationality, religion and background is welcomed and celebrated. We have a strict social media policy for our employees to ensure they respect our values, both inside and outside of work," the newspaper quoted Harrison as saying.

Harrison said they are trying to find out if Kitturmath was still in the UAE, according to the report.

“We have over 8,500 employees so this may take a while. That said, we have fired him. If he’s still in the country, he will be handed over to Dubai Police,” he said.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click  here

Originally from Ranebennuri, Karnataka, Kitturmath joins an ever-growing list of Indian ex-pats who have landed in trouble for alleged Islamophobic messages in recent days.

Earlier this week, Abu Dhabi resident Mitesh Udeshi was sacked for posting a cartoon mocking Islam on his Facebook page while a police complaint was filed against Sameer Bhandari of Future Vision Events & Weddings’ in Dubai after he asked a Muslim job seeker from India to go back to Pakistan.

The UAE outlaws all religious or racial discrimination under a legislation passed in 2015.

The anti-discrimination/anti-hatred law prohibits all acts “that stoke religious hatred and/or which insult religion through any form of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or via online media.”