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Heat wave continues unabated across India, death toll reaches 500

May 25, 2015

New Delhi, May 25: There was no respite from heat wave conditions in most parts of the country on Monday with death toll reportedly reaching 500.

At least 432 people have reportedly been killed in the worst hit-states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone.

heatwave

The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that the heat wave will continue till May 30.

On Monday, the Met Department had predicted a hot day for Delhi with the

maximum temperature expected to be around 44 degrees.

The national capital had recorded the season's highest temperature of 44.5 degrees Celsius, five degrees above normal, at the Safdarjung observatory on Saturday.

Meanwhile, commuters in Kolkata are in for a tough time as the Bengal Taxi Association has refused to ply their cabs in the city between 11:00 am to 4:00 pm from today, as per news reports.

The association took the decision after the death of a 52-year-old cab driver due to intense heat.

The heat wave has swept several regions of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

On Sunday, the mercury touched 46.5 degrees in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, with Kota close behind at 45.4 degrees. Churu, Sriganganagar, Jaipur, Barmer, Bikaner, Ajmer and Dabok too recorded high temperatures.

Yesterday, the blistering heat wave also hit Haryana and Punjab, and Chandigarh which recorded the season's hottest day so far.

In Punjab, Amritsar continued to reel under a temperature of 43.6 degrees. Ludhiana and Patiala too recorded high temperatures.

In West Bengal too, the effect of the heat wave was felt strongly.

Over the past few days, Odisha too reeled under the heat wave. The industrial town of Jharsuguda recorded the highest temperature of 45.8 degrees and authorities received reports of 23 deaths due to sun stroke.

The mercury crossed 45 degrees at six places in western Odisha, IMD officials said.

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News Network
January 29,2020

Mumbai, Jan 29: Unfazed by his suspension from flying on Tuesday, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Wednesday claimed that he once again approached television journalist Arnab Goswami, who he said was his co-passenger on a flight from Lucknow, for an "honest discussion" but was turned away.

Kamra tweeted in the morning that "Arnab Goswami was again travelling in his flight while returning from Lucknow". "I again asked him politely if he wants to have a honest discussion he with his verbal arrogant hand jester he asked me to move away & I did that (sic)," he tweeted.

The comedian was suspended from flying by IndiGo and Air India on Tuesday after he allegedly heckled Goswami aboard a Mumbai-Lucknow plane and posted a video clip on his Twitter handle.

While IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with it for a period of six months, Air India banned him until further notice.

In a statement released on Twitter after he posted the video, Kamra said he did "exactly what Republic TV journalists do to people in their private/public spaces". Kamra stated he had not done anything criminal by allegedly heckling Goswami.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.

Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the missive was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging otherwise.

Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Health Ministry Dr Rajiv Garg in the letter to the principal secretaries of health and medical education of states and Union territories said appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allotting timeslots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.

He underlined that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in Covid-19 wards and ICUs of various hospitals.

"Social connection can calm down patients and also reinforce the psychological support given by the treating team. Please instruct all concerned that they should allow smartphones and tablet devices in patient areas so that the patient can video conference with their family and friends," stated the letter issued on July 29.

"Though mobile phones are allowed in the wards to enable a patient stay in touch with his or her family, we received representations from the patient families from some states stating mobile phones are not being allowed by hospital administrations because of which they were not being able to stay in contact with the patient," said Dr Garg.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Two more companies are said to be eyeing stakes in Reliance Jio Platforms, the $65-billion digital unit of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries, suggests a Bloomberg report. If these deals materialise, they would add to a growing list of firms that have recently invested in the Indian company.

US private equity firm General Atlantic was considering investing about $850 million to $950 million in the Mumbai-based company, a Bloomberg report said, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The deal could be completed as soon as this month, though no agreement had been finalised and plans may change, it added.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is also considering to buy a minority stake in Jio, Bloomberg said in a separate report.

General Atlantic declined to comment on the report, while Jio and PIF did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Hours earlier on Friday, Reliance Industries announced a $1.5 billion stake sale in Jio to Vista Equity Partners, the third deal in just over two weeks.

The conglomerate cut a $5.7 billion deal with Facebook for a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio on April 22 and a few days later, it secured a $750 million investment from private equity firm Silver Lake.

Together the three deals will inject a combined $8 billion in the telecoms-to-energy group and help it pare its debt.

Vista's investment gave Jio an equity value of Rs 4.91 trillion ($65 billion) and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 trillion, said Reliance, controlled by billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani.

The potential investments from New York-based General Atlantic and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which manages over $300 billion in assets, would inject money on top of the $8 billion which Jio has already raised.

Saudi's PIF has been buying minority stakes several companies. Last month, it disclosed an 8.2 per cent stake in coronavirus-hit Carnival Corp, sending the cruise operator's shares up nearly 30 per cent higher.

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