Thai king Adulyadej dies after 7-decade long reign

October 13, 2016

Bangkok, Oct 13: Thailand's revered King Bhumbol Adulyadej passed away today, the palace announced, ending a remarkable seven-decade reign as the world's longest ruling monarch who was seen as a unifying force in the deeply divided country. He was 88.

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The king died at 3.52 pm (local time) at the Siriraj hospital, the palace said in a statement.
Crown Prince Maha Vajralongkorn, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Princess Soamsawali and Princess Chulabhorn were at the hospital.

The 64-year-old Crown Prince will succeed the king, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said.
On Sunday, the palace had said that the king was in an unstable condition after receiving haemodialysis treatment.

Hundreds of well-wishers had gathered outside the hospital here for the past two days fervently praying for the good health of King Bhumibol.

The widely revered monarch is central to Thai society and was often treated as a virtual god.
The King was also known as Rama IX, as he was the ninth monarch of the Chakri Dynasty.
Having acceded to the throne 70 years ago, he has been a source of stability and unity for a much changed and still deeply divided nation.

King Bhumibol is the world's longest serving monarch, having acceded to the throne when his brother died in 1946.

During his seven decades on the throne, the king, who is seen as a unifying force, has intervened when events threatened to plunge Thailand into crisis.

Amid increasing concerns about his health in recent months, the Royal Household Bureau had issued more frequent bulletins.

Earlier, Prime Minister Prayuth cancelled an official trip to India to attend the BRICS Summit 2016, a Government House source said.

The prime minister was scheduled to attend the BIMSTEC Outreach at BRICS Summit 2016 on Sunday.

The source said Prayut assigned Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusriithak to attend the summit on his behalf.

A palace statement said late yesterday that the king's "blood pressure lowered and breath quickened".

On Sunday, his blood test indicated that there had been an infection and abnormal function of his liver.

The crowd of well-wishers praying for His Majesty the King continued to swell outside Siriraj Hospital as his loving subjects also gathered at government offices nationwide for prayers today.

People holding photographs of their loved King could be seen sobbing and some wailing even before an announcement was made this evening.

With most people unable to travel to Bangkok, interior permanent secretary Grisada Boonrach had ordered the proper arrangement of places at provincial halls, district offices and local administrative organisation offices nationwide for people to sign books.

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News Network
May 28,2020

Geneva, May 28: The global death toll from the novel coronavirus has risen over the past 24 hours by 5,581 to 349,095, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its daily situation report.

The number of confirmed cases has increased by 84,314 to 5,488,825, the WHO said.

Most cases of infection are recorded in the Americas (North and South America) - 2,495,924, with 145,810 deaths. While Europe has reported 2,061,828 cases and 1,76,226 deaths so far.

As per WHO tally, the US has the highest number of cases in the world with 1,63,4010 infections.

The global health body declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on March 11.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Washington, Mar 26: Indian-American hoteliers have come forward to rescue the stranded Indian students in the US following implementation of lockdown measures in the country in response to the rapidly-spreading coronavirus pandemic, offering them free accommodation and free meals.

With the students scrambling for a roof over their heads after being asked to vacate their hostels and India banning international flights for a week from March 22 due to the coronavirus pandemic, more than 6,000 rooms in nearly 700 hotels were offered to them by Wednesday following a call from the Indian Embassy.

The Indian Embassy have been running a round-the-clock helpline since last week for the students in the US, who number over 2,50,000.

Most of these hotels offered are in and around universities and colleges, but the hotel owners from across the country have come up in large numbers to the call given by community leaders, who have roped in Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) for the purpose.

India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu said in a tweet, "It is heartening to see that Indian; Indian-American and other hotel owners are coming forward to help people with accommodation in these testing times. Together we can overcome the fight against COVID19!"

"The Indian community has come together to help the student and many hotel owners have offered their rooms free of cost to them. Many of them are also offering free meals to these students," Chicago-based community leader Nirav Patel told PTI.

Indian-American hotelier couple K K Mehta and Chandra Mehta have offered more than 100 rooms to Indian students at their two prime properties each near the Times Square and Barclays Center in New York City, said Jaipur Foot USA chairman Prem Bhandari on behalf of the hotels.

The Indian Consulate in New York had contacted them about this 10 days ago, he said.

"These students are the future of both India and the United States. All the top Indian-American CEOs, scientists and doctors came to this country as a student. It's our moral duty to help them with our resources," Bhandari said.

Regional director of AAHOA Upper Midwest Kalpesh Joshi said they had created a master list of the availability hotel rooms, which was being constantly updated.

Free accommodation would be allocated in coordination with the Indian Embassy and its consulates, he said.

"The Indian Embassy and its consulates are working tirelessly to get these students rooms," he added.

Joshi has also sent out a video message to his hotelier colleagues: "Because of the coronavirus outbreak, our Indian students in the US are out of shelter. Let's work together. As a hotelier, I would like to request all my hotelier friends to come forward... let's provide some rooms to the students."

Boston-based Computer Society of India (North America) has collaborated with AAHOA to help students and Indian IT professionals searching for emergency accommodation due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Anyone who is having financial hardship will be given hotel accommodation either free of cost or the rates will not be more than USD 50, said the Computer Society of India (North America).

Minesh Patel, the chairman of Virginia Asian American Store Association, said between Richmond, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, Indian-American hotel owners can help in arranging accommodation for over 500 Indian students.

Florida-based Vipul Patel, the national president of Asian American Store Owners Association, said support for the Indian students have been pouring in from the Indian-American hoteliers.

"I have not come across any hotel owner who said no to us," Patel said.

Rooms would be allocated to students on the recommendation of the Indian Embassy and its consulates in Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and New York.

The Indian Consulate in New York was the first to take a lead in this regard. It has worked with Hammock Worldwide Hotels and Resorts to provide temporary accommodation for the students at a flat rate of USD 50 per night.

Joshi said that initially there was a suggestion to charge a convenience fee of USD 20-25 per day from the students.

"But when a few of them offered free rooms and free meals, everyone agreed to it," he said.

According to Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, the number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus in the US rose to 1,031 with 68,572 confirmed cases. The US has the third highest number of confirmed cases behind China and Italy.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Washington, Aug 8: The United States has reported 58,173 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the total past 4.9 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.

"The first case of COVID-19 in the US was reported 198 days ago on 22.01.2020.Yesterday, the country reported 58,173 new confirmed cases and 1,243 deaths," it said.

The country is expected to cross the 5 million thresholds in the coming days. It leads the world both in terms of coronavirus cases and deaths estimated at over 161,300.

Overall, there have been 19.4 million cases confirmed globally and almost 721,800 people have died from virus-related complications. Another 11.7 million have recovered.

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