Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wants to see soccer competitions start back up again soon despite the country’s high number of coronavirus cases, arguing that players are less likely to die from COVID-19 because of their physical fitness. Bolsonaro is one of the few world leaders that still downplays the risks brought by the coronavirus, which he has likened to “little flu.” Most soccer tournaments in Brazil were suspended on March 15. The Brazilian championship was scheduled to begin in May, but that looks unlikely as the country has become Latin America’s coronavirus epicenter with more than 5,900 deaths. Doctors say…
Author: Our Correspondent
The government has extended the lockdown by two more weeks from May 4. Noting significant gains from the six-week shutdown in India’s fight to slow the spread of COVID-19. The home ministry announced new guidelines as the nation goes into lockdown for the second time. The home ministry announced new guidelines based on the demarcation of the country into red zones with “significant risk of spread of the infection”; green zones with either zero cases or no confirmed cases in the past 21 days; and those in between as orange. While some curbs will apply across the country, there will…
In a shocking incident in Godhra, local residents on attacked policemen who went to seal an area here in Gujarat as part of cluster containment drive to stop the spread of coronavirus, leaving an officer injured, said police. Police Inspector MP Pandya sustained minor injury on his head in stone pelting by residents of Guhya Mohalla near Zahur market in the evening, they said. Pandya said that to control the mob, at least five tear gas shells were lobbed. “The situation has been brought under control,” said Pandya, adding no one has been arrested yet. Till now, 22 cases of…
A special non-stop train with 1,200 migrants left Telangana for Jharkhand’s Hatia on May Day, officials said on Friday. According to railway officials, the train was operated as a one-off service on Friday morning from Telangana’s Lingampalli station at 5 a.m. Railway Protection Force (RPF) Director General Arun Kumar said “A non-stop train from Telangana to Jharkhand started this morning with 1,200 migrants.” The train will reach Hatia around 11 p.m. the same day. According to officials in Jharkhand, the state government has made adequate arrangements for the testing and quarantine of the migrants returning to the state on board…
The Union health ministry has split 733 districts across India into red, orange and green zones, designating all metropolitan cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad) into the ‘no activity’ zone even after the lockdown ends on May 3. According to the list, there are 130 red zones, where more stringent restrictions will be enforced post May 3. However, there will be partial easing in orange zones and liberal easing in green zones. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have the maximum number of red zones at 19 and 14 respectively, followed by Tamil Nadu at 12 and all of…
After Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on attempts to create political instability in the state, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday requested the Election Commission to declare elections to the nine vacant seats of the state’s Legislative Council. In his letter to the poll panel, the Governor said the elections should be held ‘at the earliest’ with a view to end the current uncertainty in the state. The Governor stated that the central government has announced many relaxation measures regarding the enforcement of lockdown, elections to the council seats can be held with certain guidelines.…
Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal was today banned for three years by the PCB for failing to report corrupt approaches ahead of the country’s premier T20 league this year. The Pakistan Cricket Board, PCB said, the ban was imposed by its Disciplinary Panel chairman Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan, who held a hearing today. The 29-year-old appeared before the panel at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore after not challenging a show-cause notice issued to him by the PCB Anti-Corruption for not reporting an alleged offer to spot-fix in the 2020 Pakistan Super League.
Dozens of bodies have been discovered in trucks outside a funeral home New York City after a passer-by complained about the smell. Workers, suited up in protective gear, were seen on Wednesday in the neighbourhood of Brooklyn, transferring the corpses into a refrigerated vehicle. It was not clear how long the bodies had been stored in the U-Haul trucks or whether any were COVID-19 victims. Investigators who responded to a 911 call found that the funeral home had rented four trucks to hold about 50 corpses, according to a US law enforcement official. No criminal charges were brought against the funeral home and…
After a month’s gap, India-Bangladesh trade through the land border of Petrapole in West Bengal’s 24 Parganas North district began on Thursday, an official said. The trade through the border had come to a halt late last month after the labourers refused to join duty fearing infection due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, the Central government convened a meeting where the local administration officials also took part. The meeting came up with an acceptable solution by announcing that for the time being, no truck from either country would cross the border, and consignments would be unloaded at the zero…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed that India should reduce dependence on imports and take forward “Make in India” to build its domestic capabilities in defence equipment. It was discussed that defence expenditure be economised and the savings be channelised for strategic defence capital acquisition. Modi also stressed on the reforms to ensure a self reliant defence industry. According to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Prime Minister on Thursday held a meeting to discuss ways to boost defence and aerospace sector, in which he emphasised strengthening the domestic capacity for designing, developing and manufacturing state-of-the-art defence…