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BJP loses elections in three states
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the assembly elections in West Bengal, where incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress won 72 per cent of the 292 seats.
The BJP's opponents also won in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while it kept power in Assam and gained Puducherry, where it contested in alliance with a regional party.
Twitter bans actress for violating rules
Twitter on Tuesday banned leading Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, known for her ardent support of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for violating its rules on hateful conduct and abusive behaviour.
Ms Ranaut issued a tweet on Monday in which she urged Mr Modi to resort to gangster tactics to "tame" West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose regional party won the state elections last weekend.
Amma to be Anna canteens as political hue changes in TN
The new Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led government in Tamil Nadu has decided to change the name of the Amma canteens founded by former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa to Anna.
Funded by the Greater Chennai Corporation, the Amma canteens, which number 407, provide idlis, rice, dal and chappatis at very cheap rates.
Roche's antibody cocktail gets regulatory approval
Pharma giant Roche India on Wednesday announced that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has provided Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for Roche's antibody cocktail in India for treatment of Covid-19.
The approval for the antibody cocktail - Casirivimab and Imdevimab - was based on the data that has been filed for the EUA in the United States, and the scientific opinion of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in the European Union.
Grieving daughter jumps on father's body during cremation
Ms Chandra Sharda, 34, suffered severe burns on Tuesday after she jumped on the funeral pyre of her father Damodardas, 73, who had died of Covid-19 at a hospital, during his cremation in Barmer, Rajasthan.
Although she was pulled out of the pyre by relatives, she suffered 70 per cent burns.
She was taken to a hospital in Jodhpur where she is recovering.
18 Covid-19 patients die in fire at Gujarat hospital
Eighteen people, including two healthcare workers, were killed in a fire at a Covid-19 hospital in Bharuch, Gujarat, last Friday.
The fire started around midnight in the intensive care ward of the Patel Welfare Hospital.
23 die due to lack of oxygen in Karnataka hospital
At least 23 Covid-19 patients died at a government hospital in Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka in the early hours of Monday after the oxygen supply dropped.
The state government has ordered a probe into the incident.
Three Covid-19 patients die in ambulance
Three people - a 30-year-old woman and two men aged 40 and 42 - died in an ambulance on Wednesday while undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the Mohan Kumaramangalam Memorial Medical College Hospital in Salem, Tamil Nadu.
They were treated in an ambulance as there were no beds available at the hospital.
Four arrested in Bengaluru 'cash for bed' scam
The Bengaluru police have arrested four people, besides nabbing another four for questioning, over the "cash for bed" allotment scam in hospitals that was unearthed by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Harish Pandey said the accused include social worker Nethravathy, 40, and her nephew Rohith Kumar, 22.
"Our team approached them for beds posing as relatives of a Covid-19 patient," he said. "We then realised that the duo from Begur were charging between Rs20,000 ($362) and Rs40,000 for a bed."
According to the police, the modus operandi of the accused was to book hospital beds in the name of asymptomatic patients in home isolation and sell them to the highest bidder.
Nurse arrested for stealing remdesivir injections
Lalitesh Chayhan, 24, a contractual nurse at the Moolchand Hospital in Delhi, has been arrested for allegedly stealing remdesivir injections from patients who died at the hospital during Covid-19 treatment. She is also said to have given them to her friend, who sold them at a higher price.
The Delhi Police have also arrested her three associates and recovered seven vials of the drug.
India's longest-serving bishop dies
India's longest-serving bishop, Philipose Mar Chrysostom of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, died at the age of 103 at a private hospital in Pathanamthitta, Kerala, on Wednesday.
He served as bishop for 68 years.
Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary dies
Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary V. Kalyanam, 99, died due to old age-related illness on Chennai on Tuesday.
Born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, in 1922, he served Gandhi between 1944 and 1948, when the Indian independence leader was assassinated.
Hyderabad Zoo lions have Sars-CoV-2, not Covid-19
Eight Asiatic lions at the Hyderabad Zoo have been diagnosed with respiratory distress after contracting the Sars-CoV-2 virus.
All eight have been isolated and are responding well to treatment, the Environment and Forests Ministry said on Tuesday.
Many media agencies had reported that the animals had contracted Covid-19.
The ministry said the virus detected in the lions is not of concern to humans and there is no evidence of transmission.
India to take back citizens living illegally in UK
India and United Kingdom on Tuesday signed an agreement on migration and mobility between the two countries.
The pact will provide enhanced employment opportunities for 3,000 young Indian professionals annually, in return for India agreeing to take back any of its citizens who are living illegally in the UK.
