Posts

India power plant fire: Nine reported dead in major blaze in Telangana

Image
image caption Local media reports said the fire broke out late on Thursday night and burned into Friday Nine people have reportedly died after a fire broke out at a hydro-electric power plant in the Indian state of Telangana. The bodies were found during a search for employees working underground at the Srisailam plant, the state power generation corporation said. Local media reports said the fire broke out late on Thursday night and burned into Friday, trapping workers. The reports said the fire had been extinguished. The Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGenco) said in a statement that there were 17 employees inside the building at the time. "Eight of them managed to come out of the station with injuries, nine others remained trapped inside as they were trying their best to put out the fire and save the power plant from being burnt completely," the statement said. "All of them tried to come out of the escape tunnel, but they did not succeed due to the thi

Gandhi's glasses left in letterbox sell for £260k

Image
are this with Facebook Image caption The glasses had been worn by Gandhi on a trip to South Africa A pair of Mahatma Gandhi's glasses have sold for £260,000 after they were found sticking halfway out of an auction house's letterbox. The spectacles were bought through a phone bid from an American collector after six minutes of bidding on Friday. Auctioneer Andrew Stowe said it was a new record for East Bristol Auctions and described it as "the star lot of the century". The glasses had been expected to sell for about £15,000. Mr Stowe said the owner of the glasses was an elderly man from Mangotsfield who said he would split the money with his daughter. They had been handed down from generation to generation in the owner's family, after a relative met Gandhi on a visit to South Africa in the 1920s. Image copyright GETTY Image caption The Indian civil rights leader was known for giving his possessions away, the auctioneer said "It's a phenomenal result. These

India coronavirus: New study shows more women in Delhi had Covid

Image
  IMAGE COPYRIGHT GETTY IMAGES image caption Delhi has scaled up testing in recent weeks More women than men in India's capital Delhi have been exposed to coronavirus infection, a second round of antibody tests on a sample of people suggests. The government survey found nearly a third of more than 15,000 residents, whose blood samples were tested, had Covid-19 antibodies. The first survey in July found 23.48% of people tested had the antibodies. Delhi has so far recorded more than 150,000 cases, and 4,257 deaths from Covid-19. The latest survey, conducted in early August, found 32.2% of women in the capital had developed antibodies to the virus compared to 28.3% of men. The reason for this was not immediately clear. Overall, 29% of people tested were found to have developed antibodies to the coronavirus. This would mean nearly six million of Delhi's 20 million people were infected with the virus and had recovered. Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said the city was still far

Sushant Singh Rajput: Federal probe ordered into Bollywood star's death

Image
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Image caption Sushant Singh Rajput made his big-screen debut in 2013 India's Supreme Court has directed the country's federal investigation agency to probe the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Rajput was found dead in his flat in Mumbai on 14 June. Police said he had killed himself. Since then, unverified details about his career, financial status and even mental health have dominated headlines. It has led to a tussle over who has jurisdiction to investigate - police in Mumbai or his home state Bihar. A single judge bench of the Supreme Court said that the Bihar government was competent to request the case be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It has also asked the Mumbai police to hand over all evidence collected so far to the investigating agency. His family, who have filed a case of abetment to suicide against his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, have also been asking for the case to be transferred away from Mumba

Coronavirus: How many Covid-19 deaths is India missing?

Image
Related Topics Coronavirus pandemic Image copyright AFP Image caption More than 50,000 people have died of Covid-19 in India India has registered more than 50,000 Covid-19 deaths, overtaking the UK to become the fourth-worst-affected country for fatalities. But the number of deaths per million people stands at 34 - far lower than what has been reported in Europe or North America. The case fatality rate or CFR, which measures deaths among Covid-19 patients, is just around 2%. Even in badly-hit state like Maharashtra the number of deaths is doubling only in about 40 days. "The death rates have kept low all along, even as cases rose," K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India think tank, told me. Many epidemiologists attribute this relatively low fatality rate to a young population - the elderly are typically more vulnerable. It is not clear whether other factors, such as immunity deriving from previous infections from other coronaviruses, are also resp

కరోనావైరస్: 700 కోట్ల జనాభాకు వ్యాక్సిన్ వేయటం ఎలా?

Image
  ఫొటో సోర్స్, GETTY IMAGES ఫొటో క్యాప్షన్, ఆక్స్‌ఫర్డ్ తయారు చేస్తున్న కోవిడ్ వ్యాక్సిన్‌ను దక్షిణాఫ్రికాలో మనుషుల మీద ప్రయోగాత్మకంగా పరీశీలిస్తున్నారు కోవిడ్-19 సోకకుండా నిరోధించ గల వ్యాక్సిన్‌ను అభివృద్ధి చేయటానికి ప్రపంచ వ్యాప్తంగా అనేక పరిశోధక బృందాలు కృషి చేస్తున్నాయి. అయితే.. అటువంటి వ్యాక్సిన్‌ను తయారు చేసినా కానీ ప్రపంచంలోని 700 కోట్ల మంది జనాభాకు దానిని ఎలా అందిస్తారు? వారందరి దగ్గరకూ వ్యాక్సిన్‌ను తీసుకెళ్లటానికి అవసరమైన మౌలిక సదుపాయాల సంగతేమిటి? ఈ దిశగా ఇప్పటికే బ్రిటన్‌లో పనులు మొదలయ్యాయి. ఆక్స్‌ఫర్డ్‌షైర్‌లోని మాజీ వైమానిక దళ స్థావరం ఇందుకు కేంద్రంగా ఉంది. అది ఇప్పుడు హార్వెల్ సైన్స్ క్యాంపస్‌గా మారింది. దీనిని 'వ్యాక్సిన్స్ మాన్యుఫాక్చరింగ్ అండ్ ఇన్నొవేషన్ సెంటర్'గా మార్చబోతున్నారు. ''మొదట 2022 నాటికి దీనిని సిద్ధం చేయగలమని మేం భావించాం. ఇప్పుడు ఆ సమయాన్ని సగానికి తగ్గించాం. 2021 నాటికి ఇది పని మొదలుపెడుతుందని ఆశిస్తున్నాం'' అని వీఎంఐసీ చీఫ్ ఎగ్జిక్యూటివ్ మాథ్యూ డుచార్స్ చెప్పారు. ఆక్స్‌ఫర్డ్ యూనివర్సిటీ కోవిడ్ వ్యాక్సిన్‌ను ఇక్కడే ఉత్పత్తి చేసే అ