India

Ten infants died while seven were rescued after fire broke out at a special ward for new-born babies at the Bhandara district general hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The ordinance was approved in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday night and is likely to receive Governor Anandiben Patel's assent soon, said an official on Saturday.

There is a provision of three to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 in cases of marriage carried out by hiding religion.

He said the suspension of Trump's Twitter account was a "wake-up call for democracies" on the threat posed by "unregulated" big-tech companies.

According to the ministry, all the 90 persons have been kept in a single room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by the respective state governments. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters on Friday evening that a letter has been sent to Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay, urging him for convening the special session.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the preparedness for Covid-19 vaccination programme on Saturday, it said. India hopes to inoculate 300 million of its 1.35 billion people free of charge in the first six to eight months of this year.

Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was convicted in fodder scam cases, was undergoing treatment in the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) for multiple ailments.

Days after allowing full capacity in cinemas following representations from the film industry, the government cited an advisory from the Centre and a petition in the Madras High Court over the matter for revoking its decision.

According to the WHO, retrospective analysis traced the first identified variant to Kent, South East England, on 20 September 2020, which was followed by a rapid increase of the same variant identified later in November.

A Pakistan court on Friday sentenced Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, a senior official of militant group LashkareTaiba (LeT), to five years in jail for terrorism financing.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting that lasted for little over two hours, Tomar said the government is still hopeful that union leaders will come with alternatives to discuss in the next round of talks on January 15.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was diagnosed with mild chest infection, doctors said, ruling out any serious health issues.

Foreign investors were net sellers of most Asian equities in 2020, deterred by the economic slowdown due to the COVID19 pandemic, although the flows turned positive in the fourth quarter on hopes of a recovery and vaccine optimism.

In 2014, legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar became the first and the only sportsperson to be conferred with the Bharat Ratna.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in September 2020 said the LWE or Naxal violence had reduced considerably in the country with the menace being prevalent in just 46 districts.