|
Swine flu reaches New Delhi, 2 infected New
Delhi: A case of human-to-human transmission of the deadly H1N1 influenza
virus has been confirmed in the capital, in which a woman got infected from her
infected son. The 35-year-old man (name withheld) reportedly passed on the H1N1
virus to his 60-year-old mother, who had been nursing him for three days since
his return from New York on June 2 through Air India flight (AI-102). “Both the
man and his mother were administered Tamiflu on June 4 even before their samples
tested positive. The samples of the servants in the house have also been picked
up. The man was travelling in the business class of Air India from New York ,
which had just one more passenger who is now being tracked down,” said a Health
Ministry official. The infected man was put on quarantine inside his farmhouse
at Rajokri near the Palam airport. On Sunday, the National Institute of Communicable
Diseases (NICD) confirmed that the man's mother had also tested positive. However,
the sample of mother has been sent to National Institute of Virology (Pune) for
final confirmation. Union Health
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here on Monday that the government has decided
to activate 16 more laboratories across the country to test for the swine flu
virus in addition to the two in New Delhi and Pune. "The health ministry already
has the labs, but they are for testing different diseases. They would be prepared
for H1N1 flu also and the lab technicians and doctors would be trained within
a week," Ghulam Nabi Azad said. The Health Minister also highlighted the need
for state level rapid action forces medical personnel to tackle the viral ailment.
"Creating more teams is not enough as we shall have to train them. So we have
decided at the national level we have about 25 doctors who are trained in this
type of particular diseases and would in turn train the state-level teams,” Azad
added. The doctors for the state teams would be trained in a month’s time and
in addition to it government has 10 lakh capsules of Oseltamivir in storage to
treat affected patients and to prevent any major glitch. Azad was indicated that
he was satisfied with the arrangements made by state governments to handle passengers
coming in from the affected countries. "So far around 15 lakh passengers have
come to India from the flu-affected countries. It is not humanly possible to screen
all of them. So we are focusing on people who have declared any symptom of the
disease,” he said. “We are also tracking down all the co-passengers of those who
have tested positive and are testing them for the virus,” Azad added.
Army Major among five killed in J&K encounter
Top Srinagar:
Three militants and two security personnel, including an army major were killed
on Monday as security forces foiled a major infiltration bid and intensified anti-militant
drive near the LoC in Kupwara, Jammu and Kasmir. "The gunbattle took place when
Army confronted a group of heavily-armed militants at Gulab Post, 130 km from
here, when they were attempting to sneak into the valley from across the border,"
said Uttam Chand, Superintendent of Police, Kupwara. Acting on specific information
about presence of militants in area falling under Hatmullah, a massive search
operation was launched to avoid any possible attempt to sneak into the valley.
"As the search operation was in progress, the heavily armed militants opened fire
in an attempt to escape and in the ensuing gunbattle, three militants and two
army personnel including a major were killed," the senior officer said. Meanwhile,
curfew was imposed in Srinagar to foil a demonstration called by the separatists.
Indian student
attacked for the second time in Melbourne Top Melbourne:
Adding to the series of ongoing ‘racist’ attacks, a 23-year-old Indian student
was beaten up for the second time in a fortnight by a group of youths in Melbourne
. The latest attack makes Kamaljit the 11th person of Indian community to have
suffered assault in last one month in Australia . On Sunday, an Indian student
in western suburb of the city found Kamaljit lying unconscious and bleeding. The
latest attack on Kamaljit was second in less than two weeks. Previously, he was
pelted with eggs by several masked men after getting off a late-night train at
St. Albans station in western suburb. "It is very bad because we pay a lot of
money and we are living far away from our country and from our families and we
are without protection," an Australian newspaper quoted Jit as saying on Monday.
Jit stated, as he walked home at about 1:40 am on Sunday, he noticed three men
acting suspiciously in a car. He tried to avoid them. But he then saw two men
coming out of it near a pizza shop while another waited in the car. "The two guys
pushed me to the ground and I was hit on the head, I think with a steel rod,"
Jit stated to the newspaper. Jit received seven stitches from doctors, for suffered
a blow on his head by assailants. After treatment, he said he didn’t want to live
in the suburb any longer. However, Jit's friends said the attack was the sixth
or seventh over the past week on the Indian students and demanded for extra police
protection at the suburb of St Albans station at night. The Australian Government
had last week announced setting up of a Task Force headed by the National Security
Adviser to deal with such violence. On Sunday, hundreds of Indian students took
out a rally in Sydney to protest against the attacks. Apart from Indians there
were students from other countries at the rally who voiced their concerns about
the racial violence and demanded police to be alert to prevent such incidents
from happening again. Noted
playwright Habib Tanvir passes away Top Bhopal:
Noted playwright Habib Tanvir passed away in a hospital in Bhopal on Monday,
after a brief illness. He was 85. Tanvir was admitted to the National Hospital
three weeks ago after he complained of breathing problems. According to family
sources, he was put on a ventilator. Born on September 1, 1923 at Raipur, Tanvir
began his career as a journalist and went on to become a highly renowned playwright.
Tanvir is the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar (1954) and Charandas Chor (1975).
He founded in 1959, the Naya Theatre, theatre company in Bhopal. He was awarded
the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1969, Padma Shri in 1983, Sangeet Natak Akademi
Fellowship in 1996, and the Padma Bhushan in 2002. Apart from that he has also
been nominated as a member of the Upper House of Parliament (1972-1978). His play
'Charandas Chor' got him the Fringe Firsts Award at Edinburgh International Drama
Festival in 1982. Karia
Munda elected Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Top New
Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Karia Munda was unanimously elected
as the new Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha by a voice vote on Monday. The Congress-led
UPA and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) filed 13 sets of nomination
papers on behalf of Munda on Friday. He was chosen by the BJP as the Deputy Speaker
candidate after the UPA offered the post to the Opposition as per convention.
Munda, a tribal leader, has been a six-time Member of Parliament from Jharkhand.
He was a Cabinet Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA Government at the centre.
Born in 1936, Munda, a post graduate, was born in the Ranchi District of Bihar,
now State capital of Jharkhand. He has been elected to Lok Sabha for many terms
from tribal constituency of Khunti. NCP
MP Patil's arrest sparks violence in Osmanabad Top Osmanabad
(Maharashtra): Irate supporters of an arrested Nationalist Congress Party
(NCP) MP Padamsinh Patil, forced business establishment to close down in Osmanabad
area of Maharashtra on Sunday. Padamsinh Patil, a newly-elected lawmaker was arrested
by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday for his alleged involvement
in the 2006 murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar. NCP activists, who
went on rampage after the news of Patil's arrest spread, damaged several buses
of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and also damaged a private news
channel's vehicle. Patil was on Sunday sent to seven days CBI custody by a Panvel
court after he was arrested. The custody comes up for review on June 14. Earlier,
Superintendent of Police, CBI, Amitabh Thakur, said he was being questioned at
the CBI office in South Mumbai after an arrested accused Parasmal Jain claimed
that Patil had ordered Nimbalkar's murder. According to a statement submitted
by Jain, he was paid a supari (contract amount) of Rs.30 lakh by Patil to eliminate
Nimbalkar due to business rivalry. Two men on a motorcycle gunned down Nimbalkar
and his driver Samad Qazi near Kopar Khairne, Navi Mumbai on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway
on June 3, 2006. The Kalamboli police did the initial investigations. The Bombay
High Court then transferred the case to CBI in October 2008. In February this
year, police arrested two men in connection with the murder. After interrogating
the two, police found that Rs 30 lakh was paid to kill the Congress leader. The
CBI had earlier this year nabbed two people, and one of them had confessed to
the murder of Nimbalkar at somebody's behest. Sensex
records 3rd biggest fall of the year Top Mumbai:
After completing 13 successive weeks of gains, Sensex on Monday witnessed
the third biggest fall of the year and ended below the 15,000 level, losing nearly
438 points on weak Asian and European trends. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark,
Sensex suffered a loss of 437.63 points to 14,665.92 as metal, banking and realty
stocks suffered hefty losses. The fall was the third-highest after those of January
7 and March 30. In a similar fashion, the 50-share National Stock Exchange index
Nifty dropped by 157.00 points to 4,429.90, breaking a psychological 4,600 level.
Only information technology stocks were in positive territory following a firming
dollar, raising hopes of better revenue. |
