NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — At least five people have been killed and several hundred hospitalized after a gas leak at a chemicals plant on the east coast of India, police said Thursday. They said that the gas had leaked out of two 5,000-tonne tanks that had been unattended due to India’s coronavirus lockdown in place since late March. “We can confirm at least five deaths right now. More will be confirmed later. At least […]
Tag: India
Indian mechanic invents ‘social distancing’ motorbike
AGARTALA, India (AFP) — An Indian school drop-out has built a motorbike with a one-meter gap between the rider and the passenger to drive home the importance of social distancing in the coronavirus pandemic. Partha Saha, 39, bought an old bike from a scrap dealer, removed the engine and cut the machine in two before affixing a rod slightly longer than a meter (3.2 feet) to connect the wheels. “Now I can ride with my […]
India nationwide lockdown extended until May 3: Modi
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s nationwide coronavirus lockdown, the biggest in the world, will be extended until at least May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday. The current three-week-old lockdown of the nation of 1.3 billion people had been scheduled to end at midnight Tuesday. “From the economic angle, we have paid a big price,” Modi said in a nationwide address. “But the lives of the people […]
PH receives cot beds, face masks from US, India for country’s frontliners
(Eagle News) – The Philippines, through the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), received additional medical supplies from the United States and the Indian community in the Philippines for the country’s frontliners in the campaign against the coronavirus pandemic. The US donated 1,300 cot beds, which were received by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin from US Ambassador Sung Kim in a turnover ceremony held on April 10 at the Embassy of the United States in Roxas […]
Indians race for supplies as coronavirus lockdown bites
by Aishwarya Kumar with Ammu Kannampilly in Mumbai NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Anxious Indians raced for essentials on Wednesday as an unprecedented 21-day lockdown across the nation of 1.3 billion people all but emptied normally traffic-choked roads. Many shelves in the megacities of New Delhi and Mumbai were stripped bare of staples like lentils and rice as the world’s second-most populous country lurched into a shutdown aimed at slowing the spread of the new […]
India to go under total virus lockdown, says PM Modi
by Bhuvan Bagga with Aishwarya Kumar and Vishal Manve in Mumbai NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s 1.3 billion people will go under “total lockdown” for 21 days to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday, sparking panic buying. “From 12 midnight today (1830 GMT Tuesday), the entire country will be in lockdown, total lockdown,” Modi said in a national television address to the world’s second-most-populous nation. “To save India, […]
Hand-made tale: Indian amputee’s new lower limbs adapt to her body
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — When amputee Shreya Siddanagowder was offered new hands, the Indian student didn’t hesitate — even though they were big, dark and hairy, and once belonged to a man. Now though, not only have her new hands become more slender, they have also changed color to match her skin tone, mystifying the doctors who carried out the rare 13-hour transplant. “The donor was a tall man with big […]
India suspends tourist visas over coronavirus
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India on Wednesday suspended all tourist visas until April 15 and said it would quarantine travelers arriving from seven virus-hit countries as it attempts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. The move comes as the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic, and as countries worldwide scramble to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. India’s visa suspension begins March 13 at 1200 GMT at the port […]
Indian ambassador to the PHL makes courtesy call on Iglesia Ni Cristo Executive Minister
(Eagle News) – The Ambassador of the Republic of India to the Philippines, H.E. Jaideep Mazumdar, visited Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) Executive Minister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo on Wednesday, Feb. 26. at the new INC Museum in Quezon City. This was the first time that an ambassador from India, the second most populous country in the world, made a courtesy call on the INC Executive Minister. In September last year, the INC, […]
Nine killed, many injured in India capital as Trump visits
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Clashes over a contentious citizenship law roiled India’s capital for a second day Tuesday — coinciding with a visit by US President Donald Trump — as the death toll in rose to at least nine. There have been widespread protests since the law that critics say is anti-Muslim was passed in mid-December, with more than 25 people killed. “There have been nine confirmed deaths,” Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital official […]
Mega rally to kick off Trump’s first official visit to India
by Jérôme CARTILLIER / Bhuvan BAGGA AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to welcome his US counterpart Donald Trump to India with a massive rally on Monday, kicking off a two-day visit likely to be more about pomp and ceremony than concrete agreements. The American president, in his first official visit to India, will deliver a speech at the world’s biggest cricket stadium at a “Namaste Trump” rally watched by at […]
Bhutan makes Indians pay ‘sustainable development fee’
THIMPHU, Bhutan (AFP) — Bhutan is introducing a “sustainable development fee” for regional tourists following a spike in Indian visitors that has sparked worries for the unique Himalayan kingdom’s cherished ecology. The majority of tourists already cough up $250 per day in high season — including meals, transport, and accommodation — to visit the country of 750,000 people famous for putting happiness before economic growth and being carbon negative. But this “high value, low impact” […]





