Elon Musk beats Mark Zuckerberg to become third richest person in the world
Musk has seen a meteoric rise in his wealth, with his net worth growing by $87.8 billion this year as Tesla shares surged almost 500%.Elon Musk is now the third-richest person in the world.Musk passed Facebook Inc. co-founder Mark Zuckerberg Monday as shares of Tesla Inc. continued their unrelenting rally after undergoing a forward stock split. Musk is now worth $115.4 billion compared with $110.8 billion for Zuckerberg, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Also Monday, Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife...
Hong Kong begins mass-testing for Covid-19 amid public doubts
Hong Kong began a voluntary mass-testing program for coronavirus Tuesday as part of a strategy to break the chain of transmission in the city’s third outbreak of the disease.The virus-testing program has become a flash point of political debate in Hong Kong, with many distrustful over resources and staff being provided by the China’s central government and fears that the residents’ DNA could be collected during the exercise.The Hong Kong government has dismissed such concerns, saying that no personal...
Mask use can prevent 200k Covid deaths in India: Study
Widespread use of masks and maintaining social distancing measures can prevent at least 200,000 coronavirus disease (Covid-19)-related deaths by December 1, shows a new modelling of the pandemic in the country.The new data, which was released last Saturday, has underlined the critical need for the public to comply with the use of face masks, maintain social distancing norms and other Covid-19 guidelines issued by the government to prevent the spread of the contagion.“Meta analysis of individual...
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib opens low-cost dispensary, serves 1 lakh on first day
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the members of Gurudwara Bangla Sahib have opened a ‘no profit no loss’ dispensary in the premises of the gurudwara.After providing langar (free food) for a long time now, the Gurudwara authority has started ‘Bala Pritam Dawakhana’ offering low-cost medicines.Gyani Ranjeet Singh, Head Granthi of Gurudwara Bangla Sahib told ANI, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, our sevaks had reached out to the needy with food. Eventually, we realised that people not only need...
India records nearly 70,000 new cases of Covid-19, tally close to 3.7 million
The number of the coronavirus disease cases reached close to 3.7 million in India after 69,921 new cases surfaced on Tuesday.According to Union health ministry update, there are 7,85,996 active cases of the disease while 28,39,882 patients have been discharged.The country recorded 819 fatalities according to the health ministry data, which pushed the death toll to 65,288.The ministry had said on Monday that the country’s recovery rate has increased to 76.62 per cent, while the fatality rate has declined...
‘Will contest Article 370 move legally, democratically’: Farooq and Omar Abdullah
National Conference (NC) leaders and former chief ministers Farooq and Omar Abdullah are “bitter” about, and feel “betrayed” by, the constitutional changes related to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) pushed through by the Centre last year, and will contest them both politically and legally, while asserting that their struggle will be entirely peaceful.The two leaders, in perhaps their first joint interview, said they rejected the Union government’s constituency delimitation exercise and domicile...
Legendary cardio specialist Dr Sivaramakrishna Iyer Padmavati dies of Covid-19 at 103
Pioneering cardiologist Dr Sivaramakrishna Iyer Padmavati, who had established the country’s first cardiac care unit at Delhi’s Govind Ballabh Pant hospital, died of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) late Saturday night. She was 103.Born in Myanmar, she fled to India after the Japanese invasion during World War II and became the country’s first woman cardiologist.She was diagnosed with Covid-19 11 days ago and was admitted to the National Heart Institute (NHI), which she had founded in 1981.“Although...
Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy in India’s outreach plan
The Union government is working on at least five distinct ways, ranging from free vaccines to guaranteed supply, in which it can help its immediate neighbours as well as countries in West Asia, Africa and even Latin America, officials familiar with the plan said on condition of anonymity. The idea is to leverage the country’s standing as the world’s vaccine factory to consolidate diplomatic ties.Indian companies are working on two vaccines which are currently in clinical trials. Though the arrangement...
Thousands displaced, 24 dead, as excess rain and overflowing dams flood central India
An overflowing Narmada threw life out of gear in parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and water released from the Hirakud dam flooded several districts of Odisha on the weekend. At least 24 people were killed in flooding in MP and Odisha. and thousands were displaced as heavy rainfall lashed other parts of India, causing reservors to overflow.Rainfall has been 25% more than normal in August, which India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the highest for the month in 44 years. The previous highest...
89,936 teachers to return to work from Sept 1
From Tuesday, September 1, a total of 89,936 teachers and administrators in all educational levels will return to their schools, announcing the start of the new academic year 2020/2021 with distance education system, while 106,400 public education students will enroll in 856 schools on October 4 to complete the start of the new year, reports Al-Rai daily.According to a source from the educational sector, Ministry of Education adopted a series of measures prior to the start of the new school year,...