Rajnath talks to US defence secy over regional progress
Defence minister Rajnath Singh and US secretary of defense Mark T Esper on Friday spoke on the phone and exchanged views on “regional developments of shared security interest,” a defence ministry spokesperson said.
The phone call, requested by Esper, came at a time when India and China are locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh, and diplomatic and military talks are underway to break the stalemate.
The two ministers also briefed each other on their experiences of fighting Covid-19.
“They reviewed progress on various bilateral defence cooperation arrangements and expressed their commitment to further promote our defence partnership,” the spokesperson said. Esper accepted Singh’s invitation to visit India “at the earliest mutual convenience.”
Sensation gripped Meerut’s Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical (LLRM) College on Thursday after a group of monkeys snatched some samples of suspected Covid-19 patients from a health worker, officials confirmed on Friday.
The Covid-19 testing lab is situated on the college premises and a health worker was on his way to handover the samples to a laboratory when a group of monkeys attacked him and ran away with at least three samples being taken for testing. The monkeys tore the kit and tried eating the sample. The matter came into focus after a video of the incident began circulating. Deputy superintendent of the college Dr Dheeraj Baliyan was asked to probe after it came to the notice of principal Dr SK Garg. Dr Baliyan said monkeys are a problem inside campus. He said the monkeys many a time had attacked doctors and often entered the wards.
Renowned astrologer Bejan Daruwalla died at a private hospital here on Friday evening, his family said.
He was 90.
While speculation was rife that Daruwalla was admitted to Apollo Hospital a few days ago after he tested positive for coronavirus, his son Nastur denied it, saying his father was being treated only from pneumonia.
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani expressed grief over Daruwalla’s death.
“Saddened by the demise of renowned Astrologer Shri Bejan Daruwalla. I pray for the departed soul. My condolences. Om Shanti,” he tweeted.
Though born into a Parsi family, Daruwalla was a Lord Ganesha devotee.
It was Ganesha who had taught him that timing is “everything in astrology and in life”, he had once said, adding “By timing
I mean the right person at the right place and time”.
He had also said that he combined the principles of Vedic and Western astrology, I-ching, Tarot, numerology, the Kabalah and even palmistry to make predictions.
Daruwalla also wrote for a number of newspapers, magazines and also appeared on television channels including on foreign networks.
Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old Telugu poet arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, was admitted to Sir JJ Hospital on Thursday evening.
Taloja jail authorities said that Rao, who has various ailments, was being treated at the medical facility within the jail since the past three days. However, Rao did not show any improvement after which the jail doctor recommended him to Sir JJ Hospital. A senior IPS officer said, “Rao has been sent to Sir JJ Hospital. He has multiple ailments and a series of tests were recommended for him at the hospital. We will know the nature of his ailments only after we get the test results.” Rao who had moved for interim bail before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai had sought that he be granted interim bail in view of the spread of Covid-19, as he suffered from piles, prostate enlargement, coronary artery disease, oedema/ anasarca (swelling of feet), hypertension, sinusitis, migraine and vertigo. This bail plea was adjourned to June 2. Pune police had arrested Rao in November 2018 claiming that he had direct nexus with the top underground leaders of the banned group Communist Party of India (Maoist) and that he wanted to procure arms via Nepal and Manipur, and that he was in direct touch with top Maoist leader Ganapathy.
The case was then transferred to the NIA in February 2020.