A funeral home business leader for Brazil's state that covers much of the Amazon region says emergency coffin shipments have started to arrive for people who have died of COVID-19. Manuel Viana is president of the Amazonas Union of Funeral Companies and said Friday that more than 500 coffins were delivered by ship to Manaus, the largest city in Amazonas state. He says hundreds more are on the way and will be distributed in Manaus and other cities in the region. Manaus is one of the hardest hit Brazilian cities for coronavirus deaths and Viana says there are predictions that the city of more than 2 million could have more than 4,300 deaths in May. A Johns Hopkins University count says there have been more than 10,000 COVID-19 deaths so far in Latin America's largest and most populous country. A Brazil funeral home association last week requested an airlift of coffins to Manaus.

Two men were arrested Friday in the fatal shooting of a security guard who demanded a woman wear a mask while shopping at a store. Genesee County authorities said Ramonyea Bishop, 23, was taken into custody at an apartment in Bay City. His alleged accomplice, Larry Teague, 44, was arrested Thursday near a motel in Houston. The men and Sharmel Teague, the wife of Larry Teague, are charged with first degree murder in the May 1 shooting of Calvin Munerlyn at a Family Dollar store in Flint. Munerlyn was shot at the store just north of downtown Flint a short time after telling Sharmel Teague's daughter she had to leave because she lacked a mask, according to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. Teague argued with Munerlyn, 43, before leaving. Two men later came to the store and allegedly shot the security guard to death.. Bishop's sister, Brya Bishop, was previously charged with tampering with evidence, lying to police and being an accessory to a felony. Leyton has said she attempted to

Carolina Vasquez lost track of days and nights, unable to see the sunlight while stuck for two weeks in a windowless cruise ship cabin as a fever took hold of her body. On the worst night of her encounter with COVID-19, the Chilean woman, a line cook on the Greg Mortimer ship, summoned the strength to take a cold shower fearing the worst: losing consciousness while isolated from others. Vasquez, 36, and tens of thousands of other crew members have been trapped for weeks aboard dozens of cruise ships around the world long after governments and cruise lines negotiated their passengers' disembarkation. Some have gotten ill and died; others have survived but are no longer getting paid. Both national and local governments have stopped crews from disembarking in order to prevent new cases of COVID-19 in their territories. Some of the ships, including 20 in US waters, have seen infections and deaths among the crew. But most ships have had no confirmed cases. "I never thought this would turn

In Texas, where the Republican governor was praised by President Donald Trump for loosening restrictions, hair salons and barber shops were allowed to reopen Friday, following earlier restarts of restaurants and retailers. Republican Senator Ted Cruz flew up from Houston to get his hair cut at a Dallas salon that became a rallying cry for conservative protests against lockdown orders after the owner refused to shut down and was jailed. She was later ordered released. California, which imposed the first statewide stay-home order in the U.S., was taking more modest steps. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom allowed clothing stores, sporting goods shops, florists and other retailers to start operating curbside pickup Friday, with many employees required to wear masks. Pennsylvania announced that 13 counties, including much of the Pittsburgh area, can loosen restrictions next week, following a similar move for a swath of rural northern Pennsylvania. South Carolina restaurants can reopen with

Barcelona returned to training after the La Liga champions allowed their stars to enter their facility to prepare for a potential restart to football in Spain. Lionel Messi and company took the fields at Joan Gamper training centre for individual sessions, for which the players arrived alone in kit and took to the three pitches without passing through the changing rooms. As well as doing their routines, they were also subjected to tests to see what effect two months of coronavirus quarantine has had on their bodies. "Finally we are getting back to normal. We hope to carry on and that soon we can get back to enjoying what we like to do most," Arturo Vidal told sports daily Marca. Sevilla, Villarreal, Osasuna and Leganes also returned to training, while Real Madrid -- who were two points behind league leaders Barca when play stopped in mid-March -- will likely start again on Monday should their players pass virus tests carried out on Wednesday. That would mark almost two months since ...

The NBA took tiny steps toward a return to normalcy, as a small number of practice facilities reopened for workouts and at least one team received permission from the league to test players and staff for the coronavirus. Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took part in a teleconference with members of the National Basketball Players Association on Friday night. Silver, according to a person familiar with the call's details, told players that the league is still aiming to hold full best-of-seven playoff series should the season resume and that playing without fans is an obvious possibility. Silver also spoke about the well-known notion of having the season resume in a centralized location, though cautioned that no decisions may be made for another several weeks, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details of the call were not publicly released. Cleveland and Portland were open for players who wanted to get voluntary workouts ..

AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni has revealed that some of his squad members were still recovering from coronavirus. Serie A has been on hold since mid-March but Italian Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Thursday he was hopeful group training could resume on May 18. "We have some infected players in the process of recovery," Scaroni told local media. Scaroni believes Italian football must live with COVID-19 and take an example from the Bundesliga which will restart on May 16. "We have to get used to living with the virus and this also applies to football," he said. "It is not possible to stand still until there is zero infection. Basically we can adopt the German formula that provides that those who are sick go into quarantine while their teammates continue." Milan technical director Paolo Maldini, together with his 18-year-old son Daniel, a youth team player, have both recovered from the virus. "Maldini father and son are doing well. There are players who are improving, but .

Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra's tenure as the chief of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has been extended till May next year after its annual congress was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to postpone the Congress, which was earlier scheduled to begin in New Delhi on October 28, was taken at an online meeting of the FIH Executive Board on Friday. "I'm looking forward to the numerous tournaments and competitions ahead of us, which we are preparing with full dedication and passion with all National Associations involved," Batra said. The exact date of the postponed congress will be confirmed as soon as possible, the FIH said in a statement. "This decision, made due to the current uncertainties following the global COVID-19 pandemic, is based on Art. 12.1 of the FIH Statutes, covering cases of force majeure," it added. The postponement means the tenures of all the current FIH office-bearers get extension until next year's ...

Actor Elle Fanning says she would love to pursue direction if she gets a good story. The actor said she "badly" wants to go behind the camera. "It's something that I do want to do badly. You've just got to find the right story. What is it that you want to tell? Is it going to be personal? Is it not? Are you going to write it? Are you not? A lot of big questions. I will for sure one day," Fanning said in an interview with Variety. She will next be seen as Catherine the Great in Hulu's 10-part satirical comedy series "The Great", which debuts on May 15. Fanning is also looking forward to The Nightingale, which also features her sister Dakota. The film, directed by actor Melanie Laurent, was scheduled to release in December but has been postponed by a year due to coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump, who's taken to calling the US the king of ventilators, is making plans to ship 8,000 of the breathing machines to foreign countries by the end of July to help in their fight against the coronavirus. That's a long way from the early days of the virus when US medical workers were wondering if a shortage of ventilators would force them to make painful decisions about which patients would get them. Now, the US has a surplus and the president is sharing them with other countries a goodwill gesture that also helps him offset criticism about his own early response to the pandemic. The White House did not respond to a request for specifics about how many ventilators have been sent so far, or the criteria for determining which countries will get them. But an administration official familiar with the effort provided the 8,000 figure as part of a list of actions aimed at supporting health systems abroad. The official was not authorized to discuss the projection publicly .

Several American lawmakers have introduced a legislation in Congress to offer the 40,000 unused green cards to thousands of foreign nurses and doctors to meet the urgent needs of the overstretched healthcare sector in the US, the worst hit nation by the coronavirus pandemic. The US has nearly 1,284,000 cases of confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 77,000 people have died due to the highly contagious disease. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would allow for recapturing green cards that were approved by Congress but unused in past years, allowing thousands of additional medical professionals to serve permanently in the United States. The legislation would send green cards to 25,000 nurses and 15,000 doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that states like Iowa have the professionals they need to serve patients for years to come, a media release said. The move is likely to benefit a large number of Indian nurses and doctors in the US, who are either on H-1B or J2 visas. The ..

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan is set to tackle the film adaptation of yet another book from celebrated author Stephen King. Flanagan, who previously helmed the film version of King's novel"Doctor Sleep", is now adapting a scrip from the author's 2014 book "Revival". The filmmaker also has the option to direct the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project has been set up at Warner Bros and will be produced by Flanagan and Trevor Macy through their banner Intrepid Pictures. "Revival" centres around the relationship between a heroin-addicted musician and a dubious faith healer with a hidden agenda. The minister is obsessed with trying to find a way to communicate with his departed wife and child but ends up connecting to a Lovecraftian horror. Flanagan and Macy have earlier teamed for the 2017 adaptation of King's novel "Gerald's Game", which released on Netflix. They also collaborated on the 2018 Netflix series "The Haunting of Hill House".

World Cup winning-Australia captain Meg Lanning has used the extra time in hand amid the COIVD-19 pandemic to provide a virtual batting class to Ireland women's cricket squad. Lanning was joined by former Ireland skipper Isobel Joyce in the initiative that took place this week to help the players keep their skills sharp during the forced break from cricket. The duo touched upon a number of topics, including the mental preparation going into a big game, shot selection and an analysis of the Australian captain's T20I century against England last year. The session was chaired by Irish women's team head coach Ed Joyce and also featured Australia boss Matthew Mott. "Any time you can pick the brains of experienced cricketers such as Meg and Isobel is valuable, and I know that our entire squad enjoyed this unique opportunity," Ireland skipper Laura Delany said. "People often underestimate the mental aspect of the game, and both players spoke about the importance of mental preparation before .

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday approved amendments to the country's state of emergency that grant him and security agencies additional powers, which the government says are needed to combat the coronavirus outbreak. An international rights group condemned the amendments, saying the government has used the global pandemic to expand, not reform, Egypt's abusive Emergency Law. The new amendments allow the president to to take measures to contain the virus, such as suspending classes at schools and universities and quarantining those returning from abroad. But they also include expanded powers to ban public and private meetings, protests, celebrations and other forms of assembly. The government has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since 2013, when el-Sissi rose to power, and unauthorized protests have been banned for years. The amendments also allow military prosecutors to investigate incidents when army officers are tasked with law enforcement or when the .

From resounding applause to ostracization and isolation. That's essentially the journey Lt. Cmdr. Robert Embleton, who served 34 years in Britain's Royal Navy, took by ambulance when discharged from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, southwestern England, on April 8 following his near-month sickness with COVID-19. Arriving at his retirement home, he immediately went into self-isolation with his wife of 55 years, Jean, who has shown no symptoms of the virus. Soon after, Embleton realized he was carrying some new baggage the stigma of the virus. He even considered buying a bell to warn of his presence. I was regarded as a sort of leper, a plague carrier. Some people when they spotted me, they recoiled, the 79-year-old told The Associated Press. I was particularly regarded as a menace. That's some contrast to his final moments at Derriford Hospital, when the somewhat embarrassed Embleton received a round of applause from all the front-line staff from the cleaners to the doctors. Embleton ..

A new series based on actor Hilary Duff's character from "Younger" is in works at ViacomCBS. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company is working with "Younger" creator Darren Star on the spin-off show that will see Duff returning as Kelsey Peters. The new show could be headed to Paramount Network, where the original series was slated to move for its sixth season. But the plans were shelved and the show remained in its original home on TV Land, which is owned ViacomCBS. "Younger", which started in 2015, features Sutton Foster as Liza Miller, a 40-year-old divorcee who has to manage her career in a publishing company having faked her identity as a younger woman to get her job, while her romantic and professional lives are measured against ups and comings. Duff's Kelsey Peters is a book editor at Empirical Press who befriends Liza after they start working together. The show also stars Nico Tortorella, Peter Hermann, Miriam Shor, Debi Mazar, Molly Bernard and Charles Michael

Music icon Bob Dylan is set to release his first album of original songs in eight years, Rough and Rowdy Ways, on June 19. The album is a follow up of 2012's "Tempest. The Nobel Prize-winning singer shared the release date of his new studio effort on Instagram and also released a third song from the album, the guitar-heavy False Prophet". The song follows Murder Most Foul and I Contain Multitudes. The album, his 39th collection of original songs, is said to be named after the 1929 Jimmie Rodgers classic My Rough and Rowdy Ways. It has ten tracks; on the CD version, while the 17-minute-long Murder Most Foul will get its own disc.

Singapore on Saturday saw a drop in its daily tally of new coronavirus cases as the city-state reported 753 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total to 22,460, majority of them foreign nationals, including Indians, living in dormitories. On Friday, Singapore reported 768 new cases of coronavirus. The Health Ministry said the vast majority of the 753 new cases reported on Saturday are work permit holders (foreigners) residing in worker dormitories. Nine cases are Singapore citizens or permanent residents (foreigners). As of Friday, 19,232 of the 323,000 foreign workers living in dormitories, or nearly six per cent, have tested positive for COVID-19, reported The Straits Times. Singapore had placed 18,402 coronavirus patients in isolation while 1,245 are hospitalised by Friday, according to a data from the Health Ministry. The Ministry said 1,245 cases were still in hospital while 20 people have died of the disease. Singapore currently has the highest number of coronavirus cases ..

Jihadists burst into the gold mine where Moussa Tambura worked in Burkina Faso, forbidding everyone from smoking and drinking. It wasn't long before the men returned and leveled the place to the ground. They attacked the site, killed people and burned houses, said Tambura, 29, clenching his fists. He was able to find work again after fleeing to Bouda, another town in country's north that still has small-scale mining. Still, he struggles to provide for his family since his new job isn't as lucrative as his old one. Jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization have been overrunning gold mines like Tambura's one by one as they try to gain control of Burkina Faso's most lucrative industry. The extremists are then collecting a protection tax from communities living around the gold mines and also forcing the miners to sell them the gold exclusively, which is then smuggled and sold across the border in places like Benin, Ghana or Togo. The violence already has shuttered ...

A Colombian advertising company is pitching a novel if morbid solution to shortages of hospital beds and coffins during the coronavirus pandemic: combine them. ABC Displays has created a cardboard bed with metal railings that designers say can double as a casket if a patient dies. Company manager Rodolfo Gmez said he was inspired to find a way to help after watching events unfold recently in nearby Ecuador. Families in the coastal city of Guayaquil waited with dead loved ones in their homes for days last month as COVID-19 cases surged. Many could not find or were unable to afford a wood coffin, using donated cardboard ones instead. Gmez said he plans to donate 10 of his new beds to Colombia's Amazonas department, where resources are in short supply. So far there is no indication whether the beds will be put to use and no orders have been placed.

The number of people dying from the coronavirus in Ohio's nursing homes has continued to increase at an alarming pace. Close to 500 residents of long-term care centers have died of COVID-19 in the past three weeks, according to data released by the state this week. That's nearly double the total reported for the previous two weeks. The increase in deaths could be attributed to a significant jump or a backlog of cases being added over the past week, said Melanie Amato, a spokeswoman for the state health department. Since mid-April, more than 4,300 nursing home residents and staff members have tested positive for the virus. The numbers don't tell the entire story of how the virus has devastated nursing homes during the pandemic because the Ohio Department of Health has only released the totals for just the past three weeks. Before that, the state didn't require local health departments to report nursing home deaths linked to the virus.

A 40-year-old Indian-origin woman in Singapore was charged with five counts, including use of criminal force, in a court here on Saturday for refusing to wear a face mask for protection against COVID-19 and assaulting a police officer who tried to ascertain her identity. Kasturi Govindasamy Retnamswamy was arrested after the incident that happened at a shopping mall on May 7 and was captured on video. Retnamswamy, who is a Singaporean, was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for psychiatric evaluation after the incident, reported The Straits Times. She was taken to a court on Saturday and faced five charges, including use of abusive words and criminal force against a public servant. The next hearing is scheduled for May 22 after her remand in the IMH. According to the police statement on Friday, the woman insulted the mall staff and hurled abuses at a security officer who was trying to get her to put on her mask correctly. The widely-shared video of the incident shows a ..

Mounting a strong defence of the ruling Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has said the COVID-19 fight has once again shown that the CPC leadership and the country's socialist political system can overcome any challenge. Xi's comments came as China faced global criticism for its initial inaction to act against the novel coronavirus, which according to Chinese officials emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year. Pressure is also mounting on Beijing to agree for an international probe on the origins of the vicious virus, including from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), as claimed by the US leadership. China curbed the spread of the coronavirus in over a month and brought COVID-19 under control at its first epicentre in Wuhan in about three months, Xi, also the General Secretary of the CPC, said at a symposium held on Friday to get suggestions from non-ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) parties on COVID-19 prevention and control. He termed the

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has tweaked its rules for the Golden Globes in regard to the foreign language film category, amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to Variety, HFPA has announced that foreign language films will not need a theatrical release in their own country to be eligible for the 2021 Golden Globes. Earlier there was a rule that foreign films must be released in their country of origin during the 15-month period from October 1 to December 31 prior to the awards. Foreign-language motion pictures that had a bona fide theatrical release planned to begin in their country of origin during the period from March 15 until a date to be determined by HFPA when cinemas in that country have generally reopened, may instead be released in any country in any format and will still be eligible for the Golden Globe foreign-language motion picture awards, the new rule states. The films can be released in motion picture format such as in theatres or on pay-per-view ..

A six-week-old baby has become the youngest victim of coronavirus in England as the official death toll across hospitals and the wider community linked to COVID-19 hit 31,241 in the UK. The baby's death on Friday comes as Britain prepares for some easing in the strict lockdown measures in place to curb the spread of the deadly virus as it is believed that Britain is past the peak of the pandemic. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to make a televised address on Sunday, during which he will lay out a comprehensive plan to start unlocking the economy. However, Cabinet ministers have been warning against raising expectations beyond a modest easing of the social distancing rules in place to manage the pressure on the state-funded National Health Service (NHS). There are some concerns that people would start flouting the stay-at-home message during a long Bank Holiday weekend to mark the 75th anniversary of the World War II Victory in Europe (VE) Day on Friday. I'm conscious that ...

Tens of thousands of people have turned out in the capital of Belarus despite sharply rising coronavirus infections to watch a military parade celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Belarus has not imposed wide-ranging restrictions to halt the virus' spread and authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed concerns about it as a "psychosis." At Saturday's parade of some 3,000 soldiers, Lukashenko said Belarus' ordeal in the war is incomparable with any difficulties of the present day. Some aged war veterans in the stands at the parade wore masks, but in general there were few masks to be seen in the throng of spectators. Belarus, a country of about 9 million, has recorded more than 21,000 cases of coronavirus infection.

Russian President Vladimir Putin marked Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, in a ceremony shorn of its usual military parade and pomp by the coronavirus pandemic. In neighboring Belarus, however, the ceremonies went ahead in full, with tens of thousands of people in the sort of proximity that has been almost unseen in the world for months. Putin on Saturday laid flowers at the tomb of the unknown soldier just outside the Kremlin walls and gave a short address honoring the valor and suffering of the Soviet army during the war. Victory Day is Russia's most important secular holiday and this year's observance had been expected to be especially large because it is the 75th anniversary, but the Red Square military parade and a mass procession called The Immortal Regiment were postponed as part of measures to stifle the spread of the virus. The only vestige of the conventional show of military might was a flyover of central Moscow by 75 warplanes and .

A shootout erupted on Saturday at a protest in western Afghanistan by residents demanding economic assistance, leading to the deaths of at least six people, including a local reporter and two police officers, officials said. Interior Ministry spokesman Tareq Arian said the protesters had gathered outside the governor's office in Feroz Koh, the capital of the western Ghor province. They were demanding relief after weeks of restrictions aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic. He said some people at the protest opened fire at police, igniting a gun battle that killed the six people and wounded another 19, including nine police. The ministry has launched an investigation and plans to send a delegation to the province. Afghanistan was already mired in poverty before the onset of the pandemic, which has infected nearly 3,800 people in the country and killed at least 109. Many Afghans rely on day labour, which has dried up because of the closure of nonessential businesses.

Kansas harvester Mike Keimig is growing increasingly anxious about whether the foreign seasonal workers he needs to run his nine combines and drive his grain trucks will arrive in time for the start of the winter wheat harvest, which is just weeks away. His regular crew mostly comprises farm kids from South Africa who return to work for him every year, but they are stuck overseas. The paperwork for about half of the 20 agricultural worker visas he has applied for remains in limbo at the shuttered U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg. The closure of embassies and consulates due to the coronavirus pandemic is not the only obstacle to bringing in seasonal workers. Governments have closed their borders. Overseas workers who have visas cannot get on a flight. And once they arrive, they would face weeks of quarantine before they could work. It will definitely have a big impact on our finances ... if we can't get help to run our equipment, Keimig said. It would even have an effect on the farmers. .

The coronavirus pandemic has cancelled dozens of spring traditions, from college basketball's Final Four to Easter Sunday services, but there's one rite that's going on largely unfettered turkey hunting. Every state except Alaska, which is the only state with no turkeys, hosts a spring turkey hunt each year. The birds, whose domesticated cousins grace Thanksgiving tables from Hawaii to Maine, are among America's greatest conservation success stories. The hunt is taking on a new look in some parts of the country this year due to social distancing laws. Many states, including Maine, are requiring out-of-state residents to self quarantine for two weeks when they enter the state. That functionally eliminates out-of-state hunters from coming to the Pine Tree State to bag a bird. Other states, including Kansas, have suspended the sale of turkey permits to non-residents to reduce spread of the coronavirus. Some have suspended the need to register a bird after shooting it. But all 49 states .

South Korea's capital closed down more than 2,100 bars and other nightspots Saturday because of a new cluster of coronavirus infections, and Germany scrambled to contain fresh outbreaks at slaughterhouses, underscoring the dangers authorities face as they try to reopen their economies. Elsewhere, Belarus, which has not locked down despite increasing case numbers, saw tens of thousands of people turn out to mark Victory Day, the anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945. That was in contrast to Russia, where a muted event took place over an empty Red Square. Around the world, the US and other hard-hit countries are wrestling with how to ease curbs on business and public activity without touching off a deadly second wave of infection. Germany and South Korea have both carried out extensive testing and contact tracing and have been hailed for avoiding the mass deaths that have overwhelmed other countries. But even there, authorities have struggled with finding the balance between ...

Nepal on Saturday raised objection over India inaugurating a strategically crucial link road connecting the Lipulekh pass at a height of 17,000 feet along the border with China in Uttarakhand with Dharchula, saying this "unilateral act" runs against the understanding reached between the two countries on resolving the border issues. Nepal's Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement said the government "has learnt with regret" about the inauguration of the link road connecting to Lipulekh pass, which Nepal claims to be part of its territory. The 80-Km new road inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday is expected to help pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet in China as it is around 90 kms from the Lipulekh pass. After inaugurating the road through video-conferencing, Singh said pilgrims going to Kailash-Mansarovar will now be able to complete their journey in one week instead of up to three weeks. The road originates at Ghatiabagarh and ends at Lipulekh pass, the ...

Two flights carrying a total of 335 people from the Gulf countries landed in Kerala's two airports on Friday night, as India's Vande Bharat Mission to bring home its nationals stranded due to COVID-19 lockdown in various countries entered second day. While an Air India repatriation flight from Riyadh carrying 153 passengers, including 84 pregnant women, 22 children and four infants landed at the Kozhikode airport 8 pm on Friday night, another Air India Express flight from Bahrain with 177 passengers, including 5 infants, reached Kochi airport at 11.32 pm. Two flights had landed at Kochi and Kozhikode on Thursday from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively. According to Kozhikode airport sources, the flight from Riyadh carried five people having some health issues and they would be shifted to Manjeri and Kozhikode medical college hospitals. Ten passengers from neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also travelled in the flight from Riyadh, the sources said. The passengers were ...

A case has been registered against office-bearers of Bandra Gymkhana in the city for violation of lockdown after a video purportedly showed members celebrating its completion of 85 years despite the lockdown restrictions. A lawyer filed a complaint saying that a video on social media showed Gymkhana members singing and dancing during the celebration of completion of 85 years of the club, a police officer said. A case under IPC sections 188 (defying public servant's order) and 269 (act which may spread infection) was registered against office-bearers and some members, he said, adding that probe was on.

Jharkhand on Friday reported its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases with 21 people testing positive, taking the total number of infections to 153 in the state, officials said. Of the total 455 swab samples tested during the day, 21 tested positive for COVID-19, said the Director of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Dr D K Singh. He said 25 more people recovered from the infection, bringing the total number of cured people in the state to 77. The officials did not provide any details of the 21 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the state on Friday. Since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 31 in the state, two persons have died of the infection while one COVID-19 patient died due to underlying health condition after testing negative.

With the Congress and Samajwadi Party attacking the Uttar Pradesh government for exempting industries in the state from some labour laws for the next three years, Labour Minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Friday accused the opposition of showing their anti-workers face and shedding crocodile for them. Those who are shedding crocodile tears for workers perhaps do not know that this ordinance will not only pave way for bringing investments but would also open employment opportunities at a time when large number of migrant labourers are returning home and have to be provided jobs in the state, Swami Prasad Maurya said. The state Cabinet chaired by the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier this week had given its nod to 'Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020' to exempt factories, business establishments and industries from the purview of all, except three labour laws and one provision of another law for three years. Earlier in the day, Congress general ..

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said the West Bengal government is not allowing trains with migrant workers to reach the state that may further create hardship for the labourers. In a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Shah said not allowing trains to reach West Bengal is "injustice" to the migrant workers from the state. Referring to the 'Shramik Special' trains being run by the central government to facilitate transport of migrant workers from different parts of the country to various destinations, the home minister said in the letter that the Centre has facilitated more than two lakh migrants workers to reach home. Shah said migrant workers from West Bengal are also eager to reach home and the central government is also facilitating the train services. "But we are not getting expected support from the West Bengal. The state government of West Bengal is not allowing the trains reaching to West Bengal. This is injustice with West Bengal migrant labourers. This ...

The Punjab Police on Saturday arrested from Haryana a drug smuggler who was wanted in a 532 kg heroin seizure case, police said. Ranjeet Singh Rana was arrested from a hideout in Sirsa in Haryana, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta told PTI. Rana was wanted in a narcotics haul case in which the Customs department last year had seized 532 kg of heroin worth Rs 2,700 crore in rock salt consignments at the Integrated Check Post at Attari in Amritsar. He was the kingpin of the narcotics haul. Rana was nabbed following recent arrest of Hizbul Mujahideen operatives in Amritsar. "Following up further on arrests of Hizbul operatives in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, the Punjab Police juggernaut moved further to nab Ranjeet of Amritsar, one of the biggest drug smugglers of India from Sirsa today. Cheeta was wanted in 532 kg heroin haul from Attari in June 2019," the DGP tweeted. Along with Rana, his brother was also arrested in an operation conducted by the Punjab Police in ..

Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat on Saturday expressed concern over the stand taken by several states to not take in migrant workers who were stranded in Maharashtra due to the COVID-19 lockdown. In a statement, Thorat, who is also the state Congress president, alleged that arbitrary decisions taken by many states regarding migrant workers had worsened the situation. The Maharashtra government was making every possible attempt to send stranded migrants back to their hometowns, but several states were not willing to take in their own citizens, the minister claimed. Thorat demanded that the Centre intervene in the matter and give clear guidelines to all states before the situation worsens. There were nearly 10 lakh migrants in Maharashtra who wished to return to their home states and so far, 32 trains had been operated from the state, he said. Thorat further claimed that there were several workers from West Bengal and Odisha who wanted to return to their ...

A man committed suicide by hanging himself after allegedly killing his wife and a minor son in Bilniyasar village in the district, police said on Saturday. The incident occurred in the Jasrasar police station area, where the man, identified as Suresh, allegedly thrashed his wife Suman (35) and an 11-year-old son in a fit of rage over some issue on Friday night, they said. After killing them, he allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself, the police said. His wife was working as an auxiliary nurse midwife at a local sub health centre. She was living in a government quarter, they said. The bodies were shifted to a hospital and the matter is being probed, the police added.

The Karnataka government may not extend the daily working hours from 8 to 12, with Labour Minister A Shivaram Hebbar saying on Saturday that the move would neither benefit the industries nor workers. Hebbar told PTI that the proposal has not been discussed and it may come for final deliberations next week. He also noted that some States have already extended the working hours. More than extending working hours, there should be employment to be given. If there are no jobs what can be done by extending working hours? If it is done (working hours extended to 12 hours), it would not neither benefit workers nor industries. Let's see what happens, he said. Asked if the government was in favour of the extension, he said, "I don't think it will be ready for the (12 hour) proposal." Meanwhile, the Minister also said that their top priority now was to see that all MSMEs start operating again, salaries are paid to employees and there are no job losses for any reason. If industries ...

Mild tension prevailed at the LG Polymers at RR Venkatapuram village near here as villagers staged a protest on Saturday demanding immediate closure of the plant. A styrene vapour leak from the plastics manufacturing plant caused the death of 12 people on Thursday. Tens of villagers, who were provided shelter in Visakhapatnam after the vapour leak, returned to the village on Saturday morning, raising slogans against the factory management and demanding its closure. A large police force was present near the factory as DGP DG Sawang was scheduled to visuit it. The police tried to prevent the villagers from going near the plant but the latter ran past the former and staged a it- in protest near the factory gate. Police immediately took the protesters into custody and whisked them away.

High tension prevailed at the LG Polymers at RR Venkatapuram village near here as irate villagers staged a protest on Saturday demanding immediate closure of the plant. The protesters placed two bodies of the dead in front of the factory main gate as part of the agitation while some youths barged into the plant even as state Director General of Police D G Sawang was inspecting the vapour leak spot and talking to the management on the measures taken to restore normalcy. The bodies were brought to the village for cremation on Saturday from the KGH mortuary after post-mortem. The angry villagers, however, stopped the ambulances in front of the plant gate and laid the bodies on the road. Emotions ran high as the villagers demanded that the plant be shut down immediately as it completely ruined our lives. A styrene vapour leak from the plastics manufacturing plant caused the death of 12 persons on Thursday. Hundreds of villagers, who were provided shelter in Visakhapatnam ...

The AAP government has told the Delhi High Court that adequate ration was being provided to Rohingya families at three camps in south and north east parts of the city during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The submission was made by the Delhi government before a bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula, which was hearing a plea seeking immediate relief for the Rohingya families at settlements in Khajuri Khas in north east Delhi and Shram Vihar and Madanpur Khadar in south Delhi. Delhi government additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose and advocate Urvi Mohan also told the court that four hunger centres were being run near the settlements mentioned in the plea. The petitioner, Fazal Abdali, claimed that the Rohingyas at these three camps were being denied relief under the various schemes announced by the Delhi government to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The bench, however, noted that the petitioner had not given any specific particulars of the neglect faced by these families

BJP leader Pankaja Munde has said that she was not upset over not being nominated by the party for the upcoming Legislative Council election. In a tweet, Munde asked her supporters not to get demoralised. "We both are there for each other and have the blessings of saheb (father Gopinath Munde)," she said. The former BJP minister, who lost the Parli seat in last year's assembly polls to her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, said she was not upset over not being given a ticket for the May 21 biennial elections. "You called up my mother and sister (Beed MP Pritam Munde) to express your dismay. I did not take calls because I had nothing to say. I am not upset. My best wishes to the four party candidates," she said. A party source said that senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who was keen on representing the party in the Council, is upset over not being considered. The BJP has fielded former NCP MP Ranjitsinh Mohite, lesser-known faces like Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke ..

Hyundai Motor India on Saturday said its Chennai-based manufacturing facility rolled out 200 cars on the first day of resuming production. The company re-started manufacturing activities at its plant in Sriperumbudur (near Chennai) on May 8. The auto major has commenced production at the facility adhering to 100 per cent compliance of safety and social distancing norms, Hyundai Motor India said in a statement. In line with the government's objectives of reviving the economy and company's global vision of progress for humanity, the commencement of manufacturing operations is aimed at boosting economic activities and bringing back normalcy, it added. Several industries are resuming operations in a phased manner following an over month-long shutdown due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Puducherry Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao on Saturday said the Centre has lauded the performance of the territorial administration in keeping the spread of COVID-19 at bay as there had been only two to three active cases of the infection. Talking to reporters here, Rao said the Joint Secretaries of the Union Health Ministry had contacted him seeking to clarify as to whether Puducherry was "really having such a small number of active cases." The officials also wanted to know whether the figures furnished were really "correct." They raised eyebrows largely because of the high incidence of the pandemic in the neighbouring districts of Villupuram and Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, he said. Rao said he had told them that the team work done by departments of Health, Police, Revenue and Disaster Management, Public Health and other line departments here has been chiefly responsible for the good achievement of Union Territory. He said he had apprised the officials of the meticulous

Homegrown mobile phone maker Lava on Saturday said it has resumed manufacturing operations with 20 per cent capacity. "Lava has resumed production at its manufacturing facility in Noida. The company has started operating with 20 per cent of its production capacity, post receiving an approval from the state authorities. 600 out of its 3500 workforce have resumed work," Lava said in a statement. The factory has been shut since the time the government announced the coronavirus lockdown. However, it kept meeting export requirements through its facility in China, it added. The government has given permission to mobile phone companies to start work at factories but the firms are expected to face bottlenecks in component supply and worker availability. "We welcome the government's move to permit mobile phone companies to resume operations. Though, we might face some challenge due to the delayed availability of manpower & materials, we have sufficient inventory to maintain the pace of our

Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday alleged that the 16 migrant workers, who were crushed to death by a train in Maharashtra on Friday, had applied to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan govenment for passes to travel back home about a fortnight ago, but the administration failed to act on it. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted a video in which a survivor of the train tragedy claimed that they had applied for their return to their respective districts in Madhya Pradesh. Alleging that the MP government's "negligence and inaction" led to the death of the workers, Singh also called for a probe to know what arrangements the BJP-led government had done to bring back these workers after they applied for return. "The workers killed in the train accident had asked for passes from the Shivraj government about fifteen days back. These 16 lives could have been saved, if passes were issued. Shivraj ji, these deaths are the result of jungle raj," Madhya Pradesh ...

Five people were arrested for allegedly conducting congregational prayers at a mosque here in violationofthe COVID-19 lockdown norms. A case was registered against five people for conducting evening prayers on Friday, police said. We received information that prayers were being conducted in the mosque, they said adding they were held at Eriyad Masjidul Bilal mosque here. On Friday, four people, including the president of a local temple trust, were arrested for allegedly conducting a religious recitation in a temple here in violation of lockdown restrictions. Though lockdown conditions have been eased in accordance with the Centre's guidelines, public gatherings, including functions, weddings, political events and religious gatherings were not allowed.