Lifestyle news

For the first time, four patients of B.A. 4 variant and three cases of B.A. 5 variants of the Omicron sub-lineage of coronavirus have been found in Maharashtra, an official of the state health department said on Saturday.
All of them had only mild symptoms and were treated at home, he added.
These sub-lineages of Omicron were found in April in some parts of the world including South Africa, but until now no cases had been detected in the state.
“The whole genome sequencing was conducted by

Aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday said it has imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on IndiGo airline for denying boarding to a specially abled child at Ranchi airport on May 7.
IndiGo had on May 9 said the boy was denied permission to board the Ranchi-Hyderabad flight as he was “visibly in panic”. As the boy was prohibited from boarding, his parents – who were accompanying him – also decided not to enter the plane.
The DGCA had on May 9 formed a three-member team to investigate

The southwest monsoon is likely to hit the Kerala coast in two to three days marking the start of the three-month season of rainfall across the subcontinent, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast on Friday.
“There is an increase in cloudiness over Kerala coast and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea. Hence, conditions are becoming favourable for monsoon onset over Kerala during the next 2-3 days,” the IMD said. The usual date of the onset of monsoon is June 1.
Meanwhile, pri

As India’s literary circuit celebrates the first-ever International Booker Prize for an Indian language book, Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand, a translated version of Ret Samadhi in Hindi, the mood is upbeat for publishing in regional languages.
As if taking a cue from Frank Wynne, the chair of the judges for this year’s prize, who said in an online news conference that the recognition for Tomb of Sand was important given its language, as tens of thousands of books are publishe

Even as the world returns to pre-Covid ways, the pandemic is not abating anytime soon. The ferocity of the Delta wave may not be there, but the rate of infection is very consistent. India for example witnessed a sharp surge in the first week of May followed by an almost flat-curve trend. However, as the month comes to an end, the country is seeing a noticeable uptick once again. Meanwhile, the monkeypox infections have crossed 200-mark globally. Though, this may look like a miniscule number in t

Super cyclones, the most intense form of tropical storms, are likely to have a much more devastating impact on people in India in the future due to climate change, according to a modelling study.
Researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK examined the 2020 Super Cyclone Amphan – the most costly cyclone to make landfall in South Asia — and predicted its implications under several scenarios of sea-level rise caused by global warming.
The study, published in the journal Climat

The Moon, considered as earth’s only natural satellite, wasn’t geologically dead in the past, as is considered today. According to new research, many volcanic eruptions took place on the surface of the moon billions of years ago. However, the years of cooling down has resulted in the creation of dark blotches or maria, showing what it is now.
A new research by the University of Colorado Boulder has suggested that volcanoes may have left sheets of ice on the lunar surface which are hu

The World Health Organisation says nearly 200 cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 20 countries not usually known to have outbreaks of the unusual disease, but described the epidemic as “containable” and proposed creating a stockpile to equitably share the limited vaccines and drugs available worldwide.
During a public briefing on Friday, the UN health agency said there are still many unanswered questions about how the current epidemic arose, but there is no evidence th

The southwest monsoon is expected to reach Kerala during the next two to three days, marking a sluggish start to the seasonal rains that are the lifeline of India’s agri-based economy.
Earlier, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecast the onset over Kerala on Friday (May 27) with help from the remnants of Cyclone Asani, that struck the Bay of Bengal a fortnight ago. The forecast had a model error of four days.
However, the influence of the remnant weather systems, that linger

Is it a concept of science thriller fiction or a not-so-distant reality? Can novel coronavirus and monkeypox virus infect one person at a same time? These are some of the worries that many of us are living with ever since the news of monkeypox virus broke. There have been many assumptions and several alarmist takes. But what are the experts saying? How do they view this scenario? Here’s what we know so far:
First things first. So far, across the world, not a single case has been reported w

Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, can lead to severe bone loss during the acute and post-recovery phases of the disease, according to a study conducted in hamsters. The findings, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, provide insights into the possible long-term complications of COVID-19.In addition to lung infection, complications of different organ systems in the long-term SARS-CoV-2 infection, or “long COVID,” have been inc

According to North Korea, its fight against COVID-19 has been impressive: About 3.3 million people have been reported sick with fevers, but only 69 have died.
If all are coronavirus cases, that’s a fatality rate of 0.002%, something no other country, including the world’s richest, has achieved against a disease that has killed more than 6 million people.
The North’s claims, however, are being met with widespread doubt about two weeks after it acknowledged its first domestic COV

Odisha reported the highest point decline in the country in “Infant Mortality Rate” with 39 points decline from 2005 to 2020, according to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Odisha on Thursday. According to a report by news agency ANI, the department has stated that “as per the latest publication of SRS bulletin, 2020, Odisha’s Infant Mortality Rate, now stands at 36/1000 live birth.”
“With effective implications of quality healthcare services and fo

By Sidhharrth S Kumaar
“One word that frees us of all the weight and pain of life: the word is love.”
We all are born in love and with the idea of love. Each person has their own way of expression. Do we know what we need or what we look for? Let’s explore that.  
Aries
Aries is spontaneous and so at the very moment when getting attracted to someone, will fall in love. They are adventurous in love. They are the ones who always care about their partners and believ

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday inaugurated the Lavender Festival, a first for India, in Jammu’s Bhaderwah. Lavender cultivation has transformed the mountainous area’s economy and Singh said it was a potential destination for agri-tech start-ups. Singh described Bhaderwah in Doda district as the birthplace of the purple revolution, possible due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary rural upliftment policies. The minister said the Lavender Festival in Bhader

The Union government is planning to repurpose the Co-WIN platform for India’s Universal Immunisation Programme and other national health programmes while continuing with its current function of recording Covid vaccination and issuing certificates. The vaccination record under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is now maintained manually.“Once Co-WIN is repurposed to include the UIP, the entire vaccination system will become digitised, thus easing tracking beneficiaries and fa

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath highlighted the provision to set aside Rs 100 crore for preparations for the 2025 Maha Kumbh soon after the 2022-23 annual Budget was tabled in the Assembly. The Rs 6-lakh-crore Budget’s religious, regional, and cultural focus was evident as Adityanath highlighted the government’s aim to present the upcoming Maha Kumbh as the biggest “spiritual and cultural gathering”. The Budget made provisions for infrastructure and amen

Geetanjali Shree’s novel Tomb of Sand has become the first book in an Indian language to win the International Booker Prize. Originally published as Ret Samadhi in Hindi, the book has been translated into English by Daisy Rockwell.
During her acceptance speech in London, the New Delhi-based author said she was overwhelmed with the “bolt from the blue”. The prize, worth £50,000, was shared between Geetanjali and Rockwell.
Tomb of Sand is set in nor

Even as the world returns to pre-Covid ways, the pandemic is not abating anytime soon. The ferocity of the Delta wave may not be there, but the rate of infection is very consistent. India for example witnessed a sharp surge in the first week of May followed by an almost flat-curve trend. However, as the month comes to an end, the country is seeing a noticeable uptick once again. Meanwhile, the monkeypox infections have crossed 200-mark globally. Though, this may look like a miniscule number in t

In a significant development, NASA has discovered a huge spiral galaxy that has been named NGC 3227. According to the US-based space agency, this galaxy is wrapped in a “gravitational dance”, along with NGC 3226, believed to be an elliptical galaxy. The two galaxies have been collectively called Arp 94.
Both galaxies are nearly 50 and 60 million light-years from Earth and are located in the constellation Leo. The pair of galaxies is linked with faint tidal streams of gas and dust in

We are nearing the hottest month of the year and with that, we all look forward to a liquid diet that’s rich in nutrients and helps us in dealing with the heat. So, we thought of curating a few detox smoothies that are not just refreshing & cool, but help in detoxing the body while providing it nutrition. Smoothies are the easiest way to nourish the body and thus incorporated by several people in their diets. Most of these smoothies can be made under 10 minutes and just need a blender

The easing of travel restrictions following two years of strict curbs due to the outbreak of Covid-19 has led to a sharp increase in flight ticket bookings. Fintech major Paytm witnessed strong growth in daily flight bookings amid rising demand for both domestic and international air travel. During mid-January to April, the Paytm app witnessed an over 50% increase in daily bookings despite soaring airfares. This was accompanied by a sharp drop in cancellations, down to 6% from 22% in mid-Ja

Increasing ambient temperatures negatively impact human sleep around the globe, according to a study.
The research, published recently in the journal One Earth, suggests that by the year 2099, suboptimal temperatures may erode 50 to 58 hours of sleep per person per year.
The researchers also found that the effect of temperature on sleep loss is substantially larger for residents from lower income countries as well as in older adults and females.
“Our results indicate that sleep — an

The BRICS countries have launched a joint committee aimed at enhancing cooperation and enabling the space agencies of the member countries to work together more closely in the remote sensing satellite observation and data sharing fields.
The Joint Committee on Space Cooperation was officially launched by the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – on Wednesday.
Zhang Kejian, the head of the China National Space Administration, said at the committee’s f

Ahead of International Day of Yoga, the All India Institute of Ayurveda has launched a campaign to promote the concept of combining Yoga and Ayurveda to achieve holistic healing, an official statement said on Thursday.
The AIIA, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Ayush, launched the #YogaSeAyu campaign, it said.
“The integrated campaign is in sync with the MoA’s ‘Yoga Utsav’ and aims to promote the concept of combining Yoga and Ayurveda to achieve holistic healing,

After a six-day pause, the south-west monsoon has started lingering towards Kerala, having covered southern Sri Lanka on Thursday, the weather office said.
“Conditions are favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon over some more parts of South Arabian Sea, entire Maldives and adjoining areas of Lakshadweep and some more parts of Comorin area during next 48 hours,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday afternoon.
According to reports, parts of Kerala hav

Amid the Monkeypox outbreak which has been reported in nearly 20 countries, no suspected cases of the disease have been detected in India so far. According to a health expert on Wednesday, Monkeypox is not as contagious as COVID-19 which wreaked havoc across the world. “Monkeypox is not as contagious or severe as COVID. However, its spread is a matter of concern. No suspect cases have been reported in India so far,” Dr NK Arora, Chairperson of the COVID working group, NTAGI, said as

Asia-Pacific and the Middle East aviation industry is experiencing green shoots of recovery amid domestic passenger traffic making considerable progress even as international traffic largely remains stagnant, according to the Airports Council International Asia-Pacific (ACI APAC) quarterly report.The industry showed encouraging signs of recovery in the first quarter of 2022— capacity was rebuilding in many parts of APAC and the Middle East ; domestic passenger traffic made considerable pro

Emissions from biomass burning, rather than fireworks, drive Delhi’s poor air quality in the days after Diwali, a new study has found. The study — Chemical Speciation and Source Apportionment of Ambient PM2.5 in New Delhi Before, During, and After the Diwali Fireworks — was led by scientists from IIT-Delhi and published in the Atmospheric Pollution Research journal.
The research was partly funded by the Union Ministry of Education and IIT-Delhi and conducted as part o

German Ambassador to India and Bhutan, Walter J Lindner on Thursday said the government of the European nation will start recognizing Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine for travel purpose there from June 1.In a tweet, Lindner said, “Very happy that GER government just decided to recognize WHO-listed Covaxin for travels to GER, starting June 1! This Embassy has been pushing very actively for such decision (because of Covid-backlogs visa sections have longer waiting periods than normal,