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Kochi: World’s first Omicron death has been reported in the UK even as the cases were increasing rapidly with 40 percent of the Covid cases are infected with Omicron variant, media reports quoting British premier Boris Johnson said. Even as the first case was reported in South Africa, the first death has been reported in

Kochi: Kerala reported its first Omicron case at Ernakulam, Health Minister Veena George said. The person, hailing from Ernakulam, came from the UK via Abu Dhabi on December 6, media reports said. The first test in the airport was negative. The second test showed positive. His wife and mother in law who accompanied him are

Kochi: Kerala government is aiming to make Kerala a hub of higher education and for that to happen, able academics should head higher education institutions, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. Responding to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan’s letter expressing concern over political interference in Governor’s work, the Chief Minister told a press conference at Kannur that

Kochi: Political interference in the university appointments has become unbearable, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has lamented. Appointments of the influential are at its peak and the government has been apprised about it, but there is no end to it, Khan told reporters. The Governor, who has already sent a letter to the Chief Minister

Kochi: Warning the left government against taking steps that would lead to a situation similar to the farmers’ strike, noted environmentalist Medha Patkar on Friday said that the government cannot afford to overlook people’s movement. She said it was undemocratic on part of the government to not make public the DPR. The left parties who

Kochi: A helicopter carrying the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Bipin Rawat, his wife and others crashed near Coonoor in Nilgiris district today. A total number of 14 persons including Madhulika Rawat were onboard.  Bodies of four persons have been detected from the MI-17, media reports said. Initially the locals reached the spot before the

Kochi: Twenty one cases of Omicron have been confirmed in different places in the country. Nine members of a family in Rajasthan were found infected with the virus. The infected had returned from South Africa via Dubai on November 25, media reports said. Seven cases were reported in Maharashtra where six were in Chinchwad and

Kochi: Thirteen civilians and a soldier were killed during anti insurgency operations and resultant public retaliation in Mon district in Nagaland bordering Myanmar. The security personnel had launched the attack on the basis of an intelligence report, media reports said. The army has sought apologies for the killings due to mistaken identity. The army is

Kochi: India’s historic association with Israel is paying rich dividends as its ultra modern Heron drones in Eastern Tibet is a tough deterrence against China. Heron’s reconnaissance sorties provide India valuable intelligence inputs on the security aspects on the borders, media reports said. The BJP government in 2020 bought 400 million dollar missile loaded Herons

Kochi: Amid protests by the Opposition, the Parliament passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill by voice vote today. On the first day of the winter session, Lok Sabha witnessed protests by the Opposition demanding discussion on the bill. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury flayed the government for passing bills without discussion. The Speaker adjourned the

Kochi: The BJP has bulldozed the opposition in the  local body elections in Tripura. Out of 334 seats, BJP won 329 seats, while Trinamool Congress got one seat, CPM 3 and TIPR one. Elections were held on November 25. The BJP won 112 seats unopposed.  In the Agartala municipal council elections, BJP won all the

Kochi: Refusing to implement the uniform mode of Holy Mass, a section of priests laid siege to Thrissur Bishop Mar Andrews Thazhath. Police were camping in the area to maintain law and order. The controversy over adopting the new system had been brewing for the past few months with the Vatican setting the deadline to

Kochi: Kerala is the least poor state while Bihar stands at the lowest rung as per the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of the Niti Aayog. The MPI of Kerala is 0.71 percent, Goa 3.76 percent, Sikkim 3.82 percent, Tamil Nadu 4.89 percent, Punjab 5.59 percent. The state with highest MPI is Bihar 51.91 percent, Jharkhand

Kochi: State governments across the country have gone on alert mode after Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a meeting to discuss the new variant of COVID 19 Omicron.Chairing a high level meeting, Modi asked officials to review plans to ease travel restrictions from different countries, media reports said. As the World Health Organization has

Kochi: Tamil Nadu has moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to cut 15 trees to take up reinforcement work in Baby dam in Mullaperiyar. Tamil Nadu said that the officials of the two states jointly conducted an inspection of Mullaperiyar on June 21 and decided to cut 15 trees, media reports said. It also presented

Kochi: Popular lyricist of yesteryear Bichu Thirumala, 80, died of heart attack at Thiruvananthapuram inthe wee hours today. Born in Sasthamangalam in Thiruvananthapuram, BSivasankaran Nair became Bichu Thirumala following his entry into the film world. He graduated from the Thiruvananthapuram Arts College in 1970. His first film was Bhajagovindam 1972 which was unfortunately not released.

Kochi: Two-way traffic through South India’s longest six lane tunnel was opened at Kuthiran in Thrissur on Thursday. This will help the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)  to complete the work of the second tunnel planned for commissioning next year. Clearing of earth from the NH 544 conventional road to Palakkad will begin only

Kochi: Over one year after being illegally deprived from their new born son, Anupama  Chandran and her partner Ajith were united with their son at Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. The legal union was made possible after the Family Court, Thiruvananthapuram passed the relevant order restoring Anupama, her child fathered by Ajith who was still married to

Kochi: The DNA test conducted on the over one-year-old boy confirmed that the infant belonged to Anupama and Ajith. The toddler will be handed over to them after completing proper procedures. Anupama and Ajith expressed extreme happiness over their fight turning out to be a success. However, Anupama said  that her protest in front of

Kochi: With the BJP going strong on RSS activist Sanjit murder case, police have arrested a Popular Front activist in Palakkad in this connection. Police have not disclosed the details of the arrested person as it might affect the investigation, police said.The accused had directly taken part in the murder, police said. According to media