L&T Finance Holdings Ltd (LTFH) on Friday reported a 30.9 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 265.97 crore for the quarter ended March 2021 (Q4 FY21). Profits were down due to one-time exceptional expenses like stamp duties for merger of subsidiaries and provisions for tax claims on Infra Debt Fund, said the company.

The company had posted consolidated net profit of Rs 384.86 crore in fourth quarter ended March 2020 (Q4 FY20). Its annual net profit for FY21 declined to Rs 948.88 crore from Rs 1,700.26 crore in FY 21.

In yet another piece of the tragic news of an immense loss to the Indian film industry, Tamil director-cinematographer KV Anand passed away on Friday morning in Chennai following a heart attack. He was 54.

The news of his demise left his fans and members of the industry in shock as they tweeted condolences after the news broke online.

A woman living in southwestern France has been detected with the coronavirus variant first detected, regional health agency director Benoit Elleboode said on Thursday.

A first case, involving a woman who travelled to India and is living in southwestern France, was confirmed on Thursday, the ministry said. Two other people who travelled to India were infected with the so-called Indian variant in southeastern France, the ministry said.

Senior Advocate and eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee passed away on Friday due to COVID-19. Born in 1930 in Bombay, Soli Jehangir Sorabjee began his legal practice in the year 1953 at the Bombay High Court.

He was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court of India in 1971. He was in the legal profession for nearly seven decades and also served as the Attorney General for India twice - first from 1989-90 and second from 1998 to 2004 during the tenure of the first NDA government.

The U.S. government told its citizens to leave India as soon as possible because of the country’s escalating Covid-19 crisis.

In a Level 4 travel advisory --- the highest issued by the Department of State -- U.S. citizens were told not to travel to India or to leave as soon as it is safe to do so. There are 14 direct daily flights between India and the U.S. and other services that connect through Europe, the department said.

The Delhi government on Wednesday claimed that it is not receiving the oxygen quantity allocated to it by the Centre following the upsurge in COVID-19 cases even as an official order has been issued to allot a detailed proportion of the supply of the life-saving gas to hospitals.

We received 402 metric tonnes of oxygen yesterday and the day before that 408 metric tonnes. We have been allocated the share of 480 metric tonnes on April 21st and 490 metric tonnes on April 25th, but it is hardly reaching us in that quantity. Presently, the allocation is happening keeping in mind the number of ICU beds and non-ICU oxygen beds, the AAP dispensation claimed in a statement.

A single dose of a Covid-19 vaccine can cut transmission of coronavirus by up to half, a Public Health England (PHE) study showed on Wednesday.

Those who were infected at least three weeks later were between 38 per cent and 49 per cent less likely to pass the virus on to people living in the same household, compared with those who had not been vaccinated, according to the study, Xinhua reported.

After the earthquake of 6.4 magnitude on the Richter scale on Wednesday, Assam's Sonitpur was struck by six tremors on Thursday.

An earthquake of magnitude 2.7 on the Richter scale struck Assam's Sonitpur in the early hours of Thursday morning, said the National Center for Seismology. This is the sixth earthquake that occurred in Sonitpur on Thursday after 12.00 am.

Delhi recorded 368 more COVID-19 deaths and 25,986 new cases of the infection on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 31.76 per cent, according to the latest bulletin issued by the city health department.

This is the seventh day on the trot that Delhi has recorded over 300 deaths due to the coronavirus.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government and asked them to deliver free universal vaccination and livelihood support or quit.

Deliver Oxygen, hospital beds and save lives. Deliver free universal vaccination and livelihood support or quit, he said in a tweet.

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