News Dabba for 30 December 2022: Five stories for a balanced news diet

Indie Journal brings you the daily updates that the internet is talking about through various news websites. Here's a glance through some of the National and International news updates, from Marion Biotech being investigated after the deaths of Uzbek children, the death of Brazilian football legend Pele, to the US winter storm death toll rising to 61.

Marion Biotech being investigated after deaths of Uzbek children, The Hindu

The Uttar Pradesh Drug Control and the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) are investigating Noida-based firm Marion Biotech, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday. The Hindu reports that this comes a day after the Uzbekistan health ministry’s statement, linking the deaths of 18 children in the country to drinking contaminated health syrup made by Marion Biotech. Samples of the syrup have been sent to the Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory in Chandigarh for further testing, said Mandaviya. Media reports quoted a legal representative for Marion Biotech as saying that the company had ceased production of the cough syrup pending an investigation. The report adds that a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it would be premature to link the present case with a recent incident in The Gambia where children’s deaths were also blamed on Indian-made cough syrups. Read the full report here.

Brazilian football legend Pele dies at age 82, Al Jazeera reports

Legendary Brazilian football player Pele has died at the age of 82. Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital, where Pele was undergoing treatment, said he died at 3:27 pm local time on Thursday “due to multiple organ failures resulting from the progression of colon cancer associated with his previous medical condition.” The report adds the death of the only man to win the World Cup three times as a player was confirmed on his Instagram account. A public funeral is set to be held outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the Vila Belmiro Stadium, where he played for many years with the Santos football club. Read the full report here.

US winter storm death toll rises to 61: TST

The death toll from a fierce winter storm that gripped much of the United States over Christmas rose to at least 61 on Thursday, officials said. The Straits Times reported that Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz said two more deaths had been reported in the western New York region that bore the brunt of the historic storm, bringing the total to 39. Erie County includes the snow-battered city of Buffalo, where most of the deaths occurred. As Buffalo dug itself out of the once-in-a-generation storm, there has been mounting criticism of the response of the authorities. The storm also brought unseasonably cold temperatures to states such as Texas and Florida and caused chaos at airports. Read the full report here.

NDTV report on Indian cricketer surviving car crash

Indian cricketer (wicket-keeper) Rishabh Pant was involved in a horrific car crash near Roorkee in Uttarakhand early Friday morning. NDTV reports that he suffered cuts on forehead, a ligament tear in his right knee and abrasions on the back. The cricketer, who was alone in the car at the time of the accident, broke the Mercedes windscreen to escape from the vehicle after it caught fire. The 25-year-old swashbuckling batsman is out of danger and conscious. Read the full report here.

Reuters reports sirens wailing in Kyiv as city hit by Russian drone attack

Reuters reported that residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were urged to head to air raid shelters early on Friday as sirens wailed across the city. This comes a day after Russia carried out one of the biggest aerial assaults since it started the war in February. Shortly after 2.00 a.m. Kyiv's city government issued an alert on its Telegram messaging app channel about the air raid sirens and called on residents to proceed to shelters. The report said that a Reuters witness 20 km south of Kyiv heard several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire. Read the full report here.