Apollo Hospitals Enterprises (AHEL) is planning to raise around Rs 1,500 crore in the next two months to support its inorganic growth and strengthen balance sheet and its digital platform.

It’s an indicative figure, not definite, Suneeta Reddy, managing director, Apollo Hospitals Group, said. The money, Reddy said, will be deployed in Apollo 24/7, the company’s six-month-old digital health platform, and in supporting growth in the hospital business and deleveraging the balance sheet.

Bharti Global and UK government on Friday said their joint venture OneWeb — a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications operator — launched 36 satellites from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia.

This takes the total in-orbit constellation to 110 satellites, part of OneWeb’s 648 LEO satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity, a company release said.

Popular messaging app WhatsApp has started rolling out its new voice and video call feature for the desktop to some users. The new features would allow WhatsApp users to make calls through their desktop app. It was limited earlier to just the WhatsApp available on mobile phones.

It is reported that the new update available to a select few desktop users is in its beta stage and that is why it is not available to many at this point of time.

The temperature stayed below normal in Delhi as the cold wave conditions persisted in the national capital.

The minimum temperature of 2.7 degrees Celsius was reported at Jafarpur on Friday (December 18), followed by 3.5 degrees at Aya Nagar, and 3.8 degrees at Lodhi Road, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

In an important development, the income tax department came out to say that it had issued income tax refunds of over Rs 1.48 lakh crore to more than 1.02 crore taxpayers. These refunds have been made till December 14, 2020.

The total amount issued of Rs 1.48 lakh crore includes personal income tax refunds of about Rs 45,264 crore and corporate tax refunds of Rs 1.03 lakh crore, the department said.

Before his departure, US President Donald Trump has given another blow to China. The US Ministry of Commerce has announced a ban on 59 Chinese scientific and industrial manufacturing units, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). The US has called these companies a threat to national security and contrary to foreign policy. Earlier as well, the Donald Trump administration has taken many big steps against China.

The United States Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) on Friday (local time) has authorised Moderna coronavirus vaccine for emergency use for people aged 18 years and above.

According to an official statement issued by Moderna, Moderna, Inc., (Nasdaq: MRNA) a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) has authorized the emergency use of mRNA-1273, Moderna's vaccine against Covid-19 in individuals 18 years of age or older.

India's total COVID-19 caseload on Saturday crossed the 1 crore-mark as it reported 25,153 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The country crossed the grim milestone almost eleven months after the first case was reported on January 30 in Thrissur district of Kerala. Since then, the country has recorded 1,00,04,599 coronavirus cases and 1,45,136 deaths.

Gold price today jumped to Rs 52,960 from Rs 52,750 per 10 gm, while silver was trending at Rs 67,000 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making changes.

India's Covid-19 caseload rose to more than 9.9 million with 22,890 new infections being reported in a day, while total recoveries crossed the 9.5 million-mark, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Friday.

With 338 more fatalities, the death toll reached 1,44,789, while the total Covid-19 cases mounted to 99,79,447, the data updated at 8 am showed.

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