$20,000 diamond from Narendra Modi tops Biden family's 2023 gift list
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gift of a 7.5-carat lab-grown diamond, valued at $20,000 (approximately ₹17 lakh), was the most expensive gift received by the Biden family in 2023, according to an annual disclosure by the US State Department. The diamond, encased in a Kashmiri papier-mâché box, was presented to First Lady Jill Biden during Modi's visit to the US in June 2023. It now resides in the White House East Wing for official use.
In the same visit, Modi also gifted President Joe Biden a carved sandalwood box, a book titled The Ten Principal Upanishads, a statue, and an oil lamp worth a combined $6,232. Additionally, in November 2022, he had presented Biden with a painting valued at $1,000.
Other notable gifts from the Indian government include a $850 wall hanging presented to Kurt Campbell, US Deputy Secretary of State, and latticework and camel bone boxes worth $125 each to Senators Mitch McConnell and Charles Schumer.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval gifted his American counterpart Jacob Sullivan a $485 silver jaguar statue and a $638 wooden elephant structure in January and July 2023, respectively. Meanwhile, Deputy NSA Rajinder Khanna gifted items such as a silver elephant sculpture worth $3,980 and a $515 silver candlestick set to US officials.
Under US law, foreign gifts exceeding $480 in value must be declared and typically transferred to the National Archives or used for official purposes. Most high-value items from India were retained for White House use, while others were archived.
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Infant in Ahmedabad hospital tests positive for HMPV; stable
Ahmedabad (PTI): A two-month-old boy admitted to a private hospital in Ahmedabad has been detected with Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) infection, an official said on Monday.
The infant, who hails from Dungarpur in Rajasthan, was admitted to the hospital, located in Chandkheda locality here, on December 24 with symptoms of respiratory infection.
After tests, he was found positive for the HMPV, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's in-charge medical officer of health Bhavin Solanki said.
"HMPV (infection) was detected in the patient on December 26, but we learnt about it today as the private hospital reported it to us late," Solanki said.
The patient was kept in isolation, the official said.
Earlier, the child was kept on a ventilator, and his condition is stable now, Solanki said.
Before this, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has detected two cases of HMPV in Karnataka through routine surveillance for multiple respiratory viral pathogens.
The Union health ministry emphasised that HMPV is already in circulation globally, including in India, and cases of respiratory illnesses associated with it have been reported in various countries.
Furthermore, based on the current data from the ICMR and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network, there has been no unusual surge in Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases in the country, it said.
The ministry said it is monitoring the situation through all available surveillance channels.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is already providing timely updates regarding the situation in China to further inform the ongoing measures.
Amid reports of rising cases of respiratory illnesses in China in the past few weeks, a meeting of the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) was held under the chairmanship of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Saturday.
