portrait

Mumbai mayor visits hospital in nurse’s uniform, encourages health staff Kishori Pednekar, the mayor of Mumbai, put on a nurse’s uniform and visited the Brihanmubmbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run BYL Nair Hospital on Monday morning in a bid to encourage and enthuse the staff, who are in the front line to combat the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak. Pednekar, a former nurse, mingled with the hospital’s nursing staff and enquired about the difficulties they are facing while dealing with the pandemic. A BMC official said Pednekar ensured that social distancing norms were adhered to during her visit to the hospital. Source: Hindustan...

India should look to convert world’s ‘hatred’ for China into economic opportunity: Nitin Gadkari Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said India should look at converting the world’s “hatred” for China amid the coronavirus pandemic into an economic opportunity for itself by attracting large scale foreign investments. Interacting with overseas Indian students via video conferencing, the minister for MSME and Road Transport and Highways said, “All the world now, they have hatred for China. Is it possible for us to convert it into an opportunity for India.” Referring to the economic package announced by Japan for its businesses exiting China,...

PM Narendra Modi holds video conference with CMs; discusses staggered exit from countrywide COVID-19 lockdown New Delhi: With just a week to go for the current phase of coronavirus lockdown to end, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, held a video conference with chief ministers of various states. PM was seen wearing a white ‘gamcha‘ while addressing the CMs. According to reports, PM discussed strategies for a staggered exit from coronavirus lockdown with CMs.  The conference was attended by Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra), EK Palaniswami (Tamil Nadu), Conard Sangma (Meghalaya) Trivendram Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand) and Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh)....

Every person I came in contact with tested negative, says singer Kanika Kapoor Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor on Sunday for the first time openly responded to allegations of not adhering to quarantine norms around the time she had returned from abroad and tested positive for COVID-19 last month. “Every person that I have come in contact with be it in UK, Mumbai or Lucknow has shown no symptoms of COVID-19, in fact all those tested have been negative,” Ms. Kapoor said in a statement issued on her Instagram page. Source: The Hindu

BR Shetty: The staggering rise and incredible fall of a billionaire In mid-2018, during a media interaction, Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty remarked: “If I don’t have one problem a day, that’s not a good day for me. I should have a problem, solve it and then feel satisfied.” One must, as the adage goes, be careful about what one wishes for. At the time of the interview, there was not a cloud on the horizon for the Abu Dhabi-based billionaire-founder of NMC Health, then the biggest private healthcare company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its 2012 IPO in the London...

Indian-American woman elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences HOUSTON: Renu Khator, an Indian-American university chancellor, has been elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences for her contributions in the fields of education and academic leadership. Khator, 61, joins more than 250 exceptionally accomplished artists, scholars, scientists and leaders in the public, nonprofit and private sectors as members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) class of 2020 announced this week. Born in Uttar Pradesh, Khator is the University of Houston System chancellor and the varsity’s president. She is the first woman chancellor and...

Prolonged lockdown may push millions into margins of subsistence: Former RBI Governor Subbarao A prolonged lockdown may possibly push million of Indians into the “margins of subsistence”, former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Sunday while expecting a ‘V’ curved recovery once the COVID-19 crisis ends and the turnaround in India to be faster than some economies. He was participating in a webinar on “History repeats – but differently- Lessons for the post Corona World,” organised by the Manthan Foundation here, in which former Deputy Governor of RBI Usha Thorat took part. “Because most analysts believe that this year India...

Icahn says stocks are overvalued, virus may cause ‘downdrafts’ Carl Icahn isn’t buying stocks right now. He’s hoarding cash, shorting commercial real estate and preparing for the coronavirus to wreak more havoc. This is a time to be “extremely careful,” Icahn said in an interview Friday on Bloomberg Television. From his home on Miami’s Biscayne Bay, the billionaire investor has surveyed the damage to stock prices — and to his portfolio — and reached out to medical experts for information and opinions on the Covid-19 pandemic. To Icahn, who at 84 has traded through all the stock-market crashes since the...

Help all without discrimination, work towards becoming a self-reliant country, says Mohan Bhagwat As the country faces the coronavirus pandemic, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday cautioned against forces inimical to India’s interests taking advantage of the situation, exhorted all to help those affected without any discrimination and stressed on developing a self-reliant economy. “We have to be patient and calm. There should be no fear or anger as people with anti-India mindset can use it against the country,” he said in an online address to workers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Even if someone did something wrong, do not consider...

TVS Motor Company Appoints Former Harley-Davidson Boss As Interim CEO For Norton Motorcycles TVS Motorcycles recently acquired iconic British motorcycle brand Norton Motorcycles. The Hosur based two-wheeler giant now has big plans to get Norton back on track after it went through a not so good phase. In the process to do so, they have appointed John Russell as the interim CEO of the British two-wheeler brand. John Russell isn’t a new name in the automobile industry as he has served as Vice-President and Managing Director for Harley-Davidson Europe from 1998 to 2007. Not only this but back in the...