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Congress forms consultative group under Manmohan Singh to evolve policy on key issues The Congress on Saturday constituted a consultative group with former prime minister Manmohan Singh as its chairman to deliberate on “current concerns” and formulate views and policy of the party on important issues. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be a part of the group along with other leaders, while party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala will be its convener. “The Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) has constituted a consultative group with Manmohan Singh as its chairman. The consultative group will meet virtually, normally every day, to deliberate on matters of...

New York Governor Says Trump Admin ‘Passing Buck’ on Reopening Amid Covid-19 Pandemic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday he needed federal government help to ramp up testing for the novel coronavirus and reopen his state’s economy, and accused President Donald Trump’s administration of failing to provide funding to states. “Is there any funding so I can do these things that you want us to do? ‘No,’” Cuomo told a daily briefing on the coronavirus. “That is passing the buck without passing the bucks.” The broadside came one day after Trump outlined guidelines for a phased reopening of...

UN chief Antonio Guterres salutes India for helping others in fight against COVID-19 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres salutes countries helping others in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, his spokesman has said, days after India sent supplies of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to several nations, including the US. Hydroxychloroquine has been identified by the US Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for the COVID-19 and it is being tested on more than 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York.The demand for the drug has swelled rapidly in the last few days after India decided to lift a ban on...

Coronavirus: France to grant special aid for most vulnerable in India, says Macron President Emmanuel Macron has said France will grant special financial aid to protect the most vulnerable people in India amid the Covid-19 crisis. The financial aid figured during Macron’s last telephone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which also focused on collaboration in the fight against the Coronavirus, French ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said on Saturday “President Macron confirmed that France would grant exceptional financial aid for protecting the most vulnerable people in India,” Lenain said. People familiar with developments said further details about the aid programme are...

Outspoken Saudi princess reveals that she is in prison A senior Saudi royal and granddaughter of the country’s founding monarch has revealed she is being held in prison and demanded that the current ruler and her cousin, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, release her and provide medical care. Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, an outspoken human rights advocate, claims she is being detained without charge in Riyadh with one of her daughters. She says neither have received explanations for their arrests, despite repeated pleas to the kingdom’s royal court, and to her uncle King Salman. The princess, the last of...

Strongly Support RBI’s Measures To Support Economy: TVS Chairman Venu Srinivasan Starting April 20th, India’s economy will be cranked for a gradual restart after the wheels had stopped turning since the current lockdown was enforced. Following notifications and addendums from the Home Ministry which lay guidelines for specific industries which can start operations, today, the Reserve Bank of India made an announcement about measures which will support the economy through these unusual times. Industry leaders have voiced their opinions about the measures and TVS Motor Company’s Chairman, Mr Venu Srinivasan has come out in strong support of the regulator’s announced...

People Consider Us Conservative But History Shows Otherwise:TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan India’s largest software services provider said it won’t shy away from acquisitions if opportunities emerge during the virtual business freeze caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Any form of vendor consolidation or other things are on the table, Rajesh Gopinathan, managing director and chief executive officer at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., said in an interview to BloombergQuint. “People think of us as conservative but if you go back in history, it was in the middle of the GFC crisis that we made our largest acquisition,” he said, referring to the...

Mike Pompeo dials top Chinese diplomat; seeks transparency on COVID-19 outbreak US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to China’s diplomat to underscore the Trump administration’s demand for “full transparency and information sharing” from China about the origins and spread of the novel coronavirus, his spokesperson said. Pompeo’s phone call to Yang Jiechi, Director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China, came a day after US President Donald Trump announced to halt the funding to World Health Organization alleging that it sided with China on the coronavirus issue and mislead the world. “The Secretary stressed...

Elizabeth Warren Says She Would Accept an Offer to Serve as Veep if Joe Biden Offered US Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Wednesday that she would accept an offer to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate if the position were offered. “Yes,” said Warren when she was asked on MSNBC how she would respond if Biden asked her to serve as his vice president. Biden, who was Barack Obama’s vice president, has vowed to pick a woman to be his running mate and said he would name a committee to help him vet a shortlist of names soon....

Won’t blame any other govts as all doing their best: Bihar’s Deputy CM Sushil Modi New Delhi: Bihar’s deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi praised the efforts of different state government and rejected the characterisation of recent incidents of stranded labourers coming out on streets as failure of the respective state governments. “I will not blame either Delhi, Maharashtra or any state government as they are making their best effort to provide food and shelter to every person,” Modi told ET. “More than the food, it is the urge to go back home or homesickness that...