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Coronavirus Pandemic Accelerating, Warns WHO Chief, Calls for Plan of Attack Using Football Analogy Geneva: The new coronavirus pandemic is clearly “accelerating”, the World Health Organization warned Monday, but said it was still possible to “change the trajectory” of the outbreak. The remarks came as the number of deaths soared past 15,000, with more than 341,000 people infected worldwide, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources. “The pandemic is accelerating,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in a virtual news briefing. He said it took 67 days from the beginning of the outbreak in China in late...

Manchester United should not even think about signing Harry Kane this summer When it comes to transfer rumors, it’s crucial to abide by the old phrase “believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.” That was certainly my reaction earlier this month when Harry Kane started being linked to Manchester United. Matt Law wrote a piece in the telegraph about how Kane may be considering his future at Tottenham if they didn’t finish in the top four or win any trophies. I was especially skeptical because literally 367 days earlier Law wrote the exact same articlelinking Kane with a move away from White...

IPL 2020: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly provides update on tournament’s future BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday said he “doesn’t have an answer” on the fate of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The BCCI suspended the IPL, originally scheduled from March 29, to April 15 after government suspended all visas, barring few categories like diplomatic and employment, making it impossible for foreign players to participate. Amid the ongoing complete lockdown, it is becoming increasingly difficult for all the stakeholders to work out an alternate plan. COVID-19 has so far claimed 11 lives...

Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the leader of the International Olympic Committee agreed to the unprecedented move to delay the Tokyo Olympics by about one year due to worries of holding the event during the coronavirus pandemic. Abe told reporters Tuesday he won the backing for the proposal to delay the games planned to start in July in telephone call with IOC President Thomas Bach. “The Tokyo Olympics will not be canceled,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo after the call. Source: Livemint

PM Modi announces nationwide 21-day lockdown; road, air and rail services to be suspended till April 14 NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a complete lockdown of the entire country for 21 days in an unprecedented drastic measure to try halt the spread of the pandemic. Shortly after the announcement, the Centre said all road, rail and air services will remain suspended during this period. COVID-19 has claimed 11 lives in the country with authorities reporting one death each in Delhi – the second in the national capital – and Maharashtra on Tuesday and over 500 persons...

Bangladesh to release Khaleda Zia Bangladesh on Tuesday initiated a process to “conditionally” release jailed former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for six months following the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief is serving a 17-year prison term in two graft cases since February 8, 2018. “The decision has been taken on humanitarian ground,” Law Minister Anisul Huq said. He said the decision was taken in line with Prime Minister Shekh Hasina’s directives and considering the age of the former Prime Minister. Source: The Hindu

Next 10-15 days crucial in dealing with coronavirus and its economic impact: Dr Sangita Reddy In his address to the nation, PM Narendra Modi has suggested steps to deal with coronavirus. How do you think corporate India can help?Prime Minister Modi has outlined the best path to be followed by us as a nation. The onus is on us as responsible citizens to contain the virus and we need to help by being well aware of the facts of this contagious infection. FICCI has come out with a guideline for organisations to deal with the safety and business issues. They...

‘This is dangerous but people in Pakistan are not listening,’ Shoaib Akhtar asks people to stop treating Covid-19 pandemic as ‘holiday or picnic’ time The fear over the novel coronavirus has gripped the whole world. Several countries like Italy, the US, Germany, Iran, Spain and the UK are struggling to control the spread of the highly contagious disease which has wreaked havoc. More than 300000 cases have come to light while around 13000 have lost their lives due to Covid-19. The governments all around the world are pleading with the people to exercise restraint and practice social distancing to isolate...

Pompeo in Kabul to break deadlock U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Afghan capital on Monday to help break a poisonous political deadlock that has further riven the country just as the Taliban is increasing attacks and a rise in COVID-19 cases threatens an already-floundering peace process. Afghanistan has been enmeshed in a political crisis since elections last year left the country in disarray due to numerous fraud claims that ultimately saw two men claiming the presidency and holding separate inaugurations. Mr. Pompeo was to hold both separate and joint meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — the election’s...

Masa Son unveils a $41 billion asset sale to silence his critics Masayoshi Son is making his biggest play yet to silence doubters. On Monday, the Japanese billionaire unveiled an unprecedented $41 billion plan to sell off assets and shore up SoftBank Group Corp.’s crumbling market value in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. SoftBank aims to sell assets to raise as much as 4.5 trillion yen ($41 billion) over the coming year to buy back stock and slash debt — an amount equivalent to almost its entire market value last week. The scale of the endeavor surprised investors, sending...