LIVE: PM Modi invites Bangladesh entrepreneurs ​to invest in India

All shops, malls, markets and commercial establishments will remain shut today in view of 'Bharat Bandh' call, say protesting farmers. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

Farmers gathered at several national highways, key roads and some railway tracks in Punjab and Haryana today morning as part of their nationwide protest against the Centre's new agri laws. According to the Samkyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the Bharat Bandh is being observed from 6 am to 6 pm to mark four months of the farmers' agitation at Delhi's three borders -- Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri.

The farmers have gathered at several highways and roads in the two states including in Bathinda, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Mohali, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Bhiwani districts. A group of farmers who were holding a protest in Zirakpur and Kharar towns in Punjab, both on the outskirts of Chandigarh, said they were allowing ambulances and other emergency vehicles to pass.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Bangladesh on a two-day visit during which he will attend the celebrations of the golden jubilee of the country's independence, the birth centenary of Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and hold talks with his counterpart Sheikh Hasina. Modi is visiting Bangladesh on his first trip to a foreign country since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

 

3:44 AM

3 Myanmar nationals with bullet wounds cross into India

Three Myanmar nationals with serious bullet wounds were admitted to a hospital in northeast India on Friday after they crossed the border, police said.
 

About a dozen people from Myanmar moved into the Indian state of Manipur late Thursday after firing by Myanmar forces in the border town of Tamu, said Vikramji Singh, a police officer.
 

They were given shelter by the residents of Moreh, an Indian border town, who took them to a hospital, Singh said.
 

Authorities on Friday pushed eight of the Myanmar nationals back into their home country and hospitalized the injured "purely on humanitarian grounds,'' Singh told The Associated Press.
 

The security crackdown in Myanmar following its Feb. 1 military coup has sent people fleeing across the border into India.
 

India's state and federal authorities haven't given any figures, but some state ministers have said the number could be in the hundreds. One Indian village has given shelter to 34 police personnel and one firefighter who crossed into India over the last two weeks.
 

India's federal government and the state of Mizoram are at odds over the influx.
 

3:43 AM

UN renews mandate of North Korea experts, asks missile probe

The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of UN experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea hours after members met to discuss Pyongyang's latest test firings of banned ballistic missiles.
 

The ballistic missile launches were the first since US President Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20 and appeared aimed at increasing pressure on his administration while nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang remain stalled.
 

Negotiations faltered after the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former US president Donald Trump collapsed in February 2019 when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
 

The Security Council has been meeting virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic and email voting began after the North's missile launches on Thursday morning. The US holds the council presidency this month and the unanimous result of the vote was announced Friday afternoon by acting US deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis.
 

3:42 AM

France launches 2-year experiment with medical marijuana

France's government launched a two-year nationwide experiment with medical marijuana Friday with a view to its eventual legalization.
 

Some 3,000 patients around the country will be given medical cannabis treatments and their health will be monitored by the national medicines watchdog, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
 

The first prescription was issued Friday at the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital in southern France.
 

The goal is to gather data about the effectiveness and safety of therapeutic marijuana, and to prepare eventual logistical circuits for future distribution, the ministry said.
 

Among those eligible will be cancer patients, people with nerve pain that is not treatable by other methods, people with certain forms of epilepsy and people in palliative care.
 

Several European countries have already legalized medical marijuana.
 

The French project was approved by parliament in 2019 but delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
 

3:42 AM

Biden invites 40 world leaders to virtual Leaders' Summit on Climate

US President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to the Leaders' Summit on Climate to underscore the urgency and the economic benefits of stronger climate action, the White House said.
 

The two-day summit will be held virtually on April 22-23 and will be telecasted live for public viewing.
 

“It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow,” the White House said on Friday.
 

Besides Modi, other leaders invited for the summit include Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
 

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering are the other two leaders from South Asia to be invited for the two-day mega conference on climate change.
 

The White House said a key objective of both the Leaders' Summit and the COP26 will be to catalyse efforts to keep limiting warming 1.5 degree Celsius' goal within reach. The summit will also highlight examples of how enhanced climate ambition will create good paying jobs, advance innovative technologies and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts, it added.
 

10:02 PM

I will be CM in the event of NDA forming govt in Pondy: Rangasamy

AINRC founder N.Rangasamy said on Friday there need to be no doubts as to who will be the next Chief Minister in the event of NDA forming the next government in Puducherry after the April 6 polls.
 

"I will definitely be the Chief Minister of the next dispensation," he said at an election meeting in Thattanchavady assembly segment from where he is contesting.

Rangasamy is also contesting from Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh.
 

AINRC is heading the NDA in Puducherry, other constituents being the BJP and AIADMK.
 

Rangasamy, who was Leader of the opposition in the outgoing Assembly, urged voters in Thattanchavady to ensure that he is elected with a massive margin.

CPI affiliated to the Congress-led secular democratic alliance is locking horns with Rangasamy in Thattanchavady.
 

10:01 PM

Gadkari takes on Cong for its guarantee to nullify CAA in Assam if voted to power

Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari Friday lashed out at the Congress for its "guarantee" to the people of Assam of bringing in a legislation in the state assembly to nullify the Citizenship (Amendment) Act if voted to power in the state.
 

The union road transport minister said Congress is engaged in opportunistic vote bank politics and has compromised the country's security by its minority appeasement.
 

Without taking any name, he said some people and some party have supported infiltration in Assam and tried to give the infiltrators voting rights, which is not beneficial for the country.
 

BJP's political agenda on the other hand is development, unity and security of the country and the party is fully committed to it, he said addressing poll rallies at Dharmapur and Golakganj and at a press conference here.
 

"The CAA is a central law. No one can change it in an Assembly. Rahul Gandhi does not know that or what?" he said.
 

Gadkari's comment follows the one by BJP national president J P Nadda, who while releasing the party's Assam poll manifesto earlier this week had said CAA had been passed by Parliament and would be implemented in the country. It had trigerred state-wide protests by political parties and the All Assam Students Union, which had been in the forefront of the 2019 agitation against CAA.
 

8:52 PM

Latest News: 'Bharat Bandh' evokes no response in Himachal Pradesh

The nationwide call for 'Bharat Bandh' by protesting farm unions under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha failed to evoke any response in Himachal Pradesh on Friday.

 

Vehicular traffic was normal and business establishments remained open in almost all parts of the state.

 

However, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) held demonstrations at several district headquarters in the state, including capital Shimla, to reiterate their demand to repeal three contentious farm laws passed by the Centre.

8:47 PM

Latest News: SAT sets aside Sebi's order in WhatsApp leak case

In the high profile WhatsApp case, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has set aside Sebi's insider trading charges against few individuals, who circulated alleged unpublished price sensitive information about the financial results of half-a-dozen companies.

 

The case pertains to the circulation of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) in various private WhatsApp groups about certain companies, including Bajaj Auto, Bata India, Ambuja Cements, Asian Paints, Wipro and Mindtree, ahead of their official announcements to the stock exchanges.

8:32 PM

Latest News: Suez Canal steps up efforts to remove blockage

The Suez Canal stepped up efforts on Friday to free a giant stuck container ship and end a blockage that has sent shipping rates for fuel tankers soaring and disrupted global supply chains for everything from grains to baby clothes.

 

Shipping rates for oil product tankers have nearly doubled after the 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given ran aground in the vital trade waterway on Tuesday.

 

Efforts to free it may take weeks and be complicated by unstable weather conditions, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with Covid-19 restrictions.

8:26 PM

Latest News: SC reserves verdict in Maratha reservation case

The Supreme Court Friday reserved judgement on a batch of petitions challenging the Bombay High Court verdict which had upheld the grant of reservation to Marathas in admissions and government jobs in the state.

 

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan concluded hearing of arguments in the matter in which submissions were also advanced on whether the landmark 1992 Indra Sawhney verdict (called the Mandal judgement), which put a cap of 50 per cent on reservations, requires re-consideration by a larger bench.

 

K K Venugopal, Attorney General has addressed his arguments in reply to the submissions made in the writ petition... Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General appearing for the UOI (Union of India) and state of Gujarat adopts the submission of the Attorney General. Hearing completed. Judgment reserved, said the bench, which also comprised justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhat.

7:36 PM

BJP national president JP Nadda holds a roadshow in Chennai

7:31 PM

India's forex reserves rise to $582 billion

The country's foreign exchange (forex) kitty rose $233 million to $582.271 billion in the week to March 19, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.

 

The overall reserves had risen $1.74 billion to $582.04 billion in the previous reporting week.

 

The increase in the overall reserves during the reporting week was largely on account of a swelling of the foreign currency assets, which rose $157 million to $541.18 billion.

7:17 PM

Latest News: Financial services space set for disruption over next 10 yrs, says Kamath

Not just banking but the entire financial services space is set for disruption over the next 10 years, which will lead to reduction in transaction costs, veteran banker K V Kamath said on Friday.

 

He said technology is transforming the way banking is done and bankers need to internalise this.

 

Citing the first wave of change brought about in the banking space 20 years ago, Kamath said it changed the sector in a positive way.

6:58 PM

Latest News: Adani Green Energy acquires 75 MW solar capacities from Sterling & Wilson

Adani Green Energy on Friday said it has acquired 100 per cent stake in two special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that own 75 MW operating solar projects in Telangana from Sterling & Wilson.

 

The projects, commissioned in 2017, have long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) with the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana.

 

"Adani Green Energy Limited has completed acquisition of 100 per cent of the share capital and all the securities of Surajkiran Solar Technologies Private Limited and Dinkar Technologies Private Limited from Sterling and Wilson Private Limited," it said in a BSE filing.

6:55 PM

Latest News: Current fiscal most challenging for Indian Railways, says Goyal

Acknowledging that this fiscal was the "most challenging" for Indian Railways, Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said it was time to rewrite the future of the national transporter as "self-sustaining, punctual, green and first choice of business".

 

At a review meeting with Railway Board members and general managers of zonal railways, Goyal said in the future, the success of Indian Railways would define the success of the nation.

 

During the lockdown, all services of the railways had come to a grinding halt and even now, only special trains are plying.

 

"The year was the most challenging for the railways. During Covid-19 the railways has demonstrated the resolve to fight back and emerge stronger. The mindset of the railways has transformed. The use of new technologies and innovation has created new standards and benchmarks.