Live: Sri Lanka President says he will appoint new PM, cabinet this week

Live news updates: From the crisis in Sri Lanka and Ukraine to coronavirus developments and more, catch all the live updates here

Live news updates: Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said on Wednesday he would this week appoint a new Prime Minister and a Cabinet, promising constitutional reforms that would give Parliament more powers.

"I will appoint a young cabinet without any of the Rajapaksas," Gotabaya said, referring to his own family and as he started talks with political parties to stop the country from sliding into anarchy.

Sri Lanka's central bank governor said on Wednesday he would quit within weeks unless political stability was restored to the country after deadly violence forced the prime minister to quit and take shelter in a navy base.

P Nandalal Weerasinghe, appointed central bank chief last month to help the island nation of 22 million people find a way out of its worst economic crisis in history, said a stable government was essential to stop the turmoil.

 

9:04 PM

Ukraine official blame Russia for reduction in Russian gas flows to Europe

Ukraine's top gas officials said Russia was fully responsible for the reduction in Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday. The head of the state gas transit operator told a news briefing that Ukraine had never been the cause of a transit stoppage and blamed the reduction in gas flows on Russian forces occupying parts of Ukraine.

7:00 PM

Toyota to make EV parts in India for domestic, export markets

Toyota Motor Corp plans to make India a manufacturing hub for electric vehicle parts to meet demand there as well as for export to Japan and some ASEAN countries, a senior company executive told Reuters. The carmaker plans to start by producing e-drives or electric powertrain parts used by different electric vehicle types, including battery EVs, plug-in hybrids and other hybrid models, Vikram Gulati, executive vice president at Toyota Kirloskar Motor said.

6:54 PM

Gaurs Group acquires Rs 200 crore worth of land from IndusInd Bank

Realty firm Gaurs Group on Wednesday said it has acquired a land parcel in Jaypee Greens township in Greater Noida for Rs 200 crore to develop a luxury housing project. The land amidst the luxurious golf-centric township has been bought from IndusInd Bank. The transaction has already been done and the payments have already been made to the bank, the company said in a statement.

6:30 PM

Modi to attend Biden's summit on Covid-19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday attend the second international summit on Covid-19, said India’s external affairs ministry about a virtual event US President Joe Biden is hosting. It said the summit intends to galvanise new actions to address the challenges of the pandemic and build a stronger global health security architecture. Modi participated in the first global virtual summit on Covid hosted by Biden on September 22 last year.

6:21 PM

Fare caps protect passengers and airlines: Scindia

Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said fare caps protect air passengers and airlines and indicated that doing away with the curbs could be looked at once the environment stabilises in terms of passenger traffic and jet fuel prices. "I still have an environment where ATF prices are still very high, I want to protect the passengers and also the airlines,” he said, referring to aviation fuel.

6:02 PM

ED arrests Jharkhand IAS officer Pooja Singhal in money laundering case

5:44 PM

UN's Guterres 'deeply concerned' about violence in Sri Lanka: Spokesperson

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned” about the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka and calls on all parties to exercise restraint and find a solution to the ongoing crisis through dialogue, his spokesperson has said. “We continue to encourage all Sri Lankan stakeholders to find a solution to the current challenges through dialogue and with the interests of the country and the people in mind,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told PTI.

4:53 PM

Sri Lanka president holds talks with political parties

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is in talks with ruling party dissidents and Opposition SJB to end a political impasse caused after Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister. “We will have more talks today (Wednesday). Hopefully we will see an end (of the political impasse) today,” Anura Yapa, a senior leader of the independent group that had split from the ruling SLPP coalition, told Indian news agency PTI.

4:48 PM

Networks 'colluded with' govt officials money to get FCRA clearance for NGOs

India’s Home Ministry found that at least three networks, working closely with government officials, were charging “speed money” and “problem-resolution fees” to expedite the FCRA clearance to NGOs so that they can get foreign donations, following which it has ordered a CBI probe, PTI reported quoting officials on Wednesday. In a countrywide crackdown on Tuesday, the CBI searched 40 locations and apprehended around 14 people, including home ministry officials, NGO representatives and alleged middlemen, for their suspected involvement in the racket.

 

4:23 PM

UN chief does not see Ukraine peace negotiations any time soon

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday the time would come when there are peace negotiations over Ukraine, but he did not see that time in the immediate future. "This war will not last forever. There will be a time when peace negotiations will take place," Guterres told a news conference with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen. "I do not see that in the immediate future. But I can say one thing. We will never give up," he added.

 

3:42 PM

Sri Lanka central bank says he needs political stability to do his job

Sri Lanka Central Bank head Nandalal Weerasinghe said he had taken the job in April with expectations that political instability will be established within two weeks. Little has been achieved in the last month, he told reporters in capital Colombo, adding that he didn’t wish to continue if political stability is not achieved.

3:16 PM

Sri Lanka may lift curfew on Thursday: Defence Secretary

Defence Ministry Secretary Kamal Gunaratne, an ally of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said he hopes to lift the curfew Thursday while denying that the state of emergency declared last week was a step toward military rule. Bloomberg reported “We know people have difficulties. But we also have to protect people,” Gunaratne said in press briefing in Colombo. “We are called to calm the situation. We are under civilian government. When the situation is calm we will stay back.”

 

3:07 PM

India Inc must think outside of sops, subsidies: CII president

Indian companies must think outside the regime of incentives and subsidies and improve its competitiveness and productivity while ramping up research expenditure, CII President T V Narendran said on Wednesday. A responsible and conscious industry must think beyond its own priorities to drive positive change for the nation, said Narendran at a business summit, according to PTI.

2:06 PM

It's very unfortunate the way minorities are being attacked, their houses are being bulldozed: Mufti

1:42 PM

There's a 'Lakshman Rekha' that must be respected by all organs of the state in letter & spirit: Kiren Rijiju

We've made our positions very clear & also informed the court about intention of our PM. We respect the court & its independence. But there's a 'Lakshman Rekha' (line) that must be respected by all organs of the state in letter & spirit: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on SC staying sedition