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2:57 PM

Over 453,000 people returned to Himachal Pradesh during lockdown: Minister

Over 453,000 people returned to Himachal Pradesh during the coronavirus lockdown, a state minister informed the assembly Thursday. In a written reply to questions raised by Kishori Lal (Anni) and Vinod Kumar (Nachan), the jal shakti minister said as many as 4,53,707 people returned to Himachal Pradesh between April 25 and September 7 after getting Covid e-passes.

 

The state government brought back 14,428 people to Himachal Pradesh in special trains and buses at its own expense. One person was brought home by air, the reply stated.

2:46 PM

Jaishankar attends SCO Foreign Ministers' meet in Moscow

2:30 PM

Farmers block national highway in Haryana against farm ordinances

The Bhartiya Kisan Union and other farmer organisations on Thursday blocked the national highway at Pipli in Kurukshetra district of Haryana to protest the Centre's three farm ordinances, which they claimed were anti-farmers.

 

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) claimed that the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the agitators.

 

Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police Astha Modi said agitators blocked the national highway.

 

Hundreds of farmers managed to reach Pipli Chowk and pelted stones on the police personnel manning the barriers, a police officer said.

2:16 PM

Standard Chartered restructures business units, leadership

 

Standard Chartered on Thursday announced a string of changes to its organisational structure, forming one large unit that will combine its retail, private and business banking divisions and putting its two Asian units together.

 

Judy Hsu, currently in charge of the bank's southeast and south Asia unit, will take control of a new consumer, private and business banking unit.

 

Ben Hung, currently regional CEO of Greater China and North Asia, will lead Standard Chartered's new Asia-wide unit.

2:04 PM

Huawei to will launch Harmony OS on smartphones next year

Huawei Technologies plans to introduce its Harmony operating system, seen as the company's best bet, to replace Google's Android mobile operating system, on to smartphones next year, the head of its consumer business group said on Thursday.

 

Richard Yu made the comments at the company's annual developers conference in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan. He also said the company plans to open to developers a beta version of the system for smartphones in December

1:59 PM

Rafale induction sends big, bold message to those eyeing our sovereignty: Rajnath Singh

Congratulating the Armed Forces and the countrymen on the formal induction of Rafale in the Indian Air Force (IAF), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that it sends a "big and bold message" to those who are "eyeing our sovereignty".

 

"It's induction today is a big and bold message to the whole world, especially to those who are eyeing our sovereignty. This induction is especially important because of the existing situation at our borders, which if I put in simple words has been created in the last few days. We fully understand that with the changing times we will also have to keep preparing ourselves," the Defence Minister said.

1:50 PM

SBI raises Rs 4,000 cr via AT1 bonds at a coupon of 7.74%

SBI has sold Rs 4,000 crore of the Basel compliant additional tier one (AT1) bonds at a coupon of 7.74 per cent. This is the lowest pricing ever offered on such debt issued by any bank since the country started implementing the stringent Basel II capital rules in 2013, said the country's largest lender in regulatory filings at stock exchanges on Thursday.

 

As the aggregate bids were in excess of Rs 6,000 crore, the bank exercised the full green shoe option of Rs 3,000 crore over and above the base issue size of Rs 1,000 crore.

 

While SBI has AAA credit rating from local credit agencies, its AT1 offering is rated AA-plus which is the highest rating in the country for these instruments in view of the hybrid and high-risk nature of these instruments.

1:41 PM

SC adjourns hearing on loan moratorium as RBI seeks time to file affidavit

The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing till September 28 on the two petitions seeking an extension of the moratorium period on repayment of loans and to waive off the interest on the interest on loan amount in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

 

The apex court ordered that all decisions taken by the RBI, the Government of India or the banks be placed before it for consideration. RBI sought time to file the affidavit.

1:31 PM

Media can't run parallel trial: Delhi HC directs Arnab Goswami to exercise restraint in Shashi Tharoor's plea seeking injuction against defamatory broadcasting

1:29 PM

CBSE won't be able to help students taking class XII compartment exams: SC

The Supreme Court Thursday said the CBSE would not be able to help much the students taking compartment exams for class XII this month as it would be the colleges and universities which will take their admissions for higher studies.

 

The apex court said this while hearing a plea which has challenged the decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to hold compartment exams on the ground that it would be detrimental to the health of the examinees

 

It is the colleges, universities and deemed universities which will be taking admissions of those students and the CBSE will not be able to help much the students taking compartment exams, a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar told senior advocate Vivek Tankha, who was representing the petitioners.

1:27 PM

GST Council to meet today on compensation

The GST Council will meet on Thursday to take a call on meeting the shortfall in GST compensation to states. With the expiry of the one-week deadline on Tuesday, the stand of only 17 of the 31 states is publicly known.

1:14 PM

PM Modi also launches mobile app e-Gopala that will provide farmers marketplace for livestock

12:56 PM

Amazon could buy $20-bn stake in Reliance Retail: Report

The report comes a day after RIL announced that US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners would buy a 1.75 per cent stake in Reliance Retail for Rs 7,500 crore

12:20 PM

Rhea bail plea hearing begins in sessions court

12:06 PM

Induction of Rafale jets crucial considering kind of atmosphere being created along our border: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh