Latest LIVE: State funeral to be accorded to Paswan, say MHA officials

In a modification to the reopening guidelines, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today allowed political parties to hold rallies in 12 election-bound states before October 15.

2:21 PM

Worst recession in South Asia; millions falling into poverty: World Bank

Millions of people in South Asia are being pushed into extreme poverty as the region where a quarter of humanity lives suffers its worst-ever recession due to the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank said on Thursday.

The multi-lateral lender forecast a record economic contraction of 7.7% for South Asia this year, and said workers in the informal sector were being hit hardest, and private consumption was unlikely to recover quickly from the blow.

"The impact on livelihoods will even be larger than the GDP forecast suggests...This implies that the region will experience a sharp increase in the poverty rate," the bank said in its bi-annual report. Read on...

2:01 PM

Amazon India opens new specialised fulfilment centre

Amazon India on Thursday announced the expansion of its fulfilment network in Karnataka with the launch of a new specialised fulfilment centre the largest in India.

With the storage capacity of more than 1.2 million cubic feet, the new fulfilment centre at Malur in Kolar is specialised to store and manage customer orders from the large appliances and furniture category.

With this infrastructure expansion, Amazon.in will now offer storage capacity of more than four million cubic feet across 4 fulfilment centres to its close to 35,000 sellers in Karnataka.

1:43 PM

Bandhan Bank extends gain post Q2 business update; soars 14% in 1 week

Shares of Bandhan Bank were trading higher for the fifth straight day, up 4 per cent at Rs 327 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday, after the lender reported strong credit growth at 20 per cent year on year (YoY) to Rs 76,724 crore for the quarter ended September 2020 (Q2FY21).

 

In the past one week, the stock of the private sector lender has rallied 14 per cent, as compared to 4.4 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. At 10:43 am, it was trading 3 per cent higher at Rs 324, as against 1.3 per cent gain in the benchmark index. A combined 8.4 million equity shares had changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report.

1:30 PM

BJP workers clash with police in Howrah

1:17 PM

EasyJet warns first ever annual loss could top $1 billion

British airline easyJet warned on Thursday its first ever annual loss could be as much as 845 million pounds ($1.1 billion) as the pandemic meant it was flying just 25% of planned capacity. The airline has signalled to the government it may need more financial support, according to media reports. The headline loss before tax forecast for the year ended Sept. 30 of 815-845 million pounds was worse than the loss of 794 million expected by analysts, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. That is the first time easyJet, which was founded in 1995, has ever made a full-year loss. 

1:08 PM

Oil prices rise as Hurricane Delta enters U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Oil prices rose on Thursday as oil workers evacuated rigs in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico ahead of Hurricane Delta, though fuel demand concerns persisted on fading chances for a U.S. economic stimulus deal and after a build in U.S. crude inventories. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 27 cents, or 0.68%, to $40.22 a barrel at 0649 GMT, after falling 1.8% on Wednesday. Brent crude futures rose 31 cents, or 0.74%, to $42.30 a barrel, after falling 1.6% on Wednesday.

With Hurricane Delta forecast to intensify into a Category 3 storm with winds of up to 120 miles per hour (193 km per hour), oil producers such as Chevron Corp have evacuated 183 offshore facilities and halted nearly 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil output. The Gulf of Mexico produced 1.65 million bpd in July, according to the U.S. government. The region, which accounts for 17% of U.S. crude output, has been hit by several storms over the past few months, each of which only briefly dented oil output.

12:55 PM

China will have to pay big price: Trump

US President Donald Trump has warned that China will have to "pay a big price" for the spread of coronavirus globally. Less than 50 hours after he returned to the White House from a military hospital where he was treated for the deadly virus, Trump in a video posted on Twitter from the Rose Garden outside the Oval Office blamed China for the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadly coronavirus originated from the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and spread across the world, killing 1,054,674 and infecting 36,077,017. The US is the worst-hit nation with 211,793 deaths and 7,549,429 infections.

12:47 PM

Dr Abdullah Abdullah meets PM Modi

12:31 PM

ALH Dhruv helicopter lands in rural area

An ALH Dhruv helicopter of the Indian Air Force on routine training sortie carried out a precautionary landing in the rural areas of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh: Indian Air Force

12:14 PM

Trump does a surgical strike on H-1B: What it means for Indian techies

Trump administration has done a surgical strike on H-1B visa programme and it will be the IT services and consultancy sector which will bear the biggest brunt of White House' new rules. Tune in to podcast here

11:47 AM

Fire in Delhi factory

Fire breaks out at a PVC sole manufacturing factory in DSIDC Industrial Area, Narela; 10 fire tenders rushed to the spot. 

11:43 AM

Byju tops recall value in IPL ads; Dhoni, Virat most recalled celebrities

Educational platform Byju holds the most recall value as the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) reaches its peak. The Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) in a survey found that Byju was the most spontaneously recalled brand on the IPL last weekend. However, its brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan trailed behind. Read More

11:24 AM

Watch | Vertical charlie culminates 88th Air Force Day celebrations

11:08 AM

Tension at Nepal border, SSB jawans manhandled

Confrontation between the 49th battalion of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel and Nepalese citizens has taken place near Sundar Nagar village in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district, which has led to tension in the area. The confrontation was reported on Tuesday. Ujjwal Singh, in-charge officer of SSB's Naujalha border outpost, said the SSB had seized a truck coming from Nepal on Monday. The truck was loaded with cosmetics valued at Rs 24.55 lakh. One Vikram Chakravarty of the Naujalha village was arrested for smuggling.

 

10:46 AM

US troops in Afghanistan should be home by Xmas: Trump

US President Donald Trump has hinted that American troops stationed in Afghanistan should be "home by Christmas", following an announcement last month that Washington would withdraw thousands of military personnel from the war-torn country by November. Taking to Twitter late Wednesday night, the President said: "We should have the small remaining number of our brave men and women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas." No were no other details available immediate on Trump's remarks.