LIVE: EC says TMC's letter on Mamata is 'full of insinuations & averments'

The Trinamool Congress chief has a slight fever and has been shifted to a special ward at the hospital's VVIP Woodburn Block soon after the MRI at the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences

10:58 PM

Students of class 1-11 declared pass: Puducherry govt

Students of std 1-9 declared 'All Pass'. Students of 10th & 11th in Puducherry & Karaikal declared pass as per guidelines of Tamil Nadu board. Students of 10th & 11th in Mahe & Yanam regions declared pass as per guidelines of Kerala & Andhra Boards respectively: Puducherry Govt, according to ANI

10:17 PM

Uttarakhand cabinet expansion likely to happen tomorrow: State BJP chief

Cabinet expansion likely to happen tomorrow evening: Uttarakhand BJP State President Bansidhar Bhagat, according to ANI

8:58 PM

Mamata's responding well to treatment, but still has symptoms related to bony injuries: Doctors

8:50 PM

Completely incorrect to suggest that the commission has taken over law and order in Bengal: EC

Election Commission says it is "completely incorrect to suggest that the commission has taken over law and order machinery in the state in the name of conducting elections and appropriated whole governance structure".

8:47 PM

LIVE: EC says TMC's letter on Mamata is 'full of insinuations & averments'

LIVE: Election Commission responds to Trinamool's letter over 'attack on Mamata', says TMC's letter is 'full of insinuations and averments'

8:35 PM

Latest News: US weekly jobless claims drop to four-month low

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a four-month low last week as an improving public health environment allows more segments of the economy to reopen, putting the labor market recovery back on track.

 

Still, a full recovery from the deep scars inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic will probably take years, with the weekly unemployment claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday also showing a whopping 20.1 million Americans collecting unemployment checks in late February.

 

"The economy and the labor market are entering the next phase of the rebound, supported by a ramping up of vaccinations and declining infections that will allow for a resumption of activity," said Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics in White Plains, New York.

8:26 PM

Mamata Banerjee has assets worth Rs 16.72 lakh

Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has declared that her net worth is Rs 16.72 lakh.

 

Banerjee, who is contesting the Nandigram assembly constituency in Purba Medinipur district, doesn't own any vehicle or property, according to her self-sworn affidavit filed before the Election Commission of India.

 

The 66-year-old leader's total movable assets are worth Rs 16.72 lakh.

 

Such assets owned by her were worth Rs 30.45 lakh before the assembly election in 2016.

 

Her income for the year 2019-20 was Rs 10,34,370.

8:12 PM

Latest LIVE: AIADMK, DMK cadres protest against parting with seats to allies

A section of ruling AIADMK and DMK workers on Thursday protested against allocation of constituencies from their home turf to allies for the April 6 assembly elections and wanted them to be set apart for partymen.

 

AIADMK workers protested against giving away the Egmore segment here to ally Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, while DMK cadres raised slogans against parting with the Ponneri constituency to Congress.

 

The ruling party men also protested against allocation of Poonamalle and Gummidipoondi constituencies to ally PMK.

 

Upset over omission of Labour Minister Nilofer Kafeel's name in the AIADMK list so far, her supporters in Vaniyambadi said the ruling party should not expect the votes of people from the region.

8:06 PM

Latest News: Tightening conditions not yet frightening for Fed and co

Rising Treasury yields, a dollar rebound and commodity prices at multi-year highs may be starting to feed into a tightening of global financial conditions, testing the resolve of central bankers to reverse the moves by providing additional support.

 

Financial conditions is the umbrella phrase for how exchange rates, borrowing costs, and equity swings affect the economy. Measuring them is an inexact science, but a range of indexes, or FCIs, exist to gauge day-to-day changes.

 

How loose or tight financial conditions are dictate the spending, saving and investment plans of businesses and households. Goldman Sachs says its index - one of the most widely used - has a strong historical correlation with growth.

8:01 PM

Latest News: ECB signals faster money-printing to keep lid on yields

The European Central Bank said on Thursday it was ready to accelerate money-printing to keep a lid on euro zone borrowing costs, signalling to sceptical markets it was determined to lay the foundation for a solid economic recovery.

 

Concerned that a rise in bond yields could derail a recovery across the 19 countries that share the euro, the ECB said it would use its 1.85 trillion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) more generously over the coming months to stop any unwarranted rise in debt financing costs.

 

"The Governing Council expects purchases under the PEPP over the next quarter to be conducted at a significantly higher pace than during the first months of this year," the ECB said in a statement after its regular policy meeting.

 

The widely expected move comes after a steady rise in yields since the start of the year that has mostly mirrored a similar move in U.S. Treasuries rather than reflecting improved economic prospects across the euro zone.

8:01 PM

Latest News: Banks unions call for two-day strike against proposed privatisation of PSBs

United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, has given a call for a two-day strike from March 15 to protest against the proposed privatisation of two state-owned lenders.

 

In the Union Budget presented last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) as part of its disinvestment plan.

 

The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the lender to LIC in 2019 and merged 14 public sector banks in the last four years.

 

Conciliation meetings - before the Additional Chief Labour Commissioner on March 4, 9 and 10 - did not yield any positive result, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) general secretary C H Venkatachalam said in a statement.

7:46 PM

Akhilesh Yadav demands probe into 'attack' on Mamata

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav Thursday demanded a probe into the alleged attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during electioneering in Nandigram and hoped that people would elect her their CM once again.

 

Accusing the BJP of hatching pre-poll conspiracies against the Trinamool Congress and Banerjee, Yadav asserted that people in West Bengal know Mamata Banerjee has been the sole popular chief minister of the state.

 

The BJP may hatch as many conspiracies as they want how many more such incidents might take place? Yadav said while talking to reporters at the residence of his party MP Shafiqur Rahman Burq here.

 

I hope the people of Bengal will once again elect Mamata Banerjee. The people know if there is any popular chief minister, it is Mamata Banerjee, said Yadav.

7:43 PM

Latest News: Vyapam scam: CBI court frames charges against 33 accused

A special CBI court here has framed charges against 33 accused, including four former officials of Vyapam, in connection with the rigging of a 2012 Madhya Pradesh police recruitment test.

 

Earlier this week, CBI judge S B Sahu framed charges against 33 accused, including 17 candidates and 12 middlemen, under relevant provisions of the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act, IT Act and MP Recognised Admissions Act, CBI special public prosecutor Satish Dinkar said on Thursday.

7:41 PM

Mamata will lose by 50,000 votes: BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Thursday claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be defeated from Nandigram in the coming Assembly polls.

 

She would have lost from Bhabanipur, her current constituency, and therefore decided to contest from Nandigram this time, he said.

 

"But she would lose from there too by a margin of 50,000 votes," Vijayvargiya, the BJP general secretary in- charge for the poll-bound state, told reporters at Shahpur in Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh.

7:37 PM

Latest News: Baidu looks to raise $3.03 billion in Hong Kong listing

Chinese search engine company Baidu Inc is looking to raise up to $3.03 billion by selling 95 million shares as part of its Hong Kong listing launched Thursday, a filing from the company showed.

 

The shares will be priced at no more than HK$295 per share for retail shareholders and represent 3.4 per cent of the company's total shares, it said in documents sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

Institutional investors could pay more for the shares, the term sheet showed, without specifying a range.