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Sat, 06 June 2020
Maha sees 2,739 new COVID-19 cases; 82,968 total

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20:59   Maharashtra govt to procure 10,000 vials of Remdesivir: Tope
The Maharashtra government will   procure 10,000 vials of the drug Remdesivir for treating coronavirus patients, Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Saturday.
The expensive medicine is being made available for the poor and needy patients in the state, he said.
 
"GoM to procure 10k vials of Remdesivir. Based on evidence from Laboratory, animal and clinical studies, It has generated promising results in MERS-CoV and SARS which are also caused by Corona Virus," Tope tweeted.
"WHO (World Health Organisation) Suggests it may have some positive effects in Covid19 treatment. This expensive medicine is being made available for poor & needy patients," he added.
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20:52   Weeks ahead of retirement, Mumbai Rly cop dies of COVID-19
A 58-year-old assistant sub inspector attached to Dombivali railway police in Thane district died of COVID-19 on Saturday, an official said.
The ASI, who was on leave from May 11 to June 4, was admitted in Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai after he tested positive for novel coronavirus on May 29, Inspector Satish Pawar of Dombivali railway police station said.
"He was on ventilator support for the past few days and died today at the hospital. He was set to retire on June 30. He stayed with his family in Ghatkopar in Mumbai," the official added. -- PTI  
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20:39   Maha sees 2,739 new COVID-19 cases; 82,968 total
Maharashtra on Saturday reported spike of 2,739 new COVID-19 cases, taking the overall case count to 82,968 while the death toll rose by 120 to 2,969, state health department said.
A total of 2,234 patients were discharged in the day, pushing the tally of the recovered cases to 37,390 so far, a statement said.
The state now has 42,609 active cases, it said, adding that a total of 5,37,124 samples have been tested so far. -- PTI
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20:34   Viswanathan Anand returns home after over three months
Chess maestro Viswanathan Anand finally reunited with his family in Chennai after being stuck in Germany for over three months as the former world chess champion reached his home on Saturday after completing a seven-day institutional quarantine in Bengaluru.
   
Anand had returned to the country on May 30.
 
"Yes, I am home. Happy to see my family, especially my son," said Anand, who will be in home quarantine for a period of seven days as per the Tamil Nadu government's protocols.
 
"Finally, good to be coming home," Anand tweeted before heading for Chennai.
Anand was in Germany to play in the Bundesliga chess league in February and was slated to return to India in March. 

However, the 50-year-old was forced to stay put after the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted sporting schedules across the globe, apart from restricting movement.
 
He had stayed near Frankfurt and did online commentary for the Candidates tournament in Russia before it was called off mid-way due to the pandemic. 
 
Anand thanked the hotel where he stayed during his quarantine period in Bengaluru and wrote: "Thanks @tajmgroad. Was a very comfortable stay. Although we were in quarantine it was pleasant.. Even our medical tests and screening were done very efficiently. Hope to be back and enjoy your hospitality!"
 
Anand's wife Aruna said she was naturally delighted.
 
"It feels great to have him home again.. after 112 days. It feels like a family again. Akhil (son) is also very happy," she told PTI.
 
"As per the Tamil Nadu government's quarantine rules, Anand will be in a separate room. We have to follow the rules strictly," she added.
 
Varun Aiyar, who was with Anand in the flight from Germany, appreciated the chess champion's simplicity.
 
"Padma Vibhushan Vishy Anand, a genius, an inspiration and above all a down to earth human. For starters, not once did he seek special treatment, always used the general queue with us (in the airport, daily health check etc). Have always been and will always be a die hard fan (on and off the board) of this gentleman!" Aiyar further wrote on his Facebook page. -- PTI
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20:29   UAE cricket boar offered to host IPL: Report
The Emirates Cricket Board has confirmed that it had expressed interest in hosting the IPL this year if India decides to shift the cash-rich T20 tournament out of the country in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
   
The 13th IPL was scheduled to start in late March but it was postponed indefinitely due to the global health crisis. 

There is speculation that the BCCI is looking for an October window to hold the event in case the T20 World Cup in Australia is not held this year.
 
A report in the 'Gulf News' said that the UAE Cricket Board has made an offer to the BCCI that it can host the IPL.
 
"In the past, Emirates Cricket Board has successfully hosted IPL matches in UAE. We have a proven record of being hosts as a neutral venue for various bilateral and multi-nation cricket activities in the past," its general secretary Mubashshir Usmani was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
 
"Our state-of-the-art venues and facilities make the Emirates a desired place for hosting all types of cricket."
 
Usmani said the Emirates Cricket Baord had, in fact, offered their venues to the England and Wales Cricket Board to complete the English season here as well. 
 
"We have come forward and offered our venues to both England and India. We have also hosted matches involving England team on multiple occasions previously. If our offer is taken up by either of the Boards, then we will be pleased to facilitate hosting of their matches," he said.
Sri Lanka Cricket is the other Board which has expressed interest to host the IPL if India decides to hold the tournament abroad.
 
A clearer picture about the window for IPL may emerge if the ICC takes a decision on the fate of this year's T20 World Cup during its board meeting through video conference on June 10. PTI
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20:19   Boy kills self after a nightlong PUBG session: Police
A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself to death in Kota on early Saturday morning shortly after he stopped playing PUBG throughout the night and went to sleep, said police.
              
Railway Colony police station's in-charge Hansraj Meena said the boy, a class 9 student and son of an Army man, was found hanging from the grill of the ventilator in his bedroom on early Saturday morning.
             
Meena said according to the boy's family members, the boy had downloaded the gaming programme on his mother's mobile phone only three days back but had been playing the game virtually continuously for the last three days.
            
He kept on playing the game till 3 am in a room in which his brother was studying, said Meena, adding the boy went to adjoining to sleep after that.
            
His body was found hanging from the ventilator's grill in the morning, he said, adding the boy was rushed to MBS Hospital, where he was declared "brought dead".
            
No suicide note was recovered in the case, the SHO said. 
            
The boy lived in Gandhi Colony in Kota along with his mother and brother, while his father, a Tamil Nadu native and Army man, is currently posted in Arunachal Pradesh.
           
 The boy's body has been kept in hospital's morgue for the postmortem, the SHO said. -- PTI
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20:02   RS poll: Congress moves Guj MLAs to resorts
Rattled by resignations of three MLAs ahead of the June 19 Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress in Gujarat on Saturday shifted several of its legislators to resorts and bungalows near their constituencies to thwart any "poaching" bid, a party leader said.
With the resignations of Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary on June 3 and that of Brijesh Merja on June 5, the Congress' strength in the 182-member House has been reduced to 65.
The effective strength of the House, however, stands at 172 as of now as ten seats are currently vacant -- two due to court cases and the rest because of resignations.
While, several MLAs from north Gujarat were shifted to a resort near Ambaji in Banaskantha district, those from south and Central Gujarat were moved to private bungalows in Anand, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said, adding that legislators from Saurashtra region were shifted to a resort in Rajkot.
"The MLAs were asked by party high command to arrive in resorts in Anand, Ambaji, and Rajkot after completing their work on Saturday. They will arrive in these resorts on the basis of the zone-wise location of their constituencies. Many of them have arrived. Others will reach there soon," he said.
He said senior leaders of the Congress will interact with MLAs and discuss the current situation and upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Doshi said MLAs might continue to stay in these resorts until the day of the election for four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat, i.e on June 19.
Earlier, the Congress had moved its MLAs to a resort in Jaipur in March this year after five of them had resigned ahead of the March 26 elections to the Upper House. 

The polls were deferred due to the coronavirus-driven lockdown.
With the reduced strength at 65, the Congress may find it difficult to win two Rajya Sabha seats for which it has fielded senior leaders Bharatsinh Solanki and Shaktisinh Gohil.
A party MLA said Solanki remains the second preference after Gohil, and that they will vote as per the directive of the party on June 19.
"All 65 MLAs are united. There is no internal factionalism in the Congress. Bharatsinh (Solanki) himself knows he is the second candidate. It is the party's decision. We will cast our vote as per the directive of the party. State unit party president Amitbhai Chavda has also announced that Shaktisinh is our primary candidate," said MLA Vikram Madam. -- PTI
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19:21   We have named her 'Priyanka Twitter Vadra': UP deputy CM's jibe at Cong leader
Taking a swipe at Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday said social media projects her as a "prominent national leader" but she could not even ensure victory of her brother and then party president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in the 2019 parliamentary election.
   
Seeking to downplay the impact of Priyanka Gandhi in the state politics, Maurya said, "I do not take her seriously.... We have already named her 'Priyanka Twitter Vadra'. She only tweets for 2-3 days and the media remains busy and social media shows her as a prominent national leader."
 
"But everyone knows when she came to Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections hoping that she would make her brother the prime minister, she could not even ensure his victory," he told PTI.
 
Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani of the BJP in his pocket borough of Amethi in the 2019 elections.
 
The deputy chief minister said the Congress has lost its base in Uttar Pradesh and does not have any leader except those looking for just "photo opportunities".
 He said Priyanka Gandhi has been critical of policies of the Yogi Adityanath dispensation only because she looks at the BJP-ruled state "from a negative point of view".
 
Referring to a tweet by her flagging problems faced by migrant labourers returning to their homes in Uttar Pradesh during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Maurya said, "Congress does not want to see (what is happening in) Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It is suffering from 'drishti dosh' (vision disorder). Congress leaders, be it Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra or any other, should get their eyes tested properly."
 
"If they (Congress) want to see everything in a wrong manner because the BJP is ruling Uttar Pradesh...see it from a negative point of view and level allegations on (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi-ji and Yogi-ji, then there is no cure to it. I can only suggest that they should consult a good doctor and wear good quality spectacles," he added. -- PTI 
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19:20   No word yet from Saudi on Haj 2020: Committee
Amid uncertainty brought about by the novel coronavirus outbreak worldwide, those pilgrims who desire to cancel their Haj journey for 2020 would be given a 100 per cent refund, Haj Committee of India Chief Executive
Officer Masood Ahmed Khan said on Saturday.
The Haj Committee of India is a statutory body under an Act of Parliament and functions as part of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Khan said only a few weeks were left for preparatory works, and there has been no communication from authorities in Saudi Arabia about the Haj pilgrimage.
Speaking to PTI, Khan said, "There is little chance of Haj 2020 taking place. Even those who do not apply for cancellation will get full refund."
As per data with the Haj Committee, some 2 lakh people go from India to Saudi Arabia for Haj pilgrimage. -- PTI  
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19:15   'Unlock doesn't mean freedom', says Adityanath
"Unlock doesn't mean freedom," Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday and instructed officials to ensure that not more than five persons gather in public places and social distancing norms are strictly adhered to.
 
The Centre had on May 30 said 'Unlock-1' will be initiated in the country from June 8 under which the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown effectuated on March 25 will be relaxed to a great extent, including opening of shopping malls, restaurants and religious places, even as strict restrictions will remain in place till June 30 in the country's worst-hit areas.
Chairing a meeting of senior officials, the chief minister emphasised on breaking the chain of virus transmission and said, "Unlock does not mean freedom."
Social distancing must be strictly adhered to and effective patrolling must be done to desist people from crowding at places, he said.
In a statement issued by the Chief Minister's office, Adityanath said, "Provisions have been made to give relaxation in areas outside the containment zones in a phased manner. For this, relaxation will be given for various activities."
He directed the additional chief secretary (Home) to issue directives in this regard. The chief minister also told officials that a plan should be made to create 1 crore man days between June 15 and 30.
The urban and rural development departments should formulate a model to link street vendors to the economic package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and provide them employment. 
"The special economic package announced by PM Modi has a provision of availing loan up to Rs 10,000. A place should be chosen for the street vendors in such a way that they are able to do their business, and at the same time, traffic should not be blocked," Adityanath said in the statement.
The UP government wants that migrant labourers who have returned to the state, should contribute in new construction works. Directions were also issued to design a software that would streamline efforts to provide work for the migrant labourers in every district. 
The chief minister also said that special attention should be paid to medical colleges of Agra, Meerut, Aligarh, Kanpur and Firozabad while sanitisation should be carried out regularly in rural and urban areas. -- PTI 
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18:57   NDRF man tests COVID positive after return from cyclone-hit Bengal
An National Disaster Response Force personnel has tested positive for COVID-19 after his return to Odisha from cyclone Amphan-hit West Bengal following restoration work, official sources said on Saturday.
   
With detection of the case, the NDRF authorities have ordered testing of all 173 men who were deployed in the neighbouring state on post-cyclone duty, they said.
   
Six personnel showed coronavirus-like symptoms after returning from West Bengal on June 3, and they were rushed to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for examination, a senior officer of the NDRF's 3rd Battalion told PTI.
 
One of them tested positive for the COVID-19 and admitted to Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack, he said.
 
All the personnel who returned from West Bengal after restoration work have been lodged in a three-storied building, which has been contained, in the NDRF campus at Mundali near Cuttack.
 
All the personnel will remain in the building till their swab sample examination is completed. None of them have any symptoms of COVID-19, the officer said.
 
Further, 376 personnel of the Fire Services and 271 of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, who were sent to West Bengal for relief and restoration works after the cyclone ravaged the state on May 20, were also sent to quarantine on their return, an official said.
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18:56   Pregnant woman runs between hospitals for 13 hrs, dies
An eight-month pregnant woman died in an ambulance in Noida after a frantic 13-hour hospital hunt failed to find her a bed as over half-a-dozen facilities denied her treatment, her family claimed on Saturday.
 
Neelam, 30, and her husband Vijender Singh, 30, knocked the doors of eight hospitals, including government ones, before she died in the ambulance outside a facility in Greater Noida on Friday, the family told PTI.
Taking note of the death and the claim, the Gautam Buddh Nagar district administration ordered an inquiry into the matter. 
A resident of Khoda colony on the Noida-Ghaziabad border, Neelam was eight months pregnant and undergoing treatment at Shivalik Hospital in Nodia, a private facility, for pregnancy-related complications, her husband said.
On Friday, the hospital refused to admit her and then they were forced to run from one facility to another, he added. 
"We first went to the ESI hospital. Thereafter, we went to a hospital in Sector 30 (the Child PGI), from there we went to the Sharda Hospital and then to the Government Institute of Medical Sciences in Greater Noida. But all refused to admit her," the man is seen alleging in a video circulating on social media.
He said the family also tried to get admission in the private facility Jaypee, Fortis Hospital in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Max in Vaishali, Ghaziabad, but were allegedly told that no beds were available.
"Kul mila ke humari ambulance mein hi death ho gayi (ultimately, she died in the ambulance). Finally, we got to the GIMS where she was put on a ventilator but it was too late," he said. 
Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Suhas L Y ordered a probe into the episode.
"Additional DM Munindra Nath Upadhyay and Chief Medical Officer Deepak Ohri will probe the matter. The DM has instructed them to immediately carry out a probe and take action," an official statement said.
This is at least the second instance within a fortnight when a life has been lost in Gautam Buddh Nagar due to unavailability of timely medical treatment. 
On the night of May 25, a newborn child had died due to lack of medical support as his father kept running from one hospital to another between Greater Noida and Noida.
The district administration had carried out a probe in that matter too and pinned the fault on two private hospitals for alleged negligence. -- PTI  
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18:21   MCX staffer dies of Covid; 9 others test positive
A 36-year-old staffer of the Multi Commodity Exchange has died of COVID-19, while nine others, who were part of a core team which helped ensure business continuity of the bourse during the lockdown, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said on Saturday. 
   
The staffer died on Monday and the nine colleagues who have tested positive were from a team of 30 which used to spend a fortnight at the commodity bourse's office in suburban Andheri by rotation since the lockdown was announced in March, the officials said. 
 
However, it was still unclear if the office has been sealed and if so, how is the exchange continuing with its operations. 
 
A query sent to MCX remained unanswered. 
 
The financial capital has turned into a hotspot of the coronavirus infection, accounting for nearly a fifth of the over 2 lakh positive cases in the country so far. 
 
Financial institutions, especially systemically important ones like exchanges and regulators, have core teams to ensure operational continuity. 
 
In the case of MCX, there were two teams of 30 people each mandated with ensuring business continuity out of the city office. They used to work from the office for two weeks by rotation, officials said. 
 
The deceased staffer's samples tested positive on Friday, leading the bourse to start testing all the employees he was in close contact with. Tests on the other employees led to the discovery of nine more who have been infected with the virus, officials said. 
 
They said the deceased staffer was during a break away from his work roster when he died and the exact details of when he got infected were not immediately known.  
 
An official said necessary precautions like sanitising the facility have been undertaken by MCX. -- PTI 
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18:18   India, China meet over border standoff concludes
The meeting between military commanders of India and China to discuss and resolve the stand-off in Eastern Ladakh has concluded, sources said.

They said Indian delegation is on its way back to Leh after holding talks in Moldo on the Chinese side of LAC.

"Talks between military commanders of India and China in Moldo on the Chinese side of Line of Actual Control are over. The Indian delegation led by 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh is returning to Leh," a source said.

The delegation will brief the top army brass including Army Chief Gen MM Naravane and the Northern Army Commander Lt Gen YK Joshi about the talks.

The Directorate General of Military Operations at Army Headquarters in New Delhi will also brief the ministry of external affairs and other concerned government officials about the discussions.

The talks between Indian and Chinese military commanders began today at around 11.30 am in Moldo, almost two hours behind the earlier schedule.

Lt Gen Harinder Singh met his Chinese equivalent Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of Chinese People's Liberation Army, to address the ongoing tussle in Eastern Ladakh between the two countries over the heavy military build-up by the PLA along the LAC there.

The two sides have held close to a dozen rounds of talks since the first week of May when the Chinese sent over 5,000 troops along the LAC. -- ANI
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18:13   Shah's Bihar rally amid crisis is vulturism: RJD
A day ahead of Amit Shah's virtual rally to sound Bharatiya Jnataa Party's poll bugle in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday said electioneering amidst the coronavirus crisis in the country is nothing but "political vulturism", and alleged that the saffron party was only interested in electoral victory even at the cost of human lives.
The Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly also accused the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance government of meting out "step-motherly" treatment to migrant labourers and asserted that this would be a major issue in the assembly polls slated for later this year.
In an interview to PTI, Yadav said he is hopeful that all like-minded parties who are driven by the same ideology of pro-constitutional supremacy and pro-poor would come under one umbrella and fight the "divisive and a failed government of 15 years" in the state.
He also dismissed reports of cracks in the opposition alliance, saying that having "contrarian views" is healthy for any democracy.
His remarks come a day before the Rashtriya Janata Dal is set to observe ''Garib Adhikar Diwas'' that was announced to counter Shah's rally on June 7 in which the home minister will address the people of the state through video conferencing and Facebook live, given the COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions.

The BJP will sound the poll bugle in Bihar with the virtual rally by the Union minister and party's senior leader Shah who will address the people of the state through video conference and Facebook live, state BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal said, adding the party has set a target of roping in "at least one lakh people across the 243 assembly segments in Bihar" for the event, besides those who may prefer to listen to the speech on the social networking site.  
On party's 'Garib Adhikar Diwas' event, Yadav had tweeted that in this calamity, the government has kept the plate of farmers and labourers empty, so in retaliation to their insensitivity, on June 7, RJD will awaken the government by beating "thalis-katoras (plates-bowls)".  
The RJD campaign is reminiscent of Prime Minister Narender Modi's call to the people to beat 'thalis' in honour of  corona warriors on the day of Janata curfew on March 22.  
"This virtual election rally (of the BJP) amidst the crisis of the century that has crippled the health infrastructure, and spread of the disease has reached community level in the state, speaks volumes about the priorities of the BJP," Yadav said.
"Electioneering at this juncture is nothing but political vulturism. Rather than helping the poor, needy and migrants, they want to win elections even at the cost of human lives," the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.
Welfare of the people has been abandoned by NDA governments both at the Centre and in Bihar, he alleged, asserting that saving lives is more important than forming governments.
Asked if the plight of migrant labourers from Bihar will be raised during electioneering, Yadav said the Nitish Kumar government has neglected the migrant workers.
"On May 29, the Bihar government issued a letter to district SPs which read that with migrant workers returning, the incidents of loot, dacoity and crime will  increase as the government will not be able to provide them with employment," the RJD leader said.
"In a way, the government said migrant workers are criminals. Biharis are 'swabhimani', and the neglect and humiliation by the Nitish government will definitely be a poll issue put forth by the general public themselves," the 30-year-old leader said.
This government has failed to perform its duties and it has completely let down the electorate, he said, and claimed that for the "first time in history" any state government has left its people to fend for themselves.
"It's only the Bihar CM who didn't allow migrant labourers to come back, didn't provide food to those stranded and even refused to pay for their train tickets whereas our government in Jharkhand led by Hemant Soren airlifted stranded people," Yadav said
Asserting that it took a humanitarian crisis like COVID-19 to expose Kumar's "apathetic and inhuman attitude", Yadav alleged that those who follow his politics know that he is "anti-poor, anti-migrants, anti-farmer, anti-youth and anti-common man, and has always been discriminatory and inhuman towards them." -- PTI
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18:04   FIR against Ganga Ram hospital for 'violating' COVID-19 norms
An FIR has been lodged against the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi for allegedly violating COVID-19 regulation norms, after Delhi government registered a compliant with the police in this connection.
 
According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with PTI, the complainant is a senior official of the Delhi government's heath department.
There was no immediate reaction from the authorities of the SGRH, a leading private hospital and a dedicated COVID-19 facility. 
The official has alleged that there has been a "violation" on part of the hospital in adhering to COVID-19 regulation norms as specified under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. -- PTI 
Alexis and his wife Serena Williams
Alexis and his wife Serena Williams
18:03   Reddit co-founder quits board, asks for black replacement
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has resigned from the tech firm's board and urged the company to replace him with a black candidate.
   
The 37-year-old tech entrepreneur, who is white, is the husband of tennis legend Serena Williams.
Ohanian decided to quit after days of violent protests across the US over the killing of African-American George Floyd, a 46-year-old man who died in Minneapolis on May 25 after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes while the handcuffed man gasped for breath.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Ohanian said he was resigning, "as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: 'What did you do?'"
"I've resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, + I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I'm starting with a pledge of $1M to @kaepernick7's @yourrightscamp," he said.
"I co-founded @reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging. It is long overdue to do the right thing. I'm doing this for me, for my family, and for my country," he said.
 
Ohanian and Williams married three years ago and they have one child.
 
"I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop," he said.
 Based in San Francisco, Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. It has millions of users and calls itself "the front page of the internet".
Ohanian founded the social media website 15 years ago with his college roommates Aaron Swartz and Steve Huffman. He stepped down from daily duties in 2018 but has retained a seat on the company's board until now.
Reddit CEO Huffman wrote in a post on Friday that the company would "honour" Ohanian's request to replace him with a black candidate.
"We're working with mods to change our content policy to explicitly address hate. u/kn0thing (Ohanian) has resigned from our board to fill his seat with a Black candidate, a request we will honor. I want to take responsibility for the history of our policies over the years that got us here, and we still have work to do," Huffman said. -- PTI 
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17:38   Will accept Khalistan if offered: Akal Takht

The Sikh community will accept Khalistan, a separate state for Sikhs, if the government offers it, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said on Saturday. 
The Jathedar (head priest) of Akal Takht (the highest temporal seat of Sikhs) was talking to the media on the 36th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, which was carried out in 1984 to flush out heavily-armed terrorists holed up in the Golden Temple.
 
Asked if the demand for Khalistan was justified, Singh said, If we get it, then what else do we need? 
 
If the Government of India offers us, then we will accept it, he noted.
Which Sikh in the world does not want it? Singh added.  
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Gobind Singh Longowal also endorsed the views of the Akal Takht jathedar and said if Khalistan is given to the community, it would be acceptable to Sikhs.
To a question on pro-Khalistan slogans raised at the Golden Temple complex, Harpreet Singh said, There was nothing wrong in it. But they should have done it after the conclusion of the religious programme which was in progress at the Akal Takht.
Earlier in the day, pro-Khalistan slogans were raised in the premises of the Golden Temple here to mark the 36th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. 
Around a hundred Sikh activists led by Imaan Singh Mann, son of President of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and former MP Simranjit Singh Mann, raised pro-Khalistan slogans at the Akal Takht in the premises of the Golden Temple on Saturday. -- PTI
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17:11   Twitter blocks Amul's account for anti-China post
The Twitter account of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, owner of the Amul brand, was blocked briefly after it posted a cartoon apparently calling for a boycott of Chinese products. 
 
GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi said that Twitter blocked its handle @Amul_Coop after its advertising agency posted a cartoon featuring its mascot 'Amul girl' with the caption "Exit the Dragon?" on Thursday night.
In the bottom right corner, the advertisement had the words "Amul Made in India".
The cartoon appeared to support the new policy of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as a call for a boycott of Chinese products on Indian social media against the backdrop of a stand-off between the two countries in eastern Ladakh.
Amul's Twitter handle could be accessed when checked on Saturday afternoon and the post containing the cartoon was also visible.
 
"We do not know why the account was blocked as we have not received any official statement from Twitter....Amul has not run any campaign against anybody," Sodhi said.

"Amul girl campaign is on since last 55 years, and our mascot generally talks about topical subjects, reflecting the mood of the nation in a funny way," Sodhi said.
"When our advertising agency shared this ad on the night of June 4, they learnt through a forward that our Twitter account was blocked. When we requested Twitter for re-activation, the account was restored," he said.
"When we learnt about this, we asked for clarification. We do not know why this disruption occurred. We have not yet received any official message from Twitter on this," he said.
Meanwhile, #Amul began to trend on Twitter with thousands of users coming out in the company's support and accusing the microblogging platform of a bias against India.
 
"Fantastic by @Amul_Coop. The dragon and their slaves got scared that they restricted the account. Imagine when our Army will be knocking Chinese doors," said Twitter user Raj.
"Shocking @Twitter briefly restricted Amul account because of the post calling to boycott Chinese products. We Indians standwith our company's across India," tweeted Parth Shah. -- PTI  
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16:53   Akhilesh demands Centre's economic package breakup
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday sought to know the breakup of the Rs 20 lakh crore consolidated economic package announced by the Centre for different sections of the society. 
 
"The government should say how much of the Rs 20 lakh crore 'mahapackage' is for the poor, how much is for the farmers, daily-wage labourers, small traders and vendors, he said in a tweet in Hindi.  
"People who are experts in dividing the society should also provide details of the economic (package) breakup," Yadav added. 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month announced an economic relief package of Rs 20 lakh crore to make the country self-reliant in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and pitched for promoting local businesses.  
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16:50   US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to travel to Qatar, Pak and Afghanistan
Special United States Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad will travel to Doha, Islamabad and Kabul as part of his relentless efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan, the State Department has said.
The top American diplomat left Washington DC for the region on Friday.
"The primary focus of Ambassador Khalilzad's trip is to obtain agreement between the Afghan parties on the practical next steps necessary for a smooth start to intra-Afghan negotiations," an official statement said.
In addition, building on his last visit, he will review with the parties the implementation of all commitments in the US-Taliban Agreement and the US-Afghanistan Joint Declaration, specifically reducing violence and prisoner releases, the State Department said without divulging further details.
The US has lost over 2,400 soldiers in Afghanistan since late 2001.
India has been a key stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, supporting a national peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan controlled. -- PTI 

Image: Zalmay Khalilzad, right, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, leader of the Taliban delegation sign the agreement at a ceremony in Doha, Qatar, February 29, 2020. Photograph: Ibraheem al Omari/Reuters
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16:43   India imposes anti-dumping duty on Malaysian calculators for 5 yrs
India has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of electronic calculators from Malaysia for five years with a view to guard domestic players from cheap imports from that country.
   
After conducting a probe, the commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies had recommended anti-dumping duty on electronic calculators from Malaysia.
 
"The anti-dumping duty imposed (USD 0.92 per piece)...shall be effective for a period of five years (unless revoked, amended or superseded earlier)," the department of revenue has said in a notification.
 In its findings of the probe, the DGTR had concluded that the product has been exported to India from Malaysia below its associated normal value, which is amounting to dumping and the domestic industry has suffered material injury due to the dumping.
While DGTR recommends the duty, the finance ministry will take the final call to impose the same.
 
Ajanta LLP had filed the application for imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports from Malaysia.
 
Malaysia is a key trading partner of India in the Southeast Asian region.
 
The bilateral trade between the countries increased to USD 17.25 billion in 2018-19 from USD 14.71 billion in 2017-18.
 In international trade parlance, dumping happens when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in its domestic market.
 
Dumping impacts the price of that product in the importing country, hitting margins and profits of manufacturing firms.
 
According to global trade norms, a country is allowed to impose tariffs on such dumped products to provide a level-playing field to domestic manufacturers. The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as DGTR, in India.
 
The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime.
 India and Malaysia are members of this Geneva-based multi-lateral body.
 
The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. -- PTI 
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16:40   Mumbai cops' order for action against fake news is legal: Maha govt
Justifying the Mumbai Police's order that stipulates criminal action against anyone spreading false and fake information on social media, the Maharashtra government told the Bombay high court that reasonable restrictions can be imposed to safeguard public order.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Amjad Sayed was on Friday hearing two public interest litigations challenging the legality of an order dated May 23, passed by the deputy Commissioner of Police-operations.
The order said that action would be taken against any person, who spreads incorrect, fake information on social media.
It further said that any person who holds the 'Admin' position of any social media group, shall be held personally liable for dissemination of any false or incorrect messages circulated in the group.
According to the petitions filed by advocate Sheshanath Mishra and independent journalist and co-founder of NGO 'Free Speech Collective' Geeta Seshu, the order violates the rights of citizens guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India (right to freedom of speech and expression).
Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for the government, however, contended that the order is "perfectly" legal in view of Article 19(2) of the Constitution, which authorises the government to impose
reasonable restrictions upon freedom of speech and expression in the interest of public order.
The court noted that the issue requires to be examined even though a plain reading of the order reveals that its validity is effective only till June 8, 2020 and directed the government to file an affidavit within three weeks.
The petition filed by Mishra claimed that the police order aims to muzzle the voice of common citizens and prevent them from criticising the government's handling of the pandemic.
Seshu's counsel Mihir Desai argued that the police have not followed due procedure prescribed under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. -- PTI  
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16:10   TN govt caps COVID-19 treatment charges in pvt hospitals
The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday capped the charges for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals at Rs 15,000 per day in Intensive Care Units across the state and announced that no fee over and above the fixed
slab can be claimed from patients.
     
In private sector hospitals, the per day charges for treatment in ICUs shall not exceed Rs 15,000 and in general wards, for asymptomatic people and those with mild symptoms, the maximum is Rs 7,500, health minister C Vijayabaskar said in an official release.
  
"Chief Minister K Palaniswami has ordered the ceiling for COVID-19 treatment charges," the Minister said.   For the purpose of fixing upper limit on rates, hospitals have been categorised based on factors like amenities and for the first two levels of Grade A1 and A2 hospitals, the maximum allowable per day fee in general ward and ICU are Rs 7,500 and Rs 15,000 respectively.
  
In the next two levels of hospitals that fall under Grade A3 and A4, the ceiling for charges per day in general ward and the ICU are Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000.
  
Following patients' complaints of exorbitant fee in private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment and media reports over the issue, a panel headed by Health Secretary Beela Rajesh submitted a report to the government on permissible charges for private hospitals, the release said.
   
The government, considering the report has fixed the upper limit.
     
"The charges that have been announced are the maximum. No fee over and above the permitted charges can be collected from the patients," the government said.    

During these times of the pandemic, both the government and private hospitals shall work together and people's welfare initiatives like fixation of rates will further augment COVID-19 treatment initiatives, the government said. -- PTI
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16:08   Singapore may take years to recover from effects of COVID-19: Deputy PM
Singapore may take years to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat has said, as the city-state on Saturday reported 344 new coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of infections to 37,527.
 
Speaking in parliament during a debate on the budget on Friday, the deputy prime minister said the road to recovery will be long as Singapore deals with persistent economic impact on workers, jobs, and business, the Channel News Asia reported.
 
"Beyond economic costs, there will be immense human and social costs, he said.
 
To help businesses and residents tide over the COVID-19 economic downturn, parliament on Friday passed the S$ 33 billion Fortitude Budget, the fourth tranche of relief measures this year.
 
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, along with several Cabinet ministers, will deliver a series of national broadcasts from June 7 to June 20.
 
The national broadcasts will see the ministers explain "what a post-COVID-19 future looks like for Singapore, and lay out plans to see the country through the storm and emerge stronger," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
 
Most of the new coronavirus cases reported on Saturday were foreign workers living in dormitories, the ministry of health said.
 
Of the 344 new cases, there were seven new community cases three Singapore citizens or permanent residents (foreigners) and four foreigners holding work passes.
 
Singapore will soon roll out a wearable contact tracing device to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 that has affected more than 37,000 people in the country, Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday.
 
If the device works, it may be distributed to everyone in Singapore, he said. -- PTI
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16:07   COVID-19 effect: 2020 World Archery Field C'ships postponed to 2022
The 2020 World Archery Field Championships in Yankton, USA, have been postponed until 2022 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
   
The event was due to take place in September this year at the NFAA Easton Yankton Archery Center, the world's largest dedicated archery facility which has previously hosted the world youth and world indoor championships.
World Archery and Yankton orgainsing committee took the joint decision recently to safeguard athlete's well-being and due to restrictions still in place because of the pandemic.
 
WA said in a statement that it decided against a one-year postponement because of a cramped calendar in 2021. Yankton is also scheduled to host next year's World Archery Championships.
 
The world field event was planned as the primary qualifier for the upcoming World Games in Birmingham. That event was initially scheduled for 2021 but moved to 2022 following the delay of the Olympics.
 
The world body said a separate qualification event will now be held, likely in the summer of 2021.
 
International competition has been suspended since March due to the outbreak of the deadly virus.
 
"It is with huge regret that we delay the field championships but this decision had to be made in the current climate," WA secretary general Tom Dielen said.
 
"We will now focus on scheduling a successful World Games qualification event in 2021 and look forward to the Games and championships in 2022." -- PTI   
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16:05   Govt destroying economy, this is Demon 2.0: Rahul
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the government of actively destroying the country's economy by refusing to provide cash support to people and small and medium enterprises as he termed the Modi regime "Demon 2.0".
   
He shared a news report on Twitter on the impact the coronavirus pandemic would have on the economy and the state of affairs of the MSME sector in the country.
 
Gandhi has called for an immediate provision of Rs 10,000 to the poor and an economic stimulus package for the MSME industry to come out of the current situation.
 
"Government is actively destroying our economy by refusing to give cash support to people and MSMEs. This is Demon 2.0," he tweeted.
 
The Congress has also been demanding an economic stimulus package for the MSME sector, which provides employment to a large number of people, together with cash in the hands of people, to help generate demand.
 
Gandhi had earlier said that it was criminal on the part of the government not to provide cash to people and the industry to emerge out of this crisis.
 
He had termed the lockdown imposed by the government to contain the spread of virus as one that "failed" in achieving its aim and purpose. -- PTI 
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15:46   IndiGo aircraft hit by step ladder amid strong winds
An IndiGo aircraft parked at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai was hit by a step ladder of rival carrier SpiceJet amid strong winds, an official said.  
   
The wing and engine cowling of the aircraft suffered some damage in the incident, a spokesperson of Mumbai International Airport Ltd said in a statement. 
 
Due to partial operations, a sizeable number of aircraft are grounded at airports across the country. 
 
IndiGo said SpiceJet's step ladder got detached from its parked position and hit its parked aircraft. The incident, which took place Saturday morning, is being probed by the authorities.       
 
"Unpredictable cyclonic storms engulfing India have posed a huge challenge for unattended aircraft parked across airports. Due to strong winds, VT-IHN of IndiGo was hit by a ladder of SpiceJet at Mumbai, (causing) some damage to wings and engine cowling," the MIAL spokesperson said. 
 
"This incident occurred at Mumbai airport early this morning. A step ladder belonging to SpiceJet got detached from its parked position and damaged a stationary aircraft belonging to IndiGo," the IndiGo spokesperson said.  
The incident is under investigation by relevant authorities, the spokesperson added.  
 
SpiceJet said its step ladder was well secured and with chocks in place.
 
"On June 6, a SpiceJet step ladder was parked on stand C87 (where one of our aircraft VT-SLA was parked) at the Mumbai airport. On stand C86, an IndiGo aircraft was parked. Both aircraft were not in service at that time," a SpiceJet spokesperson said in a statement.  
 
"At around 7.30 am, sudden strong winds picked up. There was no prior weather warning or advisory. SpiceJet's step ladder, which was well secured and with chocks in place, was moved backwards and hit the IndiGo aircraft on the right wing," the spokesperson said. -- PTI  
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15:44   Pro-Khalistan slogans raised at Golden Temple
Pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by Sikh hardliners in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar on the 36th anniversary of Operation Blue Star on Saturday.
 
Around 100 activists led by Imaan Singh Mann, son of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president and former MP Simranjit Singh Mann, raised the slogans at the Akal Takht -- the highest temporal seat of Sikhs.
'Parallel Jathedar' of Akal Takht Dhian Singh Mand, who entered the premises with the Mann-led group, addressed the gathering.
Members of Sikh hardliner outfit Damdami Taksal along with Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee officials honoured the families of those who were killed during Operation Blue Star, which was carried out in 1984 to flush out heavily-armed terrorists holed up in the Golden Temple.
The main programme to honour such families was organised by the Akal Takht.
Addressing the gathering, Giani Harpreet Singh said the Sikh community will always remember the unhealed wounds of Operation Blue Star.
There was heavy barricading by police around all entry points to the Golden Temple.
Due to entry restrictions in view of the coronavirus pandemic, not more than 1,000 people gathered at the shrine. 

Usually more than one lakh people visit the shrine on this day every year.
Earlier in the day, there was a minor scuffle between policemen and the group led by Maan as they were initially denied entry inside the Golden Temple. 

Maan sustained a foot injury during the scuffle.
Later, the group was allowed entry following intervention of senior police officers present on the spot. --PTI   
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15:30   Piyush Goyal's mother dies in Mumbai
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chandrakanta Goyal, mother of railway minister Piyush Goyal, died at her residence in Mumbai due to old age.
She died late on Friday night.
Piyush Goyal shared the news of her death on Twitter.
In a tweet, he said his mother dedicated her entire life towards the service of people and inspired others to do the same.
BJP leader and former Maharashtra minister Vinod Tawde said that she was cremated on Saturday morning.
Chandrakanta Goyal was a corporator in Mumbai for one term after the Emergency. 

Later, she represented the BJP from the Matunga assembly constituency in Mumbai for three terms.
Her husband, late Ved Prakash Goyal, was a BJP national treasurer for a long time. 

He was shipping minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. -- PTI 
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14:59   Kejriwal warns hospitals over black-marketing of beds
A couple of private hospitals in Delhi are refusing admission to COVID-19 patients and demanding lakhs of rupees for allotting bed to those in a pressing need, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday and warned of strong action against such "black-marketing of beds".
   
Asserting that there is no dearth of hospital beds in the national capital to treat COVID-19 patients, he said the Delhi government would deploy medical professionals at each private hospital to keep a tab on available beds.
 
He said the government has come to know of a few hospitals refusing admission to COVID-19 patients and indulging in "black-marketing of beds".
 
"We will take strong action against such hospitals and they cannot refuse patients. Some time will be needed to break the mafia who are indulging in it. These few hospitals have political connections but they should not be under illusion that their political masters can save them," he said in a virtual  press briefing.
 
He, however, added that most of the private hospitals in Delhi were good and only a couple of them were indulging in such malpractice.
 
The government is talking to the owners of private hospitals to determine their problems in reserving 20 per cent of their beds for COVID-19 patients, he said. 
 
The chief minister also said that testing of COVID-19 has not been stopped in Delhi as reported by a section of media.
He said that currently 36 government and private laboratories were doing test of the novel coronavirus. Action was taken against six labs for irregularities, he added. -- PTI
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14:11   India, China top military-level talks underway
Meeting between Indian and Chinese military commanders is underway on at Moldo on the Chinese side of Line of Actual Control to discuss the ongoing dispute in Eastern Ladakh between the two countries, news agency ANI reported quoting sources. 

Image: The Indian Army's Brigadier H S Gill, left, with the People's Liberation Army Senior Colonel Bai Min at a Border Personnel Meeting in January 2020. Photograph: ANI Photo
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13:44   Engaged with China via established channels: India
Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas, the Indian Army said on Saturday.
 
The statement came in the midst of a scheduled high-level military dialogue between the two sides to resolve the current border standoff in eastern Ladakh.
On Friday, the two countries held diplomatic talks during which they agreed to handle their "differences" through peaceful discussions while respecting each other's sensitivities and concerns.
In the talks, the two sides also agreed to settle differences in accordance with guidance provided by leadership of two countries, in a reference to decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at an informal summit in Chinese city of Wuhan in 2018.
"Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas," the Indian Army said in a statement.
"At this stage therefore any speculative and unsubstantiated reporting about these engagements would not be helpful and the media is advised to refrain from such reporting," it said without providing any details about the high-level dialogue scheduled for this morning. 
The two armies have already held 12 rounds of talks between their local commanders and three rounds of discussions at the level of major general-rank officials. But the talks did not produce any tangible outcome, sources said. -- PTI 
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12:48   Pak violates ceasefire along IB J-K's Kathua
Pakistani troops on Saturday violated ceasefire by resorting to unprovoked firing on forward posts and villages along the International Border in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. 
 
The firing from across the border in Karol Matrai and Chandwa started around 12.45 am, drawing effective retaliation by the Border Security Force guarding the IB, they said. 
They said the exchange of firing between the two sides continued till 3 am but there was no report of any casualty on the Indian side. 
However, the firing caused panic among the border residents who were forced to spend the night in the underground bunkers for their safety. -- PTI 
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12:29   Ahead of border talks, Chinese mouthpiece warns India
Ahead of talks between military commanders of India and China to resolve the standoff along the Line of Actual Control , Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece on Saturday warned India "not to be fooled" by the United States, which was only concerned in serving its own strategic interest to maintain pressure on China, and did not care about "other countries geopolitical interests".

The Global Times tabloid in a scathing piece said that China will not give up "any inch of territory". 

It also warned that if India misjudges and "nibbles away at China's territory," then China will take strong countermeasures.

"We believe India knows very well that China will not be at a disadvantage in any China-India military operations along the border area," the editorial published on Friday in the Chinese government mouthpiece said.

"India should not be fooled by the US," it said, adding that the US supports India every time China and India have conflicts to encourage New Delhi's confrontation against Beijing and to hype new border disputes.

"China does not want to fall foul of India. Good-neighbourly relations have been China's basic national policy over the past decades, and China firmly adheres to a peaceful resolution of border disputes. We have no reason to make India our enemy."

"The US and its allies have established various contact mechanisms with India, making India falsely believe that it is well-supported. But for major powers like China and India, external factors will not substantially affect their relations," it added.

The Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps of the Indian Army Commander Lieutenant Gen Harinder Singh will meet his Chinese equivalent Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of Chinese People's Liberation Army today to address the ongoing tussle in Eastern Ladakh between the two countries over the heavy military build-up by the People's Liberation Army along the LAC there.

The two sides have held close to a dozen rounds of talks since the first week of May when the China sent over 5,000 troops to the LAC. -- ANI
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12:09   COVID-19 not 'exploded' in India but risk remains: WHO
The coronavirus disease has not "exploded" in India, but the risk of that happening remains as the country moves towards unlocking its nationwide lockdown that was imposed in March to contain the COVID-19, according to a top WHO expert.
WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan on Friday said the doubling time of the coronavirus cases in India is about three weeks at this stage.
"So the direction of travel of the epidemic is not exponential but it is still growing," he said, adding that the impact of the pandemic is different in different parts of India and varies between urban and rural settings.
"In South Asia, not just in India but in Bangladesh and...in Pakistan, other countries in South Asia, with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded. But there is always the risk of that happening," Ryan said in Geneva.
He stressed that as the disease generates and creates a foothold in communities, it can accelerate at any time as has been seen in a number of settings.
Ryan noted that measures taken in India such as the nationwide lockdown have had an impact in slowing transmission but the risk of an increase in cases looms as the country opens up.
"The measures taken in India certainly had an impact in dampening transmission and as India, as in other large countries, open up and as people begin to move again, there's always a risk of the disease bouncing back up," he said.
He added that there are specific issues in India regarding the large amount of migration, the dense populations in the urban environment and the fact that many workers have no choice but to go to work every day.
India went past Italy to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.
India saw a record single-day jump of 9,887 coronavirus cases and 294 deaths on Saturday, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642, according to the health ministry.
The lockdown in India, was first clamped on March 25 and spanned for 21 days, while the second phase of the curbs began on April 15 and stretched for 19 days till May 3. 

The third phase of the lockdown was in effect for 14 days and ended on May 17. 

The fourth phase ended on May 31. 
The country had registered 512 coronavirus infection cases till March 24.
The nation-wide lockdown in containment zones will continue till June 30 in India but extensive relaxations in a phased manner from June 8 are listed in the Union Home Ministry's fresh guidelines on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic issued last week. -- PTI
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11:52   COVID-19 could be 'opportunity' for India: WHO chief
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has presented challenges for several nations, could be an "opportunity" for India to speed up the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary healthcare, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.
WHO Director-General Ghebreyesus was responding to a question on the COVID-19 situation in India, where the number of coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly. India went past Italy on Friday to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.
India saw a record single-day jump of 9,887 coronavirus cases and 294 deaths on Saturday, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642, according to the health ministry.
"Of course COVID is very unfortunate and it's challenging for many nations but we need to look for opportunities too. For instance for India, this could be an opportunity to speed up Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary health care. I know there is a very strong commitment from the government to speed up the implementation of Ayushman Bharat and with primary healthcare and community engagement, I think we can really turn the tide," Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing in Geneva on Friday.
Ayushman Bharat is the world's largest health insurance scheme and was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2018. Last month, Modi had said that the number of people who have benefited from the scheme crossed the one crore-mark.
The scheme aims to cover more than 500 million beneficiaries and provide coverage of Rs 500,000 per family per year.
Referring to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Ghebreyesus added that "using and speeding up what has started could actually help in India and that's what WHO was very appreciative by the way when Ayushman Bharat started. And this could be a very good opportunity actually to test that and speed up and use it to really fight this pandemic." -- PTI  
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11:41   Pak army claims to shoot down 'Indian spying quadcopter' along LoC
The Pakistan Army on Saturday claimed to have shot down an "Indian spying quadcopter" allegedly intruding across the Line of Control.
Military spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar said that the mini copter violated the country's airspace in Khanjar sector of the LoC.
"The quadcopter had intruded 500 metres on Pakistan's side of the LoC, he said in a statement.
The spokesman claimed that it was the eighth Indian quadcopter to be shot down by the Pakistan Army troops this year.
Last month, two such quadcopters were downed, the first on May 27 and the second on May 29 after they allegedly intruded deep inside the Pakistani territory, he said.
India has dismissed previous such claims by the Pakistan Army.
The ties between the two nations strained following the Balakot strike when the Indian Air Force jets bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Pakistan on February 26 last year to avenge the killing of 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14.
Pakistan retaliated on February 27 by attempting to target Indian military installations.
The ties further nose-dived after New Delhi abrogated Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir in August last year. Pakistan downgraded diplomatic relations with India and expelled the Indian high commissioner. -- PTI 
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11:01   5 COVID-19 positive cases found in ED HQ
Five people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the headquarters of Enforcement Directorate situated at Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Market in New Delhi

The building was sanitized yesterday and it has been sealed till tomorrow. Some family members of ED officials have also been infected according to sources. Delhi has so far reported 26,334 COVID-19 positive cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Meanwhile, with 9,887 new positive cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count touched 2,36,657 on Saturday surpassing Italy's latest tally of over 2.34 lakh, taking India to the sixth spot among countries with the highest caseloads of the virus. 

-- ANI
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10:31   Joe Biden formally clinches Democratic presidential nomination
Former United States Vice President Joe Biden clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, officially setting the stage for a contentious general election fight with President Donald Trump this November.

The former US vice president hit the delegate threshold on Friday, most recently winning a series of primaries on Tuesday night across the country, The Hill reported. "It was an honour to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded -- and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party," Biden said in a statement.

"I am going to spend every day between now and November 3 fighting to earn the votes of Americans all across this great country so that, together, we can win the battle for the soul of this nation, and make sure that as we rebuild our economy, everyone comes along," the statement read further.

Biden has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since April when his last remaining primary rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, suspended his campaign. But delays in primaries due to the coronavirus pandemic left the former vice president short of the 1,991 delegates needed to clinch the nomination until Tuesday, when seven states and the District of Columbia held their presidential contests.

Heading into the June 2 primary contests, Biden had somewhere around 1,550 pledged delegates to his name. With 479 total delegates up for grabs on Tuesday, Biden needed to win at least 89 per cent of the available delegates to reach the minimum threshold for securing the nomination.

Biden has clinched the nomination at a time when Trump is under scrutiny over his response to a pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 people in the US and hurt large parts of the economy. It also comes as the country is convulsed by protests after the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed African-American man, under police custody in Minneapolis.

-- ANI
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10:08   India-China talks to be held at 11 am
Top commanders of Indian and Chinese Armies will on Saturday hold talks to resolve the month-long standoff in eastern Ladakh. The talks between the two countries will be held at Moldo on the Chinese side, opposite Chushul sector of Eastern Ladakh. 

Sources said that the Corps commander-level meeting will take place around 11 am at Chushul-Moldo on the Chinese side. The meeting was earlier expected to take place at the Chushul-Moldo border at around 8:30 am.

A day before the talks with India to resolve the Ladakh standoff, China on Friday said that it is committed to properly resolve the relevant issue with India. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that "at the moment the situation in the boundary region between China and India is overall stable and controllable".

We have full-fledged border-related mechanisms and we maintain close communications though military and diplomatic channels, he said, adding, "We are committed to properly resolve the relevant issue."
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09:51   Lt General Harinder Singh leaves to meet his Chinese counterpart
Lt General Harinder Singh, Fire and Fury Corps, Ladakh has left by a helicopter to Chushul to meet Chinese Corp Commander Major General Liu Lin near Chushul on the Chinese side.
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09:27   9,887 COVID-19 cases; India overtakes Italy
According to the health ministry latest figures, India recorded 9,887 new novel coronavirus cases 294 deaths in the last 24 hours. 

The total number of cases in the country now stands at 2,36,657, including 1,15,942 active cases, 1,14,073 cured/discharged/migrated and 6,642 deaths. 

With the latest figures, India has become the country with the sixth highest number of coronavirus cases, overtaking Italy's tally.
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08:59   China has little respect for India, says expert
The current Sino-India border crisis has revealed that China has little respect for India's long-standing efforts to freeze status quo along its frontiers, a top US observer on South Asia has claimed.

Ashley Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that by its brazen actions, Beijing has forced New Delhi to join the rest of Asia in figuring out how to deal with the newest turn in China's "salami-slicing tactics".

"The current Sino-Indian border crisis has revealed that China has little respect for India's long-standing efforts to freeze the status quo along the two countries' disputed frontiers or for New Delhi's cautious efforts to avoid the appearance of balancing against Beijing," he said.

Rather, treating India's internal actions regarding Jammu and Kashmir as a provocation, it has chosen to expand its control over new parts of the Himalayan borderlands through brazen actions that confront India with the difficult choice of either lumping its losses or escalating through force if the negotiations presently underway yield meager returns, Tellis wrote in his latest research paper.

"By so doing, it has forced India to join the rest of Asia in figuring out how to deal with the newest turn in China's salami-slicing tactics, which now distinctively mark its trajectory as a rising power," he said. 

Unlike the discrete and geographically localised confrontations of the past, the latest encounters are occurring at multiple locations along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh in the eastern section of Jammu and Kashmir, which suggests a high degree of Chinese premeditation and approval for its military's activities from the very top, Tellis claimed.

-- PTI
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08:33   Brazilian president threatens WHO exit as COVID-19 deaths rise
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to pull his country out of the World Health Organization after the UN agency warned Latin American governments about the risk of lifting lockdowns before slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus throughout the region.

A new Brazilian record for daily COVID-19 fatalities pushed the countys death toll past that of Italy late on Thursday, but Bolsonaro continues to argue for quickly lifting state isolation orders, arguing that the economic costs outweigh public health risks.

Latin Americas most populous nations, Brazil and Mexico, are seeing the highest rates of new infections, though the pandemic is also gathering pace in countries such as Peru, Colombia, Chile and Bolivia.

Overall, more than 1.1 million Latin Americans have been infected. While most leaders have taken the pandemic more seriously than Bolsonaro, some politicians that backed strict lockdowns in March and April are pushing to open economies back up as hunger and poverty grow.

In an editorial running the length of newspaper Folha de S. Paulos front page, the Brazilian daily highlighted that just 100 days had passed since Bolsonaro described the virus now killing a Brazilian per minute as a little flu.

While you were reading this, another Brazilian died from the coronavirus, the newspaper said.

In comments to journalists, Bolsonaro said Brazil will consider leaving the WHO unless it ceases to be a partisan political organization.

US President Donald Trump, an ideological ally of Bolsonaro, said last month that the United States would end its own relationship with the WHO, accusing it of becoming a puppet of China, where the coronavirus first emerged.

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08:08   Coronavirus epidemic in India growing: WHO
The number of novel coronavirus cases in India has been doubling every three weeks but the epidemic is not growing exponentially in the country and South Asia region, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.

"In South Asia, not just in India, but in Bangladesh and... Pakistan and other countries of South Asia with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded, but there is always the risk of that happening," Dr Mike Ryan, WHO's top emergency expert, told a news conference.
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00:07   Pak is nerve centre of terrorism: India
Calling Pakistan a "nerve centre" of terrorism, India on Friday asked Islamabad to introspect and put end to any kind of support for terrorism emanating from territories under its control.

In a rebuttal to Pakistan's Foreign Office who had claimed that MEA has misrepresented the Eleventh Report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team , the MEA said that Pakistan's leadership is on record acknowledging that in the past terrorists used the country's soil to carry out terror attacks on other countries. 

The UN report, issued last month, said there are some 6,500 Pakistani nationals among foreign terrorists operating in Afghanistan and the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayiba play a key role in bringing foreign fighters into the war-torn country.

"Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs would do well to recall that their prime minister admitted last year that Pakistan hosts 30,000-40,000 terrorists. Pakistan's leadership is on record acknowledging that in past terrorists used the country's soil to carry out terror attacks on other countries," MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in response to media queries on a press release dated June 4 by Pakistan's Foreign Office.

-- ANI

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