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Business Standard Dated: May 04, 2020 At least 3,563,596 people have been infected by the novel  coronavirus  so far across the globe, while the total number of deaths from the disease stands at 248,135, according to worldometer data. While millions of people took advantage of easing  coronavirus  lockdowns to enjoy spring, some of the world's most populous countries reported worrisome new peaks in infections on Sunday, including India, which saw its biggest single-day jump yet. Second in population only to China, India reported more than 2,600 new infections. In Russia, new cases exceeded 10,000 for the first time. The confirmed death toll in Britain climbed near that of Italy, the epicentre of Europe's outbreak, even though the UK population is younger than Italy's and Britain had more time to prepare before the pandemic hit. The United States continues to see tens of thousands of new infections each day, with more than 1,400 new deaths reporte...

Firstpost May 04, 2020 As Democratic presidential hopefuls descended on New Hampshire prior to the state’s Feb. 11 primary, John Tackeff was busy.     The 27-year-old attended candidate events across the state to raise concerns about a proposed tax on Wall Street financial transactions that much of the field supported. Bespectacled, unshaven and casually dressed, Tackeff wasn’t shy about asking questions.     At a Dec. 22 gathering with former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Tackeff introduced a woman he said was his mother. Reuters could not verify her identity. Any tax on stock and bond trades would hurt seniors like her and parents trying to save for their children’s college, Tackeff said.     He also raised the issue at meetings hosted by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Tulsi Gabbard and businessman Andrew Yang, according to video of the four New Hampshire political events reviewed by Reuters.  ...

The Telegraph Dated: May 02, 2020 Academics and labour unions on Friday termed this May Day the worst in recent history, citing how five states had legitimised an increase in working hours from eight to 12 while the Centre had introduced a bill that makes hiring and firing easier. May Day signifies a celebration of workers’ rights but, they rued, this May 1 finds the workers stripped not just of their jobs by the Covid-19 crisis but also of some of the rights they had earned through decades of struggle. K.R. Shyam Sundar, professor of labour studies at Xavier Institute of Management, Jamshedpur, said governments in India were “reinventing the 19th-century labour exploitation model”. When the workers return to the factories after a relaxation of the lockdown, those in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana can be asked to work 12 hours a day. In Gujarat, they will be paid at the same rate for the extra hours as for the first eight hours, although the Fa...

Business Line Dated: May 01, 2020 As a direct fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic, many multinationals with manufacturing plants in China are looking to shift operations out. National governments, as part of their economic package, have said they will assist these companies if they were to move their plants to other countries. Japan, for instance, has earmarked ¥243.5 billion of its economic support package to help manufacturers shift production out of China. This includes yen 220 billion for companies shifting production back to Japan and ¥23.5 billion for those planning to move to other countries. Media reports indicate that the US Government will support companies contemplating India as an alternative to China. Will India be able to attract a bulk of those companies opting to switch their production out of China? The Centre has set up a committee of joint secretaries from different ministries and departments to see how to attract foreign investment in these trying times...

THE HINDU Dated: May 01, 2020 A bitter feud between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah appeared closer to resolution on Friday after Mr. Abdullah said the two men had moved forward in talks. “We have made progress in negotiations & reached tentative agreement on a range of principles. Work on details is underway to finalize the agreement,” Mr. Abdullah said on Twitter. One country, two Presidents and an endless war The dispute has proved a huge distraction for Afghanistan at a terrible time, with the coronavirus crisis worsening daily and the Taliban stepping up attacks despite a deal they signed with the U.S. in February. “We hope to finalize the political agreement at the earliest so that we can pay undivided attention to tackling  coronavirus  ( COVID-19 )pandemic, ensuring a just, dignified & lasting peace, & confronting the security & economic challenges in a spirit of national unity & solidarity,” Mr. Abdullah tw...

Indian Express Dated: May 02, 2020 After rising for the past few weeks, the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined $113 million to $479.45 billion in the week to April 24, due to a fall in foreign currency assets, according to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India. In the previous week, the reserves had increased by $3.09 billion to $479.57 billion. The reserves had touched a lifetime high of $487.23 billion in the week to March 6, after it rose by $5.69 billion. During 2019-20, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by almost $62 billion. In the reporting week ended April 24, the foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves, decreased by $321 million to $441.56 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves rose by $221 million to $32.901 billion in the reporting week, the RB...

Indian Express Dated: May 02, 2020 The White House on Friday said  China  “mishandled the situation” after the  coronavirus  outbreak in its Wuhan city, but refrained from giving a definitive answer on retaliatory measures against the Asian giant. The deadly coronavirus that was first reported in China’s Wuhan city in mid-November has so far killed more than 2,35,000 people globally, including 64,000 Americans, and has infected 3.3 million across the world. Led by the  United States , several countries, including Germany, Britain and Australian, are blaming China for the spread of coronavirus across the globe. On Thursday, President Donald Trump had hinted at using tariff as a tool to punish China for mishandling the virus outbreak and the next day the markets went down. The markets are down substantially today after the President yesterday suggested in the East Room that he might use tariffs to punish China over the coronavirus. Is there any ser...

Indian Express Dated: May 02, 2020 Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), run by the department of science and technology of the state government, inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with three different Gujarat-based private companies with a vision for developing a vaccine for COVID19. The three companies include vaccine developers and manufacturers Hester Biosciences and Vekaria Healthcare along with diagnostic and research entity Neuberg Supratech Reference Laboratory. Speaking to this paper, Dr Sandip Shah, director of Supratech, said, “We will be looking at identifying the peptide chain and we will identify the specific immunological reaction in this chain.” According to the tweets of Professor Chaitanya Joshi, who heads GBRC, the institute shall be extending its technical know-how, as all companies will deploy different routes of vaccine development based on conventional (live attenuated, inactivated) as well as recombinant technology. As part of the fi...