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Tata Motors CEO & MD Guenter Butschek to step down on June 30

Tata Motors on Wednesday announced that Guenter Butschek will step down from his role as the CEO and MD from June 30, 2021.

Girish Wagh will be appointed as the executive director to the board of Tata Motors Ltd from July 1, 2021, the company said in a statement.

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Most leaders invited for PM's Thursday meet on J&K reach Delhi

Most of the 14 leaders including four ex-chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir invited for an all-party meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the union territory on June 24 have arrived here by Wednesday evening.

Thursday's meeting will be the first between the Centre and mainstream Jammu and Kashmir politicians after the abrogation of Article 370 and the divisions of the erstwhile state into two union territories in 2019.

With no agenda announced for the Thursday meeting, the J&K leaders said they will go with an open mind. (PTI)

BJP reaches out to Mallahs to sail through choppy waters in Uttar Pradesh

When Nishad Party leader Sanjay Nishad on Thursday demanded Deputy Chief Ministership in the next BJP government in the state or talked about contesting 160 seats, many, even within the BJP, felt he was punching above his weight. Read more

Yoga guru Ramdev moves SC against FIRs filed by Indian medical Association on allopathy remarks

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has approached the Supreme Court for staying proceedings in multiple FIRs lodged against him for his remarks against the use of Allopathic medicine during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more

Warren Buffett resigns as Gates Foundation trustee, donates another $4.1 bn for philanthropy

Warren Buffett on Wednesday resigned as trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world's largest private charitable organizations, as he delivered another $4.1 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to philanthropy.

Buffett has been making annual contributions to five charitable foundations since 2006 as part of a plan to distribute about 99% of his net worth to philanthropy. (Reuters)

Russia fires warning shots at British ship in Black Sea: Report

Russia on Wednesday fired warning shots at a British Navy destroyer in the Black Sea after it violated the country's territorial waters, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement to news agencies. Read more

UK High Court has rejected the written plea by fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi to appeal against extradition to India.

Explained | Delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir

A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 14 political leaders from the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir slated for Thursday has sparked speculations of a possible discussion on the issue of holding Assembly elections in the state for the first time since it was divested of its special status. A major sticking point would be the question of delimitation, a necessary precondition for elections to proceed. Read more

NCB takes Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar into custody

The NCB on Wednesday said that it has taken Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar into custody in a drug-related case. Read more

3 killed, over 20 injured in blast outside Hafiz Saeed's house in Lahore

A powerful car bomb went off outside Mumbai terror attack mastermind and banned Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's house here on Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring 20 others, police said. Read more

India pushing for comprehensive ceasefire in Afghanistan amid reports of its contact withTaliban

India is pushing for a comprehensive ceasefire in Afghanistan amid a massive spike in violence in that country and reports of its contact with the Taliban for the first time in the backdrop of a renewed push for the Afghan peace process.

The reports of India reaching out to the Taliban emerged as the US looked to complete the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan by September 11, ending a nearly two-decade of its military presence in the war-ravaged country.

UEFA sending 'wrong signal' with rainbow stadium refusal: Germany

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Wednesday criticised UEFA's decision to block plans to light Munich's Allianz Arena stadium in rainbow colours for Germany's Euro 2020 match against Hungary.

"It's true, the football pitch is not about politics," Maas wrote on Twitter, after the European football body blamed the "political context" for its decision.

"It's about people, about fairness, about tolerance. That's why @UEFA is sending the wrong signal," he said.

Since vaccination drive has started, the Covid-19 vaccine is administered to people 4 days (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday) a week, & the left 2 days are being organized to administer pulse polio & measles vaccines, says Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang.

Mayawati hopes PM's Kashmir meet will help in taking concrete decisions

BSP president Mayawati on Wednesday termed as a "proper initiative" the meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Kashmir, and hoped that it would prove helpful in taking some concrete decisions.

Fourteen leaders from Jammu and Kashmir have been invited to the meeting to be chaired by the prime minister on Thursday to discuss the future course of action for the union territory.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) not only seized assets worth Rs 18,170.02 cr (80.45% of total loss to banks) in the case of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi under PMLA but also transferred a part of attached/ seized assets of Rs 9371.17 cr to the PSBs and Central Govt, according to ED

103 jail inmates among 430 new Covid-19 patients in Mizoram

Mizoram's Covid-19 tally soared to 18,409 on Wednesday as 430 more people, including 103 jail inmates, tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

All the infected prisoners are inmates of Central Jail, Aizawl, he said.

A total of 73 children, six security personnel and two healthcare workers are also among the new patients, the official said.

Petroleum minister cites crude oil rates for fuel price hikes

There has been a jump in crude oil prices in the international market. One of the main reasons behind the rise in fuel prices in India is that we have to import 80% of the oil we consume, says Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan

India on Wednesday reported 50,848 fresh Covid-19 cases and 1,358 new deaths. The new cases took the total infected in the country past the grim milestone of 3 crores.

Brazil probes Health Ministry deal to buy Covaxin vaccine

Brazil's federal prosecutor's office is investigating possible irregularities in a Health Ministry contract to purchase 20 million doses of the Covaxin vaccine manufactured by Indian laboratory Bharat Biotech.

The agreement signed in February commits the ministry to pay USD 320 million - at a cost of USD 15 per vaccine dose - to Precisa Medicamentos, the representative of Bharat Biotech in Brazil, according to a document sent to The Associated Press by the attorney general's press office.

The price per dose, which was higher than for other COVID-19 vaccines, drew prosecutors attention along with ministry officials apparently ignoring a history of alleged irregularities by Precisa associates in previous contracts with the federal government.

Coastal cities face their mortality on the climate 'frontline'

For thousands of years, people have built their great metropolises right up against the contours of coasts, in estuaries and deltas, confident of the ebb and flow of the tides.

Domination of the seas allowed many coastal cities to become trading powerhouses and cultural melting pots.

But now that strength is becoming a liability as climate change swells the oceans, redrawing the map and putting hundreds of millions at risk.

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A prison van arrives High Court on the first day of trial of Tong Ying-kit, the first person charged under a new national security law, in Hong Kong, China 

Credit: Reuters Photo

US House will form new committee to investigate January 6 attack

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democratic colleagues on Tuesday that she is creating a new committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, according to a person familiar with her remarks.

Pelosi made the announcement at a private leadership meeting and did not give additional details. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private remarks.

The new committee comes after Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would form a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the attack by former President Donald Trump's supporters.

India and US to carry out two-day mega naval drill in Indian Ocean from Wednesday

The Indian Navy will participate in a two-day mega naval exercise with the US naval carrier strike group Ronald Reagan in the Indian Ocean region from Wednesday, in reflection of the growing operational cooperation between the two navies, officials said.

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Google gives workers tool for remote work planning

Google on Tuesday unveiled a platform that lets its workers calculate pay and benefits for remote work, and how this would change if they move to a cheaper - or more expensive - city.

With the company's new hybrid workplace, "more employees are considering where they live and how they work," a Google spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.

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Wait times for chips hit record 18 weeks as shortage deepens

Chip lead times, the gap between ordering a semiconductor and taking delivery, increased by seven days to 18 weeks in May from the previous month, an indication that chipmakers’ struggles to keep up with demand are worsening, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. That gap, already the longest wait time since the firm began tracking the data in 2017, is now more than four weeks longer than the previous peak in 2018.

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NASA is sending detergent to space, for science

The space agency is planning to conduct a series of experiments using specially designed detergents from Procter and Gamble to find a long-term solution to the problem, the US consumer goods giant said on Tuesday.

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No conclusive evidence on Mehul Choksi's abduction: Antigua & Barbuda PM

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has said he is not aware of "any conclusive evidence" but there is information in public domain that diamantaire Mehul Choksi was abducted and law enforcement agencies may be having some "persons of interest" after their research.

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Eastern Ladakh row: India, China likely to hold another round of diplomatic talks this week

India and China are likely to hold another round of diplomatic talks this week on eastern Ladakh with a focus on moving forward in disengagement of troops in the remaining friction points, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

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Himachal Pradesh Government in an administrative reshuffle has transferred 43 IAS officers including Deputy Commissioners of some districts and two state cadre Himachal Pradesh Administrative Service officers, with immediate effect - ANI