From The Newsroom: Bombay High Court stays Kangana Ranaut's office demolition

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Bombay HC asks BMC to stay demolition work at Kangana Ranaut’s office’ Rahul Gandhi says that lockdown was not an attack on coronavirus but on the poor people and proved to be a "death sentence" for the unorganised sector as it "finished" jobs and small businesses and AstraZeneca pauses global trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine.

Here are the top news of today, Wednesday: September 09, 2020:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the lockdown was not an attack on coronavirus but on the poor people and proved to be a "death sentence" for the unorganised sector as it "finished" jobs and small businesses.

Everyone should stand against the attack, he said.

"The lockdown was not an attack on corona. The lockdown was an attack on the poor of India. It was an attack on the future of our youth," Gandhi said in a video series on the lockdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

"The lockdown was an attack on labourers, farmers and small shopkeepers. It was an attack on our unorganised sector. We have to understand this. We all have to stand against this attack," he said.

"Whatever was done in the name of Corona was the third attack on the unorganised sector," he also said.

This is the fourth part of the video series launched by the former Congress president on the economy and the lockdown.

US President Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, according to reports.

A member of the Norwegian Parliament, Christian Tybring-Gjedde submitted the nomination, praising Trump's efforts in resolving conflicts globally.

Public sector banks should learn from FMCG players and "democratize credit", a move that can help state-run banks solve the "biggest fiscal challenge" of recapitalisation, former RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya said on Wednesday.

Acharya further said that re-privatisation of the lenders is necessary to help reduce the recapitalisation burden, and stressed that public sector banks (PSBs) have had a mixed performance on the stated goals of financial inclusion as well.

Banks were nationalised in 1969 and depend on the government for capital support, which has gone up in recent times with the spurt in non-performing assets (NPAs).

In the present times, as Covid-19 is likely to have an impact on buffers, many of the private sector banks have already raised capital but most of the PSBs are yet to move on and there is speculation of re-privatising some of the PSBs.

AstraZeneca has paused global trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine after an unexplained illness in a participant, denting the British drugmaker's shares on Wednesday as the move was seen as dimming prospects for an early rollout.

On Tuesday, AstraZeneca said it voluntarily paused trials, including late-stage ones, to allow an independent committee to review safety data, and it was working to expedite the review to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline.

The vaccine, which AstraZeneca is developing with the University of Oxford, has been described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as probably the world's leading candidate and the most advanced in terms of development.

Britain's medical regulator said on Wednesday it is urgently reviewing the information available to determine whether AstraZeneca can restart trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine after an unexplained illness in a participant.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the BMC to stay the demolition work at Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s office at her bungalow in Pali Hill in Bandra after the actor approached the court challenging BMC's notice.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had on Wednesday begun demolition of "illegal alterations" at the Bandra bungalow of Ranaut.

Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui had challenged the BMC notice earlier in the morning before the High Court contending that there are no illegalities in the office.

Ranaut's recent remark comparing Mumbai to Pakistan- occupied-Kashmir (PoK) has drawn the ire of the ruling Shiv Sena which also controls the BMC.

The BMC on Tuesday pasted a stop-work notice at the actor's bungalow at Pali Hill in suburban Bandra. "The stop-work notice is illegal. In fact, there was no work going on the work of completed one-and-a-half years ago," Siddiqui said.

The civic body claimed that during the regular inspection it found several illegal constructions and modifications have been carried out without taking necessary approvals from the civic body.

The Bombay High Court has directed the BMC to file its reply to Ranaut’s plea challenging the demolition order by 3 pm on Thursday.

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