India

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) The BCCI on Thursday suspended the 2020 Indian Premier League "till further notice" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed more than 400 lives and affected over 12,000 in the country.

The PTI reported on April 14 that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) had intimated the eight franchisees along with other stakeholders about the indefinite postponement of the tournament's 13th edition but there was no official word from the parent cricketing body.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Supreme Court took note of the Centre's submission on Wednesday that it was taking steps to implement relief measures to help the poor during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and disposed of a PIL seeking relief such as financial help and food for them.

A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana recorded the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who explained the steps taken by the centre to address the concerns raised in the petition.

Mumbai, Apr 16 (PTI) The Indian rupee tanked 36 paise to an all-time low of 76.80 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday, tracking weak domestic equities and sharp rise in coronavirus cases in the country.

Forex traders said the weakness in the rupee was largely due to strengthening of the US Dollar against the basket of currencies as investors fled to safe haven Greenback amid weakening risk appetite in the markets.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) India needs to "significantly ramp up" the number of tests done across the country to trace COVID-19 infection if the virus is to be contained in time, experts said.

The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 414 and the number of cases to 12,380 in the country on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Kannur, Apr 15 (PTI) A local BJP leader, also a school teacher, was arrested on Wednesday on the charge of sexually abusing a 10-year-old student nearly a month ago, police said.

Kuniyil Padmarajan (45), a BJP panchayat president and district leader of National Teachers' Union (NTU), the teachers' wing of the BJP, was arrested from a Poyilur area near here when he tried to escape after seeing the police," an investigating officer told PTI.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) India's exports plunged by a record 34.57 per cent in March due to a steep decline in shipments of leather, gems and jewellery and petroleum products, dragging the total exports in 2019-20 down to USD 314.31 billion, official data showed on Wednesday.

Merchandise exports in March stood at USD 21.41 billion, down by 34,57 per cent compared to USD 32.72 billion in the same month last year.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 15 (PTI): Amid the nation-wide lockdown, the first flight from Kerala to the UK took off on Wednesday evening with 268 tourists who had been stranded in south India since the coronavirus pandemic put a check on public transportation.

The British Airways plane left the state capital at 7.30 pm with London as the destination and Kochi as a stopover to pick up 158 passengers. As many as 110 tourists boarded from here,apress release said on Wednesday night.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) A cargo flight carrying personal protective equipment (PPE) from Guangzhou city in China landed in Guwahati on Wednesday evening, officials said.

The PPEs have been procured from the neighbouring country for use by healthcare workers involved in the treatment of coronavirus-infected people.

Kolkata, Apr 16 (PTI) The 40-day country-wide lockdown may prevent the spread of coronavirus, but the measure would bring a "financial epidemic" on five crore families of hawkers and those who supply them with products, an official of the national hawkers' body said.

The lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25 to break the chain of coronavirus transmission and it was scheduled to be lifted on April 15.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world, says a top Indian scientist.

Nearly 70 vaccine candidates' are being tested and at least three have moved to the human clinical trial stage, but a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021.