Business

Washington, Apr 25 (PTI) The United States is working with other countries to make sure they understand that coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

Stressing that the burden is on Beijing to explain where the virus came from, Pompeo told The Ben Shapiro Show in an interview on Friday that China knew about the virus by December, 2019.

We need to hold accountable the parties responsible for the deaths here in the United States and the enormous economic costs that have been posed on the US, he said.

New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) Two Chinese pharma companies, which supplied 5.5 lakh rapid testing kits for COVID-19 to India, said they are ready to cooperate with Indian agencies looking into allegations of poor accuracy of their products.

In separate statements, Guongzhou Wondfo Biotech and Livzon Diagnostics said they follow strict quality control of their products, asserting that specified guidelines must be followed in storage of the kits as as well in their usages to get accurate results.

SINGAPORE, April 24 (NNN-BERNAMA) —  Twenty port authorities around the globe today signed a declaration to keep ports open to seaborne trade to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 20 members of the Port Authorities Roundtable (PAR) from Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America recognise the critical role played by the maritime sector in keeping trade flows open in the global fight against COVID-19, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

WASHINGTON, Apr 25 (NNN-XINHUA) – More than 50,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States, while debates are heightening over reopening the country’s economy, severely battered by the virus.

A total of 870,468 cases have been reported with the death toll reaching 50,031 as of 11 a.m. Friday (1500 GMT), according to the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE), at Johns Hopkins University.

BEIRUT, Apr 25 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, accused the central bank’s governor of adopting a “mysterious” approach in dealing with the U.S. dollar crisis in the country.

“The behaviour of the central bank’s governor is very mysterious and it is causing further deterioration in the country, by exacerbating the social disaster,” Diab said, in a televised speech, following a cabinet meeting.

24 April 2020; MEMO: Dozens of demonstrators broke coronavirus lockdown orders last night to protest in front of the Lebanese Central Bank in Beirut, after the country’s currency, the Lira, went into freefall.

24 April 2020; MEMO: In 2020, the world economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago, Gita Gopinath, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) chief economist, said in the latest World Economic Outlook report.

According to the IMF, the global economy is expected to contract by three per cent in 2020.

New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) Industries cannot be forced to pay wages to their employees during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who chairs the parliamentary panel on labour, said on Monday.

Amid the countrywide lockdown to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, the parliamentary panel on labour on Thursday submitted its report on the Industrial Relations Code, 2019, to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla via online.

New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) India is studying the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump to temporarily halt immigration for 60 days, government sources said on Thursday, noting that people-to-people contact has been the "bedrock" of strategic ties between the two countries.

On Wednesday, the US President signed the order temporarily stopping foreigners from getting green cards and curbing immigration with an aim to protecting the jobs of Americans in an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Aurangabad, Apr 24 (PTI) Leading automobile manufacturer Bajaj Auto restarted operations at its plant at Aurangabad in Maharashtra on Friday, a senior official said.

Working with a limited work force amid lockdown to contain coronavirus, the company has decided to concentrate on export orders at present, said plant head Abhay Patki.

The plant would be running with 800 employees, he said.