Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the second Covid Virtual Summit on May 12 at the invitation of US President Joe Biden.

The Summit intends to galvanize new actions to address the continued challenges of the COVID pandemic and build a stronger global health security architecture.

The Prime Minister will deliver his remarks in the opening session of the Summit on the theme ‘Preventing Pandemic Fatigue and Prioritizing Preparedness’. The session will be live streamed from 1830 to 1945 on 12 May.

Other participants are the co-hosts of the event -- Heads of State/Government of Belize in its capacity as Chair of CARICOM, Senegal as Chair of African Union, Indonesia as President of G20 and Germany as President of G7 respectively. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Director General of World Health Organization and other dignitaries would also participate.

The Prime Minister had also participated in the first Global COVID virtual Summit hosted by President Biden on 22 September 2021.

India is playing a key role in ongoing global efforts to combat the pandemic by supplying safe and affordable vaccines, medicines, development of low cost indigenous technologies to test and treat, genomic surveillance, and capacity building for health care workers. India is also proactively engaged in multilateral fora with the objective of strengthening and reforming the global health security architecture with the WHO at its centre.

Boxing great Manny Pacquiao has conceded defeat in the Philippine presidential election after his rumble for the top job failed to hit the mark with voters.

Pacquiao, who had pledged to fight corruption, crack down on drugs and improve the lives of the impoverished, congratulated overwhelming victor Ferdinand Marcos Junior and said he hoped the son of the late dictator would "help the poor".

Pacquiao, a fervent evangelical Christian, said he prayed for the success of the Marcos administration and that it would "uplift the lives and help many poor".

Pre-election surveys indicated Pacquiao had almost no chance of winning the polls, and their results were confirmed by an initial tally showing he picked up fewer than four million votes, or 6.6 percent of those counted.

That left him a distant third behind Marcos, who got more than half the votes, and runner-up Leni Robredo.

Pacquiao announced his retirement from boxing in September, shortly before declaring his run for the presidency, and previously told AFP he would not return to the ring if he lost.

His failed tilt has ended his political career, for now at least.

The former congressman had to give up running for a second term in the celebrity-packed Senate, which he likely would have had a strong chance of winning.

After a gruelling months-long campaign, Pacquiao said he would take the chance to "rest and spend time with my family".

Beyond that, he would continue to work with his charitable foundation.

Pacquiao is deeply admired across the archipelago for his rise from desperate street kid to one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of all time.

But he has stirred controversy as a politician and had embraced the most extreme policies of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte before distancing himself from the authoritarian firebrand following a public spat last year.

Pacquiao was a high-profile supporter of Duterte's deadly drug war -- despite his previous admissions of using crystal meth and marijuana when younger -- and pushed to restore the death penalty.

Critics accused the high-school dropout of lacking intellect and barely turning up to sessions in Congress and the Senate, which had raised questions about his ability to run the country of 110 million people.

A journalist for Al-Jazeera was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin early Nay 11 , the Palestinian health ministry said.

It said Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known Palestinian female reporter for the broadcaster's Arabic language channel, was shot and died soon afterwards. Another Palestinian journalist working for the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper was wounded but in stable condition.

The Qatar-based broadcaster blamed Israel. In a statement flashed on its channel, it called on the international community to "condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for deliberately targeting and killing our colleague, Shireen Abu Akleh.”

The Israeli military said its forces came under attack with heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin, and that they fired back. The military said it is “investigating the event and looking into the possibility that the journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen.”

Israel has carried out near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks amid a series of deadly attacks inside Israel, many of them carried out by Palestinians from in and around Jenin. The town, and particularly its refugee camp, has long been known as a militant bastion.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want the territory to form the main part of their future state. Nearly 3 million Palestinians live in the territory under Israeli military rule. Israel has built more than 130 settlements across the West Bank that are home to nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers, who have full Israeli citizenship.

Israelis have long been critical of Al-Jazeera's coverage, but authorities generally allow its journalists to operate freely. Another Al-Jazeera reporter, Givara Budeiri, was briefly detained last year during a protest in Jerusalem and treated for a broken hand, which her employer blamed on rough treatment by police.

Relations between Israeli forces and the media, especially Palestinian journalists, is strained. A number of Palestinian reporters have been wounded by rubber-coated bullets or tear gas while covering demonstrations in the West Bank. A Palestinian journalist in Gaza was shot and killed by Israeli forces while filming violent protests along the Gaza frontier in 2018.

In November of that year, Associated Press reporter Rashed Rashid was covering a protest near the Gaza frontier when he was shot in the left ankle, apparently by Israeli fire. 

The government has made it mandatory to quote either PAN or Aadhaar for depositing or withdrawing over Rs 20 lakh in a financial year or opening a current account.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in a notification, said furnishing the Permanent Account Number (PAN) or biometric Aadhaar will be mandatory for such high-value deposits or withdrawals from banks in a financial year, or opening of a current account or cash credit account with a bank or post office.

Currently, PAN and Aadhaar are interchangeable for income tax purposes. An assessee needs to mention his/her PAN in all communications with the I-T department and while entering into specified financial transactions.

However, there can be situations where a person entering into high-value transactions, such as the purchase of foreign currency or huge withdrawal from banks, does not possess a PAN. The Finance Act, 2019, has provided for the interchangeability of PAN with Aadhaar.

It has been provided that every person who is required to furnish or quote his PAN under the Income Tax Act, and who has not been allotted a PAN but possesses the Aadhaar number, may furnish the biometric ID in lieu of PAN.

The world will set a new record for renewable power capacity this year led by solar energy in China and Europe, but growth could lose steam in 2023, the International Energy Agency said.

A record 295 gigawatts of new renewable power capacity was added in 2021 despite supply chain bottlenecks, construction delays and high prices of raw materials, the IEA said in a report.

An additional 320 gigawatts is expected to be installed this year, equivalent to the entire electricity demand of Germany or the European Union's total electricity generation from natural gas.

Solar energy will account for 60 percent of renewable power growth in 2022, ahead of wind and hydropower, according to the agency, which advises developed nations on energy policy.

The EU set a goal of slashing its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas by two-thirds this year following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The Paris-based IEA said progress in solar energy is offset by a 40 percent drop in hydropower expansion and "little change" in wind additions.

India was expected to conclude free trade agreements with the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union before this year-end, Union Minister Anupriya Patel said.

The Minister of State in Commerce and Industry said the country's trade was "passing through a watershed moment" as it clocked USD 675 billion in exports while merchandise exports accounted for USD 419 billion last year.

Patel was speaking at the Stakeholder's Outreach Programme organised by Directorate General of Foreign Trade on the occasion of India signing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the United Arab Emirates and the Economic Cooperation Trade Agreement (ECTA) with Australia.

Noting that exports are vital for the growth of a country, she said India concluded the agreement with Australia in just 88 days and it was one of the fastest-ever agreements signed.

She pointed out that the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was already "operationalised" and there was a huge scope in terms of employment generation.

The country's largest lender SBI said its board has approved raising up to USD 2 billion (about Rs 15,430 crore) from the overseas market during the current fiscal to fund foreign business growth.

The central board has approved raising of funds through single or multiple tranches, SBI said in a regulatory filing.

The long-term funds of up to USD 2 billion would be raised through a public offer and/or private placement of senior unsecured notes in US dollar or any other convertible currency during 2022-23, it added.

SBI hikes interest rates on bulk term deposits by 40-90 basis points

Country's largest lender State Bank of India  has announced a hike of 40-90 basis points in the interest rates on several bulk term deposits.

The revised interest rates on bulk term deposits amounting to Rs 2 crore and above are effective from May 10 , the bank said.

While interest rate on deposits maturing between 7 days and 45 days has been kept unchanged at 3 per cent, those maturing between 46 and 179 days will now attract an interest rate of 3.50 per cent as against 3 per cent earlier.

The public sector lender also revised the interest rate on bulk term deposits maturing between 180 and 210 days by 40 basis points to 3.50 per cent, as against 3.10 per cent earlier.

Deposits maturing between 211 days and less than 1 year will earn an interest of 3.75 per cent, up 45 bps from 3.30 per cent. The interest rate on bulk deposits having maturities between 1 year and less than two years has been increased by 40 bps to 4 per cent.

For deposits having 2 years to less than 3 years maturity period, the rate has been hiked by 65 bps to 4.25 per cent. The interest rate on bulk term deposits for 3 years and up to 10 years has been increased by 90 basis points to 4.50 per cent as against 3.60 per cent.

Last week, Punjab National Bank said had increased interest rates on term deposits in selected buckets up to 60 basis points from May 7. The new fixed deposit rates are applicable on deposits up to Rs 10 crore, PNB said. The hike in deposit rates by the banks came after a surprise 40 basis points increase in repo rate to 4.40 per cent on May 4 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

A hike in repo rate by RBI gives banks scope to increase their deposit rates, which in turn provides depositors an opportunity to earn higher interest on their funds parked with banks.

On May 9  several banks, including HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Karur Vysya Bank, revised their lending rates based on marginal cost of funds and repo rate.

Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier died after a short illness. He was 73.

Lanier, who spent 14 seasons in the NBA until his retirement in 1984, averaged 20.1 points per game across 959 appearances.

The towering 6ft 10in center spent the first decade of his career with the Detroit Pistons before joining the Milwaukee Bucks for the 1979-1980 campaign, where he would play five seasons.

Lanier served as an NBA global ambassador following his retirement and was chairman of a league-backed initiative that encouraged children to stay in school.

He was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1992, while his number 16 jersey has been retired by both the Pistons and the Bucks.