Besides him, Brajendra Navnit who served in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has been appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Geneva, Switzerland. Topno is a 1996 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Gujarat cadre.

The results of the study, being published on the website of top academic journal Nature on May 20, implied the Huanan Seafood Market in Hubei's capital Wuhan may not be the birthplace of COVID-19, although the virus outbreak emerged in Wuhan had a strong link to contacts with the market.

Shi explained that she and a group of researchers obtained samples of coronavirus on December 30 last year and performed high-throughput sequencing of the samples and the isolation of pathogens.

Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for China's Parliament -- the National People's Congress -- in his media briefing ahead of Friday's annual session also sought to deflect allegations that the virus emerged in Wuhan, saying that the recent reports indicated coronavirus occurred earlier in different parts of the world.

India is among 120 countries which backed the draft resolution put forward by the European Union and several other countries.

Denmark's Superliga to resume on May 28 says Danish League Association

Accusing United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of fabricating lies over the involvement of the virology lab in Wuhan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying sought to deflect criticism over its role by highlighting its French connection.

'Every single case is a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, sister or friend'

The commerce ministry has recommended the continuation of anti-dumping duty on a Chinese chemical used in food and pharma industry with a view to guard domestic players from cheap imports. In a notification, the ministry's investigation arm, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), has said there is a "positive" evidence of likelihood of dumping of Sodium Citrate and injury to the domestic industry if the existing anti-dumping duty were to be removed.

At a critical time in the history of the United Nations, when the global order itself may be reshaped, following a devastating pandemic, India has chosen an experienced, charming and upright diplomat to lead the Indian delegation to the UN in New York.

The displacements were a result of a combination of increasing hazard intensity, high population exposure and high levels of social and economic vulnerability, a report says.

The grant will be in addition to the $20 million provided by China, the world's second largest economy, earlier to the WHO.

The move comes a day after China lifted the 76-day lockdown in Wuhan, where the pandemic originated. China's National Health Commission (NHC) on Thursday reported 63 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 61 imported ones taking the total to 1,104 cases.

"We pay for a majority or the biggest portion of their money. They actually criticised and disagreed with my travel ban at the time I did it. They were wrong. They've been wrong about a lot of things. They had a lot of information early and they didn't want to -- they're very -- they seem to be very China centric," the US president charged during his news conference.

In an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus in India, Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday announced a nationwide lockdown for three weeks.

'None of these three countries -- Turkey, Iran or Malaysia -- ever made a hostile move against India to support the Pakistan-based terrorist elements,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

The executive director of the World Health Organisation, Michael Ryan, said India, the world's second most populous country, has a tremendous capacity to deal with the coronavirus outbreak as it has the experience of eradicating the small-pox and polio through targeted public intervention.

The executive director of the WHO, Michael Ryan, said India, the world's second most populous country, has a tremendous capacity to deal with the coronavirus outbreak as it has the experience of eradicating the small-pox and polio through targeted public intervention.

The 'Pass the message to kick out coronavirus' campaign calls for people around the world to follow five key steps to protect their health in line with WHO's guidelines.

Laver Cup organisers say the exhibition event will go ahead in September as planned despite the French Open moving to the same dates as the implications of the French Tennis Federation (FFT)'s shock gambit began to reverberate on Wednesday. The September 25-27 Laver Cup, an exhibition event co-created by Roger Federer which has always featured the Swiss great and one of Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic.

The cases of infection have been rising rapidly in Europe and other parts of the world, with Italy being the hardest-hit country.

Byju Classes' founder Byju Raveendran, Zomato co-founder Gaurav Gupta, CEO of Antara Senior Living, Tara Singh Vachani, Vinati Organics' MD & CEO Vinati Mutreja and Swapan Mehra, CEO of Iora Ecological Solutions are among 115 young leaders.

'Today, if the international community is seeking space, if not place, here, then the message is not unclear in any which way. 'It does not reflect well on the nation's standing in the international arena, where human rights issues go a long way in building bilateral relations and benefiting from international cooperation, more than any aspect of politics and diplomacy,' N Sathiya Moorthy.

'It may serve the interests of the rule of law if the Supreme Court were to appoint the UNHCR as amicus curiae in the CAA case,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has approached the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the hearing on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, saying there was a need to take into account the "international human rights law, norms and standards" in the proceedings.

She said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) adopted last year by India's Parliament was of 'great concern'.

Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and shall forever" remain an integral part of India, a top Indian diplomat asserted at the UN Human Rights Council's meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, a day after Pakistan sought the international community's intervention on the Kashmir issue. Speaking at the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council which is being held in Geneva in Switzerland from February 24 to March 20, Vikas Swarup, secretary (west), the ministry of external affairs, described Pakistan as the "epicentre of global terrorism".

Besides controlling the spread of the virus, a major task of the WHO team along with their Chinese counterparts was to come up with a standard medicine to cure the disease.

'Clearly, Washington has all but given up hope following US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells's stormy visit to Colombo last month where she read the riot act to Sri Lankan leaders to sign the pending status of forces agreement allowing American troops to use Sri Lanka as a hub for operations in the Indian Ocean,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

While many are getting stranded because of lack of clarity regarding the visa rules following the novel coronavirus outbreak, others are stranded in transit as even OCI cardholders are being turned away

The World Health Organization on Thursday had said that a sharp rise in reported COVID-19, (official name for coronavirus) cases in China was due to a change in counting methods and it did not represent a big shift in the epidemic.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland has reached 44,653 by the end of Tuesday and 1,113 people has died of the disease.

The head of the World Health Organisation said on Saturday that the UN health agency would send an international mission to China as it received a response from Beijing.

Eighty-nine deaths were reported on Saturday -- the highest single-day death toll -- and there were 2,656 new confirmed cases of the deadly infection, China's National Health Commission said in its daily report on Sunday.

Over 2.52 lakh who were in close contacts with patients had been traced with over 1.85 lakh others still under medical observation.

Consumers have to watch out for four marks on hallmarked gold jewellery: BIS mark, purity in carat, assay centre's name and jewellers' identification mark.

'The Indian armed forces not only ensure protection of human rights of our own people but also of adversaries and deal with Prisoners of War as per the Geneva Conventions'

'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'

'All PoWs recounted that one of the worst aspects of their captivity in Tibet was the constant attempt at brainwashing by Chinese Communist propaganda,' reveals Claude Arpi.

Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary in nature at present.