10:24 PMGoogle extends work from home for employees till June 30 next year
Tech giant Google on Monday said it is extending work from home (WFH) facility for its employees globally, including in India, till June 30 next year.
"To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don't need to be in the office," Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an e-mail to staffers.
Google has around two lakh employees, including contractors and full-time workers.
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9:59 PMUS manufacturing sector gathers momentum, rising Covid-19 threatens recovery
New orders for key US-made capital goods increased by the most in nearly two years in June and shipments accelerated, but the gains were likely insufficient to avert the deepest plunge in business investment and economic activity since the Great Depression in the second quarter because of the Covid-19 crisis.
The improvement in manufacturing reported by the Commerce Department on Monday was driven by pent-up demand following the reopening of businesses. The budding recovery is threatened by a resurgence in new cases of the coronavirus, which has forced some authorities in the hard-hit South and West regions to either close businesses again or halt reopenings.
"The sugar rush from re-openings has now faded and a resurgence of domestic coronavirus cases, alongside very weak demand, supply chain disruptions, historically low oil prices, and high levels of uncertainty will weigh heavily on business investment," said Oren Klachkin, lead US economist at Oxford Economics in New York.
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9:57 PMTwitter faces backlash over handling of anti-Semitic posts
Some Twitter users are staging a 48-hour boycott of the platform over its handling of a stream of anti-Semitic comments that were posted on British rapper Wiley's social media accounts.
The boycott, under the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate, followed complaints that Twitter was too slow to remove offensive material. Some offensive material was also posted on Instagram.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has written to the social media companies demanding an explanation as to the speed of their response. Some of Wiley's posts were visible for more than 12 hours before being removed.
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9:52 PMBJP MP Anil Baluni invites Priyanka Gandhi and family for meal: Report
BJP MP Anil Baluni has invited Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her family for an Uttarakhand meal' once he shifts into his new house, which was occupied by the Congress leader till recently, sources said on Monday.
Baluni has been allocated the 35, Lodhi Estate house in Delhi's Lutyens' zone.
According to sources, the BJP MP invited Priyanka Gandhi for a meal comprising cuisines of Uttarakhand like Manduwe ki roti', Jhangore ki kheer', Pahadi raita' and Bhatt ki churkani'.
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9:26 PMBig Oil braces for second-quarter losses after virus whips up perfect storm
Top US and European oil and gas companies are forecast to swing into a second quarter loss after coronavirus lockdowns destroyed fuel demand, hit prices and squeezed margins, analysts said and Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
The expected rare losses for BP, Chevron, Eni, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total follow a collapse in oil and gas prices and demand to levels not seen in decades, creating a perfect storm for the energy companies that produce, refine, trade and sell fuel.
During previous price slumps, integrated oil producers' results were boosted by refining operations whose margins typically benefit from low oil prices and provide an internal hedge.
But as travel, industry and business were all halted by lockdowns, margins for refined oil products, such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene, dipped into negative territory.
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8:49 PM10-15 MLAs from Gehlot camp will switch sides once set free: Sachin Pilot's supporter
Amid the ongoing political tussle in the Rajasthan, a senior MLA and one of the staunch supporters of Pilot, Hemaram Choudhary, has claimed that 10-15 legislators of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot camp are in contact with them. He added that they will switch sides once they are set free, according to an ANI report.
"10-15 MLAs of Ashok Gehlot camp are in contact with us and are saying they will come to our side as soon as they are set free. If Gehlot removes restrictions, it will become clear how many MLAs remain on their side," Choudhary said in a video.
Earlier in the day, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra said that Raj Bhavan never had an intention "not to call" the assembly session and has asked the Ashok Gehlot government to deliberate on three points including 21-day notice period for convening session and maintaining social distancing norms.
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8:36 PMRajasthan Governor seeks another Cabinet proposal from CM Gehlot govt for calling session for floor test
Conceding that securing a vote of confidence can be a reasonable ground for calling an assembly session on short notice, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra on Monday said the revised Cabinet recommendation does not mention it, according to a PTI report. Accordingly, he returned the Cabinet recommendation and sought another recommendation for the purpose, incorporating a 21-day notice period for calling the session for a floor test, a Raj Bhawan statement said.
If the government wants to win a vote of confidence, then it can become a reasonable ground for calling the assembly session on short notice, it added.
It further quoted the governor as observing that the revised Cabinet recommendations sent by the government, however, do not mention seeking a vote of confidence as the purpose for calling the session but it is clear from the statements in the media that the government wants to go for it.
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8:31 PMBanks should raise capital proactively: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday advised banks to proactively raise capital and not wait for a difficult situation to arise amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Banks are staring at a risk of soaring bad loans due to the coronavirus crisis and would therefore require capital to survive.
"In fact, I have already advised banks and the NBFCs to undertake COVID stress tests and raise capital ahead of the curve rather than waiting for a situation to arise, and these are the issues which we are constantly working on in RBI," Das said at a CII event.
As per the latest Financial Stability Report (FSR) released by the Reserve Bank, gross non-performing assets of all banks may jump to 12.5 per cent by the end of this fiscal under the baseline scenario, from 8.5 per cent in March 2020.
"If the macroeconomic environment worsens further, the ratio may escalate to 14.7 per cent under the very severely stressed scenario," the report released last week said.
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8:14 PMGehlot, MLAs speak to PM, President to resolve Rajasthan political crisis
The ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan seems to be now reaching the doors of the Prime Minister and the President as chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday revealed that he has spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, apprising him of the deadlock between the governor and the state government.
Meanwhile, some MLAs have sent a memorandum to the President requesting his intervention to resolve the crisis in the state. The memorandum informed the President of the alleged horse-trading in Rajasthan to topple the elected democratic government by the BJP.
Speaking to the MLAs staying in Fairmont hotel here, Gehlot said, "I have spoken to PM Modi and informed him about the governor's behaviour. I have also spoken to him about the letter I sent him a week ago informing about horse-trading in the state."
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 "Ashok Gehlot")
