AHEAD OF TALKS TODAY, DELHI, BEIJING WORK THE LINES

Stepping up efforts ahead of the Saturday meeting of their top military

commanders to resolve the tense situation along the Line of Actual Control

in eastern Ladakh, Indian and Chinese ambassadors joined a video call

between diplomats of their border working mechanism Friday to underline that

"the two sides should handle their differences through peaceful discussion"

and "not allow them to become disputes".

XIV Corps Commander Lt General Harinder Singh will meet his Chinese

counterpart at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point today as part of

efforts to resolve the LAC crisis that is threatening relations between the

two countries.

Officials cautioned against expectations of any immediate resolution, saying

the Saturday meeting could be the first of several.

The video call between Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East) in Ministry

of External Affairs, and Wu Jianghao, Director General in the Chinese

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also had the two ambassadors taking part.

The MEA said: "The two sides reviewed the state of bilateral relations

including the current developments. In this context they recalled the

consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, that peaceful, stable

and balanced relations between India and China will be a positive factor for

stability in the current global situation."

"Both sides also agreed that in accordance with the guidance provided by the

leadership, the two sides should handle their differences through peaceful

discussion bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other's

sensitivities, concerns and aspirations and not allow them to become

disputes," it said.

In near identical remarks, Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong took to Twitter:

"They agreed that the two sides should follow the strategic guidance of the

two leaders, put into action that China & India pose no threat to each other

& represent development opportunities for each other, & differences should

not be turned into disputes."

INDIA ALL SET TO BEGIN A FRESH 2 -YEAR TERM IN UNSC

With India poised to be elected unopposed to the UN Security Council on June

17, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on India on Friday listed its

priorities that will be underlined by a "positive global role" during its

two-year stint at the global high table that will begin on January 1, 2021.

India had to persuade Afghanistan to shelve its ambitions and had entered

into a quid pro quo with Vietnam to emerge as the sole candidate from the

group.

"We have always been a voice of reason and a votary of international law. We

advocate dialogue, consultation and fairness in our approach to global

issues," said Jaishankar. "India will work constructively with partners to

overcome old and new fault-lines and offer innovative and inclusive

solutions," he added.

India is in a G-4 grouping with Japan, South Africa and Germany in order to

make a joint bid to enter an expanded UNSC. That attempt is being opposed by

each country's regional rivals under the banner on "United for Consensus",

which is also known as the Coffee Club. India is opposed by Pakistan and

China, Japan by South Korea, South Africa by African heavyweights Nigeria

and Egypt and Germany by Italy and Spain.

GOVT 'CLEAR AND UNAPOLOGETIC' ABOUT PRIVATISATION OF PSUs

The government is "clear and unapologetic" about the privatisation of the

public sector enterprises as part of reforms, Principal Economic Adviser

Sanjeev Sanyal said on Friday.

Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that there

would be a maximum of four public sector companies in strategic sectors

while state-owned firms in other segments would eventually be privatised.

Talking about the Centre's privatisation drive, Sanyal said, "...we know

that privatisation is difficult to do under these circumstances, but we want

to be absolutely clear and unapologetic about what we want to do. All

non-strategic PSUs (public sector undertakings) will be sold when we can do

it. It's not a lack of intent that will hold us back."

He further said the Essential Commodities Act was considered as the "holiest

of holy law and it was one of the 10 commandments" but the govt has now

changed it.

"Labour laws and others in 10 commandments, we are going to change it. We

are changing it in a very peculiar way. We are actually going to tighten

safety and working condition laws. We are actually introducing nationwide

minimum wages. So it's not entirely as some people may claim tilted against

the labour," he said.

The govt was open to various suggestions, including from the labour unions,

to make the laws more robust, he said while addressing a virtual AIMA event.

Asked about the steps to boost demand, Sanyal said the government was

cognizant of the situation and as and when the need arose, resources would

be utilised to support it.

Sanyal suggested that the Union Govt is keeping its powder dry as it

anticipates a prolonged period of slow economic growth. "The Govt is not

following others in re-inflating the economy with massive spending because

the post-COVID world would be very different. Why waste all ammo on a world

that is dying?" he asked.

COVID-19 DASHBOARD - (Nos. IN INDIA / Nos. WORLDWIDE)

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 2,36,172 (+9,471) / 68,44,845 (+1,46,475)

Total Deaths 6,649 (+286) / 3,98,147 (+5,005)

Total Recovered 1,13,233 (+4,783) / 33,49,006 (+99,549)

Active Cases 1,16,290 (+4,402) / 30,97,692 (+41,921)

Serious / Critical Cases - N.A. / 53,616 (-1,844)

Top impacted nations so far: (And some of India's Neighbours)

Country, Total Cases / Total Deaths / Recovered Cases / Active

Cases

1 USA 19,65,708 / 1,11,390 /

7,38,646 / 11,15,672

2 Brazil 6,46,006 / 35,047 /

3,02,084 / 3,08,875

3 Russia 4,49,834 / 5,528 /

2,12,680 / 2,31,626

4 Spain 2,88,058 / 27,134 / N/A

/ N/A

5 UK 2,83,311 / 40,261 / N/A

/ N/A

6 India 2,36,184 / 6,649 /

1,13,233 / 1,16,302

7 Italy 2,34,531 / 33,774 /

1,63,781 / 36,976

8 Peru 1,87,400 / 5,162 /

79,214 / 1,03,024

9 Germany 1,85,414 / 8,763 /

1,68,500 / 8,151

10 Turkey 1,68,340 / 4,648 /

1,33,400 / 30,292

11 Iran 1,67,156 / 8,134 /

1,29,741 / 29,281

17 Pakistan 89,249 / 1,838 / 31,198

/ 56,213

20 Bangladesh 60,391 / 811 / 12,804

/ 46,776

100 Sri Lanka 1,801 / 11 / 858

/ 932

Top 18 impacted Indian States so far: (Total No. of Confirmed case / No. Of

Deaths)

State / Confirmed Cases / Active Case / Recovered /

Deceased

Maharashtra 80,229 / 42,224 / 35,156 /

2,849

Tamil Nadu 28,694 / 12,697 / 15,762 /

235

Delhi 26,334 / 15,311 / 10,315 / 708

Gujarat 19,119 / 4,918 / 13,011 / 1,190

Rajasthan 10,084 / 2,507 / 7,359 /

218

Uttar Pradesh 9,733 / 3,828 / 5,648 /

257

Madhya Pradesh 8,996 / 2,734 / 5,878

/ 384

West Bengal 7,303 / 4,025 / 2,912 /

366

Karnataka 4,835 / 3,083 / 1,693 /

57

Bihar 4,598 / 2,336 / 2,233 / 29

Andhra Pradesh 4,250 / 1,612 / 2,565

/ 73

Haryana 3,597 / 2,364 / 1,209 /

24

Jammu and Kashmir 3,324 / 2,202 / 1,086 /

36

Telangana 3,290 / 1,550 / 1,627 /

113

Odisha 2,608 / 994 / 1,604 / 10

Punjab 2,461 / 344 / 2,069 / 48

Assam 2,244 / 1,727 / 510 / 4

Kerala 1,700 / 973 / 712 / 15

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

'GREATEST COMEBACK': US JOB LOSSES DECLINE, TRUMP CELEBRATES UNEXPECTED

President Donald Trump on celebrated the unexpected decline in job losses in

the United States, terming it the "greatest comeback" in the country's

history. The economy, according to the state's report, added 2.5 million

jobs.

Job losses this year in May were 13.3 per cent, down from 14.7 per cent in

April, according to US labor department's monthly job report released

Friday, indicating the free-falling economy had bottomed out, and a

turnaround could be under way.

The economy added 2.5 million jobs as more and more areas of the country

began reopening from Covid-19 lockdowns.

"Today is probably, if you think of it, the greatest comeback in American

history," Trump said at a news briefing, in reference to the statistics on

monthly job report "Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying

there's a great thing happening for our country," he said. Trump was

referring to George Floyd, the African American man whose death in police

custody plunged Unite States into civil unrest, just as it was beginning to

merge from the worst of the Covid-19 epidemic. "It's a great day for him.

It's a great day for everybody."

Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump's comments

about Floyd were "despicable."

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said some news outlets

had "purposely misreported" the president's comments to insinuate that Floyd

would be pleased about the positive jobs numbers. He said Trump was

referencing the "national conversation" that followed Floyd's death and

"Americans coming together on the belief that everyone should be treated

equally under the law."

FACEBOOK TO LABEL STATE-OWNED MEDIA OUTLETS' POSTS AND PAGES

Facebook announced Thursday it will start labelling pages and posts from

state-controlled media. These labels will start appearing on the Facebook

pages of Russia Today and China's Xinhua, warning users that these are

state-controlled outlets.

"We're providing greater transparency into these publishers because they

combine the influence of a media organization with the strategic backing of

a state," Nathan Gleicher, head of cybersecurity policy at Facebook, wrote

in blog post on Thursday. "We believe people should know if the news they

read is coming from a publication that may be under the influence of a

govt."

The idea behind labelling the pages, posts and advertisements of

state-controlled media outlets is to inform users as to who owns and runs

these outlets. Facebook in October said it would roll out these labels to

provide users with greater transparency.

In recent days, Facebook had to face backlash after many media outlets from

Russia, China and Iran ran articles and videos of the US protests to their

followers on Facebook. This hasn't gone well with many senior US and EU who

suspected that these govt-owned outlets are tarnishing the image of the

western countries.

EU WANTS BORDERS FREE OF VIRUS RESTRICTIONS BY END OF JUNE

Europe could have its free travel zone up and running again by the end of

this month, but travellers from further afield will not be allowed in before

July, a European Union commissioner said Friday after talks among the bloc's

interior ministers.

Panicked by Italy's coronavirus outbreak in February, countries in the

26-nation Schengen travel zone - where people and goods move freely without

border checks - imposed border restrictions without consulting their

neighbours to try to keep the disease out. The moves caused massive border

traffic jams and blocked medical equipment.

THE REST

========

INDIA'S FOREX RESERVES SURGE TO ALL-TIME HIGH OF $493.48 BILLION

Even as the coronavirus pandemic continued to impact the inflow of funds by

foreign portfolio investors, India's foreign exchange reserves surged $3.43

billion to a fresh all-time high of $493.48 billion in the week-ended May

29, the RBI said Friday.

During the week ended May 29, foreign currency assets, a major component of

the overall reserves, increased by $3.50 billion to $455.21 billion, data

from the RBI showed, news agency PTI reported.

In the previous week that ended on May 22, the reserves had risen to an

all-time high of $490 billion on account of FDI, net inflow of funds by FPIs

in domestic equities and a sharp decline in import expenditure following

impact of pandemic on global trade.

Since September 20, 2019, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced

a cut in corporate tax rates, the forex reserves have been rising

week-on-week and shot up to $487.23 billion in the week ended March 6, 2020.

A sharp decline in global crude oil prices subsequently were a blessing in

disguise for India during this period.

Total value of the gold reserves, however, continued to decline and were at

32.682 billion, lower by $97 million as compared with the previous week, the

central bank said.

MIGRANT WORKERS: THE RETURN JOURNEYS START

Farm labourers have started returning and industries are offering free

tickets to workers for their return journey. In Barnala district, the Bharti

Kisan Union (Lakhowal) arranged two buses that brought back 40 labourers.

As many as 75 more buses are being sent to UP and Bihar to bring workers

back," said Jagseer Singh Seera, president of the farmers' outfit. "We

staged dharnas before we got permission. The labourers, too, had no work in

Bihar and UP and were desperate to come back."

Besides farmers, even industrialists are keen to bring their workers back.

Tarun Bawa Jain, president of Bahadurke Dyeing Association, said, "In our

area, over 40,000 workers work in various units, but currently, we don't

even have 10,000 workers. We have told the labour contractor that we can pay

for their tickets to bring them back. The labourers are happy with the

proposal and we hope they will be back in a week or 10 days as not many

trains have started from UP or Bihar. We need labour and they need work."

More than 4,500 workers from the tribal-dominated Jhabua district in Madhya

Pradesh have returned to Gujarat over the last few days. For some, their

employers arranged the transport, while the others did it on their own.

PRAKASH JAVADEKAR CALLS FOR CREATION OF 200 URBAN FORESTS IN 5 YEARS

Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar

on Friday announced the launch of his ministry's Nagar Van scheme, which

aims at developing 200 urban forests across the country over the next five

years.

Speaking during the virtual celebration of World Environment Day, Javadekar

said, "We have gardens and parks in our cities but we don't really have

forests. I urge 200 municipalities and corporations across the country to

develop plans for implementing the scheme. The scheme will be, in part, paid

for by the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016) funds. This

project had been started in Pune in 2015, and has been a great success."

The minister also released a brochure on the best practices on urban

forests, and said that the forests were to come up either on existing forest

land or on any other vacant land offered by urban local bodies.

The India State of Forests Report, 2019, released by the Environment

Ministry, states that India's total forest cover has registered a 1.5 per

cent increase between 2015 and 2019. However, the fifth edition of an annual

report released by the Centre for Science and Environment's Down to Earth on

Thursday found that forests have actually shrunk in 34 per cent of the total

629 districts in the country.

YAMUNA RIVER REGAINS SPARKLE

The sparkle has returned to the Yamuna river flowing through India's capital

of New Delhi, residents say, after decades of filthy and stinking waters,

matted with garbage and polluted with toxic effluent from industry.

In a feat that eluded years of government cleanliness efforts, a nationwide

lockdown against the coronavirus has brought about the transformation of the

river, with a halt in industrial activity since late in March.

Sanjay Gir, a 55-year-old monk who spends his time on the riverbank, said he

could not remember when he had last seen the river so clean.

But the waters will deteriorate again, warns Anshuman Jaiswal of city

research body the Energy and Resources Institute., as the lockdown lifts and

industries re-open.

SILVER LAKE RAISES STAKE IN JIO PLATFORMS, INVESTS ADDITIONAL RS 4,546 CR

Private equity firm Silver Lake has invested an additional Rs 4,546.80 crore

in Reliance Industries' digital arm Jio Platforms to raise its stake in the

firm to 2.08 per cent.

Reliance Industries in a statement said with this, aggregrate investment by

Silver Lake in Jio Platforms will be Rs 10,202.55 crore. Silver Lake on May

4 had invested Rs 5,655.75 crore in Jio Platforms for a 1.15 per cent stake.

With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 92,202.15 crore from

leading global technology and growth investors including Facebook, Silver

Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala in less than

six weeks.

These investments peg Jio Platforms' equity value at Rs 4.91 lakh crore and

enterprise value at Rs 5.16 lakh crore. These six investors in now own 19.9%

stake in the company.

Analysts said Reliance may now be close to the end of this flurry of deals,

having crossed its fund-raising target.

'NO BENEFITS': OXFORD STOPS ENROLLMENT FOR HCQ ARM

Even as WHO restarted the hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) arm of the Solidarity

Trial, investigators for the Recovery Trial at Oxford University have

announced that they would stop enrollment for its HCQ arm as no benefits

have been found from the drug.

India continues use HCQ for prophylaxis and treatment of Covid-19. All eyes

will now be on the Solidarity Trial.

Peter Horby, professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health in

Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University, and chief investigator

of the trial, said: "HCQ and chloroquine have received a lot of attention

and have been used very widely to treat Covid patients despite the absence

of any good evidence. The Recovery Trial has shown that HCQ is not an

effective treatment in patients hospitalised with Covid-19. Although it is

disappointing that this treatment has been shown to be ineffective, it does

allow us to focus care and research on more promising drugs."

The Recovery Trial had continued to recruit patients for the HCQ arm even

after WHO paused it last month following a paper in The Lancet, which now

stands retracted.

"We have concluded that there is no beneficial effect of HCQ in patients

hospitalised with Covid-19. We have therefore decided to stop enrolling

participants to the HCQ arm of the Recovery trial with immediate effect.,"

Horby added.

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Silver (Rs. Per KG) 48,910

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time

to do the most important thing. - Brian Tracy

OFF TRACK

A new hair salon which opened up right across the street from the old

established hair cutters' place. They put up a big old sign, "WE GIVE SEVEN

DOLLAR HAIR CUTS!"

Not to be outdone, the old shop put out their own sign:

"WE FIX SEVEN DOLLAR HAIR CUTS"