INDIA LIKELY TO ATTEND SIGNING OF TALIBAN PEACE PACT WITH USIn its first step towards engaging with the Taliban, India has reportedlydecided to send its envoy to the signing of the peace pact between the USand Taliban in Doha on Saturday.This is the first time that an official representative will attend aceremony where the Taliban representatives will be present. When Taliban wasin power between 1996 and 2001, India did not recognise it diplomaticallyand officially.India received an "invitation" from Qatar, and after deliberations at thehighest level, the government has decided to send India's Ambassador toQatar, P Kumaran.India's presence at the agreement-signing ceremony is the first sign of apossible diplomatic opening. New Delhi has vital strategic stakes inAfghanistan, where it has worked on several development projects.VLADIMIR PUTIN REVEALS THERE WAS A PLAN TO USE BODY DOUBLERussian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday revealed there was a secretplan to use a double to make public appearances for him, while insisting hevetoed it -- and that he is the real Putin. Putin's comments showed that aconspiracy theory widespread on the internet that the Russian strongman hasbeen impersonated over the years or even replaced by a lookalike is notentirely without basis.TASS state news agency showed Putin a list of popular Russian-languageInternet searches including "Putin double proof". "Are you real?" theinterviewer asked."Yes," said Putin. He said he has never had a double but when asked if theidea had ever been discussed, he confirmed it had."I refused to have doubles," Putin said. "It was during the hardest times ofthe fight against terrorism." Putin as prime minister and then presidentoversaw the second war against separatists in Chechnya from 1999 to 2000.FRADULET REMEDIES, PRICE GOUGING: AMAZON BARS ONE MILLION PRODUCTSAmazon.com Inc has barred more than 1 million products from sale in recentweeks that had inaccurately claimed to cure or defend against thecoronavirus, the company told Reuters on Thursday.Amazon also removed tens of thousands of deals from merchants that it saidattempted to price-gouge customers. The world's largest online retailer hasfaced scrutiny over the health-related offers on its platform, and earlierthis week Italy launched a probe into surging prices around the internet forsanitizing gels and hygiene masks while it battled the biggest outbreak inEurope.AGR-HIT VODAFONE IDEA WANTS MINIMUM TARIFFS HIKEDVodafone Idea has demanded fixing minimum tariffs for mobile data at Rs 35per GB, around 7-8 times of current prices, and for calls at 6 paise perminute along with monthly charges from April 1 to enable it pay statutorydues and make its business sustainable.The loss-making telco is under pressure to clear adjusted gross revenue duesof more than Rs 50,000 crore to comply with a Supreme Court order. Thecompany has sought 18 years time to clear the dues, including a three-yearmoratorium on payment of interest and penalty, according to officialsources."There are number of demands that Vodafone Idea has put across thegovernment for its survival. The company wants minimum price of data shouldbe fixed at Rs 35 per gigabyte and minimum monthly connection charge at Rs50 from April 1, 2020. These are tough demands which is a problem forgovernment to fulfil," an official said.Current mobile internet prices are in the range of Rs 4-5 per GB.Voda Idea wants minimum price of outgoing calls should be fixed at 6 paiseper minute.Warning that it is "not in a sound financial state", Vodafone Idea said thecompany would be in a position to meet its liabilities only if thegovernment initiates steps including allowing set offs for GST creditaccumulated so far, and permitting staggered mechanism for payment ofbalance amount of interest, penalty, and interest on penalty.GLOBAL SHARES HEAD FOR WORST WEEK SINCE 2008 FINANCIAL CRISISGlobal share markets headed for the worst week since the darkest days of thefinancial crisis in 2008 as investors braced for the coronavirus to morphinto a pandemic and derail world economic growth.Hopes that the epidemic that started in China would be over in a few monthsand economic activity would return to normal have been shattered, as newinfections reported around the world now surpass those in China.The worsening global threat from the virus prompted investors to rapidlystep up bets the US Federal Reserve would need to cut interest rates as soonas next month to support economic growth."We don't even need to wait for economic data to see how badly the economyis being hit. You can tell that the sales of airlines and hotels are alreadyfalling by a half or something like that," said Tomoaki Shishido, senioreconomist at Nomura Securities. "It is fair to say the impact of thecoronavirus will be clearly much bigger than the US-China trade war. So theFed does not have a reason to take a wait-and-see stance next month," hesaid.MSCI all country world index fell 3.3 percent on Thursday to bring itslosses so far this week to 8.9 percent, on course for its biggest weeklydecline since a 9.8 percent plunge in November 2008.In Asia, MSCI's regional index excluding Japan lost 0.6 percent. Japan'sNikkei gave up 2.5 percent on rising fears the Olympics planned inJuly-August may be called off due to the coronavirus.ANUBHAV SINHA ADMITS HIS FILM ARTICLE 15 WAS COMPROMISEDDirector Anubhav Sinha has said that his film Article 15 was a compromisedvision. The filmmaker was joined by his colleagues Dibakar Banerjee,Vetrimaaran, Nandita Das and Nagraj Manjule in a conversation withjournalist Anupama Chopra.Asked about the 'cheese' that he adds to his films to make them moremainstream, Anubhav said, "Cheese is a very thin layer of certaincompromises you make to make it more palatable." He added, "I wouldn't makeMulk or Article 15 if it did not penetrate into the next layer. There's nopoint in Anupama Chopra liking Article 15 and the people not liking it."Mulk dealt with religious bigotry, while Article 15 addressed casteism inIndian society. Anubhav's next film, Thappad, talks about domestic violence.Speaking about one particular moment in Article 15 that he is stillconflicted about, the filmmaker continued, "That shot of the upper castehero, walking with the Dalit girl in his arms, according to me, was acompromise, which I had to make. Creating a hero allowed me to say a wholelot more in the film." The director was referring to a moment towards theend of the film, when Ayushmann Khurrana's policeman character rescues akidnapped young girl. The film's portrayal of an upper caste man as the herowas met with conflicted reception.Anubhav agreed with this. "A lot of people did have a problem with the gazeof the film, and I agree with them. I don't disagree with them. But thatallowed the film to reach out to 70-80 lakh people in theatres." He saidthat his decision to not make the character a sole hero, and have himsurrounded by a team was as far as he could push it.T20 WORLD CUP: INDIAN WOMEN SEAL SEMIFINAL SPOT WITH 4-RUN WIN OVER NEWZEALANDIndia entered the semifinals of the women's T20 World Cup after ShafaliVerma's 34-ball 46 followed by a superlative performance from the bowlershelped the team notch up a narrow four-run win over New Zealand here onThursday.Invited to bat, India posted a below-par 133 for eight in the group A matchwith Shafali top-scoring with a 34-ball 46 and Taniya Bhatia chipping inwith a 25-ball 23.They, however, produced a disciplined performance with the ball to restrictNew Zealand to 129 for six and register their third successive win in thetournament and seal a last-four spot.With this win, India topped Group A, having beaten Australia and Bangladeshin their last two outing.KOHLI LOSES TOP SPOT IN ICC TEST PLAYER RANKINGSIndia skipper Virat Kohli lost the top spot in the ICC Test Player Rankingsafter managing only 21 runs in the first Test against New Zealand inWellington. Kohli, who has 906 points, slipped to the second position in thelist which also features Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and MayankAgarwal at the eighth, ninth and 10th places, respectively. While Rahane,who scored 75 in the opening Test, gained a spot, Pujara dropped two placesafter scoring 22 runs. Kohli's slump meant Australia's Steve Smith was backon top of the list.INDICATORSSensex 39,746 (-143), Nifty 11,633 (-45), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores)40,196Nasdaq 8,566 (-414) Dow 25,767 (-1191), S&P 2,979(-138)US$-Rs. 71.57 GBP-Rs. 92.32, Euro-Rs. 78.37, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.48, Can$-Rs.53.60, Aus$- Rs. 47.01GBP 0.77 /US$, Euro 0.91 /US$, Jap.Yen 110.02 /US$, Aus$ 1.52 /US$, Sing1.39 /US$, Bang Taka 83.22 /US$, Can$ 1.33 /US$, Mal Ring 4.21 /US$,Pak Re 153.62 /US$, Phil Peso 50.87 /US$, Russian Rouble 65.79 /US$, NZ$1.58 /US$, Thai Baht 31.66 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 24.29 /US$, Norway NOK 9.39/US$Bitcoin - USD 8,799Dollar Index 98.40 Brent Crude 50.76 BDI 517Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,644 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,250 /4,150, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 51,100OFF TRACKA wealthy investor walked into a brokerage office and said to the manager,"I would like to speak with Mr. Shah, who I understand is a tried andtrusted employee of yours."The manager said, "Yes he certainly was trusted. And he will be tried assoon as we catch him."