17th MARCH

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

• 1969 Golda Meir becomes Israel's first female Prime Minister
• 1959 The Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India
• 1941 The National Gallery of Art opens in Washington. D.C.

NATIONAL

• Manikaran Power becomes the first member of Indian Gas Exchange. The gas trading platform of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) has found its first member in Manikaran Power Ltd (MPL),called the Indian Gas Exchange (IGX). It will be India’s first gas trading platform.IGX would offer spot and forward contracts at Dahej, Hazira and Kakinada.
• Lok Sabha passes Appropriation Bill 2020-21. The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Appropriation Bill 2020-21 that empowers the government to draw over ₹110 lakh crore from the Consolidated Fund of India for its working, as well as for the implementation of its programs and schemes. The house passed the bill after the Speaker applied 'guillotine' on the demands of grants for various ministries.
• Health ministry activates new toll-free number 1075 for queries on Covid-19. The previous helpline number, 011-239 78046, will also remain operational. Besides the toll-free numbers, the ministry also issued a helpline email ID ncov2019@gmail.com.
• West Bengal invokes Epidemic Diseases Act,1897. The Centre has advised States and Union Territories to invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 so that all advisories being issued from time to time are enforceable. The West Bengal Government also extended the closure of educational institutions from March 31 to April 15.

INTERNATIONAL

• Clinical trial for coronavirus vaccine begins in US. Public health officials say it will take a year to 18 months to fully validate any potential vaccine. The National Institutes of Health is funding the trial, which is taking place at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.
• Nike, Under Armour to close all US stores due to coronavirus. Under Armour will shutter all of its stores in North America from Monday for about two weeks, while Wisconsin-based apparel retailer Lands End Inc said it is closing all retail stores in the United States through March 29. However, Nike-owned stores in South Korea, Japan, most of China and in many other countries are currently open and will continue their normal operations.

ECONOMY

• Moody's upgrades YES Bank's ratings. Global rating agency Moody's has upgraded YES Bank's long-term foreign currency rating from "Caa3" to "Caa1" on bail-out package involving fresh equity capital infusion. It has confirmed the bank's long-term foreign and local currency bank deposit ratings at Caa1.
• France hits Apple with record $1.2 bn fine for anti-competitive practices. The authority said it found that Apple acted to prevent independent retailers in France from competing on price and abused its economic power over them
• PhonePe integrates Swiggy on its 'Switch' platform. With this partnership, PhonePe's 200 million registered users can now access the Swiggy app and order the food from within the PhonePe app itself. The service will be available across all 520 cities where Swiggy delivers food in India.
• Wholesale inflation cools to 2.26% on food articles. India’s wholesale inflation eased to 2.26% in February, on the back of lower inflation in food articles especially onion and vegetables, data released by the commerce and industry ministry.

SPORTS

• 21-year-old football coach Francisco Garcia dies from Coronavirus.Francisco Garcia, who worked with Atletico Portada Alta, was suffering from leukemia which made him vulnerable against the pandemic and he was taken to the hospital with severe coronavirus symptoms.

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