HIGHLIGHTS

Following are the top stories at 5:15 pm: NATION DEL18 PM-LOCKDOWN-LD MESSAGE Modi asks people to light up lamps on Sunday to display collective strength to defeat coronavirus New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged people to switch off the lights at their homes and light up lamps, candles or mobile phone torches for nine minutes at 9 pm on April 5 to display the country's "collective resolve" to defeat coronavirus. DEL7 PREZ-VIRUS Gathering of migrant workers, Tablighi Jamaat meet setback to efforts to combat coronavirus: Prez New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday expressed concern over the gathering of migrant workers in Anand Vihar and the congregation of Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin, saying these two incidents caused a setback to the efforts to combat coronavirus, according to a statement issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan.

DEL75 VIRUS-HEALTH MINISTRY 647 COVID-19 cases found in last 2 days linked to Tablighi Jamaat congregation: Health ministry New Delhi: As many as 647 COVID-19 positive cases found in 14 states in the last two days are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the Union health ministry said on Friday. DEL35 CONG-LD PM-MESSAGE Cong criticises Modi's video message, Tharoor says 'curated by India's photo-op PM' New Delhi: The Congress on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his video message, with senior party leader Shashi Tharoor saying there was no vision of the future in the address which was "just a feel-good moment curated by India's photo-op Prime Minister".

DEL14 EDITORS GUILD-SC-GOVT No democracy fighting pandemic by gagging its media: Editors Guild New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India has said it is "deeply perturbed" over the government blaming the media in the Supreme Court for causing panic among migrant workers, leading to their exodus in the wake of the lockdown, and asserted that such actions could obstruct the process of dissemination of news. DEL73 VIRUS-LD TOEFL-GRE Coronavirus: Students to take global exams TOEFL, GRE at home New Delhi: Global exams like TOEFL and GRE will be taken at home except in mainland China and Iran in view of the COVID-19 situation across the world, according to the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

DEL68 NCR-TABLIGH-NURSES-LD HARASSMENT Tabligh Jamaat members harass nurses, UP govt to invoke NSA Ghaziabad (UP): Tablighi Jamaat members quarantined at a hospital here allegedly misbehaved with the nurses, making lewd remarks and dropping their pants, provoking the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to invoke the stringent National Security Act against them. DEL67 PM-LOCKDOWN-LD NADDA COVID-19: Nadda asks BJP workers to spread PM's message to masses New Delhi: BJP president J P Nadda asked party workers on Friday to spread among the masses Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message to light lamps or turn on mobile phone torches on Sunday.  DEL66 RJ-DIVYANG-PM CARES FUND  Differently-abled child from Rajasthan donates his national award money to PM-CARES fund Jaipur, Apr 3 (PTI) In a noble gesture, a 17-year-old differently-abled boy suffering from a fatal disease has donated Rs 2 lakh that he had received as prize money for winning two national awards to the PM-CARES fund to assist relief works in the fight against COVID-19.

DEL62 VIRUS-GoM-LD REVIEW Coronavirus: GoM reviews overall situation across India New Delhi: As the country battles a sudden surge in coronavirus cases, the government on Friday carried out a detailed review of the overall healthcare system as well as the situation arising out of the 21-day nationwide lockdown, officials said. LEGAL LGD5 VIRUS-SC-TESTING SC seeks Centre's reply on plea seeking free tests of COVID-19 suspects New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Centre and other authorities on a PIL seeking a direction to them to provide free of cost testing facility for COVID-19 to all citizens in the country.

BUSINESS DEL31 BIZ-ADB LD-OUTLOOK ADB expects India GDP to slip to 4 pc in 2020-21; projects strong recovery next fiscal New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday said that India’s economic growth rate will slip to 4 per cent in the current fiscal on account of the global health emergency created by the COVID-19 pandemic. DEL53 BIZ-STOCKS-CLOSE Sensex slumps 674 pts; Nifty drops below 8,100 Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex tumbled 674 points on Friday, weighed by losses in banking stocks as unabated spike in new Covid-19 cases fuelled uncertainty over the economic impact of the pandemic. FOREIGN FGN39 VIRUS-UK-INDIAN DOCTOR Indian-origin doctor leads COVID-19 safety equipment campaign London: An Indian-origin doctor campaigning for better access to the personal protection equipment (PPE) for medics across hospitals, dealing with the rapidly rising cases of the novel coronavirus, on Friday welcomed the UK government's updated guidance to make surgical masks essential. By Aditi Khanna FGN17 US-PAK-3RDLD JOURNALIST US slams Pak court's verdict in Daniel Pearl murder case, calls it 'affront' to victims of terrorism Washington: The US on Friday criticised a Pakistani court for overturning the death sentence of British-born top al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted in the abduction and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, terming the verdict an "affront" to the victims of terrorism everywhere. By Lalit K Jha.