Trump honours 10-year-old Indian-American girl for COVID-19 help
Washington: Sravya Annappareddy, a 10-year-old Indian-American girl, has been honoured by President Donald Trump for donating cookies to nurses and firefighters and sending personalised greeting cards to healthcare workers fighting COVID-19 pandemic in the US, the worst affected country in the world.
Sravya is a Girl Scouts Troop member and a fourth-grade student at the Hanover Hills Elementary School in Maryland.
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on Friday paid tribute to several American heroes who are helping on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis, including Girl Scouts from Maryland who donated cookies to nurses and firefighters.
"The men and women we honor today remind us that the bonds that unite us in times of hardship can also raise us to new heights as we reopen and recover and rebuild," The Washington Times quoted the president as saying.
Sravya was among three 10-year-old Girl Scouts honoured by Trump for their help. Her parents are from Andhra Pradesh.
Girl Scouts Laila Khan, Lauren Matney and Sravya of Troop 744 in Elkridge, Maryland, all 10 years old, donated 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to local doctors, nurses and firefighters. They also wrote 200 personalised cards for health care workers, the report said.
"While we are honoured that our troop was invited to be here today, we know that we are just part of the millions of other children out there that are doing amazing things to support their communities, their friends and their families. It is a privilege to be here representing all of them," said Khan, who represented the troop.
Among the honorees was Amy Ford, a nurse from Williamson, West Virginia, who travelled to Brooklyn, New York, to work in a hospital besieged with COVID-19 patients.
"For the past 42 days, she's been working 12-hour shifts in the intensive care units of Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn. Amy has been serving the coronavirus patients around the clock, and she once held the hand of an elderly patient all night long, just so the woman would not feel alone," Trump said.
The novel coronavirus which originated in Wuhan in December last year has claimed 315,185 lives and infected over 4.7 million people globally. The US is the worst affected country with 89,562 deaths and over 1.4 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
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Rupee settles 1 paisa higher to close at 94.15 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee settled with gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.
Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.
At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.
"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at USD 107.82 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,151.48 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.362 billion to USD 703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 3.825 billion to USD 700.946 billion.
