Congress general secretary Harish Rawat resigns
New Delhi, Jul 4: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat announced his resignation as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Assam on Thursday, taking moral responsibility of the party's poor show in the north-eastern state in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls.
Rawat said as the in-charge of party affairs in Assam, he was responsible for the below-par performance of the Congress in the parliamentary polls and thus, had decided to step down from the post.
The resignation comes in the wake of Rahul Gandhi resigning as the Congress chief on Wednesday.
"We the office bearers of the Congress are responsible for the party's defeat and organisational failure. I am responsible for the below-expected result of the party in Assam as in-charge of the state. I accept my shortcoming and resign as general secretary in-charge of state," Rawat said on Twitter.
He added that for people like him, posts were not important, but a leader like Gandhi, who inspired the workers, should continue to lead the party.
"If the leadership remains in his hand, it is possible that he could lead the party to victory in 2022 assembly elections in states and also in 2024 Lok Sabha elections to defeat the BJP and Narendra Modi. That is why all democratic forces and Congress workers want to see Rahul Gandhi as Congress president," the former Uttarakhand chief minister said.
In the parliamentary polls held in April-May, the Congress managed to win only three of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam.
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Oil prices sink, US stock futures jump as US, Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire
New York (AP): Oil prices plunged below USD 100 a barrel and Asia markets and US stock futures jumped after the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 4.8% and South Korea's Kospi gained 5.6%. Futures for the S&P 500 advanced 2.3% as of 9:30 pm EDT, while Dow futures rose 2%.
Futures for US crude oil sank 14.3% to $96.83 a barrel and Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 13.3% to $94.74. Oil prices had spiked because the war snarled the production and transportation of crude in the Persian Gulf. Much of that oil exits the gulf through the Strait of Hormuz to reach customers around the world, but Iran had blocked it to enemies.
Late Tuesday, Trump said he was holding off on his threatened attacks on Iranian bridges, power plants and other civilian targets. Iran's foreign minister said passage through the strait would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.
The dramatic moves in prices are just the latest swings to hit financial markets since late February because of constantly shifting signals about when the conflict may end.
Even with word of a ceasefire, neither Iran nor the United States said when it would begin, and attacks took place in Israel, Iran and across the Gulf region early Wednesday.
