1) An inter-ministerial meet on opening coal mining to private companies is scheduled to be held on Thursday. The government has finished consultations with stakeholders and is likely to finalise guidelines for commercial coal mining following the inter-ministerial consultations. The meeting will be headed by Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar and will be attended by senior officials from the ministries of power, coal, steel and law among others.

2) Xiaomi is to launch the Mi Max 2 smartphone on Thursday. The Mi Max 2 will be a big screen device with over 6-inches of display and will be powered by a Snapdragon 626 processor paired with 4GB RAM. It is expected to feature a 12MP rear camera with Sony IMX378 sensor and a 5MP front facing snapper. The smartphone will draw power from a huge 5000mAh battery. The pricing is expected to range between CNY 1,499 (Rs 14,000) and CNY 1,699 (Rs 16,000).

3) Bypolls to the vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Manipur and one from Odisha will be held on Thursday and the process of election will be completed by May 27. The Rajya Sabha seat from Manipur became vacant after death of the sitting member, Congress’ Haji Abdul Salam passed away.

4) OPEC members are to meet on Thursday to discuss oil production quotas. Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih expects OPEC to extend its 1.2 million barrels per day production cut another six month to the end of 2017. Eleven other oil exporters have agreed to reduce production another 600,000 bpd, which includes 300,000 bpd from Russia. The reductions were implemented in January, and have been effective in reducing worldwide supplies somewhat, according to the International Energy Agency. Global oil output has fallen 800,000 bpd in 2017 compared to last year, IEA stated, which is short of its 1.8 million bpd goal.

5) BJP president Amit Shah is to reach Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, where senior leader and Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu will accompany him in Vijayawada. Shah will address booth-level workers at Siddhartha Medical College grounds as part of his nationwide campaign to strengthen the party. Before the next general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party chief has embarked on a nationwide tour of state units to gauge the organisational strength. Mr Shah’s focus is also on the southern states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where party’s organisational strength is not very strong.

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