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The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Saturday sealed the deal with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), allotting the latter 23 seats out of the 234-assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu where elections are slated for April 6. A day after the Election Commission announced dates for poll-bound states, the AIADMK-led alliance began seat-sharing talks on Saturday morning, first with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and then wi th the PMK. 

  Mumbai Police have spotted on CCTV surveillance the Innova car used by two suspects to escape after parking a vehicle laden with explosives near the residence of Reliance Industries’s chairman Mukesh Ambani. Police officials in the crime branch said the car was last seen on the Bhiwandi-Nashik highway. The police are now scouring nearby villages for clues and more details. On February 25, a Scorpio car was found 600 metres away from the Ambani residence. htc

  The US House of Representatives passed an enormous, $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Saturday, hailed by Democrats as a critical step in funnelling new funding toward vaccinations, overburdened governments, and millions of families devastated by the pandemic. No Republicans voted for the bill. The package cleared the House despite a major setback for Democrats, when a key Senate official ruled that the final version of the bill cannot include a minimum wage hike.  

  Another spell of snowfall Kashmiri men row their makeshift raft made of plastic pipes on the waters of Dal Lake after a brief spell of fresh snowfall in Srinagar on Saturday AP

A new Kapoor-Khan baby, more Kangana comments, and a croissant vada pao. See what else you recall from the week gone by We have the world’s largest cricket stadium, and soon, the world’s highest rail bridge. Taller than the Eiffel Tower, the Chenab bridge will connect the Kashmir valley with India. It is being built by which coastal rail corporation, which is headquartered in Navi Mumbai? For the moment, he’s been remanded at Wandsworth Prison, UK. But jeweller Nirav Modi’s extradition to India is all but cleared. He’s set to face charges of fraudulent loan agreements worth $2 billion. Where will he be held when he’s transferred to Mumbai? A driver at which state’s civil aviation department was suspended after photos from a pre-wedding shoot, featuring his friend and wife posing against a state chopper, went viral? Tank up, and tell us what costs under Rs 30 in these nations: Venezuela, Iran, Angola Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, Kazakhstan and Qatar? Yusuf Pathan announced his retirement fro...

  Ahmedabad : India will be without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in the final Test against England after the 27-year-old was released from the squad for personal reasons, the BCCI said on Saturday. The right-arm seamer took four wickets in the opening Test in Chennai but was rested for the second match, which India won to level the series. Bumrah returned to play his first test at his home ground in Ahmedabad, where India triumphed inside two days to go 2-1 up in the four-match series. “Jasprit Bumrah made a request to BCCI to be released from India’s squad ahead of the fourth Test owing to personal reasons,” the board said. “Accordingly, the fast bowler has been released and he will not be available for selection for the fourth test,” it added. India have decided not to add any player to cover for his absence for the final Test, also in Ahmedabad from Thursday. Bumrah had a limited role in the third Test, where spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin wreaked havoc. The bowle...

NEW DELHI : Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Saturday flew in a multi-aircraft formation from a premier air base in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior to mark the second anniversary of the Balakot operations — India’s unprecedented, peacetime cross-border strikes on the back of the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack, people familiar with the developments said. Bhadauria flew a Mirage 2000, the aircraft used for bombing JeM targets in Pakistan’s Balakot in February 2019, said one of the officials. “The IAF chief flew with pilots from the squadrons that were part of the operations,” he said. The five-aircraft formation consisted of Mirage 2000s and Sukhoi-30 jets. 

  United Nations/Yangon : Myanmar’s UN ambassador strongly opposed the military coup in his country and appealed for the “strongest possible action from the international community” to immediately restore democracy, in a dramatic speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday that drew loud applause from many diplomats in the global body. He was fired soon after. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun began his statement saying he represented Aung San Suu Kyi’s “civilian government elected by the people” in November, and supported their fight for the end of military rule. He urged all countries to issue statements strongly condemning the February 1 coup, and to refuse to recognise the military regime. “It is time for the military to immediately relinquish power and release those detained,” Tun said, adding: “We will continue to fight for a government which is of the people, by the people, for the people,” he vowed. Tun’s statement not only drew applause but commendations, with speaker after speaker ...

NEW DELHI : Oil companies on Saturday raised petrol prices by 24 paise per litre and diesel by 15 paise a litre, making the two fuels costlier by Rs 4.87 per litre and Rs 4.99 in just one month. With the 16th price hike in the current month, petrol was sold at record Rs 91.17 per litre in Delhi on Saturday and diesel at Rs 81.47 a litre, just 50 paise short of touching an all-time high level. Diesel was sold at record Rs 81.94 per litre on July 30, 2020 in Delhi. Domestic fuel retailers raised petrol and diesel rates on Saturday, even as international crude oil prices fell on Friday because of the firming dollar. Benchmark Brent crude on Friday closed at $66.13 per barrel, down by 1.12%. However, Brent crude surged by over 18% in February on supply disruptions in the US and a rapid demand recovery with the launch of Covid-19 vaccination programmes. According to the latest data released on Friday, the Indian economy has come out of contraction zone after the ease of lockdown restriction...

  New Delhi : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said the onus is on India to create an “enabling environment for further progress” in bilateral ties following Thursday’s surprise announcement about both countries recommitting themselves to the 2003 ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC), a remark that came two days after India asked Islamabad to take demonstrable steps against terrorist organisations. On Thursday, India and Pakistan jointly announced that they agreed to strictly observe all agreements on the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) . India told Pakistan “talks and terror” cannot go together and said it desired normal neighbourly relations. In a set of tweets marking two years of Pakistan’s action after the Indian Air Force (IAF) targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp at Balakot in 2019, Khan said Pakistan was ready to move forward to resolve “all outstanding issues through dialogue”. He also said India must take steps to meet the Kashmiri people...

Sensex dips 1,940 points amid global rout over bond worries mumbai : Indian shares plunged nearly 4%, the sharpest drop in 10 months, on Friday amid a global stocks rout triggered by rising US government bond yields. On Friday, the benchmark Sensex fell 1,939 points, or 3.78%, to 49,099.99, the biggest daily drop since May 4, 2020. The 50-share Nifty index declined 3.78% to 14,529, led by banks and financial services stocks. The impact on the broader market was less severe, with both Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap falling by 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively. Indian shares fell in line with Thursday’s rout in the US after Treasury yields rose to their highest level in a year. Adding to investors concerns, US President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered airstrikes against the Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria. In India, the 10-year government bond yields closed at 6.20% on Friday, rising 30 basis points this month. The rupee weakened 1.4%, the biggest drop since March, to 73.4650 a dollar. ...