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NEW DELHI: A blast outside the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in Chandigarh on Wednesday evening triggered panic in the area, with police confirming that a crude explosive device appears to have been hurled at the site. No casualties were reported.The explosion occurred around 5 pm outside the party office in…

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions touched a record high in March, with both value and volume hitting new peaks, driven by festive spending and financial year-end activity, according to PTI.Data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) showed that UPI transactions totalled Rs 29.53 lakh crore in value during March, up 19 per…

The Supreme Court on Wednesday imposed costs of Rs 25,000 on the Centre for challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had set aside the dismissal of a CISF official, observing that the matter involved unnecessary litigation.Upholding the high court’s ruling, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan also directed…

US retail sales rose 0.6 per cent in February after a slight decline in January, signalling cautious consumer activity even before a sharp surge in fuel prices triggered by the Iran war, according to AP.Data released by the Commerce Department showed retail sales rebounded from a 0.1 per cent drop in January, beating expectations. However,…

Screen grab: X @RahulGandhi NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday shared a video of an unusual interaction during his Kerala poll campaign, where he met a man dressed as ‘Yamaraj’ — the Hindu God of Death — on a bus ride in Balussery.The interaction appeared to be part of a promotional pitch for…

Asian shares rallied in early trade on Wednesday after hopes grew that the Iran war could end soon.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 2.7%, while South Korea’s Kospi surged as much as 5.5% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.9%.The gains came after US President Donald Trump said that the United States…

Defence minister Rajnath Singh (ANI) NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), accusing them of “deceiving” the people of Kerala for decades.Addressing a public meeting in the Paravoor Assembly constituency, Singh said the two alliances may appear…

Gold prices in India remained firm on Wednesday tracking gains in the futures market, even as retail rates across cities showed an upward trend.On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), gold futures continued to trade higher with all major contracts posting gains. The June 5, 2026 contract was trading at Rs 1,52,113 per 10 grams, up…

There is a moment near the end of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut where a waltz plays over scenes of uneasy beauty. The piece is Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2, composed in the mid-1950s for a Soviet film, later misattributed to a different suite entirely, and now among the most recognised orchestral pieces in the world…

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended nearly 2 per cent higher on Wednesday, starting the new financial year on a firm footing as global markets rallied on hopes of a potential de-escalation in the ongoing West Asia conflict.The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,186.77 points or 1.65 per cent to settle at 73,134.32. During intra-day…