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BJP Chief JP Nadda appealed to the rank and file not to lose its focus from the goal of crossing the 370-seat mark in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and expressed confidence that the party will not only achieve a hat-trick of wins this time but also do so with a record margin. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing the party to this position, the country has made notable achievements in the last ten years- from the Ram temple at Ayodhya to the abrogation of Article 370 and reservation for women. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a standing ovation during the inaugural session of the BJP national council here on Saturday when party chief JP Nadda thanked him for the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. Nadda also slammed the Opposition on the caste census issue, saying while it wants to divide the nation into several castes Modi has focussed on four groups- women, youth, farmers and the poor. In a speech that covered several achievements of the BJP and hailed Modi’s guidance and leadership, Nadda said the party has “won a century of elections” from the bottom up since 2014. He expressed confidence that BJP will meet the target of 370 seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district was arrested on Saturday, police said. Local TMC leader Shibaprasad Hazra, who has been named in police complaints along with party colleagues and other two prime accused Shajahan Sheikh and Uttam Sardar, was nabbed from a hideout in Sandeshkhali. He will be produced before a local court on Sunday. «We have arrested Shibaprasad Hazra from Sandeshkhali this evening. He will be produced before the court tomorrow,» an officer of Nazat Police Station told PTI.

N Biren Singh said that magisterial inquiry is constituted to find if there is some hidden agenda in the mob attack on the Deputy commissioner and Superintendent of police office on February 15. Singh said the police will book a Churachandpur MLA on charges of inciting in the district. Two people were killed and over 40 injured when security forces fired at a mob that stormed a government compound which has offices of the police superintendent and district collector late on Thursday. Singh, without disclosing the identity of the MLA, stated he posted a controversial statement on X (formerly Twitter) barely an hour before the latest violence broke out in Churachandpur.

Fire Country returns with a blaze in Season 2, premiering tonight, February 16, at 9 p.m. ET on CBS. The series, co-created by Max Theriot, promises a riveting continuation, picking up six months after the dramatic Season 1 finale that left Bode back in prison. With characters scattered in different life situations, expect shocking twists as the storyline unfolds.

BJP president J P Nadda on Saturday underlined the party's meteoric rise since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office and lauded his leadership in the past decade that has been full of new achievements for the organisation. The Modi government will score a hat-trick and retain power for a third straight term after the Lok Sabha polls, expected in April-May, he told nearly 11,500 party delegates who have assembled at Bharat Mandapam here for the two-day national convention. «We have to cross 370 seats and the NDA has to cross 400,» he said in his inaugural address, exhorting party members to put all their energy in achieving the target so that the party breaks its previous records. Thousands of party delegates from across the country rose to cheer Modi when Nadda made a mention of the women's reservation law and the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya while citing the highlights of the prime minister's tenure.

Dividend Stocks: Shares of several companies, including Coal India, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, Hero MotoCorp, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), and many others will others will trade ex-dividend in the coming week, starting from Monday, February 19. Some other companies will also trade ex-bonus and ex-rights in the coming week. The ex-dividend date is the day on which the equity share price adjusts to reflect the next dividend payout.

By Gabriel Stargardter and Lucinda Elliott

BSE is just short of 10%, investors would be right to want to see even better performance by these companies, especially the dominant energy firms. Over the past month, shares of IOC have risen close to 30%, BPCL more than 38%, and Coal India 26% to hit all-time highs. These companies, which all have very low leverage ratios, often far less than one, are run by professionals and their balance sheets rarely have a blemish thanks to their corporate governance standards.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina here and appreciated her guidance in taking the 'India-Bangladesh Maitri' forward. This is Jaishankar's first meeting with Hasina after she returned to a record fifth term in January. The two leaders were meeting on the sidelines of the prestigious Munich Security Conference, in its 60th edition, which is the world's leading forum for debate on international security. «Honoured to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. Congratulated her on the renewed mandate. Appreciated her guidance for taking India Bangladesh Maitri forward,» Jaishankar posted on X along with a photograph. The Indian minister also met Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. India hosts the WHOSEAR, the top health body's South East Asia Region's headquarters.

Tata Group's ambitious project of being the sole leader of the super app race by investing over $2 billion has been marred with leadership issues, stagnation in user growth and low customer engagement. In a bid to revive its position, Tata Group’s digital arm has initiated conversations with Uber for a strategic partnership to increase traffic and revenue, ET has reported recently. Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber Technologies and N. Chandrasekaran of Tata engaged in talks during a meeting in Davos earlier this year, with expectations of further discussions in Mumbai during Khosrowshahi's upcoming visit to India, said executives aware of the matter to ET. With Neu, launched in 2022, the Tata Group aims to increase its share in the country’s e-commerce market which is expected to be world's second-largest by 2034, with an anticipated annual gross merchandise value of $350 billion by 2030. Currently, India’s first super app faces competition from e-commerce giants like Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon India and Reliance Industries’ Jio Mart.

Vampire Weekend. The loved indie rock band is back with the latest music, a new album "Only God Was Above Us", a North American tour with 39 dates, which is about to be released on April 5 after nearly a decade as per a report by USA Today. The latest album was announced in the past week, following up on the 2019 album «Father of the Bride», of the band. Their last album has been at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 amassing Grammy nominations in 2020 for the Album of the Year category, as well as winning for the category of best alternative rock album, with the lead single "Harmony Hall" scoring the best rock song's nod.

A parliamentary panel has suggested introducing a composite licence for insurance companies which will enable them to offer both life and non-life insurance products. Saikat Neogi explains how it will give insurers economies of scale and benefit customers at the same time

Hong Kong customs officials have arrested seven people linked to the territory's largest money laundering case on record, involving about $1.8 billion

Pakistan becomes the only Asian country to be downgraded to an «authoritarian regime», registering the greatest deterioration of any country in the region classified as "Australia and Asia", according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Democracy Index 2023 report. It has been reclassified from a "hybrid regime" to an «authoritarian regime», Geo News reported, citing the report.

Empower has achieved record earnings as the firm’s retirement and wealth management services posted strong growth in 2023.

MUMBAI : Overall inflows from foreign investors have hit a record high of ₹2.74 trillion this fiscal year, chiefly due to front-loading of government bond purchases by global banks and traders. This follows JP Morgan’s decision to include Indian government bonds in its government bond index-emerging markets (GBI-EM) from June.

₹6,240.55 crore, while DIIs were buyers for all five sessions, with a total investment of ₹8,731.6 crore, according to stock exchange data. On a monthly basis, FIIs have sold shares in Indian markets to the tune of Rs. 14,171 crore between February 1-16, 2024.

Fairfax, which owns multiple companies in India, has refuted charges that its Indian portfolio company Digit Insurance was falsely shown to be profitable in its annual report in 2021 at an investor conference call on Friday. The call was held to respond to the allegations of short seller Muddy Waters, who has accused the company of asset value manipulation. Fairfax’s Indian-Canadian founder Prem Watsa and the company’s management team answered queries refuting all the allegations of Muddy Waters.

Officials say the first tornadoes ever recorded in Wisconsin in the usually frigid month of February caused more than $2.4 million in damages

Trading on Wall Street was mixed early as markets try to hold on to the thin gains made so far in what’s been an up-and-down week

Stocks returned to record heights following some mixed reports on the economy