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A banner running down the side of the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels depicts cartoon workers recladding its 13-floor façade with solar panels. The illustration might come across as a cruel joke to residents of the Belgian capital, for whose leaden skies the phrase “fifty shades of grey" could have been coined. But thanks to green edicts devised by the Euro-wallahs at the commission, the continent’s fields and rooftops are being paved with very real photovoltaic cells.

Lok Sabha polls if work on the construction of a long-awaited road project linking the village to district headquarters does not begin immediately. The villagers staged a rally in Joshimath on Wednesday holding banners which read «Don't embarrass us by asking for votes,» «Enter village only after making a road,» and «No road, No vote.» Elections to the five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand are slated to be held in the first phase on April 19. «We are firm on continuing with our movement till the work starts. If the construction work does not start before April 19, we will boycott the polls,» said Prem Singh Sanwal, the convenor of the committee spearheading the protest.

Warner Bros. is reviving the iconic «Matrix» franchise with a fifth installment, featuring a new director and an executive producer from the original trilogy. Drew Goddard, known for his work on «The Martian,» will helm the project, while Lana Wachowski returns as an executive producer. Matrix 5's Development

Kshatriya community unrelenting over its demand to drop Union minister and Rajkot candidate Pashottam Rupala from the BJP's Lok Sabha candidate list, the meeting between BJP and the community leaders failed to break the stalemate. While talking to the mediapersons after the meeting, Kshatriya leaders said that they had one demand — to get Rupala dropped — and will not meet with BJP again. «No political party can pressurise us,» Karansing Chavda, one of the community representatives said, adding now posters and banners will be put up on the issue. Another leader of the community told the media that Rupala forgot the glorious history of Rajputs while making the controversial comments and now it has become an issue of self-respect for the community. «So unless BJP doesn't cancel Rupala's ticket, the entire Rajput community will assume that BJP is with Rupala and will respond accordingly.»

Dave Bautista in the upcoming action thriller Trap House. The film, which is currently in production, is directed by Michael Dowse from a script by Gary Scott Thompson and Tom O’Connor. Plot

Despite identity proofs and proper documents, like a letter from a bank or micro-lending firm, to back the legitimacy of their cargo, the cash could be confiscated. The money, once proved genuine, would be released only later, at the intervention of the court or a senior government official. No one wants to deal with such harassment — neither the financial institutions nor their field agents and ‘business correspondents’ (BC) who collect cash from villagers paying loan EMIs. Sometimes, though, the arrangement may not be all that kosher if dodgy agents choose to carry unaccounted cash or act as couriers of political parties while on official duty.

Murugha Mutt in Dharwad, a religious mutt of Veerashaiva-Lingayats, has distanced itself from the demands for replacement of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi as the BJP candidate by March 31. Fakir Dingaleshwar Swami, the head of a Lingayat mutt in Shirahatti, held a meeting with a group of community seers at Murugha mutt premises in Dharwad on Wednesday, and sought Joshi’s replacement on grounds that he suppressed the community members. The clarification from Sri Mallikarjuna Swami, the head of Murugha Mutt, has come as a big relief for Joshi who has been winning the Lok Sabha polls in Dharwad with the solid backing of Lingayats, who are dominant in the region.

Election Commission (EC) on Friday said its C-Vigil mobile application has become an effective tool in the hands of people for flagging poll code violations and since the announcement of the Lok Sabha election, more than 79,000 complaints have been received. More than 99 per cent of the complaints have been resolved and close to 89 per cent of those were resolved within 100 minutes, the poll panel said. More than 58,500 complaints (73 per cent of the total number of complaints) received were against illegal hoardings and banners, the EC said, adding that over 1,400 complaints received pertained to money, gifts and liquor distribution. Close to 3 per cent of the complaints (2,454) were related to defacement of property.

Netflix has released the trailer for its animated reboot of the classic sitcom 'Good Times,' offering a fresh take on the beloved Evans family. Trailer

By Lisa Shumaker

Congress in a big way, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Sunday, saying the internal surveys have indicated the party’s win in 20 seats. The CM, who reviewed the poll preparedness in Kodagu-Mysuru and Chamarajanagar seats in Mysuru, said the Congress had an electoral setback in 2019 because of its alliance with the JDS. Since the regional party had now gone with the BJP, the Congress had an electoral edge this time, he added. “We don’t lie like the BJP does and claim we will win all 28 seats,” Siddaramaiah said, answering queries from the media at the Mysuru airport.

The biggest American whiskey is losing its punch. Demand has been sliding for Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 for months and the company behind it, Brown-Forman, is forecasting a sluggish U.S.

complaints related to violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) from across Rajasthan have been registered on the Election Commission's cVigil app over the last week, a senior official said on Sunday. Since the MCC came into force on March 16, more than 200 complaints are being received every day on the cVIGIL (Citizen Vigilance) app, said Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta. A total of 1,515 complaints were registered on the app in the last seven days, he said. «Out of the 1,515 complaints received in the last seven days, 546 were found correct by the returning officers and were disposed of within the stipulated time (of 100 minutes). Six complaints are still pending for decision by the investigating teams and returning officers while 789 complaints were dropped,» he said.

Duplass has been cast as the male lead opposite Ellen Pompeo and Imogen Faith Reid in 'Orphan' (working title), an eight-episode limited series on Hulu, a Deadline report said. The series is inspired by the true story of Natalia Grace and the Midwestern couple who adopted her, believing she was a little girl with dwarfism. Plot, Cast

Election Commission on Wednesday asked state governments to take down all unauthorised political advertisements from government, public and private properties and send a compliance report in the next 24 hours. In a letter to the Union Cabinet Secretary and chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the EC said that despite its letter issued on March 16 when the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into force, it has received complaints that such defacements have not been removed. The Congress had recently raised the issue with the poll panel. «All unauthorised political advertisements, in the form of wall writings, posters, papers or defacement in any other form, cutouts, hoardings, banner flags were ordered to be removed in a time bound manner from public spaces like railway stations, bus stands, airports, railway bridges, roadways, government buses, electric/telephone poles, municipal/local bodies' building and a strict compliance in this was to be ensured,» it reminded the governments.

Gautam Buddh Nagar district have swiftly removed 11,682 defacements, including wall writings, posters, and banners, within 72 hours, aligning with the model code of conduct for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. This action, according to official data, targeted 9,361 defacements on public properties and 2,321 on private spaces across the district. The Election Commission's guidelines mandate the removal of all such defacements on government properties within 24 hours of election announcements. Similarly, unauthorized political advertisements on public properties and spaces must be removed within 48 hours, and those on private properties within 72 hours, subject to local laws and court directives. Local authorities in Gautam Buddh Nagar have been diligent in enforcing these guidelines, removing defacements from both public and private properties. The data indicates that 6,329 defacements were removed within 24 hours of the model code of conduct being enforced, 10,611 within 48 hours, and the total of 11,682 within 72 hours.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam head M K Stalin on Wednesday released a list of 16 candidates who will contest the Lok Sabha elections under the party banner. Featured on the list are party heavyweights K Kanimozhi, A Raja, T R Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran, among others. Stalin also launched the party's manifesto for the polls, which included promises to not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Educational Policy (NEP) and the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by him will not use the name or picture of party founder Sharad Pawar on banners, posters or any election material. Ajit Pawar had spllit the NCP in July last year and walked away with a majority of MLAs to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Eknath Shinde. He furnished an undertaking before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan pursuant to a March 14 order by the apex court. «The Respondent has duly instructed the rank and file of the party to refrain from using the photographs or name of Sharad Pawar on any poster/banner of Nationalist Congress Party,» the undertaking said.

labour commissioner's office has agreed to hear a plea, after the general election, seeking to end the exemption granted to the IT/ITeS sector from the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act. The development comes after hundreds of IT employees in Bengaluru, under the banner of Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU), staged a protest in front of the labour commissioner's office last Saturday. The protesters demanded that the Karnataka government do away with the exemption given to the IT/ITeS sector from the Act and extend the law to the sector, thereby allowing fair service conditions to employees regarding working practices, including termination, layoffs and leaves.

₹2.15 crore Net in India on Day 4, film industry tracker Sacnilk.com has reported. The report also stated that the film saw an overall occupancy of 10.36 percent in Hindi language on 18 March. According Sacnilk.com, with the day 4 collection, the film has raked in ₹19 crore net in India during its four-day run in theatres.

Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain are set to captivate audiences with their latest drama thriller, Mothers’ Instinct. Release Date, Cast