Community Financial News

Holi bank holidays: March 13 & 14, 2025

Pi Network, once celebrated as a revolutionary cryptocurrency project, is now facing intense criticism from its own community. Pioneers—the network’s early adopters—are voicing concerns over the difficult process of transferring their mined Pi Coins (PI) to the Mainnet before the looming March 14 deadline. The network has set 8:00 AM UTC as the final cutoff for Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and migration. Users who fail to meet this deadline risk losing the majority of their Pi holdings, except for those mined in the last six months. While the team introduced a Grace Period to ease the transition, many are still battling technical issues that prevent them from migrating their balances. “I have completed KYC and followed the Mainnet checklist, yet my balance remains unverified,” one user complained on social media. Another stated, “I’ve filed a support ticket weeks ago, but no response from the Pi Network team.” Crypto analysts have also weighed in, with many calling for an extension of the deadline until all technical glitches are resolved. Others have gone further, accusing the Pi Network team of being unresponsive and raising doubts about the project’s long-term viability.

In the absence of Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, who had fallen sick and was admitted to AIIMS on Saturday, Deputy Chairman Harivansh chaired the proceedings on Monday. Soon after the Upper House met for the day, the Deputy Chairman said he has received notices under Rule 267 to suspend the listed business and discuss other issues. Congress MP Ajay Maken had given a notice for discussing the acknowledgement by the Election Commission of India on March 7, 2025, of the existence of duplicate EPIC numbers. In his notice, he said this revelation «casts serious doubt on the free and free nature of our electoral process and democracy» as the loopholes enable individuals to possess multiple EPICs in different states and constituencies. Maken also wanted the matter of sudden and unjustified surges in the number of electors immediately before elections, and abrupt and unwarranted deletion of voters «belonging to specific communities or religious groups», to be debated.

Gulmarg found wide echo in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Monday with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah saying his government had no role in the event organised at a private hotel and would not have given its permission even if it was not Ramzan. At the centre of the controversy over the show, which Kashmir's chief priest Mirwaiz Umar Farooq dubbed obscene, were designer duo Shivan & Narresh. As the issue over the March 7 fashion walk through the snow meadows in Gulmarg escalated, they expressed deep regret. The Delhi-based designers, whose full names are Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja, had showcased their skiwear collection to mark the 15th anniversary of their label. «Our sole intention was to celebrate creativity and the ski & apres-ski lifestyle, without any desire to offend anyone or any religious sentiments.

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Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6), is just months away. Rockstar Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has reassured fans that development is proceeding without major delays. During an earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that “there’s always a risk of slippage” but emphasised that they “feel really good about” the scheduled launch. If all goes as planned, GTA 6 will arrive in Fall 2025, with some sources pointing to a September release. However, going by Rockstar’s previous trends, the PC version might not debut until 2027 or 2028. Meanwhile, the company has confirmed in an interview with GameIndustry.biz that it has no plans to release GTA 6 on Game Pass at launch.

Digvijaya Singh on Sunday said he was asked not to speak against the RSS while campaigning in Gujarat for fear of «angering Hindus» and hailed Rahul Gandhi's tough talk in that state a day earlier on those in the party helping the ruling BJP. Addressing Congress workers in Ahmedabad on Saturday, Gandhi had said the party's first job was to separate two groups of Congress workers and leaders — ones who carry the party ideology in their hearts and stand with the public and the others who were cut off from the public, «half of whom are with the BJP». He had underlined the need to filter out such leaders and workers and had warned of strict action, even removals. In a post on social media platform X on Sunday, Singh congratulated Gandhi for his statement and said, «I remember when I went to Gujarat to campaign as the Chief Minister of MP, I was instructed not to speak against the RSS. Hindus will get angry.»

Bashar Assad escalated into clashes that a war monitor estimates have killed more than 1,000 people over four days. The attack Thursday near the port city of Latakia reopened the wounds of the country's 13-year civil war and sparked the worst violence Syria has seen since December, when insurgents led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, overthrew Assad. The counteroffensive against the Assad loyalists in the largely Alawite coastal region brought havoc to several cities and towns. Rights groups reported dozens of revenge killings resulting from Sunni militants targeting the minority Islamic sect, regardless of whether they were involved in the insurgency.

Kamath’s post quickly gained traction, as many users resonated with his frustration over Instagram’s numerous features. To illustrate his confusion, he shared a screenshot of a conversation with his colleagues, where he attempted to understand Instagram’s functions. «Wth is stories on Instagram?» he asked, prompting his colleague Krishna Lohia to respond, «Stories, Reels, posts WTF.» When Krishna added, «There's community also,» Kamath could only react with a resigned «Damn.» His confusion deepened when another colleague, Karthik Rangappa, explained that «Posts has normal and carousel also.» Kamath, clearly overwhelmed, responded, «What! How are people not confused with all of this?» The conversation struck a chord with social media users, with some agreeing that Instagram can be difficult to navigate, even for tech-savvy individuals.

Manipur on Sunday as agitators enforced an indefinite shutdown called by Kuki-Zo groups against a «crackdown by security forces». The situation in Kangpokpi district, where at least one person was killed and 40 others were injured in clashes between Kuki demonstrators and security forces on the previous day, remained tense but calm on Sunday. In other Kuki-dominated areas in Churachandpur and Tengnoupal districts as well, protesters burnt tyres and blocked roads with boulders, which the security forces were seen clearing. However, no fresh violence has been reported so far.

«Dear humanity, I am building a religion. Wait a second, I know what you're going to say. Hold that knee-jerk reaction and let me explain,» Johnson wrote. He believes «Don't Die» will become «history's fastest-growing ideology» and play a crucial role in shaping the future. According to him, it will «save the human race» and establish an existence «more spectacular than we can imagine.»

Congress on Sunday condemned the vandalisation of a Hindu temple in United States' California and said such acts of hatred and intolerance were utterly unacceptable. The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) temple in California was defaced with anti-India graffiti by some unknown persons in another incident targeting the community's sacred spaces in the US. BAPS said its Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills city of San Bernardino County was desecrated. Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, «The Indian National Congress condemns in the strongest possible terms, the vandalism of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills, California.»

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«We have seen reports regarding the vandalism at a Hindu temple in Chino Hills, California. We condemn such despicable acts in the strongest terms,» External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. «We call upon the local law enforcement authorities to take stringent action against those responsible for these acts, and also ensure adequate security to places of worship,» he said.

West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district are pinning their final hopes on police and district administration to end a caste-based discriminatory tradition of three centuries and receive their Constitutionally-guaranteed right to worship their God. The families at Daspara area of Gidhgram village, all having 'Das' surnames and belonging to the traditional community of cobblers and weavers, have allegedly been forced to stay away from the steps of Gidheswar Shiv temple, the only place of worship in the locality, by the shrine committee and other villagers on grounds that they belong to a «low caste», victims alleged. At their wits' end, victims at the receiving end of this discrimination now plan to take «the fight to the end» and even seek legal recourse if the state administration fails to resolve the crisis.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation formally adopted early Saturday an Arab League counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump's plan to take over Gaza and displace its residents, calling on the international community to support the regional initiative. The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League ratified the plan at a summit in Cairo. The Egyptian-crafted alternative to Trump's widely condemned takeover proposes to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority.

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Bihar Minister Shrawon Kumar on Saturday took a dig at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Assembly's Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav over his promise to remove toddy from the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act, saying that everyone in the state had resolved not to consume toddy when a ban was imposed on liquor. Speaking to the media, Kumar said that the Bihar government, through the Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana, helped families sustain their livelihoods through the production and sale of toddy, integrating it into the mainstream of society. «When liquor was banned in Bihar, everyone took a resolution not to consume liquor, toddy or any kind of such substance. If you break your resolution for the votes of the people, then the people are watching you,» he said.

Ha-Joon Chang is stirring up a heated debate on corporate governance. The South Korean economist, known for challenging conventional capitalist wisdom, has declared that companies should not be run in the interest of their owners — and the reason might surprise you. In a 13-year-old video whose clip recently resurfaced on social media, Chang dismantled the widely accepted belief that prioritizing shareholder profits leads to better business outcomes. Instead, he argues that this model is a ticking time bomb for both companies and the broader economy.

Rouse Avenue Court on Friday dismissed Delhi Law Minister Kapil Mishra's revision plea, in which he had challenged the trial court's cognizance and summoning order in a case related to an alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The trial court had taken cognizance of the charge sheet in 2020, which pertained to a statement allegedly made by Kapil Mishra in January 2020, when the MCC was in force during the Delhi Assembly elections. «The word 'Pakistan' is very skillfully weaved by the revisionist in his alleged statements to spew hatred, careless to communal polarisation that may ensue in the election campaign, only to garner votes,» the court said while dismissing the plea.