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PARIS—France is transforming its capital city into an open-air fortress, rolling out the largest peacetime security operation in the country’s history to protect athletes, residents and more than 10 million visitors during the Olympic Games. Officials say as many as 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers and 22,000 private security guards will keep watch at the Paris Olympics, which begins Wednesday and spans the heart of the city—on streets, at landmarks and in the waters of the Seine River. Place de la Concorde, the city’s largest public square, is set up for BMX bike races, skateboarding and breakdancing, a French addition to the Games.

Nirmala Sitharaman presented her seventh and Modi 3.0's first union budget in the Parliament, Congress paid tribute to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his contribution in ushering India into a new economic era.

₹1.25 lakh per year will soften the blow, but only to a miniscule extent. India is a developing country where most of the savings are still parked in fixed assets. Mutual fund penetration is around 15% against the global average of 75%.

Israel on October 7th, that “terrorism pays". Ireland, Norway and Spain are joining the majority of countries: almost three-quarters of members of the UN recognise Palestine. What exactly does that mean—and who are the holdouts? There are no binding rules about when one country should recognise another, but international law provides some guidelines.

Golden fields of wheat no longer produce the bounty they once did in Morocco

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to raise spending to create more jobs and spur economic growth

Darren Walker, the outgoing president of the Ford Foundation, has had a far-reaching and profound impact on the philanthropic sector

The political establishment’s failure to fix decades of crisis in Argentina explains the tide of popular rage that vaulted the irascible Javier Milei, a self-declared “anarcho-capitalist,” to the presidency

The budget has proposed adjusting the tax slabs under the new tax regime to make it more appealing to taxpayers. The standard deduction has also been proposed to be increased to Rs 75,000 from Rs 50,000 under the new regime. These tweaks will help salaried employees in the new tax regime save up to Rs 17,500 in income tax, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech.

«See, in a country like India which is not a rich country, you have to continuously find avenues to tax and you have to use the tax revenues in the right way and continue the growth momentum and you have to ensure that jobs are created,» says S Naren, ED & CIO, ICICI Prudential AMC. What is your take on budget? S Naren: See, the government over the last decade has managed macro very-very well. Every year, they have looked and seen which are the areas where they can actually afford to increase taxation and not hurt the sectors. So, I think they have done a brilliant job if you look at it. The market can absorb it. Otherwise, the market reaction today would have been quite different, that is the reason why it is a great budget at this point of time.

«I do not want to give it a name, but I think this was very serious. And therefore, after all, as we say economics is a handmaiden of politics. If you get politics wrong, economics is just left behind. So, this is a brilliant balancing act of being equitable, at the same time not compromising at all on the glide path to growth and to Viksit Bharat,» says Vallabh Bhanshali, Chairman, Enam Group. How would you describe Nirmala Sitharaman’s seventh budget and Modi 3.0's first budget? Vallabh Bhanshali: In the context of going from an absolute majority government to a coalition government, on the one hand and on the other hand, we had a very rising and probably capital market with F&O positions, creating a certain commentary in the country, not only amongst people at large, but even amongst regulators like SEBI and RBI and she had to take that into account. Serious determination to continue from where they had left, which is Viksit Bharat 2047, third largest economy in a few years' time and I think very importantly, we should not forget is the rising rhetoric in the country to go back to the 70s style of economic policy.

Alphabet beat second-quarter revenue and profit estimates on Tuesday, driven by a rise in digital advertising sales and healthy demand for its cloud computing services, but flagged that capital expenses would remain high for the year.

angel tax across all investor classes marks a landmark reform benefiting India's startup ecosystem, the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) said Tuesday and applauded the proposal in the Union budget to reduce tax rates for the foreign companies to 35 per cent. «India has long been a country of engineering and tech talent, yet there have been gaps in the innovation ecosystem. The abolition of the angel tax across all investor classes marks a landmark reform benefiting India's startup ecosystem. This important reform will stimulate increased startup funding from both domestic and international sources,» the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) said.

reforms to improve the domestic shipping industry and generate more jobs in the sector.

tax rate for foreign companies to 35% from 40%, aiming to attract more overseas firms to set up a permanent base in the country and boost foreign inflows. «We want more investment to come into the country that is why it has been brought down,» Sitharaman told reporters after the budget. The government decision will benefit overseas companies looking to open branch offices such as branches of foreign banks and warehouses in India with a permanent establishment tag. It will also help those looking to open project offices for undertaking engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts. «When the tax rate for domestic companies was cut, the gap between the two had further widened...so it had to be narrowed,» said finance secretary T V Somanathan. The tax cut along with the scrapping of taxation for foreign shipping companies operating cruises in India, and safe harbour rates for foreign mining companies selling raw diamonds is expected to further enhance the country’s attractiveness as a destination for foreign capital.

Luxury products such as watches, handbags, and high-end televisions are set to get costlier with the government proposing to levy 1% tax collected at source (TCS) on notified goods of value priced at more than ₹10 lakh. The tax is, however, unlikely to dent demand as these products are largely bought by well-heeled consumers, according to retailers and market experts.

customs duty on gold will help reduce smuggling and aid the economy, businesses and employment, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said in an interaction. He said easier norms for foreign direct investment (FDI) could entail expedited and automatic approvals. Edited excerpts:

Purvodaya' plan, targeted at five states — Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

Amaravati as the state capital, financing and early completion of Polavaram dam as well as grants for backward districts of the state.