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Uttarakhand High Court has issued a contempt notice to Dr Vivek Joshi, Secretary Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for allegedly defying its order over the empanelment of an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer with the Centre. Justice Alok Kumar Verma issued the notice to the DoPT on October 23 on a plea filed by IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi who alleged a wilful defiance of the court's order on his empanelment. A division bench of the high court had directed the Central government in September to provide Chaturvedi with his empanelment documents as a joint secretary (JS). He had moved the high court after the Central government passed an order saying the «appointment committee of cabinet had not approved» his empanelment for «holding the post of JS or equivalent at the Centre».

Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 34 people early Tuesday, more than half of them women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said. In a separate development, Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah said it has chosen Sheikh Naim Kassem as its new top leader following the killing of Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month. The group said in a statement that Hezbollah's decision-making Shura Council elected Kassem, who had been Nasrallah's deputy leader for over three decades, as the new secretary-general. Hezbollah vowed to continue with Nasrallah's policies «until victory is achieved.»

blackface and a woman as a bottle of Johnson’s baby oil—surfaced online. The costume, originally shared in a video posted on social media with the caption “PDiddy and baby oil,” quickly became a focal point of criticism, sparking a larger conversation on race and social sensitivity. The widely shared costume photo showed a young man in blackface, dressed in a black suit, red bow tie, and white pants to mimic Diddy, with a blonde woman dressed in pink as a baby oil bottle, holding an additional bottle as a prop. The reference ties back to over a thousand bottles of baby oil found in Combs' possession during a recent federal investigation, reportedly linked to sexual assault cases. This costume was posted as part of a Halloween photo carousel, though the original video has since been deleted following backlash.

With the market recovering, the BTC price is expected to set new highs. However, strategic investors are looking beyond Bitcoin, and altcoins, particularly the promising new cryptos, might just have more potential to ride the next bull run.

It is not only the short-term returns that look impressive, but even the long-term returns from the yellow metal are mostly in the double digits. Such a strong performance will influence many more to invest in the yellow metal around Diwali. Historically, gold has seen multiple price corrections and stagnation for many years. So a good performance in the recent past offers no guarantee of higher returns. If you are planning to invest in gold, you must weigh your options and understand if the prices will continue to rise.

Krafton India, the local unit of the South Korean maker of Battlegrounds Mobile India, has become the anchor investor in IMM Investment’s maiden India fund. The IMM India Fund is an extension of IMM Investment, a multi-asset South Korean fund managing $7 billion in assets. It will focus on backing startups across sectors such as consumer technology, software-as-a-service (SaaS), fintech, gaming, media and deep tech. The fund will primarily target growth-stage companies with strong potential for an initial public offering, leveraging South Korean expertise and capital, said a company statement.

Arjun Kapoor has finally addressed ongoing speculation about his relationship with Malaika Arora. The actor made an unexpected statement about his relationship status during a Diwali bash hosted by politician Raj Thackeray at Shivaji Park, Mumbai. Kapoor attended the event with the team of his upcoming film Singham Again. A video from the event, which quickly gained attention online, shows Arjun telling the crowd that he is “single,” indirectly confirming rumors about his breakup with Malaika. During the interaction, someone from the audience even asked him about Malaika, further fueling public interest. Arjun and Malaika began dating in 2018, but the couple had always kept their relationship low-profile, rarely speaking about it publicly. Despite their silence, they shared glimpses of their bond through romantic vacation photos and affectionate birthday posts on social media. Malaika, who was previously married to Arbaaz Khan, has been co-parenting their son, Arhaan, since their divorce in 2017.

Donald Trump has placed tariffs and tax cuts at the forefront of his economic plan, appealing to voters who largely view the economy as the leading issue in the 2024 election. Analysts estimate Trump's tax cut proposals could add between $3.6 trillion to $6.6 trillion to the federal deficit over ten years. In comparison, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris' proposals would have a smaller impact, potentially even reducing the deficit by up to $400 billion.

Dhanteras, which is considered as an auspicious day for buying gold, is being celebrated in India today. But after a 30% rally in yellow metal since the last Dhanteras, is investing at current levels a right choice and what options do investors have? Gold has had a phenomenal run since the last Dhanteras which was celebrated on November 10, 2023. Notwithstanding this it can still earn returns of 10-12% till the next one.

Bezos, the billionaire owner of the Washington Post, said on Monday that his choice for the US newspaper not to endorse a candidate in the presidential election was «a principled decision» and denied it was linked to personal interests. In an op-ed posted to the newspaper's website, Bezos argued that with trust in news media falling, steps needed to be taken to address accusations of partisanship. «What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision,» he wrote.

Joe Biden lauded his deputy and Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, emphasising that he had many reasons for selecting her as his running mate. While addressing the White House Diwali celebrations on Monday, Biden called Vice President Harris a «smart, tough and trusted» leader. He also took a jibe at Harris' rival Republican candidate Donald Trump, saying, Harris has more experience than the «other guy she's running against» and, most importantly, «she has character.»

import quotas to electronic hardware manufacturing companies that can step up domestic production under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for information technology (IT) hardware, said people with knowledge of the matter. In a meeting with stakeholders last week, government officials asked all companies to provide concrete production plans for the next fiscal year for products such as laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, ultra-small form factor computers, and servers. “The idea is that companies must increase the domestic value addition for their products,” an official said. “All (companies) have been given enough time and we must look for ways in which it (domestic value addition) can be improved without any major business disruptions.”

Joe Biden extended Diwali greetings to the people, highlighting its significance, and acknowledged that today, the festival is proudly celebrated in the White House. Highlighting the contributions of the South Asian American community to the fabric of American life, Biden said the community is the fastest-growing and most engaged community in the world. Addressing the White House Diwali Celebrations on Monday (local time), the US President said, «The South Asian American community has enriched every part of American life.»

mule accounts is biting into the domestic money remittance industry, as business correspondents (BCs) who process such transactions via their physical agent networks are finding their accounts being frozen by law enforcement agencies that are on the money trail of fraudsters. According to three industry executives who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fraudsters are using the accounts of BCs, depositing money at their agent outlets and getting it transferred to multiple accounts through tranches and sometimes even to outside the country via Nepal. In most cases, the final destination is a mule account, and the depositor is a fraudster who would have collected the funds from cybercriminals or fake crypto apps. As police investigate such fund movement, they freeze accounts on the money trail and BCs are becoming collateral damage in the process, industry insiders said.

Quick commerce platforms are seeing a surge in Diwali gift orders as they seek to increase their market share during the festive season. Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and General Catalyst-backed Zepto have rolled out features like equated monthly instalments (EMI), postpaid options, 10-minute returns for clothing and footwear, and expanded their inventory with popular festival-related products. The ultra-fast delivery model aided by discounts has been the key driver for these platforms, with a shift toward quick commerce in the last week of festive sales, according to ecommerce consultancy Datum Intelligence. These platforms have created a separate Diwali section on their apps, featuring categories such as puja essentials, Dhanteras items, gifting, home decor, party supplies, fashion, electronics, sweets, and dry fruits.

Edu-wealth startup Zinc, founded by former PayU Credit chief executive and PaySense founder Prashanth Ranganathan has raised $25.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from Quona Capital, EDBI, Global Ventures, and Saison Capital. The Singapore-headquartered company plans to use the funds to drive product innovation, expand its offerings and secure key financial licences to help families save and invest for their children's global education.

Aggressive investors looking for a thematic bet in their equity portfolios could consider an allocation to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the Nifty Metal index, which has dropped about 12.5% in the past month. The benchmark Nifty fell 6.3% in this period. «Valuations have also cooled down now making it an attractive bet with a 2-3 year view,» said Prateek Sinha, founder of Deep Wealth. The Nifty Metal index trades at a price-to-book (PB) ratio of 2.59 times, lower than 3.6 times of the Nifty 50 index.

startup ecosystem, the strength of its digital economy and the proliferation of the world’s largest global capability centres (GCCs) in the country will position India as one of the top three artificial intelligence (AI) economies globally, said Shanker Trivedi, senior vice president of enterprise business at Nvidia, the world’s largest chip maker, in conversation with Himanshi Lohchab & Surabhi Agarwal. “India has unique characteristics. Some other regions are still a fragmented market. But India has always been one market with one currency, even while multiple cultures exist,” he told ET in an exclusive interview. “Even the market in Nagaland is bigger, I can assure you, than some other nations. And I bet you, there’s somebody in Kohima right now planning a startup using this amazing infrastructure and platform,” said Trivedi, who has helmed Nvidia’s enterprise business for 15 years and is now a key member of chief executive Jensen Huang’s core team.

Donald Trump is trying everything from head to toe in order to attract US voters towards his Republican fold, with just a few days remaining for the US elections to begin. Earlier he had promised to eliminate taxes on tips, Social Security benefits and even overtime pay, but now he has promised one of the biggest ever tags breaks possible, which is the federal income tax, in the case he comes to power at the White House after November.

US stock market could end up getting hit by an unprecedented crisis, as stocks are expected to tank by up to 5%, with S&P 500 bearing the brunt of most of it, as per BTIG's Jonathan Krinsky, who is anticipating a major shakeout at the stock markets in the coming weeks.

Just over a week before the election, the court is being asked to step into a dispute over provisional ballots cast by Pennsylvania voters whose mail ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures in state law, AP reported. Also Read: Did Jeff Bezos directly tell the Washington Post editorial board not to endorse Kamala Harris? Here's all you need to know