Election Financial News

Justice Department has stated explicitly that it is no longer in the business of routinely complying with orders from federal district courts or courts of appeal, and the administration has treated laws mandating spending (and more) as optional.The rhetorical foundation for these moves is Trump’s claim to have a “mandate” in the form of his (slender) election victory in November 2024. Never mind that, under the US constitutional system, presidents exercise authority within the terms set by the country’s laws.

2026 is poised to be a year of monumental moments, marked by a summer of Assembly elections in India, an intensifying global space race, and major sporting events — notably the FIFA World Cup and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.The year also marks the US completing 250 years of independence, Bangladesh heading to the polls for the first time since former PM Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, India hosting the 18th Brics Summit, Apple turning 50, and the long-awaited release of GTA VI, the open-world action-adventure franchise. All of these set the stage for a packed year ahead.

Today, we revisit the biggest data stories featured in Mint’s Plain Facts section through the year. Our coverage spanned socio-economic trends, US tariffs, data quality, politics, cinema and climate, with our trademark charts telling important stories about the India of 2025. Each link in this piece leads to the corresponding story, which offers more charts and in-depth analysis.The second edition of the government’s time-use survey gave an insight into the daily lives and routines of India.

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From India and New Zealand wrapping up trade talks in record time to the Centre planning a higher outlay on rail safety, a drop in overseas education remittances, shifts in the rural job guarantee burden, and a record US court payout in the Johnson & Johnson talc case—here's a compilation of this week's news in numbers.The Centre is likely to announce an outlay of over ₹1.3 trillion in FY27 on rail safety in the Union budget, about 12% higher than the current fiscal’s amount of ₹1.2 trillion, Mint reported. Funds would be used for rolling stock maintenance, track renewals, and expanding Kavach—India’s automatic train protection system.This marks a shift in the government’s focus towards railway safety: the outlay was up only 2% in FY26.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is often designated by President Trump to fix problems. She spent part of Tuesday managing the fallout of a rare headache she created.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Coinbase Global is getting into prediction markets in a bid to become a one-stop exchange for Americans’ trading needs, the latest sign that tech platforms offering wagers on real-world events are finding their way into every corner of Wall Street. The company has struck a partnership with prediction-markets specialist Kalshi that will allow Coinbase investors to trade on the outcomes of sports games, elections and economic indicators, using the yes-or-no bets that have come to define prediction markets.

Denmark has cancelled Christmas—or Christmas cards at any rate. From the end of this month, the nation’s postal service will no longer carry letters.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Chileans on Sunday elected their most right-wing president in a generation, with hard-line conservative José Antonio Kast winning easily after vowing to clamp down on crime and illegal immigration. Kast’s victory over Jeannette Jara, a Communist, adds to a wave of electoral wins by right-wing politicians across Latin America, giving President Trump new allies who are on board with his anti-migrant policies.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—In one of the first big political tests of AI, Big Tech won. But the fight has given new signals of populist opposition to technology that holds the promise of eliminating lots of jobs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. KYIV, Ukraine—President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the help of his European allies, has carefully crafted a response to President Trump’s peace plan that essentially boils down to: Yes, but… Zelensky is prepared to hold elections, but would need a cease-fire. He says Russia can maintain some involvement in Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which it currently occupies, but Ukraine and the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON : President Trump conveyed uncertainty about whether Republicans would maintain control of the House in next year’s midterm elections because some of his economic policies have yet to take full effect. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Friday in the Oval Office, the president touted his efforts to secure multibillion-dollar investments in the U.S., arguing that the money will help transform the American economy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Economists and financiers have compared stockmarkets to gambling since 1936, when Keynes warned of “the capital development of a country becom[ing] a by-product of the activities of a casino". In 1999 Jack Bogle of Vanguard decried the “Wall Street casino" where only croupiers got rich, and in 2023 Warren Buffett wrote that “markets now exhibit far more casino-like behaviour than...when I was young".

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The other day I was reading journalist Akshaya Mukul’s Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India (2015) at a cafe in south Delhi, when a stranger at the adjacent table asked if he could take a look at the book. A 20-something Gen Z-er, he was surprised to see a detailed history of the publishing firm.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. What do the following three companies have in common? Stellantis, owner of the Fiat, Jeep and Chrysler brands; Merck, which makes the world’s bestselling cancer drug; and Barry Callebaut, a Swiss chocolate-maker, which is particularly proud of its ruby flavour, neither sweet nor bitter. One answer: their capital-expenditure (capex) plans.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—Just before President Trump left the White House for Thanksgiving, top aides met with him in his private dining room to discuss inflation and the economy in hopes he would calibrate his message on affordability. In another meeting last month, this time in the Oval Office, aides presented Trump with surveys from one of the president’s own pollsters detailing voters’ concerns about the cost of living.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Underneath a ridge in the southern highlands of Guinea, a west African country of 14m people, lies one of the world’s biggest deposits of iron ore. Mining of the sprawling 3bn-tonne deposit, which would be worth some $315bn at current market prices, has been on hold for nearly 30 years.

It finally happened. Effective 13 November 2025, President Donald Trump of the United States of America exempted 225 agricultural items, fresh and processed, from tariffs termed ‘reciprocal’ but actually unilaterally country-specific. The new zero-tariff list is product-specific, not differentiated by country.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. CARACAS, Venezuela—With a U.S. Navy flotilla off the coast and President Trump pushing for strongman Nicolás Maduro’s ouster, Venezuelans are focused on a more urgent matter: the price of Christmas preparations.

Congress has had a historical connection with Gujarat as its stalwarts, Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel, hailed from there and the party has held five of its sessions in the state, with each of those contributing in shaping the country's history. The upcoming All India Congress Committee (AICC) session in Ahmedabad on April 8-9 will be the party's sixth in the state and the second post independence. It will also be the Congress's third session in Ahmedabad since its formation in 1885. In a video statement, Congress general secretary in-charge of Gujarat affairs Mukul Wasnik said on Sunday that the session would be attended by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and other top leaders. He said all key issues facing the country and political challenges will be discussed at the session and the direction of Indian politics shaped. A couple of days before the session, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh put out on X the official records of the past sessions held in Gujarat.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K Selvaperunthagai said that the party condemns the idea of One Nation One Election, the passing of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the non-disbursement of funds and other policies. The party is also going to raise slogans condemning the Waqf Bill as PM Modi reaches Rameswaram city. "(Union Finance Minister) Nirmala Sitharaman in Chennai event said One Nation One Election would be implemented.… we are holding this protest. We will also raise new slogans as PM Modi reaches Rameshwaram," K Selvaperunthagai said. «We are also showing black flag to Modi condemning Waqf Board Amendment,» he added.