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Treasury chief Rachel Reeves before a key statement about the state of the public finances later this month. Official figures Friday showed that the economy, the world's sixth-largest, saw output drop by 0.1% during the month, in contrast to expectations for a modest increase and December's solid 0.4% gain. The Office of National Statistics said the weak performance was largely due to bad weather affecting the manufacturing and construction sectors, despite a solid performance by the services sector, which accounts for around 80% of the British economy. Though monthly figures are notoriously volatile and prone to future revision, the decline puts in sharp relief the struggles the Labour government, elected last July after 14 years in opposition, is having in generating growth. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said raising the U.K.'s economic growth is his government's number one priority over the next five years. Since the global financial crisis in 2008-9, the British economy's growth performance has been historically lackluster.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The benchmark Nifty 50 has recently experienced a significant correction of nearly 14% from its peak in September 2024. This led to a sell-off in many sectors, including automobile.

Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB) has announced the selection of 60,244 candidates for police constable posts under Direct Recruitment-2023. The results were published on the UPPRPB's website on Thursday. The recruitment exam, initially held on February 17 and 18 last year, was cancelled due to allegations of a paper leak. The incident had also become a political issue during the general elections, prompting the state government to introduce strict security measures at the exam centres when it was held again in August. The recruitment drive had attracted a massive response, with 48,17,441 candidates applying for 60,244 positions.

Net profit for October-December for Apple's top iPhone assembler and Nvidia's AI server maker came in at T$46.33 billion ($1.41 billion), missing analysts' average forecast of T$54.4 billion, according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts. Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.

Apple still needs an import permit from the trade ministry to be able to sell the iPhones locally, the industry ministry has said. The Southeast Asian country of about 280 million people banned iPhone 16 sales last year as the company failed to meet composition requirements regarding locally-made parts.

Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to hit 4,000 career three-pointers, leading the Golden State Warriors to a commanding 130-104 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night. The win marks Golden State’s sixth consecutive victory and 11th in their last 12 games. Fans erupted in cheers when Curry hit the milestone shot in the third quarter, with a tribute video playing on the big screen during a timeout.

Delhi Capitals on Friday announced Axar Patel as their captain for IPL 2025. The all-rounder was the franchise's top retention for Rs 16.5 crore ahead of the mega auction. Patel has played for DC since 2019. He does not have a lot of experience in the leadership role, but was also named India's vice-captain in January. The 31-year-old has led Gujarat in 23 matches across formats, most recent being in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2024-25. He captained DC in one IPL match last year. Itwas a must-win fixture that they lost to RCB to miss out on the playoffs, when Rishabh Pant was serving a ban for a slow over-rate. The team entered the mega aution in search for a captain after Pant exited the franchise ahead of the mega auction. They had KL Rahul as another option, when he was bough for Rs 14 crore. However, DC has chosen their most experienced player. Patel has played 82 games for them across six seasons. Last year he scored 235 runs at an average of nearly 30 and took 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.65. He comes into this year's IPL after having played a key role in India Champions Trophy title. He took five wickets with an economy rate of 4.35 and made vital contributions batting at No. 5 in the tournament.

Ricky Ponting said that while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's experience was the backbone of India's ICC Champions Trophy 2025 success, they had superlative support from their all-rounders, according to the official website of the ICC. Ponting stated in ICC Review, «Their all-rounders right through the tournament were outstanding,» as quoted from the official website of ICC. "(Ravindra) Jadeja, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, were all outstanding. I said at the start of the tournament I thought India would be really hard to beat because of their overall balance and because of that mix of youth and experience, and once again, in a final, the captain stands up and gets the job done for his team," Ponting said. With three all-rounders starting in their playing XI in all five of their games at the recently concluded Champions Trophy, India flexed an incredible batting depth, while also having an array of options to choose with the ball. Breaking down their contributions, Ponting said, «They were a very well balanced side anyway, but because they had so many all-rounders...when you've got Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, who they used up the order on a number of occasions for that left-handed option, and with Jadeja there as well, they were a very well balanced team.

Intel surged nearly 15% on Thursday, as Wall Street cheered its decision to name former board member Lip-Bu Tan as CEO, who left in August over differences about the chipmaker's direction, after several years of market underperformance. Tan will be tasked with reviving the company's fortunes after it missed out on the artificial intelligence-driven semiconductor boom while plowing billions of dollars into building out its chip-making business. Intel has posted several quarters of market share losses in data centers and PCs, as well as billion-dollar losses in its manufacturing business, and over the past five years, the stock has lost about 60% of its value, a period of time when the Nasdaq Composite Index and S&P 500 have both more than doubled. «Tan in as CEO at Intel was as good as stakeholders could have hoped for,» said TD Cowen analysts, noting that he has «deep relationships» across the chip ecosystem that could draw customers to the company's contract manufacturing business. Tan will take the helm next week — three months after Intel ousted CEO Pat Gelsinger. Tan had been brought into the board two years earlier to help turn the company around, but left due to disagreements over the size of the company's workforce and its culture. Skepticism about Intel's future has deepened in recent months amid reports that rivals, including Broadcom, were evaluating the chip design and marketing business, while TSMC has separately studied controlling some or all of its plants.

artificial intelligence servers. Net profit for October-December for Apple's top iPhone assembler and Nvidia's AI server maker likely came in at T$54.4 billion ($1.65 billion), according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts, versus T$53.15 billion a year earlier. Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.

IQAir states that air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 99% of people live in areas with unsafe air quality levels. Air pollution is the second leading cause of death globally. It also poses serious health risks to children under five, second only to malnutrition. Also Read: Duke Vs Georgia Tech: Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown get injured in ACC tournament game. Here’s what happened

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent — the seventh consecutive reduction — as it finds itself grappling with uncertainty created by United States President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday mentioned that poor air quality in Byrnihat “may be attributed to industrial and other activities along the Assam side.” Recently, the World Air Quality Report 2024 released by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir has named Byrnihat as the world’s most polluted town. In a suo moto statement in the Assembly, Sangma said Byrnihat’s (Meghalaya) air quality has been found “satisfactory” by the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB). He said, “out that as per data generated from the four manual ambient air quality monitoring stations of the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) located at Byrnihat town, the annual average PM2.5 concentration for 2024 is 50.1 microgram per cubic meter (µg/m3). Further, as per MSPCB’s data from January to March (first week),2025, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Byrnihat was observed to be ‘Satisfactory.” He added, “The MSPCB conducted surprise inspections at industrial units in EPIP and 13th Mile on 24th, 27th, and 31st January 2025, and 5th February 2025.

Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday fired men's basketball coach Ben Johnson, despite two more seasons remaining on his contract. This comes after four years of Johnson rebuilding rosters on a repeated basis at his alma mater as the side failed to even come close to an NCAA Tournament appearance, The Associated Press reported.

According to Nutmeg, 31% of UK investors surveyed said they do not feel confident about the prospect of positive investment returns this year. Even seasoned investors with over ten years' investment experience feel unsure about financial markets this year, with 38% saying they lack confidence in the investment outlook. Underpinning the lack of confidence, 52% of investors believe economic uncertainty is one of the top risks facing their investments in 2025, followed by market volatility (41%) and political risk (28%). Square Mile's Martin Ward: Five UK fund picks five years on from...

U.S. investors shrugged off worries about an intensifying trade war and bought US$3.5 billion worth of bonds from the Canadian government at typical valuations on Tuesday.

India Masters vs Australia Masters live score: Sachin Tendulkar led India masters will take on the Australia Masters at the semi-finals of International Masters League today. The match, which will be played at Raipur's Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, will see numerous famous personalities participating, including Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yousuf Pathan, Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh.India Masters had a found a place in the semi-finals after earning 8 points from their five league stage matches and ending second on the points table.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The 18th edition of the cash-rich Indian Premier League kicks off in a week’s time at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In the 2024 season, streaming partner JioCinema had recorded a 57% growth in IPL viewership compared to the previous year.

Schengen visa, there are steps you can take to improve your chances. Here’s what you need to know:

Sachin Shah, Fund Manager, Emkay Investment Managers, says midcaps and smallcaps will be very bottoms up, very company specific, where the earnings growth will have to be very solid, the tailwind over there may not be there, but it was there for the last two-three years as far as both from the investor's perspective and also from the ground level business perspective. So, largecaps will be relatively easy to invest and make some decent returns over the next 12 to 18 months. The colours of Holi are on the screen, some bit of a green and some bit of a red. There is a Holi feel all around. But the question is when will the markets turn pink? Pink as in when will we get back to that pink of health for the markets? What is your current take on the markets and how are you navigating this volatility? Sachin Shah: Clearly, we are seeing a decent amount of volatility in CY25. Even the last quarter of CY24 was not very great. And it is driven by the global headlines, global flows, and, of course, in the last few months also, it has to do something with the domestic economy. We have to understand that as equity investors, we have to be ready for a non-linear kind of market movements and this is also a phase because we have had some fantastic times in the last five years. Because even today, in the current financial year, the markets are more or less flat, but in spite of that, with that flat year also if you see the last two years, three years, five years, all the returns are in the range of 18%, 20%, 25%.

JSW Energy on Thursday announced the signing of a power purchase agreement with West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company to set up a 1,600 MW thermal project. Besides, it has received a commercial operation date (CoD) certificate for Unit 2 of the 2X350MW Utkal thermal power plant, the company said in an exchange filing. A power purchase agreement (PPA) has been signed with West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) for a greenfield 1,600 MW (2 x 800 MW) super/ultra super critical thermal power plant, it added. The 1,600 MW greenfield thermal power project, to be constructed in Salboni, West Bengal, is scheduled for commissioning in the next five years.