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NBA Summer League, taking place from July 7 to 17, has captured everyone's attention. The competition for the MVP title is intense, providing players with an opportunity to showcase their skills under the summer spotlight. Over the years, several notable stars have emerged from the Summer League and gone on to achieve remarkable careers in the NBA.

According to Schengen Statistics, Algerian nationals were refused Schengen visa applications the most in 2022, with a total of 179,409 visas not being issued with the total rate of not issued uniform visas reaching 45.8 per cent. The list of top ten countries with the highest Schengen visa rejection rates for 2022 also included countries like Turkey, Morocco and Russia, which had 120,876, 119,346 and 68,753 visa applications rejected, respectively.

tech hiring, the IT sector has started seeing some green shoots of demand starting July, according to staffing firms. There has been a 10% increase in the overall hiring requirements in July compared to last month, they added, signalling good news for the IT sector and some pick-up in demand in the coming quarter after a long lull. The growth in headcount, however, will only be reflected in the October-December quarter, said experts. The increased demand is led by companies having better visibility of demand. Despite the pick-up, the rate of recovery is still slower than anticipated, and significantly lower than the peak demand witnessed in 2021, they added. "IT services are expected to open up in this quarter to some extent. This is as hiring has been on the back burner for quite some time and utilisation levels have peaked to over 80-85%," said Sunil C, chief executive at TeamLease Digital. The global capability centres (GCC) and engineering research and development (ER&D) demand flow has been steady, said Sunil, adding that there is a 10% increase in the overall hiring requirements in July compared to last month. Saravanan Balasundaram, chief executive of staffing firm Handigital, said that the current uptick in demand has only started in the past two-three weeks and will likely result in offers only in the October-December quarter. «From barely any recruitment drives over almost two quarters, we have seen almost five to six recruitment drives planned by companies for lateral hiring in the past three weeks,» said Balasundaram.

Elton John wrapped up his remarkable five-decade-long musical journey in Stockholm, Coldplay performed in Sweden. Coldplay took the opportunity to send a heartfelt video message to the 76-year-old veteran musician and even performed his song, ‘Rocket Man’.Chris Martin, the frontman, expressed their immense love and gratitude, acknowledging the impact Sir Elton John has had on countless bands and artists he has supported and inspired. Martin also highlighted the deep appreciation for Sir Elton John's philanthropic work, particularly his contributions to the Aids Foundation and his acts of kindness towards others.

Maruti Suzuki is betting big on strong hybrid and compressed natural gas vehicles and expects cumulative sales of these models in the ongoing financial year to inch closer to peak volumes the company had reported in the diesel vehicle segment five years ago. Maruti Suzuki, which stopped production and sale of diesel vehicles ahead of the transition to BSVI emission norms in April 2020, had reported best-ever sales of diesel vehicles of about 480,000 units in FY18.

Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to Paris. The PM will visit France on July 13 and 14 and is the guest of honour at the Bastille Day Parade. He will be accompanied by a business delegation of top CEOs.

BJP MP has moved a private member's bill for prohibition of fake news, which proposes imprisonment of up to seven years or fine of up to ₹10 lakh or both. At a time when there is a surge in fake news on social media, BJP MP Manoj Kotak, in his private member's bill titled 'Prohibition of Fake News on Social Media Bill, 2023', proposes to set up a social media regulatory authority comprising an MP each from both Houses of Parliament for prohibition of fake news.

NEW DELHI : Aadya Ahuja, a 27-year-old counselling psychologist based in Delhi, loves the thunderous rumble of diesel engines. She inherits her fascination for tall, butch Mahindra SUVs from her father. In fact, she learnt to drive on her father’s diesel-powered Scorpio, a rather unusual choice for a young person in a city getting behind the wheel for the first time.

National Highway were closed following the torrential rains. Hundreds of people were stranded in different parts of the state, including in Chandratal in Lahaul and Spiti and near Sadhupul in Solan district. While six people died in rain-related incidents on Sunday, the death toll has risen to 54 since the onset of the monsoon on June 24, according to the state emergency operation centre.

NEW DELHI : The Centre is likely to roll out the much-anticipated viability gap funding (VGF) scheme for coal gasification in the next two to three months, said the union minister for parliamentary affairs, coal and mines Pralhad Joshi. In an interview, the minister said the proposal for VGF support worth ₹6,000 crore has been approved by the expenditure finance committee (ECF). “In principle, finance ministry has allocated around ₹6,000 crore.

NEW DELHI : India’s retail inflation is likely to have inched up to 4.6% in June from a 25-month low of 4.25% in the previous month on account of higher food inflation driven by vegetable, pulses and cereal prices, showed a Mint poll of 19 economists. The poll predicts consumer price inflation (CPI) in a range of 4.1-4.8%, with all but two economists expecting inflation to rise. Official data is scheduled to be released on 12 July.

I have contributed continuously to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for over 10 years until 31 December 2015, when I was working with a company(say, ABC) . After quitting the firm, I did not withdraw my EPF and worked independently and with small companies that were not obligated to contribute to EPF for two years (2016 and 2017). I joined employer (say, XYZ) on 1 January 2018 and resumed contributing to EPF until 31 December 2019. I transferred my EPF from employer ABC to employer XYZ only in October 2022 and withdrew my entire EPF balance on 30 April without any tax deducted at source (TDS) by EPFO. Is EPF interest that accrued during the periods when I was not contributing to EPF taxable? Specifically, is the interest earned between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2017 and between 1 January 2020 and 30 April taxable in the financial years in which the interest was earned? —Name withheld on request The accumulated provident fund (PF) balance to the credit of the employee as on the date of cessation of employment, is exempt from tax, if he/she has rendered continuous service for five years or more.

By Clare Jim

(Reuters) — The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke by telephone on Sunday, a day after Ankara angered Moscow by sending five Ukrainian commanders home with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Russia called a violation of a prisoner exchange agreement.

Mint spoke with some parents to find out the factors that decided the right school for their children. The boards For Sandhya Jandhyala, 40, of Hyderabad, the choice was CBSE, or Central Board of Secondary Education. Both her daughters are students of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, just 5km from their house.

Indian startups raised $3.8 billion in the first half of 2023 (January to June), falling by a massive 36% as compared to the fundraising in H1 of 2022. This is also the lowest six-month funding in the last four years, as per PwC India research report.

National Highway. State Disaster Response Force and police officials said there were 11 people in the jeep. Five people have been rescued, while a search is on for three others, they said and added that three bodies have been recovered by rescue personnel.

Delhi, on Saturday and Sunday, received heavy rainfall breaking a 41-year record. Delhi recorded 153 mm of rain in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Sunday, the highest in a single day in July since 1982, the IMD has said. According to India Meteorological Department, New Delhi's Safdarjung recorded the third highest 24-hour rainfall (for the month of July) on 8th-09th July, 2023, since 1958.

Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), an attached office of NITI Aayog, will evaluate the regional connectivity scheme popularly known as UDAN. The monitoring body has issued an RfP for evaluation of the scheme which is expected to kick-start later this year. UDAN is the government’s regional airport development program and part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of upgrading under-serviced air routes.

New Delhi: In a bid to boost captive power generation and streamline the norms, the union ministry of power has amended the regulations saying that a captive power user, must hold a minimum of 26% stake in the captive generating plant. According to the new norms, each captive power user, even in a group captive structure has to hold 26% ownership in the captive generating plant.

Chocoholics may be in for a shock at the checkout after the price of cocoa soared to a 12-year high and heavy rain across West Africa accelerated the spread of a rot-causing disease.