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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In the new Netflix documentary series Should I Marry a Murderer?, Caroline Muirhead, a Scottish forensic pathologist, falls in love with Sandy McKellar, a man who, after proposing, reveals to her that he and his brother have committed a homicide. What follows is baffling: Even after Muirhead turns him in to the police, she returns to his side.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Daniel Rice is a personal trainer in Los Angeles, a job that gives him a front-row seat to the physique coveted by today’s American man. Rice recalls the washboard abs of the ’90s; the athletic build of the early 2000s; the quest, in the 2010s, for tiny waists and huge biceps.Now “the guys all want thick thighs and a bigger butt,” he says.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When a British citizen turns 100, they get a message from the monarch. It’s a tradition dating back to 1917 when King George V started sending telegrams to congratulate citizens on landmark birthdays.But Sir David Attenborough is no ordinary citizen.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Roast comedy works around a fascinatingly self-referential format. The roast is the roast because it claims to be the roast.It is a format I have always watched, from classic Dean Martin roasts to the inimitable Don Rickles putting his friends through the wringer, to its mostly middling current incarnation, because amid predictable and easy gags, occasionally someone rises to the top with outstanding material.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In April, the Chinese government issued a notification—Decree 834, which imposed restrictions on multinational companies operating in the country. Mint examines what this decree is all about, its motivation, its implications for India, and what the Indian government should do to counter it.Decree 834 is China’s first comprehensive regulation on industrial and supply chain security. While not entirely new, it creates a unified national security-driven regulatory framework for supply chain oversight.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.I haven’t done this in years. Decades, if school projects don’t count. Needle in one hand, I try to remember how.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.I thought only I knew. The Tamil actor Vijay, whom people have suddenly taken to calling Joseph Vijay after his political rivals revealed his full name, and who now heads the largest party in Tamil Nadu’s assembly, was my classmate in the third standard. It is a connection I made because I remember trivial things from childhood.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The quest for the perfect watch never ends. You may be rolling your eyes when you read that line.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Originating in the US in 1908 as a day to honour the sacrifices mothers make—and officially recognised in 1914 by then US president Woodrow Wilson—Mother’s Day, celebrated every second Sunday in May, has since grown into a global commercial event embraced by brands across categories. Yet amid the flood of discounts, flowers and freebies, the sentiment at its core remains unchanged: celebrating mothers and their unconditional love. Keeping this in mind, Lounge’s compilation brings together gifts that feel both personal and enduring.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Iran had just opened up e-visas for Indian travellers, but ours quickly got rejected. I read on forums that it was common to get an e-visa rejection, no reasons given. So we set about charting the archaic, long-winded route to get a physical visa at the embassy: get a visa code through an Iranian travel agency, file an application with travel documents at the Iranian consulate in Mumbai and submit medical test results for TB and HIV.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Fashion retailers are speeding up deliveries to keep pace with instant-gratification shopping driven by quick-fashion startups, with established players and newer brands taking sharply different approaches.For example, brands such as Biba and The House of Rare have adopted a more calibrated, infrastructure-led strategy rather than a rapid overhaul of existing store networks. “We’ve been doing this in a very soft way but not necessarily from the same stores because that affects the customer experience,” said Siddharth Bindra, managing director of Biba.Bindra said using retail stores as fulfilment hubs for rapid delivery creates operational constraints, particularly given store sizes and layouts.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Chennai: For years, Tamil Nadu has punched beyond its weight. With just 4% of India’s land area and 6% of its population, the state’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024-25 was 9.4%.The state’s economy is growing much faster than India’s 6.5%. Even as foreign direct investment (FDI) into India has slowed, foreign investors continue to bet big on Tamil Nadu.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Chennai: To say the Kerala government’s finances are in a mess is an understatement. The state has a litany of woes which successive governments have failed to take head on. Its ability to raise revenue is impaired.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Looking at her bold, singular designs, it is hard to believe that jewellery designer Bhavya Ramesh never formally studied the craft. The engineering graduate, who describes herself as “completely self-taught”, started her eponymous label in 2018 with a small investment from her father, and one clear goal: “I wanted people to look at my work and say, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before.’ That’s still my only aim,” she tells Lounge over a video call from Mumbai.A D2C brand that began online, the label has, in recent years, made a confident leap into offline retail, with two stores in Mumbai and a newly launched outpost in Khan Market, Delhi. While the move signals the brand’s growth, Ramesh says the real push came from customers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The best business class flight I have ever taken was with Air India. As the flight was taxiing for take-off, it stopped on the tarmac. There was a snag, and we had to stay in the aircraft.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In 2013, Shelby Van Pelt, a former financial consultant, took a writing class at Emory University, Atlanta , where one of her assignments involved composing a story from an unusual point of view. She picked an octopus for the exercise, a wise and droll protagonist she wanted to call Marcus Aurelius after the great Roman emperor who lived in 121-180 CE.“Based on feedback from my critique partners, I eventually mashed up his name to Marcellus,” Van Pelt says on a video call from her home in Chicago.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A nationwide shortage of Diet Coke is creating an opportunity for India’s direct-to-consumer zero-sugar beverage brands to win new customers as supply disruptions leave multinational soda makers short on shelves this summer.With demand for low-calorie drinks rising during the peak summer months of April and May, newer beverage companies are using the disruption to attract consumers who may not find their usual diet cola, betting that temporary shortages could translate into repeat purchases, industry executives told Mint.For many of these startups, including Paper Boat Zero, Chinni Kum, Zyro, and Jimmy's, the disruption has been less severe because a large part of their portfolio is sold in PET bottles rather than aluminium cans.Ankur Bhatia, founder of Jimmy’s, said the company’s bottle-based packaging has given it a ‘tactical edge’ because shortages in aluminium cans have worsened as beer and soft drink makers compete for the same production capacity. “The can-making lines are the same.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When was the last time you engaged in friendly banter with your barista, chatted with your neighbor or called your mother?Chances are, you placed your latte order on an app and ignored your neighbor when you pulled into your driveway. Your mom? She likely had to settle for a text.Digital interactions are replacing face-to-face interactions with loved ones and strangers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle Ltd is falling behind its ambitious target of reaching 500 stores by 2026-27, as volatile gold prices weigh on its expansion plans.The Bengaluru-based jeweller had outlined in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) plans to add over 290 new stores between 2024-25 and 2026-27, but managed to add only 65 stores in 2025-26, taking its total to 340 outlets.It now expects a more measured pace of expansion of about 20% annually, well short of its original target.“We should look at how the external operating environment has been, specifically from a gold price perspective,” said Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, founder and chief executive of Bluestone, during the company’s March-quarter earnings call on Friday.“Gold prices have seen a significant increase, and we need to ensure enough conviction from a demand behaviour perspective before accelerating store additions,” he added.The company also indicated a gradual shift away from franchise-led expansion. Of the 340 stores, around 67 are franchise-owned.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Hostilities in West Asia may have eased, but oil prices remain well above pre-war levels. Though prices have stayed below $100 a barrel since the ceasefire announcement, conflicting signals from the US and Iran are keeping markets volatile.Mint looks at the near-term outlook.Yes.