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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been a bit player in Punjab politics, playing a second fiddle to its senior alliance partner the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) since 1996. But this time, it decided to come out of SAD's shadow and fight the Lok Sabha elections on its own. The SAD had walked out of the alliance over the farm bills but both were considering coming together again which did not happen. While testing the waters in Punjab on its own, where it ranks fourth after the AAP, the Congress and the SAD, the BJP finds odds are stacked against it. It faces backlash from protesting farmers in a state where traditionally the BJP has not had any core voters of its own. In the absence of its alliance partner, the SAD, it might not have much traction in rural areas. Yet, the state BJP leaders are quite upbeat. They are hopeful of winning at least four seats of the total 13, double the number they have been winning in the state in the past few Lok Sabha elections. What explains their optimism when the party doesn't have any voter base of its own and the dominant farmer community has turned against it?

polling stations, mostly located in North and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal, were damaged due to the impact of Cyclone Remal, a senior poll official said on Monday. The disaster also adversely affected preparations for the upcoming seventh and final phase of polling scheduled on June 1, he added. «Most of these polling stations have been badly hit by the cyclone. They are submerged in water or have sustained other types of damage,» the official told PTI. Polling for the nine Lok Sabha seats — Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, and Kolkata Uttar — is scheduled on Saturday. Among these, several assembly constituencies under Diamond Harbour and Basirhat seats were hit by the cyclonic storm.

With Canada’s latest inflation figures paving the way for a policy rate cut, some economists worry another hold by the Bank of Canada could further damage the economy.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday hit out at the Modi government on the state of the economy, exports and the rising trade deficit besides the 'Make in India' programme and accused him of practising «fake» nationalism by making China its biggest trade partner. "Narendra Modi ji speaks about Mangalsutra, Mutton, Machhali, Mughal and Mujra, but does not talk about 'Make in India'? Why Modi ji does not utter a single word on the economy in his numerous election speeches? The answer lies in his Government's abject failure," Kharge said in a post on X. «The 'Make in India' programme has flopped, the PLI Scheme floundered and exports are in a free fall,» he alleged. Drawing a parallel between the Congress-led UPA and 10 years of the BJP-led NDA government, he said the manufacturing growth (at constant 2015 USD) during the Congress-UPA rule from 2004 to 2014 was 7.85 per cent while that during the Modi's NDA rule from 2014 to 2022 was 6.0 per cent.

As the deadline for President Biden’s decision on the SEC’s cryptocurrency regulations approaches, Bitcoin’s market response remains cautious. Currently trading at $68,400, the cryptocurrency has experienced a slight decline of 0.50%.

HCLTech on Monday said it has partnered with British semiconductor and software design company Arm to work on custom silicon chips that support AI-driven business operations. A semiconductor designed for a specific task is referred as custom silicon chip. The partnership will enable semiconductor manufacturers, system OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and cloud services providers to enhance the computing efficiency of their data centre environments, HCLTech said in a statement.

Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on Monday said the state government will pay the hospitality bill of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had come to Mysuru in April last year to commemorate 50 years of Project Tiger, which runs up to Rs 80 lakh. In a statement, the minister's office said it is a tradition of the state government to host dignitaries like the Prime Minister and the President when they come. But due to Assembly elections in Karnataka in April last year, the state government was not involved in planning of the programme (Project Tiger) since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force. Speaking to reporters, the minister said that the prime minister had visited Myrusu-Bandipur on the eve of commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger. At that point of time, the MCC was in force. Elections were declared. So, it was purely a Central government programme. Initially, they had planned to spend around Rs 3 crore but the expenditure incurred was around 6.33 crore. So, balance 3.3 crore has to come from the National Tiger Conservation Authority. «The state government's forest department had written to them (authority). They informed that the hotel bill (Rs 80 lakh) should be reimbursed by the state government and we have decided to reimburse. So, there is no issue,» he added.

Argentinian regulators have been talking to their counterparts in El Salvador about Bitcoin (BTC) adoption, the National Securities Commission of Argentina (CNV) confirmed this weekend.

IPL 2024 trophy by BCCI president Roger Binny and secretary Jay Shah, Iyer recreated Messi's magical celebration after the FIFA final before finally handing the trophy to Rinku Singh.Speaking after the match to broadcasters, Iyer said, “It is pleasing and the performance has been flawless throughout. I am running out of words right now. We have been tremendous right from game one, and when we stepped [out] all we demanded from ourselves was to back each other no matter the situation.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) said on Monday that it has detected 21 Chinese military aircraft, 11 Chinese naval vessels and four Chinese coast guard vessels operating near its territory from 6 am (local time) on Sunday to 6 am (local time) on Monday. Out of these 21 Chinese military aircraft, 10 entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern air defense identification zone (ADIZ), according to Taiwan's MND. In response to the Chinese activity, Taiwanese armed forces have monitored the situation and deployed naval vessels, and coastal missiles to monitor the situation. In a statement shared on X, Taiwan's MND stated, «21 PLA aircraft, 11 PLAN vessels, and 4 CCG vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 10 of the aircraft entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and employed CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and coastal missile systems in response to the detected activities.»

Presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed and heckled by many in a raucous audience at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his fervently loyal supporters. Libertarians, who believe in limited government and individual freedom, blame Trump, a Republican, for rushing through the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine when he was president and for not doing more to stop public health restrictions on the unvaccinated during the pandemic.

senior talent pool of LTIMindtree has become a hunting ground for other IT companies one and a half years after the merger that created the country’s sixth largest software services company. LTIMindtree was born out of the merger between L&T Infotech and Mindtree in November 2022. Analysts have attributed this to integration pains. CEO Debashis Chatterjee has said it’s business as usual. While the company is reportedly devising a succession plan, about two dozen senior executives have resigned and joined rivals and other tech companies such as Cognizant, Capgemini, Persistent Systems, Tech Mahindra, Sonata and others, an ET analysis of brokerage house reports and LinkedIn profiles showed.

Leaders of China and Japan arrived in Seoul to meet separately with South Korea's president on Sunday, a day before they gather for their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. No major announcement is expected from Monday's trilateral South Korea-China-Japan meeting. But just resuming their highest-level, three-way talks is a good sign and suggests the three Asian neighbors are intent on improving their relations.

From Boiling Point to Rain Relief: Both BJP and Congress leaderships had brought their respective party leaders from Kerala to Delhi to campaign among the Malayalee pockets of the national capital. While these Kerala functionaries did their job, most of them wilted due to Delhi’s unfamiliar simmering summer and heat wave. Done with their job, some of them said the biggest relief was the certain prospect of returning to the torrential downpour lashing across Kerala. Already in ‘Sweet Mood’: Looks like AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal believes in early celebrations.

Punjab): As the afternoon sun beats down on the tin shed, about a hundred farmers listen in rapt attention to the old farmer leader on the makeshift stage. «We have the right to ask questions from the government,» the leader is speaking on the stage at Shambhu on Punjab-Haryana border, where farmers were stopped from marching towards Delhi in mid-February. It has been over three months, but the anger is palpable. A small temporary township has come up at Shambhu border toll booth, about 200 km from Delhi and an hour's drive from Chandigarh. Hundreds of tractors and trolleys have been joined together to make small tenements for farmers. As the season changed from a pleasant spring to scorching summer, air coolers have been installed in these tents. The anger against the Modi government is now spilling into elections as all the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of Punjab vote in the last phase of voting on June 1. «Vote for anyone but BJP — this is our call,» says Balwant Singh, state president Bharatiya Kisan Union (Behramke). Singh says the entire farmers morcha has sent word back to the villages to drive away BJP candidates if they come to campaign.

Balasore, a city in the coastal region of Odisha is quite different electorally from other parts of the state. This is one Lok Sabha seat, where the BJP has been stronger for the last 25 years. BJP won this seat consecutively in 1998, 1999 and 2004. But in the past three elections, Balasore has elected three MPs from three different parties. In 2009, it was Congress leader Srikant Jena; in 2014, it was Rabindra Kumar Jena of BJD and in 2019, BJP candidate Pratap Sarangi won this seat with a margin of 12,956 votes. Back to 2024, Sarangi is facing a triangular contest against Congress and BJD. Veteran Congress leader and former MP from the seat, Srikant Jena is challe.nging Sarangi's second term along with BJD candidate Lekhashree Samantsinghar.

Jim LaPointe knows that how the economy feels «depends on your perspective.»

genocide. Over 100 days in 1994 masses of the majority Hutu population slaughtered hundreds of thousands of their countrymen, mostly from the minority Tutsi group. In these annual speeches Mr Kagame offers glimpses of why he is Africa’s most polarising leader.

DMK President M K Stalin on Sunday said his party would dedicate the INDIA bloc's victory in the Lok Sabha polls to late party patriarch M Karunanidhi and celebrate his centenary at the national level. On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Karunanidhi (1924-2018) on June 3, which also marks the culmination of year-long (2023-24) centenary celebrations of the DMK icon, Stalin heaped praise on the leader for his contributions to democracy and the nation. Whenever democracy faced crisis situations, «leaders from North India looked up to Karunanidhi» and it was his «stellar contributions» that ensured the retrieval of democracy and brought stability to the government, and «this cannot be disputed by anybody», Stalin said. «It was Karunanidhi who championed state autonomy at the national level, batting for federalism.» He went on to say, «The Lok Sabha election results will be out on June 4. That day we shall hoist the victory flag and dedicate INDIA's (bloc) victory to Kalaignar,» he said, adding that the centenary celebrations would be organised at the national level.

Karachi, Talat Hussain, one of Pakistan's most accomplished and celebrated actors, died on Sunday at a private hospital here following a prolonged illness. He was 83. A radio, TV, theatre, and cinema veteran, Hussain was known for serials such as «Bandish», «Karwaan», «Hawain» and «Parchaiyan» as well as movies «Chiragh Jalta Raha», «Gumnaam», «Actor in Law» and Indian film «Sauten Ki Beti». Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Karachi President Ahmed Shah confirmed the news of Hussain's death, adding that the actor had long been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Karachi. «An acclaimed actor like Talat Hussain is born after centuries,» he said.

Mayurbhanj (Odisha): The hot topics in Odisha politics are alleged corruption in 5T and Jagannath Heritage Corridor Project, non-Odia origin of BJD leader VK Pandian, but it seems the people in President Droupadi Murmu's native village Uperbeda would vote on local issues, such as the inadequate livelihood opportunities, irrigation, education and health facilities. This village falls under Mayurbhanj constituency which goes to polls on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha election. Some villagers said they are ready to support those who honoured their village as well as the district by making Droupadi Murmu the President of India.