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President Droupadi Murmu to present Bharat Ratna Award today According to media reports, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart LK Advani will be given the Bharat Ratna award on Sunday. President Murmu will pay a visit to senior BJP leader LK Advani's residence and confer him with the prestigious award due to his ailing health condition. President Droupadi Murmu conferred Bharat Ratna upon agronomist MS Swaminathan.

Germany is set to join the global cannabis revolution on Monday, with a law coming into effect legalising recreational use of the drug. It is the first big European country to legalise the possession and consumption of small amounts of the drug by adults and one of only two among the G7 group of leading world powers, with Canada.

President Joe Biden's reelection campaign is raising gobs of cash. And it has an election-year strategy that, in a nutshell, aims to spend more — and spend faster. Not only has Biden aimed to show himself off as a fundraising juggernaut this month, but his campaign is also making significant early investments both on the ground and on the airwaves — hoping to create a massive organizational advantage that leaves Republican Donald Trump scrambling to catch up. But while the money pouring in has given Biden and the Democrats a major cash advantage, it's also becoming clear Biden will need it. Throughout his life in business and politics, Trump's provocations have earned him near limitless free media attention. Biden, meanwhile, has often struggled to cut through the noise with his own message despite holding the presidency.

Bharat Ratna 2024: India's top civilian award conferred on 5 eminent persons President Murmu will pay a visit to senior BJP leader LK Advani's residence and confer him with the prestigious award. This was decided keeping in view the ailing health of LK Advani, according to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources. Advani is a founding BJP member credited with charting the course of its rise through the 1990s.

Donald Trump was heavily criticized for posting a video on a social media platform, containing the image of a hog-tied President Joe Biden painted on the tailgate of a passing truck. The video, posted on Truth Social, shows a passing truck decked with the ‘Trump 2024’ campaign for the upcoming US presidential elections. The visuals were taken in Long Island, New York.

Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 passengers may be 'crime victims': FBI Biden's remarks came during a high-dollar campaign fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall. Boeing is under fire following relentless episodes of callousness pertaining to the safety of the passengers. Earlier this year, a door of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane operated by Alaska Airlines blew out midair.

President Joe Biden joked about being away from the plane doors manufactured by Boeing, a company recently plagued by mid-flight mishaps, the New York Post reported. «I don't sit by the door,» quipped the 81-year-old president, followed by a quick disclaimer, «I'm only kidding. I shouldn't joke about that.» His remarks came during a high-dollar campaign fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall.

Washington Post as reported by Reuters. "It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps," he added. "We are trying to find some way not to retreat." Shortages of munitions, Zelenskyy said, meant "you have to do with less.

Maldives President Muizzu advised to mend India ties, ‘stop being stubborn’ Since then ties between India and Maldives remained strained. However, last week, the Maldivian President requested New Delhi for debt relief measures. In an interview with local media 'Mihaaru', President Muizzu said that he hopes India will accommodate debt relief measures for the Maldives' in the repayment of the hefty loans taken from the country over consecutive governments.

slammed into the bridge in the predawn darkness Tuesday, toppling the span and killing six construction workers. Whether those tugs could have averted the disaster with the Dali already out of control is debatable.

collapsed highway bridge in Baltimore as crews prepared Friday to begin clearing wreckage that has stymied the search for four workers missing and presumed dead and blocked ships from entering or leaving the city's vital port. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore called the Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse following a freighter collision an “economic catastrophe" and described challenges of recovering the workers and clearing tons of debris to reopen the Port of Baltimore.

Maryland Motor Truck Association President & CEO Louis Campion discusses the impact of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse on truck and shipping routes on The Bottom Line.

Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), an industry body representing India's retail chemists has asked the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to include the banning of e-pharmacies, regulations of deep discounts and prohibition on discount advertising in their manifesto. «This will save the livelihood of crores,» said the letter by the body to the BJP president JP Nadda. AIOCD said that the online medicine business poses a serious threat to public health, serving as a gateway for counterfeit medications in the country.

INDIA bloc on Friday announced the seat-sharing for Bihar at a joint press conference in Patna. As per the agreement, RJD will contest 26 Lok Sabha seats out of 40, the highest by any political party in the state in the upcoming general election. The Congress will contest nine seats, the CPI (ML) will contest three seats and the CPI and CPI (M) will contest one seat each. «We have arrived at a unanimous decision, demonstrating a cohesiveness that you may not find in the NDA,» RJD leader Manoj Jha told media persons.

48-hour petrol pump bandh is called by Northeast India Petroleum dealers association (Greater Guwahati). Petroleum association of Northeast India petroleum dealers’ association (Greater Guwahati) is calling for a 48-hour bandh in Assam's three districts of Kamrup Metro, Kamrup and Morigaon from Saturday. The leader of the association said that this bandh will continue from 5 am tomorrow till 5 am on March 3. Northeast India Petroleum Dealer Associations president Rajiv Goswami said that,

Congress lost income tax exemption in 2018-19 due to extensive use of cash in the electoral process, sources said, justifying that Rs 135 crore tax recovery from the party was consistent with the provisions of the Income Tax Act. Based on incriminating material seized by the Income Tax Department during search operations, specifically in April 2019, reflecting extensive use of cash in the electoral process, assessments of the party were reopened for seven years (AY 2014-15 to AY 2020-21), sources said. Following the assessment, demand was raised in 2021, and communications to pay demand were sent many times, they said, adding that stay applications filed by the assessee were rejected during the proceedings. Subsequently, even after 33 months of the assessment order and 10 months of the Commissioner Income Tax (Appeal) order, when the assessee had not complied with the demand raised, recovery proceedings under Section 226(3) of the Act were undertaken, sources said.

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget President Maya MacGuineas explains the 'three basic ways' Biden could reduce national debt.

income tax demand of over Rs 1,800 crore from the Congress party amounts to «hanging democracy by the gallows», the Kerala unit of the grand old party said on Friday. The Congress party in Kerala on Friday announced that a sit-in protest will be held on Saturday before the Income Tax Department offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, protesting against the IT notice to pay penalty. KPCC Acting President M M Hassan said the thousands of Congress workers and leaders will take part in the protest against the «heinous» acts of the Narendra Modi government. «The fresh action against opposition parties amounts to hanging democracy by the gallows,» Hassan said. The senior Congress leader said that already the IT Department has «taken» Rs 135 crore from the accounts of the Congress party. «The government has already frozen the accounts of the Congress party and its affiliated organisations. Such moves are not even heard of under authoritarian regimes,» Hassan said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-led Centre on Friday of misusing institutions like the income-tax department, ED and CBI to subvert democracy and belittle the Constitution, and asked why is the I-T department being used as a weapon to harass the principal opposition party. He asserted that such actions would not deter the Congress from contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and vowed that his party will free the country's institutions from the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) «dictatorship». Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also hit out at the BJP, accusing it of indulging in «tax terrorism». «When the government changes, action will definitely be taken against those who have 'disrobed democracy'. And such exemplary action will be taken that no one will dare to do all this again. This is my guarantee,» Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, if it resumes control in Gaza . The plan is a long shot—not least because Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is a longtime opponent of Palestinian statehood. After Mr Biden spoke with him earlier this month, the president suggested Mr Netanyahu might be amenable to creating a demilitarised Palestine: “I think we’ll be able to work something out," he said.

India and Ukraine «traditional friends', Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Kyiv is looking forward to restoring relations with New Delhi that existed before the conflict, adding that there is much more both the nations can do in the interest of global development and security architecture. He stated that Ukraine will be looking forward to discussing new areas of cooperation with India. At the meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Kuleba stated that Ukraine will be looking forward to discussing new areas of cooperation with India.