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Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday reached Jaipur to file her nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan. It will be the 77-year-old leader's first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP. Sonia Gandhi was accompanied by her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

NATO is a "sacred commitment" for the US, President Joe Biden has said as he slammed his predecessor Donald Trump for his recent remarks encouraging Russia to attack certain nations of the 74-year-old military alliance by calling the comments «dangerous» and «un-American». Biden said the remarks by Trump, his likely challenger in the November 5 Presidential polls, underscored the urgency of passing a USD 95 billion foreign aid package for US allies. The bill just passed the Senate, but it faces political headwinds in the House. At the White House on Tuesday, Biden said a failure to pass the package — which includes USD 60bn for Ukraine — would be «playing into Putin's hands».

Indian Express. This came a few days after the Supreme Court declared that Masih, the designated council member, must appear before the top court on February 19 and it would not permit the destruction of democracy. The BJP unveiled the updated list of office-bearers late on Sunday night.

Sonia Gandhi left her residence early on Wednesday morning for Rajasthan from where she set to file her nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections. Sonia Gandhi will file nomination papers from Rajasthan. This will be the 77-year-old leader's first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP.

Mint. This is significant development, given India plays a crucial role in the G20 as part of the leadership trio, including Brazil and South Africa, tasked with steering the organization's discussions and decisions throughout the year. The G20 meeting is set for 21-22 February, directly overlapping with the Raisina Dialogue, scheduled for 21-23 February.

PM Modi to inaugurate Swaminarayan sect’s BAPS temple in Abu Dhabi, UAE: Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate UAE's historic BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Abu Dhabi on February 14, marking a significant moment for the city's Hindu community. Public access begins March 1st. PM Modi to visit Doha, bilateral meeting with Emir of Qatar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday after concluding his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said at a press conference on Monday.

 Disney Day Drinkers Club President Skip Sher has the latest on the creative mascot on 'The Bottom Line.'

White House has called for ensuring a transparent election process in Pakistan and said there is a need to respect the will of the Pakistani people. US President Joe Biden is aware of the elections in Pakistan, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference on Tuesday. «Obviously, the president is very much aware. Millions of Pakistanis turned out to vote last week, including record numbers of women, members of religious and ethnic minority groups, and young voters,» Jean-Pierre said.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Tuesday nominated its president Shehbaz Sharif as the prime ministerial candidate of Pakistan instead of the party supremo and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif. Taking to X, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, 74, has nominated his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, 72, a candidate for the slot of prime minister and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, 50, for chief minister of Punjab province.

Voting started in Indonesia on Wednesday with more than 200 million voters casting their ballots to elect a new president amid concerns regarding the cost of living and human rights, CNN reported. Indonesia aims to enter a new phase in politics after President Joko Widodo has completed his maximum term as president.

Republicans impeached US President Joe Biden's immigration chief on Tuesday, the culmination of months of attacks on the Democratic administration as they seek to make border security a key issue in November's election. Conservatives in the House of Representatives, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans, blame Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for a surge in illegal entries from Mexico that they have called a «humanitarian catastrophe.»

PM Modi. He also noted that the strong ties between the two nations serve as a model for international cooperation. PM Modi is set to participate in the World Government Summit 2024 which will be held in Dubai as a Guest of Honour and deliver a special keynote address at the Summit.

Donald Trump's imploring Republicans to pass fresh aid for Ukraine. “For God sake, it’s dumb, it’s shameful, it’s dangerous, it’s un-American," Joe Biden said on Tuesday at the White House, referring to the former president’s comments. Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner, said that he would not want the US to come to the defense of NATO allies who did not meet the alliance’s targets for defense spending if Moscow attacked them.

(Reuters) — Performers of Disney 's cartoon characters such as Mickey, Donald and Goofy at its Disneyland theme park are looking to join Actors' Equity Association, a labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance.

By David Morgan and Richard Cowan

Pacer ETFs Distributors President Sean O'Hara on earnings season, the Federal Reserve's handling of rate cuts as well as the upcoming CPI and PPI reports.

By Makini Brice

Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Tuesday joined BJP here in the presence of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. While calling him a «coward», the Congress leadership also requested him to reconsider his decision. Chavan's exit on the eve of the Rajya Sabha polls has forced the leadership to burn the midnight oil to prevent a potential split in the party. Chavan is likely to be BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate. However, BJP has not revealed its cards yet, with Fadnavis claiming that the decision would be taken by the leadership in New Delhi. «One of the senior most leaders in the state has joined us and because of his entry, our grand alliance has been strengthened,» said Fadnavis at a press conference.

PM Narendra Modi and President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. The BIT will be a key enabler for further promoting investments in both countries. India has signed both BIT and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the UAE. The agreement on interlinking of the instant payment platforms — UPI (India) and AANI (UAE) — will facilitate seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries. This follows the MoU on interlinking payment and messaging systems signed in July last year during PM Modi's visit to Abu Dhabi.

BJD) leaders Debasish Samantray and Subhasish Khuntia on Tuesday filed their nominations for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The two BJD candidates filed their nominations before the Returning Officer here in the state assembly, in the presence of BJD President and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha are set to be vacant in April following the completion of the terms of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and BJD MPs Prashant Nanda, and Amar Patnaik. Debasish Samantray thanked CM Patnaik for choosing him and said the state will always be the priority.

Walmart said they have sourced over $30 billion goods from the Indian market for its global operation in the past 25 years. The company is now set to triple the sourcing of these goods from India to $10 billion annually by 2027. Andrea Albright, executive vice president of sourcing at Walmart, said that through its Walmart Vriddhi initiative, launched in 2019, the company is training Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) «to learn new capabilities, scale and maximize their business ambitions» free of charge. At its Growth Summit, the company announced that they have met their target early and have already trained more than 50,000 MSMEs. Jason Fremstad, Walmart's senior vice president, supplier development and sourcing, said, «What we are aiming to do this week is to continue finding new suppliers to source in categories- home, apparels, foods, health and wellness, toys… this week is focused on expanding those opportunities and finding new suppliers that we can export in an effort to achieve the goal that we have set out for sourcing $10 billion by the end of 2027.»