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Thangam Thenarasu is set to present the state budget for the financial year 2025-26 today in the Assembly Hall at Fort St. George. The budget, expected to outline key financial policies and welfare measures, has, however, been overshadowed by a controversy surrounding the removal of the Indian rupee symbol (₹) from the budget’s official logo. In a move that has sparked a political storm, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s government replaced the Devanagari-scripted rupee symbol with the Tamil letter ‘Roo’ (‘ரூ’), representing ‘Roobai’—the Tamil term for rupee. The new logo, accompanied by the slogan “Ellarkum Ellam” (Everything for Everyone), was unveiled on Thursday, drawing sharp reactions from opposition leaders and Union Ministers.

US equity-index futures climbed Friday as signs the US will avoid a government shutdown injected a boost to sentiment. Shares in Japan retraced early losses while those in Australia also climbed higher along with indexes in Hong Kong. Futures contracts for US equities advanced early Friday as a stopgap funding bill looked set to pass and avoid a US government shutdown. The S&P 500 dropped 1.4% on Thursday to a six-month low, bringing its three-week rout past 10% — a correction in trader parlance. The Nasdaq 100, also in a correction, fell 1.9%.

Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for their efforts in addressing the conflict. Speaking at a joint press conference with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, Putin said that Russia agrees with the proposals to cease hostilities but «proceeds from the assumption that this cessation should lead to long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of the crisis.» When asked about Ukraine's readiness for a ceasefire, Putin said, «As for Ukraine's readiness for a ceasefire, I will tell you how I view it, of course. But I would like to start by thanking the President of the United States, Mr Trump, for paying so much attention to the Ukraine settlement. We all have enough of our own domestic affairs to attend to. But many leaders of states, among them the President of the People's Republic of China, the Prime Minister of India, the Presidents of Brazil and the Republic of South Africa are addressing this issue and give it a lot of their time. We are grateful to all of them for that because this activity is aimed at achieving a noble mission — the mission of ending hostilities and loss of life.» He further said, «We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities but proceed from the assumption that this cessation should lead to long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of this crisis.» He also referred to the recent US-Ukraine discussions in Saudi Arabia, suggesting that Ukraine's willingness for a ceasefire was likely influenced by American pressure.

Donald Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked a seemingly simple question about the White House dress code. A reporter pointed out that administration officials were «miffed» that the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had not worn a suit to the Oval Office. And yet, the reporter said, "Elon Musk never wears a suit in there. So what is the dress code?" As with all things in Washington, this was really a question about power. Musk flexes his by dressing down where all others must dress up. He wears his «tech support» T-shirt around town and to meetings with the president. So when the tech mogul wore a suit and tie twice last week, just like any other working stiff in Washington, it seemed like a sign that maybe some of the old rules of this place — and the ones about fashion and etiquette are among the oldest — were suddenly being applied to this most special of government employees.

AI took center stage in many sessions at the world's largest energy gathering. Oil producers are seeking ways to remain profitable in an environment of plummeting oil prices and worries that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs could slow global energy demand. UK oil major BP is using AI to steer drill bits and predict potential problems in wells before they happen, said Ann Davies, BP's senior vice president of wells.

Indian markets will be closed for a total 14 days for various festivals and other important occasions. In the month of March, there is one more holiday on the eve of Ramzan Id, which will fall on March 31.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has left hundreds of thousands of dead and injured, displaced millions of people, reduced towns to rubble and triggered the sharpest confrontation for decades between Moscow and the West. Putin's heavily qualified support for the U.S. ceasefire proposal looked designed to signal goodwill to Washington and open the door to further talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. But Putin said many crucial details needed to be sorted out and any agreement must address the root causes of the conflict. Russia called its 2022 invasion a «special military operation» designed to «denazify» Ukraine and halt an expansion of NATO. «We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities,» Putin told reporters at the Kremlin. «The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it.»

federal workers who lost their jobs as part of mass firings carried out across multiple agencies. The back-to-back rulings were the most significant blow yet to the effort by Trump and top adviser Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy. Government agencies face a Thursday deadline to submit plans for a second wave of mass layoffs and to slash their budgets. U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore agreed with 20 Democratic-led states that 18 agencies which had fired probationary employees en masse in recent weeks violated regulations governing the laying off of federal workers. His decision came hours after U.S. District Judge William Alsup during a hearing in San Francisco ordered the reinstatement of probationary employees terminated at the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department. Alsup said the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human resources department for federal agencies, had improperly ordered those agencies to fire workers en masse even though it lacked the power to do so.

U.S. automaker Tesla has warned that it and other major American exporters are exposed to retaliatory tariffs that could be leveled in response to President Donald Trump's aggressive use of tariffs. The Tesla comments reflect those of many U.S. businesses concerned by Trump's tariffs, but is notable because it is from Tesla. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, has been leading the White House effort to shrink the size of the federal government. The billionaire heads up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The comments were made in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative's Office and available on the office's web site. Dated Tuesday, it is among hundreds sent by companies to the office about U.S. trade policy. It is not clear who at Tesla wrote the letter, which is unsigned but is on a company letterhead. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

G7 nations were set to negotiate late into the night over a joint statement to show a united front in Canada on Thursday after weeks of tension between U.S. allies and President Donald Trump over his upending of Western trade and security policy. The Group of Seven ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with the European Union, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for meetings on Thursday and Friday that in the past have been broadly consensual. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed his colleagues on talks on Tuesday with Ukraine in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Kyiv said it was ready to support a 30-day ceasefire deal. But officials said ambiguous comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin left delegates unclear where things stood. In the run-up to the first G7 meeting of Canada's presidency, the crafting of an agreed all-encompassing final statement had been tough, but diplomats said the atmosphere since had been positive and candid.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When Harini Kartik applied for the role of a manager with a private lender in 2022, one interview question would have been obvious: "Why do you want to return to the workplace?" Kartik, 45, who holds an MBA degree and worked at two private banks from 2001-2006, had quit her corporate job to take care of her family. “I worked in between as a teacher, but when my son turned 16, I decided to give the corporate sector another go," she told Mint.

Donald Trump launched a scathing critique of the Wall Street Journal, accusing the publication of promoting “globalist” and “antiquated” agendas after it reported on his family’s alleged negotiations with crypto exchange Binance, as per Daily Mail UK. The report revealed discussions involving the Trump Organization potentially acquiring a stake in Binance, whose founder, Changpeng Zhao, recently served prison time for money laundering violations and sought a presidential pardon.

“With the solar maximum creating the most vibrant Northern Lights displays in decades, what is noteworthy is the clear expansion beyond traditional Scandinavian favourites to Murmansk in Russian Lapland, where travellers can now pair their aurora sightings with immersive Arctic experiences, from icebreaker expeditions to luxe stays in glass-domed igloos,” said Rajeev Kale, president and country head, for holidays, MICE and visa, Thomas Cook (India). He said another celestial wonder seeing an uptick in bookings is the White Nights phenomenon, where nearly 24 hours of daylight transforms cities like St Petersburg into vibrant cultural hubs with midnight festivals and illuminated river cruises.

U.S. President Donald Trump threw a curve ball at China by linking the fentanyl issue to his tariffs on imports

The dispute stems from Trump’s earlier steel and aluminum tariffs, prompting the EU to impose levies on $699 million worth of U.S. goods, including bourbon and agricultural products.

White House took a lighthearted turn when President Trump became distracted by JD Vance.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Tata Motors Ltd, India’s largest electric car maker, is considering new petrol and diesel models, besides extending the life of existing fossil fuel-driven variants, as the adoption of battery-powered mobility slows in key markets, including the US and UK. The country's third largest carmaker, in its interaction with analysts on Tuesday, also acknowledged that competition has increased in the EV segment, especially from JSW Group’s MG Windsor in India.

(Bloomberg) — Canada’s second-biggest supermarket company said a boycott of US goods is quickly taking hold in reaction to President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his threats of “economic force” to make the country the 51st US state.

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent — the seventh consecutive reduction — as it finds itself grappling with uncertainty created by United States President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.

Syria kept a central role for Islamic law in a constitutional declaration issued on Thursday which guarantees women's rights and freedom of expression during a five-year transitional period, according to a summary read on TV. The declaration is designed to serve as the foundation for the interim period being led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a Sunni Islamist who spearheaded a lightning offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad from power in December. Islamic jurisprudence will be «the main source» of legislation, according to the summary read out during the signing ceremony. That seemed to differ from the previous constitution which called it «a main source» of legislation. «We have kept Islamic jurisprudence as the primary source of legislation among sources of legislation,» said the summary, read out by a member of the committee which drafted the declaration. Sharaa had appointed the panel less than two weeks ago. Sharaa, who has promised to run Syria in an inclusive way, has been grappling with the biggest test of his leadership in the wake of a wave of sectarian killing in the coastal region, blamed on fighters aligned with his government.

The department store chain's problems reflected the broader struggle faced by American retailers in the light of reduced consumer spending coupled with the uncertainty around President Donald Trump's tariff policy.