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federal employees are soon to receive another email from the Department of Government Efficiency this week, and this time, it could be regarding the same job justification mail that they had received earlier. This email would also ask them to write about their recent job accomplishments but with a tweak, which will see this email come from individual agencies that have direct oversight of career officials, according to an NY Post report.

The agency is implementing strict profiling measures for passengers heading to 15 countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Turkiye, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Senegal, Mauritania, and Kenya. According to a report submitted to the Lahore High Court (LHC) regarding a petition from a pilgrim denied travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, the FIA stated that travelers must possess a clear travel purpose, confirmed hotel bookings, and adequate financial resources. The FIA also mentioned that those traveling for Umrah should have sufficient religious understanding, as reported by Dawn.

Rajesh told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that violence was on the rise, especially among youngsters, and the tendency to resort to violent acts has reached horrific limits. Attributing it to drugs and some other factors, he said the issue needs to be viewed comprehensively by also taking into account the mental health problems prevailing in society.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For years, mourners and members of Russia’s pro-democracy movement have flocked to a bridge near the Kremlin each February to remember Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician who was shot dead there in 2015. This week, at the 10th anniversary of the killing, a far smaller crowd turned out, with the leading lights of the opposition either dead or driven into exile.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The U.S. economy has proved pessimists wrong so many times, it’s tempting to think nothing can stop it.

GST collections grow 9.1 pc to about Rs 1.84 lakh crore in February. GST collections for January reached Rs 1.96 lakh crore, marking a 12.3% increase compared to the same period last year. In December, GST collections stood at Rs 1.77 lakh crore, reflecting a 7.3% year-on-year rise. This was a slowdown from the 8.5% growth recorded in November, attributed to reduced consumption following the festive season.

moon marking the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, official media said on Friday. The «world-first» innovation puts a new twist on a centuries-old tradition where people scan the skies for the first glimpse of the newly visible moon. «The use of AI-powered drones extends the concept of direct visual observation, which remains the primary method for confirming the sighting of the crescent moon,» the WAM news agency said, citing the UAE Council for Fatwa.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's visit to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's Isha yoga centre in Tamil Nadu for Mahashivaratri celebrations has refused to die down with leaders in the state Congress unit sharply divided over the issue. Cooperative Minister K N Rajanna questioned the justification behind Shivakumar sharing the stage with those who have been critical of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. «Sadhguru had himself said he does not know Rahul Gandhi. Isn't it? He (Shivakumar) knows better than me what people speak about our leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. Let him answer how justified it is to share stage with such people,» Rajanna told media in Hassan. However, former MP D K Suresh backed his brother, saying Shivakumar has always kept the party informed before attending any event.

Trump's initiative to slash spending, media outlets reported. It came a week after Elon Musk, the billionaire appointed by Trump to downsize the government, engineered a first mass email to the federal government's two million employees, ordering them to justify their work or risk being fired. The message, sent from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the government's HR department, had created confusion among an already anxious workforce, as multiple federal agencies told staff to ignore it.

Midcap stocks got hammered through February falling by as much as 30% as investors scurried to book profits or cut losses. The low-key sentiments on D-Street were on account of both the global and local factors. While Donald Trump's threats on reciprocal tariffs and fears of US economic slowdown weighed on the markets, nearly a third of the midcaps missing their Q3FY25 estimates and valuations were among local factors that pulled the pack. The BSE Midcap index fell by 4,500 points or 10% in February and this week's decline was more prominent as the 132-stock index plunged 4.4% or nearly 1,800 points. In this, 123 stocks ended the month in the red while just 9 stocks managed a positive closing.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey assumed charge as the 11th chairman of capital markets regulator Sebi on Saturday. Pandey, a career bureaucrat who was serving as the Finance Secretary till now, was appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) by the government on Thursday. He replaces Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year tenure ended on Friday. Buch, who is reportedly unwell, was not present when Pandey arrived. Dressed in a dark blue blazer and a striped shirt, Pandey arrived at the Sebi headquarters in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district on Saturday afternoon.

White House clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Donald Trump divided the U.S. president's fellow Republicans and dimmed prospects that Congress will approve any further aid for Kyiv in its war with Russia. Some Republicans who had long supported Ukraine lashed out at Zelenskiy after Friday's exchange, in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian leader before the world's media, accusing him of disrespect. Senator Lindsey Graham called for Zelenskiy to change his tune or resign, just hours after attending a friendly meeting between Zelenskiy and a dozen senators.

ballot papers does not fall under the ambit of the joint committee of Parliament examining the two bills on simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, the Union law ministry is learnt to have said. Reverting to the ballot paper system was a «suggestion» made by some of the members of the joint committee and the law ministry was to respond to it in writing. While the ministry's Legislative Department gave elaborate responses to a variety of questions posed to it by the committee, it did not give a direct reply on the suggestion on the ballot paper system. The ministry is learnt to have said that the suggestion on the use of the ballot paper system was «out of scope» of the parliamentary panel.

Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said several innovations have been made for the Ahmedabad railway station redevelopment project, and special care is being taken to ensure that the facility's design reflects the city's rich heritage. Vaishnaw, who reviewed the redevelopment project, said architectural elements inspired by the city's heritage, such as the 'Jhulta Minar' (swaying minaret), kite festival, etc, will be incorporated into the design. He said this approach was in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to preserve the cultural fabric of modern India. The redevelopment is a part of the Indian Railways' ambitious Amrut Bharat station project, which aims to transform over 1,300 railway stations across the country.

Suresh Gopi on Saturday said he would convey the demands of the ASHA workers, who have been protesting seeking an increase in their honorarium and the provision of retirement benefits, to the central government. Speaking to reporters after visiting the protest venue in front of the Secretariat, Gopi, the Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism, said their agitation should not be undermined. «No one should belittle the cooperative system of any political ideology by ultimately dismissing it. Many political systems have harmed the people, and all of that will be brought to light,» he added. He also stated that if ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers feel insecure, he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Health Minister. Gopi pointed out that since ASHA is a centrally sponsored scheme, it was designed with specific criteria, which the Prime Minister could be requested to review.

The affected families have been relocated to safer places and restoration works are in progress, said Kangra Deputy Commissioner, Hem Raj. One person was reported missing near Shiva Hydropower project in Palampur and search operations have been launched to trace him, officials said on Saturday.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday asked civil accounts services officials to work towards making the government's annual accounts more approachable and user-friendly. Addressing the 49th Civil Accounts Day event here, Sitharaman lauded the Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) officers, led by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) for the «silent technological revolution» in which states are finding a lot more ease of operation and ease of getting their government business done by adopting the public financial management system (PFMS). «I would also like you to examine, in consultation with the CAG, whether it would be possible to make the annual accounts more approachable and user-friendly and allow citizens to analyse easily and generate customisable and simpler reports,» Sitharaman said. She said that since a lot of digital integration has already taken place with the states, more research can be carried out based on the data set available with the CGA. «If you're able to make the report a lot more user-friendly, that itself can generate a lot of interest in the work that you do,» the Minister said.

Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home on 26 February 2025. Their bodies were found by maintenance workers, leading to a growing mystery surrounding their deaths. Authorities believe Hackman may have died on or around 17 February, based on readings from his pacemaker, though the exact cause remains undetermined.

Rupee against the dollar, says a report by Union Bank of India. In the first two months of 2025, the Indian rupee has already depreciated more than half the depreciation happened in all of 2024. By February 28 the Rupee has depreciated by 1.8 per cent against USD, this decline is already more than the 1.5 per cent depreciation seen in 2023 and nearly half of the 3 per cent depreciation recorded in 2024. The report said «change in stance of RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra who stated that the central bank is open to more flexible rupee and will allow it to move freely in tandem with its local peers as against former RBI governor Das who favoured a very stable rupee against the US dollar is also putting pressure on rupee».

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON : President Trump said he would take one more question—and then everything fell apart. It had been a relatively polite Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Washington on a mission to secure the U.S.’s continued support in the effort to end Russia’s three-year-old war.