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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Xi Jinping had just finished a lunch of herbed-ricotta ravioli at a secluded estate outside San Francisco in 2023 when his security agents sprang into action.Their mission: ensuring no trace of the Chinese leader’s DNA fell into foreign hands. The agents—measuring about 6-foot-3, dressed in identical dark suits—were observed grabbing Xi’s utensils and plate and spraying them with an unidentified liquid.Welcome to the unseen theater of great-power diplomacy, where a meeting of the two most powerful leaders on earth can hinge on the slightest missed protocol, an unexpected miscue or even a bit of saliva left on a fork.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.At the same hotel where then-President Ronald Reagan was shot 45 years ago, it was remarkably easy for a shooter to charge toward a ballroom where President Trump—along with his cabinet members and the reporters who cover his administration—were dining Saturday night.The sprawling Washington Hilton, located about 1½ miles north of the White House, for decades has been home to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because of its capacity to host a large crowd and the Secret Service’s familiarity with securing it. More than 2,500 people attended the event, including five of the top six officials in the presidential line of succession.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Acko General Insurance Ltd has appointed investment banks for an initial public offering in India that could value the startup at up to $2 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter.The Bengaluru-based company has selected ICICI Securities Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, and the India unit of Morgan Stanley to manage the share sale, one of the persons said, asking not to be identified because the information is not yet public.Mint had reported on 14 December 2025 that the General Atlantic- and Multiples-backed insurtech firm was preparing for an offer that could raise $300–400 million.The offering is expected to include a mix of a fresh issue of shares and an offer for sale by existing investors, the second person confirmed.Mint has reached out to Acko, ICICI Securities, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, and Morgan Stanley India for comment.Acko intends to file its draft prospectus through the confidential pre-filing route before the end of this calendar year, the third person said.Under regulations introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the confidential filing mechanism allows companies to undergo regulatory review without immediately disclosing detailed financials and business strategies. It also gives issuers the flexibility to withdraw the offering without public disclosure if market conditions deteriorate.The IPO push comes as Acko reports improving financial metrics.For the fiscal year ended March 2025, the company posted revenue of ₹2,837 crore, up 35% year-on-year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Two months into the West Asia war, a conflict that triggered the world's greatest energy crisis, second- and third-order effects are surfacing everywhere, from falling fertilizer output and shortage of Coke cans to rising condom prices. This is a grim reminder of how deeply economic activity is tethered to crude oil and its derivatives.Beyond its role as a fuel source, crude oil serves as a vital feedstock for manufacturing over 6,000 products.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The steep hike in securities transaction tax (STT) effective 1 April is beginning to eat into index futures and options volumes, analysts said. In 16 trading sessions on NSE through 24 April, the average daily turnover (ADT) of Nifty and Bank Nifty futures plunged 33% from a similar period in March to ₹24,860 crore, a development analysts attribute primarily to the tax increase.The Union budget for 2026-27 raised STT on equity futures by 150% to 0.05% on notional turnover, and on equity options by 50% to 0.15% on premium turnover.The other factor seen to have a smaller impact is the uncertainty whipped up by the West Asia war.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is moving fast on clean energy. Solar capacity is rising, electric vehicle (EV) sales are climbing and green hydrogen is now part of official strategy. But beneath this momentum sits a less visible constraint in the form of the materials required to build this future.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In 2023 things were not looking good for Justin Sun, a billionaire crypto-mogul. The Securities and Exchange Commission had accused him of fraud. The regulator claimed that the companies he founded and controlled had issued unregistered securities (two crypto tokens, Tron and BitTorrent); had manipulated the markets in those securities by “wash trading” to make the tokens look active and useful; and had paid celebrities to endorse them without disclosing they were being compensated.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MINING A CRYPTOCURRENCY can be an expensive business. Producing new coins, also known as tokens, can require computers to solve cryptographic puzzles, which takes large amounts of power. One way to keep costs down is to relocate mines to wherever electricity is cheapest.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Steel companies are set to post a strong March quarter (Q4FY26), thanks to firm demand and higher prices after hitting multi-year lows in November 2025. Will this momentum continue in the coming months?Mint breaks down why this rally in prices is expected to decline starting mid-May.Steel prices began rising around mid-December, driven initially by higher coking coal costs, and continued to gain through the quarter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The government’s decision to reopen wheat exports in February after nearly four years—and then scaling up the quota from 2.5 million tonnes to 5 million—comes as India sits on a comfortable surplus. The move aims to ease excess supply and support farm prices without hurting food security. But how do exports lift farmer incomes, and can this be done without stoking inflation? Mint explains.Because there is more wheat in the system than the country currently needs.

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi/Mumbai: Regulatory approvals in Europe for Tata Motors Ltd’s $4.4 billion acquisition of Iveco are running behind schedule, potentially pushing the closure of its largest-ever buyout past the April-June target, according to two persons in the know.Pending clearances from the European Central Bank and the European Commission could delay revenue recognition and integration plans, adding near-term uncertainty even as the company continues to engage with regulators for an early closure.“Approvals from European Central Bank and European Competition Commission are still pending, which should have come a couple of months back. The deal is running behind schedule,” one of the persons mentioned above said on the condition of anonymity.In a 12 February presentation to investors, Iveco had noted that the timeline proposed by Tata Motors suggested all regulatory approvals should be in place by the end of the March quarter.After all regulatory approvals come through, Tata’s offer will be submitted to Italy’s securities market regulator Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (Consob), following which the offer will be formally launched.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is looking to strengthen the social security net for informal workers amid rising living costs for retirees. Under the plan, the finance ministry, in consultation with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), is considering doubling the assured pension ceiling under the flagship Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to up to ₹10,000 a month, according to three people aware of the discussions.The proposal aims to boost fresh enrolments as well as retention in a scheme that now has 90 million subscribers but faces high drop-offs.Launched in May 2015, the pension scheme focuses on informal sector workers and currently provides a guaranteed monthly pension of ₹1,000-5,000 after the age of 60 years, depending on the subscriber’s contribution slab.With nearly half the enrolled subscribers discontinuing contributions over time, the government is examining a long pending demand to enhance the pension cap to up to ₹10,000 per month to make the scheme more attractive and aligned with rising living costs, according to the people cited above.The scheme's gross enrolments in FY26 crossed 13.5 million, the highest ever in a single fiscal year since its launch.“The government and the PFRDA are examining options to enhance the upper pension cap to around ₹8,000– ₹10,000 per month, aiming to make the scheme more attractive and aligned with rising living costs,” said one of the people cited above, requesting anonymity.Under the scheme's structure, the government provided a co-contribution in the initial years for subscribers enrolled before 31 March 2016.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.IN THE RUN-UP to Israel’s independence day, the motorway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is always festooned with flags. But this year, between the blue-and-white Israeli pennants hangs a another kind of star-spangled banner: that of America. Israel’s government had hoped that Donald Trump, the American president, would arrive on April 22nd to celebrate the 78th anniversary of its independence.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU: HCL Technologies Ltd’s (HCLTech) weak growth outlook and client-specific challenges triggered a sharp investor selloff a day after its earnings announcement.Shares of the country’s third-largest IT services company fell nearly 9.5% to ₹1,304 on Wednesday, marking their steepest intra-day decline in over a decade, according to a Mint analysis.The reaction puts HCLTech alongside Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Wipro Ltd, whose shares also declined after recent earnings, as all three companies flagged growth pressures with two of them ending the last fiscal year with a revenue decline.HCLTech clocked a 5.95% year-on-year rise in revenue to $14.66 billion for FY26, beating Bloomberg estimates, but net profit fell 4.05% to $1.96 billion. TCS and Wipro, meanwhile, reported revenue declines of 0.54% and 0.32%, underscoring the broader slowdown across large IT services firms.Despite the topline growth, investors focused on HCLTech’s miss on its full-year guidance and a weaker outlook for FY27, which drove the selloff.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: The West Asia war is likely to have a limited impact on India’s economy and although inflation could accelerate from the level in March, it will stay within the central bank’s tolerance range, S. Mahendra Dev, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said in an interview.The economy is likely to expand 7% this year, and the Iran war has re-emphasized the need for faster diversification of energy sources, Dev said.Atmanirbharta or self-reliance is at the centre of India’s strategy to navigate a global environment riddled with economic choke points, Dev said.Dev said the economy’s resilience in the face of headwinds generated by the West Asia war could be demonstrated by the narrowing of India’s trade deficit to $20.67 billion in March.“This shows that the impact of the war is being mitigated by a good export performance to a diversified set of markets.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If I gave you a choice between something that is 60-70% true and something that is an outright lie, which one would you prefer? It is normal to think that having a reasonable amount of truth in what is being said would be better than a complete untruth, but you would be mistaken. Why?“Something that’s true but incomplete might be more dangerous than something that’s wrong, as a little truth is a fuel for a lot of overconfidence,” said Morgan Housel.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: The financial year ended on March was expected to be another record-breaking year for India's corporate bond fundraising. However, the debt market lost momentum following a sharp rise in yields, and a shift in supply and demand dynamics.Funds raised through private placement of listed corporate bonds fell 9% year-on-year to ₹8.99 trillion in FY26, according to data by the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Billionbrains Garage Ventures Ltd (Groww) shares jumped over 10% on Tuesday during trading hours, hitting a new high of ₹216.75 apiece. Investors seem excited about better revenue growth prospects for FY27, aided by a slightly softer base.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Traditional computers store information in bits. Quantum computers operate very differently. They use qubits, a whole new information architecture that leverages a quantum property called superposition, which allows them to occupy multiple states simultaneously.Quantum machines are no faster at ordinary tasks—the laptop on your desk will probably outperform them at writing documents or running spreadsheets.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Throughout the war in Iran most investors have bet that an economic catastrophe would not take place. Oil and gas prices would need to rise to the stratosphere to destroy demand for the fuel that flows through the Strait of Hormuz. That would cause recession and high inflation.