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Dune: Part Two's global success, AMC has taken a distinctive approach to celebrate the movie's triumph by introducing a limited edition Dune popcorn bucket. While the film itself needed no additional promotion, this peculiar merchandise has become a viral sensation, sparking discussions and creating a buzz on social media platforms.

In 1919, Max Weber delivered a lecture titled “Politics as a Vocation," in which he argued for the first time that the state has a monopoly over the use of physical force. He was looking for a way to justify the state’s use of force and chose to do so by elevating it to the level of a crucial feature of the social contract. In those days, authority was manifest through tangible expressions of control—institutions like the police and military, and coercive constructs like laws and regulations.

By Simon Jessop, Isla Binnie and Ross Kerber

By Stephanie Kelly

By Jaspreet Singh and Aditya Soni

Delhi government's new scheme, Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, which promises ₹1,000 per month to women above 18 years of age is not «revdi» (freebie) but a social welfare initiative aimed at empowering women and boosting economic liquidity, Delhi finance minister Atishi has said. Speaking to ET, Atishi said AAP government's schemes had been criticised as «revdi» by political opponents but the state government was utilising taxes paid by the people for their welfare. «If we can run the government in fiscal surplus and also give the citizens of Delhi everything (free electricity, water, healthcare and education), why shouldn't we? What is bothering the opponents so much? Atishi presented the Budget 2024-25 on Monday, announcing the programme for women over 18 who are not income-tax payers, have a government employment, or get a pension. According to Delhi government estimates, 45-50 lakh women out of 67 lakh women voters will be eligible under this initiative.

India and the UK are in the final stages of negotiating a free trade agreement with time running out as New Delhi gets ready to hold general elections in the next two months. A team of British trade negotiators is visiting New Delhi to iron out differences on India's demand for more visas for its workers and a social security agreement, and UK's asks for access in India's government procurement and inking a bilateral investment treaty before a trade pact. Officials said most talks have been completed at the negotiator level and a final decision on signing the FTA now rests with the two governments.

ALSO READ: Instagram, Facebook down globally: Meta 'working' to solve issue as users flag call to 'log in again, change password' According to details, the disruptions started around 8:30 pm on Tuesday, with 'Log in again; session expired; couldn't refresh feed', were some of the messages that popped up while using the Facebook and Instagram apps. Outage tracking website Downdetector.com also revealed that Meta Platforms' Facebook and Instagram were down for tens of thousands of users on Tuesday. According to outage tracking website Downdetector.com, there were 31,493 reports of outage on Instagram app at 9.23 pm, while 24,193 reports for Facebook at 9.09 pm.

YouTube and social networks Facebook and Instagram faced problems in logging into their accounts in several parts of the world, including India. Users turned to another social network X, WhatsApp and other online portals to report network outages faced while connecting to Google and Meta-owned platforms.

After Instagram and Facebook, YouTube users report video streaming site ‘not working’ Internet traffic observer Down Detector reported a massive outage on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms, while London-based internet monitoring firm Netblocks said on X that four Meta platforms -- Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads -- were “currently experiencing outages related to login sessions in multiple countries." In its response, Meta's head communications Andy Stone said in a post on X that the company was “aware people are having trouble accessing our services" and they were "working on this now." The services were resumed after a while. Meta's status dashboard showed the application programming interface for WhatsApp Business was also facing issues.

By Promit Mukherjee

Gurugram, renowned as the Millennium City, has long dominated NCR’s office and residential landscape, where modern India works and lives. However, suburban regions like Manesar, Bhiwadi and Sohna Road are now offering serious competition driven by affordable housing and buoyant commercial activity. For real estate investors in 2024, weighing rental yields across zones is key to identifying assets with maximum appreciation potential.

OurCrowd said on Tuesday its new artificial intelligence (AI) fund was collaborating with Nvidia to fast track some of its AI startups into the Nvidia Inception programme. Inception helps startups evolve faster through cutting-edge technology, connecting with venture capitalists, and having access to the latest technical resources and tools from Nvidia.

ALSO READ: IPL 2024: Will MS Dhoni retire this year? CSK skipper's childhood friend drops major update Earlier, his childhood friend Paramjit Singh, who helped MS Dhoni in the foundational years of his career, had said that Dhoni will play at least one more season after IPL 2024. "I do not think this will be his (Dhoni’s) last season. He is still fit.

By Nicolás Misculin and Miguel Lo Bianco

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has made audio and video calling capabilities available to all users, not just those with paid accounts

An online protest campaign exposing corruption has rattled government officials and others in Uganda, where street protests are practically outlawed

Modi ka Parivar (Modi’s family)" to their social media handles soon after PM Modi said at a rally in Telangana’s Adilabad that the people of the country love him like a “member" of their family. “And that is why I say 140 crore people of this country are my family... Crores of daughters, mothers and sisters… all the poor people in the country....are my family.

HCL Group has invested Rs 166 crore to acquire a minority stake in education software company Educational Initiatives (Ei) This is a part of the secondary stake sale, where HCL Group has acquired a portion of the stake held by Mumbai-based private equity firm Gaja Capital in Ei.

Prakash Ambedkar who heads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has raised questions on the credibility of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance saying that the parties in the opposition alliance especially the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction of the Sena were not willing to give it in writing that they would not join hands with the BJP after the Lok Sabha results. Ambedkar revealed this in a letter to Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar, leader Jitendra Awhad which he posted on ‘X’ social media. According to Ambedkar during the meeting of the Maharashtra opposition leaders, he had suggested that to increase confidence among the voters, a written undertaking should be given to the voters by all the leaders of the opposition alliance that they would not join the BJP in a post poll scenario. Ambedkar wrote, “Your party representative was silent when I had suggested that we give a written undertaking to the voter that after the elections there would be no understanding with the BJP/RSS.”

Technological innovations are not merely about efficiency or progress but are deeply intertwined with the dynamics of power and control. Few discussions are as thought-provoking as those on the politics embedded within technological artefacts. An intricate dance is observable between tech advancements and their socio-political ramifications.