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Eiffel Tower welcomed back visitors on Sunday following a temporary closure of six days. The shutdown was a result of employees going on strike, advocating for improved maintenance of the historical landmark and salary increments. The management of the 330-meter (1,083-foot) tower released a statement, affirming resolution with the labor unions representing the workers. The agreement includes a commitment to a substantial investment of «an ambitious 380 million euros (about $412 million) by 2031» for renovation purposes. The maintenance work aims to address concerns about visible traces of rust on the structure. Additionally, salary negotiations were initiated during the week and are expected to conclude next month. The striking employees had insisted on a raise commensurate with the revenue generated from ticket sales.

currency in circulation decelerated to 3.7 per cent for the week ended February 9 from 8.2 per cent a year ago, reflecting the impact of the decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to withdraw Rs 2,000 banknotes. Currency-in-circulation (CiC) refers to notes and coins in circulation, while currency with the public comprises notes and coins in circulation minus cash with banks. According to the RBI, commercial banks have reported double-digit growth in deposits in January, which too can be attributed to withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes. The growth of Reserve Money (RM), as per the RBI data, decelerated to 5.8 per cent as on February 9, 2024 from 11.2 per cent a year ago (8.8 per cent adjusted for the first-round impact of change in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR).

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) emerging as the biggest gainer. Last week, the 30-share BSE Sensex benchmark rose 716.16 points or 0.97 per cent. RIL, ICICI Bank, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), ITC, and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) were among the gainers while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys saw a combined erosion of Rs 38,477.49 crore in market valuation. Reliance Industries added Rs 43,976.96 crore to its market valuation at Rs 20,20,470.88 crore. On Friday, shares of oil-to-telecom conglomerate hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 2,996.15 apiece.

Indian national, who worked as a journalist here, tragically lost his life in a fire incident in an apartment building in Manhattan. Fazil Khan was killed in the fire that broke out in a six-story residential building at 2 St. Nicholas Place in Harlem, Manhattan that left about 17 other people injured. The New York City Fire Department said that its marshals have determined that the «devastating» fire was caused by a lithium-ion battery.

DMK) in Tamil Nadu on Saturday sealed the seat-sharing agreement with its two alliance partners. Weeks after initiating seat-sharing talks with allies for the Lok Sabha elections, an agreement was signed by the Chief Minister and Party president, MK Stalin. DMK's long-time ally, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has been allotted the Ramanathapuram Parliament Constituency.

newer technologies and with better quality radars and the Air Force will sign a new deal with L&T in a couple of days for the same. «This requirement to maintain air defence coverage over the entire country has always been existing. It is one of the major roles of the Air Force. We have had vintage equipment, now the high-power radar and the long-range radars have served us very well for many years. Now, the time has come to move on to newer technologies and better-quality of radars. So this new deal, which we are going to sign with L&T in a couple of days today, will open the way for a completely new technology in ground-based hyper radars,» he said. The Air Chief Marshal was briefed on AI initiatives by the 12 Base Repair Depot for training Agniveers and giving context to the speech.

Congress are part of the Opposition's INDIA bloc. The alliance of over 25 opposition parties was formed in a bid to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming general elections. ALSO READ: AAP-Congress alliance leaves Ahmed Patel's children unhappy – Here's why But will the AAP-Congress alliance be able to beat the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024? Here's a look at how the national capital has fared in the past four general elections.

My Hero Academia Season 7 is set to continue the epic anime saga, promising intense battles and new challenges for Deku and his friends. With the release date confirmed and the cast returning, fans can expect another thrilling season ahead.

transparency and accountability in the electoral process, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar emphasized the importance of voters being informed about the feasibility of the promises made by political parties during elections. He stated that while political parties have the right to make promises in their manifestoes, the electorate has the right to know if these promises are genuine and how they will be funded. However, it is important to note that this matter is currently under judicial consideration. During a press conference, Rajiv Kumar mentioned that the Election Commission has developed a «proforma» to ensure that parties disclose their election promises. However, this aspect of the process is also subject to sub judice.

Government of India on Friday issued a Gazette notification declaring the three new criminal bills namely Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 will be effective from July 1, 2024, with an to revamp the criminal justice system. The three criminal legislations were passed in the Parliament's winter session and received the President's assent on December 25, 2023. In three separate notifications, government announced the enforcement date of the newly enacted laws.

Election Commission of India (ECI) has debunked a fake WhatsApp message circulating about the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. No official dates have been announced yet, and the ECI will do so through a press conference. In a post on X, the Election Commission of India wrote, «A fake message is being shared on WhatsApp regarding schedule for #LokSabhaElections2024. FactCheck: The message is #Fake. No dates have been announced so far by #ECI. Election Schedule is announced by the Commission through a press conference.»

Rajya Sabha candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while the average assets of candidates analysed stood at Rs 127.81 crore, according to poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The ADR and the National Election Watch analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 58 out of the 59 candidates in the fray for 56 seats in 15 states. The Rajya Sabha polls are scheduled for February 27. Congress candidate from Karnataka G C Chandrashekar was omitted from the analysis due to poorly scanned documents. The analysis found that 36 per cent of the scrutinised candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

complaints, including 400 related to land disputes, have been received at government camps in the restive Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal, where the administration is conducting a mass outreach programme to address grievances of locals, officials said. Sandeshkhali Block 2, the epicentre of the violent protests triggered by allegations of land encroachment and sexual misconduct involving local TMC leaders, has contributed the largest share of close to 1,000 complaints. «Since February 18, when government assistance camps commenced operations, the collective tally of applications from Sandeshkhali and adjacent areas has surpassed 1,250, with the majority stemming from Sandeshkhali Block 2,» a senior official of the Basirhat sub-division, which oversees Sandeshkhali, told PTI. According to Arun Kumar Samanta, the BDO of Sandeshkhali Block 2, his office has received over 1,000 complaints.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman experienced the daily commute of millions of Mumbaikars on Saturday, taking a ride on the city's iconic local train. Sharing pictures of her journey from Ghatkopar to Kalyan station, Nirmala Sitharaman Office wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): «Smt @nsitharaman was received by Shri @KapilPatil_, Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, upon her arrival at the Kalyan Railway Station.» The photos show her interacting with fellow passengers, engaging in friendly conversations. This move has been met with mixed reactions from the public.

BJP on Saturday slammed the AAP-Congress alliance in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls and alleged the move «shows Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has lost his connection» with the Delhiites. «Kejriwal's alliance with the Congress shows he has lost his connection with the Delhiites. The AAP knows that rural population, traders and Dalits of Delhi are not with them,» Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said in a statement. «By deciding to ally with the Congress, the Delhi CM who has 62 of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly has shown that he has lost faith of almost half of Delhi,» he added. Sachdeva said the people of Delhi are «shocked to see» the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress forming an electoral alliance and added that, irrespective of the collaboration, the BJP will win all seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi.

Yashasvi Jaiswal on Saturday became only the fifth Indian to score 600 or more runs in a Test series, during the second day's play of the fourth match against England in Ranchi. The left-handed Jaiswal, who made his India debut last year during the tour of the West Indies, achieved the feat in his seventh innings of the ongoing five-match Test series when he took a single off Shoaib Bashir to reach 55 not out during the final session. On a run-making spree, Jaiswal struck two double hundreds in the second and third Tests against England in the ongoing series. The 22-year-old Jaiswal joined Indian batting legends Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid as well as Dilip Sardesai to amass more than 600 runs in a Test series.

Indian warship provided critical assistance to a merchant vessel after it caught fire following a suspected drone or missile attack in the Gulf of Aden, the latest in a series of such support missions in the region. Palau-flagged vessel MV Islander came under attack on Thursday and a crew member of the ship sustained injuries, Indian military officials said on Saturday. An explosive ordnance disposal team of the Navy embarked the vessel and sanitised it for any residual risk following which the vessel was cleared for onward transit, they said. The fresh incident comes amid growing global concerns over attacks on various commercial vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi militants.

Modi has asked his Cabinet ministers to prepare an «actionable, measurable and clearly defined» plan and present it in the meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 3, government sources said on Saturday. It may be noted that Modi in the last Cabinet meeting on February 21 had asked his ministerial colleagues to prepare an action plan for the next 100 days. He has asked them to undertake extensive consultation, including with experienced people like senior bureaucrats, those working on the ground and domain experts, before mapping out their action plan, the sources said.

Odisha government has approved 27 new industrial projects to the tune of Rs 6,134 crore across sectors, a senior official said on Saturday. The proposals got the state government's nod at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary P K Jena on Friday. The potential sectors include aluminium, renewable power, manufacturing, aerospace and defence, food processing, apparel and textiles and IT infrastructure, the official said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has provided insights into the ongoing discussions about seat-sharing possibilities with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal. While confirming discussions, Ramesh talked about the shared goal of strengthening the opposition alliance, INDIA, against the BJP-led NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The alliance discussions between Congress and TMC have encountered challenges, especially after Mamata Banerjee's announcement that TMC would contest alone in West Bengal.

dearness allowance (DA) for central employees by 4 per cent in March, reports said. Post this hike, dearness allowance and dearness relief (DR) will go up to over 50 per cent. The central govt determines the quantum of hike based on the CPI data for industrial workers. The 12-month average is at 392.83. Based on this, DA will come to 50.26 per cent of basic pay. The Labour Bureau, a wing of the Ministry of Labour, publishes the CPI-IW data every month.