Author: Rahul M

Since the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal passed the Revocation of West Bengal Incentive Schemes and Obligations in the Nature of Grants and Incentives Act, 2025, at least six major industrial houses have knocked on the doors of the Calcutta High Court, calling the law “unconstitutional”.Passed by the state Assembly in April, the Act withdraws all incentives granted to industries since 1993, effective retrospectively from the date of implementation of each scheme. Industrial majors, including UltraTech Cement, Electrosteel Casting Limited, Grasim Industries, Nuvoco Vistas, and Dalmia Cement, are among those who have appealed in the High…

OUISTREHAM, France (AP) — The captain of the giant Royal Navy battleship called his officers together to give them a first morsel of one of World War II’s most closely guarded secrets: Prepare yourselves, he said, for “an extremely important task.”“Speculations abound,” one of the officers wrote in his diary that day — June 2, 1944. “Some say a second front, some say we are to escort the Soviets, or doing something else around Iceland. No one is allowed ashore.”The secret was D-Day — the June 6, 1944, invasion of Nazi-occupied France with the world’s largest-ever sea, land and air…

Charting a separate path from the INDIA bloc again, the NCP (SP) has decided to be a part of the Joint Committee of Parliament set up to discuss the three Bills which propose automatic disqualification of ministers, including the Prime Minister, if they have been in jail for a consecutive 30 days on serious charges.The NCP (SP) insists that not much be read into the decision, and that it is in line with party supremo Sharad Pawar taking an independent line on issues. However, ahead of the Bihar elections, a division within the ranks is hardly the message the Opposition…

There are certainly plenty of confusing moments to be found in the 2014 epic sci-fi blockbuster “Interstellar.” It is a Christopher Nolan movie, after all. But even if you struggle to keep up with the time-hopping, galaxy spanning story, it probably won’t affect how you feel about the movie’s most powerful scene. In it, we see Joseph “Coop” Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) watch over 20 years of messages his children recorded as they grew up without him while he was lost in space. While initially happy to see his kids, Coop quickly falls apart as he gradually…

Focus Features Yorgos Lanthimos is a patient filmmaker. It might not feel that way from a distance, looking at his larger body of work, but the key to his success as a director of strange, darkly comic, often harrowing films is his willingness to sit through the quiet moments with his characters. Whether you’re watching “The Favourite” or “Dogtooth” or “Poor Things,” you will find these quiet moments, these carefully placed cinematic ellipses, and each time they reveal something. Lanthimos’ patience serves him well in many ways, but the most…

POZA RICA, Mexico (AP) — The stench of decay spread for several miles around Poza Rica on Wednesday, one of the areas hardest hit by last week’s torrential rains that flooded central and eastern Mexico.In the center of this oil-producing city near the Gulf of Mexico, a lingering cloud of dust hovered over the main avenue where soldiers worked nonstop. Farther east, near the Cazones River — which overflowed on Friday — several streets still lay under 3 feet (1 meter) of water and mud, topped by another 6 feet (2 meters) of piled-up trash, furniture, and debris.“A week later,…

A24 A24’s first in-house production, “Moonlight,” cost just $1.5 million to make. That pricetag reflected how the company (founded four years earlier in 2012) had to be choosy on where and when it invested in its money. It was a move that worked, as “Moonlight” then became the company’s first major financial and critical success. Cut to almost a decade later and A24 is a cinematic empire. The label has launched major hits like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Hereditary” while still funding in-house projects. The increasing ambitions of A24 means that the…

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela, according to U.S. officials, stepping up a campaign against Nicolás Maduro, the country’s authoritarian leader.The authorization is the latest step in the Trump administration’s intensifying pressure campaign against Venezuela. For weeks, the U.S. military has been targeting boats off the Venezuelan coast it says are transporting drugs, killing 27 people. U.S. officials have been clear, privately, that the end goal is to drive Maduro from power. The new authority would allow the CIA to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela and conduct a range…

From being hit with punitive tariffs on Liberation Day to being selected by one of the world’s biggest tech companies to build its next generation of smart home devices, Vietnam is having a moment. Its economy grew more than 8% last quarter, exports are running hot and the country just clinched a long-awaited promotion to emerging-market status from FTSE Russell — a move that could bring billions of dollars in new capital.Now Apple Inc. is joining the rush, preparing to manufacture its first smart home hubs and even future household robots in the Southeast Asian nation. It’s the clearest signal yet…

Rayonier agreed to buy Spokane-headquartered PotlatchDeltic in an all-stock deal valued at about $3.4 billion that would create one of the largest publicly traded timber and wood products companies in North America.The deal, which will create a new company with 4.2 million acres of land across 11 states including Washington, comes as the Trump administration has implemented tariffs to support an industry struggling with low prices amid weak housing and construction markets.Under terms of the deal, PotlatchDeltic holders will receive 1.7339 shares of Rayonier for each of their shares, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. That would imply a…