FEATURE STORY
British author, former Conservative politician, and peer Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86. A master of personal reinvention whose real-life trajectory traversed parliamentary prominence, catastrophic bankruptcy, global bestseller fame, and a sensational perjury conviction, Archer penned international blockbusters including ‘Kane and Abel’ and sold over 300 million books worldwide before passing away on the eve of the publication of his final novel.
Sonia Gandhi has long occupied the centre of Indian politics while revealing little about herself. She has been most ubiquitous and elusive for three decades.
Ladakh’s newly created districts have finally received their own Autonomous Hill Development Councils—an institutional shift expected to bring governance and development closer to every remote corner of the Himalayan region. Until now, decentralised administration in Ladakh functioned only through the two principal councils based in Leh and Kargil. “With the extension of this framework to all seven districts, Ladakh enters a new phase of grassroots empowerment,” said an official.
The Congress failed to open its account in the by-elections held for 28 Legislative Council seats across four states, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mock the opposition party with a sharp taunt and an emoji.
Indian benchmark equity indices closed lower for a second straight day on Wednesday, with the BSE Sensex dropping 352.64 points to 73,246.03 and the Nifty 50 down 50.90 points to 22,698.85. A morning slide of nearly 1,000 points on the Sensex—triggered by Brent crude rebounding above $115 following Houthi strike claims on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery—was partially offset by a 4% surge in Larsen & Toubro on record Q2 earnings and strong auto demand, even as tech stocks dragged.
Legendary Hollywood actress Eva Marie Saint, who won an Academy Award for her film debut opposite Marlon Brando in ‘On the Waterfront’ and dazzled as Cary Grant’s co-star in Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’, has died at the age of 102. Renowned for prioritizing her family over studio contracts while delivering intense, critically acclaimed dramatic performances, Saint remained one of the final living bridges to cinema’s Golden Age.