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 Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the principal winner in the biennial Legislative Council elections, capturing 13 of 28 Graduate and Teacher seats across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. While the BJP maintained dominance in Western UP and swept three seats in Karnataka, the Samajwadi Party scored key urban victories by retaining both Varanasi seats, the ruling Congress drew a complete blank in Karnataka, and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party opened its account in Bihar’s Upper House by defeating Congress veteran Madan Mohan Jha in Darbhanga.
Dalal Street closed in the green for a second consecutive session on Friday, with the BSE Sensex advancing 308.49 points to 74,459.53 and the Nifty 50 rising 116.35 points to 23,053.10, sealing a near 2% weekly gain. Frontline strength was spearheaded by a 2.2% bounce in Nifty IT and earnings-led rallies in Trent and IndiGo, offsetting broad risk-off selling that sent smallcaps down 1.85% amid Brent crude spiking to $117.40 and rising expectations of a December US Federal Reserve rate hike.
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.