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.
Three Christian families in Patlapur village in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district were subjected to a three-day ordeal of mob violence, sexual assault threats, and forced Hindu rituals at a local Durga Puja pandal by individuals reportedly affiliated with the Bajrang Dal. The Chandrakona police have lodged an FIR against 13 named accused on charges including attempt to murder and outraging a woman’s modesty, placing a security watch outside the victims’ homes as civil rights bodies raise alarms over the lack of arrests.
Dalal Street staged an afternoon turnaround on Tuesday, with the BSE Sensex advancing 1,109.10 points to 73,033.78 and the Nifty 50 rallying 358.60 points to 22,721.95. A 5% surge across IT counters—sparked by HCLTech’s margin expansion and strong Q2 earnings beat—coupled with a strengthening rupee at 95.28 following the RBI’s specialized OMC dollar window and hints of a capital gains tax review, helped domestic equities decouple from a broader sell-off across Asian bourses.
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.