Karex, the Malaysian company that makes roughly one in five of the world's condoms -- about five billion a year, supplying Durex and Trojan among others -- announced this week that it is raising prices by up to 30 percent. The reason is the Strait of Hormuz.
The investigation into Sheena Bora's murder, and, later, the case, leans heavily on the half-burnt body found in rural Maharashtra in 2012. Therefore, the very strange and notable differences -- like the Case Of The Rising Skeleton -- between both postmortems/their reports done on it have a critical bearing.
Police in Delhi are investigating after a decomposed body was found inside a plastic bag near a factory in Moti Nagar. The body is of an unidentified man, and the cause of death is currently unknown.
The intriguing bit is that Trump is likely to attend the talks in Islamabad this weekend -- if he does, it will be the clearest signal yet that the US is ready to exit the war with some sort of win to show, since he cannot afford to go for the talks and return empty-handed, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War
Delhi Police have arrested two members of a gang known as the 'Doodh Chor' (Milk Thief) gang after a video surfaced online showing them stealing dairy products. The accused are linked to multiple thefts of milk and curd in the Uttam Nagar area.
Sooraj Barjatya's daughter Eesha Barjatya got married to Abhishek Kothari recently, and their wedding reception was a star-studded one.
A 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed and another person injured during a dispute in the Santacruz West area of Mumbai. Police are searching for the suspect, Faizan, who is accused of murder and other offences.
The cost of the war is being counted not in the corridors of power in Washington or Tehran, but in Firozabad's darkened furnace rooms, Howrah's idle casting sheds, and a barbershop in Kochi where the wait is suddenly, inexplicably, an hour long, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang emphasized the importance of public trust as the true strength of the police force, urging officers to serve with compassion and integrity.
The ceasefire is still technically holding, to the extent that no overt hostilities have been reported yet, but the rhetoric has hardened dangerously. The week ahead will also clarify whether the Islamabad failure was a negotiating tactic or whether Washington has genuinely locked itself into a position from which the only exits are climb-down, escalation, or the slow bleed of a new status quo that nobody chose and nobody controls. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
Ginny Wedss Sunny 2 actor Avinash Tiwary and Medha Shankr are optimistic about their film's appeal to family audiences, addressing the current scarcity of family-friendly Hindi cinema.
Delhi Police dismantled an organised inter-state drug network, arresting four people and apprehending a juvenile, while seizing psychotropic substances worth over Rs 4.5 crore.
A police inspector in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, died suddenly while on duty, with officials suspecting a cardiac arrest. The inspector was deployed for examination duty at the police lines when he fell ill and was declared dead at a medical college.
The core issues to be settled -- access to Hormuz, Israel's aggression in Lebanon, the question of Iran's nuclear programme, sanctions relief and compensation -- are thorny enough to require weeks of patient negotiation. The most likely outcome of the opening sessions is that both sides take the measure of each other, establish what is and is not negotiable, and return home without having broken anything. That would count as progress.
The Enforcement Directorate has restored assets worth over 15,000 crore to a Supreme Court-appointed committee for distribution to investors defrauded in the PACL (Pearls Group) Ponzi scheme.
Costume designer Eka Lakhani, known for films like Mardaani 3, Dunki, Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, Shershaah, The Sky Is Pink, NH 10 and many more, got married to Sitaare Zameen Par Producer Ravi Bhagchandka at St Regis in Mumbai on March 14, followed by the reception the next day.
Petitions have been filed in the Patna High Court challenging the election of 45 members of the Bihar legislative assembly, including Speaker Prem Kumar.
The delegations from the US and Iran head to Islamabad on Friday, carrying a ceasefire that is already fraying, a Strait that is technically open and practically closed, and a negotiating agenda that would challenge even parties actually negotiating in good faith, which these groups are not. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
By all available indications, the White House drafted a face-saving note and handed it, ready-made, to Islamabad. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was supposed to then post it in the guise of a plea urging Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks 'to allow diplomacy to run its course'. Trump would then graciously accept Pakistan's 'request' and declare a ceasefire. Sharif dutifully posted the message on X. Except that he, or whoever was handling the account, forgot to delete the tell-tale first line visible in the edit history: 'Draft - Pakistan's PM Message on X'. Prem Panicker's must read blog on the Iran War.
Trump may strike. He may announce productive talks and extend again. He may do both at the same time. Iran will not open the Strait on someone else's terms, so no matter what happens, that problem will remain unsolved. And the IRGC will still be collecting its $2 million toll from every ship bold enough to ask permission to pass.
Much, much, much before Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani fussed over What Jhumka, Asha Bhosle trilled in her alluring voice and teased us with tantalising details about the events leading to her precious Jhumka's loss.
The 'rescue' operation occurred within kilometres of Iran's underground tunnel complex at Isfahan, assessed by the IAEA and US intelligence as holding a substantial portion of the country's 60 per cent enriched uranium stockpile. Retired senior US military officers have highlighted that the mission's footprint -- hundreds of special operators, multiple heavy-lift aircraft deep inside Iran -- appears outsized for recovering a single airman. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met in Islamabad in what analysts say is the formal opening of a new diplomatic formation that could reshape the post-war regional order. Their immediate goal is a ceasefire; their larger ambition is to ensure that neither Iran nor Israel emerges from this war in a dominant position. Pakistan's foreign minister then flew directly to Beijing and mooted a Chinese role as guarantor of any eventual agreement. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
It now has become clear that he will have to quit his post.
An advocate has filed a complaint with the CBFC seeking a ban on the song Sarke Chunar Teri Sarke, alleging obscenity and harmful content for minors.
One of the reasons for Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor's break-up was reported as family pressure.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
A Delhi court acquitted two men accused of vandalism and arson during the 2020 Delhi riots, citing unreliable police witness testimonies and the prosecution's failure to examine a key public witness.
The purge in Washington does not pause the war. Strikes continue, Hormuz remains closed, and Brent crude is still dancing around $109 a barrel. For India, the command chaos in the Pentagon is another layer of uncertainty piled on five weeks of conflict that was already straining every buffer Delhi has.
This weekend, Donald Trump has begun to say the quiet part out loud -- that he wants to take control of Iran's oil, a formulation more in line with his robber-baron style of international relations.
'The next two to three weeks will not be decided in Washington.' 'They will be decided in Tehran, in whatever calculation Iran makes about the costs of continued resistance against the costs of appearing to have yielded.'
The BJP has criticised Rahul Gandhi for his delayed response to the killing of a 26-year-old man in Uttam Nagar, Delhi, accusing him of hypocrisy and pandering to vote bank politics. BJP leaders allege Gandhi is attempting to whitewash the incident and protect the perpetrators.
Nine individuals, including a government medical officer and four police officers, have been arrested in Jalgaon for allegedly conspiring to fraudulently claim insurance money by faking a road accident death.
The United States, which entered this war in expectation of a short, sharp win along the Venezuela model, is now preparing for deeper involvement in a conflict it does not fully control, without the allies it typically relies on, against an adversary that is not behaving as expected, in a global environment that is already absorbing economic shock. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
A popular resort in Mumbai is under investigation after a joint raid by Customs and forest department officials revealed the alleged unauthorized possession of exotic animals, including marmoset monkeys and macaw parrots.
'Was the five-day pause ever meant to hold, or was it simply another instrument of signaling, of positioning, of buying time in a war where even the pauses are tactical?' asks Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
Taking Kharg would give the US control over virtually all of Iran's oil exports and thus provide significant leverage, notes Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War. It would also put American troops within range of Iran's remaining missiles, drones, and artillery on a piece of real estate that is just eight square miles in size, and just 15 miles from the Iranian mainland.
'Despite acting in some 100 films and television plays, people still remember the daadi of Hum Log.'
The pause gives the US time to breathe, to regroup, to move its expeditionary force into position without risk of interception along the way. It gives Iran nothing -- on the ground, attacks against its infrastructure continue apace. Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
For weeks, the war skirted the edge of catastrophe without tipping over. Missiles flew, there was much destruction, commanders were assassinated, cities across the Gulf and even in Israel struggled to absorb the shock. But one line held: Energy infrastructure, the arteries of the global economy, remained largely untouched. That is no longer true. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
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