Chief Minister MK Stalin has expressed his condolences and announced financial aid of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of seven Tamil Nadu natives who lost their lives in the Kuwait fire tragedy.

Fourty-five Indians have lost their lives in the deadly fire that broke out in the "labour accommodation" in the Mangaf area of Kuwait in the early hours of Wednesday.

The BJP and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP on Thursday indulged in a verbal duel over an article in Organiser, a weekly known to be close to the RSS.
The article had criticised the BJP for forming an alliance with the NCP.

Speaking to reporters, NCP leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, "To some extent, it (article) may be true.

Adani Group-owned Ambuja Cements on Thursday acquired Penna Cement at an enterprise value of Rs 10,422 crore, the company said in a BSE filing.

Ambuja Cements, a part of the diversified Adani Group, today announced the signing of a binding agreement for the acquisition of Penna Cement Industries Ltd (PCIL).

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has decided to offer a Rs 2,458 crore stake in the financially beleaguered telecommunications (telecom) operator to long-term vendors Nokia and Ericsson in a bid to partially clear outstanding dues.

The company’s board has approved the preferential issue of 1,027 million equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 each to Nokia and 633.7 million shares to Ericsson, Vi said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

A joint venture between Reliance Industries' Jio Platforms and Luxembourg-based SES to provide gigabit fibre internet has won approval from the Indian space regulator to operate satellites there, a government executive said.

The three approvals issued to Orbit Connect India - which aims to provide satellite-based high-speed internet access - come as companies from Amazon.com to Elon Musk's Starlink have been vying for the go-ahead to launch satellite communication services in the world's most populous nation.

Following the tragic fire incident in Kuwait, in which around 40 Indians have died, the External Affairs Minister spoke to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, and urged the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those who lost their lives in the incident.

Jaishankar said that he was assured that the incident would be fully investigated.

The price of 24-carat gold jumped Rs 10 in early trade on Thursday, with ten grams of the precious metal trading at Rs 72,170, according to the GoodReturns website. The price of silver also jumped Rs 100, with one kilogram of the precious metal selling at Rs 91,400.

The price of 22-carat gold was also up by Rs 10, with the yellow metal selling at Rs 66,160.

Over 40 Indians were killed and more than 50 others injured after a devastating fire broke out at dawn in a building housing around 195 migrant workers in southern Kuwait's Mangaf area, officials said on Wednesday.

The total number of people killed in the Al-Mangaf building was 49 and 42 of them are learnt to be Indians; the remaining ones are Pakistani, Filipino, Egyptian and Nepali nationals, they said.

Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday took charge as the Minister of Road Transport and Highways.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Gadkari conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reassigning him this role in Modi 3.0 and remarked that India will be equipped with world-class, modern infrastructure at an accelerated pace under Modi Ji's visionary leadership.

US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would likely "have the opportunity to encounter one another" on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy, National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan said here Wednesday.

He (Biden) expects to see Prime Minister Modi here. It's up to the Indians to formally confirm his attendance, but our expectation is that the two of them will have the opportunity to encounter one another.

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