NewsBytes

"Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery", featuring Sanya Malhotra in the lead, on Tuesday won the Best Hindi Film honour at the 71st National Film Award ceremony. Director Yashowardhan Mishra alongside producers Guneet Monga Kapoor and Ektaa R Kapoor, along with Monika Shergill, the Vice President of content of Netflix, attended the ceremony. The film revolved around Malhotra's character, Mahima Basor, a quick-on-her-feet cop from a lower caste on a mission to find two premium-quality jackfruits that go missing from a local politician's garden. It released on Netflix on May 19.  The director said the film's win highlights how simple stories "told with heart and authenticity, have the power to resonate far and wide".

The Trump administration released a proposal on Tuesday that would rework the H-1B visa selection process to favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers, according to a related Federal Register notice, a move that follows a White House proclamation on Friday introducing a $100,000 fee for the visas. The new process, if finalised, would give heavier weight to applications by employers who pay high wages if annual requests for the visas exceed the statutory limit of 85,000, the notice said. The move aims to better protect Americans from unfair wage competition from foreign workers, it said. President Donald Trump launched a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January, including a push for mass deportations and trying to block citizenship for children of immigrants in the US illegally. In recent days, his administration intensified its focus on the H-1B programme, popular with tech and outsourcing companies for hiring skilled foreign workers.

A manufacturing plant set up by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd in Morocco's Berrechid for production of wheeled armoured personnel carriers was inaugurated jointly by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Moroccan counterpart Abdelatif Loudyi on Tuesday. Spread over 20,000 sq m, the facility is the first-ever Indian defence manufacturing plant in Africa. It is also Morocco's largest such plant. Under its contract with the government of Morocco, Tata Advanced Systems will undertake the production and delivery of Wheeled Armoured Platform 8x8 (WhAP 8x8) with initial deliveries scheduled to begin next month. The facility became operational three months ahead of schedule, and production has already commenced. The WhAP is a modern modular combat platform equipped with advanced mobility, protection and mission adaptability.

The Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court of having filed a curative petition after a nine-judge bench in a 8:1 majority verdict ruled that the legislative power to tax mineral rights vested with states. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, informed about moving against the majority verdict to a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. "We have filed a curative petition with all seriousness," Mehta said. The top court last year dismissed the pleas seeking review of its July 25, 2024 verdict. A nine-judge Constitution bench headed by former Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, in a majority 8:1 verdict, said Parliament does not have the legislative competence to tax mineral rights under Entry 54 of List I of the Constitution which relates to regulation of mines and mineral development by the Centre. The pronouncement, which came as a setback to the Centre, further said Parliament could still legislate to impose "any limitations" on power of states to levy tax on mineral rights.