Terming the two options proposed by the Union government as “unconstitutional,” “illegal” and “a betrayal of the spirit of cooperative federalism,” key opposition-ruled states pressed the Centre to borrow in order to compensate states for the entire goods and services tax (GST) shortfall ‘regardless of Act of God’.

While six states – Kerala, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal – huddled over a video-conference meeting on Monday to thrash out a strategy to take on the Union government, some states separately shot off letters to the Centre, expressing disapproval of putting the onus of borrowings on states.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arguing that the Centre had a moral and legal obligat...

The cast of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” is reuniting at HBO Max to celebrate the show’s 30th anniversary.

Series star Will Smith and series regulars Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, and Alfonso Ribeiro will all be part of the special, as will DJ Jazzy Jeff. It is set to tape on Sept. 10 and is slated to debut on HBO Max around Thanksgiving.

Marcus Raboy will direct the special. Rikki Hughes will serve as showrunner and executive producer, with Miguel Melendez, Lukas Kaiser, and Brad Haugen for Westbrook Media also executive producing.

HBO Max is the exclusive streaming home of the entire run of “Fresh Prince,” having been available on the streamer since it first launched in May...

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday predicted heavy to very heavy showers in parts of north, northeast and south India in the next three days, highlighting that the country recorded its highest rainfall in 44 years in the month of August.

Nearly 5,000 people were shifted to safer places in Gujarat’s Bharuch and Vadodara districts after flooding in several villages due to rise in level of the Narmada river, while over 3,000 people have been evacuated from Bhandara and Chandrapur districts of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha after heavy downpour in neighbouring parts of Madhya Pradesh.

In Delhi the water level of the Yamuna was receding gradually and the river was flowing below the warning mark in Delhi...

Longtime celebrity hairstylist Rhonda O’Neal believes there’s no excuse for hair and makeup artists whose skills are limited to working with actors of their own race. Trained by her Black hair stylist mother, O’Neal, the hair craft president of the Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild, now oversees the next generation of union members.

“One thing that [my mom] told me was to do everybody’s hair, not just Black hair, but that’s what helped me to be on so many different sets and work with so many different people,” she tells Variety.

Earlier this year, O’Neal led classes on styling Black hair, with record-breaking attendance in response to calls from Black actors like Gabrielle Union, Yvette Nicole Brown and Halle Brown to have more artists on set who know how to work with ...

Some speculations surrounding the sale of TikTok’s US operations may soon come to an end as the short video-sharing platform owned by Chinese unicorn ByteDance has reportedly reached a deal.

A successful bidder for TikTok’s US, Australia and New Zealand services could be announced as early as Tuesday, CNBC reported on Monday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

While Walmart entered into the fray in partnership with Microsoft, Oracle is another top contender for the deal.

An earlier CNBC report tentatively pegged the price of the deal in the $20-$30 billion range.

However, it is far from clear if the ownership of the business would immediately change hands as the Chinese government only last week updated its list of technologies that are subject to export bans.

The ne...

David Ushery, a veteran of WNBC who has worked as an anchor on the station’s news programs for years, has been given a new role – co-anchoring at 4 p.m. and the economically critical 11 p.m. newscast.

He replaces Stefan Holt, who is returning to WMAQ, the company’s owned-and-operated affiliate in Chicago. Ushery will join Natalie Pasquarella, who has been co-anchoring at 11 p.m. since 2016.

“David is a talented, experienced journalist who takes a thoughtful approach to every story he covers. As an anchor, he’s an incredible newsroom leader who cares about the entire team,” said Amy Morris, vice president of news for NBC 4 New York, in a prepared statement. “I’m delighted that David is taking on this new role.” Ushery had previously been stationed as a co-anchor at 11 a.m. and 5 p...

The S&P 500 hovered near record highs on Monday as bets on a rebound in economic activity due to prolonged central bank support put the index on course for its best August in more than three decades.

The Federal Reserve’s commitment to tolerate inflation and keep interest rates low, positive developments in vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and a momentum-driven rally in tech-focused stocks have helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit consecutive all-time highs.

The newly reshuffled Dow slipped, and was within 3.7% of its record close on Feb. 12, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed another 0.7% to a new peak.

New entrants to the blue-chip index, Salesforce.com Inc , Honeywell International Inc and Amgen Inc , slipped between 0.3% and 1.2%.

Ousted companies Exxon Mobil Corp fell 1...