Firstpost Editor's Picks: LoC trade suspended, Priyanka Chaturvedi joins Shiv Sena, Vikas Krishan interview; today's must-read stories

With the suspension of most favoured nation status for Pakistan by India after the Pulwama incident the zero duty proviso no longer remains in vogue. India has decided to do away with the trans-LoC trade on the premise of the security threats it poses. The truth of it is that both India and Pakistan remained reluctant players in the entire exercise of trade, refusing traders what was due to them in terms of banking, interaction and communication facilities.

Priyanka Chaturvedi quits Congress because of ’lumpen goons’: Can any party claim not to include such elements?

Look at the cadres from which the Trinamool Congress draws its strength, and fist-for-fist, country-made firearm-for-country-made firearm, and stick-to-stick match the Communist Party of India. The use of “lumpen” and “goons” haven’t been much of a descriptor when anyone talks or writes about these parties. No party, actually, has been free of a lumpen content, and if you look at the DMK, you will find them there too. Even in the Congress or any other party. BJP’s strong arms are merely “bhakts”.

Vikas Krishan’s reluctance, nay his downright refusal, to indulge in trash talk makes him an outlier in pro boxing. Vikas says he’d rather focus on his ringcraft than his verbal mind games. The only trapping of the self-promotion frenzy that surrounds pro boxers which he has allowed himself is a nickname. His ring name is “The Indian Tank”. But on Saturday, the only thing on his mind as he saunters into the boxing ring at the iconic Madison Square Garden will be to make sure his punches do all the talking.

Game of Thrones season 8: Letters to Jon Snow, from his willfully ignored direwolf Ghost  

Dear Jon, I wrote you but still ain’t come callin’ I left my paw print and a snout mark at the bottom I sent two ravens back in autumn, you must not-a got ’em There probably was a problem at the rookery or somethin’ Sometimes I scribble addresses too sloppy when I claw ’em But anyways, f*ck it, what’s been up? Man, how’s your dragon? The Joker: The insanity and pessimism of Batman’s nemesis — the most enduring villain in comics

Making his debut in Batman #1 (1940), the Joker is one of Batman’s oldest villains. While that may be expected, given that he’s the long-standing arch-rival of the caped crusader, the truth is actually the opposite. At the time, the concept of well-developed recurring villains was not just rare but actively avoided since publishers, in their infinite wisdom, didn’t want anything or anyone upstaging their heroes and sharing the limelight.