I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

Eight of us go fourth, not back, to protect our king from an attack. What are we?

Birbal was jester, counsellor, and fool to the great Moghul emperor, Akbar.
The villagers loved to talk of Birbal's wisdom and cleverness,
and the emperor loved to try to outsmart him.
One day Akbar (emperor) drew a line across the floor.
"Birbal," he ordered, "you must make this line shorter, but you cannot erase any bit of it."
Everyone present thought the emperor had finally outsmarted Birbal.
It was clearly an impossible task.
Yet within moments the emperor and everyone else present had to agree that Birbal had made the line shorter without erasing any of it.
How could this be?

Complete the given grid with valid words. You can only use the letters AAEEIIMMPPTT.

Hint: The grid reads the same across as down.

A bomb exploded in a room full of married couples and no one died. How?

A King wants to send the diamond ring to his girlfriend securely. He got multiple locks and their corresponding keys. His girlfriend does not have any keys to these locks and if he sends the key without a lock, the key can be copied in the way. How can King send the ring to his girlfriend securely?

Solve the rebus riddle in the picture below.

You have three orange, two pink and five purple balls in the drawer beside your bed. There is no electricity and the room is entirely dark. How many balls must you take out to ensure at least one ball of each colour at least?

John is selling fruits.
He sells grapes at $30, Dates $25, and a Wolfberry $45.
At what price does he sell fig?

PS: Logical Thinking

A thief is convicted in Mexico. He gets the death penalty. The judge allows him to say the last sentence to determine how the penalty will be carried out. If the thief lies, he will be hanged, if he speaks the truth he will be beheaded. The thief tells the last sentence and to everybody's surprise some minutes later he is set free because the judge cannot determine his penalty. What did the thief say?