Beyond Financial News

There has been a lot of talk lately about Canada’s dismal growth, but now a new report warns that we could be stuck in it for another two decades.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge dismissed the BJP's '400 paar' claim as «bakwas», or nonsense and said the party will not cross 200 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the media in Amritsar, Kharge said the BJP's seats were declining as compared to the last elections while the Congress and the INDIA bloc were making gains. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has been claiming that it will get over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Replying to a question on it, Kharge asked the basis of such claims by the BJP.

Mygate has entered the insurance distribution business, having received the aggregator licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to distribute insurance policies. The Bengaluru-based company has partnered with insurtech startup Acko General Insurance to distribute its insurance products. It is integrating Acko General Insurance’s services into its platform to provide access to insurance for four million households on the Mygate app.

International donors meeting in Brussels say they will commit 7.5 billion euros, about $8.1 billion, in both grants and loans to support Syrians battered by war, poverty, and hunger for the rest of this year and beyond

Just 81,000 people live in rural Chatham County in North Carolina, where there are more than 1,000 farms

BluSmart, India’s biggest electric cab operator, wants to raise more than $300 million in three years to add thousands of cars to its fleet in its push to take on the likes of Uber Technologies Inc. in the fast-growing market. The company will increase its Indian fleet of electric vehicles — supplied by Tata Motors Ltd., BYD Co., SAIC Motor Corp.’s MG Motor and Stellantis NV’s Citroën — to 13,000 by March from 7,500 currently, Punit Goyal, co-founder of the BP Ventures-backed startup, said in an interview. In three years, it aims to have 25,000 cars, he said.

Indian Express, citing food safety officials.The awful findings came to light after Telangana’s food safety department conducted inspections at some of the famous eateries.ALSO READ: Karachi Bakery expired products: Hyderabad store found violating regulations“Most shocking is the lack of basic hygiene in the kitchens, the use of products beyond their expiry date, and the mixing of prohibited synthetic colours in food preparations. Some of the kitchens had big garbage cans without lids," said Vijay Kumar, deputy food director at the Commissionerate of Food Safety, Telangana, as per the report.However, restaurants claim that they prepare meals in hygienic conditions.During the inspection at Shah Ghouse restaurant, the food safety officials claimed to have found semi-cooked food kept in unhygienic conditions in cold storage and stagnant water in the kitchen.ALSO READ: McDonalds, Theobroma outlets in Noida under FDA scanner after customer falls illHowever, the restaurant manager said: “No customer has ever complained of bad food at our restaurant," as per the report.The officials also claimed that they found insects in flour and tamarind at Rayalaseema Ruchulu; and from Rameshwaram Cafe, expired 100 kg urad dal and 10 kg curd were seized.“The waste bins in the kitchen were not covered.

Mint that further investments will be made in the coming years.“The Ghanaian government is an enabler of this initiative, which will bring digital services, e-learning and mobile finance products to the country. It will not be the one fuelling investments though—that will be enabled through the PPP model of NGIC," Owusu said.

counter-space weapon into the Low Earth Orbit by Russia last week has turned the spotlight on a race that is developing in outer space between different countries. War is not just fought on Earth but has now expanded to cyberspace and outer space. This was demonstrated by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. A cyber-attack crippled the defense forces in Kyiv and other European capitals that were dependent on a communication satellite.

₹50 crore in a mix of equity and debt to expand its presence in India's wedding and occasion-wear market. The funding was led by Sangita Jindal, chairperson, JSW Foundation.

CG Foods, which makes India's third-largest instant noodles brand Wai Wai, is for the first time, reducing salt in its noodles by anywhere between 10% and 25% starting next quarter with select variants, Manvendra Amber Shukla, global chief executive officer of CG Foods, owned by Nepal-based diversified CG Corp Global, said in an interview. The move comes amid tighter regulation and heightened scrutiny on packaged foods. «What the government is doing (in terms of regulation) is definitely welcome; it is positive for consumers, and positive for the ecosystem and a responsibility of all organisations towards consumers,» he said. The salt reduction process will start with the spicier packs of Wai Wai, according to Shukla. «In India, starting next quarter, we will start the first phase of reduction of salt by 10% starting with spicy noodles. As we move forward, we will reduce salt up to 25% in other variants of our portfolio,» he said. Additionally, the group is working on plans to introduce healthier variants such as millet noodles and renewing focus on atta noodles.

Mint explains: Systems that rely on more than one chatbot or use multiple Large Language Models (LLMs) are called multi-agent systems (MAS). A chatbot on the website of a bank, auto, insurance, edtech or any other company has improved over the years, thanks to advances in AI and natural language processing. But it still falls short of answering questions that might require more ‘human-like’ capabilities or pulling data from different domains.

self-healing attribute, potentially transforming the durability and longevity of foldable devices, adds the report.Although specific details regarding the self-healing mechanism remain scarce, Apple alludes to the incorporation of an "elastomer" layer within the display. This elastic material possesses the unique ability to stretch and subsequently revert to its original form, presenting an ideal candidate for facilitating the self-repair process.Notably, Apple envisions the self-healing process to occur seamlessly and autonomously, requiring no external intervention.

₹650 crore across all schemes.In their plea filed before the tribunal last week, the investors alleged that the schemes were wrongfully extended beyond the permissible time, leading to breach of contract, causing “grave inconvenience" to the investors.“The fund has clearly made a mockery of the trust and faith invested by the applicants along with other investors," investors said in the plea cited earlier. “The trustees have failed to maintain the integrity and highest standards expected, particularly in not ensuring proper care, due diligence and independent professional judgement in winding up the schemes."A real estate fund, with corpus typically pooled from retail investors, invests in securities of real estate companies.A copy of the petition was seen by Mint.In December 2023, Sebi had passed an order against Unitech Advisors (now known as Auram Asset Management) — the fund manager to the realty fund —, its directors Sanjay Chandra, Ajay Chandra, Ramesh Chandra, and Hitendra Malhotra.

Also Read: Gujarat HC takes suo motu cognizance of gaming zone fire accident1) The fire broke out at the gaming zone in TRP amusement and theme park in Rajkot at around 4.30 pm on Saturday. The fire brigade officials also faced difficulties in rescue operation as a temporary structure also collapsed.2) According to report, the amusement centre was also lacking a no-objection certificate (NOC) for fire clearance.3) Though the exact cause of the fire is not yet know, officials suspect that a short circuit might caused a fire.4) A large number of people visited the amusement park on Weekend due to discounted tickets at ₹99.5) The gaming zone had only one entry-exit point and it was only six-to-seven feet high.6) Nearly 2,000 litres of diesel was stored at the TRP Game Zone for generators, while 1,000 to 1,500 litres of petrol was stored for go-kart racing, reported India Today.7) Several bodies were charred beyond recognition.

If you are a regular on LinkedIn, the term FIRE will be very familiar. The acronym, when dismantled, stands forFinancial Independence, Retire Early. There are numerous stories of how people have hacked this status of FIRE in their lives and in turn the lessons learnt, which through such posts, get passed on to others.

T20 World Cup, starting next Sunday, poses a dilemma. As a tournament, it is great. But when you think of the Indians in the IPL, particularly those chosen for the T20 World Cup, a sense of unease sets in. In fact, in a fantasy XI based on IPL performances, only two Indians deserve a place. That tells you something about India’s chances in the T20 World Cup. This Indian team doesn’t appear formidable as the tournament approaches. This probably marks the first time in years that an Indian side is entering the World Cup with such little hype. The underdog tag could work in India’s favour; less pressure isn’t always detrimental and might help the team exceed expectations. Coming back to the fantasy XI, Travis Head and Sunil Narine are going to be the openers. While Head can single-handedly win a game, Narine, one of the best IPL players of all time, has had an unexpected resurgence as a batter this year. Both can score at a rapid clip in the Powerplay and set the game up. Narine, with the ball, has also been exceptional.

₹2.11 lakh crore dividend payout to the government, marking the highest surplus transfer on record by the central bank. The surplus will be reflected in the government’s account for the financial year 2024-25, and is expected to help the government reduce its fiscal deficit and boost capital expenditure and global fiscal position.Heavyweight financials advanced 1.7 per cent during the week, posting the second straight weekly gain.

The 2024 IPL season has been a remarkable journey for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), marked by strategic brilliance and standout performances. At the heart of this transformation is coach Gautam Gambhir, whose visionary leadership has turned KKR into formidable contenders.

Also Read: ‘300 bhi namumkin’: Yogendra Yadav's prediction for BJP amid Lok Sabha Elections.

Rescuers are combing through piles of debris and wreckage to search for bodies after an explosion and fire at a chemical factory in western India killed at least nine people and injured 64 others