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“With the solar maximum creating the most vibrant Northern Lights displays in decades, what is noteworthy is the clear expansion beyond traditional Scandinavian favourites to Murmansk in Russian Lapland, where travellers can now pair their aurora sightings with immersive Arctic experiences, from icebreaker expeditions to luxe stays in glass-domed igloos,” said Rajeev Kale, president and country head, for holidays, MICE and visa, Thomas Cook (India). He said another celestial wonder seeing an uptick in bookings is the White Nights phenomenon, where nearly 24 hours of daylight transforms cities like St Petersburg into vibrant cultural hubs with midnight festivals and illuminated river cruises.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. If Chinese AI lab Deepseek shook the industry with its open-source, budget-friendly reasoning model earlier this year, another Chinese startup, Monica, is impressing many with its new general-purpose AI agentic model, Manus. Are there lessons for India? Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) lab DeepSeek disrupted AI with its low-cost reasoning R1 model this year, prompting OpenAI to respond with o3 mini and GPT-4.5.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India's judiciary is grappling with the unintended consequences of live-streamed court cases as short, often out-of-context, clips go viral on social media, fuelling misinformation. And that has reignited the debate whether the proceedings should be shared live online at all.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Tata Motors Ltd, India’s largest electric car maker, is considering new petrol and diesel models, besides extending the life of existing fossil fuel-driven variants, as the adoption of battery-powered mobility slows in key markets, including the US and UK. The country's third largest carmaker, in its interaction with analysts on Tuesday, also acknowledged that competition has increased in the EV segment, especially from JSW Group’s MG Windsor in India.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The high-stakes battle in a US court between two of India’s biggest IT services companies—Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and Infosys Ltd—took a curious turn this week.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: The first small rockets ferrying satellites on Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) design and technology will take at least two more years to reach the launch pad, even as work to find the ideal candidate for the job reaches its final stage.

On March 13, Apoorva broke her silence by posting a cryptic message on her broadcast channel. She wrote, “Diwaaro ke bhi kaan hote hain” (Even walls have ears). Soon after, she followed up with another message expressing gratitude towards her followers, stating, “So thank you.” Prior to this, her last message on the channel named Rebellions was on February 10, coinciding with Ranveer Allahbadia’s public apology. At that time, she had posted, “This is not how I should be rn.”

Telecom operators are resisting the Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) decision to migrate to an authorisation regime, asking for the current practice of entering into contractual agreements with licensed entities to be kept in place. They said the current approach is vital in maintaining regulatory certainty, protecting existing investments and ensuring sustained investment growth in the sector. The telecom operators, through a letter from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to the telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal, cited examples of the ministries of coal and petroleum and natural gas which grants licenses to successful bidders in their respective fields that are contractual in nature.

YouTube as part of its strategy to curb subscriber migration from linear TV to free digital streaming, sources familiar with the matter told ET. The company may implement this from May 1 but it has not yet taken a final decision, they added. This will be the second significant decision by the company, which was formed through the merger of Disney's Star India with Reliance Industries' Viacom18. The move follows the company's decision to place content behind a paywall on JioHotstar after offering premium content, including sports, for free for two years prior to the merger-a strategy that had impacted both pay-TV and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, in its latest report, has expressed concerns over the functioning of India's drug regulatory authority-Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)-saying that the current licensing process is plagued by delays, inconsistent timelines, and a lack of transparency, hindering the growth of the medical device industry. «The Committee expresses serious concern that due to rigid process and inordinate delays by CDSCO, a large number of manufacturing units have gone to Vietnam and Malaysia. Rather, several medical devices manufacturers are scared to set up a unit in India due to delaying tactics of the CDSCO,» it said.

Piyush Goyal on Thursday assured exporters that the government is working overtime to protect India’s interests in the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) being negotiated with the United States but said that the country cannot be protectionist at a time when the world is moving towards reciprocity. The US has announced imposing reciprocal tariffs on many countries including India from April 2. He also allayed the concerns of the industry with regard to the US and called on them to reflect on their strengths and share their demands and interests with the government for better engagement with Washington. “Reflecting on the reciprocal tariffs, he has cautioned the councils to come out of their protectionist mindset and encouraged them to be bold and ready to deal with the world from a position of strength and self-confidence,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement after Goyal held a consultation with export promotion councils and industry associations. Reminding them of the budgetary announcement of Export Promotion Mission focusing on new products, new markets and new exporters, Goyal urged the industry to come forward with suggestions to effectively shape the schemes to achieve the desired goal. Reflecting on the changing global scenario, the minister assured that the government is working on overtime basis, and will leave no stone unturned to ensure a good future for Indian exporters, both merchandise and service and to protect the interest of the country, according to the ministry.

Kuki-Zo organisations in Manipur are planning a referendum on the political future of the Kuki-Zo people, calling for the creation of a Union Territory. The exercise, titled Kuki-Zo People's Referendum Ballot, will allow voters to express their opinion via a simple question: «Do you, as a Kuki-Zo person in Manipur, support the creation of a Union Territory for Kuki-Zo villages, governed directly by the Government of India?» Voters can choose Yes or No, and their details will be recorded as per the Indian Electoral Roll. The move echoes the 1951 Naga National Council plebiscite, which claimed 99.9% support for Naga independence. Meanwhile, normal life in Kuki-Zo areas of Manipur remains disrupted for the fifth day due to an indefinite shutdown called by the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC). The protest is against the resumption of bus services between Imphal and the hill districts and the recent police actions.

IndusInd Bank, which is grappling with discrepancies in accounting to the tune of Rs 2,100 crore. On March 10, the private sector lender disclosed some discrepancies in its derivatives portfolio, which could have an adverse impact of about 2.35 per cent of the bank's net worth as of December 2024, as per its internal review. Analysts peg the discrepancy at Rs 2,100 crore in absolute terms. Against this backdrop, the Financial Reporting Review Board (FRRB) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is likely to review the bank's financial statements.

money laundering, corruption, fraud, asset recovery and the financing of illicit activities, the ED said Thursday. The collaboration between Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC) of Mauritius will «bolster» financial enforcement capabilities and will also contribute to broader economic and security cooperation between the two nations, the federal probe agency said in a statement. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged in the presence of Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Navinchandra Ramgoolam. During the discussions leading to the MoU, the ED and the FCC explored the possibilities of «joint operations» to detect, investigate and prosecute cross-border money laundering offences, according to the ED. They also underlined the significance of exchange programmes, experience sharing, training and skill building of the officers of both the organisations, it said. «Discussions were held on how ED can assist FCC by providing technological assistance and sharing of their digital forensic tools and best practices, towards ensuring better data seizing and extraction, and more productive data analysis,» the statement said.

Holi, India's most colorful and vibrant festival, symbolizes happiness, new beginnings, and hope. As one of the most significant Hindu festivals, this two-day celebration marks the end of winter and will be observed on March 14, a Friday this year.

Kuki-Zo organisations are seeking creation of a Union Territory in the wake of the ethnic violence in Manipur. The exercise will be titled as Kuki-Zo People's Referendum Ballot, and this will an exercise of their adult franchise as per the Indian Electoral Roll The ballot will have a question and will be submitted at designated polling station. The question does you, as a Kuki-Zo person residing in Manipur, support the creation of a Union Territory comprising all Kuki-Zo villages, to be governed directly by the Central Government of India, ensuring safety, justice, and equitable development? One can tick or use impression. The voter can use the box, yes, I support the creation of a Union Territory for the Kuki-Zo people. No, I support continuation under the State of Manipur in its present form”. There will details of voter as per the ID card, name of the voter, Age, gender of the voter, Father's Name, Village/District, Polling Station Name & Code. There will be polling official besides name of the polling official, designation or organisation. “This referendum is conducted by the Kuki-Zo people in a democratic expression of their political self-determination, ensuring adherence to electoral norms as per the Indian Constitution”. Naga National Council had claimed to do plebiscite on May 16 1951 and claimed that 99.9% of the Nagas wanted independence from India. Normal life continued to be affected in Kuki-Zo areas of Manipur for the fifth day on Thursday due to the indefinite shutdown called by the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC)to protest the resumption of the bus services between the state capital Imphal and the hill districts and the police action in the tribal areas on Saturday.

Vanessa Low of Australia lived up to her top billing as she easily clinched gold in T61-64 class while India's Paris Games medallist Preethi Pal bagged a bronze in T35-38 class 200m race on the concluding day of the World Para Athletics Grand Prix here on Thursday. India finished on top of the medal tally with a total haul of 134 — 45 gold, 40 silver, and 49 bronze. Around 150 Indians had competed in the Grand Prix while around 100 were from other 19 countries. Vanessa, one of the few top stars taking part in the three-day event, cleared a distance of 4.96m in her third attempt, to stand on the top of the podium. Zhanna Fekolina, a Neutral Paralympic Athlete, and India's Bhavani Munniyandi took home the silver and bronze respectively with efforts of 4.13m and 3.51m at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here. T61-64 classification is for those athletes who are competing with prosthesis affected by limb deficiency and leg length difference. «I am happy with my performance. It's fun moments here in India. I will be coming back here for the World Para Athletics Championships (in September),» Vanessa said after the event.

Sticky issues haven't changed since 2007 in the FTA's Take 1. What has changed, drastically, is context. Take 2 will be forged with the US having triggered a global tariff war and supply chains disrupted.

Retail inflation fell to a 7-mth low of 3.6% in February, driven by falling vegetable prices, official data showed on Wednesday. But the pre-Holi gains are likely to be short-lived with heatwaves predicted in the country as early as March. Vegetables have been the main driver of inflation in the last 12 months, and the correction is set to reverse when winter stocks run down.

cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global has registered with India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), allowing it to offer crypto trading services in the country, the company said on Tuesday. Coinbase said it plans to launch its initial retail services later this year and roll out additional investments and products thereafter, but did not disclose a specific timeline.