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electric vehicle producer in the world and, simultaneously, an also-ran in the race for EVs. How did that happen? As recently as 2016, the US had more EVs on the road than China did. Now China has raced ahead. Despite Tesla Inc.’s pioneering role in bringing electrification into the mainstream, the US EV effort is beset by angst. While sales jumped by 44% last year, that is expected to slow markedly in 2024, with signs of retreat not just in Detroit but at Tesla itself. Tesla briefly lost its crown as the world’s biggest battery EV producer in the fourth-quarter of 2023 to BYD Co. Ltd., and will likely do so again. Chief executive Elon Musk is on record saying that, absent trade barriers, Chinese manufacturers “will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world.” Tesla’s gigantic valuation these days has more to do with visions of robotaxis rather than EV leadership, per se.

Lok Sabha elections, Mahe district in Puducherry will set a unique example of a gender-inclusive electoral process. All 31 polling stations in the district will be staffed by women polling officers. The voting for the union territory of Puducherry will be held on April 19. «Women at the forefront of Democracy: All 31 Polling Stations of Mahe district in Puducherry will be staffed by Women Polling Officials in the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024,» the ECI stated in a post on Instagram.

Mercedes-Benz is unfazed by the likelihood of Tesla entering India with imported electric cars at much lower duty and believes that the country's new EV policy has safeguards for existing players, a senior company official said on Thursday. While the entry of the likes of Tesla and VinFast will help expand the market and accelerate EV adoption in India, Mercedes-Benz is confident to maintain leadership in the luxury EV space as the new entrants would play in the lower segment. «I think new competitions and new players are always welcome. It helps to expand the market, spread more awareness, which is also the need of the hour to get more EV penetration,» Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director & CEO Santosh Iyer told PTI. He was responding to a query on the implications of India's new EV policy and if it puts manufacturers which have already invested in the country at a disadvantage.

BJP lashed out at RJD leader Misa Bharti on Thursday for threatening to put its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in jail if the INDIA bloc is voted to power at the Centre and said people will give the opposition parties a fitting reply in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls for such remarks. Talking to reporters in Patna on Thursday, Bharti raised the issue of electoral bonds and said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Bihar as well as the prime minister will be put behind bars for raising donations through the scheme by misusing central agencies. Reacting sharply to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RLD) leader's remarks, BJP chief J P Nadda said those facing a probe for alleged corruption and out on bail are «abusing» Modi, who has an unblemished political career. «They are hurling various kinds of abuses on Modi. In the last 23 years, Modiji served as the Gujarat chief minister for more than 12 years and as the prime minister for 10 years. Modiji has worked as the country's chief administrator and there is no blemish on him. Misa Bharti is saying she will send such a person to jail,» Nadda told a poll rally in the Anadaman and Nicobar Islands.

India will be increased by 2.5 times by the year 2047, and right now around 84 per cent of India's energy is produced using coal, said Venu Gopal Mothkoor, Senior Specialist- Energy, NITI Aayog. He further added that achieving CO2 emission targets necessitates a focus on energy efficiency and demand electrification, which could potentially reduce CO2 emissions by 51 per cent by 2047. Speaking at a roundtable discussion organized by FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) on 'Doubling the Rate of Energy Efficiency of Indian Industry 2030' he also underscored the pressing need to address this surge in energy requirements.

India lost a «substantial» amount of land to China, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh affirmed that no one can occupy even an inch of Indian land under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. Reacting to the reports of Chinese construction near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), he said that both countries are independent in carrying out construction on their side of the LAC. On being asked if China has occupied any piece of Indian land, the Defence Minister said, «I don't think so».

Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that the BJP does not discriminate between Hindus and Muslims and that the respect of women is of paramount importance to it, citing the ban on triple talaq. Addressing public meetings in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa and Satna districts to drum up support for BJP's Lok Sabha candidates, he also batted for the 'one nation, one election' idea, and called his party «24-carat gold» and Congress «rusted iron». The BJP has renominated sitting MP Janardhan Mishra in the Rewa Lok Sabha seat. He will take on Congress' Neelam Singh. In Satna, BJP sitting MP Ganesh Singh is pitted against local Congress MLA Siddharth Kushwaha. The 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP will go to polls in four phases between April 19 and May 13 and votes will be counted on June 4. Polling will be held in Rewa and Satna seats on April 26.

New Delhi: Rising prices of raw materials for manufacturing plastic products could further burden the Indian economy lead to a hike in the prices of plastic goods in the near future, said Sribash Dasmohapatra, executive director of the Plastic Export Promotion Council (PLEXCONCIL), a body under the ministry of commerce. Raw materials used for manufacturing plastics, such as ethylene and propylene, are primarily sourced from countries with abundant petrochemical resources like Russia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

BJP leaders, they will be behind bars". Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were quick to slam the RJD MP for her ‘will jail PM Modi’ remark, and said, “she is making her father's 'pratigya' laughable" In Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has fielded Lalu Prasad Yadav's eldest daughter Misa Bharti, who is enjoying her second term in the Rajya Sabha, in the Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency. Misa Bharti will contest against BJP candidate Ram Kripal Yadav, who defeated her in the last elections.

ANI reported. Apart from this, Trudeau even claimed that China tried to meddle in the last two Canadian elections.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday wondered why the country's borders were shrinking and how free was its press. Yadav attended the special prayers at Aishbagh Eidgah here on Eid-ul-Fitr and greeted people on the occasion. «People are noticing that our country that was once developing, what is the state of law and order here now, what is our unemployment level, how free our press is, where are we standing on the parameters of health and poverty index? Why are our borders shrinking?» Yadav said without taking any names. «People are going to vote on these issues and they have decided to bring a change,» the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said after initially declining to make any political comments «at the time of festivities».

INSEAD, one of the world's leading graduate business schools, has no immediate plans to open a campus in India though it remains committed to developing and strengthening industry-academia research in future with top Indian multinationals and unicorn startups. Francisco Veloso, who took over as dean of the institute in September last year, says Indian students form the most represented nationality at the global business school with representation of about 12-15%, higher than Chinese students at 9-10%. In an exclusive interview with ET’s Rica Bhattacharyya, Veloso talks about the inroads AI is making into classrooms and the rising interest among Indian business leaders to learn this transformational technology. Edited excerpts: INSEAD has set up its physical presence over the years in multiple countries. Do you have any plans to set up a campus in India? India is a very important and fast-growing country for the world, and has an increasing significance internationally. We at INSEAD have many ties with India. About 10% of our faculty are originally from India and it is one of the most represented nationalities in our faculty. We have many alumni in India and have important partnerships with them in the country.

Lok Sabha polls, twelve Maoists surrendered before security personnel in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district on Thursday, police said. The red rebels were operating in Saranda and Kolhan, Asia's densest Sal forest area. «Twelve Maoists have surrendered before security personnel. They were operating in the Saranda and Kolhan regions and belong to the group of Maoist Misir Besra, who carries a bounty of Rs one crore on his head,» a senior police officer told PTI. West Singhbhum is considered one of the most left wing extremist-affected districts in the country. It had witnessed 46 Maoist-related incidents, resulting in 22 deaths last year.

Newsweek and opened up on the relations with China, Congress veteran Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said that PM Modi's reaction to the China issue is an 'insult to the martyrs. Taking to X, Ramesh wrote, "The Prime Minister's reaction on the China issue is not only shameful but also an insult to our martyrs who made the supreme sacrifice while protecting our borders," he wrote.

China have recorded a positive growth in 2023 out of the total 161 such goods shipped to the neighbouring country, according to commerce ministry data. These 90 commodities account for 67.7 per cent of India's export basket to China, while 71 products that have registered a negative export growth in 2023 constitute 32.3 per cent, the data showed. There are four commodities level where India has improved its export to China by more than USD 100 million in 2023. They are iron ore (216.8 per cent to USD 3.33 billion in 2023), cotton yarn (542.6 per cent to USD 611.17 million in 2023), spices (19.4 per cent to USD 132.26 million in 2023), and processed minerals (174.19 per cent to USD 129 million in 2023).

Modi Sarkar’ comes amid allegations that Indian sleeper cells of intelligence agency RAW, handled by PM Modi's office orchestrated targeted killings in Pakistan. PM Modi on Thursday hailed the surgical strikes conducted by India in Uri and Balakot, and said that 'under the Mazboot Modi sarkar, atankwaadiyon ko ghar mein ghus ke mara jata hai'. The 2019 Balakot airstrike was a bombing raid conducted by Indian warplanes on 26 February 2019 in Balakot, Pakistan, against an alleged terrorist training camp.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP-led Centre on Thursday, saying farmers are asking for a minimum support price (MSP) for their crops, youngsters are seeking employment, women want relief from inflation, but no one is listening. The upcoming Lok Sabha polls are about protecting the country's Constitution and democracy, the former Congress chief said. «It is an election of the backwards, Dalits, tribals and poor people in the general category,» he said, addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Bikaner. Gandhi said the bank accounts of the Congress have been frozen.

NEW DELHI : For a long time, Hollywood ruled India's IMAX and 3D screens, offering immersive viewing of movies rich in action and special effects. Now, local fare is gracing these premium formats, bringing differentiation for the movie-makers and new experiences for the movie lover. Local titles like Animal, Maidaanand Bade Miyan Chote Miyan have released in IMAX screens over the past few weeks, also benefiting the owners of these formats who only have a limited number of Hollywood films to screen every year.

Switzerland's tough new banking regulations create a «lose-lose situation» for UBS and may limit its potential to challenge Wall Street giants, according to Beat Wittmann, partner at Zurich-based Porta Advisors.

Lifestyle and mobile accessories maker Damson Technologies plans to move half of its manufacturing operations from China to India, with an initial investment of Rs 150 crore in the current fiscal year, a top official of the company said. Electronics manufacturing service provider Damson Technologies, managing director, Ritesh Goenka told PTI that the company has been manufacturing devices in Beijing and now moving half of its production to India due to sanctions imposed by several countries on China coupled with benefits under government schemes in India. «At present, we generate revenue of over Rs 1,000 crore. We plan to bring around Rs 500 crore worth of business to India in the upcoming year. Our long-term vision is to gradually move entire factory operations to India. We need some time to build the entire infrastructure in India,» he said. Damson also makes and sells mobile accessories and lifestyle gadgets under its own brand name «Just Corseca».

‘India's map will change': Sitharaman's husband warns against Modi's re-election "All that a political party needs to do to remain out of the tax net is to file an assessment...You have not followed the rule of law or the law of the land, and you expect to be treated differently," she said. Sitharaman also responded to questions about AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal's arrest. "Didn’t the Prime Minister, then the Chief Minister, appear before the CBI just before the Gujarat elections? He went and answered all the questions.