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Honda Cars India on Friday said it will hike prices across its model range by up to 2 per cent from January next year, in order to partially offset the impact of rising input costs. The company sells models like Amaze, City and Elevate in the domestic market. The automaker will increase the prices of its models by up to 2 per cent from the beginning of January 2025, Honda Cars India Vice President — Marketing and Sales Kunal Behl said. The company has been making strong efforts to absorb price increases during this year, ensuring minimal impact on customers, he added.

A 2019 paper co-authored by Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, and Josh Felman sheds light on the economic challenges India faced at the time. The authors highlighted a "Four Balance Sheet Challenge," warning that the economy was heading toward an «Intensive Care Unit» due to mounting financial stress. Subramanian argued that the roots of this issue could be traced back to the "Twin Balance Sheet Problem."

data centres humming at the outskirts of Dublin are consuming more electricity than all of the urban homes in Ireland and starting to wear out the warm welcome that brought them here. Now, a country that made itself a computing factory for Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok is wondering whether it was all worth it as tech giants look around the world to build even more data centres to fuel the next wave of artificial intelligence. Fears of rolling blackouts led Ireland's grid operator to halt new data centres near Dublin until 2028. These huge buildings and their powerful computers last year consumed 21% of the nation’s electricity, according to official records. No other country has reported a higher burden to the International Energy Agency.

digital marketing lead. What was meant to be a routine discussion about their skills and career aspirations turned into an uncomfortable and humiliating encounter, he said in post on social media. During the interview, the CEO laughed at one of their previous job roles, dismissing it as a “gig” instead of a real job, solely because it was a remote position for an overseas company. Despite attempts to explain the nature of their work, the professional felt belittled and exhausted by the interaction, he said. The situation worsened when the CEO mocked his career trajectory, pointing out that their last three jobs were in different industries. Instead of appreciating the adaptability and diverse experience, the interviewer appeared to see this as a lack of focus or commitment. The professional left the interview feeling humiliated and questioning whether this treatment was normal or an indication of something deeper about the company’s culture.

Winter vacation dates, however, remain subject to extension depending on the severity of the cold wave. Here's a detailed breakdown of winter break announcements across states:

Justin Trudeau will shuffle his Cabinet Friday. The prime minister's office confirmed late Thursday that Trudeau will participate in the swearing-in ceremony and chair a meeting with his new Cabinet later Friday. Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership, and the abrupt departure of his finance minister on Monday could be something he can't recover from.

UnitedHealthcare's CEO was whisked back to New York by plane and helicopter Thursday to face new federal charges of stalking and murder, which could bring the death penalty if he's convicted. Luigi Mangione was held without bail following a Manhattan federal court appearance, capping a whirlwind day that began in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week in the Dec. 4 attack on Brian Thompson. The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate had been expected to be arraigned Thursday on a state murder indictment in a killing that at once rattled the business community and galvanized some health insurance critics, but the federal charges preempted that appearance. The cases will now proceed on parallel tracks, prosecutors said, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries, including India, over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade, according to a report released Thursday that illustrates some of the financial and operational challenges that President-elect Donald Trump will face to carry out his pledge of mass deportations. ICE, the main government agency responsible for removing people in the country illegally, had 271,484 deportations in its fiscal year ended Sept 30, nearly double from 142,580 in the same period a year earlier. It was ICE's highest deportation count since 2014, when it removed 315,943 people. The highest it reached during Trump's first term in the White House was 267,258 in 2019. Increased deportation flights, including on weekends, and streamlined travel procedures for people sent to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador fuelled the increase, ICE said. The agency had its first large flight to China in six years and also had planes stop in Albania, Angola, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Mauritania, Romania, Senegal, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

tech industry: Don't expect chatbots to continue to improve as quickly as they have over the past few years. AI researchers have for some time been relying on a fairly simple concept to improve their systems: the more data culled from the internet that they pumped into large language models — the technology behind chatbots — the better those systems performed. But Hassabis, who oversees Google DeepMind, the company's primary AI lab, now says that method is running out of steam simply because tech companies are running out of data.

At least five companies, including Zomato Ltd. and its recently-listed rival Swiggy Ltd., have unveiled or announced plans to offer quick food delivery in the last few weeks. But how they do it varies: Zomato unit Blinkit’s food delivery app Bistro and Zepto Cafe are relying on in-house kitchens to swiftly cook and assemble eatables, while Swiggy is partnering with restaurants from Starbucks Corp. to McDonald’s Corp.

According to preliminary information, the truck that hit the other vehicles was loaded with a chemical. «The fire has engulfed several trucks. The number of trucks involved in the incident is not clear. Some people with burn injuries have been rushed to hospitals in ambulances,» Station House Officer (SHO), Bhankrota, Manish Gupta told PTI.

The jury in a US federal court in Delaware is considering whether Qualcomm or Nuvia, a startup Qualcomm purchased for $1.4 billion in 2021, breached a license agreement with U.K.-based Arm, which supplies intellectual property to both firms. The case could upend Qualcomm's push into the PC market with a chip meant to rival Apple and Intel on speed.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Persistent deflationary pressure and tepid credit demand call for more stimulus to aid the broad economy, but narrowing interest margin on the back of fast falling yields and a weakening yuan limit the scope for immediate monetary easing.

New Fund Offers (NFOs), a system where a fund house sells units of a new scheme. What are the proposals cleared by Sebi? The capital markets regulator said that a new fund offer (NFO) of a mutual fund scheme must invest the money it raised within 30 days from the end of the scheme launch period. It also said in the event of a switch from an existing scheme into an NFO, distributors will get the lower commissions of the two schemes.

unregulated lending and slap a fine of ₹1 crore on offenders along with imprisonment of 10 years. The move follows action against several digital loan apps for unregulated lending over the past two years and complaints about their unfair lending and predatory recovery practices. A draft bill — Banning of Unregulated Lending Activities (Draft) Bill — was put out by the finance ministry for comments, which can be submitted till February 2025.

Apple complained that requests from Meta platforms for access to its operating software threaten user privacy, in a spat fuelled by the European Union's intensifying efforts to get the iPhone maker to open up to products from tech rivals. The 27-nation EU's executive Commission is drawing up «interoperability» guidelines for Apple under its new digital competition rulebook. The interoperability measures would ensure that devices like smartwatches or features like wireless file transfers work as smoothly with iPhones as do Apple Watches or AirDrop. The EU's rulebook, known as the Digital Markets Act, aims to promote fair competition in digital markets and prevent Big Tech «gatekeeper» companies from cornering markets. The commission posted proposed measures late Wednesday on how Apple should make its iOS operating system work with other technology. In response, Apple said it's «concerned that some companies — with data practices that do not meet the high standards of data protection law held by the EU and supported by Apple — may attempt to abuse the DMA's interoperability provisions to access sensitive user data.»

Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh struck quickfire fifties as India outplayed West Indies by 60 runs to clinch the three-match women's T20I series 2-1 here on Thursday. Stand-in skipper Mandhana continued her red-hot form with a making 77 off 47 balls, before Richa Ghosh's 18-ball fifty powered India to a record 217/4, India's highest in the format. Mandhana, leading in the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur, struck 13 fours and a six. Following her dismissal, Richa (54, 21b; 3x4, 5x6) took charge to equal Sophie Devine and Phoebe Litchfield's record for the fastest half-century in Women's T20Is.

Poonawalla Fincorp is implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in human resource (HR) processes, including managing potential risks and ensuring accuracy in AI-driven hiring. The company, which saw a top management rejig earlier this year including appointment of new MD and CEO Arvind Kapil who took charge in June, has undertaken an AI led transformation of talent acquisition. “AI is a critical development and one of the big bets for a managing director,” said Kapil. “We thought the first project that we would implement should be in the realm of HR.” “We will slowly step by step work towards different departments. For example, customer service business departments, compliance, credit and others,” he said. The company has also partnered with IIT Bombay for AI implementation.

According to Fortune, since his relocation from Washington to Indian Creek which is located in Florida, Jeff Bezos has sold approximately $13.6 billion worth of Amazon stock. The lack of a state income tax and capital gains tax in the state of Florida actually makes it a favorable environment for billionaires like Jeff Bezos specifically compared to Washington which has enacted a 7% capital gains tax on profits exceeding $250,000. The decision of Jeff Bezos to move to Florida was actually motivated by personal and professional reasons while including proximity to his parents and his aerospace company named Blue Origin, asserted Fortune. If Jeff Bezos had remained in the state of Washington during his stock sales then he would have faced a substantial capital gains tax bill of nearly $954 million.

data protection watchdog on Thursday criticised Google for an «irresponsible» policy change on how online user information can be tracked and collected for targeted advertising. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) warned Google against a policy «U-turn» allowing advertisers to use «fingerprinting» technology, which involves cross-referencing device hardware and software information to uniquely recognise a user. «Fingerprinting is not a fair means of tracking users online because it is likely to reduce people's choice and control over how their information is collected,» the ICO said in a statement.