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Donald Trump has now taken a lead over Kamala Harris in the final stages of the US election, suggests the latest poll data by DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners. This is a major boost of confidence for Republicans, with the national general elections just four days away, and it places the Democrats in a major position of worry as it means that Harris has to push a little more in terms of campaigning if she is to get close to Trump's lead.

Ford Motor Co. plans to shut down the Michigan factory that produces its F-150 Lightning plug-in pickup truck, its signature electric vehicle, through the end of the year as demand for EVs continues to wane.

Prashant Kishor said on Friday that the Centre cannot implement the Uniform Civil Code in the country unless the Muslim community is taken into confidence. He said that in a democracy, before introducing a law, the government must gain the confidence of the people who will be affected by it. «Whether the Uniform Civil Code should be implemented or not remains to be a big debate. Unless the Muslim population, which is 20% of the country's population, is taken into confidence, you cannot implement this kind of radical law,» Kishor told ANI.

logistics services provider the Rhenus Group, which entered India through a joint venture in 2010, is now expanding its business by focussing on smaller towns. It expects more demand for efficient logistics as e-commerce grows.

Virat Kohli has been retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a staggering Rs 21 crore for IPL 2025. Royal Challengers Bengaluru posted a video of Virat Kohli on their X handle on Thursday. In the video, Kohli expressed deep gratitude for the unwavering support from the RCB fans and vowed to strive for the elusive IPL title during the next three-year cycle.

Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises announced their list of player retention on Thursday, October 31, ahead of the highly anticipated 2025 mega-auction. With franchises eager to secure their core talents, an impressive amount was spent to retain top players, including some rising stars. Notably, Punjab Kings took a conservative approach, retaining only two players, while other teams kept their essential players intact. The auction is scheduled for November and December, where franchises will look to fill the remaining slots. Rajasthan Royals (RR) committed to retaining six key players, leaving them with a remaining purse of Rs 41 crore for the auction. In contrast, Punjab Kings (PBKS) enter the bidding with a hefty Rs 110.5 crore, positioning them well to compete for high-value players. South African wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen emerged as the most expensive retention, with SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) valuing him at Rs 23 crore. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli secured his position as the priciest Indian player, with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) allocating Rs 21 crore to retain him.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is building what he says will be the world's largest supercomputer. Its electricity needs will rival those of 100,000 homes. The supercomputer's neighbors in southwest Memphis, Tennessee, have a problem with that. The project, part of Musk's xAI artificial intelligence business, sits in an old manufacturing plant on more than 550 acres. Before beginning operations there in July, xAI rolled in flatbed trucks loaded with almost 20 mobile power plants, fueled by natural gas, to help meet its electricity demands.

financial services, US-headquartered IT firm Cognizant posted a net profit of $582 million in the third quarter, up 2.8% sequentially and 10.8% on-year. The Nasdaq-listed technology major saw its third quarter revenue growing by 4% sequentially at $5 billion. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the revenue was up 3%. Buoyed by its healthy deal pipelines and strong performance in its top two large verticals — Health Sciences and Financial Services, Cognizant revised its FY24 annual revenue guidance up to 1.4-1.9% in constant currency (this assumes approximately 200 basis points of inorganic contribution), from its earlier guidance of -0.5-1%. “Investments in AI-driven platforms, like our Neuro suite and Flowsource, are resonating with our clients and supporting our large deals success. In the third quarter, we signed six deals with a total contract value of more than $100 million each, bringing our year-to-date count to nineteen, which is more than we signed in the full-year 2023,” said Ravi Kumar S, chief executive officer of Cognizant.

European Commission has approved the creation of a joint venture, Star India, by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), The Walt Disney Co. (TWDC), and BTS Investment 1, the latter owned by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar. The commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the joint venture's negligible activities within the European Economic Area and the limited combined market share of the involved companies. The merger between RIL's Viacom18 and Disney's Star India is expected to conclude in early November, following approvals from the Competition Commission of India, the National Company Law Tribunal and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A senior official had earlier told ET that some international clearances were awaited.

IT firms are increasingly snapping up Indian startups at a time when the startup ecosystem is amid a funding crunch. Several of the acquired firms are working in the segments of AI, semiconductor, data and analytics and spacetech among others. Most of them are making acquisitions to strengthen their capabilities so that they do not miss out when technology spending, especially in discretionary spends, returns, say analysts. Big IT firms such as Accenture, Infosys and IBM along with many midcaps like Persistent, Cyient, Global Logic and others have recently acquired smaller Indian firms working in cutting-edge technologies. This month, IBM acquired a Bengaluru-headquartered software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Prescinto for an undisclosed amount. Later in the month Hyderabad IT engineering service provider Cyient acquired 27.3% in US based Indian startup Azimuth AI for $7.25 million. The acquisition will expand Cyient’s capabilities across the semiconductor industry.

Microsoft and Meta are stepping up spending to build out AI data centers in a rush to meet vast demand, but Wall Street is hungry for a quicker payday on the billions invested. Microsoft and Meta both said on Wednesday their capital expenses were growing due to their AI investments. Alphabet, too, reported on Tuesday that these expenditures would remain elevated. Amazon, which is set to report results after market hours on Thursday, is likely to echo these forecasts.

Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Thursday said that his government had already earmarked an amount of Rs 3 crore for the construction of a memorial for Major Ralengnao Bob Khathing who laid claim to Tawang as an integral part of India Defence Minister Rajnath Singh virtually dedicated to the nation ‘Desh ka Vallabh’ statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Major Ralengnao ‘Bob’ Khathing ‘Museum of Valour’ at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday. Singh carried out the inauguration from 4 Corps Headquarters in Assam’s Tezpur as he could not visit Tawang due to bad weather.

«At present, we have not found any foul play (in the death of elephants). I have visited so many nearby areas. I am not seeing any foul play as of now. But let us see what (autopsy and forensic) reports say,» he said. «A five-member team of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau from Delhi is in the reserve. The National Tiger Conservation Authority's Nagpur-based regional officer, assistant inspector general of forests Nandkishore Kale, was camping here to get first-hand feel of the situation,» Ambade said.

Russian government is seeking to reallocate 7 trillion roubles ($72 billion) in its three-year budget draft, with a significant portion of the funds directed towards the military, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday. The draft allocates 13.5 trillion roubles to the military in 2025, accounting for a third of total expenditure or 6.3% of GDP — the highest level since the Cold War. New amendments suggest that this figure could be even higher. For the first time, the share of spending on defence will be double that of social spending. Siluanov told a cabinet meeting that the government has prepared about 900 amendments to the draft.

Ajit Pawar, of the NCP, met his counterpart and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis at the latter's residence in south Mumbai to discuss withdrawal of nominations. Pawar later met independent candidate Nana Kate from Chinchwad assembly seat in Pune district to prevail upon him to opt out of the poll fray. Kate, however, remained adamant about contesting. The Nationalist Congress Party, the BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena comprise the ruling alliance, also called the Mahayuti. Fadnavis, on his part, held meetings with party colleagues and also contacted some rebels. CM Shinde held a meeting with his colleagues at his residence in Thane to discuss the possible impact of rebels on the results and the way forward.

Kerala government on Thursday announced the 2024 Kerala Awards, the highest civilian awards instituted by the state government on the model of the Padma Awards, whose eight recipients include eminent writer M K Sanoo, ISRO chairman S Somanath and cricketer Sanju Samson. Established in 2021, the awards are categorised into three groups — Kerala Jyothi, Kerala Prabha, and Kerala Shree — and announced every year in the wake of 'Keralappiravi', the state's formation day that falls on November 1. Sanoo will receive the Kerala Jyothi for his contributions to literature, while Somanath and Bhuvaneshwari will be honored with the Kerala Prabha for their accomplishments in the fields of Science and Engineering and Agriculture, respectively, according to a state government release. The Kerala Sree, awarded to five individuals, will go to Kalamandalam Vimala Menon (Art), Dr. T K Jayakumar (Health), Narayana Bhattathiri (Calligraphy), Sanju Samson (Sports), and Shaija Baby (Social Service, Asha Worker) and V K Mathews (Industry-Commerce), according to the release.

Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, has endorsed Donald Trump for the upcoming US Presidential elections. In a press release dated October 30, Aldrin expressed his support for Trump, highlighting the nation's pursuit of ambition, hope, and innovation. «America is a nation of bold ambition, hope, and energy. We are a nation of free thought, free association, and free movement. We are a nation that allows the best of humanity to emerge, and we strive for great things,» Aldrin said. He recalled his involvement in the mission to put a man on the Moon 50 years ago and voiced his disappointment in the government's inconsistent approach to space exploration. Aldrin, reflecting on his historic Apollo 11 mission over fifty years ago, voiced his disappointment with the government's fluctuating commitment to space exploration. He noted, «the government approach to space had waxed and waned,» describing it as a dynamic that «disappointed» him. However, he praised the Trump administration for reinvigorating national efforts in space, saying, «Under the first Trump Administration, I was impressed to see how human space exploration was elevated, made a policy of high importance again.»

Lending to the services sector slowed to 15.2 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in September 2024 from 21.6 percent a year ago, primarily due to lower growth in credit to ‘non-banking financial companies’, the RBI said. Retail loan growth moderated to 16.4 percent (y-o-y) in September 2024 as compared with 18.2 percent a year ago, largely due to decline in growth in ‘other personal loans’, ‘vehicle loans’ and ‘credit card outstanding, the central bank said. However, ‘housing’ – the largest constituent of this segment – recorded accelerated growth.

gross bookings below Wall Street estimates, sending its shares down nearly 8%. Bookings growth, a key measure of ridership for online taxi operators, slowed to a more than one-year low in the third quarter and fell short of analysts' forecasts.

Bandra West assembly seat, comprising an area with plush houses of some of Bollywood's top film stars as well as localities from Santacruz and Khar, was a Congress stronghold till 2014 before the BJP wrested it through its city unit chief and high-profile leader Ashish Shelar. Shelar, seeking a third win on the trot, is pitted against the Congress' Asif Zakaria, who was defeated by the former in 2019 by a margin of 26,507 votes. Bandra West assembly seat has 2,87,657 voters, comprising 1,49,443 men and 1,38,204 women. It has some of the poshest houses in the city, mainly in Bandra West and Khar, as well as teeming slum colonies apart from middle class localities of Santacruz. The area sees a steady stream of visitors all through the year as people from across the country arrive to catch a glimpse of film icons Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan.

Centrum Group is likely to finalise the sale of its housing finance subsidiary by the end of this fiscal, with the odds evenly distributed between the possibility of a 100% sale and part monetisation. The group is in talks with five-six investors and the discussions have now boiled down to the valuation of the company, people aware of the matter said. According to market sources, Centrum is looking for a valuation of around Rs 1,300 crore for the housing finance subsidiary, which is a little below the current market cap of Centrum Capital, the operating holding company of the group.