Wednesday, October 8, 2025
LinkedPrime

News from October 7, 2025

912 articles found

Fresh snow in Kashmir sparks optimism for struggling tourism sector
Technology

Fresh snow in Kashmir sparks optimism for struggling tourism sector

An early October snowfall in Kashmir has raised hopes for a rebound in the region’s struggling tourism sector, with visitors beginning to arrive at popular destinations such as Gulmarg. On Monday, the plains of Kashmir were lashed by rain, while high-altitude areas, including Gulmarg, Sinthan Top, Marghan Top, Bangus Valley, Zojila Pass on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway, Peer Ki Gali and the upper reaches of Gurez Valley were covered in a thin layer of snow. Mukhtar Ahmad, Director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Jammu and Kashmir, told businessline light snowfall would continue in high-altitude areas until Tuesday afternoon, with overall weather expected to improve thereafter. The early snowfall turned the Apharwat hills in the famed ski resort of Gulmarg into a winter spectacle, drawing tourists and raising hopes for a revival of the Valley’s battered tourism sector. Sharif Ahmad Dar, manager at Hotel Grand Mumtaz in Gulmarg, said they had begun receiving calls for bookings. “Since Monday, we have been receiving queries from tourists from different parts of the country,” he said. Dar added that tourist footfall remained low but expressed hope that the fresh snowfall would attract more visitors in the coming days. An official said around 1,500 to 2,000 tourists visit Gulmarg daily and they expect numbers to rise as winter sets in. After the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, Kashmir’s tourism industry suffered a major setback, with widespread cancellations and a sharp drop in arrivals. In the first half of this year, tourist numbers fell to around 750,000, compared with over 1.56 million during the same period in 2024. Foreign tourist arrivals declined by 41%, while domestic tourism plunged 52 per cent. KEA urges revival Qazi Tauseef, spokesperson of the Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA), told businessline that the early snowfall offers a valuable opportunity to revive economic activity across hospitality, transport, handicraft and retail sectors. “We appeal to tourists from across the country and abroad to visit Kashmir and be part of this magical season. The Valley is fully prepared to welcome guests with warmth, safety and hospitality,” he added. He urged the government to maintain uninterrupted road and air connectivity and strengthen tourism infrastructure and promotion to fully capitalize on the season. Published on October 7, 2025

Gulzar Bhat
Bihar SIR: Supreme Court asks Election Commission to be transparent about electoral roll
Technology

Bihar SIR: Supreme Court asks Election Commission to be transparent about electoral roll

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reminded the Election Commission of India that “the degree of transparency and access to information form the hallmarks of an open democracy” while questioning the top poll body about the individual details of voters added to the final electoral roll in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll of Bihar. Over 21.5 lakh voters have been added in the final roll and 3.66 lakh removed. Voter clarity “There is confusion about the names added on in the final list… What is the identity of the people added on? Is it an add-on of names taken from the 65 lakh voters deleted in the draft roll, or are they new and independent names? The final list shows an appreciation of the number of voters… This exercise we want you to do is in aid of the electoral process, to maintain intact the faith in the electoral process,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was part of the Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant, asked the Election Commission (EC). The final list shows the total tally of eligible voters in the State as 7.42 crore. This was an improvement in numbers from 7.24 crore voters listed in the draft electoral roll, with 65 lakh removed. Bihar had 7.89 crore voters as on June 24, 2025 — the date of notification of the SIR exercise. The court further asked the EC if the 3.66 lakh voters, deleted from the final list, were individually informed through a formal order of deletion to facilitate the filing of appeals against the exclusion. “They have a right to appeal,” Justice Kant addressed the EC. The Bench, again, queried if a separate list of names and details of the 3.66 lakh excluded voters was published and made easily accessible at the grassroots level. The court posted the case on Thursday. Justice Bagchi referred to Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors’ Rules, 1960, which required poll authorities to display the names and details of deleted voters on the notice boards of district electoral offices. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the EC, said the disaggregated data was still being collected from ground-level officers and processed. However, there has not been a single complaint against any exclusion of names in the final list. He said the final electoral roll has already been shared with the political parties. “Who is deleted and who is not requires only a basic comparison between the draft roll and the final list,” Dwivedi argued. Justice Kant, at one point in the hearing, threw the EC’s line of argument at the petitioners’ lawyers, advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi. “Bhushan, but where are the aggrieved people? The draft voter list is available on the EC website; the final voter list is also available. You could compare and identify the excluded names. Show us specific cases in the 3.66 lakh deleted voters whose names were deleted without any communication… This cannot be a roving enquiry… For whom are you doing this? They may be illegals who were deleted from the voter list, would they come out and complain?” Justice Kant asked them. Bhushan said the SIR, instead of cleaning up the electoral process, have only compounded the problems by EC’s opacity. The court asked the EC to address the issues raised in Bhushan’s written submissions on Thursday. These submissions contended that though the official estimate of adult population in Bihar for September 2025 was 8.22 crore, the number of electors in the final rolls was only 7.42 crore. “Thus, 80 lakh, that is, approximately 10 per cent of the total adult population of Bihar, has been denied their right to vote. Such a sharp fall in the adult population to the electors’ ratio is a record for India and for Bihar,” the written submissions said. In no State of the country previously have as many as 10 per cent of the electorate been excluded from the electoral roll, Bhushan said. Further, Bhushan submitted that lakhs of women were ‘missing’ from Bihar’s electoral rolls. “After SIR, while Bihar’s gender ratio is 934 in September 2025, the gender ratio in the final electoral rolls has fallen sharply to 892. This translates into 17 lakh missing women… SIR has wiped out a whole decade’s gains in the gender ratio of electoral rolls,” the submissions presented in court. The SIR exercise has also resulted in disproportionate exclusion of Muslims, Bhushan claimed. “Our analysis based on name recognition software shows that Muslims were 25 per cent among the 65 lakh voters excluded from the draft rolls and 34 per cent among the 3.66 lakh deleted electors from the final rolls… This disproportionate exclusion accounts for the reduction of about 6 lakh Muslim voters,” he submitted. The court asked the EC to respond to Mr. Bhushan’s analysis that at least 5.17 lakh names on the final rolls appear to the duplicates. “There are over 2.5 lakh cases of blank or junk household numbers, over 25000 electors with gibberish names and nearly 60000 entries with invalid gender or relation or gender relations mismatch,” the written submissions alleged. Published on October 7, 2025

Krishnadas Rajagopal
GIFT City to launch unassisted face authentication system for NRIs: IFSCA Chairman
Technology

GIFT City to launch unassisted face authentication system for NRIs: IFSCA Chairman

Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) will soon be able to use an unassisted face-authentication system to open accounts, stay invested and transact out of GIFT City in Gujarat. “We are working with the UIDAI and Reserve Bank of India to launch an unassisted face authentication system [for NRIs]. UIDAI has already launched a face-authentication system for domestic India, but we want to do something similar for a person sitting in San Francisco or Dubai. We want NRIs to use the face authentication system to onboard himself in an unassisted manner,” K Rajaraman, Chairman, International Financial Services Authority (IFSCA), told businessline on the sidelines of the Global Fintech Fest 2025 (GFF). “If we are able to do this in the next 3-4 months, a large portion of the NRIs will find it very easy to open accounts, stay invested and maybe do all kinds of transactions out of GIFT City. We expect this KYC problem to be on top of our agenda for the next few months,” Rajaraman added. Verification process Currently, NRIs have to go through an offline verification process, which includes examination of original identification documents and the certification of a copy of these documents by authorised officials. Earlier, while speaking on the topic From Regulation to Reinvention: Transforming India’s Financial Architecture with IFSCA at GFF, Rajaraman said: “The Finance Minister who chairs the financial stability and development council has directed all the financial sector regulators in India to work on the KYC-piece and ensure that we have effective and multiple ways in which a KYC can be done. Therefore, we had launched a consultation paper on assisted video KYC. We are likely to notify that by November which means paper-based applications for opening a deposit account or an investment account in GIFT City will not be required.” Talking about Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement at GFF about foreign currency settlement system in GIFT City, Rajaraman said: “One of the things that the global financial centre needs to do is to ensure efficiency in the movement of cash. If I, as an investor, am making payment to an insurance company, I would want my policy to be subscribed instantly instead of waiting for 24 or 36 hours while the transaction goes through a corresponding banking system in New York or elsewhere. We want the transaction to be settled instantly. So, that requires a real-time gross settlement system. The Clearing Corporation of India was authorised to set up the foreign currency clearing system. What was today launched by the Finance Minister is a US-dollar clearing system, which ensures that the inter IBU (IFSC Banking Unit) or inter-bank transfers within IFSC to be done real time or near real time. This ensures the efficiency of cash movement within GIFT City becomes international-grade.” He added: “Similarly, this system will now look at clearing other currencies like euro or British pound and a few other currencies that have got some nominees. We will also be looking at how to do settlement within domestic India — the Rupee-Dollar settlement. We are also looking to do settlements between a bank in GIFT City and a bank in Dubai, New York. All this might happen over the next six months,” he added. Published on October 7, 2025

Avinash Nair
Silent Hill f and Ghost Of Yōtei show pros and cons of adding foxes to your game
Technology

Silent Hill f and Ghost Of Yōtei show pros and cons of adding foxes to your game

Silent Hill f – Fox Mask is quite the fox (Konami) Players are having very different reactions to the foxes featured in Ghost Of Yōtei and Silent Hill f, with the latter getting a sales boost from it in Japan. If we had a penny for every game to launch this year that features a historical Japanese setting and includes foxes that players have become strangely enamoured with, we’d have two pennies. Which is not a lot but, well… you know the meme. We are, of course, referring to Ghost Of Yōtei and Silent Hill f, two dramatically different games that somehow share an amusing similarity regarding their use of foxes and players’ reactions to them. (And the fact that they’re both best played with the Japanese voice track.) However, there are concerns Ghost Of Yōtei’s foxes will put players in serious danger in real-life, if they try to pet one, while fans of Silent Hill f’s fox character are also eager for some heavy petting. Can you pet foxes in Ghost Of Yōtei? Ghost Of Yōtei brings back Ghost Of Tsushima’s fox dens, where a helpful fox will appear to guide you to hidden shrines that provide you with new rewards. Foxes are very important in the Japanese Shinto religion, with the god-like Inari Ōkami being the focus of the shrines in Ghost Of Yōtei and key to the backstory of Silent Hill f. In Ghost Of Tsushima, you could give the fox a little pet on the head; a feature that was so popular that players collectively petted foxes 8.8 million times in just 10 days. This has been retained for Ghost Of Yōtei, but as reported by Automaton, there are concerns on social media that this will encourage players to try petting real foxes, should they ever be in Hokkaido – the Japanese prefecture where the game takes place (albeit in the early 1600s). 北海道羊蹄山が舞台の「ゴースト・オブ・ヨウテイ」でキタキツネをもふもふできる⁉️道民「あかん…」🦊 pic.twitter.com/vkzCroQjLG— 札幌暮らし（北海道グルメと札幌イベント）❄ (@sapporolife2021) October 1, 2025 According to non-profit website HokkaidoWilds, this is because 30% to 40% of Hokkaido foxes can potentially carry a parasitic tapeworm called Echinococcus. This parasite can be passed onto humans and can kill you without proper treatment. Obviously, you shouldn’t be trying to pet foxes no matter where you are, but it’s going to be especially tempting if you’re visiting Hokkaido, just to say you emulated a beloved game mechanic. Ghost Of Tsushima already helped promote tourism on the real-life island of Tsushima and there’re signs of this repeating with Ghost Of Yōtei and Hokkaido, with travel company Klook running a themed tour inspired by the game. Silent Hill f doesn’t have any foxes to pet but there is a very handsome man in a fox mask (for most of the game he’s referred to literally as Fox Mask) who appears throughout the game as a mysterious guide, and his presence is apparently helping to push sales in Japan. According to Japanese outlet Denfaminico, Fox Mask has made quite the splash on Japanese social media for being ‘too sweet’ and protective of protagonist Hinako… even though his actions in the the full game are often far from helpful. Some have admitted he got them into playing the game. ‘The man with the fox mask drove me crazy,’ said one player, while another added: ‘The visuals are really piercing, help me!’ How well is Silent Hill f selling? Whatever peoples’ motive for buying Silent Hill f, Konami is not going to care. Although it sounds like it’s performing very well regardless of how attractive Fox Mask is. According to Konami, Silent Hill f sold one million units in just one day; a feat the Silent Hill 2 remake took three days to achieve. Sales data from Famitsu also reveals that 57,475 of those sales were for the PlayStation 5 version in Japan, making it the country’s best selling game during its launch week. That’s especially impressive considering most horror games don’t actually sell that much, except for Resident Evil, and Silent Hill, with its US setting, has never been particularly big in Japan. In other Silent Hill news, it’s rumoured that Silent Hill 2 will be escaping its PlayStation 5 and PC exclusivity and be ported to Xbox and Nintendo Switch. Rebs Gaming noticed that the game’s website has been updated to add two unused slots, to list what platforms the game’s available for. Additionally, the ever-reliable billbil-kun at Dealabs has claimed Silent Hill 2 will be added to the PlayStation Plus Extra catalogue this month, which they speculate could point to a multiplatform launch since it will have been a year since the game’s initial release. Insider Dusk Golem is also convinced both an Xbox version and PS5 Pro patch will be confirmed in the near future. Plus, they’ve insisted DLC based on the Born From A Wish side story, from the original game, will be announced soon. They theorise Konami is saving it to tie-in with the new Silent Hill movie that releases in January 2026, since that too is based on Silent Hill 2. Is Silent Hill truly back? (Konami) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. ArrowMORE: Amazon Prime Day 2025 includes Ghost Of Yōtei and Super Mario Galaxy discounts ArrowMORE: One of the best hidden gems of 2023 is free on PS Plus this month ArrowMORE: Every Silent Hill game ranked from worst to best – from 1999 to 2025

Michael Beckwith
JLR to resume production; wholesale & retail sales dip in Q2 FY26
Technology

JLR to resume production; wholesale & retail sales dip in Q2 FY26

British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will resume manufacturing at the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre (EPMC) on Wednesday. Meantime, the company’s wholesale sales dipped 24.2 per cent in Q2 FY26 to 66,165 units. The retail sales were down 17.1 per cent to 85,495 units in Q2 FY26. JLR stated volumes were impacted since the start of September by the recent cyber incident, with production stoppages impacting wholesales. Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender model mix was 76.7 per cent of total wholesale volumes in Q2 FY26, down from 77.2 per cent in the prior quarter and up from 67.0 per cent year-on-year. The manufacturing will begin at the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre (EPMC), where the company builds engines, and at its Battery Assembly Centre (BAC) in the West Midlands, UK. Employees will also return to operations in Castle Bromwich, Halewood and Solihull, UK, and other areas of its Solihull vehicle production plant, including its body shop, paint shop and its Logistics Operations Centre (LOC), which feeds parts to JLR’s global manufacturing sites. This will be followed by vehicle manufacturing in Nitra, Slovakia, and the restart of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport (MLA) production lines in Solihull. Further, there will be a phased restart will follow for JLR’s Halewood plant on Merseyside. Tata Motors-owned JLR was hit by a cyber attack in September, and the luxury car maker had to shut down its system to contain and mitigate the impact. “It has been a challenging quarter for JLR. In the first two months, our performance was robust and in line with our expectations, against the backdrop of the planned wind-down of legacy Jaguar models and the impact of incremental US tariffs. From the start of September, we have been responding to a cyber incident, which shut down our production. Since then, we have worked with retailers to prioritise the delivery of our world-class vehicles to our clients,” said Adrian Mardell, CEO, JLR. Further, JLR will introduce a new financing scheme to support JLR suppliers that will provide qualifying JLR suppliers with cash up front during the production restart phase. The company, since the cyber attack, has established a dedicated supplier help desk and implemented a manual payment system to settle outstanding invoices. “Working with a banking partner, this short-term financing scheme means qualifying JLR suppliers will receive a majority prepayment shortly after the point of order and a final true-up payment on receipt of invoice. JLR’s typical supplier payment terms are 60 days post invoice, so this scheme accelerates payments by as much as 120 days. JLR will reimburse the financing costs for those JLR suppliers who use the scheme during the restart phase, as the company returns to full production,” mentioned the company in a statement. Published on October 7, 2025

Bl Mumbai Bureau
Stephen Curry explains what he refuses to do when it comes to Jonathan Kuminga’s form
Technology

Stephen Curry explains what he refuses to do when it comes to Jonathan Kuminga’s form

Stephen Curry finished the night with 14 points, just behind Moses Moody, who led the team with 19. Kuminga did not have much of an impact on the scoreboard, managing only five points, but he did chip in with six rebounds and four assists. After the game, Curry was asked for his take on Kuminga’s outing. His response suggested he did not see much point in picking apart a preseason appearance. “It was business as usual. Just come in play, give effort, continue to try to get better. I’m not going to overanalyze every minute he’s out there. It’s not good for anybody. “It’s just, can we win? Can he be a part of that? No matter how it looks, so excited for him to get his legs underneath him and keep building.” Curry had already been supporting Kuminga during his contract negotiations earlier this year. The preseason is not really a time for harsh criticism anyway, and Steph seemed more interested in backing his teammate than picking apart anything minor. Stephen Curry says there’s little to learn from Warriors’ preseason win

Aikansh Chaudhary,HITC
Previous 20 21 22 23 24 Next