India logged 2,86,384 new COVID-19 cases and 573 deaths in the last 24 hours, stated the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 22,02,472, which is 5.46 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases reported so far.

Apple Inc. is planning a new service that will let small businesses accept payments directly on their iPhones without any extra hardware, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The company has been working on the new feature since around 2020, when it paid about $100 million for a Canadian startup called Mobeewave that developed technology for smartphones to accept payments with the tap of a credit card.

Future Enterprises has agreed to sell a 25 per cent stake in its general insurance joint venture, Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGIICL) to its partner, Generali Participations Netherlands N. V.(Generali) for a cash consideration of Rs 1252.96 crore, plus an additional consideration that is linked to the date of the closing of the transaction, the former said in a stock exchange filing.

Generali has also acquired an option to buy out the company’s remaining interest in FGIICL, directly or through a nominee, at an agreed valuation subject to applicable regulatory approvals.

Air India is set to enhance its in-flight service in first and business class as it comes under the Tata group ownership from Thursday.

While a PTI news report said that enhanced meal service will be available on four flights on Thursday, the airline management is also looking at upgraded service procedures. Trolley service for liquor and newspapers, which was discontinued due to Covid-19 pandemic, is being brought back.

Realty firm Macrotech Developers saw a "minor" impact on housing demand in the first two weeks of January this year due to surge in COVID cases and remains confident of meeting the Rs 9,000-crore sales bookings target for this fiscal, its MD & CEO Abhishek Lodha said.

Macrotech Developers markets its properties under the Lodha brand. It is developing projects in the Mumbai region and Pune.

Indian IT services firms may have outpaced their US counterparts and emerged as the most valued brands globally according to Brand Finance Global 500, 2022, but Indian conglomerates’ ranking appears to be slipping.

Though the Tata Group continues to be the only Indian representative among the top 100 most valued brands globally, its ranking has slipped by one position to 78 this year, from 77 last year.

Despite low absolute risk, there is an increased relative risk of carditis -- a type of heart inflammation -- associated with Covid vaccine developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and China's CoronaVac, researchers have found.

The findings, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, show a significant increased risk in adolescents after the second dose.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital has reduced by 20 per cent in the last 10 days and added that the restrictions will soon be lifted.

COVID positivity rate has reduced by 20 per cent in the span of last 10 days. Today it's about 10 per cent, opposed to 30 per cent positivity rate on January 15. All of this is because of the consistent pace of vaccination, Kejriwal said while addressing a program in Delhi.

After being over three lakh for five consecutive days, the single day rise in COVID-19 infections was recorded at 2,55,874, taking India's total tally of cases to 3,97,99,202, according to Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,90,462 with 614 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Shares of Deepak Nitrite dipped 9 per cent to Rs 2,150 on the BSE in Tuesday’s intra-day trade after the company reported a 500 basis points (bps) contraction in its consolidated earnings before interest tax and depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margins at 22 per cent in the December quarter (Q3FY22).

The company said that the operating environment was challenging, characterized by rising costs and constraints in supply of inputs.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.