Author: Rahul M

Despite the never-ending drama over whether to ban the app, President Donald Trump’s volatile tariff regime, and executive shake-ups, TikTok’s ecommerce division is still seeing massive growth.TikTok doesn’t disclose aggregate sales figures, but the price and sales volume of individual products are visible on the app. Based on that data, the analytics firm EchoTik estimates TikTok Shop sold $19 billion worth of products globally from July through September of this year. The United States, its largest market, accounted for $4 billion to $4.5 billion in sales, an increase of about 125 percent compared to the second quarter of 2025.To put…

Target is leaning into “Minnesota Nice.” The Minneapolis-based retailer has a new directive for store employees: If a shopper comes within 10 feet of you, then make sure you smile, make eye contact and greet or wave. If they come closer — within four feet — ask whether they need help or how their day is going, according to new guidance confirmed by Bloomberg News.The new initiative — dubbed the 10-4 program internally — is among Target’s latest efforts to make its stores more welcoming and reverse its extended streak of weak sales ahead of the all-important holiday season. Incoming Chief…

Paramount It’s always interesting to hear what creators think about others in their genres, especially when we’re talking about the biggest names in classic science fiction. One example is when the legendary sci-fi author Isaac Asimov was interviewed in footage from the New York City “Star Trek” convention in 1973. Asimov, who wrote the Laws of Robotics (and the Zeroth Law) in context of both “I, Robot” and “Foundation,” offered his thoughts on the fellow sci-fi icon. This was after the original series had ended in 1969, and more than a decade…

The breakthrough, published in Nature Biotechnology, centers on a bioengineering method that links pigment production to bacterial survival. By genetically programming microbes to depend on pigment synthesis for life, scientists achieved yields thousands of times higher than previous attempts. According to UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this represents the first time the pigment has been produced efficiently in a living system. Octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish rely on pigments like xanthommatin to alter the color and texture of their skin almost instantly. Their camouflage remains one of the most sophisticated biological displays in nature, inspiring years of research across…

Tiger safaris in Nagarahole and Bandipur wildlife reserves in Karnataka were suspended on Friday at the direction of the state forest minister in the wake of the third tiger attack-linked death in the last one month in the contiguous forest region located on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. “The loss of three precious lives due to tiger attacks in the last one month on the edge of the Bandipur and Nagarhole forests in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts is deeply painful,” Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre said. Khandre further said, “Farmers have expressed an opinion that wildlife is coming out of the forest…

PARIS (AP) — The diamond and emerald-studded crown of Empress Eugénie, which was found damaged outside the Louvre after apparently being dropped during the Oct. 19 robbery, will be restored as a symbol of “renaissance,” the museum’s director Laurence des Cars said Friday.Thieves made away with eight objects on display at the Paris museum, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. They forced their way through a window into the Apollo Gallery with the help of a freight lift, using disc cutters to cut through display cases and steal…

Show Quick Read Key points generated by AI, verified by newsroom Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday expressed confidence that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will secure a sweeping victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, citing the record voter turnout and massive crowds at campaign rallies as evidence of strong public support. Speaking to NDTV while campaigning in Purnia, Shah asserted that the NDA would win more than 160 seats. “The record voter turnout is proof that the people of Bihar want the NDA. They don’t want the Opposition to return to power and ruin the state just like…

Against the backdrop of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi set off on his “Voter Adhikar Yatra” from Sasaram on August 17. In a whirlwind campaign covering 1,300 km across 20 districts and culminating in a massive rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on September 1, Gandhi, often joined by RJD chief and Mahagathbandhan’s CM face Tejashwi Yadav, accused the ruling party of “vote chori (theft)”.The yatra drew huge crowds and, buoyed by the turnout, the Congress demanded a greater share of seats within the Mahagathbandhan, one of the reasons that delayed the…

The pre-dawn action by the Punjab Police last week against newspaper distribution vans in several towns has revived charges against the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state of crushing dissent.The day before newspapers, including The Indian Express, could not be distributed on time in the Punjab capital, they had carried the BJP’s allegations that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had got for himself a ‘Sheesh Mahal 2.0’ in Chandigarh. One of the main lines of attack of the BJP against Kejriwal in the Delhi Assembly elections early this year was that Kejriwal had turned the Delhi Chief Minister’s residence into…

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s government on Friday announced an agreement to ban access to social media for anyone under 15, ratcheting up pressure on Big Tech platforms as concerns grow that kids are getting too swept up in a digitized world of harmful content and commercial interests.The move, led by the Ministry of Digitalization, aims to set the age limit for access to social media but give some parents — after a specific assessment — the right to give consent to let their children access social media from age 13. Such a measure would be among the most sweeping…