QAD | Redzone marks 20 years in India and recognizes manufacturing leaders with 2025 Champions of Change awards.
QAD | Redzone announced its 2025 India Champions of Change Awards, recognizing customers and partners for delivering measurable operational efficiency, real time visibility, compliance, and scalable ERP modernization across food, automotive, and industrial manufacturing; awardees include Jayanti Herbs & Spice, SAF HOLLAND (York Transport), Hindalco, Autoliv India, YASH Technologies, and Digitus, and the announcement emphasizes India's role in developing QAD Adaptive ERP, connected workforce tools, and AI enabled manufacturing solutions.

Sensex falls on foreign fund outflows and thin year-end volumes, marking third consecutive decline across sectors.
The BSE Sensex fell 367.25 points to 85,041.45 in its third straight session of losses as foreign institutional investor outflows and thin year-end volumes, coupled with a lack of strong domestic triggers, drove broad weakness; FIIs sold while DIIs bought, with IT and telecom among the weakest sectors and commodities and metals outperforming.

Sensex falls for third day amid foreign fund outflows, DIIs buying and mixed global cues, down 367 points.
Sensex fell for a third straight session, down 367.25 points to 85,041.45 and Nifty dropped to 26,042.30, with foreign institutional investor selling of Rs 1,721.26 crore outweighing domestic institutional purchases of Rs 2,381.34 crore; mixed global markets and thin holiday liquidity, plus sectoral divergences among major stocks, were cited as contributing factors while Brent crude rose to about USD 62.43 per barrel.

Agarbattis: new BIS standard bans specified insecticidal chemicals and sets quality, safety and labeling requirements.
The compulsory standard IS 19412:2025 classifies agarbattis into machine-made, hand-made and traditional masala categories and prescribes requirements for raw materials, burning quality, fragrance performance and chemical parameters. BIS specifies a negative list prohibiting certain insecticidal chemicals (alethrin, permethrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, fipronil) and synthetic fragrance intermediates (benzyl cyanide, ethyl acrylate, diphenylamine). Products conforming to the standard may carry the BIS Standard Mark to indicate compliance and support market access.

Rupee falls to 89.86 amid foreign fund outflows, importer dollar demand and risk-off market sentiment.
Rupee depreciated to 89.86 against the US dollar, pressured by foreign fund outflows, strong importer dollar demand, and risk-off sentiment; dollar index and Brent crude trends and domestic equity declines amplified intraday volatility.

Sonata Gold Collection wins Good Design Award 2025 for timepiece design that centres a certified 22K gold coin in the dial.
Sonata Gold Collection received the Good Design Award 2025 for Timepieces, recognised for a defining design element: a certified 22K gold plated coin (0.15 gm) set into the dial, combined with gold-toned hands, fluid lugs, and a textured leather strap; men's and women's variants preserve balance and proportion. The collection is presented as anchored in material authenticity and consumer trust while remaining price-accessible at INR 5,995, reflecting a design-led product strategy and market positioning.

Higher education is being redesigned to embed technology, outcome-based pedagogy, and global collaboration for AI-era careers.
The institute prioritises technology integration, outcome-based pedagogy, and multidisciplinary curriculum development to build digital fluency and future-ready competencies for AI-era careers, using international COIL partnerships, research-led instruction, and measures such as publications, patents, and awards to align institutional practice with policy objectives encouraging flexibility and interdisciplinarity.

Japan's defence budget rises to deter China, boosting missiles, unmanned drones and joint weapons development.
Japan approved a record defence budget for fiscal 2026 exceeding 9 trillion yen to accelerate a programme to reach a 2% of GDP defence spending target, funding expanded long-range and standoff missile capability, rapid deployment of Type-12 surface-to-ship missiles, unmanned air/sea/underwater systems under a "SHIELD" scheme, joint weapons development, and measures to strengthen the domestic defence industry and arms exports, with parliamentary approval required for implementation.

World Conclave 2025 convened leaders, launched an education magazine and product, held panels on education and innovation, and presented awards.
World Conclave 2025 convened business leaders, educators, and entrepreneurs in Bangalore, launched The Business Ascent magazine and an Avinya Edutech product, held panels on education reform and organisational innovation, emphasised women's entrepreneurship, and concluded with awards recognising institutions, individuals, and enterprises across education, business, and women's leadership.

Dhurandhar praised as a masterclass in authentic storytelling and emotional branding that builds lasting audience trust.
Mehul Purohit praises Dhurandhar for its authentic storytelling, coherent narrative and well-defined character arcs, arguing these elements mirror core digital branding principles-honesty, consistency and emotional positioning-and demonstrate that substance-driven, organic content builds lasting audience trust better than superficial promotion.

Zelenskyy says meeting with Trump to pursue demilitarized-zone talks and potential troop withdrawals under international monitoring.
Zelenskyy announced an imminent meeting with US President Trump to advance negotiations concentrating on conditional Ukrainian troop withdrawals from parts of the Donbas in exchange for reciprocal Russian pullbacks and the establishment of a demilitarized zone under international monitoring, with attendant security guarantees and verification mechanisms.

Airports customer satisfaction survey shows top scores for Bhopal and Khajuraho, with coverage affecting comparability.
The Airports Authority of India's pan India customer satisfaction survey, based on feedback from 58 of 62 airports and conducted in two rounds, used point based scoring to measure passenger service quality: Round 1 saw Bhopal, Khajuraho and Udaipur obtain perfect scores; Round 2 saw Bhopal, Khajuraho and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar score 4.99/5. Four airports were excluded for lack of flights and one recorded 3/5, demonstrating that survey coverage and airline connectivity affect inclusion and comparability while the mechanism identifies service strengths and weaknesses.

Maharashtra crime and security: Naxalite mass surrenders, MCOCA charges, extraditions, high-profile fraud probes and rising violent crime.
Maharashtra's 2025 security profile combined assertive enforcement-use of MCOCA, major anti-Naxal operations leading to mass surrenders, and extraditions of fugitives-with notable prosecutorial setbacks via acquittals in historic blast cases. Simultaneously, authorities pursued large financial-fraud investigations and probed sophisticated cyber-enabled scams, while violent crimes and incidents raising public-safety and radicalisation concerns underscored systemic enforcement and institutional-response challenges.

Najib Razak convicted for 1MDB-linked corruption, found guilty of abuse of power in multimillion-dollar fund siphoning.
Najib Razak was convicted on three counts of abuse of power for siphoning more than $700 million from 1MDB into personal accounts, with this finding set against earlier SRC/1MDB convictions and sentence reductions by the Pardons Board; a royal order for home arrest was invalidated and related international money laundering allegations remain subject to cross border investigations.

Air purifiers: petition seeks lower GST amid worsening air quality; a formal response has been sought.
A petition seeks reduction of the goods and services tax on air purifiers to improve accessibility amid worsening air quality. The High Court has directed the central government to file a detailed response, bringing into question the permissibility of tax relief to advance public health and the standards for judicial scrutiny of fiscal policy.

Manmohan Singh remembered for transformative economic reforms, rights-based development, and commitment to inclusive growth and humility.
Manmohan Singh's economic reforms and rights-based development paradigm are credited with reshaping the country's economic trajectory, expanding opportunities, and lifting millions out of poverty. Leaders emphasise his roles as Finance Minister and Prime Minister in ushering comprehensive economic policy changes tied to inclusive growth and poverty alleviation, and they highlight his humility, integrity, and dedication to public service as central to his legacy.

TECNO expansion in Rajasthan with Tituprint aims for 10% market share and stronger last-mile distribution.
Strategic commercial partnership between TECNO and Tituprint establishes a long-term distribution and engagement framework for Rajasthan to complement existing distribution channels, strengthen last-mile engagement, and provide consistent planning and execution while emphasizing intent over immediate operational rollout and targeting a 10% market share.

KIIT NanhiPari Little Miss India 2025 awarded scholarships and fee waivers to top winners alongside multiple special-category prizes.
KIIT NanhiPari Little Miss India 2025 crowned Samriddhi Tripathy winner, with Pranjal Sharma and P Prardhini as first and second runners-up. Organisers granted scholarships totalling Rs 56 lakh: Winner Rs 28 lakh (including Rs 10 lakh cash and 100% academic fee waiver at KIIT University); First Runner-Up Rs 14 lakh (including Rs 5 lakh cash and 50% fee waiver); Second Runner-Up Rs 12 lakh (including Rs 3 lakh cash and 50% fee waiver). Special-category awards each carried a Rs 20,000 cash prize.

Maharashtra politics: Thackeray cousins unite and Mahayuti consolidates power after major local election gains and defections.
Cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray formed an electoral alliance while the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition consolidated local power through substantial municipal wins and opposition defections, altering contest dynamics for key civic bodies. Despite governance challenges-criminal cases, communal clashes, a withdrawn language mandate, and intra-alliance frictions-the government sustained electoral momentum with welfare schemes and economic claims, and the judiciary provided limited relief to a legislator by staying the disqualification effect of a conviction.

Voter roll revisions expand nationwide to verify eligibility, accept Aadhaar, digitise records, and revise enumeration schedules.
The Election Commission conducted special intensive revision of electoral rolls across 13 states and UTs in 2025, with a special revision in Assam and plans to cover the remaining 22 jurisdictions in 2026, aiming to cleanse rolls by verifying place of birth and documents. Procedural changes after Bihar allow document submission following partially filled enumeration forms when mapping fails; the Supreme Court required Aadhaar be accepted as an additional document. The EC extended enumeration timelines, digitised elector data, encouraged Form 6 filings via BLOs or the ECINet app, and plans final electoral rolls for publication in February.