In the race to meet the demands of the energy transition, biodiversity hotspots such as Palawan in the Philippines are being increasingly mined for critical elements Data reveals how nature is being sacrificed for mining Moharen Tahil Tambiling lowers himself from the fishing boat into the water and gingerly picks his way over the reef circling the bay. At low tide here in Brooke’s Point on Palawa...
In the race to meet the demands of the energy transition, biodiversity hotspots such as Palawan in the Philippines are being increasingly mined for critical elements Data reveals how nature is being sacrificed for mining Moharen Tahil Tambiling lowers himself from the fishing boat into the water and gingerly picks his way over the reef circling the bay. At low tide here in Brooke’s Point on Palawan, a long, rugged island in the south-west of the Philippines archipelago, the coral is just under the surface, and it looms suddenly under the waves, scraping at the boat’s wooden hull. Beneath his feet are brain-like mounds and curling fingers of coral. Leaning over the side of the fishing boat, the men point out different kinds: some which were once vibrant orange and others that should be delicate pink. Now, almost everything is the same dull khaki, covered by a thick film of silt. Another man jumps overboard, stirring the sediment. A cloud rises like thick smoke over the reef. Continue reading...
Once violently defended from extinction, Welsh is still a part of daily life. By learning my family’s language, I hoped to join their conversation My maternal grandmother died 20 years ago. The funeral was held in a small Methodist chapel in the lush Conwy valley of north Wales. Her entire life – she had almost reached 100 – was spent in these hills. The drizzle that morning had slicked the trees ...
Once violently defended from extinction, Welsh is still a part of daily life. By learning my family’s language, I hoped to join their conversation My maternal grandmother died 20 years ago. The funeral was held in a small Methodist chapel in the lush Conwy valley of north Wales. Her entire life – she had almost reached 100 – was spent in these hills. The drizzle that morning had slicked the trees and turned the slate of the chapel black. Our family, gathered under umbrellas, entered in order of seniority: Mum, now the family elder, with Dad on her arm, then my six aunts and uncles with their spouses, and finally the cousins, led by my brother Mark and me. The room was austere. White walls, sturdy wooden furniture, a plain cross on the wall. Our family squeezed into box pews in the centre of the chapel. A couple of older men among the crowd reminded me of my grandfather, who had died decades earlier: similar thatches of black hair; dark, weathered complexions; history-book faces. Continue reading...
It starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother. This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the mo...
It starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother. This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the most visible examples of a spate of butsukari otoko – “bumping man” – shoving incidents in Japan that experts attribute to a combination of gender dynamics and the stresses of modern life. A video of the incident, filmed on 25 February in the middle of the popular “scramble” crossing in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighbourhood, has racked up more than 1m views on Instagram. Most commenters condemned the woman’s actions, while some wondered if it was wise to take photographs in the middle of a packed intersection. The bumping phenomenon entered the Japanese public consciousness in 2018, when a slightly blurred video appeared of a man deliberately barging into several women at Shinjuku station, the busiest railway station in the world. Last May, a 59-year-old associate professor was arrested in Fukuoka, on suspicion of assaulting multiple passersby after striking them with his bag as he walked past. The man faces a prison sentence of up to two years or a maximum fine of ¥300,000 ($1,895). Assaults resulting in injury carry harsher penalties. Other incidents were reported around Tamachi station in Tokyo, including a woman struck so hard she suffered broken ribs. Commuters must now stay in lanes separated by bollards when they approach and leave the station. It’s not just men doing the bumping, although anecdotally they are more likely to be perpetrators. Social media posts show people of both sexes purposely striding towards through crowded public spaces in readiness to administer a shoulder barge to unsuspecting victims. In one widely shared clip, a woman is seen hitting a passerby with h...
OpenClaw has sparked euphoria on mainland China’s stock markets, defying the broader gloom stemming from Middle East hostilities, as investors chase companies compatible with the open-source artificial intelligence tool. OpenClaw’s meteoric rise has lifted stocks of compatible companies, with Hangzhou Shunwang Technology, a provider of online entertainment networking platforms, soaring 22 per cent...
OpenClaw has sparked euphoria on mainland China’s stock markets, defying the broader gloom stemming from Middle East hostilities, as investors chase companies compatible with the open-source artificial intelligence tool. OpenClaw’s meteoric rise has lifted stocks of compatible companies, with Hangzhou Shunwang Technology, a provider of online entertainment networking platforms, soaring 22 per cent in Shenzhen over the past week. Talkweb Information System, a telecoms software developer also listed in Shenzhen, has jumped 12 per cent in the same period. Meanwhile, the benchmark CSI 300 Index has risen 0.2 per cent. The disconnect between these stocks and the broader market underscored the popularity of OpenClaw, dubbed “lobster” by Chinese investors because of its mascot. Unlike AI chatbots, OpenClaw can carry out tasks on users’ computers and mobile phones, sort documents, install software and even undertake online shopping. Its roll-out is expected to speed up AI adoption in daily life. Advertisement To leverage the OpenClaw trade, investors should focus more on large-language model developers capable of integrating the AI tool, according to BOC International. A man holds a placard featuring OpenClaw, an open-source AI assistant in Beijing. Photo: AFP “While it’s in the early stages, [OpenClaw] remains the key to connecting large-language models to the end-user scenarios,” said Wang Jun, an analyst at BOC International in Shanghai. “It’s expected to make the breakthrough from ‘answer question’ to ‘perform tasks’.”
He lit up the 1970s with a string of hits, before falling out of the public eye. But was any man ever more connected? He discusses extraordinary encounters with Muhammad Ali and Keith Moon – and why he stormed out of Big Brother Leo Sayer has stories. Boy, does he have stories! Muhammad Ali? Stories. Keith Moon? Stories. Elvis Presley? Stories. I’ve never met anybody with so many stories. He’s in ...
He lit up the 1970s with a string of hits, before falling out of the public eye. But was any man ever more connected? He discusses extraordinary encounters with Muhammad Ali and Keith Moon – and why he stormed out of Big Brother Leo Sayer has stories. Boy, does he have stories! Muhammad Ali? Stories. Keith Moon? Stories. Elvis Presley? Stories. I’ve never met anybody with so many stories. He’s in Australia, where he lives, when we speak by video link. The pint-sized pop star with the mop of curly hair is 77 and still bouncing like a Superball. Back in the 70s, he was famous for his turbo-charged energy. On his first Top of the Pops appearance with his breakthrough hit, The Show Must Go On, he dressed as a pierrot. If you’re looking for the footage, you won’t find it. Paedophile presenter Jimmy Savile played such a prominent role that the video was disappeared. “He was creepy. He wouldn’t get off the fucking stage, so they can never show my first performance. I’m sure he fancied me.” Continue reading...
France’s voters go to the polls on 15 and 22 March for two rounds of municipal elections that will provide the clearest indication so far of the country’s political temperature in the runup to the presidential election next year. The ballots in 35,000 communes across France, ranging from small hamlets to large cities such as Paris, Lyon and Marseille, are a key test of the far-right National Rally...
France’s voters go to the polls on 15 and 22 March for two rounds of municipal elections that will provide the clearest indication so far of the country’s political temperature in the runup to the presidential election next year. The ballots in 35,000 communes across France, ranging from small hamlets to large cities such as Paris, Lyon and Marseille, are a key test of the far-right National Rally (RN) and of the alliances that could hold it at bay – or help it to power. What’s the story and why does it matter? Polls consistently show France’s mayors are the country’s most trusted politicians and, while municipal elections often focus on local matters, they measure support for political parties, shape national momentum and can show which themes resonate with voters. Held every six years, the municipal ballots are being watched particularly closely this time around because of next year’s election that will decide who succeeds Emmanuel Macron as France’s president; polls so far suggest it could well be the RN’s candidate, whether that is Jordan Bardella or Marine Le Pen. Municipal election results are notoriously difficult to predict – partly because pollsters do not always pick up on the issues that decide them, but also because every candidate list that scores 10% or more in the first round advances to the second round. In addition, lists that score at least 5% can merge with larger lists. This system often leads to three- or even four-way runoffs, paving the way for electoral alliances aimed at helping or hindering particular parties and making the second round highly unpredictable. How strong is the RN and where might it do well? The far-right, anti-immigration party performed badly in the last municipal votes in 2020, but subsequently did very well in European and then snap parliamentary elections in 2024, becoming the largest single party in France’s national assembly. The RN and its allies currently control only a dozen or so councils and just one city with a p...
Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink are comparing their CVs. “Noah has more Shakespeare experience than me, for sure,” says Sink. “Oh yes, I think so,” replies Jupe. “How many lines?” asks Sink. “Quite a few, actually,” he reports. “More than 10!” If Jupe wanted to flex, he could say in all truth that he played Hamlet when he was only 19. That was two summers ago, when he stood on the stage in a replica of S...
Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink are comparing their CVs. “Noah has more Shakespeare experience than me, for sure,” says Sink. “Oh yes, I think so,” replies Jupe. “How many lines?” asks Sink. “Quite a few, actually,” he reports. “More than 10!” If Jupe wanted to flex, he could say in all truth that he played Hamlet when he was only 19. That was two summers ago, when he stood on the stage in a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre and asked “To be or not to be?” in Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-nominated adaptation of Hamnet. But playing an actor playing Hamlet was, he admits, in no way based on experience: “Sadly, until now, Shakespeare wasn’t really something I was interested in.” He never got on with the plays at school. “It was taught in this way that was so boring and intellectual that it just went in one ear and out the other. You didn’t find any passion for it.” View image in fullscreen ‘Acting now means something different than what I thought it meant’ ... Sink performing as Annie in 2013. Photograph: John Lamparski/WireImage And yet here he is, at the end of a day’s rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet, sitting alongside the acclaimed theatre director Robert Icke. He’s not the only one surprised by the turn of events. Sink – who is 23 and better known as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things, a role that has brought her global fame – begins to say she never saw herself doing Shakespeare. Then she stops and clarifies: never, certainly, as early as this. But her first meeting with Icke convinced her: “I just had this gut feeling. ‘I do this, and I do it right now.’” Icke remembers the conversation. “I said, ‘Look, one of the things that you could do now that will escape you in five years is Juliet. It’s an amazing part, and so few people get to play it, because you have to play it young for it to make any sense.’” As for Icke’s motivation: well, he and the play have unfinished business. The production he mounted back in 2012 – only his second as a professional director – was praised for t...
European drivers face paying an extra €220 (£190) a year at the pumps because of the surge in oil prices caused by the war in Iran, analysts have warned. In the UK, a separate estimate puts the cost at an extra £140. A sustained oil price of $100 a barrel, the level seen on Monday, would mean motorists in the EU paying €55bn more over a year, researchers at the Transport & Environment (T&E) thinkt...
European drivers face paying an extra €220 (£190) a year at the pumps because of the surge in oil prices caused by the war in Iran, analysts have warned. In the UK, a separate estimate puts the cost at an extra £140. A sustained oil price of $100 a barrel, the level seen on Monday, would mean motorists in the EU paying €55bn more over a year, researchers at the Transport & Environment (T&E) thinktank estimated. That is the equivalent of an average of €220 for each driver, with higher-mileage drivers facing even bigger hikes. The assessment was made by comparing data from 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed the oil price to the $100 mark, with data from 2017-2019. In the UK, analysts at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) estimate that $100 a barrel oil means British drivers who do 8,000 miles a year face a jump in annual fuel costs of £140. This calculation is based on comparison with fuel prices in early March, before the US and Israel attacked Iran. Electric vehicles are already significantly cheaper to fuel than petrol or diesel vehicles but the surge in oil prices is widening the gap further. In the UK, the annual saving was already £870 a year but would jump to more than £1,000 a year with a $100 oil price, the ECIU said. The 7.7m electric cars on the roads in the EU today were already cutting oil consumption, but with a $100 oil price, European electric drivers would save about €40m a day, according to T&E. Brent crude was at $91 on Wednesday morning, with its future price dependent on the duration of the disruption to supplies. “Europe’s oil dependency creates a geopolitical premium whenever there is global volatility,” said Antony Froggatt at T&E. “This will continue to put pressure on households and cripple Europe’s economy, unless we structurally end our reliance on imported fossil fuels. Donald Trump and his friends in Russia and Saudi Arabia have a lot of power, but one thing they don’t control is the wind and sun. Europe must now ...
Young adults in the UK face a “perfect storm” of economic challenges, the head of the influential Treasury select committee has warned as it launches an inquiry into student loans. The cross-party committee’s investigation comes as the government considers ways to ease the burden on graduates, amid a growing backlash about high interest rates and hefty repayments, including among Labour MPs. Rache...
Young adults in the UK face a “perfect storm” of economic challenges, the head of the influential Treasury select committee has warned as it launches an inquiry into student loans. The cross-party committee’s investigation comes as the government considers ways to ease the burden on graduates, amid a growing backlash about high interest rates and hefty repayments, including among Labour MPs. Rachel Reeves’s decision in her November budget to freeze the threshold at which loans start to be repaid for three years from 2027 reignited anger over the system. The select committee is asking people to contribute their experiences through an online portal. The committee chair, Meg Hillier, said she saw the burden of student loans as part of a wider squeeze facing people in their 20s and 30s. Hillier, the MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch in London since 2005, said: “I represent a young borough. One of my concerns is the layering and layering of challenges on that generation.” She cited the eyewatering cost of housing, inadequate pensions saving, and the looming jobs threat from AI. “Every government will make what seem like rational decisions in their own silo. So you can look at student loans, you can look at renting, you can look at home ownership, you can look at pensions. But cumulatively, the 20-to-30 generation has had a lot piled on them. It’s about fairness in the end.” Hillier hailed the rising proportion of her own constituents who now go to university, helped by the significant improvement in London schools since she was first elected. However, she warned: “Now those young people are coming out and finding rents are sky high. House prices in my area are particularly high. You couldn’t possibly be a young person locally and look across the road and think, ‘I’ll buy that property that’s being built,’ because they’re £650,000 for a two-bedroom flat, or £750,000.” She suggests high housing costs partly explain falling birthrates in London, which is contributing to l...
My favourite photograph of my mother, Linda, and I was taken at my wedding. I’m not sure we realised we were being photographed. Two artist friends were walking around with film cameras, shooting the kind of things they knew that Hiraki, my husband, and I would like. My mother and I are standing shoulder to shoulder, under a young tree. I love how the shapes of our necklines are like a sartorial c...
My favourite photograph of my mother, Linda, and I was taken at my wedding. I’m not sure we realised we were being photographed. Two artist friends were walking around with film cameras, shooting the kind of things they knew that Hiraki, my husband, and I would like. My mother and I are standing shoulder to shoulder, under a young tree. I love how the shapes of our necklines are like a sartorial call and response, how our smiles are so peaceful, how we are both looking outwards. It’s not that this picture captures a specific moment. Rather, it taps into a certain quality of my mother’s love that is timeless, unbound by circumstance or context. She has always loved my sister and I exactly like this: gently, spaciously and alongside. Because I’ve lived in a different country from her for longer than we lived together, her voice on the phone and the way she says things are a massive part of how I have experienced that love throughout my adult life. She has several phrases she always says, which feel like facets of the same well-polished gem. She tells me to keep short accounts – that is, to forgive easily. If I’m down (she always knows before I’ve told her), she tells me that it’s just a temporary loss of perspective. She often insists that I buy myself some flowers and “smell the daisies”. These are different ways of reminding me to breathe, I think. To still my thoughts, or heart, and remember that I’m loved in a way that weighs as much as whatever heartbreak, life stress or exhaustion I’m experiencing might weigh. Hers and my father’s love and faith cannot be undone. So when she’s telling me to breathe, she’s also reminding me to pray – and she’s saying that prayer will be like coming home. There’s something deeply ecclesiastical at work in her words. Eternity really has been set in her heart. It has shaped how she has taught the world to me. For sure, being told to breathe when I’m seething or feeling desperate can be infuriating. But when I look at this picture, I...
orcl Can Orcl Stock Break Resistance and Recover After 60% Dive or Resume Decline After the Strong Earnings? Oracle shares saw a dramatic gain after a positive earnings report, after months of substantial declines brought on by market concerns over Written by: Skerdian Meta • • 3 min read • Quick overview Oracle shares surged approximately 10% following a strong Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings report that...
orcl Can Orcl Stock Break Resistance and Recover After 60% Dive or Resume Decline After the Strong Earnings? Oracle shares saw a dramatic gain after a positive earnings report, after months of substantial declines brought on by market concerns over Written by: Skerdian Meta • • 3 min read • Quick overview Oracle shares surged approximately 10% following a strong Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings report that exceeded Wall Street expectations. Despite the positive earnings, Oracle's stock faces significant technical resistance after a prolonged decline of about 60% since September 2025. The company plans to invest $50 billion in capital expenditures to expand its AI infrastructure, raising concerns about balancing growth and profitability. Oracle's cloud infrastructure revenue grew 84% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for AI workloads and enterprise migrations. Live ORCL Chart ORCL 0.0000 MARKETS TREND [[ORCL-graph]] Oracle shares saw a dramatic gain after a positive earnings report, after months of substantial declines brought on by market concerns over massive AI spending. The rally encounters technical difficulties, though. Stock Rebounds After Prolonged Decline Oracle stock has been under significant pressure since September 2025, losing roughly 60% of its market value during the extended downturn. However, sentiment shifted on Wednesday as the shares opened about 10% higher following the company’s Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings release, which exceeded Wall Street expectations across several key metrics. The results helped calm investor fears that heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure would weigh too heavily on profits before demand begins to fully materialize. Despite the strong rebound, technical barriers remain significant, with the stock facing strong resistance overhead, making a sustained trend reversal uncertain for now. Strong Earnings Beat Lifts Sentiment Oracle’s quarterly results provided a clear signal that demand for cloud and AI infrastructu...
Iron ore shipments are being disrupted by the worsening conflict in the Middle East, with some cargoes diverted mid-voyage to East Asia as war chokes one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes. At least three cargoes of iron ore mined by London-based Anglo American Plc , and two from Brazil’s Vale SA , have had their destinations changed, according to ship-tracking data from analytics company...
Iron ore shipments are being disrupted by the worsening conflict in the Middle East, with some cargoes diverted mid-voyage to East Asia as war chokes one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes. At least three cargoes of iron ore mined by London-based Anglo American Plc , and two from Brazil’s Vale SA , have had their destinations changed, according to ship-tracking data from analytics company Kpler. Middle Eastern steelmakers rely heavily on imports of premium iron ore for the pellets used in direct reduced iron production — a lower-emissions method of making the precursor of steel. Oman and Bahrain are key pellet producers in the region, and the war is likely to tighten the market for higher-grade concentrates and pellets compared to other types of ore. “The current geopolitical instability exposes a clear vulnerability in an already concentrated supply chain,” said David Cachot, research director at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. “Disruption to pellet feed inflows or pellet exports from these facilities would quickly ripple through” the DRI sector, he said. Vessels Attacked Kpler’s data show Anglo’s Cape Shangrila vessel changing course from Bahrain to Singapore, while the Cape Jasmine is now headed to Vietnam instead of Bahrain and the Mineral Zimbabwe has switched from Oman to Qingdao in China. Two Vale ships bound for Oman have also been diverted, to China and Malaysia respectively. Anglo and Vale didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Other vessels have been forced to pause their journeys outside the Arabian Gulf, according to the Kpler data. The diversions underscore how the war is scrambling trade flows across commodities markets. Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has almost completely stopped due to Iranian attacks on vessels in the days since the US and Israel launched strikes against the country. Macquarie Group estimates DRI production across Gulf nations totaled around 14 million tons in 2025. Bahrain is a both an importer of pellet f...
Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) on Wednesday said that its fiber internet unit, GFiber, will merge with Astound Broadband to form an independent provider, with Google retaining a minority stake. The new company will be majority owned by investment firm Stonepeak and led by the existing GFiber executive team, “utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footpri...
Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) on Wednesday said that its fiber internet unit, GFiber, will merge with Astound Broadband to form an independent provider, with Google retaining a minority stake. The new company will be majority owned by investment firm Stonepeak and led by the existing GFiber executive team, “utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint,” Google said in a press release on Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter. The combined business will be led by the existing GFiber executive team, utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint. Google Fiber, launched in 2010, was an early effort by the tech giant to build ultra-fast fiber-optic broadband networks in the U.S., starting with a gigabit-speed rollout in Kansas City in 2012. GFiber has been part of Google’s “Other Bets” segment, which includes non-core assets such as the Waymo ( WAYMO ) robotaxi division and drug discovery business Isomorphic Labs. More on Alphabet Alphabet: Apple AI Deal Is The Biggest Blind Spot Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Presents at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2026 Transcript Alphabet: Respect The Capex Cycle Google closes $32B deal to acquire Wiz Google, Amazon, Meta 'aggressively focused' on building alternatives to Nvidia: Wedbush
Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) on Wednesday said that its fiber internet unit, GFiber, will merge with Astound Broadband to form an independent provider, with Google retaining a minority stake. The new company will be majority owned by investment firm Stonepeak and led by the existing GFiber executive team, “utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footpri...
Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) on Wednesday said that its fiber internet unit, GFiber, will merge with Astound Broadband to form an independent provider, with Google retaining a minority stake. The new company will be majority owned by investment firm Stonepeak and led by the existing GFiber executive team, “utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint,” Google said in a press release on Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter. The combined business will be led by the existing GFiber executive team, utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint. Google Fiber, launched in 2010, was an early effort by the tech giant to build ultra-fast fiber-optic broadband networks in the U.S., starting with a gigabit-speed rollout in Kansas City in 2012. GFiber has been part of Google’s “Other Bets” segment, which includes non-core assets such as the Waymo ( WAYMO ) robotaxi division and drug discovery business Isomorphic Labs. More on Alphabet Alphabet: Apple AI Deal Is The Biggest Blind Spot Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Presents at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2026 Transcript Alphabet: Respect The Capex Cycle Google closes $32B deal to acquire Wiz Google, Amazon, Meta 'aggressively focused' on building alternatives to Nvidia: Wedbush
(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened lower on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session as the prospect of a quick end to the war in West Asia thinned and trade tensions resurfaced. Brent crude oil prices surged over 9 percent past $100 per barrel in Asian trade today, raising concerns about inflation and the broader impact on global economic stability. Among the prominent decliners, IndiGo...
(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened lower on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session as the prospect of a quick end to the war in West Asia thinned and trade tensions resurfaced. Brent crude oil prices surged over 9 percent past $100 per barrel in Asian trade today, raising concerns about inflation and the broader impact on global economic stability. Among the prominent decliners, IndiGo, Titan Company, Trent, Maruti Suzuki India, Eternal and Mahindra & Mahindra tumbled 2-3 percent. The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 548 points, or 0.7 percent, at 76,315 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was down 194 points, or 0.8 percent, at 23,673. IRCTC fell 2.4 percent to extend losses from the previous session after reports the company may halt cooked meal services on trains due to LPG supply shortages. Ashok Leyland declined 2.3 percent after breaking ground for a greenfield battery pack manufacturing facility near Chennai. Borosil shares plunged 5 percent. The company said LPG supply restrictions have affected production at its Jaipur-based furnaces. Bharat Forge tumbled 3.3 percent. The company's board has approved an investment of up to €15 million in its wholly owned German subsidiary through an equity infusion. Omnitech Engineering soared 5.6 percent on securing an order worth Rs. 920 crore from a Germany-based firm. Wipro was little changed after securing a multi-year contract from a U.S.-based insurance and financial services provider. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.