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Essar venture rolls out Rs 900 crore plan for 100 LNG retail outlets – The Times of India

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Essar venture rolls out Rs 900 crore plan for 100 LNG retail outlets – The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Ultra Gas & Energy Ltd (UGEL), a new-age clean-tech venture of the Essar group, plans to invest Rs 900 crore to expand its LNG (liquefied natural gas) retail network for freight carriers to 100 outlets across India, the company said on Monday.It has already commissioned six refuelling stations along major freight corridors. These are located in Bhilwara (Rajasthan), Anand (Gujarat), Chakan-Pune (Maharashtra), Jalna (Maharashtra), Toranagallu (Karnataka), and Vallam (Tamil Nadu), making the clean-burning fuel accessible to freight carriers serving key industrial and logistics hubs.Each outlet is future-ready with integrated infrastructure to support EV (electric vehicle) charging as part of the company’s long-term vision of creating a bouquet of multi-fuel, low-emission mobility solutions. work on building outlets in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are in progress. Each UGEL station has a scalable capacity of 50 tonnes, capable of refuelling up to 600 LNG trucks per month. Each station can reduce up to 66,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually, collectively reducing 1 million tonnes of CO₂.To ensure uninterrupted operations, UGEL has partnered with IOCL, GAIL, HPCL and other leading LNG suppliers with access to all major LNG terminals of India, ensuring consistent fuel supply and enabling smooth scalability.Strategically placed to serve high-density logistics zones, these stations are accelerating the shift from diesel to LNG – a cleaner and more efficient fuel for long-haul trucking.“Our retail outlets are catalysts for a cleaner, smarter logistics future. Backed by robust infrastructure and intelligent energy solutions, we are proud to lead India’s transition toward greener fuels and sustainable mobility. UGEL vision is firmly rooted in innovation, efficiency, and environmental responsibility,” a company statement quoted CEO Maqsood Shaikh as saying.By enabling commercial fleet to shift away from high-emission fuels to cleaner alternatives such as LNG and electric power, UGEL is delivering both environmental and economic value to its customers, the company said.





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Disney says ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ will return to ABC on Tuesday

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Disney says ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ will return to ABC on Tuesday


Disney plans to bring “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back to air on ABC’s broadcast network beginning on Tuesday, the company said in a statement.

The decision was announced nearly a week after ABC said it was suspending the late night show indefinitely. The network had pulled the show days after the host made comments linking the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” Disney said in a statement Monday. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

The late night host will address the matter during his show set to be taped on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Following days of discussions, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, made the decision to return the show to air, the person said. The two executives informed Kimmel on Monday, the person added.

Local station owners learned of the show’s return on Monday when Disney made the public announcement, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Jimmy Kimmel at the Disney Advertising Upfront on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.

Michael Le Brecht | Disney General Entertainment Content | Getty Images

Broadcast pushback

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was suspended after Nexstar Media Group, which owns more than 200 broadcast TV stations across the U.S., announced its stations affiliated with ABC would preempt Kimmel’s show. Sinclair, another large broadcast TV station owner, similarly threatened to preempt the program.

Sinclair said in a release last week that it would not lift the suspension on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” until it had formal discussions with ABC “regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.”

As of Monday evening, a Sinclair representative said the company still planned to preempt the broadcast.

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” according to a statement from Sinclair. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”

Sinclair owns and operates nearly 40 ABC-affiliate stations across the U.S.,  including one in Washington, D.C., according to its website.

A Nexstar representative didn’t comment on the matter.

Kimmel said during his monologue last Monday that the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

“In between the finger-pointing there was grieving. On Friday the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this,” he continued, teeing up a clip of Trump on the White House lawn in which the president fields a question on Kirk but swiftly pivots to talking about construction.

Immediately following ABC’s suspension of the show, everyone from entertainers to politicians weighed in on whether Kimmel should return to air, and whether the incident should affect station owners’ broadcast licenses.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr had suggested ABC’s broadcast license was at risk in light of Kimmel’s comments, telling CNBC last week, “we’re not done yet” with changes to the media landscape.

Trump suggested the federal government might revoke broadcast station licenses for the networks that are “against” him.

The FCC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Networks like ABC are part of a system that requires them to obtain over-the-air spectrum licenses from the federal government in order to broadcast across local stations. Since the networks are free to air over public spectrum — meaning anyone with an antenna can watch them — they must by law operate in “the public interest.”

Both Nexstar and Sinclair are currently looking to do deals that would require regulatory approval.

Nexstar recently announced a proposed $6.2 billion deal to merge with fellow broadcast station owner Tegna, a deal that would upend longstanding regulations for the industry on how many stations a parent company can own.

And Sinclair said in August it’s exploring merger options for its broadcast business, though it has yet to reach an agreement.

Political pressure

Kimmel’s suspension drew comparisons to CBS’s cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” in July and raised questions about the protection of free speech in a Trump-era broadcast environment.

Trump’s scrutiny of media companies has intensified during his second term marked by high-profile defamation lawsuits, the defunding of public broadcasters and regulatory interference from the FCC. He’s particularly singled out ABC and NBC for what he called “unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives.”

Current and former late show hosts rallied behind Kimmel after his suspension and said the president’s influence amounted to censorship. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner blasted the FCC’s “intimidation” of ABC.

A letter organized by the American Civil Liberties Union, signed by more than 400 people including Hollywood stars and artists, backed Kimmel, saying his suspension marked a “dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas criticized the FCC’s Carr for his comments related to the suspension of Kimmel.

And on Monday, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani withdrew from an upcoming town hall on an ABC affiliate in protest of the network’s suspension of Kimmel.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.



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Which? launches super-complaint against ‘broken’ insurance industry

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Which? launches super-complaint against ‘broken’ insurance industry


Kevin PeacheyCost of living correspondent

Getty Images A fallen tree with the trunk and branches having landed on the roof of a house which is damaged.Getty Images

Making a claim to an insurance company can be worse than the distress of the original incident, according to Which?, as it launches a rare type of action against the sector.

The group’s super-complaint – which is an action by a consumer body on customers’ behalf – says the home and travel insurance sectors are “broken”.

Which? highlighted cases including an insurer initially refusing to pay out for a cancelled holiday, because the trip had technically started before the flight was turned back after two hours.

The insurers’ trade body said providers worked hard to help customers, handle claims efficiently, and had paid out many millions of pounds.

Rocio Concha, director of policy at Which?, said that serious failings in the travel and home insurance markets had been “tolerated for too long” by the insurance industry and the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

“We have heard heartbreaking stories from people who have found the experience of dealing with an insurance company worse than the distressing life events that led to their claim,” she said.

She added that a super-complaint was “a major intervention”. Such a move is rare, and only used by consumer advocates when they believe a large number of consumers are being significantly harmed by practises across a particular sector.

Refused insurance claims

Millions of people across the UK take out insurance policies they hope they will never need to draw on.

Estimates suggest around 30 million people have buildings and contents insurance, with a similar number buying either annual or single-trip travel cover during last year.

Which? said that 99% of car insurance claims were upheld, but acceptance rates fell to 63% of buildings insurance claims and 80% of travel insurance claims.

It pointed to the case of Yvette Greenley, whose flight from Luton to Egypt was sent back owing to technical difficulties.

Yvette Greenley Yvette Greenley stands with her arm around her sister Beverley in front of a red door. Both are wearing denim jackets.Yvette Greenley

Yvette Greenley (right) with her sister, Beverley, during a happier trip

Mrs Greenley said the problem with the flight and a lack of alternatives meant her holiday to celebrate her 60th birthday with her sister, Beverley, was over. She cancelled her leave and went back to work.

While the airline refunded the cost of the ticket, the insurer initially refused the £140 claim for accommodation and travel to and from the airport because the holiday had begun.

“I was flummoxed, then fuming about it. They seemed to dismiss the fact that the plane turned around,” she said.

The insurer later apologised, settled the claim and paid compensation.

In recent years, BBC News has reported cases including:

Analysis of cases, in addition to surveys and research by Which? have led to the super-complaint that, by law, requires a response within 90 days.

‘A number of failures’

The complaint is based on three areas of concern. The first is the way that claims are handled, with many being outsourced by insurers to specialists.

The second is the sales practices of insurers, which the consumer group argues are inappropriate and lead to widespread confusion over what is covered in a policy.

Finally, it accuses the FCA, as the regulator, of failing to provide an appropriate degree of protection for consumers.

It has received support from James Daley, managing director of independent consumer group Fairer Finance.

“The FCA has only recently finished a number of studies looking at this market – and while it acknowledged a number of failures, it seems to have no appetite to tackle these,” he said.

A spokesman for the FCA said it would respond to the super-complaint in due course, but had been “focused on raising standards”.

“We uncovered issues when we recently reviewed insurers’ home and travel claims handling. We’ll be holding them and their senior managers accountable for the changes needed,” he said.

They included issues over outsourcing and storm definitions.

The Association of British Insurers, which represents providers, said that its members worked hard to ensure customers knew the details of policies and handled claims as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“In the first half of this year alone, insurers have paid out over £1.7bn for more than 300,000 home insurance claims. Last year, travel insurers also paid out £472m across more than 500,000 claims,” a spokeswoman said.

“We’re working closely with the regulator to ensure good outcomes for customers and will engage with Which? to understand the details of its concerns.”



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Nvidia to invest $100bn in OpenAI, firm behind ChatGPT

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Nvidia to invest 0bn in OpenAI, firm behind ChatGPT


US tech giant Nvidia will invest up to $100bn (£73bn) in OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, the companies have announced.

Nvidia said it will supply high-performance chips needed for the processing power required by artificial intelligence (AI), of which OpenAI is a specialist.

Described as a “strategic partnership” by Nvidia, it is the latest move by two high profile tech firms in the global AI race, where China is an emerging rival.

The announcement comes after a series of high-profile investments by Nvidia, including a $5bn investment in Intel and a £2bn investment in the UK’s AI sector.

Nvidia, which is the world’s most valuable company, said its latest investment will go towards data centres for OpenAI’s “next-generation AI infrastructure”.

Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, said the funding will mark the “next leap forward and power the next era of intelligence”.

Both firms said they were already working with a broad network of collaborators focused on making the “world’s most advanced AI infrastructure”, including working with Microsoft, Oracle, SoftBank, and Stargate.

However, the dominance of US AI firms has come under threat from China – particularly with the rise of DeepSeek-R1.

Meanwhile, Nvidia has come under pressure from both the Chinese and the US governments.

China said last week Nvidia had violated its anti-monopoly laws, but did not give details of how Nvidia had breached the rules.

China also reportedly ordered its top technology companies to halt purchases of the firm’s artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Huang told the BBC at the time he was “disappointed” with the news.

It came after Nvidia and its rival AMD agreed to pay the US government 15% of Chinese revenues to secure export licences to China to undo a US government ban on AI chip sales to the country.

Nvidia’s share price closed up 4% at the end of Monday’s trading in the US.

OpenAI said it had more than 700 million weekly active users, and that its new partnership with Nvidia would “advance its mission to build artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity.”

It added that the details would be finalised in the coming weeks.

Sam Altman, cofounder and chief executive of OpenAI, said the partnership meant both firms would work together to “create new AI breakthroughs and empower people and businesses with them at scale”.

Greg Brockman, cofounder and president of OpenAI, said the company had been working closely with Nvidia since “the early days” of the business.



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