Hyundai, Kia's Sales Of Eco-Friendly Cars To Hit 1 Mn Units In US

by Hemanta Pande

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Accumulative sales of eco-friendly vehicles produced by Hyundai Motor and Kia, South Korea's leading automakers, are expected to exceed 1 million units in the first quarter, the companies said on Friday.

Seoul, Jan 12: Accumulative sales of eco-friendly vehicles produced by Hyundai Motor and Kia, South Korea's leading automakers, are expected to exceed 1 million units in the first quarter, the companies said on Friday.

Accumulative sales of eco-friendly units of Hyundai and Kia combined had amounted to 946,962 units as of the end of 2023. They are expected to surpass the 1 million mark in the January-March period, Hyundai and Kia officials said.

Last year, the companies sold 278,122 eco-friendly cars, including electric vehicles and hybrids, combined in the United States, representing a 52.3 percent sales growth from 2022, reports Yonhap news agency.

According to company officials, Hyundai and Kia's combined market share of eco-friendly vehicles in the U.S. stayed above the 20 percent mark for three consecutive years since 2021.

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Hyundai and Kia also said they aim to strengthen sales of premium car models, such as Hyundai's independent luxury brand Genesis, as well as recreational vehicle models.

Accumulative sales of Genesis models, in particular, in the U.S. are likely to surpass the 300,000 unit mark in the third quarter, company officials said.(IANS)

Every Odia Thinking Why Their State Is Lagging Behind So Much: Dharmendra Pradhan

by Utkalika Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, May 4: Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate from Sambalpur, Dharmendra Pradhan said that Odia people question why the state lags behind in so many aspects.

"Today, every Odia is thinking about why is their state lagging so much. It has been 26 years but villages in Odisha do not have access to drinking water. Fields in Odisha do not have water for irrigation. Schools in Odisha do not have teachers...Government hospitals do not have doctors. Odisha leads when it comes to oppression against women...How long will this go on? Resentment over this can be seen," Pradhan said speaking to ANI on Friday.

Pradhan said that the BJP which is fighting against Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections held simultaneously in Odisha, has appealed to the people to give the party an opportunity to serve them.

"BJP is going with an appeal to the people...PM has appealed to the people of Odisha to give us an opportunity to serve them...," Pradhan said.

Questioning Naveen Patnaik's development initiatives in Odisha, Pradhan said, "Who was the first individual to make a personal donation to Parikrama project? It was me. So, did I oppose it? If a 13th-century idol is discovered, instead of preserving it you put glossy tile over it and say that it is development. At least I don't accept it. This is not development..."

Pradhan participated in the nomination rally of BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Dhenkanal constituency, Rudra Narayan Pani in Dhenkanal.

Earlier on Thursday, Pradhan filed his nomination from Odisha's Sambalpur constituency.
The Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state are to be held simultaneously in four phases, starting May 13. The voting for the remaining seats will be held on May 20, May 25 and June 1.

(ANI)

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Nick Jonas reveals he has Influenza A, apologizes to fans for not being able to perform

by Utkalika Mohanty

Los Angeles, May 4: Nick Jonas, singer and husband of actress Priyanka Chopra, recently dropped a video revealing that he has influenza A.

Nick took to his Instagram account on Friday, to explain that he won't be able to perform onstage due to his sickness.

The singer apologized to his fans for 'disappointing' them and mentioned that the Jonas Brothers' show dates have been changed.

The trio, consisting of Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas, and Joe Jonas, was set to perform in Mexico this weekend.

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A post shared by Jonas Brothers (@jonasbrothers)

In the video, Nick said, "Hey everybody, it's Nick here. I have some not-so-fun news to share. A couple of days ago, I started feeling kind of rough; I lost my voice when I woke up and grinded that night out...Over the last two, two and a half days, it's gotten progressively worse. I was basically in bed all day yesterday, fever, body ache, sore throat and really bad cough." He added that after the doctor did a checkup, his health hadn't "gotten better."

"I just need to recover and beat these things. I'm so sorry. I hate disappointing you guys. You do so much to support us. A lot of you have travelled out to be at that show. Just want to say I'm heartbroken over this. Again, I'm really sorry, but I gotta try to beat this thing," he added.

Sharing the video on his Instagram, Nick wrote a long caption that read, "Hi guys. I have come down with the nasty strain of influenza-A that's been going around, and I'm not able to sing at the moment.

(ANI)

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Musk’s X cracks down on deepfakes with improved image matching

by Utkalika Mohanty

New Delhi, May 4: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, on Saturday, said that a new update on "improved image matching" will defeat deepfakes as well as shallowfakes on social media platform X.

The new update will show notes on 30 per cent more posts that contain “similar or identical images.”

“We just rolled out the update and will be monitoring for any erroneous image matches,” X said in a post.

Musk added that this move “should make a big difference in defeating deepfakes (and shallowfakes).”

Shallowfakes are photos, videos and voice clips generated without the help of artificial intelligence (AI), and use widely available editing and software tools.

X notes on images automatically show on posts that contain a matching image.

“It’s common for these notes to match on dozens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of posts. Now, you can see how many posts an image note is matching on, right in note details,” according to the company.

In the global election season, experts have warned about the spread of fake news and deepfakes that aim to interfere with polls.

The independent Oversight Board which has 22 global human rights and freedom of expression experts from across the globe, has called for urgent action to tackle deepfakes threatening global elections.

(IANS)

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Hyundai, Kia's Sales Of Eco-Friendly Cars To Hit 1 Mn Units In US

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