UK inflation jumps to higher-than-expected 3.5% in April, ONS says
British inflation jumped to a higher-than-expected annual rate of 3.5% in April from 2.6% in March, official figures showed on Wednesday.
A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a reading of 3.3% in April while the
Bank of England
earlier this month projected inflation of 3.4%.
April saw increases in gas, electricity and water prices, alongside higher taxes on employers - all of which are likely to push up prices.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Air conditioners without external unit. (click to see prices)
Air Condition | Search Ads
Search Now
Undo
Earlier this month the BoE predicted that inflation would peak at 3.5% this year.
Some officials at the central bank disagree with its key assumption that the climb in inflation will not have longer-running effects on pricing behaviour.
Live Events
BoE Chief Economist Huw Pill said on Tuesday the pace of
interest rate cuts
had been too fast given still strong wage pressures on inflation, but his vote this month to keep borrowing costs on hold was likely to prove "a skip" not a halt.
Interest rate futures are pointing to an 85% chance that the BoE will leave
interest rates
on hold next month, with fewer than two 0.25 percentage-point cuts priced in by the year's end.
The BoE lowered interest rates by a quarter point to 4.25% on May 8 in a three-way split vote, with two members of the
Monetary Policy Committee
favouring a bigger cut, and two - including Pill - favouring a hold.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
32 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Bajaj Auto reports 9% YoY growth in two-wheeler sales in May 2025. Check export numbers
Recently, after posting its Q4 FY25 sales report, Bajaj Auto has posted sales numbers for the month of May. (Dado Ruvic/REUTERS) Check Offers Bajaj Auto recently posted results for the month of May 2025. The bikemaker achieved a total sales figure of 3,32,370 units in the period. Comparing it to the 3,05,482 units sold in May 2024 showcases a 9 per cent growth in two-wheeler sales. The export numbers showcased growth as well, going up 20 per cent from 1,17,142 units in May 2024 to 1,40,958 units exported in May 2025. Domestic sales numbers for Bajaj two-wheelers showed a slight recovery from the previous month, climbing by 2 per cent. The numbers stood at 1,40,958 vehicles sold in April 2025, in comparison, this figure stood at 1,17,142 units in the same period of 2024. April-May 2025 YTD numbers The YTD numbers for the bikemaker showcased negligible growth in the April-May 2025 reports. The manufacturer exported 2,70,280 two-wheeler units in the April-May 2025 period against 2,41,981 units in April-May 2024, a 12 per cent change. Domestically, the manufacturer sold 3,80,027 units from April-May 2025 as opposed to 4,05,290 two-wheelers in April-March 2024. Also Read : Indian EV industry looking at a major disruption by July over China's rare earth magnet delays, warns Bajaj Auto FY25 annual and Q4 FY25 results The homegrown automotive manufacturer also posted its sales report for FY 2025, showcasing a 3 per cent increment in domestic two-wheeler sales and a 13 per cent increase in exports compared to FY 2024 numbers. Bajaj sold 22,50,585 two-wheelers in India in FY24; this figure grew to 23,08,249 in FY25. Export numbers counted in at 14,77,338 units sold in FY24 and grew to 16,74,060 in FY25. Additionally, the manufacturer also announced figures for the fourth quarter of FY 2025, marking a 3 per cent uptick in overall two-wheeler domestic sales volumes. The change was mainly supported by the manufacturer's growing sales volumes in the export markets, with a 20 per cent increase Y-o-Y in Q4 2025. However, Bajaj's two-wheeler sales numbers saw a 7 per cent drop Y-o-Y in the domestic markets. Overall, Bajaj sold 39,82,309 two-wheelers in FY2025, out of which 5,01,096 were sold domestically and 4,42,467 were exported in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone. Check out Upcoming Bikes In India. First Published Date: 07 Jun 2025, 13:09 PM IST
Time of India
34 minutes ago
- Time of India
Big relief for consumers suffering loss due to dark patterns; Govt asks all e-commerce sites to take steps to eliminate dark patterns
The government has declared war on the practice of 'Dark Pattern' being run by some e-commerce companies, as noticed by the government. In a press release dated June 7, 2025, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued an advisory to all e-commerce platforms to take necessary steps to ensure that their platforms do not engage in deceptive and unfair trade practices which are in the nature of dark patterns . For those uninitiated, dark patterns are manipulative tricks employed by a company to convince you to buy a higher priced product or service than you otherwise would have. As a direct result of dark patterns, consumers suffer financial loss and result in them taking an action they may not want to take, such as signing up for a service in order to access content. Read below to know more about what the 13 types of dark patterns are and what the government told e-commerce companies to do. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like You Won't Believe What These Celebrities Studied in College Learn More Undo What did the government say to e-commerce companies? According to the press release, the government has issued notices to e-commerce platforms in some cases that have been found violating the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns. 'All e-commerce platforms are therefore advised to refrain from deploying deceptive design interfaces that mislead consumers or manipulate their decision-making,' said the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) in the press release. Live Events The press release mentioned: 'All e-commerce platforms have been advised to conduct self-audits to identify dark patterns, within 3 months of the issue of the advisory, and take necessary steps to ensure that their platforms are free from such dark patterns. The e-commerce platforms, based on the self-audit reports, have also encouraged to give self-declarations that their platform is not indulging in any dark patterns.' The government said in the press release: 'CCPA has also issued notices to e-commerce platforms in some cases that have been found violating the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns. The Authority has been keeping a close watch on the violation of the Guidelines issued for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns. Instances of Dark Patterns have been noticed on E-Commerce platforms.' What are various types of identified dark patterns? According to the press release the Department of Consumer Affairs had notified the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns in 2023 and specified 13 dark patterns, namely: False urgency, Basket Sneaking , confirm shaming, forced action , Subscription trap, Interface Interference , Bait and switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised Advertisements and Nagging, Trick Wording, Saas Billing and Rogue Malwares. According to another PIB press release dated June 30, 2023, some examples of dark patterns are: False Urgency: This tactic creates a sense of urgency or scarcity to pressure consumers into making a purchase or taking an action. Basket Sneaking: Websites or apps use dark patterns to add additional products or services to the shopping cart without user consent. Subscription Traps : This tactic makes it easy for consumers to sign up for a service but difficult for them to cancel it, often by hiding the cancellation option or requiring multiple steps. Confirm Shaming: It involves guilt as a way to make consumers adhere. It criticizes or attacks consumers for not conforming to a particular belief or viewpoint. Forced Action: This involves forcing consumers into taking an action they may not want to take, such as signing up for a service in order to access content. Nagging: It refers to persistent, repetitive and annoyingly constant criticism, complaints, requests for action. Interface Interference: This tactic involves making it difficult for consumers to take certain actions, such as canceling a subscription or deleting an account. Bait and Switch: This involves advertising one product or service but delivering another, often of lower quality. Hidden Costs: This tactic involves hiding additional costs from consumers until they are already committed to making a purchase. Disguised Ads: Disguised ads are advertisements that are designed to look like other types of content, such as news articles or user-generated content. Details of some of the specified dark patterns and how they manipulate consumers According to the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, here are the details: 1. False Urgency False urgency means falsely stating or implying the sense of urgency or scarcity so as to mislead a user into making an immediate purchase or take an immediate action, which may lead to a purchase; including: i. Showing false popularity of a product or service to manipulate user decision; ii. Stating that quantities of a particular product or service are more limited than they actually are. For example: a. Presenting false data on high demand without appropriate context. For instance, 'Only 2 rooms left! 30 others are looking at this right now.' b. Falsely creating time-bound pressure to make a purchase, such as describing a sale as an 'exclusive' sale for a limited time only for a select group of users. 2. Basket sneaking 'Basket sneaking' means inclusion of additional items such as products, services, payments to charity/donation at the time of checkout from a platform, without the consent of the user, such that the total amount payable by the user is more than the amount payable for the product(s) and/or service(s) chosen by the user. Provided that the addition of free samples or providing complimentary services or addition of necessary fees disclosed at the time of purchase, shall not be considered basket sneaking. Illustrations: a. Automatic addition of paid ancillary services with a pre-ticked box or otherwise to the cart when a consumer is purchasing a product(s) and/or service(s). b. A user purchases a single salon service, but while checking out a subscription to the salon service is automatically added. c. Automatically adding travel insurance while a user purchases a flight ticket. 3. Confirm shaming: 'Confirm shaming' means using a phrase, video, audio or any other means to create a sense of fear or shame or ridicule or guilt in the mind of the user, so as to nudge the user to act in a certain way that results in the user purchasing a product or service from the platform or continuing a subscription of a service. Illustrations: a. A platform for booking flight tickets using the phrase 'I will stay unsecured', when a user does not include insurance in their cart. b. A platform that adds a charity in the basket using a phrase 'charity is for rich, I don't care'. 4. Forced action Forced action means forcing a user into taking an action that would require the user to buy any additional good(s) or subscribe or sign up for an unrelated service, in order to buy or subscribe to the product/service originally intended by the user. Illustrations: a. prohibiting a user from continuing with the use of product or service for the consideration originally paid and contracted for, unless they upgrade for a higher rate or fees. b. forcing a user to subscribe to a newsletter in order to purchase a product. c. forcing a user to download an unintended/unrelated separate app to access a service originally advertised on another app e.g. A user downloads app, X, meant for listing houses for renting. Once the user downloads X, they are forced to download another app, Y, for hiring a painter. Without downloading Y, the user is unable to access any services on X. 5. Subscription trap Subscription trap means the process of making cancellation of a paid subscription impossible or a complex and lengthy process; or ii. hiding the cancellation option for a subscription; or iii. forcing a user to provide payment details and/or authorization for auto debits for availing a free subscription; iv. making the instructions related to cancellation of subscription ambiguous, latent, confusing, cumbersome. 6. Interface interference 'Interface interference' means a design element that manipulates the user interface in ways that (a) highlights certain specific information; and (b) obscures other relevant information relative to the other information; to misdirect a user from taking an action desired by her. Illustrations: a. Designing a light colored option for selecting 'No' in response to a pop-up asking a user if they wish to make a purchase or concealing the cancellation symbol in tiny font or changing the meaning of key symbols to mean the opposite. b. An 'X' icon on the top-right corner of a pop-up screen leading to opening-up of another ad rather than closing it. c. Designing a virtually less prominent designing a light colored option for selecting 'No' in response to a pop-up asking a user if they wish to make a purchase. 7. Bait and switch 'Bait and switch' means the practice of advertising a particular outcome based on the user's action but deceptively serving an alternate outcome. Illustrations: A seller offers a quality product at a cheap price but when the consumer is about to pay/buy, the seller states that the product is no longer available and instead offers a similar looking product but more expensive. 8. Drip pricing 'Drip pricing' means a practice whereby i. elements of prices are not revealed upfront or are revealed surreptitiously within the user experience; or ii. revealing the price post-confirmation of purchase, i.e. charging an amount higher than the amount disclosed at the time of checkout; or iii. a product or service is advertised as free without appropriate disclosure of the fact that the continuation of use requires in-app purchase; or iv. a user is prevented from availing a service which is already paid for unless something additional is purchased Illustrations: a. A consumer is booking a flight, the online platform showcases the price as X at the checkout page, and when payment is being made, price Y (which is more than X) has been charged by the platform to the consumer. b. A consumer has downloaded a mobile application for playing chess, which was advertised as 'play chess for free'. However, after 7 days, the app asked for a payment to continue playing chess. The fact that the free version of the game is available only for a limited time, i.e., 7 days in this case, was not disclosed to the consumer at the time of downloading the mobile application. c. A consumer has purchased a gym membership. In order to actually use the gym, the user must purchase special shoes/boxing gloves from the gym, and the same was not displayed at the time of offering the gym membership.
Time of India
36 minutes ago
- Time of India
NYT Connections hints and answers for today ( June 7, 2025)
NYT Connections is back with a fresh grid for Saturday, 7 June. If you've been scratching your head over today's set of words, you're not alone. The game is designed to challenge your vocabulary, lateral thinking, and pattern recognition skills. While some groups may be obvious, others can be surprisingly tricky. Whether you're looking for a small push or a full breakdown, we've compiled a complete guide to today's puzzle. Below you'll find thematic clues, complete answers, and an explanation of the logic behind each grouping—without spoiling it too early for those still solving. What is NYT Connections Connections is a word association puzzle from the New York Times where players are given 16 seemingly unrelated words. The objective is to organise them into four groups of four, based on a hidden connection. These connections might relate to word categories, functions, or even puns. The game is well-loved for its blend of simplicity and subtle complexity, often luring players into overthinking what turns out to be a straightforward link. Each puzzle has one correct solution, and a limited number of incorrect guesses are allowed, which raises the stakes as the game progresses. How to play NYT Connections by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Here's A List Of Cheapest Steel Suppliers (See List) Steel Suppliers | search ads Search Now Undo To begin, you'll see 16 words arranged in a 4x4 grid. Your goal is to sort them into four sets of four, each sharing a common theme. Tap or click on four words you believe are related, and submit your guess. If you're correct, the group locks in. If not, you'll receive a warning—and you're only allowed four errors before the puzzle ends. The puzzles increase in difficulty as you progress, and the colour-coded results reflect that: yellow is the easiest, followed by green, blue, and then purple as the trickiest. Today's NYT Connections hints Here are the general themes for each of these four groups in today's puzzle: Yellow group – Types of precipitation Blue group – Classical musical instruments Green group – Related to prison or incarceration Purple group – Things you can operate or run Today's NYT Connections answers Yellow group: rain, snow, hail, sleet Blue group: cello, flute, drum, violin Green group: cell, guard, sentence, warden Purple group: business, marathon, programme, engine Explanation of the groupings The yellow group was fairly straightforward, covering common types of precipitation you might hear in a weather report. The blue group focused on orchestral instruments, each widely used in classical music. The green group revolved around prison-related terms, with a mix of personnel (guard, warden), locations (cell), and legal concepts (sentence). The purple group was the most abstract, consisting of words that describe things that can be 'run'—such as a business, a computer programme, a marathon, or an engine. The key to solving this one was recognising the metaphorical use of the word 'run' in different contexts. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
