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Sales of newly built homes in April posted their biggest drop in nine years, the latest sign that higher interest rates are reducing buyer demand. New-home sales fell 16.6% in April from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000, the lowest level since April 2020, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Rising mortgage-interest rates have made homeownership more expensive for buyers. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.25% last week, up from…

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has unveiled the Data Delight offer for its Hero Unlimited data recharge plans. Thanks to this offer, Vi users can gain up to 2GB of additional data every month that is provided over the daily data limit at no extra cost. This offer does not activate automatically. Vi users will have to dial 121249 from their mobile number or activate this offer through the Vi app. The Hero Unlimited plans also offer weekend data rollover and daily unlimited night time data.The Vi Unlimited Hero plans start from Rs.…

Snapchat now reaches more than 600 million monthly users and has over 332 million daily active users around the world, Snap announced at its annual Snap Partner Summit on Thursday. The camera app is also claimed to have over half a million partners, creators, and developers that help build new solutions on the platform. In addition to the insights, Snap announced its new features and experiences that are aimed to bolster the growth of Snapchat in the market. The company also introduced tools including Director Mode to…

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday agreed to maintain its planned monthly oil output, as the European Union proposes a ban on Russian oil. OPEC disclosed this at its 28th OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting, according to a statement released by the organisation on Thursday. It noted geopolitical factors and issues related to the ongoing pandemic as reasons for its decision. The development came a day after the European Union announced it is proposing to…

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a slew of recommendations to enhance broadband connectivity in the country, and one of the key suggestions is fixing the minimum download speed for broadband connectivity at 2Mbps. This is four times more than existing minimum broadband speed of 512Kbps that the regulator had introduced back in 2014 as an upgrade to the earlier 256Kbps speed. TRAI also recommends that the government should speed-up fixed-line broadband rollout in rural areas by reimbursing 50…

Pokémon’s multiplayer online battle arena title Pokémon Unite is getting a new subscription deal to go along with its current battle pass. The monthly membership will give players more rewards, which include even more Holowear that’ll let players further show off their style. This new monthly subscription, called the “Pokémon Unite Membership,” isn’t to be confused with the premium battle pass, which gives players extra monthly battle pass rewards for a fee. The subscription’s perks include mostly cosmetic rewards…

Jio Fiber has expanded its postpaid subscription options, introducing six “entertainment plans” that are being promoted for their 'zero entry cost' for new customers. Starting from Rs. 399 a month, the new Jio Fiber postpaid plans offer access to up to 14 over-the-top (OTT) content streaming platforms at an additional price of Rs. 100 or Rs. 200 — depending on how many the subscriber chooses. The streaming platforms available as part of these plans include Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, Eros Now, and SonyLIV. Existing prepaid…