India, Seychelles sign 19 agreements during Modi's visit

Prop-tech platform NoBroker Technologies Solutions Pvt. Ltd has entered the home salon services market with its new offering, Zivora. The service was launched in Bengaluru and will expand to other cities such as Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Mumbai within two months. The move comes as a response to high customer demand for these services.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), often referred to as the "bank of central banks," has warned that an artificial intelligence (AI) downturn could lead to a sharper and faster crash than traditional banking crises. The warning comes in BIS's annual economic report released today. It highlights how funding for AI is increasingly funneled through hedge funds, private credit vehicles, and other non-bank intermediaries.

A team of researchers has successfully used artificial intelligence (AI) to virtually unroll and partially decipher a papyrus scroll that was burned and carbonized during the Mount Vesuvius eruption nearly 2,000 years ago. The scroll, known as PHerc. 1667, is one of many from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, which was buried under volcanic debris in 79 AD.

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek has launched a major upgrade to its flagship V4 model. The update is aimed at significantly accelerating the generation of AI responses. The move comes as competition among Chinese developers increasingly focuses on cutting serving costs and improving user experience. The new upgrade, dubbed DSpark, leverages a speculative decoding framework to boost per-user response speeds by up to 85%.

Atanu Chakraborty, the former chairman of HDFC Bank, has denied the bank's claim that he did not cooperate with an external legal review after his resignation. In an interview, Chakraborty said he had repeatedly asked for the terms of reference and legal framework for the inquiry but was never provided either. He termed his resignation as a "call of conscience" and not an allegation needing a legal investigation.

India and Seychelles have signed 19 key agreements in a major push to strengthen bilateral relations. The pacts were signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago. They cover a wide range of areas including defense, maritime security, digital payments, space exploration, healthcare, agriculture, and education.

A team of paleontologists has unearthed a new species of raptor in Argentina. The dinosaur, which has some anatomical features similar to the velociraptors that were found in China, was discovered near snow-covered mountains in southern Argentine Patagonia. This information was published last month in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has successfully conducted a satellite-based landing system (SLS) approach on a jet engine aircraft for the first time in India. The milestone was achieved with an IndiGo Airbus A320 at Udaipur airport, using the GPS-aided geo augmented navigation (GAGAN) system. GAGAN is a joint initiative of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Cube Highways Trust, a leading infrastructure investment trust in India, has begun roadshows for its initial public offering (IPO). The company is looking to raise ₹5,000 crore through the IPO. The offer will be an offer-for-sale by existing unitholders. The move comes after a period of growth for the platform and is part of its plan to expand its investor base.

The Indian stock market is gearing up for another busy week with 11 new initial public offerings (IPOs) set to hit the primary market. Out of these, two are mainboard issues - Aastha Spintex and Knack Packaging - while the remaining nine belong to the SME segment. These upcoming IPOs are expected to keep investors on their toes as they consider potential investment opportunities in these newly listed companies.