Google Snaps Longest Losing Streak in Years on AI Boost

WhatsApp has launched a new feature that allows users in India to pay their household and utility bills directly from the app. The feature, which is being rolled out gradually, will be available for all Android and iOS users in the coming weeks. The move comes as part of Meta's efforts to expand its financial services portfolio on the platform.

Ride-hailing giant Uber triggered widespread chaos across Nigeria and Uganda after switching off operations with immediate effect on Wednesday, reportedly stranding drivers and passengers mid-journey. Social media erupted with complaints as users realized the platform had abruptly gone dark without warning. Critics took to X to voice their frustration, with one user labeling the sudden mid-trip service termination "insane." The disruption caught both active drivers and commuters completely off guard across major urban centres in both African markets.

OpenAI's new artificial intelligence (AI) model, Astra, is drawing flak from experts over its "recurrent depth" reasoning technique. The method, also known as "opaque recurrence," enables the model to think outside the box of traditional reasoning models. However, this could make it harder to track its thought process and has raised alarms among AI safety experts.

Boeing has been slapped with a $3.1 million fine by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a series of safety violations. The penalty was paid in January 2026, but had not been publicly disclosed until now, Reuters reported. The FAA's decision to impose the fine was partly due to Boeing's actions related to the 2024 Alaska Airlines MAX 9 mid-air emergency incident.

A team of scientists has made a possible breakthrough in the search for dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up most of the universe's mass. The researchers observed a potential interaction with a particle called weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) during an experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. However, they have yet to confirm its existence definitively.

Elon Musk's social media platform, X, has announced a major change in its payment system for US-based creators. All creator payouts are now being processed through the app's payment service, X Money. The new system covers payments from both the Original Content Rewards Program and creators' subscriptions. The move is aimed at providing instant payments to creators without any waiting period or minimum threshold requirement.

Former bureaucrat Ashish Joshi was detained and questioned by the Delhi Police's Special Cell on Wednesday in connection with social media posts allegedly related to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Indian Express reported. The questioning lasted for nearly nine hours at the Counter Intelligence unit office in New Friends Colony. Joshi was picked up from Nehru Park during his morning walk and dropped back home in RK Puram later that evening.

India's services sector witnessed a minor uptick in August, according to the latest Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data from S&P Global. The HSBC India Services PMI rose to 54.1 in August from July's 53.3, indicating expansion despite new business growth remaining muted. However, the overall activity level is still near its weakest point in over four years.

The Indian government has clarified the revisions to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates, following a claim by former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. Garg had questioned the official Q1 FY27 growth figures of 7.8%, asserting that without last year's downward revision, the growth at current prices would have only been 2.6%. The government has now issued a clarification on this matter.

Amazon is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to help customers identify whether a message they received from the company is genuine or a scam. The feature, available on Alexa for Shopping, analyzes messages against billions of others sent by Amazon worldwide. It looks at sender information, content, timing, and metadata to confirm authenticity.