Blinkit Ambulance will now charge ₹2,500 for non-emergency trips

Delhi's air quality index hit 451 on Tuesday morning, according to Central Pollution Control Board data reported by ANI. Areas like Rohini, Punjabi Bagh and Bawana were in the 'severe' band, and most of the city was 'very poor'.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday recommended a separate authorisation for satellite communication providers, along with a ‘network-as-a-service’ model.

The HSBC India Services PMI — a monthly survey of purchasing managers — rose to 55.8 in October from 55.2 in September. Any reading above 50 means the sector is growing.

Americans voted on 3 November in the midterm elections, held halfway through a president's term. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats were up for grabs, along with 36 governor races.

Iran's forces said several oil tankers caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, some after hitting naval mines, and a tugboat sent to help also caught fire. A UK maritime agency separately reported a tanker hit by projectiles north of Qatar.

A senior Iranian lawmaker, Ahmad Hayat-Moghaddam of parliament's national security committee, said on Tuesday that ships from India, China, Iraq and Qatar are exempt from Iran's restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz and can move freely.

Zipline, which delivers medicines and parcels by drone, raised $1.5 billion at a valuation of $21.5 billion. Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global led the round, with Uber, Tiger Global, Fidelity, JPMorgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures also joining.

Google, Meta and TikTok filed a lawsuit to block California's Assembly Bill 1709. The law restricts features like autoplay and personalised recommendations for users under 16. Governor Gavin Newsom signed it in September, and it is due to start on 1 January 2027.

Airtel's consolidated net profit for the September quarter rose 24% to ₹10,710 crore. Revenue grew 16.7% to about ₹60,878 crore, and India revenue rose 9.4%.

Life Insurance Corporation of India reported a standalone net profit of ₹12,076 crore for the quarter ended September, up 20%. Net premium income grew 16.2% to about ₹1.47 lakh crore.

Palantir, which sells data and AI software to governments and companies, reported third-quarter revenue of $2.31 billion — almost twice what it made a year ago. It now expects about $8.5 billion in revenue for 2026.

Shield AI, which builds AI software that flies drones and aircraft, agreed to buy radar maker Echodyne for about $5.3 billion. To pay for it, Shield AI is raising $2.5 billion, including a $1 billion round at a $28.8 billion valuation, $1 billion from Blackstone-managed funds and $500 million of debt.

Wonder Group, founded by Marc Lore (who previously sold Jet.com to Walmart), confidentially submitted papers for a US stock market listing. The number of shares, price and valuation are not set yet.

Google announced plans for a $17 billion AI data center in Laramie County, Wyoming. It is being built with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power and Related Digital.

OpenAI launched GPT-6 Cyber, a model only for authorised security researchers. Using it, researchers reported 81 previously unknown high-severity bugs in the Firefox browser and working exploits for 948 Linux kernel vulnerabilities — with fixes released or in progress.

In this week's US local elections, voters in nearly 40 towns rejected proposed data-center projects. In Trenton, Ohio, nearly 80% voted to ban large data centers that need more than 25 megawatts of power.

A quarterly filing showed AMD plans to buy World Labs Technologies for about $8.2 billion in stock and chip developer Taalas for about $2.9 billion in cash and stock, including up to $1.4 billion tied to future milestones. Both deals still need to close.

US stocks had a brutal Thursday. The Nasdaq fell 5.52%, the S&P 500 fell 4.36% and the Dow dropped 1,833 points. About $2.5 trillion was wiped off the Nasdaq alone.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft is keeping a closer eye on AI cloud providers Nscale, Nebius and IREN after construction delays and rising costs, and is leaning more on its own data centers. It declined an option to expand its Texas deal with Nscale; the existing contract stays.

Cristiano Ronaldo announced on Thursday, in a video message, that he is retiring from international football. He called it “not an easy decision”.

India's men's hockey team beat South Korea 8-1 in the semi-final of the Asian Champions Trophy, being played in Punjab, according to The Bridge. It is India's seventh final in the tournament — a record.

The ICC named Deepti Sharma on its shortlist for the Women's Player of the Month award for October. She scored an unbeaten 106 and took five wickets against Zimbabwe, as India swept the ODI series 3–0.

I'm Game, starring Dulquer Salmaan, arrives on JioHotstar on 6 November in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Netflix has Dilwali Diwali (from the makers of Musafir Cafe) and the suspense series Black Doves, both from 5 November.

Jewellery group Joyalukkas has set aside ₹100 crore to grow its charity work. The plan was announced in Kochi at the 70th birthday celebrations of its founder, Joy Alukkas.

Tata Trusts gave away ₹1,556 crore in the year to March 2026 — on rural development, education, cancer care, healthcare, water and nutrition.

Scientists treated 10 people who had lost their sight to an inherited disease called retinitis pigmentosa. A gene therapy made surviving cells in the eye sensitive to light, and special goggles sent light patterns into the eye.

A local ceasefire in Oleshky, in southern Ukraine, held from 27 October to 1 November. It allowed humanitarian aid into the area and nearly 800 people were evacuated.

In Palm Bay, Florida, a mother and her young son were stuck on their kitchen counter with three dogs for over three hours as floodwater filled their home. Emergency crews couldn't reach them, so she asked for help on Facebook.

A study by WWF-India and the Rajasthan Forest Department recorded eight tiger cubs and three adult tigers at Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary in Karauli over five years.

Ladakh planted about 90,000 saffron corms on 4,000 square metres of restored land in Leh on 1 October. Flowers appeared in under 30 days — saffron usually takes about two months.

Chandrashekhar Kundu, a college professor from West Bengal known as the "Foodman", started by feeding about 180 children in three villages nearly ten years ago.

At Bhopal's Kachra Café, people bring plastic, paper and other household waste and trade it for food, drinks and everyday essentials. Each kilo of waste has a fixed value.

Researchers at IIT Bombay launched KrishiDrought, a free website that forecasts soil moisture up to four weeks ahead for every district in India, using satellite data, weather forecasts and deep learning.

Hundreds of students at Howell High School in New Jersey filled their football field with more than 250,000 pounds of food — the biggest drive in the organisers' history.