New Delhi: Apple on Wednesday announced 45 finalists for the App Store Awards, recognising some of the most innovative apps and games across 12 categories.
The finalists, selected by App Store editors, represent standout achievements in user experience, technical excellence, creativity and cultural relevance.
In the iPhone App of the Year category, BandLab, LADDER, and Tiimo earned recognition for helping users improve creative output, streamline strength training, and manage routines more mindfully. For iPhone Game of the Year, Capybara Go!, Pokemon TCG Pocket and Thronefall stood out for their inventive gameplay and broad appeal.
On iPad, creativity and productivity were front and centre. Other shortlisted apps included Detail, Graintouch and Structured, while DREDGE, Infinity Nikki and Prince of Persia: Lost Crown were some of the games that stood out for their narrative depth and visual immersion.
Mac App finalists included Acorn for photo editing, Essayist for simplifying academic work, and Under My Roof for home management. For Mac games, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, and Neva were variously commended for world-building and storytelling.
Also making a strong showing was Apple’s newest platform, Vision Pro. Camo Studio, D-Day: The Camera Soldier and Explore POV made the list as leading Vision Pro apps. Vision Pro game finalists included Fishing Haven, Gears & Goo and Porta Nubi.
Apps focused on social impact and community engagement dominated the category of Cultural Impact. Be My Eyes, StoryGraph, Retro, Venba, and Yuka were a few such apps focused on promoting accessibility, inclusivity, cultural storytelling, and making informed choices.
The 2024 finalists represent the ever-changing creativity of the global developer community, Apple said, underlining the App Store’s position at the centre of breakthrough digital experiences.
The annual awards honour developers whose creations elevate everyday productivity, inspire creativity, enable richer workflows, and push the boundaries of gameplay.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate the App Store Award finalists, a diverse and talented group of developers from around the globe,” said Carson Oliver, Apple’s head of App Store Worldwide.
Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in initial trade on Wednesday, tracking weak global market trends and fresh foreign fund outflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 135.8 points to 84,537.22 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty dipped 53.85 points to 25,856.20.
From the Sensex firms, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.
However, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index quoted lower while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index traded higher.
US markets ended in negative territory on Tuesday.
“Global stock markets continue to trade under pressure, extending a volatile phase that has pulled major US indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq into their longest losing streaks in months. The weakness is not a panic-driven crash but a broad and healthy correction following an overheated rally through most of 2025.
“The biggest drag has come from cooling enthusiasm in AI and mega-cap technology stocks,” Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.
He further said that adding to the pressure, the Federal Reserve’s tone has turned more hawkish in recent days.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 728.82 crore on Tuesday. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 6,156.83 crore, according to exchange data.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dipped 0.25 per cent to USD 64.73 per barrel.
On Tuesday, the Sensex declined 277.93 points, or 0.33 per cent, to settle at 84,673.02. The Nifty dipped 103.40 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 25,910.05.
San Francisco: Google is unleashing its Gemini 3 artificial intelligence model on its dominant search engine and other popular online services in the high-stakes battle to create technology that people can trust to enlighten them and manage tedious tasks.
The next-generation model unveiled Tuesday comes nearly two years after Google took the wraps off its first iteration of the technology. Google designed Gemini in response to a competitive threat posed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT that came out in late 2022, triggering the biggest technological shift since Apple released the iPhone in 2007.
Google’s latest AI features initially will be rolled out to Gemini Pro and Ultra subscribers in the United States before coming to a wider, global audience.
Gemini 3’s advances include a new AI “thinking” feature within Google’s search engine that company executives believe will become an indispensable tool that will help make people more productive and creative.
“We like to think this will help anyone bring any idea to life,” Koray Kavukcuoglu, a Google executive overseeing Gemini’s technology, told reporters.
As AI models have become increasingly sophisticated, the advances have raised worries that the technology is more prone to behave in ways that jumble people’s feelings and thoughts while feeding them misleading information and fawning flattery.
In some of the most egregious interactions, AI chatbots have faced accusations of becoming suicide coaches for emotionally vulnerable teenagers.
The various problems have spurred a flurry of negligence lawsuits against the makers of AI chatbots, although none have targeted Gemini yet.
Google executives believe they have built in guardrails that will prevent Gemini 3 from hallucinating or be deployed for sinister purposes such as hacking into websites and computing devices.
Gemini 3s responses are designed to be “smart, concise and direct, trading cliche and flatter for insight — telling you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. It acts as a true thought partner,” Kavukcuoglu and Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google’s DeepMind division, wrote in a blog post.
Besides providing consumers with more AI tools, Gemini 3 is also likely to be scrutinized as a barometer that investors may use to get a better sense about whether the massive torrent of spending on the technology will pay off.
After starting the year expecting to spend USD 75 billion, Google’s corporate parent Alphabet recently raised its capital expenditure budget from USD 91 billion to USD 93 billion, with most of the money earmarked for AI. Other Big Tech powerhouses such as Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook parent Meta Platforms are spending nearly as much — or even more — on their AI initiatives this year.
Investors so far have been mostly enthusiastic about the AI spending and the breakthroughs they have spawned, helping propel the values of Alphabet and its peers to new highs. Alphabet’s market value is now hovering around USD 3.4 trillion, more than doubling in value since the initial version of Gemini came out in late 2023. Alphabet’s shares edged up slightly Tuesday after the Gemni 3 news came out.
But the sky-high values also have amplified fears of a potential investment bubble that will eventually burst and drag down the entire stock market.
For now, AI technology is speeding ahead.
OpenAI released its fifth generation of the AI technology powering ChatGPT in August, around the same time the next version of Claude came out from Anthropic.
Like Gemini, both ChatGPT and Claude are capable of responding rapidly to conversational questions involving complex topics — a skill that has turned them into the equivalent of “answer engines” that could lessen people’s dependence on Google search.
Google quickly countered that threat by implanting Gemini’s technology into its search engine to begin creating detailed summaries called “AI Overviews” in 2023, and then introducing an even more conversational search tool called “AI mode” earlier this year.
Those innovations have prompted Google to de-emphasize the rankings of relevant websites in its search results — a shift that online publishers have complained is diminishing the visitor traffic that helps them finance their operations through digital ad sales.
The changes have been mostly successful for Google so far, with AI Overviews now being used by more than 2 billion people every month, according to the company. The Gemini app, by comparison, has about 650 million monthly users.
With the release of Gemini 3, the AI mode in Google’s search engine is also adding a new feature that will allow users to click on a “thinking” option in a tab that company executives promise will deliver even more in-depth answers than has been happening so far.
Although the “thinking” choice in the search engine’s AI mode initially will only be offered to Gemini Pro and Ultra subscribers, the Mountain View, California, company plans to eventually make it available to all comers.
A new ginger variety named SAS-KEVÜ has been developed by researchers at Nagaland University in Kohima.
The ginger variety consistently delivers superior yield, dry matter recovery, and culinary quality, making it a high-value option for farmers, the fresh produce market, and the spice-processing industry.
Taken up under the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Spices, located in Nagaland University, SAS-KEVÜ emerged after nearly a decade of scientific evaluation and extensive multi-location testing across seven AICRP centres in India.
The research was led by Prof C S Maiti and Dr Graceli I. Yepthomi from the School of Agricultural Sciences, Nagaland University.
The SAS-KEVÜ was formally notified by the Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties (Horticultural Crops), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and published in the Gazette of India (No. CG-DL-E-04092025-265957) on 2nd September 2025.
The Potential
The new variety promises a yield potential of 17.21 tonnes per hectare. SAS-KEVÜ outperformed the national check variety by more than nine per cent in demonstrations. Its dry recovery rate of 21.95 per cent offers a strong advantage for processors looking for higher output during drying, say the researchers.
The rhizomes exhibit a soft texture, bold size, and lemon-yellow flesh with significantly lower fibre, enhancing both consumer appeal and suitability for pickles, beverages, culinary use, and value-added products.
Prof Jagadish K Patnaik, Vice-Chancellor, Nagaland University, said, “This landmark achievement is the result of nine years of rigorous, coordinated national trials carried out by our team of scientists in collaboration with partner institutions. ‘SAS-KEVÜ’ has been specifically developed to deliver higher yields, improved quality, and greater resilience, offering farmers a reliable variety that can substantially enhance their incomes.
“The release of this variety is expected to strengthen India’s ginger value chain, promote regional agri-innovation, and support the broader national vision for sustainable and profitable horticulture. Nagaland University remains committed to scientific excellence, farmer welfare, and the advancement of agricultural research in the North-East and beyond,” he added.
Applications and industry use
Food processing Industry users will benefit from SAS-KEVÜ’s moderate oil content and pulpy bold rhizomes, which align well with requirements for candy and ginger paste.
For farmers, the variety’s combination of high yield, high market acceptance, and desirable rhizome traits translates into improved returns per hectare. The crop matures in nine months fitting well into the production cycles of regions where ginger is traditionally grown.
Tracing the journey of this project, Prof C S Maiti, Department of Horticulture, School of Agricultural Sciences said, The variety’s journey began in 2014, when 19 clones of the local Nadia ginger were collected from growing areas of Nagaland and studied in detail for their morphological and biochemical traits. From these, the clone NDG-11 — later named SAS-KEVÜ — was identified as the strongest performer. Between 2018 and 2022, it was evaluated under national coordinated trials in Chintapalle (AP), Kozhikode (Kerala), Mizoram, Nagaland, Potangi (Odisha), Pundibari (WB), and Sikkim. Stability analyses, including GGE Biplot evaluations, confirmed SAS-KEVÜ’s ability to perform well across varied agro-climatic zones, particularly in Nagaland, Pundibari in West Bengal, and Chintapalli in Andhra Pradesh.”
Dr Graceli I. Yepthomi, Assistant Professor, added, “With the Central Government’s notification under the Seeds Act, 1966, SAS-KEVÜ is now approved for seed production and agricultural sale in Nagaland, Mizoram, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh”.
The variety, developed by AICRP (Spices) team from Nagaland University is also recorded as the first Ginger variety from the research institute of North East States in India.
By offering farmers a high-yielding, market-ready, low-fibre variety, the university aims to improve household incomes, reduce post-harvest losses, and support India’s growing ginger-based industries. Preparations are currently underway at the university to scale up seed rhizome multiplication so that farmers can access planting material ahead of the next cropping season.
Nagaland University anticipates that SAS-KEVÜ will play a significant role in advancing ginger cultivation across the Northeast and other notified states, supporting both economic development and agricultural resilience.
New Delhi: The Centre on Monday announced a 26 per cent increase in the rates of advertisements in the print media and introduced a premium for colour ads to strengthen the print media ecosystem.
The black and white advertisement rates for print media per sq. cm. for one lakh copies of dailies have been enhanced from Rs. 47.40 to Rs. 59.68. The Government has also agreed to the recommendations of the Committee relating to premium rates to be offered for colour advertisements, preferential positioning, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
Higher rates for government advertisements will provide essential revenue support to print media, especially in an era of competition from various other media platforms and in view of the escalation in costs in the last few years. This can help sustain operations, maintain quality journalism, and support local news initiatives.
By boosting financial stability, print media can invest in better content, thereby serving the public interest more effectively, the statement said.
Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) is a nodal Media Unit under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for undertaking publicity campaigns on behalf of various Ministries and Departments of the Government of India in various media vehicles, including print media, empanelled with CBC for this purpose. The rates for release of advertisements in Print media by CBC were last revised by the Ministry on the basis of the recommendations of the 8th Rate Structure Committee, January 9, 2019, which were valid for a period of three years.
The 9th Rate Structure Committee under the chairmanship of AS&FA (I&B) was constituted on 11th November 2021 for making recommendations regarding the revision in rates for Government advertisements in print media.
The Committee, during its proceedings between November 2021 and August 2023, considered the representations from various newspaper associations of small, medium and big category newspapers, viz. Indian Newspaper Society (INS), All India Small Newspapers Association (AISNA), Small-Medium-Big Newspapers Society (SMBNS) and other stakeholders.
The Committee also deliberated on the various parameters having an impact on the rates of advertisements in print media, such as WPI inflation in respect of Newsprint, wage, rate of inflation, trend of imported newsprint prices, processing cost, etc. The Committee submitted its recommendations on 23 September 2023.
Increasing the rates for Government advertisements in print media will yield several significant benefits, both for the government and the media landscape.
The upward revision in advertisement rates can align with broader trends in media consumption. By recognising the value of print media in a diversified media ecosystem, the Government can better target its communications strategies, ensuring that they reach citizens effectively across various platforms, the official statement added.
New Delhi: India and Russia held high-level interagency consultations in New Delhi on Monday to review the full spectrum of maritime cooperation, according to an official statement.
The consultation was led by Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Nikolai Patrushev, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Maritime Board of Russia, it said.
The meeting brought together senior officials and experts from both sides to review the full spectrum of maritime cooperation.
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According to the statement, the discussions reaffirmed the deep and enduring Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia, grounded in mutual trust, respect and a shared vision for long-term economic and strategic cooperation.
“Both sides acknowledged the strong guidance provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin, which continues to shape the expanding India-Russia partnership,” it said.
The statement said it discussed multiple issues to explore possible collaboration as well as cooperation, including shipbuilding, trade economic, scientific and technical cooperation.
Both sides expressed satisfaction with the comprehensive and forward-looking discussions and reaffirmed their commitment to deepen cooperation across shipbuilding, port development, maritime logistics, Arctic operations, research and training, it added.
The meeting concluded with a shared resolve to build a more resilient, efficient and sustainable maritime partnership that contributes to the long-term prosperity of both nations and strengthens regional and global connectivity, the statement added.
Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened on a positive note on Monday amid buying in blue-chip stocks on the back of healthy earnings performance by corporates in the second quarter.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 234.42 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 84,797.20 in morning trade. The NSE Nifty advanced 56.10 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 25,966.15.
Among the Sensex firms, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Bharat Electronics Ltd, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bajaj Finserv were the gainers.
On the other hand, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Eternal, UltraTech Cement, Tata Consultancy Services , Infosys, PowerGrid and Trent were among the laggards.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, said, “Q2 results declared so far indicate an uptrend in earnings growth. Net profits have grown by 10.8 per cent, which is the best in the last six quarters.”
He noted that this was higher than estimates. The present trends in consumption indicate that earnings will further improve in Q3. Discretionary consumption, particularly automobiles, will lead earnings growth in the third quarter.
Broader Asian equity markets were trading largely in the negative zone. Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were trading in the red territory while South Korea’s Kospi in the positive zone.
The US markets ended largely lower on Friday.
“The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 climbed well off their lows and into positive territory before eventually ending the day roughly flat,” Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said.
Brent Crude, global oil benchmark, fell 0.87 per cent to USD 63.83 per barrel.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors remained net sellers for the fifth day in a row and offloaded equities worth Rs 4,968.22 crore on Friday. However, domestic institutional investors sustained their buying spree and picked up stocks worth Rs 8,461.47 crore, according to exchange data.
“A sustained uptrend in the market and new record highs have not been happening since FIIs continued selling on all rallies. A change in FII strategy is necessary for the market to break into new record highs and remain there.
“This, in turn, requires steady improvement in earnings growth, which is likely from Q3 onwards. If the global AI trade loses steam, that would be a helpful factor,” Vijayakumar added.
On Friday, the BSE Sensex ended 84.11 points higher at 84,562.78, while the NSE Nifty went up 30.90 points to settle at 25,910.05.
Washington: President Donald Trump announced Friday that he was scrapping US tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and a broad swath of other commodities — a dramatic move that comes amid mounting pressure on his administration to better combat high consumer prices.
Trump has built his second term around imposing steep levies on goods imported into the US in hopes of encouraging domestic production and lifting the US economy.
His abrupt retreat from his signature tariff policy on so many staples key to the American diet is significant, and it comes after voters in off-year elections this month cited economic concerns as their top issue, resulting in big wins for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and other key races around the country.
“We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee,” Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida hours after the tariff announcement was made.
Pressed on his tariffs helping to increase consumer prices, Trump acknowledged, “I say they may, in some cases” have that effect.
“But to a large extent they’ve been borne by other countries,” the president added.
Meanwhile, inflation — despite Trump’s pronouncements that it has vanished since he took office in January — remains elevated, further increasing pressure on US consumers.
The Trump administration has insisted that its tariffs had helped fill government coffers and weren’t a major factor in higher prices at grocery stores around the country. But Democrats were quick to paint Friday’s move as an acknowledgement that Trump’s policies were hurting American pocketbooks.
“President Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: his tariffs are raising prices for the American people,” Virginia Democratic Rep Don Beyer said in a statement. “After getting drubbed in recent elections because of voters’ fury that Trump has broken his promises to fix inflation, the White House is trying to cast this tariff retreat as a pivot to affordability.’”
Grocery bill worries
Trump slapped tariffs on most countries around the globe in April. He and his administration still say that tariffs don’t increase consumer prices, despite economic evidence to the contrary.
Record-high beef prices have been a particular concern, and Trump had said he intended to take action to try and lower them. Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, a major beef exporter, had been a factor.
Trump signed an executive order that also removes tariffs on tea, fruit juice, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes and certain fertilizers. Some of the products covered aren’t produced in the United States, meaning that tariffs meant to spur domestic production had little effect. But reducing the tariffs will still likely mean lower prices for US consumers.
The Food Industry Association, which represents retailers, producers and a variety of related industry firms and services, applauded Trump’s move to provide “swift tariff relief,” noting that import US taxes “are an important factor” in a “complex mix” of supply chain issues.
“President Trump’s proclamation to reduce tariffs on a substantial volume of food imports is a critical step ensuring continued adequate supply at prices consumers can afford,” the association said in a statement.
In explaining the tariff reductions, the White House said Friday that some of the original levies Trump relished imposing on nearly every country on earth months ago were actually no longer necessary given the trade agreements he’d since hammered out with key US trading partners.
Indeed, Friday’s announcement follows the Trump administration having reached framework agreements with Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina meant to increase the ability of US firms to sell industrial and agricultural products in these countries, while also potentially easing tariffs on agricultural products produced there.
During an interview that aired earlier in the week with Laura Ingraham of Fox News Channel, Trump hinted that lower tariffs might be coming.
“Coffee, we’re going to lower some tariffs,” the president said then. “We’re going to have some coffee come in.”
Tariff checks?
Despite pulling back on so many tariffs, Trump used his comments aboard Air Force One on Friday night to repeat his past assertions that his administration would use revenue the federal government has collected from import levies to fund USD 2,000 checks for many Americans.
The president suggested such checks could be issued in 2026, but was vague on timing, saying only, “Sometime during the year.” Trump, however, also said federal tariff revenue might be used to pay down national debt — raising questions about how much federal funding would be needed to do both.
Trump rejected suggestions that attempting direct payments to Americans could exacerbate inflation concerns — even as he suggested that similar checks offered during the coronavirus pandemic, and by previous administrations to stimulate the economy, had that very effect.
“This is money earned as opposed to money that was made up,” Trump said. “Everybody but the rich will get this. That’s not made up. That’s real money. That comes from other countries.”
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani to appear before it on November 17 in a FEMA case after he skipped his scheduled date on Friday.
ED sources said the agency rejected Ambani’s offer to depose through “virtual means”.
In a statement, a spokesperson of the 66-year-old businessman said he has written to the federal probe agency assuring “full cooperation” in the probe.
According to sources, the agency had asked Ambani to appear before it in person on Friday and get his statement recorded under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The investigation pertains to the Jaipur-Reengus highway project.
In an earlier statement, the ED had said that after recently attaching assets worth Rs 7,500 crore belonging to Ambani and his companies under the anti-money laundering law, a search carried out against Reliance Infrastructure Ltd found that an alleged Rs 40 crore was “siphoned” from the highway project.
“Funds moved through Surat-based shell companies to Dubai. The trail has unearthed a wider international hawala network exceeding Rs 600 crore,” the agency had said.
The ED has recorded the statement of various persons, including some alleged hawala dealers, following which they decided to summon Ambani, the sources said.
Hawala denotes illegal movement of funds, largely in cash.
“The matter (FEMA case) is 15 years old, dates to 2010. It concerns issues associated with a road contractor,” the statement said.
In 2010, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd awarded an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract to build the JR Toll Road (Jaipur-Reengus highway), it said.
“This was a purely domestic contract with no foreign exchange component involved whatsoever. The JR Toll Road has been fully completed and, from 2021 onwards, has been with the National Highways Authority of India,” the statement said.
Ambani is not a member of the Board of Reliance Infrastructure.
“He served the company for about 15 years, from April 2007 to March 2022, only as a non-executive director, and was never involved in day-to-day management of the company,” it said.
The businessman has once been questioned by the ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 17,000 crore worth bank fraud against his group companies.
New Delhi: Shares of LG Electronics India declined more than 5 per cent on Friday after the appliance and consumer electronics maker reported a 27.3 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 389.43 crore in the September quarter of FY26.
The scrip of the company decreased 5.3 per cent to Rs 1,585.40 apiece on the BSE.
On the NSE, it fell 4.97 per cent to Rs 1,590 per piece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The 30-share benchmark index Sensex fell by 212.50 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 84,266.17 in the morning trade. The broader NSE Nifty dropped 28.25 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 25,850.90.
On Thursday, LG Electronics India reported a 27.3 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 389.43 crore in the September quarter of FY26.
The company, which was listed on October 14, had a net profit of Rs 535.70 crore during the July-September period a year ago, the company said.
Its revenue from operations was almost flat at Rs 6,174.02 crore in the September quarter of FY26. It was Rs 6,113.88 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, it added.
