Producer Naga Vamsi claimed Telugu film industry never releases a promotional poster without inflating box-office numbers. "Why is there a necessity to publish correct numbers?" he asked. Notably, Ram Charan's box-office disaster 'Game Changer' was accused of inflating collections by up to ₹100 crore, while Vamsi-backed 'Daaku Maharaaj' faced similar allegations.

US has sanctioned six entities and one person linked to Iran's alleged illicit activities, accusing it of using cryptocurrency networks to move billions of dollars. This aims to cut off Iran's funds to "support terrorism", said US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott. US has also offered $15 million for information to disrupt Iran's finances for IRGC and its affiliated branches.

The US administration will invest $3 billion in critical minerals and battery projects, President Donald Trump announced on Friday. The investment is aimed at strengthening domestic production, boosting industrial policy, and countering China's dominance on supply chains. "We're reclaiming US' rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world," Trump said at a meeting of mining executives.

India's food safety regulator FSSAI had warned Diageo that its claim that one of its top-selling whiskies was "matured in American oak casks" was misleading, when most of the product had not been matured, Reuters reported. This comes after FSSAI barred the sale of Diageo's Royal Challenge Whisky manufactured in Madhya Pradesh, among others, over the use of artificial flavouring.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin has proposed a rail route with India. "A rail link to the Indian Ocean should also be explored. Risks related to Bosphorus and Strait of Hormuz might require alternative routes: through Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Any options providing access to India are acceptable," Khusnullin said.

Anthropic's Claude Code now allows users to let their active AI sessions message each other directly to share findings, ask questions, and coordinate on work, the firm announced on Friday. The feature lets independent sessions find and talk to each other without any human intervention with plain-text summaries. The sessions do not share any files or conversation history while messaging.

OpenAI said it is pausing some internal development work on its upcoming model Astra as it reached the critical cybersecurity threshold. The firm said the model could now autonomously identify and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities and carry out cyberattacks against well-protected systems. The model's development will now be moved into an isolated testing environment with restricted network access.

Marc Manara, Global Head of Startups at OpenAI, said Indian startups are focusing on AI costs much earlier in their growth journey compared to their Silicon Valley peers. Manara stated that Indian founders emphasise cost efficiency and practical unit economics from beginning. He said Indian firms are building sustainable AI solutions tailored to market rather than prioritising rapid scaling alone.

US' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered inspection for 471 Boeing 737 Max jets, following reports of fuselage cracks in some older models. Last year, Civil Aviation Ministry said that 56 Boeing 737 Max planes are operational in India. Akasa Air and Air India Express, key operators of the jets in India, said their fleets aren't impacted by the directive.

Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said US now accounts for 67% of India's LPG imports, making it the country's largest LPG supplier. Referring to Strait of Hormuz's closure, Puri said, "As some doors closed, others opened." India decided autonomously at the start of 2026 to import 10% of its LPG from US, a move which helped the country, he added.