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Monday, October 5, 2026

'Want to see who modified Form 6': SC refuses to pass interim order to suspend CEC Gyanesh Kumar

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to pass an interim order seeking the suspension of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and issued notice to the Election Commission of India, CEC and the other two election commissioners on a plea challenging decisions taken by the poll body on Special Intensive Revision.

A bench led by CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana heard pleas filed by Patna resident Rakesh Kumar Singh and advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi. The pleas raised questions over whether Gyanesh used powers belonging to the Election Commission without the approval of election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.“Any modified Form 6 has not been approved by us. Let's be clear. When record has produced, we would like to see who has modified. But, your prayers appear jumbled up,” the CJI noted.The apex court directed the respondents to file their responses to the allegations. The court said it would examine whether the statutory scheme was followed and indicated that if the records showed that any decision was not taken in accordance with the law, it could injunct such a decision and hold it ultra vires."If records show some decision was not unanimous etc., we will injunct those decisions and say they are ultra-vires.

Sunday, October 4, 2026

When A Search Query Becomes A Standing Instruction

Google started making AI Mode’s information monitoring available to all users on Sept. 28, after initially offering it to Ultra and Pro subscribers. Then, on Sept. 29, OpenAI launched its new always-on ChatGPT agents called dots. These tools serve different roles. One keeps track of changing information within Search and sends an update, while the other manages assigned tasks across connected apps and a cloud computer.

What they share is that the request stays active even after the user leaves. For local businesses or retailers, this means that later updates could include information that appeared after the initial search. I like to think of a request that stays active as a “standing instruction.” That’s my own term, not an official one from Google or OpenAI.

I also covered the Sept. 28 rollout and the help pages for dots on Sept. 30. Google’s Search Console documentation includes AI Mode in its reporting, but the pages reviewed for this article do not explain how monitoring updates are counted or identified separately.

Google Alerts helps you stay informed about topics you care about by converting them into regular searches. According to its help page, you enter a topic, select your preferred notification frequency, choose the site types, set a language and region, and specify the number of results. Google will then email you “whenever we find matching search results.”

OpenAI’s side has a precedent too. Its release notes date scheduled tasks in ChatGPT to January 2025, with support for future and recurring tasks. The July 9, 2026 entry introducing ChatGPT Work says Work can use scheduled tasks “that run once, repeat on a schedule or trigger, or monitor for changes.” The current Scheduled tasks help page defines monitoring tasks as checks that “send a notification when a relevant update occurs” and can “use information from previous runs.”

Recurring checks were available on both sides before this week. Google’s monitoring and OpenAI’s dots handle ongoing requests differently, including which sources they can reach and what they return.

Google’s account of the gap in the older tools came from Liz Reid, VP of Search, at I/O in May. In an interview Roger Montti covered in July, she described people who “have to keep checking and checking and checking,” and a stock-tracking request with a specific set of parameters where, in her words, “Nothing’s going to do that.”

Saturday, October 3, 2026

'Debris field' found from medical flight missing over Atlantic en route to Boston

Searchers found a “debris field” off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, from an air ambulance that was carrying six people when it vanished over the Atlantic on Saturday (October 3, 2026) during a flight from Bermuda to Boston, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

There were four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals aboard, and their next of kin were notified as the search continued, the Coast Guard said in a statement. It added that one of its cutters would continue searching the water overnight and into Sunday (October 4, 2026).

Air traffic audio indicates that the medical transport may have been “coming in blind” with electrical problems when a storm loomed ahead shortly before it vanished very early Saturday (October 3, 2026).

The pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as the jet approached the coast, according to air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net. “Roger, you said you're coming in blind. Is that what you said?” a controller can be heard asking the pilot.

That makes Mary Schiavo, who is a former Inspector General of the Transportation Department, think the plane may have lost its navigational instruments just as a storm moved across its path on radar.

The plane also descended sharply from its cruising altitude of around 24,000 feet to around 10,000 feet, according to preliminary data from flight tracking site FlightRadar24.

“Something bad happened with this big drop, and they flew into this big storm. It's a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind,” said Ms. Schiavo, who is an aviation attorney. “It's very easy to get disoriented and not know if you're turning, climbing, descending, etc. Spatial orientation hits pretty quickly.”

The Canadian-registered air ambulance jet had four crew members and two passengers aboard when it departed Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport for the nighttime flight to Massachusetts, according to a statement from the Bermuda airport's operator, Skyport.

Transport Canada was closely monitoring and working with authorities on search and rescue efforts, the country's Minister of Transport Steven MacKinnon said on the social platform X.

The Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration reported that the Gulfstream G100 lost contact very early Saturday (October 3, 2026) morning.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering information about the situation, but it did not say immediately if it would investigate.

Buy Google Fitbit for Rs 12999 with Discount: Worth Upgrade?

Google launched a new display-less fitness tracker, the Fitbit Air, priced at Rs 13,999. Google is also offering additional discounts through HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, bringing the effective price down to Rs 12,999. This makes it a good health wearable from Google. Along with its attractive price, it offers solid specs that compete with leading professional trackers like the Whoop 5. The Fitbit Air is a strong lower-priced alternative, and since it is from Google, there are no compromises on quality. If you are looking to upgrade your health wearable, we’ll help you decide whether to consider the new Fitbit Air.

Techie-mountaineer killed in Bhubaneswar as his bike hits bull

BHUBANESWAR : A 27-year-old software engineer and avid mountaineer died after his motorcycle hit a bull in Bhubaneswar’s Chandrasekharpur area on Thursday night, with the animal’s horns piercing his neck.

The deceased is Jagannath Mahanta of Keonjhar district. Mahanta worked as a software engineer in the capital city.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Mahanta was returning to his rented house on his bike when he suddenly spotted a bull sitting on the road. He applied the brakes but lost control of the bike, fell onto the animal and was impaled by its horns. Police said the bull’s horns pierced Mahanta’s neck and he was bleeding profusely after the accident.

Passersby informed the police and Mahanta was rushed to a private hospital, but succumbed a few hours later while undergoing treatment.

“A case of unnatural death has been registered and further probe is underway,” said an officer of Chandrasekharpur police station. Notably, police found that he was not under the influence of alcohol when the accident occurred.

Friday, October 2, 2026

CM Majhi calls for citizen participation to make Bhubaneswar the cleanest city

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday urged residents of Bhubaneswar to take greater responsibility for keeping their neighbourhoods clean, saying collective participation will help the city move from its current ninth position in the national cleanliness ranking to the top.

Addressing a cleanliness drive organised by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) at Khandagiri under the ‘Ek Din, Ek Ghanta, Ek Sath’ campaign, Majhi said cleanliness should not be limited to individual homes. “Just as we keep our homes, courtyards and premises clean, we need to expand our responsibility to the roads in front of our houses and colonies,” he said.

The chief minister appealed to the citizens to segregate wet and dry waste at source and hand it over to sanitation workers. He also urged people not to litter public spaces and discourage others from doing so.

Majhi said the Ek Din, Ek Ghanta, Ek Sath (One day, One hour, Together) initiative under the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign was an effort to involve society at large in maintaining cleanliness. The drive was part of the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan to mark the 76th birth anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.