PwC, Merck and Hashgraph Launch Cocoa Tracking System With Broader Supply Chain Ambitions

PwC, Merck, and Hashgraph have jointly developed a supply chain provenance system that combines physical authentication, digital traceability, and enterprise process design. The consortium claims their integrated approach has no direct precedent in existing supply chain solutions. The initiative currently focuses on tracking cocoa but is intended as a pilot for wider industry adoption. The partners believe the technology can be scaled and applied across multiple other supply chain sectors beyond cocoa.

Leicestershire face pitch charge that could affect Division One survival bid

Leicestershire have been charged by the ECB for breaching pitch regulations during their home County Championship match against Glamorgan. The charge comes at a critical time as the club is battling to avoid relegation from Division One. A points penalty, if imposed, could significantly damage their chances of staying up. The ECB's pitch regulations are designed to ensure fair and consistent playing surfaces across domestic cricket. Leicestershire now await a ruling that could prove decisive in their fight for top-flight survival.

'Why bring BJP into this?' Rijiju slams Rahul's remarks on Manipuri musician's murder

AI’s left hand takes jobs before its right hand can

Soha Ali Khan shares tips on building a reading habit in children

Actress Soha Ali Khan has opened up about her approach to encouraging her daughter Inaaya to develop a love for reading. She noted that gentle persuasion and well-placed incentives can help spark a child's initial interest in books. Khan emphasized that parents play a crucial role by modelling reading behaviour themselves, as children tend to imitate their caregivers. Creating a home environment where reading is visible and valued, she said, goes a long way in nurturing the habit. Her advice highlights that fostering a child's love for books requires consistent parental involvement rather than simply providing access to them.

Shiva Rajkumar's 'Hindi as national language' remark triggers social media debate

Kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar sparked controversy after referring to Hindi as a national language at the title launch event of his upcoming pan-India film 'Original Monster'. The remark drew criticism from those who pointed out that India has no designated national language, while his supporters suggested he was merely referring to Hindi's widespread use across the country. The incident quickly spread across social media, generating significant public debate. The episode has reignited broader conversations around language politics and regional identity in the Indian film industry.

China adds most gold to reserves since 2023 as bullion prices surge

China significantly increased its gold reserves in August, recording its largest single-month purchase since 2023. The country added 650,000 ounces of gold despite bullion prices rising sharply during the period. This reflects a broader trend among large economies, including India, of accumulating gold reserves in recent years. However, India's gold purchases have slowed compared to previous years, while China has moved in the opposite direction.

Maak.el Brings Scheme-Powered Command Runner to Emacs as Lisp Machine

A new Emacs package called Maak.el has been released, functioning as a command runner built around Lisp machine principles. The tool is written in Scheme and designed to be infinitely extensible within the Emacs environment. It is hosted on Codeberg, an open-source alternative to GitHub, and was shared on Hacker News. The project appears to target Emacs power users who prefer a Lisp-native workflow for running and managing commands.

Thieves Loot $10 Million Worth of Artworks from Renoir Museum in France

Thieves have stolen artworks valued at approximately $10 million from a museum dedicated to French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir in France. The museum houses a significant collection of personal belongings and works associated with Renoir, including his easel and wheelchair. The stolen items are believed to include portraits, landscapes, and nude paintings created by the artist. The heist represents a major loss for the cultural institution, which preserves the legacy of one of France's most celebrated painters.

Why FLOAT Data Types Can Corrupt Financial Databases and How to Fix It

Using FLOAT or DOUBLE PRECISION data types in SQL databases for financial calculations introduces tiny rounding errors due to the IEEE 754 binary representation standard used by modern CPUs. Fractions like 0.1 and 0.2 cannot be represented exactly in base-2 binary, causing values such as 0.1 + 0.2 to return 0.30000001192092896 instead of 0.3. Across millions of daily transactions involving prices, taxes, or account balances, these small errors can accumulate into significant cash discrepancies during reconciliation. PostgreSQL's NUMERIC type avoids this by storing exact base-10 digits in memory, guaranteeing penny-perfect arithmetic with zero floating-point drift. Database engineers are advised to always use NUMERIC with defined precision and scale for any financial columns in production schemas.

Kangana backs Trisha Krishnan over character attacks linked to Vijay rumours

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has publicly expressed solidarity with Tamil actor Trisha Krishnan following a wave of character attacks directed at her over alleged link-up rumours with actor Vijay. Kangana highlighted that such targeted attacks on women in public life are a widespread global issue. The controversy has reignited broader discussions about how women in the entertainment industry are treated when their personal lives are scrutinised. Separately, Tamil Nadu politician Udhayanidhi Stalin is facing legal consequences over remarks he made in connection with the matter. The episode has prompted renewed debate around gender-based reputational attacks on public figures.

Playwright Automated 22 Directory Submissions, But Only 5 Succeeded — Here's Why

A developer used Playwright to automate directory submissions for SongStory, a personalized song generator, targeting 22 SaaS and AI listing sites in a single day. Of the 22 attempts, only 5 submissions succeeded, while the remaining 17 failed due to paywalls, closed registrations, broken forms, and Cloudflare blocks — not automation errors. The biggest surprise was that Playwright itself performed flawlessly; the failures stemmed entirely from the state of the directories. The developer also discovered that some sites' free tiers actually served dofollow links to crawlers despite marketing copy suggesting otherwise, while other sites appeared to offer dofollow links in the browser but rendered only client-side AngularJS templates with no href in server responses. The key takeaway is to verify what a page actually serves to crawlers by fetching it with a Googlebot user agent, rather than relying on pricing pages or browser DevTools alone.

Uber cuts 3,300 jobs and ends remote work for nearly all staff

Ride-hailing giant Uber is laying off approximately 3,300 employees, representing around 10% of its total workforce. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi communicated the cuts alongside a major remote work policy change in a company-wide email. Effective going forward, all but 1% of Uber's remaining roughly 29,000 employees will be required to work from an office near their team. The company's existing three-day hybrid attendance policy will remain in place and be strictly enforced. Global operations will be concentrated primarily across offices in New York and San Francisco.

ED Launches Probe into Rs 3.28 Crore Bribery Allegations Against Kerala CM Vijayan

India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated an investigation into bribery allegations against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The probe centers on claims that a bribe of Rs 3.28 crore was allegedly routed to Vijayan through his daughter Veena T. The alleged transaction is said to have taken place during Vijayan's tenure as Chief Minister of Kerala. The ED, which handles financial crimes and money laundering cases, is now examining the matter formally.

Singapore PM Lawrence Wong's salary to rise to S$3.6 million

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is set to receive a salary increase that will bring his total pay to 3.6 million Singapore dollars, equivalent to approximately 2.8 million US dollars. This makes him the highest-paid elected leader in the world. The raise represents an increase of around one million Singapore dollars to his existing remuneration. Singapore has long maintained a policy of offering competitive, private-sector-benchmarked salaries to its top government officials.

‘Thought it was a minor altercation’: Neighbour recalls the night Manipuri singer was killed

Developer Builds 'Avery', an English-Like Programming Language for Beginners

A developer has created Avery, an open-source programming language designed to make code read as naturally as plain English. The language aims to reduce syntax complexity so learners can focus on problem-solving rather than language mechanics. Avery includes common functionality such as random number generation as built-in features, eliminating the need for import statements. The project is still in early development, with some features incomplete and syntax subject to change. The creator has published Avery publicly on GitHub and is inviting feedback, particularly on syntax design and built-in functionality.

ok, AI is the all of my life.

Why AI Workflows Need Defined Boundaries, Not Just Prompts

Vague instructions like 'summarize these notes' are a common root cause of AI workflow failures, according to a DEV Community analysis. A prompt describes a task, but a proper workflow brief establishes operating boundaries covering evidence sources, data safety, review ownership, and acceptance criteria. Without these controls, an AI system may produce fluent but inaccurate output — for instance, misrepresenting a proposal as an approved decision or silently merging outdated information. The article outlines five essential workflow controls: a specific outcome, an evidence boundary, a data-safety boundary, a named reviewer, and observable acceptance checks. These guardrails do not make AI models infallible but make errors easier to detect and accountability clearer.

Teen Developer Seeks Collaborators for Gemini API Web App MirAI on GitHub

A 14-year-old developer built MirAI, a web app that interacts with Google's Gemini API, as their first coding project starting in September 2024 using the Vanilla Stack with AI-assisted code. The developer directed the workflow while AI handled the code writing. Development on MirAI has slowed as the creator has shifted focus toward building an ebook catalog platform for a self-founded digital publishing venture. The developer is now publicly seeking collaborators to continue MirAI's development, inviting interested contributors to submit an issue on the project's GitHub repository.