Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner in Venezuela's presidential election Sunday, even as his opponents were preparing to dispute the results, setting up a high-stakes showdown that will determine whether the South American nation transitions away from one party rule.

Shortly after midnight, the National Electoral Council said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming the main opposition candidate, Edmundo González, who garnered 44%.

But the electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, didn't immediately release the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, hampering the opposition's ability to challenge the results after claiming it had data for only 30% of the ballot boxes.

Foreign leaders held off recognizing the results as the electoral council promised to release official tallies in the "coming hours."

India accounts for nearly half of the world’s digital payments, holding a 48.5 percent share in global real-time payment volumes, according to a report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday. The report also underscores India’s leadership in global remittances, receiving USD 115.3 billion in 2023.

“India is leading the world with a share of 48.5 percent in global real-time payments volume. Global remittances that are increasingly being affected through mobile money and digital platforms are estimated to have increased to USD 857.3 billion in 2023, led by India (USD 115.3 billion),” said the report.

The digital economy currently makes up about a tenth of India’s GDP and is expected to grow to a fifth of GDP by 2026, based on growth rates observed over the past decade.

The IAEA and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) will launch a new series of joint activities to enhance collaboration, following an agreement signed during the recent UN High Level Political Forum in New York. The agreement, which includes joint workshops, outreach events and a new publication, will link the IAEA more closely with an international community of South-South practitioners.

“South-South cooperation is at the heart of the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme, as it is key to enhancing impact and ensuring sustainable development. We look forward to strengthening our ties with UNOSSC to widen the reach of our activities and support offered through South-South cooperation,” said Hua Liu, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation.

Master Mathan (91), Badaga leader and former BJP MP, passed away late on Friday night due to age related issues after a brief illness at his residence in Balaji Garden in Press Colony.

He is survived by his wife and three children. Mathan represented the Nilgiris Lok Sabha constituency from 1998 to 1999.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of former MP Master Mathan in the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a prompt corrective action (PCA) framework for primary (urban) co-operative banks to give more focus on larger UCBs that require more intensive monitoring by optimal utilisation of supervisory resources. The PCA framework will replace the supervisory action framework (SAF) established as an early intervention tool to improve weak UCBs.

RBI said the PCA framework had been suitably harmonised with similar frameworks applicable to scheduled commercial banks and non-banking financial companies, with suitable modifications considering the underlying principle of proportionality. In a statement, RBI stated that the revised framework seeks to provide flexibility to design entity-specific supervisory action plans based on the assessment of risks on a case-by-case basis. RBI said that the hard-coded limit of ₹25,000 for restrictions on capital expenditure by UCBs under SAF has been dispensed with.

The PCA framework has been made applicable to all UCBs in Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 categories, except UCBs under All Inclusive Directions (AID). Tier 1 UCBs have been excluded from the PCA framework for the present. However, they will continue to be subjected to enhanced monitoring under the extant supervisory framework.

Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMP Kolkata), in alliance with Pacific International Lines (PIL), a leader in feeder and container services for over three decades, has announced the inauguration of the China Calcutta Service (CCS) at the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) recently.

According to an official statement, this pioneering direct weekly service from China to Kolkata meets the increasing demand for reduced transit times from the Far East Ports to Kolkata, enhancing connectivity and efficiency for our stakeholders.

The CCS will feature three dedicated vessels – Kota Ria, Kota Rukun, and Kota Rakiyat – each with an average parcel load of 622 TEUs, specially tailored to navigate lower draft conditions. This service promises a transit period of just 10 to 12 days, significantly enhancing logistical efficiency and meeting the needs of customers in India and Nepal.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has secured a letter of intent (LOI) from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to construct two 800 MW thermal power station in Koderma district, Jharkhand.

The project, valued at over Rs 10,000 crore, involves setting up thermal power units on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) basis.

BHEL's scope of work includes supplying equipment such as boilers, turbines, generators, and associated auxiliaries, along with electrical and C&I systems, and balance of plant packages. The company will also handle erection, commissioning, and civil works for the project.

The project has to be completed within a period of 52 months.

Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd (TPSSL) on Friday said it has partnered with Bank of India (BOI) to facilitate easy financing for rooftop solar installations and establishment of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

The partnership is a significant milestone with Tata Power Solar becoming the first solar company to collaborate with BOI for both solar and EV Charging Station financing and strengthening its leadership as a green energy solutions provider, a statement said.

Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Education in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India, on July 25 launched the Revised Adarsh Kaushal Loan Scheme, which aims to provide access to skill courses to the youth of the country without any financial barriers. The scheme aims to provide easy access to such advanced level skill courses to the youth. These include high-level courses, which often require high course fees. This initiative will help in making India's youth a future-ready workforce.

During the launch ceremony of the scheme at Kaushal Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday, Jayant Chaudhary said that the launch of Model Skill Loan Scheme is a major achievement for our Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He said that this scheme provides financial assistance to youth for advanced skills through collateral-free loans up to Rs 7.5 lakh. NBFCs, NBFC-MFIs and Small Finance Banks have also been made eligible lenders.

OpenAI has released SearchGPT which is an AI-powered search engine with real-time access to information across the internet- Google's new competition. The Sam Altman-led company said that SearchGPT will be available as a prototype in limited release and OpenAI plans to eventually build it into ChatGPT. OpenAI’s blog post read, “SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches. Responses have clear, in-line, named attribution and links so users know where information is coming from and can quickly engage with even more results in a sidebar with source links.”

The launch comes as The Information reported that OpenAI’s AI training and inference costs could reach $7 billion this year as millions of users on the free version of ChatGPT are driving up costs.