Rajiv Banik
Founder and writer at NewsFavored. Every story here is checked against its original source and written in plain, honest language, no press releases run as news, no filler.
29 stories published.
Technology
GitHub Copilot Hit 4.7 Million Paid Seats, and 46% of New Code on GitHub Is Now AI-Written
GitHub Copilot has grown to 4.7 million paid subscribers, up 75% year-over-year, with an estimated $0.9-1.1B in annual revenue.
India
Her Home Washed Away in Assam Floods. Three Weeks Later, She Won National Gold in Karate.
Floods destroyed Janmoni Konwar's home and training ground in Jorhat. With three days' notice and nowhere to train, the 17-year-old won gold anyway.
Technology
Anthropic Drops the Long-Context Surcharge: Claude Opus 4.6 Gets 1M Tokens at Standard Pricing
Anthropic removed the long-context pricing surcharge for Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6, making a 1-million-token context window available at standard per-token rates, no special tier required.
Technology
An AI Model Can Spot Pancreatic Cancer Three Years Before Doctors Can
Mayo Clinic's AI found pancreatic cancer signs on CT scans doctors had already read as normal, a median of 16 months before diagnosis.
Finance
Bitcoin ETFs Just Posted Five Straight Days of Inflows, Led by BlackRock
US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in net inflows for five consecutive trading days through August 21, with BlackRock's IBIT leading, as Bitcoin traded near $76,700.
World
Road Deaths Fell 21% Worldwide, Even as a Billion More Cars Hit the Road
The WHO says global road deaths dropped 21% between 2011 and 2025, despite over a billion more vehicles on the road. Progress is wildly uneven.
World
A Fisherman Vanished Into an Underwater Cave. 15 Days Later, They Found Him Alive.
Erasto Crisanto Valdez followed a fish into a Mexican cave and got lost. Fifteen days and 100 metres underwater later, divers heard him call back.
Science & Health
Speaking Four Languages Might Make Your Brain 13 Years Younger
A new study found multilingual brains look years younger than monolingual ones on scans, and the more languages, the bigger the gap.
Technology
OpenAI Just Made Frontier AI 80% Cheaper to Run
OpenAI cut GPT-5.6 Luna's price 80% and dropped Sol's rate too, part of a wider trend making advanced AI cheap enough for small teams to actually use.
Science & Health
A Cheap Bottle of Peppermint Oil Just Outperformed Expectations on Blood Pressure
A 20-day trial found peppermint oil lowered mildly high blood pressure by 8.5mmHg on average, more than the placebo group by a wide margin.
Science & Health
Scientists Found a Gut Bacterium That Seems to Build Muscle Strength
Older adults carrying Roseburia inulinivorans in their gut had 29% stronger handgrip. In mice, adding it directly increased grip strength by 30%.
Finance
Nvidia's Revenue Jumped 56% to $46.7 Billion, and It Still Beat Estimates
Nvidia's Q2 FY2026 revenue hit $46.7B, up 56% year-over-year, beating estimates on both revenue and EPS. Data center revenue alone was $41.1B, up 56%.
Science & Health
England Just Committed to Saving 320,000 More Cancer Lives by 2035
England's new cancer plan wants 3 in 4 patients cancer-free or living well five years after diagnosis. Right now it's about 6 in 10.
World
New York's 'War on Rats' Is Actually Working
NYC rat sightings are down 22% this year. The city's answer wasn't poison or traps, it was getting trash off the sidewalk and into sealed bins.
World
3,000 People Got Their Sight Back in a 12-Day Surgical Marathon
A hospital in Trinidad ran cataract surgeries nonstop for 12 days. By the end, 3,000 people who couldn't afford the wait could see again.
Technology
Humanoid Robots Are Actually Working in Factories Now. Here's What's Really Deployed.
Tesla and Figure AI both report humanoid robots doing real factory work in 2026, but most cited numbers are third-party estimates, not company-confirmed figures.
Technology
The EU AI Act's August 2026 Deadline Arrived, but Not the One Most People Expected
The EU pushed back its high-risk AI deadline for medical devices to 2028, but Article 50 transparency rules still took effect August 2, 2026, as scheduled.
India
A Hampi Tiffin-Shop Owner Fed Hungry Tourists in Her Own Home
A group of tourists showed up in Hampi hungry and out of options at 10pm. A woman running a tiffin stall took them home and cooked a full meal instead.
India
A Passenger Sketched a Portrait to Thank a Train Pantry Worker
An artist on a Vande Bharat train noticed a pantry worker doing his job quietly. He said thank you the only way he knew how: with a pencil.
Technology
A Former xAI Co-Founder's Startup Raised $1.1 Billion in Two Months to Build an Open AI Stack
River AI, founded by ex-xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, raised $1.1B led by General Catalyst to let companies train and own their own open-weight AI models.
India
A Former English Teacher Was Begging on Chennai's Streets. One Video Changed That.
Merlin taught English in Myanmar. At 81, she was begging on Chennai's streets. One video changed where her story was headed.
Animals & Environment
150+ Villagers Patrol Uttar Pradesh's Forests to Protect the Elephants
In Bahraich, over 150 farmers patrol elephant corridors at night after a full day's work. They call themselves Gajmitras: elephant friends.
Finance
RBI Raised Its Growth Forecast for India and Cut Its Inflation Outlook
The RBI held rates steady but raised its FY27 GDP forecast to 6.7% and lowered its inflation outlook to 5.0%, citing stronger-than-expected growth.
Animals & Environment
This Foundation Lets You Adopt a Tree, Not Just Plant One
Somnath Ghosh got tired of tree-planting drives that end at the photo op. His foundation asks people to adopt a tree instead, and track it.
Finance
Manipal Health's ₹9,275 Crore IPO Listed at an 11% Premium, India's Second-Biggest of the Year
Manipal Health Enterprises listed at ₹655 on the BSE, an 11% premium over its ₹590 issue price, valuing India's largest hospital network at ₹86,157 crore.
Finance
Foreign Investors Came Back to Indian Stocks After Four Months of Selling
FPIs poured Rs 20,200 crore into Indian equities in July, ending a four-month selling streak, as the rupee stabilized and sentiment improved.
India
He Flagged a Health Complaint About an Airport. They Actually Fixed It.
Chef Vikas Khanna had an asthma attack he traced to dusty airport carpets. He spoke up. On his next flight through, they were gone.
Finance
The Fed Held Rates Steady, But Three Dissents Sent Stocks Sliding Anyway
The Fed kept rates at 3.5%-3.75% on July 29, but three dissenting votes pushed markets to price a 76-82% chance of a September hike. The Dow fell 1,153 points.
Finance
Gold Hit an All-Time High of $5,595 an Ounce. Central Banks Did Most of the Buying.
Gold hit a record $5,595/oz on January 28, 2026, up over 20% for the year at that point, driven by record central bank buying and record ETF inflows.