AI & Defense: India’s Rajnath Singh says future wars may use AI, but victory still hinges on trained soldiers and conventional strength, as INS Mahendragiri is commissioned. AI Infrastructure & Power: A Shriram Mutual Fund report argues India’s biggest AI upside is supplying electricity and grid/data-centre infrastructure, not building frontier AI models. Directed-Energy Weapons: Germany awarded Rheinmetall-MBDA a contract to develop a high-energy naval laser weapon aimed to be operational by 2029, moving from trials to frontline capability. Cybersecurity: Healthcare ransomware is surging, with attacks increasingly hitting healthcare-adjacent businesses; meanwhile, a vishing campaign hijacked Microsoft 365 passkey enrollment across six industries. Semiconductors in the Making: Telangana opened India’s first CMP pad technology center in Hyderabad to train and develop tech for domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Healthcare Tech & Policy: Oman’s MoCIIP announced OMR16m in healthcare investment opportunities, while the UK’s RCP named winners for patient-care improvements spanning digital tech and early detection. Textiles for Recycling: NIST created a fabric reference material to help validate fibre-identification methods, supporting faster, more accurate textile sorting. Tech-Enabled Business: L&T Technology Services ran a global AI-native engineering hackathon with thousands of engineers tackling industrial and MedTech challenges. Crypto Regulation: ESMA launched a resilience review of MiCA-authorized crypto custodians, focusing on operational risk controls.