5 stories you must read today, October 28: From Mehli Mistry’s removal from Tata Trusts to artificial rain in Delhi and more

Mehli Mistry is set to leave the Tata Trusts after a majority of trustees voted against his reappointment to the boards of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, TVS Group chairman Venu Srinivasan and former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh voted against the re-appointment of Mistry, whose term ends on October 28. The development comes amid reports of internal rifts within Tata Trusts, with a faction seen as aligned with Chairman Noel Tata and another group led by Mistry, comprising Ratan Tata loyalists. Tata Trusts collectively hold 66 per cent of Tata Sons, making them the most powerful shareholder in the aviation-to-semiconductor conglomerate. Read more

Amid the rising pollution levels, the Delhi government on Tuesday launched efforts to induce artificial rains to improve the air quality. Cloud seeding involves releasing salts into clouds to provide nuclei for water vapour to condense around and form droplets to increase the chances of rainfall. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier granted permission to IIT-Kanpur to conduct the trials for artificial rains any time between October 1 and November 30. Read more

State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics has signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia’s Public Joint Stock Company United Aircraft Corporation (PJSC-UAC) to manufacture its SJ-100 regional jets in India. The SJ-100, earlier known as the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) — is a regional jet with a flight range of 3,530 km, and can carry up to 103 passengers. If the MoU materialises, SJ-100 could become the first passenger jet to be fully manufactured in India. UAC, which was sanctioned by the US in 2022. Read more

British journalist and commentator Sami Hamdi was detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday. According to US authorities, the visa of Hamdi, who was in America for a speaking tour, has been revoked, and he would be deported. Hamdi is known to be a vocal critic of Israel, and the US State Department and DHS have alleged that Hamdi “supports terrorism” and poses a “threat to national security”. Read more

OpenAI, the non-profit behind ChatGPT, has revealed that more than a million users of the AI chatbot showed signs of suicidal thoughts. The first-of-its-kind study found that around 0.07 per cent of ChatGPT users active in a given week exhibited signs of mental health emergencies, including mania, psychosis, or suicidal thoughts. It also found that around 0.15 per cent of ChatGPT users had conversations with the AI chatbot that included “explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent,” while another 0.05 per cent of messages contained explicit or implicit indicators of suicidal ideation or intent. Read more