Modi, Trump review trade, defence ties

In their first phone conversation since the enactment of the US law which authorises tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries purchasing Russian oil and gas, including India and China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation across trade, defence, energy, critical technologies and other areas of mutual interest.

Eye on transmission bottlenecks, Cabinet clears green energy plan

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Green Energy Corridor Phase-III (GEC-III) scheme, aimed at enabling the evacuation of up to 135 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy across states.

Govt approves MSPS for rabi crops, wheat hike at 17-year-low

The Centre announced Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for six rabi crops for the 2027-28 season on Wednesday, with wheat - India's second-largest crop by acreage - receiving a 17-year-low hike of just Rs 25 per quintal, a marginal 0.97% increase.

Monsoon ends with 13% rain deficit, driest year in a decade

The Monsoon season ended on Wednesday with a 13 per cent deficit in overall rainfall, the largest in more than a decade. India Meteorological Department (IMD) said rainfall over the country as a whole during the four-month monsoon season was 87 per cent of long-period average, or LPA.

In Islamabad, Indian official flags regional connectivity, transit & trade

In the first visit by an Indian delegation to Pakistan since Operation Sindoor, a senior Indian official flagged the issues of "connectivity, regional connectivity, transit and trade" being discussed at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

This is significant since Islamabad has blocked access to Afghanistan and Central Asia for India.

In aftermath of BRICS, going back to Bandung

India can be one more country jostling for favours in Washington, or it can reclaim the role it once played-the moral voice of nations that were told their place in the world and refused to accept it.

At Nagoya, promises kept, a winning are

Since 2003, India has quietly gone about honing skills in Compound Archery, an event ignored by most sports powerhouses because it was not on the Olympics pro-gramme. Recurve archery Olympian Sanjeeva Kumar Singh was smitten by the un-complex bow, which is easier on the shoulders and sighting, and brought it to India 23 years ago.

Rising sea level threat to India's eroding coastline

Countries can maintain nautical boundaries, which are calculated from the coast, even when it retreats.

Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands carry India's nautical boundaries far into sea.

So, a pledge to keep those nautical boundaries fixed protects India's waters.

'Economic nationalism, corruption are barriers to investment in India'

A new US Department of State report on the investment climate in India has said that India welcomes foreign direct investment (FDI), but US investors are encountering an environment balancing openness with "economic nationalism" and the risk of corruption in the regulatory system, which is posing a barrier to FDI.

New efficiency norms: What will change for OEMs, small cars & SUVs

India's new fuel-efficiency rules for passenger vehicles will force carmakers to increasingly manage the efficiency of their entire vehicle portfolio, rather than individual models, from April 2027. The final Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)-III framework, notified on September 29, has introduced a new formula to relax norms for smaller cars, while doing away with an earlier proposed special concession for the category, and gives electric vehicles the biggest compliance benefit.