Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye ink defence deal

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye on Friday signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca committing "collective defence" and "collective deterrence", at a time when Saudi Arabia is under attack from Yemen's Houthis and West Asia remains engulfed in the ongoing war against Iran.

Is data protection law crippling RTI, asks SC

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine if the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, can be used to cripple the Right to Information Act by classifying all data as "personal" and, separately, gag investigative journalists.

'Centre mulls separate law for women farmer rights'

The Union government is considering a separate legislation to protect the rights of women farmers, on the lines of the Maharashtra Women Farmers Empowerment Act, 2026, S. Mahendra Dev, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said in Chennai on Friday.

SC to decide on Tamil Nadu's quota for converted Muslims

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to pronounce judgment on a Tamil Nadu government appeal seeking confirmation of the State's power to frame and implement policy to provide reservation benefits to mem-bers of backward classes, most backward classes, denotified communities and Scheduled Castes who convert to Islam.

SC directs Rajasthan to set up coordination group, commission to restore polluted rivers

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Rajasthan government to constitute, within seven days, an integrated coordination group headed by the Chief Secretary to implement its directions for restoring the Jojari, Bandi and Luni river system. It also ordered the creation of a river commission to oversee the conservation of rivers across the State.

Astrobase unveils India's first private 800kN rocket engine

Astrobase, a Bengaluru-based space company unveiled India's first privately built 800 kN Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) LOX-Methane rocket engine on Friday.

"The engine, named EVEREST, has been deve-loped by Astrobase making it the fourth commercial company to successfully develop a high thrust flow FFSC engine globally," said Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder and CEO, Astro-base Space Technologies.

'Al sentries' bring new hope to Kerala's fight against human-wildlife conflict

Marking a major leap in hu-man-wildlife conflict management, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital sentry system deployed across six high-risk forest zones in Kerala has achieved a near-100% suc-cess rate in repelling wild animals.

Kerala can become India's model Al governance State

The evolution of public administration has reached a critical juncture today. The sheer complexity of modern governance has outpaced the legacy tools traditionally used to manage it. Kerala has long enjoyed a distinguished reputation built upon its enduring strengths: a highly educated citizenry, robust public institutions, and an enlightened tradition of public discourse. Yet, these historic achievements risk being undermined if the State's administrative machinery continues to rely on fragmented information flows, delayed reporting, and rigid, departmentcentric silos.

Prudent approach

The RBI did well to hold interest rates. but inflationary pressures remain

There was little room for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s interest rate-setting committee to manoeuvre during its meeting in early August. Elevated global crude prices over the past few months had already pushed retail inflation beyond the central bank's 4% target, with headline CPI rising to 4.38% in June, the highest in the current CPI series.

The changing logic of the India-U.S. partnership

The Trump administration's latest tariffs on several trading partners, including India, are widely seen as another trade dispute. That interpretation misses the larger picture. Alongside growing demands for greater burden-sharing, tighter technology restrictions and a more reciprocal approach to international partnerships, the tariffs reflect a broader shift in American statecraft. Washington is increasingly judging partners and competitors through the lens of national interest rather than strategic convergence. The immediate impact will be felt in trade negotiations; the more enduring signa implications are strategic. They signal a changing American approach to alliances and partnerships with important implications for India.

Opposition wants FCRA Bill scrapped or referred to JPC

The Opposition parties want want the government to either scrap the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill (FCRA) 2026, which is expected to liament next week, or refer come up for debate in Par-it to a Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) for review. According to sources, the INDIA bloc will take a call on Monday on the mo dalities of opposing the Bill. The Congress, mean-while, wants a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the police action against protesters before any debate on the FCRA Bill ог any other legislation.

No renewable energy project within 1 km of border: govt.

Amid surge in applications for solar, wind and hybrid renewable energy projects in border areas, the Minis-try of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued new national se-curity guidelines, introducing a blanket ban on such projects within 1 km of the international border and mandating security clearance for projects lo-cated up to 50 km away.

India formally names 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh on official map

In response to frequent at-tempts by China to rename some places in Arunachal Pradesh, India on Friday formally identified 27 plac-es including land, pass-es, a lake and a monument - in the border State by their standard names on the official Indian map.

"Identifying them formally on the Survey of India map of Arunachal Pradesh is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large," the Union Home Ministry said in a statement.

No chloride contamination in E20 fuel, assert oil firms

State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Friday rejected claims of chloride contamination in E20 fuel, stating that additional intensive testing conducted at retail outlets, refineries, and at the point of ethanol procurement confirmed that chloride levels remained within the prescribed limits.

India's forex kitty swelled by $10.5 billion to $692.87 billion

India's forex reserves jumped by $10.512 billion to $692.866 billion during the week ended July 31, the RBI said on Friday. The ov-erall kitty had jumped by $6.118 billion to $682.354 billion in the previous reporting week.

U.S. accounts for 67% of India's LPG imports, says Hardeep Puri

The U.S. has "today" become India's largest supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), accounting for 67% of its LPG imports, said Petro-leum and Natural Gas Mi-nister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Model bilateral investment treaty in rejig'

The Finance Ministry is re-viewing its Model Bilateral Investment Treaty to make it investor-friendly and will approach the Cabinet for approval soon, Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur said on Friday.

Despite ruling, Trump signs orders to curtail birthright citizenship

United States President Do-nald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday in a new but narrower attempt to curtail birthright citizenship, once again challenging a pro-vision of the U.S. Constitution even though the Supreme Court rejected his previous effort.