SC mulls pan-India safety regulations for student hostels

The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that it may expand its court-monitored exercise against illegal constructions and the unauthorised use of residential premises to examine the safety of student accommodations across the country.

Perilous retreat

Gram sabhas must have a veto on issues relating to tribal land

Tribal organisations should recognise the Indian state's attempt to lower the legal barriers erected by the Forest Rights Act (FRA) as a threat to their survival. The Committee on Public Undertakings' suggestion that a project require the consent of only most, rather than all, gram sabhas affected by that project, as the FRA intends in spirit, portends a significant jurispru-dential change.

India-Japan defence cooperation breaks new ground

The August 2026 visit of Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi to India marks an important moment in the evolution of a partnership that has often been more developed institutionally than operationally. The agreements that were announced suggest that New Delhi and Tokyo are now attempting to connect these disparate strands into a more coherent security relationship, having spent more than a decade building the institutional vocabulary of defence cooperation through annual dialogues, the 2+2 mechanism, exercises, logistics arrangements and defence technology discussions.

Russia welcomes India's efforts to end Ukraine war

A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated his call for an end to the long-running Ukraine-Russia war on the sidelines of the SCO summit, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov in a virtual press interac-tion with the Indian media said on Tuesday that both India and Russia want a peaceful end to the war that has continued for more than four-and-a-half years.

India takes up 'anomalies' in new UN world map with officials concerned

The External Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday that it has taken up the "anomalies" in the world map, used extensively in the United Nations General Assembly during the discus-sion on the India-backed "Correct the Map" resolution, with the persons concerned.

Have complete trust in ISRO: French space agency

The French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) has said that it is not perturbed with the back-to-back fai-lures of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO)'s workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and has complete trust in its Indian partner.

U.K. govt. bans trade with illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank

For one of its first foreign policy moves, the adminis-tration of U.K. Prime Minis-ter Andy Burnham has announced a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. France and Canada joined the U.K. in its move.

Chinese researchers find link between climate change and glacial collapse, warn of increasing disaster risks

Chinese experts have pointed to a clear link between rising temperatures, which have led to significant glacial retreat on the Tibetan Plateau, and the deadly August 26 glacial collapse on the Nepal-China border, warning of growing risks from more glacial flood outbursts, with more than 14,000 glacial lakes mapped on the plateau.

Muizzu invites Burnham for discussions over Chagos Islands

Maldives hamed Muizzu on Tuesday invited British Prime Minis-ter Andrew Burnham for talks on the disputed Chagos Islands.

From moon's far side, a satellite to look for the first radio signal

 Expected to be launched before the end of this decade, CosmoCube will orbit the moon and use it as a natural shield from radio interference generated on the earth

 The compact satellite will have around 40 minutes on the lunar far side during its orbit every two hours, when it will be cut off from all radio noise from the earth

Slumping: a soft-coral threat

The 'slumping' phenomenon is showing up again this year, says the Paran Ocean Citizen Science Centre, a group of divers who monitor the island's UNESCO-listed soft corals, mostly around uninhabited islets south of Jeju. Unlike hard corals supported by rigid calcium carbonate skeletons, soft corals rely on internal fluid pressure to keep upright.