India, Australia move to deepen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific

India and Australia on Thursday adopted a Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation, committing to significantly deepen mil-itary engagement, streng-then defence industrial collaboration, and expand maritime security coopera-tion amid growing geostra-tegic uncertainty in the In-do-Pacific region. The two countries also sealed pacts on civil nuclear energy and critical minerals sectors.

Modi hails Australia's social media ban on minors, signals curbs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday praised Australia's ban on social media access for teenagers, in the clearest indication so far that the Union government is mulling similar curbs. "I have fol-lowed you closely, and the way you have legislated and worked to protect so-ciety in IT and social media is inspiring the world," Mr. Modi told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Alba-nese in remarks open to the press.

Monsoon has covered the entire country, a day later than normal, announces IMD

The southwest monsoon covered the entire country on Thursday, a day later than its normal date, after advancing into the remain-ing parts of the north Ara-bian Sea, Rajasthan, Ha-ryana, and Punjab, India Meteorological ment (IMD) officials said. Depart-The nationwide cover-age came 35 days after the monsoon reached Kerala on June 5. While the ad-vance was slower than in recent years, the July 9 date is not unusual histori-cally.

Since 1971, the monsoon has covered the country on dates ranging from June 16 in 2013 to August 15 in 2002, according to IMD data.

Gujarat launches data centre policy, targets ₹6-lakh-crore investments, 7.5 GW capacity

Seeking to position itself as India's preferred destina-tion for hyperscale data centres, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital infras-tructure, the Gujarat government on Thursday un-veiled its first-ever Data Centre Policy (2026-29), targeting investments of ₹6 lakh crore and the creation of 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of data centre capacity over the policy period.

AIDS prevention society launches drive to improve HIV diagnosis in Karnataka

More than 56,000 people in Karnataka are estimated to be living with HIV without knowing their status, the highest such number among States in the country. This is posing a major challenge to the State's HIV control programme des-pite free testing and treat-ment services being widely available, with the chang-ing nature of sexual net-works adding to the complexity.

Karnataka to revive digital initiative to combat fake news

The Karnataka govern-ment is all set to revive the Information Disorder Tack-ling Unit (IDTU) to curb the spread of fake news. The IDTU initiative had earlier raised concerns ov-er whether the govern-ment should label news re-ports as 'fake' and conduct fact checks, prompting it to onboard independent fact-checking websites for the task. Despite this, the initiative was discontinued after the pilot phase.

SIR in Manipur is a pathway to exclusion

Manipur is one of the States covered under Phase III of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being implemented by the Election Commission of India (ECI) currently. The SIR has already drawn adverse criticism from civil society organisations and the Opposition, particularly after the recent Bihar and West Bengal elections, due to its hasty, disproportionate and summary deletion of voters from voters' lists, resulting in the disenfranchisement of large sections of politically "undesirable" communities and voters.

Building a durable India-Australia partnership

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Australia this week has been big on substance and high on optics. The choreography is familiar now given the warmth in the relationship: a forward-leaning leadership interaction, a massive diaspora event and a joint statement packed with deliverables and road maps. The Australian government sees India as central to its economic diversification strategy. Its new economic road map and packed ministerial calendar for India underwrite this intent. The elite consensus seems bipartisan and the convergence only growing.

Building a durable India-Australia partnership

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Australia this week has been big on substance and high on optics. The choreography is familiar now given the warmth in the relationship: a forward-leaning leadership interaction, a massive diaspora event and a joint statement packed with deliverables and road maps. The Australian government sees India as central to its economic diversification strategy. Its new economic road map and packed ministerial calendar for India underwrite this intent. The elite consensus seems bipartisan and the convergence only growing.

Far from over

Iran and the U.S. must address the trust deficit for their talks to progress

It took only 20 days for the U.S.-Iran memo-randum of understanding (MoU), which promised to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and launch talks about outstanding issues, in-cluding Iran's nuclear programme, to start unra-velling. On Tuesday night, the U.S. carried out sweeping air strikes in Iran after three tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran struck American bases in Kuwait and Bahrain after which Mr. Trump declared that the ceasefire was over.

Why is the Centre revising the NFSA?

The Centre has proposed amending the NFSA to change AAY foodgrain entitlements from a household-based system to a per capita allocation of 7 kg per person, subject to a maximum of 35 kg per household, to address inequities in the existing system.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala have opposed the proposal, arguing that it will reduce foodgrain allocations for households with fewer than five members and increase the burden on poor families, particularly in States with predominantly nuclear families.

While the Centre says the amendment will make foodgrain distribution more equitable, critics warn it could widen regional disparities, and some have suggested a middle path of a fixed 30 kg allocation per household.

Modi, Albanese call for dialogue to end West Asia conflict

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Alba-nese on Thursday made a joint call for a de-escala-tion of tension and hostili-ties in West Asia.

NDA-ruled States, universities object to centralisation provisions in VBSA

NDA-ruled States, in-cluding Andhra Pra-desh, Madhya Pra-desh, and Meghalaya, have raised concerns over provi-sions in the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, warning a parlia-mentary panel that the proposed legislation would centralise powers over higher education regulation.

The Bill proposes a structural overhaul of high-er education in the coun-try, by repealing the statu-tory Acts governing the University Grants Commis-sion (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Edu-cation (AICTE), and the Na-tional Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and re-placing them with a single apex body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA).

Govt. waives levy on key inputs for electronics manufacturing

The Centre has waived basic customs duty on goods used in manufacture of display assemblies, lithium ion cell and inductor coil module as it looks to promote domestic production of electronic devices like smartphones, laptops, wearables and smart TVs. The finance ministry issued three separate notifications giving effect to the basic customs duty (BCD) waiver on the goods used in manufacture of the three key components used in electronic devices.

Al poses a relatively lower risk to India's GCC jobs: CEA

India's Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are not just low-cost sup-port in a new form, but are areas where cutting edge work is taking place, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V. Anantha Nageswaran said on Thursday. As such, these GCC jobs are also at a relatively lower risk of be-ing replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI), he added. However, the CEA did warn against the dangers of complacency, saying that other countries are al-ready copying India's model. 

U.S., Iran exchange more attacks across West Asia, threatening deal

New fighting erupted between the United States and Iran hours ahead of the burial of long-time Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday, with Tehran tar-geting U.S. allies in the re-gion and American strikes hitting the perimeter of an Iranian nuclear power plant.

Ebola death toll in Congo reaches 600, as new cases surge

New suspected cases of Ebola have been reported in parts of Congo that were previously unaffected, the government said on Thurs-day, as the death toll in the country's latest Ebola out-break reached 600. According to the Congo-lese Health Ministry, sus-pected cases have now been recorded in the pro-vinces of Tshopo and Haut-Uele, signalling the conti-nued spread of the disease beyond the epicentre in Ituri.

Syria welcomes U.S. announcement of removal from blacklist

Damascus welcomed a U.S. announcement that it would remove Syria from its list of "state sponsors of terrorism", a move that one economist said opened the door to eco-nomic recovery and fo-reign investment. "A dark page in Syria's history has been turned," Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani wrote on X.

Study to contain antimicrobial resistant neonatal sepsis begins in India

Striking at the heart of antimicrobial resistance, the international NeoSep 1 trial to evaluate life-saving antibiotic combinations for newborns with sepsis has expanded to India, with the first baby being recruited at the Jawaharlal Postgraduate Education Institute of Medical and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry.

Neonatal sepsis is a life-threatening bloodstream infection that occurs in babies under 90 days old, often affecting premature or low-birth-weight infants. It is categorised into early-onset (occurring within the first 72 hours of life) and late-onset (occurring up to 28-90 days), according to a book on neonatal sepsis, authored by Meenakshi Singh.