U.S. and Iran reach agreement to end war, re-open Hormuz Strait

The U.S. and Iran have reached a pre-liminary agreement to end the war, lift blockades in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, and launch substantive negotiations on Tehran's nuclear pro-gramme and the Western sanctions, the two countries announced on Monday.

The agreement was signed digitally on Sunday, U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance said, while Iran and Pakistan said an in-person signing ceremony would be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 19.

India and Slovakia expand bilateral ties with a slew of MoUs

India and Slovakia on Mon-day expanded their bilateral relationship with memoranda of understanding (MoUs) across defence, la-bour mobility, education, digital tech, and other sectors, officially branding their relationship a 'Com-prehensive Partnership'.

India's goods exports hit record high of $45.2 billion in May; trade deficit widens

India's merchandise exports have jumped to a record high of $45.2 billion in May 2026, 18% higher than $38.3 billion in May last year, according to official data. Services exports rose 13.2% during the same period, to $36.8 billion in May 2026. However, despite this, India's overall trade deficit widened to $10.5 billion, from $6.8 billion in May last year, due to a sharper growth in imports of both goods and services.

Telangana govt. launches free breakfast scheme for students

Telangana Minister for Transport and Backward Classes Ponnam Prabhakar launched the Breakfast and Milk scheme for students in Hyderabad on Monday. The scheme is being taken up for 29 lakh students from pre-primary 1 till Class 12 in all government schools. He said that the aim of the scheme is to prevent hunger among students, reduce malnutrition and improve school attendance. The State has earmarked Rs.740 crore for the scheme.

SC stays High Court proceedings on new transgender law

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed further proceedings before four High Courts hearing challenges to the constitutional validity of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, while issuing notice on the Union government's plea to transfer all pending cases to the apex court to avoid conflicting decisions.

Older persons are increasingly bearing the brunt of climate change, finds study

Older persons in rural India are increasingly bearing the brunt of climate change, with heatwaves, floods and droughts com-pounding existing challenges lenges of poor health, financial insecurity, and social isolation, according to a study released by HelpAge India on Monday.

Technology drives India-France strategic convergence

The India-French relationship is constantly evolving and is consequently being updated by the two leaders who are committed to the cause. While the recently elevated Special Global Strategic Partnership has always included traditional areas such as defence, nuclear and space, it is the focus on tech and innovation that is now exciting for the relationship. This focus will include cyberspace, Artificial Intelligence (AI), health care, sustainable development, creative economy, education and research. These are new facets of the evolving and dynamic relationship and will no doubt take ties to greater heights. Tech and innovation has tremendous mutual advantages for both sides. France has some of the best state-of-the-art technology in aerospace, AI, robotics, biotech, health care, green tech and sustainable development, besides being a European hub for the digital economy.

Refugees are returning home but not for the right reasons

Despite the fact that the estimated number of refugees fell marginally by 3% in 2025 to 4.16 crore, the recent re-port of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for 2025 shows that certain groups continue to be affect-ed. Of these, about 60 lakh (15%) are Palestinian refugees. The drop was mainly driven by 1.47 crore returning to their countries, which is the second highest number of people returning since the UNHCR first reported the figures in 1965.  

Drone revolution and modern warfare

Ukraine has pioneered industrial-scale drone warfare, integrating FPV drones, loitering munitions, bomber drones and fibre-optic systems across reconnaissance, targeting and deep-strike missions.  

Low-cost FPV strike drones have transformed battlefield economics, enabling systems worth a few hundred dollars to destroy armoured vehicles and equipment valued in the millions.

The widespread adoption of drones has challenged traditional assumptions about military power, creating a continuous battlespace where detection is increasingly followed by rapid engagement and destruction.

PM welcomes West Asia deal, hopes peace will be restored

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday welcomed the agreement between Iran and the United States to end the conflict in West Asia that has been raging for more than three months, killing and injuring thousands, and disrupting shipping and energy markets.

Heatwaves, ozone raise cardiac death risk: study

While surface ozone-a pollutant harmful to the heart and lungs - already exceeds safe limits across much of India in the hot pre-monsoon months, a new study finds that heatwaves push it to still higher levels, thus adding several hundred deaths to a far larger toll that the study links to ozone across the season.

Social media, video platforms surpass traditional outlets as leading news sources: report

Trust in news is at its lowest level globally since 2015, as interest in news dwindles; at the same time, more people around the world are accessing news through third-party platforms, such as social media and video networks, rather than through web-sites and television channels of established news brands, according to the 15th edition of the Reuters Institute's Digital News Report.

Marginal increase in unemployment rate in May

The unemployment rate (UR) in the country in-creased by 0.3 percentage points to 5.5% in May compared with April, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), re-leased by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in New Delhi on Monday.

WPI inflation jumps to 9.7% in May on surging fuel prices

Inflation at the whole-sale level rose to 9.7% in May 2026, primarily driven by surging prices of crude oil, natural gas, mineral oils and to a small-er extent, manufactured products, according to official data. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday released the new series of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) with an updated base year of 2022-23 and wider ambit of goods measured. Due to the base year update, a historical comparison further back than April 2024 is not available. The May 2026 inflation rate is the highest since at least then.

With peace deal in sight, oil prices slip to lowest in 3 months

Benchmark Brent Crude futures slipped to a more than three-month low on Monday with a peace deal between Iran and the Unit-ed States in sight - putting an end to more than a 100 days of hostilities in West Asia that led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Sarvam raises $234 mn in funding round from HCLTech, others

Sarvam, a sovereign Al firm, on Monday said it had raised $234 million in the first close of its $300 mil-lion Series B at a post-money valuation of $1.5 billion. HCLTech and Bessemer Venture Partners invested in the round, with continued support from existing investors Khosla Ventures and Peak XV Partners, Sarvam said in a statement.

IRDAI moots changes to key norms governing insurers

Insurance regulator IRDAI is proposing amendments to registration regulations for insurance companies with the aim of enhancing ease of doing business, simplification of regulatory processes, reduction of compliance costs, enhancement of operational clarity and facilitation of capital infusion.

U.K. govt. bans social media for children under 16

Britain will ban children aged under 16 from using social media apps to protect them from harmful content and excessive screen time, Prime Minis-ter Keir Starmer said on Monday. The plan was met with mixed reaction, with some praising Mr. Starmer for taking action and others questioning the effective-ness of a blanket ban.