U.S. choices are impossible operation or bad deal: Iran

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday said the United States faced a choice between an "impossible" military operation or a "bad deal" with Tehran.

Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran's Foreign Ministry said Tehran had submitted a 14-point plan "focused on ending the war" and that Washington had already responded to it in a message to Pakistani mediators.

Soren writes to President, PM seeking 'Sarna' religious code provision for tribals in Census

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a provision for the 'Sarna' religion in the Census 2027. He underscored that a Sarna religious code is necessary to identify tribals as distinct from followers of other religions to protect their constitutional rights.

UPSC to convene panel on May 11 for shortlisting DGP candidates for Tamil Nadu

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has convened the Empanelment Committee Meeting (ECM) in Delhi on May 11 to shortlist the names of three qualifying officers fit for appointment as Director-General of Police/Head of the Police Force (DGP/HoPF) of the Tamil Nadu Police.

India sends Army team to Cambodia for joint exercise

The Indian Army has dispatched a 120-member contingent for the second edition of the India-Cambodia Joint Military Exercise CINBAX-II 2026, scheduled from May 4 to 17 in Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia. The exercise will take place at the Royal Cambodian Air Force Training Centre.

Govt. on major diplomatic outreach in May

Days after a major conference of India's Ambassadors and High Commissioners, where they were urged to be more "proactive" in projecting India's message worldwide, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar are kicking off a busy summer season, with travels to different parts of the world and hosting a number of their counterparts from BRICS and Quad groupings, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Indian Ocean Region, all in this month alone.

Congress demands discussion on Great Nicobar Project in Parliament

Countering the Union government's claim that the Great Nicobar Island Development Project will be undertaken with "due diligence", the Congress on Sunday said the government had failed to address concerns surrounding the project, and called for a parliamentary review of the initiative.

Azhikode award for activist, writer

Social activist Medha Patkar and Tamil writer Perumal Murugan have been selected for the Sukumar Azhikode Birth Centenary National Award, according to a release from the Sukumar Azhikode Trust.

The award recognises their exceptional contributions to society and literature and includes a cash prize of ₹50,000 along with a citation. Ms. Patkar is being honoured for her lifelong commitment to social activism, particularly her work advocating for the rights of displaced communities.

Mission Drishti, world's first OptoSAR satellite, launched

Mission Drishti, the world's first OptoSAR satellite developed by the Bengaluru-based space start-up GalaxEye has been successfully launched on Sunday aboard a Falcon 9 by SpaceX from Vandenberg, California. Weighing 190 kilograms, it is India's largest privately developed earth observation satellite. "It is the first satellite globally to integrate Electro-Optical (EO) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors into a single operational platform, enabling all-weather, day-and-night imaging capabilities.

Govt. issues guidelines on childhood diabetes care

Integrating childhood diabetes care into the public health system, the Union Health Ministry has, for the first time, introduced a structured and standardised national framework for the screening, diagnosis, treatment and long-term management of diabetes in children.

Releasing the Guidance Document on Diabetes Mellitus in Children recently, the Ministry said this aims to ensure universal diabetes screening of all children in India from birth to 18 years of age.

AICTE's Internship Portal sees 4.7 cr. student registrations in over 4 years

The National Internship Portal run by the Ministry of Education's All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has recorded over 4.7 crore student registrations in four-and-a-half years, AICTE's Chief Coordinating Officer (CCO) Buddha Chandrasekhar said.

How dual-use satellites are blurring the lines of modern space war

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and international humanitarian law require warring parties to differentiate between civilian objects and military targets; however, modern satellites are dual-use by default as civilian GPS networks, broadband constellations routinely support intelligence gathering and drone targeting.

Tackling takedowns

Online censorship is a threat to the fundamental right to free expression

The Union government's enthusiastic misuse of its spurious powers to censor lawful speech online is an alarming and exponentially growing threat to India's democracy. With amendments to the IT Rules, 2021 - which are themselves on shaky constitutional ground the government has successfully pressured Meta and X to take down content within three-hour timelines that leave little time to push back, lest they lose "safe harbour" protections and be dragged into court or, worse, have their employees face personal criminal liability.

Keeping India's carbon money at home

The new India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), whose negotiations concluded on January 27, 2026, provides no exemption from CBAM for India. The EU held firm: no country gets country-specific flexibility. The FTA's Annex on Carbon Border Measures (Annex 14-A) does, however, establish a formal technical dialogue on CBAM implementation - including how any effective carbon price paid in India can be taken into account at the EU border, and a most-favoured-nation commitment that any flexibility extended to other countries will automatically extend to India. That narrow opening matters enormously.

Rationalising Iran's nuclear capability

Iran is a "threshold state"; it has the capability to develop nuclear weapons and a short breakout time, but has not moved to possession.

The NPT allows civilian nuclear programmes but seeks to prevent diversion to military use, creating a gap between ability and weaponisation.

Iran maintains its programme is "peaceful" and within its rights, even as sanctions, uncertainty, and limited options define the global response.

Gujarat port is taming invasive plant species at pilot bio-methanol unit

In the dry stretches around Kandla (or Deendayal) port in Gujarat, Prosopis juliflora - locally known as gando bawal - has long been viewed as a nuisance. The invasive shrub spreads rapidly, degrades land, and crowds out native vegetation. Now, it is being recast as a resource at the heart of a bio-methanol project at the port to convert waste biomass into clean fuel. The project is among several 'green' initiatives launched under the auspices of the Harit Sagar Guide-lines (2023) and Maritime India Vision 2030 to achieve net-zero goals.

Inland waterways can fortify supply chains'

The growing role of inland waterways is strengthening India's logistics resilience, even as global supply chains face disruption from the ongoing West Asian conflict, V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, said at a recent meeting of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Chennai.

The country's expanding multimodal transport network - particularly inland water transport -is helping cushion the impact on domestic logistics, he says.

He described inland water transport as one of the more gratifying developments in recent years, with the quantum of cargo ferried rising sharply from about 18 million tonne in 2013-14 to 146 million tonne, at a compounded annual growth rate of 21%.

Corporatisation to usher in port efficiency

In India, nearly 95% of trade by volume and 70% by value moves through sea routes, making efficient port governance critical for logistics performance and economic growth. Traditionally, India's major (government-owned) ports have operated under the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963.

OPEC+ hikes oil production quotas without mentioning UAE pull-out

Saudi Arabia, Russia and five other OPEC+ countries increased their oil production quota on Sunday in an

expected move aimed at demonstrating continuity at the cartel after the shock withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates.