Netanyahu rejects Trump's 15-point proposal for Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a U.S.-led Gaza plan endorsed by Hamas, putting distance between himself and U.S. President Donald Trump as he tries to shore up his base ahead of close elections.

Ladakh to lead Independent India's first caste census

Ladakh, one of the two youngest Union Territories in the country, is set to lead the way in demonstrating how caste will be enumerated for the first time in Independent India. The second phase of the Census the Population Enumeration (PE) which starts on August 17 in Ladakh and other snow-bound areas, is likely to ask questions on 40 parameters and provide an open-ended column for caste enumeration.

Amit Shah presents President's Colour to Puducherry Police

Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented the President's Colour to Puducherry Police on Sunday and praised the force for its commitment and dedication in ensuring the country's internal security. In his address, Mr. Shah said the new criminal laws are based on the "three pillars of technology, timeline, and trust". The President's Colour is the highest honour given to a military unit or police force of a State or Union Territory. The Home Minister also flagged off the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' yatra at Rajiv Gandhi Square. Carrying a 40-foot national flag, hundreds of BJP members marched together in the procession.

Combined effects of climate and geology caused 2024 Wayanad landslide: study

The devastating 2024 land-slide in Kerala's Wayanad cannot be attributed to extreme rainfall alone but was also likely influenced by geological, geomorphological and structural factors, according to a new study published in the international peer-reviewed journal Landslides.

Shifting sands

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye will struggle to create credible deterrent

The joint defence agreement, signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye in Mecca on August 7 reflects their shared strategic anxieties and the changes under way in West Asia's security architecture. The three countries have pledged to bolster collective security and deterrence, and promised to treat an armed attack against one as an attack against all. On paper, this is a formidable alliance. Pakistan is a nuclear-armed country with a powerful military; Saudi Arabia, one of the world's largest crude oil exporters, has deep pockets and considerable influence across the Muslim world; and Türkiye has an expanding military industrial base.

A new security triangle emerges with the Makkah Pact

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement (MJDA), signed on August 7, 2026, by the top leaders of Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, is the first regional realignment since the geostrategic tsunami of the United States-Iran war. While the MJDA text has not been revealed, the joint statement issued specifically states that "any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all".

Xi Jinping's doctrine for a self-governing party

The July meeting of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) ended with an announcement that the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee will convene in Beijing in October.

The meeting said that the plenum would focus on major issues concerning comprehensive and strict self-governance within the party. This concept has been closely connected with the ruthless anti-corruption and conduct improvement campaign that China's President Xi Jinping has been carrying out ever since he first took charge in 2012.

The stakes in India's delimitation debate

• The 2027 Census is set to trigger a fresh delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies under Articles 81 and 82, even without a new Constitutional amendment.

• The exercise could significantly alter the distribution of Lok Sabha seats, with southern States likely to lose their share and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan likely to gain.

• Redrawing constituency boundaries could also affect electoral outcomes, as the grouping of voters through 'cracking' and 'packing' can influence which parties win seats.

A common blueprint for India's industrial heat electrification

India's energy transition is already mainstreaming renewable-powered electrification across major demand centres. Electric mobility is replacing internal combustion engines, agriculture is increasingly powered by solar irrigation, and buildings are adopting smarter appliances. The next phase lies in electrifying industrial heat, particularly across India's MSMEs, to strengthen manufacturing competitiveness, energy security and decarbonisation.

BJP MP lists Bill on restriction of social media for children

Amid the debate over whether to impose a social media ban on children under 13 or 16, a private members' Bill listed in the Lok Sabha by BJP MP Baijayant Panda offers a glimpse of what such a measure could look like in legislative form. The Bill also comes amid the Union government's stand-off with Meta.

The Safeguarding Healthy Internet Environments for Little Digital-Natives (Shield) Bill, 2025 was listed on Friday but could not be tabled as the House was adjourned early.

Two-thirds of nursing staff not listed in national registry: data

More than two-thirds of India's registered nursing workforce are yet to be brought under the Nurses Registration and Tracking System (NRTS), despite the digital platform having been introduced over seven years ago to create a national registry and streamline registration-related services.

Government data tabled in the Lok Sabha last month show that only 14.24 lakh of the country's 46.02 lakh registered nursing personnel comprising Auxiliary Nurse Mid-wives (ANMs), Registered Nurses and Registered Midwives (RN & RM), and Lady Health Visitors (LHVs) -have been enrolled on the platform, leaving 31.78 lakh outside the national system.

Centre says report on theatre commands under consideration

The long-pending plan to operationalise theatre commands for the Indian military has entered a decisive phase, with the final report on the proposed restructuring of the armed forces now under consideration by the government, according to the latest report of the Standing Committee on Defence submitted in Parliament.

SC Collegium names Chief Justices for four High Courts

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has recommended Chief Justices to four High Courts.

The Collegium, in a meeting held on August 6, of which the resolution was published on Sunday, has proposed new Chief Justices to the High Courts of Patna, Calcutta, Bombay, and Punjab and Haryana.

Pentagon pushes for faster weapons production amid stockpile shortage

The Pentagon is pressing the U.S. defence industry to accelerate production of weapons to help replenish

its diminished stockpile of munitions, including those depleted in the ongoing war with Iran.

If DNA is the instruction manual, we just opened a big second volume

• A team led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has found that several inherited traits in the mouse genome break the rules Gregor Mendel laid down in the 19th century about how genes work

• The study offers a new framework to explain heritable traits that researchers have struggled to study using genetics

• The study's authors have argued that the work opens the door to a new kind of analysis: allele-specific epigenome-wide association studies.

Glueball: matter of force

Nature has four fundamental forces: gravity, the weak force (responsible for radioactivity), electromagnetism, and the strong force. The strong force is responsible for keeping the protons and neutrons together in the nuclei of atoms.

The theory describing the strong interaction between two particles is called quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In QCD, the strong force is carried by gluons - just like how the electromagnetic force is carried by photons. But unlike photons, gluons carry a kind of charge that allows gluons to be attracted to each other. And QCD says they can come together to form composite particles called glueballs.