Balen Shah sworn in as Nepal PM, Modi says 'look forward to working closely'

NEPAL'S RAPPER-turned-politician Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen Shah, was on Friday sworn in as the 43rd Prime Minister of the country, ending over five months of political uncertainty after the previous KP Oli government stepped down following days of intense protests led by students.

Arundhati Roy, Han Kang among winners of US book critics awards

A NOVEL by Nobel laureate Han Kang, Karen Hao's examination of artificial intelligence and OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) and a memoir by author Arundhati Roy were among the winners of the annual National Book Critics Circle awards. Han's "We Do Not Part", translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, addresses a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland, in which thousands of people were killed

G7 ministers demand an end to attacks on civilians in Iran war

THE FOREIGN ministers of the G7 group of nations called on Friday for an immediate stop to attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Iran war. In a joint statement agreed on the second day of a G7 meeting in France - this year's host country the ministers said they had underscored the im-portance of minimising the im-pact of the conflict on regional partners, civilian populations and critical infrastructure.

Ukraine closes on West Asia deals to help counter Iranian drones

UKRAINE IS close to clinching several security agreements including with the UAE and Qatar - to counter Iranian at-tacks, its foreign minister said on Friday, adding that he saw scope to draw China into peace efforts to end the war with Russia.

Debate, even dissent, should lead to decisions in national interest: V-P

HIGHLIGHTING THE importance of dialogue in a democracy, Vice President C P Rad-Harkrishan said on Friday that "discussion, debate and even dissent" should eventually lead to decisions taken in national interest. 

Major relief for oil PSUs: Centre reduces excise duty on petrol, diesel

WITH AN almost 50 per cent surge in global crude oil prices straining the finances of oil marketing companies' (OMCs), the government Friday slashed the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre each. The move is aimed at keeping the retail prices of the two fuels at existing levels and giving respite to OMCs which, despite the global price shock, refrained from hiking fuel prices so far and took a hit on their balance sheet. 

Rs 2.38 lakh cr-defence push: DAC clears 5 S-400 missile systems from Russia, transport aircraft

THE DEFENCE Acquisition Council (DAC) on Friday cleared a proposal to procure five additional S-400 long range surface-to-air missile systems from Russia, months after the S-400s reportedly demon-strated their capability during Operation Sindoor. 

TEHRAN WARNS OF RETALIATION

Trump extends Hormuz deadline, Iran says nuclear facilities targeted

IRAN'S NUCLEAR facilities came under attack Friday, state media reported, just hours after Israel threatened to "escalate and expand" its campaign against Tehran. Iran quickly threatened to retaliate and Israel claimed responsibility for the attacks. 

Commercial LPG supply up to 70%, focus on steel, auto, textiles, chemicals

THE CENTRE on Friday in-creased the allocation of commercial LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) to States and Union Territories by another 20 per cent, bringing the total to 70 per cent of the pre-crisis level, to meet the requirements of industries. 

Govt introduces Jan Vishwas Bill's second edition in Lok Sabha; rejects Cong objections

THE GOVERNMENT on Friday introduced in the Lok Sabha the second edition of the Jan Vishwas bill seeking to amend certain provisions to decriminalise a host of minor offences to promote ease of doing business, rejecting objections raised by Congress members. 

Govt introduces Jan Vishwas Bill's second edition in Lok Sabha; rejects Cong objections

THE GOVERNMENT on Friday introduced in the Lok Sabha the second edition of the Jan Vishwas bill seeking to amend certain provisions to decriminalise a host of minor offences to promote ease of doing business, rejecting objections raised by Congress members. 

In a time of war, memories of Persia

WITH IRAN so much in the news, I find even my peripheral connection to the country evokes interest. Iran is the land of my distant ancestry, Parsis being followers of the prophet Zarathustra, who preached a religion far older than Judaism, Christianity or Islam. They see themselves as inheritors of the glorious traditions of two great ancient Persian empires, the Achaemenid (550-330 BCE) and the Sassanid (224-651 CE). The ruins of Persepolis are a reminder of the once-mighty Persian empire founded by Cyrus the Great. 

Menstrual leave policy must be nuanced, inclusive

Maternity leave normalised the reality that women are long-term assets who require temporary accommodation for significant biological events. It did not push women out of the workforce 

Women saw higher wage growth than men across all job types in 2025: Govt

WAGES FOR women rose at a faster pace than for men across all three categories of jobs in 2025, according to the statistics ministry's Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the last calendar year, released on Fri-day. According to the data, 2025 saw earnings of women rise 7.2%, 8.8%, and 5.4% for salaried jobs, self-employment, and casual labour, respectively, compared to 2024. 

Sex vs gender: Olympics' policy to bar transgender women reignites debate

THE INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (TOC) has limited participation in Olym pic women's sports to "biological females thus excluding transgender and intersex people, among others. According to the IOC, its rationale was ensuring "fairness, safety and Integrity in elite competition" and "protection of the

female (women's) category"