A Liberian cargo ship carrying 640 containers, including 13 hazardous cargoes, has sunk off the coast of Kerala, raising concerns of environmental damage. The ship, MSC ELSA 3, capsized and sank in the early hours of May 25 after listing rapidly. The three remaining crew members were rescued by the Indian Navy. The Indian Coast Guard is monitoring the situation for any oil spills and has positioned a ship with pollution response equipment at the scene. The ship was carrying 84.44 MT of diesel and 367.1 MT of furnace oil, in addition to the hazardous cargo. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has cautioned the public against touching any cargo containers or oil spills that may wash ashore.
The exit deadline for Pakistani nationals visiting India on SAARC visas ended on April 26, while for the rest, except those on medical visas, it is set to close on Sunday, April 27 amid escalating tensions between the two countries over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
Hours after, however, firing from the Pakistani side was reported in Akhnoor sector in Jammu and Kashmir. Drones were also seen in the Pir Panjal area.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his visit to the United States after holding high-level bilateral talks with President Donald Trump on a wide range of subjects, including trade and technology, defence and security, energy and people-to-people ties. The two leaders decided to take a significant step in deepening their strategic ties, particularly in the areas of defence, energy, and critical technology. Modi also met with key American officials, including National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and prominent business leaders like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Normal flight services at Manipur's Imphal International Airport were affected on Sunday afternoon over sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO), officials said.
If a woman can fly Rafale fighter jet in the Indian Air Force, then why are fewer women officers in gender neutral posts of judge advocate general (legal) branch of the Army, the Supreme Court wondered recently and questioned the Centre's rationale on a 50-50 selection criterion.
Pakistan military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry told a hurriedly called press conference in Islamabad at around 4 am that th Pakistan air force's Nur Khan (Chaklala, Rawalpindi), Murid (Chakwal) and Rafiqui (Shorkot in Jhang district) airbases were targeted.
Dharma Guardian 2025 will primarily focus on urban warfare tactics and counter-terrorism operations and underscores the growing strategic partnership between India and Japan.
We have nothing to gain by raising our concerns internationally as our narrative has got entangled with several controversial concepts in the United Nations, asserts Ambassador T N Sreenivasan.
Kash Patel, the first Indian-American to head the FBI, has traced his roots to Bhadran village in Gujarat's Anand district. Patel's family migrated to Uganda 70 to 80 years ago, before selling their ancestral houses and moving to foreign countries. Patel was born in New York and is a trained lawyer who is an ice-hockey fan.
Main imports from the neighbouring country during April-January 2024-25 included fruits and nuts (USD 0.08 million), certain oil seeds and medicinal plants (USD 0.26 million), and organic chemicals.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet in the National Herald case, accusing Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of a "criminal conspiracy" to "usurp" properties worth Rs 2,000 crore of its public company AJL by transferring 99 per cent shares for just Rs 50 lakh to their private company Young Indian. The ED has named Sonia Gandhi as accused no 1 and Rahul Gandhi as accused no 2 in the chargesheet, which was filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, the US has called on both countries "not to escalate" the conflict. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to speak with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India as early as today or tomorrow. The US State Department said Washington is reaching out to both India and Pakistan "regarding the Kashmir situation" and telling them "not to escalate the situation."
The move comes as the Trump administration is taking measures to probe prosecutors who oversaw the criminal cases against January 6 defendants after Trump announced that he would seek retribution as a key pledge of his campaign.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President JD Vance have expressed satisfaction with the progress made in negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement. The two leaders met in New Delhi and discussed a range of bilateral issues, including cooperation in energy, defense, strategic technologies, and other areas. They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced reservation for Muslims in supplying goods and services up to a value of Rs 1 crore to various government departments, corporations and institutions in the state budget for 2025-26. The budget also increased the value limit of government contracts in which Muslims can avail reservation to Rs 2 crore. The reservation to Muslims under 2B category is in addition to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Castes coming under Category-1, Category-2A. The budget also included various welfare schemes for minorities, including Rs 50,000 to support simple marriages and Rs 1,000 crore under the Chief Minister's Minority Colony Development Programme.
'Fears in Washington began to intensify when it was realised that subsequent Pakistani and Indian attacks on major military facilities -- which were significant in terms of geographic scope and intensity -- could rapidly take both sides to where neither actually wanted to go.' 'The US objective was to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Everything else was secondary.'
The defence ministry has eased rules for rolling out mobile towers, optical fibre and other telecom infrastructure gears in its area in line with the "Right of Way (RoW)" Rules notified by the Telecom Ministry in 2016. A copy of the new rules uploaded on Gati Shakti Portal on Thursday replaces "shared communication tower and other telecom infrastructure to extend communication network in military station/cantonments" issued in February 2018. As per the new rule, "... any application received for installation of under/overground telecom infrastructure of defence land shall henceforth be processed in accordance with the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules 2016 (as amended from time to time) formulated by the Department of Telecommunications" with some additional conditions.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant (MBSG) defeated Kerala Blasters 2-1 to advance to the Super Cup semifinals.
The Supreme Court of India has made public the asset details of its judges, including Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna who has Rs 55.75 lakh in a fixed deposit, a three-bedroom DDA flat in south Delhi, and a four-bedroom apartment measuring 2,446 square feet in the Commonwealth Games Village. The court has also uploaded the complete process of appointments to the high courts and the Supreme Court on its website for public awareness.
A series of deaths in a remote village in Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, are not due to any disease, according to the Health Minister. Tests conducted by various institutions, including the ICMR, NCDC, and DRDE, have returned negative results. However, the minister has ordered an investigation into the deaths to determine the cause.
Pakistani military targets at Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur and Chunian were engaged using air-launched precision weapons from Indian fighter jets and the retaliation largely focused on command and control centres, radar sites and weapon storage areas, Qureshi said.
'Unfortunately, India and Pakistan could learn a 'lesson' from this conflict that will make them more likely to use these weapons against each other in the future.' 'Rounds of missile and drone attacks could be more routine features of their hostility, just like artillery fire has become a familiar fact of life along the Line of Control.'
China on Tuesday announced that its Defence Minister General Li Shangfu will visit India this week to attend the meeting of SCO defence ministers from April 27 during which he is expected to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh on ending the prolonged eastern Ladakh standoff which has severely strained bilateral ties.
Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the US has said it will not get involved in the conflict, stressing that it is "fundamentally none of our business." While acknowledging concerns about a potential nuclear war, Vice President J D Vance emphasized that the US cannot control India and Pakistan, but can encourage them to de-escalate. The US has also reiterated its support for direct dialogue between the two countries and encouraged efforts to improve communications.
Kash Patel, former Trump aide and vocal critic of investigations into the former president, testified at his Senate confirmation hearing for FBI director.
Introducing the bill, Rijiju said the consultation process of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was the largest ever exercise carried out by a parliamentary panel in India's democratic history.
Law enforcement officials from the US Department of Homeland Security have started visiting gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey to check for the presence of illegal immigrants, drawing a sharp reaction from some Sikh organisations which see such actions as a threat to the sanctity of their faith. The Trump administration has rescinded the Biden administration's guidelines that protected places of worship from immigration enforcement actions, leading to concerns that gurdwaras are being targeted. Sikh organisations argue that gurdwaras are not just places of worship but also vital community centres and that surveillance and raids by armed law enforcement would burden religious exercise and limit the ability of Sikhs to gather and associate with one another.
The Bombay High Court expressed its dismay over the Maharashtra government's failure to register an FIR against five policemen involved in the custodial death of Akshay Shinde, despite an explicit court order. The court, alleging a deliberate attempt to disregard its directives, threatened contempt proceedings against senior CID officers for non-compliance. The case pertains to Shinde's death while in police custody, accused of sexually assaulting two kindergarten girls in Badlapur. An inquiry report by a magistrate indicted the five policemen, suggesting a possible fake encounter. The court emphasized the importance of following the rule of law and stated that the government's inaction would send a detrimental message to society.
A Pune-based woman, whose husband was killed by terrorists in Pahalgam, recounted how she and other women in the group quickly removed bindis from their foreheads and began chanting "Allahu Akbar" when they saw the attackers asking men to recite 'azaan'. But the frantic attempts to hide their religious identity failed to help as the gun-wielding terrorists did not spare the woman's husband and his friend, who was also from Pune. Sangita Ganbote, the wife of Kaustubh Ganbote who was among the 26 persons killed by terrorists at Baisaran near Pahalgam, also said that when a local Muslim man confronted the attackers and asked why they were killing innocent people, they stripped him and shot him dead.
'I am worried that Pakistan will still feel compelled to take substantive military action beyond this apparent drone activity.' 'If so, the crisis could persist for a while more and dangerous days are still ahead.'
Kumar, who played a key role in implementing decisions following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir during his stint in the Union home ministry, took charge as an election commissioner on March 15, 2024.
Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala Cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India. Kumar, who was previously an Election Commissioner, will serve until January 26, 2029. His appointment comes amidst controversy as the Congress party demanded the government defer its decision until the Supreme Court concludes its hearing on a petition challenging the composition of the selection panel. Kumar's tenure will see him oversee several state assembly elections, including Bihar, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
'Every decision India makes along the LoC, it must also consider implications along the LAC.'
The Meerut Conspiracy Case was aimed at curbing communist influence in India. However, it fueled nationwide sympathy, shaping the course of leftist politics in the country.
After the 1962 War with China, there was a demand to forge greater defence cooperation between India and the West. One such voice was that of Sudhir Ghosh, a distinguished MP, to tie up strategic cooperation with the USA immediately after the Chinese attack on India, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
Three Sikh soldiers on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the DoD seeking to serve in the US armed forces without being forced to compromise with their articles of faith.
It would be the prime minister's first bilateral visit to the US after Trump became president for a second term.
'Areas where we are seeking increased co-operation are in low-level military exercises and professional exchanges in niche areas like flying instructor training, clearance diving and (maritime) passage exercises,' she said.
