State oil marketing companies don’t foresee a delay in adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on account of ongoing West Asia tensions and have called upon the government to provide fiscal incentives to make it affordable for airlines.

Globally, SAF is priced three-five times more than conventional aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Incentives like viability gap funding or tax rebates could help lower the cost of production and help oil companies to pass on the benefits to airlines. This would also make it easier for airlines to enter into offtake agreements for SAF, executives of oil marketing companies said on Saturday.

The government has set an indicative target of blending one per cent SAF in jet fuel used for international flights from January 2027. This would increase to 2 per cent and 5 per cent by 2028 and 2030.

China launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft Sunday night with three astronauts heading to its space station, including one set to stay in space for a year.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The much-anticipated launch comes as China prepares for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030.

The astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying using the Mandarin transliteration of her name.

Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and has a doctoral degree in computer forensics, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

In a bid to fast-track free trade negotiations, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal landed in Canada on Monday, leading a 150-strong business delegation. The high-profile, three-day visit is the single largest trade delegation India has ever sent to Canada, hinting at a powerful push to ink the long-discussed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) by the end of 2026.

The trade push comes during a period of significant diplomatic and economic renewal between New Delhi and Ottawa, following Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s landmark visit to India on March 2, which effectively thawed bilateral relations and officially established the Terms of Reference for the renewed trade framework.

On the second day of the 2026 Athletics Federation Cup, Gurindervir Singh clinched the gold medal in the men’s 100m event in Ranchi with a new national record timing of 10.09 seconds. He improved his previous personal best of 10.17 seconds and comfortably surpassed the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 10.16 seconds.

Animesh Kujur secured the silver medal with a timing of 10.20 seconds, while Pranav Pramod took bronze clocking 10.29 seconds. In the men’s 400m event, Vishal TK won the gold medal with a new national record of 44.98 seconds, becoming the first Indian athlete to break the 45-second barrier in the event.

However, he narrowly missed the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 44.96 seconds by just 0.02 seconds. Rajesh Ramesh claimed the silver medal with a timing of 45.31 seconds, while Jay Kumar bagged the bronze medal after finishing in 45.47 seconds.

Indian track and field seems to refuse to want to take a breather. After the high of Saturday evening, when three athletics records fell in the space of an hour, national marks continued to tumble on Sunday evening at the Federation Cup in Ranchi.

In the space of about 10 minutes, two national records were broken and then equalled in the men’s pole vault.

First, Dev Meena cleared 5.42m to break the national record of 5.41m, set just last month by his training partner Kuldeep Kumar. Dev started to celebrate, but the celebrations were short-lived. In his very next jump, Kuldeep raised the bar by three centimetres and then vaulted the height of 5.45m to reclaim his national record. Then, before the crowd at the Birsa Munda stadium had the time to process what had just happened, Dev charged down the runway and cleared that same mark to equal the national record.

India’s push to deepen civil nuclear cooperation with the United States has gathered fresh momentum, with two broad objectives emerging at the centre of ongoing discussions – rapidly scaling up nuclear power generation to meet India’s growing base-load energy needs, and building a manufacturing ecosystem around small modular reactors (SMRs).

The developments come amid a high-level visit by an American nuclear industry delegation to India and a series of meetings with Union ministers, state governments and private sector companies.

India on Friday successfully carried out the test-launch of the Agni-1 short-range ballistic missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur.

According to an official statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, the launch was conducted on May 22 under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command.

The Ministry said the test successfully validated all operational and technical parameters of the missile system.

The Agni-1 is a short-range ballistic missile developed as part of India’s strategic defence capability and forms an important component of the country’s deterrence architecture.

The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) has welcomed Saudi Arabia as its newest Member Country.

In a social media post, IBCA said Saudi Arabia’s joining is a significant collective step towards advancing global cooperation for Big Cat conservation and a sustainable planet.

The Reserve Bank of India on May 22 approved a record dividend of Rs 2.87 lakh crore to Centre for FY26, which would provide the Centre with a fiscal cushion to address challenges arising from the ongoing Middle East crisis.

"The Central Board approved the transfer of surplus of Rs 2,86,588.46 crore to the Central Government for the accounting year 2025-26," said RBI in a statement.

The gross income of RBI increased by 26.42% over the previous year while the expenditure before risk provisions increased by 27.6%.

Indian Army officer Major Abhilasha Barak, serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has been honoured with the prestigious United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award for 2025.

Major Barak is currently serving with the Indian Battalion as Commander of the Female Engagement Team in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). She is also the first woman combat helicopter pilot of the Indian Army.

With this recognition, Major Barak becomes the third Indian peacekeeper to receive the honour. Earlier, Suman Gawani was awarded in 2019 for her service with the UN Mission in South Sudan, while Radhika Sen received the award in 2023 for her work with the UN Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.