The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred petitions challenging the law that replaced the CJI with a Union Cabinet Minister in the three-member selection panel for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners to a five-judge Constitution Bench even as it delivered a split verdict on the issue.

A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma – which had on July 30 reserved its order on the issue – requested Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant to constitute a five-judge Constitution Bench for an authoritative pronouncement on the contentious issues raised by the petitioners.

“Inclusion of a Cabinet Minister (in the selection panel) fails to provide an independent counterweight that a neutral selector would. It becomes largely ornamental,” Justice Datta noted. If free and fair elections were to be ensured, it’s axiomatic that the Election Commission must not only be an independent body but also be seen to act independently, Justice Datta said.

Anthropic on Wednesday said its Claude model helped discover a novel enzyme system with properties reminiscent of mechanisms in gene-editing technology CRISPR, marking the first result from the AI startup’s biology research ⁠efforts.

The finding comes days after Reuters reported Anthropic had quietly established a wet lab in the San Francisco Bay Area, as the ⁠company expands its ambitions in life sciences and drug-related research ‌beyond purely computer-based work.

Anthropic said Claude analyzed large DNA databases and found an unusual system built around a reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme that ⁠copies ⁠RNA into DNA.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE), country’s largest stock exchange, marked a landmark moment on Thursday as its shares were listed on rival BSE, following years of regulatory and legal hurdles.

NSE Managing Director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan described the listing as a significant milestone for the institution and India’s capital markets.

“There is nothing else that represents the aspirations of India’s future than NSE. What is good for India is good for NSE,” Chauhan said at the listing ceremony.

He said organisations such as NSE are created only once in a generation and highlighted the exchange’s role in transforming the country’s capital markets.

India’s Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal won the bronze medal in the mixed team skeet event at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Thursday.

The Indian pair finished third with a score of 44 in the final.

They maintained a steady progression through the six series, moving from 7 after the opening series to 14, 21, 29, 36 and finally 44.

Anant Jeet and Parinaaz had earlier entered the final after finishing fourth in the qualification round with an aggregate score of 138, securing the last available spot.

The bronze swelled India’s shooting tally to eight — four silver and four bronze — at the ongoing Asian Games.

Cultural connoisseur ‘Soorya’ Krishnamoorthy, who dedicated much of his life to promote arts in its various forms, passed away in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday (September 23, 2026). He was 78. He has been under treatment at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

An engineer by profession, Mr. Krishnamoorthy began his career as a scientist in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the early 1970s. Right from his early days in the organisation, he had been dedicating much of his free time for cultural activities, especially in film societies. The activities culminated in the staging of his first show Thamaso Ma Jyothirgamaya at the University Senate Hall on September 3, 1977.

A few weeks later, he started the Soorya Stage and Film Society, which has since then been bringing the best of musicians, dancers and films to Thiruvananthapuram, every year without fail as part of the Soorya Music, Dance and Film Festival.

The Supreme Court Collegium has approved the appointment of 12 additional judges as permanent judges in the high courts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Gauhati.

The collegium, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Vikram Nath and B V Nagarathna, took the decision at a meeting held on Wednesday.

Five additional judges have been approved for permanent appointment to the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

“The Supreme Court collegium, in its meeting held on September 23, has approved the proposals for appointment of the following Additional Judges as Permanent Judges of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh: (i) Shri Justice Maheswara Rao Kuncheam @ Kuncham, (ii) Shri Justice Thoota Chandra Dhana Sekar @ T.C.D. Sekhar, (iii) Shri Justice Challa Gunaranjan, (iv) Shri Justice Avadhanam Hari Haranadha Sarma, and (v) Dr. Justice Yadavalli Lakshmana Rao,” a statement said.

Prasar Bharati’s PBSHABD has emerged as a free multimedia news feed for India’s wider media industry, providing registered organisations with ready-to-use news in text, video, audio, photographs and infographics across 15 Indian languages.

Launched by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on March 13, 2024, PBSHABD has expanded the reach of Prasar Bharati’s news-gathering infrastructure beyond its own broadcasting platforms. In two years of operation, the service has built a user base of 3,600 media organisations and offers content across nearly 50 news categories covering national, regional and local developments.

The service is available round the clock and remains free for registered users, with free access extended up to March 2027.

The 18th edition of the India and Mongolia Joint Military Exercise NOMADIC ELEPHANT commenced today at the Foreign Training Node, Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. It will continue till 3rd of next month. The Ministry of Defence informed that this is an annual platoon-level exercise conducted alternately in India and Mongolia. The last edition of the exercise was conducted at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in May-June, last year. The Indian Army and the Mongolian Armed Forces are represented by 45 personnel each.

The Defence Ministry said that the exercise aims to enhance the joint military capability of both sides to undertake Counter-Insurgency Operations in semi-urban and mountainous terrain under the United Nations Mandate. The joint training focuses on tactical-level operations, exchange of best practices, refinement of operational drills and enhancement of interoperability between the two armies. The training curriculum includes Cordon and Search Operations, Room Intervention Drills, Special Heliborne Operations, Cyber Security Training and employment of drones and counter-drone systems, among other activities. It said that these drills provide troops of both Armies an opportunity to train together in realistic operational scenarios and strengthen their ability to operate jointly.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a relatively simple method to convert polyethylene, the widely used plastic found in shopping bags and cutting boards, into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels. The process uses inexpensive aluminum-based molten salts to break down the plastic’s long molecular chains into smaller hydrocarbons, yielding around 60% gasoline under relatively mild conditions.

According to the ScienceDaily website, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new way to transform polyethylene, one of the world’s most common plastics, into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels.

Polyethylene is widely used in products such as shopping bags and white plastic cutting boards, and large amounts of it ultimately end up as waste. The ORNL team’s method combines the plastic with molten salts containing aluminium chloride. These salts perform two jobs at once, acting as both the reaction medium and the catalyst that drives the chemical conversion.

Regulator IBBI on Monday said Jayanti Prasad, a Whole-Time Member, has been given the additional charge of Chairperson.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) is a key institution in implementing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that provides for a time-bound and market-linked resolution of stressed assets.

Prasad has taken charge as Chairperson with effect from September 13, in addition to his existing duties.

The additional charge will be "till the completion of his tenure in IBBI on 20th November, 2026 or till the joining of a new incumbent to the post or until further orders, whichever is the earliest," IBBI said in a release on Monday.