External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar announced Operation Amistad, under which two Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft took off for Venezuela carrying urgent humanitarian assistance to support post-earthquake relief efforts. Amistad means friendship in Spanish.

In a social media post, Dr Jaishankar said the assistance includes an Indian Army Field Hospital Unit and over 35 tonnes of relief supplies, medicines and medical equipment, including two BHISHM Cubes.

He said India is committed to supporting the government and people of Venezuela during this difficult time.

OpenAI is expanding its India leadership while tightening model safeguards, announcing both a key executive hire and the release of GPT-5.6 Sol with what it calls its "most robust safety stack yet."

The company has hired former Uber India head Prabhjeet Singh as Managing Director for India. With his appointment, Singh will become OpenAI's most senior leader in India, with responsibility for performance across consumer growth, enterprise adoption and partnerships. The appointment comes as India is increasingly gaining importance in the AI space and is proving to be an important hub for Open AI as it scales ChatGPT, enterprise APIs, and developer adoption in one of the world's largest digital markets.

India has been a major driver of ChatGPT usage and a focus for OpenAI's outreach to startups, large enterprises, and government skilling initiatives.

Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Ajit Kumar Mohanty has inaugurated the world’s first Hydrogen Production Facility based on the Copper-Chlorine (Cu-Cl) Thermochemical Cycle utilizing nuclear process heat generated from the Fast
Breeder Test Reactor at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Mohanty said that the integration of nuclear energy with emerging clean energy technologies, such as hydrogen production represents a strategic pathway towards a sustainable energy future. He said that nuclear power with its unique ability to provide reliable carbon-free electricity is ideally suited to support large-scale hydrogen production while contributing to India’s energy security, decarbonisation goals and long-term sustainable development objectives.

More than 1.31 crore citizens participated in the nationwide ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Saptah’ 2026, as the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment intensified its campaign against substance abuse through awareness drives, community engagement and strategic partnerships.

The week-long campaign, observed from June 17 to June 26 to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, concluded with a National Awareness Programme at Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya (DSVV) in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar led the concluding programme, which was attended by Dr. Chinmay Pandya, Pro Vice-Chancellor of DSVV, along with government officials, representatives from states and Union Territories, volunteers, educational institutions and civil society organisations.

Senior IPS officer Mahesh Dixit has been appointed as the new Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), taking charge of India's premier domestic intelligence agency at a time of evolving internal security challenges.

A 1993-batch IPS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, Dixit's appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. He succeeds the outgoing IB Director after the completion of the latter's tenure.

Dixit brings extensive experience in intelligence operations and internal security. He spent crucial years heading the IB's Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau in Srinagar, which has jurisdiction over Jammu, Kashmir and Leh. Officials said he played a pivotal role in maintaining internal stability and tracking regional security threats during the period following the abrogation of Article 370.

Thirty-five nations, including India, have signed on to the US initiative to build trusted and resilient supply chains to power artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

At the second Pax Silica Summit held in Washington on Thursday, 35 nations signed the Joint Statement on AI Opportunity, aligning behind a pro-growth, pro-innovation regulatory approach for the AI era, said Jacob Helberg, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.

"A commitment to trusted supply chains, to mobilising the private sector, and the infrastructure that will power the next century," he said.

Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Kazakhstan, Panama, and the European Union joined the Pax Silica initiative on the sidelines of the Summit.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with the Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM) to engage two fellows under the Embark India Development Fellowship proposal, aimed at strengthening policy research, governance innovation, and capacity-building initiatives within the Ministry.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony attended by senior officials from both organisations. P. R. Meshram, Director General (Data Governance), MoSPI, was present at the event, while the SoI was formally signed by Dr. Basavaraju R. Shreshta, Executive Director of GRAAM, and Prasoon Verma, Director of the Training Unit in MoSPI’s Capacity Development Division.

The collaboration is designed to create a practical platform for highly motivated and research-oriented professionals to work closely with the Ministry on key developmental and governance-related initiatives.

Marking a significant milestone in India’s push for defense self-reliance, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has achieved Final Operational Clearance (FOC) for the indigenous Netra Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system. The FOC certificate was officially handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF) during a grand ceremony in Bengaluru today, cementing a major upgrade to the nation’s airborne surveillance and network-centric warfare capabilities. Attending as the Chief Guest, IAF Deputy Chief Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti praised the indigenously built system, highlighting its proven operational reliability during critical missions like the Balakot strikes and Operation Sindoor. He emphasized that homegrown technologies like Netra provide the armed forces with the essential flexibility to adapt to rapidly evolving warfare scenarios through seamless system modifications.

The State government has formally approved the Policy on Reuse of Treated Used Water, 2026, positioning Andhra Pradesh as a national frontrunner in circular urban water management. The reform, aligned with Swarna Andhra Vision 2047, is designed to strengthen water security, reduce pollution, and embed climate resilience into urban development.

The policy establishes a comprehensive framework covering collection, treatment, allocation, pricing, monitoring, and reuse of treated wastewater across all 123 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State.

It mandates phased targets -- 20 ULBs by 2027, 40 by 2028, 90 by 2029, and all 123 by 2030, ensuring that at least 20% of urban water demand is met through reuse. At the industrial level, the policy sets ambitious goals of 20% reuse by 2028 and 40% by 2030.

Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh today released the memoir of Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, ‘The Second Orbit: Belief of a Man… Dreams of 1.4 Billion Hearts’, in New Delhi.

The book chronicles Group Captain Shukla’s journey from fighter pilot to astronaut and his historic mission to the International Space Station as part of Axiom-4. It offers a behind-the-scenes account of astronaut selection, intensive training, mission preparation and life in space. The event also commemorated the first anniversary of Group Captain Shukla’s landmark Axiom-4 mission, which was launched on 25 June last year.

Addressing the media, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh emphasised that the book will be a great motivator for the coming generation.

Secretary, the Ministry of Education, Sanjay Kumar IAS and Member (Finance), Department of Space, Seema Jain were also present on the occasion. During the event, Group Captain Shukla also interacted with students from different schools.