India has climbed to the 75th spot in the latest Henley Passport Index, with its passport now offering visa-free access to 56 destinations. The ranking, released by Henley and Partners in its Global Passports Index, places India 10 positions higher than in 2025, when it stood at 85th. However, despite the rise in rank, Indian passport holders can travel to two fewer countries (Iran and Bolivia) visa-free this year, down from 57 last year.

India shares the 75th position with Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Madagascar and Mauritania.

David J. Farber, a gregarious professor of computer networks who was sometimes called the “grandfather of the internet” because of the ultimately groundbreaking students he trained, died Feb. 7 in Tokyo. He was 91.

His son Emanuel said the apparent cause was heart failure. Farber had been teaching at Keio University in Tokyo since 2018.

When Farber started his career in the mid-1950s, at Bell Laboratories, computers were practically islands unto themselves. If they communicated at all, they talked by means of a teletype or punch card reader down the hall.

Since then, thanks in part to his work, the realms of communication and computation merged into that one powerful glue for society that is the internet; The New York Times once described him as “an early architect” of it.

Norway’s Magnus Carlsen added another crown to his collection on Sunday by becoming the first official FIDE Freestyle Chess world champion ‌after a comeback win over Fabiano Caruana in Germany.

He secured the title with a cautious draw in the fourth and final game, clinching a 2.5–1.5 match victory over his 33-year-old American opponent in Weissenhaus.

Sunday’s turning point came in the thrilling third ‌game, in which 35-year-old Carlsen pulled ‌off ⁠a stunning win from a seemingly lost ⁠position, swinging the entire contest in his favour.

French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigette Macron arrived in Mumbai on Monday night (February 16, 2026) for a four-day visit to India till February 19.

On Tuesday (February 17), the French President will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai, and the two leaders will exchange Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) before giving a press statement at the Lok Bhavan in Mumbai.

Rashid Khan is still only 27 years of age, but the Afghan leg-spinner has already reached where no bowler has gone before, becoming the first player to get to 700 T20 wickets.

The first global cricketing superstar to emerge from his country, Rashid reached the milestone in the ICC T20 World Cup game against the UAE in Delhi on Monday, Muhammad Arfan becoming the victim when the batsman hit his own stumps while going for a fancy reverse sweep.

Rashid had taken his 698th and 699th wicket in the heartbreaking loss to South Africa in Ahmedabad last week – a topsy-turvy match that went into two Super Overs. He had to wait till his final over on Monday, the 16th of the UAE innings.

Spiritual leader and Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has launched the Bhavya Bharat Bhushan Award to honour the achievements of individuals across national security, business, arts and entertainment, sports, community welfare, science and technology, and literature and academia.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who was the chief guest of the Mahashivaratri celebrations on Sunday, honoured various people from different fields on the occasion.

N Rajam, who was awarded the honour, described the achievement as fantastic, noting that she has been connected with the Isha Foundation for years. "It is fantastic to go get an award from Sadhguru ji. It is a big blessing and I have been connected with this ashram for many years. I have played in the Mahashivaratri festival for many years, I've played with my daughters and granddaughters," she told ANI.

Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi on Monday remotely conducted an ultrasound scan on a person stationed more than 12,000km away at Maitri, India’s research base in Antarctica.

AIIMS officials said the scan — focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) — was carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of a tele-robotic ultrasound system that could potentially be deployed in rural and remote areas, disaster zones, war settings and extreme weather conditions to enable early diagnosis and timely medical intervention.

The Union Cabinet on Friday (February 13, 2026) approved the launch of the ‘Urban Challenge Fund’ (UCF), a new Centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, with a total Central assistance of ₹1 lakh crore.

It aims to support transformative and bankable urban projects through competitive “challenge-mode” as urban infrastructure cannot be funded by public finance alone. Central assistance will cover 25% of project costs, subject to raising a minimum of 50% of the project cost from the market, including municipal bonds, bank loans, and public-private partnerships leading to an expected total investment of ₹4 lakh crore in the urban sector in the next five years.

The UCF marks a paradigm shift in India’s urban development approach from grant-based financing to market-linked, reform-driven and outcome-oriented infrastructure creation, a statement by the government said.

In a major push to secure India’s digital infrastructure against future quantum computing threats, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has signed an agreement with Synergy Quantum India Private Limited to jointly develop an automated tool for identifying quantum-vulnerable cryptographic algorithms.

The initiative aims to help organizations proactively assess their cybersecurity posture and transition toward quantum-safe cryptography.

Veteran Kannada film director and actor Joe Simon passed away on Friday following a heart attack, industry sources said. He was 80.

Simon suffered a cardiac arrest at the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce in Bengaluru, where he had attended a meeting this afternoon. He was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead at around 4.30 pm, sources added.

The filmmaker had directed several popular Kannada films, including Sahasa Simha, Snehada Kadalalli, Simha Jodi, and Mr Vasu.