St Stephen’s College will witness a historic transition on June 1, when Professor Susan Elias takes charge as its first woman principal. Her appointment marks the first time a woman will lead the institution in its 145-year-old history.

The decision was announced through an official notice by the college on Tuesday. Founded in 1881, St Stephen’s College is among the oldest and one of the most reputed colleges under Delhi university.

Professor Elias succeeds John Varghese, whose tenure was marked by tensions between the college administration and the university, along with opposition from sections of teaching staff. Just this week, teachers from the physics department approached the Delhi High Court and secured a stay against recent appointments made under the outgoing principal’s administration.

In a fresh push to create an "Islamic Nato", Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday signalled that Turkey and Qatar may join its mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to local media outlet Hum News, Asif said that talks on the arrangement were at various stages of completion and could include these countries in the future.

Last year, Pakistan signed a "Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement" with Saudi Arabia, which stated that any aggression against either nation would be treated as an attack on both. The pact even ignited fears in Islamabad that Pakistan may get drawn into the ongoing conflict in West Asia after Iran attacked several energy sites in UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Providing a fillip to the country’s pursuit of coal gasification, the Union Cabinet Wednesday approved a ₹37,500 crore package to boost the sustainable alternate mining method.

The package seeking to promote surface coal gasification entails conversion of coal into syngas (that is, synthetic gas) which be further used to produce downstream products like urea – about one-fifth of whose requirement is met through imports, methanol – approximately 80-90% of it is met through imports, ammonia on which there is complete import dependency, synthetic natural gas (SNG) and fertilisers, among other products.

India will build a semi high-speed double-line rail project between Ahmedabad (Sarkhej) and Dholera with an estimated cost of ₹20,667 crore.

Accordingly, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the project under the Ministry of Railways with a completion timeline up to 2030–31.

The project, an official statement said, will add about 134 km to the Indian Railways network and is being developed using indigenously developed technology.

According to the statement, it will be India’s first semi high-speed rail project and is planned as a reference model for the phased expansion of such corridors across the country.

India will be hosting a two-day BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting from tomorrow. The meeting will be chaired by External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. BRICS Foreign Ministers and Heads of Delegation from Member and Partner Countries will participate in the meeting. They will also call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the meeting, the Foreign Ministers of BRICS Member Countries will exchange views on global and regional issues of mutual interest.

Ahead of the meeting, Dr Jaishankar will today hold several bilateral meetings in New Delhi. The Minister will meet his Chilean counterpart, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, this morning and will hold bilateral talks. Later in the afternoon, he is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with the foreign ministers of South Africa Ronald Lamola, and Brazilian foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. Later in the evening, Dr Jaishankar will also meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, Chairman and Managing Director of NLC India Limited, has been honoured with the prestigious Corporate Business Management Innovative Leadership Excellence Award 2025–26 today, 11.05.2026, at the 26th Annual Geominetech Conference, held at Bhubaneswar, coinciding with the National Technology Day Celebrations.

The award has been instituted by Geominetech to recognize visionary leaders who have demonstrated outstanding managerial excellence, innovation-driven leadership, strategic transformation, and significant contribution to the growth of industry and national development. The recognition is considered special as it is conferred in the presence of distinguished leaders, experts, technocrats, policy makers, academicians, and stalwarts from the mining, power, infrastructure, and industrial sectors across India and abroad.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been conferred the Visionary Leadership Award by Sampark Foundation in New Delhi on 8 May 2026, recognising the company’s sustained commitment to strengthening quality education in India.Educational Software

The award highlights ONGC’s impactful education initiatives that have reached 7,500 government schools across Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, transforming traditional classrooms into smart, technology-enabled learning environments.

Through its digital education programmes, ONGC has supported the installation of smart classrooms and modern learning tools, enabling students and teachers to benefit from interactive and inclusive teaching methods. The initiative aims to bridge the digital divide and ensure that students in remote and underserved regions receive access to quality education and modern learning opportunities.

Scientists have discovered new clues suggesting that the Milky Way grew larger billions of years ago by absorbing a smaller dwarf galaxy. The findings, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, indicate that remnants of this ancient galaxy may still exist inside our own, reported NYPost.

Researchers have named the dwarf galaxy "Loki," after the Norse god of trickery. According to the study, Loki was likely consumed by the Milky Way during the early stages of the galaxy's growth.

The study suggests that the Milky Way expanded over time by merging with smaller star systems and dwarf galaxies. Loki is believed to have been one such dwarf galaxy made up of billions of stars.

Days after the Prime Minister’s appeal to postpone gold buying for a year, the Finance Ministry has raised import duty on precious metals. New rates have been made effective from Wednesday.

According to a notification, import duty on gold and silver has been increased to 15 per cent from 6 per cent, and on platinum to 15.4 per cent from 6.4 per cent. Consequential changes have also been made to other items such as gold/silver dore, coins, findings, etc, officials said. “This has been done as a policy measure aimed at safeguarding macroeconomic stability, conserving foreign exchange, and moderating non-essential imports during a period of heightened global uncertainty arising from the ongoing West Asia crisis,” an official said.

Further, he said that customs duty on precious metals has historically been calibrated in response to prevailing macroeconomic and external-sector conditions. During periods when external pressures moderated, foreign exchange reserves strengthened, and macroeconomic stability improved, customs duty rates on precious metals and related products have also been rationalised downward.

India is on course to become a fully integrated military force capable of projecting power across the vast Indo-Pacific region by 2047, when the country marks its Independence centenary, defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Tuesday.

The national defence shield under Mission Sudarshan Chakra will be operational in the 2030s, giving the country an impenetrable, layered missile defence system to protect its critical strategic and civilian assets, he said.

“We have just released our Defence Forces Vision 2047 (a roadmap for a future-ready Indian military), which rests on the vision of transitioning our military into a technologically advanced, fully integrated and multi-domain force. This is going to go through a transition process up to 2030, followed by a consolidation period from 2030 to 2040 during which we hope to see the maturation of Mission Sudarshan Chakra…and, ultimately, from 2040 the era of excellence when we become a fully integrated, self-reliant, all-domain military force capable of projecting power across the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” Singh said at the CII Annual Business Summit 2026.