The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today has approved the Construction of 4-lane Sahebganj-Areraj-Bettiah section of the NH-139W in Bihar on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) with a total project length of 78.942 km and total capital cost of Rs.3,822.31 crore.

The proposed four-lane greenfield project is to improve connectivity between the State Capital Patna with Bettiah connecting the North Bihar Districts of Vaishali, Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran and West Champaran up to the areas along the Indo-Nepal border. The project will support the movement of long-distance freight traffic, improve access to key infrastructure and facilitate regional economic development by improving connectivity to agricultural zones, industrial areas, and cross-border trade routes.

The project will connect seven PM Gati Shakti economic Nodes, six Social Nodes, eight Logistic Nodes, nine Major Tourism and Religious Centers by improving access to key heritage and Buddhist tourist sites including the Kesariya Buddha Stupa (Sahebganj), Someshwarnath Mandir (Areraj), Jain Mandir and Vishwa Shanti Stupa (Vaishali), and Mahavir Temple (Patna), thereby strengthening the Buddhist circuit and international tourism potential of Bihar.

In a significant development, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has announced that natural gas has been discovered in the Andaman basin, confirming the long-held belief that the Andaman Sea is rich in natural gas. In a social media post last night, the Minister said, an ocean of energy opportunities has opened up in the Andaman Sea. Expressing happiness, Mr Puri informed about the occurrence of natural gas in the Sri Vijayapuram 2 well at a distance of 9.20 Nautical mile (17 km) from the shoreline on the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 295 metres and target depth of 2,650 metres.

He said, initial production testing of the well in the range of 2212 – 2250 meters has established the presence of natural gas with intermittent flaring. He further stated that the gas samples were brought by ship to Kakinada, were tested and found to be 87 per cent methane. According to the Minister, the size of the gas pool and commercial viability of the discovery will get verified in the coming months but establishing the presence of hydrocarbons in the Andaman basin is a major step in confirming their long-held belief that Andaman basin is rich in natural gas, in line with discoveries in the entire area from Myanmar in North to Indonesia in the south in this belt.

States cannot impose taxes that discriminate against goods imported from other states compared with those manufactured within the state, unless there are special circumstances, the Supreme Court has held.

It has quashed a 2007 Rajasthan government notification that exempted certain manufacturers of asbestos cement within the state from a special value-added tax that applied to those supplying it from other states.

The government notification exempted Rajasthan companies that made asbestos cement sheets and bricks with a fly ash content of 25 per cent or more.

Asbestos cement manufacturers from Uttar Pradesh had challenged a Rajasthan High Court judgment of 2007 that upheld the constitutional validity of the state government order.

President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will launch the world’s first nuclear power system with a closed fuel cycle by 2030, at the World Atomic Week forum in Moscow.

Putin said that the system will reuse up to 95% of spent fuel, drastically cutting radioactive waste and easing uranium demand and called it one of Russia’s proudest scientific achievements.

The system is to be built in the Tomsk Region. Putin invited international scientists to join testing efforts at a new research centre in Ulyanovsk. He emphasised Russia’s rejection of technological colonialism, saying Moscow helps nations build independent nuclear programs, while maintaining high safety and non-proliferation standards.

Putin called it a breakthrough in clean energy and urged global cooperation and new financing models to expand nuclear power access worldwide.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order approving a proposal that would keep TikTok alive in the U.S. in a transaction that Vice President JD Vance said values the business at $14 billion.

The deal satisfies the requirements of a national security law requiring China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or face an effective ban in the country, according to the executive order. Under the terms, which China must still approve, a new joint-venture company will oversee TikTok’s U.S. business, with ByteDance retaining less than a 20% stake.

Enterprise tech giant Oracle, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based MGX investment fund will be main investors in TikTok’s U.S. business, controlling a roughly 45% stake in the entity, while ByteDance investors and new holders will own 35%, CNBC’s David Faber reported earlier Thursday.

In the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers, India recorded their first-ever international futsal victory as they overpowered Mongolia 3-0 in the last Group A clash at Ardiya last evening. In a sport still taking its initial steps on the national front, this landmark result may well mark a turning point in Indian futsal. The star for India was Sean D’Souza, who netted a brace with goals in each half. Anmol Adhikari registered the third and final goal.

India had already been eliminated from the qualifiers following defeats against Kuwait and Australia. However, with the victory against Mongolia, India ended third in Group A.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress 2025 adopted a motion on Thursday recognising India’s first dugong conservation reserve in Tamil Nadu’s Palk Bay as a global model for marine biodiversity conservation.

The motion, proposed by the Omcar Foundation, received overwhelming support during electronic voting. Nearly 98% of countries and government agencies and 94.8% of NGOs, research institutions and organisations voted in favour.

“The adoption is a significant global recognition of TN’s pioneering step. It reaffirms its leadership in marine conservation across South Asia,” Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary, environment, forests and climate change department, told TNIE.

In a major move to curb cyber-crimes and financial frauds, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) on Thursday signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance data sharing and inter-agency coordination.

The MoU was signed by Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Deputy Director General of the AI & Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) at DoT, and Amit Mohan Govil, Director of FIU-IND, in the presence of Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary (Telecom), and Arvind Shrivastava, Secretary (Revenue).

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Neeraj Mittal highlighted the growing importance of technology in governance. “Departments have leveraged technology to achieve their respective goals. While this is an essential first step, true progress lies in transcending departmental boundaries to address existing gaps. Developing synergies by learning from each other is crucial,” he said.

The UAE has unveiled its first Sovereign Mobility Cloud at the Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport, marking a major step in the country’s autonomous mobility strategy. Enabled by Core42’s Sovereign Public Cloud and powered by Microsoft Azure, the platform establishes a secure digital infrastructure for next-generation transportation.

The Sovereign Mobility Cloud is designed to accelerate autonomous mobility while ensuring all data is hosted within the UAE and governed under national regulations. It will support high-definition mapping, telematics, fleet operations, traffic management, and digital twins, creating a trusted environment for collaboration among government, industry, and research institutions.
The initiative will also enable live traffic management, fleet tracking, and integration of autonomous vehicles, while providing regulatory sandboxes and test hubs to advance innovation. Microsoft and Core42 will supply the sovereign-enabled cloud foundation and technical expertise, while Space42 will lead deployment through pilots and commercial rollouts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev in New Delhi on Thursday (September 25, 2025) and discussed plans of creating a common agricultural food exchange that will help in boosting agriculture trade among the BRICS member-countries. Mr. Modi conveyed his greetings to President Vladimir Putin saying he is looking forward to welcoming him for the 23rd India-Russia annual summit to be hosted here later this year.

“Happy to meet Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev at the World Food India 2025. We discussed ways to strengthen our win-win cooperation in agriculture, fertilizers and food processing,” said Mr. Modi after the meeting.