Abelardo de la Espriella took office as Colombia’s president on Friday (local time), marking the start of a conservative administration that vows to depart sharply from predecessor Gustavo Petro’s left-wing government amid growing concerns about the country’s finances and rising violence.

He took the oath before Congress at a ceremony in Cali and became the first Colombian president in recent history to be inaugurated outside the capital city of Bogotá, Bloomberg reported.

In his inaugural address, De la Espriella said, "The time for restoring order, authority and freedom has begun." He also vowed to build mega-prisons, use the military to fight criminal organisations and eradicate coca crops with herbicides, adding, "Those who did not believe in my proposal will find, in the facts, that this project will serve the common good.”

India’s Basant Kumar Meghwal clinched the silver medal in the men’s high jump event in the 2026 edition of the World Athletics U-20 Championships in Oregon on Saturday.

The 19-year-old from Anupgarh, a border town in the Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan, made a best clearance of 2.21m, equalling his personal best, to become the first Indian to win a high jump medal at the U-20 world championships.

This is now India’s second medal of the ongoing championship, following Ashish Yadav’s silver in Javelin Throw on Friday.

Basant narrowly missed out on gold, after being pipped by Younes Ayachi of Algeria, while Otis Poole of Great Britain secured bronze.

Saina Nehwal had other plans, but Indian badminton’s revival in the mid-2000s might well have come from Assam. Not via Haryanvi Hyderabad. Krishna Dekaraja had the giddy jump, the power smash and the glamour, but perhaps not the elite grit — or a coach like Pullela Gopichand. She faded as Saina emerged, and Assam, with its latent badminton history through Dipankar Bhattacharya, kept looking for its next star.

So Ashmita Chaliha grew up in an atmosphere that understood the fundamentals of badminton, but was also seduced by its flash.

Circa 2005, everybody wanted to play with the flair of Taufik Hidayat. Ashmita saw that flair and fell in love with the sport. But she didn’t grow up practising the persistence needed to back up the passion and panache. In 2026, though, the 26-year-old who has played long enough for the love of the sport has finally got serious.

The Indian Navy-US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Exercise 2026 will be conducted at Southern Naval Command, Kochi, from today till the 14th of this month. The Defence Ministry said the bilateral exercise aims to enhance interoperability and strengthen professional cooperation between the specialist diving and EOD teams of the two navies.

The five-day exercise will comprise Subject Matter Expert Exchanges, cross-training, equipment demonstrations and scenario-based practical exercises. The Ministry noted that the Indian Navy and US Navy have been conducting joint Salvage and EOD exercises since 2005 and the forthcoming engagement marks the eighth edition of this specialised bilateral training exercise.

India on Saturday launched E-Samudra, a comprehensive digital platform aimed at transforming maritime governance by bringing services for seafarers, shipping companies, ports and other stakeholders under a single digital window.

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the platform at a national stakeholder interaction on “Seafarer Security, Safety and Welfare and Inauguration of E-Samudra” in Mumbai.

The initiative is part of a broader effort to make maritime administration more transparent, technology-driven and accessible while strengthening the safety, security and welfare of India’s growing seafarer workforce.

The government has extended the tenure of the Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Rahul Navin, by one year from the 13th of this month to the 13th of August next year. The extension in service will continue beyond his scheduled retirement on the 31st of July, 2027. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has given its approval to extend the tenure of Rahul Navin, who is a 1993-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer.

Former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Mohsen Rezaee has been appointed by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as his representative to Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), a decree published on Sunday said. He will replace Mohammad Baqir Zolghadr, who took up leadership of the council in March.

Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Tabatabaei, Deputy of Communications and Information of the Office of the President, made the announcement on X (formerly Twitter).

"In light of the resignation of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr from his position as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and his appointment to new functions, President Masoud Pezeshkian has named Mohsen Rezaei as the head of this body," he said.

HAL Airport in Bengaluru has become the first airport in the country to operationalise the Required Navigation Performance – Category H (RNP CAT H) helicopter approach procedure, a state-of-the-art satellite-guided precision navigation system developed exclusively for helicopters.

The advanced navigation procedure, developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), was validated through flight trials conducted by HAL test pilots before receiving approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The system enables helicopters to fly highly accurate and optimised flight paths, allowing safer operations even in challenging weather conditions.

One of the biggest advantages of the new system is its ability to significantly reduce approach time.

The Indian Home Ministry has issued a slew of new guidelines prohibiting any new solar, wind and hybrid renewable energy projects within 1 km of the border and barring the employment of engineers, staff, employees and labour from land border countries, especially Pakistan, Bangladesh and China, for project implementation without the permission of the government.

Under the guidelines issued by the Ministry's Internal Security wing, areas within 50 km of the Line of Control (LOC), Line of Actual Control (LAC) or the international border have been designated as "sensitive areas".

Projects proposed within 20 km of the border will also require a separate No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Defence.

These requirements are part of fresh guidelines issued by the MHA for granting national security clearance to solar, wind and hybrid projects proposed in border areas.

The guidelines further state that project developers cannot transfer land to a foreign company without prior approval from the federal government, including security clearance from the Home Ministry.

Claiming a historic turnaround, Punjab Education Minister S. Harjot Singh Bains on Thursday, August 06, 2026 said the state has overtaken Kerala to rank No. 1 in the NITI Aayog School Education Quality Index 2026. While 8,000 schools had no boundary walls and 4 lakh children sat on the floor in 2022, today Punjab has 882 NEET qualifiers from government schools and has become the first state in the country to introduce Artificial Intelligence as a core subject from Classes I to XII. This is the revolution AAP led government promised.

Participating in a discussion on an education-related resolution moved by MLA Prof. Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, Mr. Bains recalled the dire state of affairs when he assumed office in July 2022.