After years of anticipation and nearly four decades of sustained demand, the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone will formally commence operations from Visakhapatnam on Monday, marking a major restructuring of Indian Railways.

The zone, the 18th in the country, positions Visakhapatnam as a key administrative hub for railway operations in Andhra Pradesh.

The new zone brings under its jurisdiction the Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions, which were earlier part of South Central Railway, along with a restructured Waltair Division of the East Coast Railway (ECoR). The Waltair Division has been bifurcated, with its southern portion forming the Visakhapatnam Division under SCoR, while the northern section becomes the Rayagada Division under ECoR.

Y. Balaji Kiran, a 2013-batch Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer, has taken additional charge as the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of the South Coast Railway (SCoR), here.

Mr. Balaji Kiran has been serving as the Deputy General Manager-cum-Secretary to the General Manager of South Coast Railway since November 2025. His earlier postings include the Senior Divisional Operations Manager for the Guntakal Division, and the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager for the Secunderabad and Hyderabad Divisions.

He holds a B.Tech in Computer Science from the Sri Kalahasteeswara Institute of Technology (SKIT), Srikalahasti, and an MBA from Osmania University, along with Master’s degrees in Political Science and Industrial Relations.

Malaysia on Monday began enforcing rules barring millions of children younger than 16 from owning social media accounts, joining a global effort to tighten online safety protections for young users.

The rules require social media platforms to implement age-verification systems and block users under 16 from creating accounts. They apply to platforms with at least 8 million users, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Companies that fail to comply could face penalties of up to 10 million ringgit ($2.5 million). But parents whose children manage to bypass the law will not be penalized.

In what can be considered as one of the most ambitious river-linking projects, the Centre plans to start work by August 1 this year on Rs 2,300 crore project that will divert surplus water from Chenab river to the Beas river basin, according to a report by News18.

Under the project, water from the Chenab river will be diverted into the Beas river through a tunnel. Because of the Indus Waters Treaty, Chenab water, despite belonging to India, used to flow to Pakistan. Following the suspension of the treaty, India is now expected to benefit from the water through the new project.

CNN-NEWS18, last week, was the first to report on this strategic project. The channel has now also accessed the project’s blueprint.

The India-Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) comes into force from today, marking a significant milestone in bilateral economic relations and providing Indian exporters with duty-free access across 98.08 per cent of Oman's tariff lines, covering 99.38 per cent of India's export value.

The trade pact is expected to boost merchandise exports from India by improving market access for key sectors including engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and processed food products, marine products, textiles, chemicals, electronics, plastics, gems and jewellery.

Under the agreement, several Indian products will enjoy immediate duty-free access to the Omani market. These include natural honey, cashew, boneless meat, bakery products, chocolate and sugar confectionery, mineral water, cheese, curd, milk, cream, frozen fish and butter.

Veteran singer Suman Kalyanpur, known for timeless hits such as Na Na Karte Pyar Tumhin Se and Tumne Pukara Aur Hum Chale Aaye, died on Sunday evening at her residence due to age-related health issues, a close friend said.

She was 89.

"Suman ji died at around 8 pm at her residence in Lokhandwala due to old age. She died peacefully. Over the last few days, she had been listening to her own songs," Mangala Khadilkar, who wrote the acclaimed Marathi biography Suman Sugandh on the singer, told PTI.

In a big push to Odisha’s vision for emerging as the semiconductor hub of India, the state government on Friday signed an MoU with the Intel Corporation and 3D Glass Solutions Inc. USA at Santa Clara in California for establishing an advanced packaging glass core substrate manufacturing facility here.

The project, with an estimated investment of around USD 3.3 billion, will be one of the largest high-technology manufacturing investments in the country. The facility is proposed to be located in the Bhubaneswar-Khurda region.

Official sources said that the project is planned to be implemented in phases over a period of five to six years. It will focus on producing advanced packaging glass core substrates, high-density interconnect substrates and associated semiconductor technologies, with Intel supporting technology know-how and process expertise.

Former Karnataka minister Venkataramanappa passed away following a heart attack at a private hospital in Bengaluru early Friday morning, according to family sources. He was 80.

Sources said the veteran Congress leader, who had been receiving treatment for age-related health issues, died at around 6 am, news agency PTI reported.

Venkataramanappa was a prominent political figure from Karnataka’s Tumakuru district and served four terms as an MLA during his political career. He also held ministerial positions twice.

Known for his grassroots connections, he was widely recognised as a leader of the oppressed sections and enjoyed significant popularity in the Pavagada region.

A fourteen-year-old Indian-American student, Shrey Parikh, from California won the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2026 on Friday after correctly spelling 32 words in 90 seconds. Parikh defeated New Jersey’s Ishan Gupta in the final round of the competition.

A finalist in the 2024 edition as well, Parikh walked away with several prizes, including USD 50,000, the Scripps Cup, a commemorative medal, USD 2,500 from Merriam-Webster, USD 1,000 in Delta flight credits and USD 400 worth of reference material from Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The three-day event began on Monday at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington and featured 247 participants representing all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Department of Defense schools in Europe and five other countries: Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.

The 71-country benchmarks reveal India outpaces Germany, France, Japan, the UK and Canada in AI race as 72 per cent of global AI users are now in developing countries, it said.

India has emerged as the fifth most digitalised economy and is placed fourth on the CHIPS-AI index, according to the State of India's Digital Economy (SIDE) 2026 report.

"The report documents a fundamental shift in the global digital landscape: 72 per cent of AI users are now in developing countries, with India and China together accounting for nearly two-fifths of worldwide AI adoption," it said.

India generated USD 328 billion in digitally delivered trade and is home to the world's second-largest AI talent pool.