The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026. The Rules provide for Indian Standard Time (IST) as the common time reference across the country for legal, administrative, commercial and other official purposes.

The common time reference will support accurate time-stamping of banking and digital payment transactions, coordination of railways, airports and other transport systems, and also the coordination of emergency and other time-sensitive services.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said that the Rules will come into force one hundred eighty days from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. The rules are aimed at ensuring that important systems across the country use accurate and consistent IST.

India is preparing for another significant Earth Observation mission with the launch of EOS-05 (GISAT-1A) scheduled by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The satellite is meant for high resolution imaging of the Indian subcontinent and could be very useful in monitoring cyclones, floods and forest fires.

Now, the mission is in a critical condition with the rocket GSLV-F17 shifted from the Vehicle Integration Centre (VIC) to the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota ahead of its take-off.

ISRO is readying itself for the launch of the 2,367-kilogram EOS-05 satellite on board the 51.7-metre GSLV-F17 rocket. The satellite is an earth observation satellite able to collect high-resolution images.

Bihar and Jharkhand on Monday will sign an agreement formalising the sharing of Sone river waters, resolving the dispute that has persisted since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000.

“All details had already been finalised. Chief ministers of both states are coming to sign the pact Monday,” a senior Union Jal Shakti ministry official told HT, on condition of anonymity.

HT had on July 24 reported that the agreement was very close to be signed after both states completed their internal approvals. The development comes after Jharkhand in July passed the matter in its cabinet earlier this month.

Nasa's powerful next-generation telescope has blasted off into space from its launchpad in Florida, with a mission to explore dark energy, black holes and other mysteries of the Universe.

The Nancy Grace Roman telescope will capture vast panoramic views of space, with a field of vision 100 times larger than both the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, Nasa says.

The mission begins with a 100-day journey to a vantage point roughly one million miles from Earth, where the telescope will then start charting planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets.

"Roman is going to change the way we look at the Universe," said Nicky Fox, a Nasa administrator.

Google Maps has changed ⁠the name of “Lake Ontario” to “Lake America” for U.S. users to reflect President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the lake, according to a Google statement.

Mr. Trump announced on Thursday (August 27, 2026) that he was ‌changing the name of the smallest of the five Great Lakes, part of an escalating trade feud with Canada that has prompted the ‌two countries to impose reciprocal tariffs on billions of dollars in goods.

The ‌President’s ⁠order affects the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which sets the ⁠standards for official U.S. maps. It does not have any impact on Canadian naming conventions or how the rest of the world refers to the lake.

The inaugural Women's Champions Trophy, scheduled to take place in February 2027, is set to be moved out of Sri Lanka, with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) likely to lose its hosting rights, according to Cricinfo.

The six-team tournament will be staged at another venue during the same window, with India emerging as the likely hosts. The new host is expected to be confirmed at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Board meeting in October.

Sri Lanka have lost the hosting rights after concerns over government interference in the country's cricket administration, according to the Cricinfo report. The tournament was set to be Sri Lanka's second ICC event in a year after co-hosting the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup earlier this year.

Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Thursday said the state will have a ‘Mahila Vishwavidyalaya’, a university in which the faculty, students as well as non-teaching staff will all be women. He made the announcement at a function in the state capital where a sum of Rs 600 crore was disbursed among beneficiaries, through DBT, under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana which was rolled out last year.Comparing Top University Degree Programs

“I extend my greetings to all sisters of Bihar on the eve of Raksha Bandhan. We believe that the state can prosper only if our women do well… A Mahila Vishwavidyalaya will be set up in the state. The university will be run by women, from top to bottom. The vice chancellor, professors, other staffers and students shall all be women,” the chief minister said.

When Tim Cook took over as chief executive of Apple in August 2011, following Steve Jobs' second departure from the company amid his deteriorating health, expectations were sky-high and doubts were equally strong.

Cook was widely viewed as an operations and supply-chain expert rather than a traditional product guy like Jobs. The key question at the time was whether he could sustain Apple's extraordinary run of innovation and growth.

Fifteen years later, the numbers offer a compelling answer. Under Cook, Apple's market capitalisation has surged from roughly $350 billion to around $4 trillion, while its stock has jumped nearly 25-fold.

Apple shares, which traded at about $13 when Cook assumed the top job, have risen 2,359.2 per cent to $319.70 at the latest close.

Norway's King Harald V has died at the age of 89, after he was taken to hospital last week for treatment for a rare blood condition.

The palace in Oslo said he passed away peacefully at 06:35 local time (04:35 GMT) on Friday at the national hospital in Oslo.

The royal flag on the roof of the palace has been lowered to half-mast and a period of national mourning has been declared leading up to the day of his funeral. Crowds of mourners have streamed to the royal palace to lay flowers and flags.

Harald was the nation's first king born there since the 14th Century. He has been succeeded by his son Haakon, 53, who will hold an extraordinary council of state with the government later on Friday.

NABARD and NaBFID have signed a strategic MoU to strengthen collaboration on infrastructure projects with strong rural impact. On the occasion, Dr Shaji Krishnan V., Chairman, NABARD, highlighted the potential to advance financially sustainable rural infrastructure and bridge the rural-urban divide. Mr Rajkiran Rai G, Managing Director, NaBFID, signified the opportunity to build bankable projects that strengthen rural incomes.

The collaboration will focus on:

* Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects

* Agri-value chains

* Rural infrastructure

The MoU was signed in the presence of Ms Monika Kalia, Deputy Managing Director & CFO, NaBFID; Mr Goverdhan S. Rawat and Dr Ajay K. Sood, Deputy Managing Directors, NABARD; along with senior officials from both institutions.