Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has bidden farewell to outgoing Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on October 26, ahead of his retirement on October 31, recognising his 42 years of service to the nation.

During the meeting, Singh commended the outgoing Air Chief’s distinguished service, leadership and contribution to strengthening the Indian Air Force’s operational capabilities. He also acknowledged AP Singh’s key role in the successful execution of Operation Sindoor and extended his best wishes for his future endeavours.

AP Singh’s retirement bought his more than four-decade-long military career to a close. His final flying sortie took place on October 20 aboard an HJT-16 Kiran Mk-1 trainer aircraft, alongside his first flying instructor, Wing Commander V.S. Kochar (retd), marking a symbolic return to the beginnings of his flying journey.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the navigation satellite NVS-03 aboard the GSLV-F18 rocket at 11:51 PM IST tonight. The liftoff will take place from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

This mission marks the 20th flight of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The rocket will deploy the satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). NVS-03 is the third, second-generation navigation satellite designed to maintain and boost the continuity of the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) system. To enhance precise positioning, the satellite carries an indigenous atomic clock alongside procured ones.

The NavIC system provides positioning, navigation, and timing services covering the Indian mainland and up to 1,500 km beyond its borders. A successful deployment tonight will restore NavIC’s basic operational requirements to four satellites, laying the groundwork for upcoming NVS-04 and NVS-05 launches to fully stabilise India’s independent navigation capabilities.

As threats to maritime security emerge from new technology, India has urged international cooperation to counter them and said it would be a priority for it in pursuing election to the Security Council.

“India has identified AI (artificial intelligence) and maritime security as important priorities for its candidature to the Security Council for 2028–2029”, India’s Permanent Representative P Harish said on Thursday.

“Our objective is clear: technology must strengthen human security, not undermine it; it must expand opportunity, not inequality; and it must make our shared maritime commons safer, not more contested”, he said.

India is contesting the election next year for a non-permanent Council seat with a two-year term starting in 2028.

Nasscom has reached out to the Finance Ministry seeking a two-month deferment of the revised GST treatment for delivery services facilitated through e-commerce companies, moving implementation to January 1, 2027, the IT industry body said in a blog.

The GST Council has recommended a 5 per cent rate without input tax credit, but companies are still awaiting the final notification. Given the scale of e-commerce operations, implementing the changes requires extensive updates across technology, billing, accounting and tax systems, followed by testing and validation.

The IT industry body has cited a shortage of time to make changes in the system as per the provisions of the new rule, given that a notification issued by the GST Council on October 27 has set November 1 for its implementation.

The United States and Japan have agreed to establish a Japanese facility for the joint production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, the Japanese defense chief said.

It is the latest move by the allies, which have repeatedly expressed alarm over China's growing assertiveness in Asia.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi made the announcement in a news conference Wednesday night in the central Philippine province of Cebu, where he met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of an annual meeting of Southeast Asian defense chiefs and their major Asian and Western counterparts.

India lifted an estimated 496 million people out of poverty between 2011 and 2023, with the extreme poverty rate declining from 27.1 per cent to 2.6 per cent, according to the World Bank’s October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief.

The report described India’s progress as “one of the fastest poverty declines in the world”, highlighting significant improvements in both monetary and non-monetary measures of poverty.

According to the World Bank, the proportion of people living below the lower-middle-income poverty threshold of USD 4.20 per day, measured at 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP), declined from 57.7 per cent in 2011 to 16.1 per cent in 2023.

The report attributed the reduction primarily to strong consumption growth, increased employment, particularly among women, and expanded social transfers, including food subsidies.

Patna's Bihar Museum has been ranked in the ninth spot on a list of the world's 100 best museums in 2026. It is the only museum from India on the list, published by travel guide Worth a Journey.

Mexico City's Museo Nacional de Antropología, Madrid's Museo del Prado, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, Saint Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna make up the top five. The Bihar Museum beat the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to reach the top five. It is also the only Asian museum in the top 10.

Located on Patna's Bailey Road, the museum houses remarkable collections of historical artefacts, sculptures, coins, manuscripts and folk art.

South Korea on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) fined Alphabet's Google and Apple a combined 63.7 billion won ($47.6 million), saying they abused their dominance in app store markets by forcing local developers onto their own payment systems and by unfairly delaying app reviews.

The Korea Media and Communications Commission, the country's media and telecommunications regulator, spent years investigating the U.S. tech giants for allegedly violating a 2021 law that prohibits app store operators from forcing developers to use specific payment systems.

The Commission fined Google 42.9 billion won ($32 million) and Apple 20.8 billion won ($15.5 million) and ordered both companies to let South Korean developers use external payment links within their apps and to improve their app review procedures.

The Central Government has released ₹77.98 crore in Grant-in-Aid to 755 projects under the Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC), a component of the Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY), for the quarter ending 30 September 2026 in the financial year 2026–27.

The release reflects the Government’s continued commitment to the welfare of senior citizens, according to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

AVYAY is one of the Ministry’s flagship schemes and embodies the principles of ‘Ageing with Dignity’ and ‘Ageing in Place’, recognising the importance of enabling older persons to live with respect, security and independence.

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sahyadri, an indigenously designed and built guided-missile stealth frigate of the Indian Navy, arrived at Busan Naval Harbour in South Korea on 26 October to participate in the India-Republic of Korea Navy (IN-RoKN) Bilateral Exercise.

The visit aims to strengthen maritime cooperation and enhance interoperability between the two navies in the Indo-Pacific.

The Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) accorded a warm welcome to INS Sahyadri, reflecting the growing engagement and enduring strategic partnership between India and South Korea.