Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has released a Niti Aayog report titled Moving Towards Effective City Government – A Framework for Million-plus Cities in New Delhi. The report outlines a focused roadmap for million-plus cities to address key urban governance challenges. In a social media post, NITI Aayog said that the report calls for a shift towards empowered city governments through better alignment of functions, finances, and responsibilities. The key recommendations of the report include directly elected Mayors with fixed tenure and stronger executive authority, and integration of core urban services under city governments. On the Occasion, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu, Urban Development Ministers from over 10 States and NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba, along with other senior officials, were also present.

India has steadily expanded its global trade partnerships to strengthen economic growth, create jobs, and enhance its global standing. In the past few years 9 Free Trade Agreements have been signed spanning 38 developed countries. The latest is a forward-looking FTA signed with New Zealand today, marking a historic milestone in bilateral economic relations. It is a comprehensive framework encompassing market access, agricultural productivity, investment, talent mobility, collaboration in sports, tourism, and people-to-people ties. The FTA is designed to benefit manufacturers, farmers, MSMEs, women entrepreneurs, students, and skilled professionals across both nations.

India and New Zealand announced negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)on 16 March 2025and concluded in a record 9 months, making this the fastest concluded free trade agreement. The signing of FTA enhances market access and tariff preferences for Indian exports to New Zealand, while serving as a gateway to the wider Oceania and Pacific Island markets. The agreement opens opportunities for India to emerge as a key supplier of skilled workforce, alongside prospects for future cooperation in areas such as AYUSH and services such as Yoga Instructors, Indian Chefs, and Music Teachers, and services under sector of interests like IT, Engineering, Healthcare, Education, and Construction.

Veteran photographer Raghu Rai died today after a two-year-long battle with cancer. He was 83. Born on December 18, 1942, in Jhang (now in Pakistan), Rai became one of the most respected photographers not just in India, but across the world. Rai’s photography is often described as a “visual record” of modern India.

He captured powerful images after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, one of the worst industrial disasters in history. He received the Padma Shri in 1972 for his powerful photography during the Bangladesh Liberation War. In 1992, he was named “Photographer of the Year” in the US. In 2019, he won the Académie des Beaux-Arts Photography Award, one of the top international honours in photography. He was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017 by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

International Chess Federation joined the International World Games Association (IWGA) at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne yesterday. The decision raises IWGA membership to 40 federations and expands the range of sports in the World Games movement.

FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich, stated that Chess is a global sport that unites millions of players across all continents through strategy, discipline, and creativity. Its inclusion within the IWGA reflects the growing recognition of mind sports alongside traditional athletic disciplines.

Sabastian Sawe made history at the London Marathon by becoming the first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive race. The 31-year-old Kenyan crossed the line to win in one hour 59 minutes 30 seconds, more than one minute faster than the late Kelvin Kiptum’s previous record of two hours and 35 seconds, set in 2023.

Already on world record pace as he crossed the halfway mark in one hour and 29 seconds, Sawe was able to speed up over the second half of the race to run even faster than Kipchoge’s time. Sawe made his decisive move before the final 10km, with only debutant Yomif Kejelcha able to cover his surge off the front. Remarkably, Kejelcha, making his marathon debut, became the second man to run under two hours in race conditions, finishing runner-up in one hour 59 minutes and 49 seconds.

Hemant Burman won silver in the men’s 50m rifle 3-positions and the pair of Zuhair Khan and Addya Katyal won bronze in trap mixed team event as India completed the ISSF Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Cairo, Egypt on top of the table with a total of 16 medals including five gold, six silver and five bronze.

In the first finals of the day, Burman won silver after shooting 351.7 across the three positions in the 50m 3-positions event. The 18-year-old had qualified for the final in seventh place with a score of 578-24x and was joined by Vedant Nitin Waghmare and Rohit Kanyan in the finals who shot 581 and 580 respectively. Rohit finished in sixth place in the final with a score of 311.9 and Vedant finished in seventh with a score of 300.5.

The Reserve Bank of India has approved approves reappointment of B Ramesh Babu as MD & CEO of Karur Vysya Bank for third term of two years. This will be effective from July 29, 2026. The RBI approved Babu’s re-appointment on April 24, the bank said in an announcement to the stock exchanges.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today appealed all financial regulator to work together for easing KYC process for common citizens. Addressing SEBI’s 38th foundation day celebration in Mumubai today, Finance Minister said, it is the shared responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure that no citizen has to repeat the same verification journey across multiple financial products and platforms. During the event she also launched SEBI’S investor awareness initiative JAGROOK.

Finance Minister warned that, a single successful cyberattack on a major exchange, depository, clearing corporation, or large broker could disrupt markets at national scale, erase wealth, and shake public confidence in ways that take years to rebuild. In order to avoid these disruptions, she urged SEBI and all regulated Entities to remain exceptionally vigilant. She added that, SEBI should invest very substantially in public awareness, through campaigns on every major platform in regional languages, and through rapid-response takedown mechanisms for fraudulent content impersonating public officials.

The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) on Thursday commissioned a state-of-the-art X-band dual-polarisation Doppler weather radar at its High Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory (HACPL) in Mahabaleshwar under the Centre’s Mission Mausam initiative, officials said.

The system was inaugurated by M. Ravichandran, secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, in the presence of A. Suryachandra Rao, director, IITM, and Somya S. Sarkar, director of the Space Applications Centre, along with senior scientists.

Installed at an altitude of around 1,400 metres above sea level in the Western Ghats, the radar will function as a “weather eye in the sky”, tracking rainfall, cloud movement and storms in real time. The location is significant given Mahabaleshwar’s rapidly changing weather conditions, including sudden rain, dense fog and strong winds.

Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr Samir V Kamat, today unveiled the Advanced Armoured Platforms (Tracked and Wheeled) at the premises of the DRDO’s laboratory in Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said that the platforms have been developed to meet the emerging operational requirements of the Defence Forces. Both the Tracked and Wheeled platforms have been integrated with indigenously designed advanced features to meet the mobility, firepower and protection requirements. TATA Advanced Systems Limited and Bharat Forge Limited carried out the manufacturing of the platforms.