India was a notable exclusion from a letter signed by 104 countries, including European and African countries, as well as much of the Global South that “condemned” Israel for banning United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres from entering Israeli territory.

While India has broken with the Global South on a number of resolutions that are critical of Israel, abstaining in at least four such major resolutions on Palestinian issues, the decision not to sign the letter circulated by Chile, and supported by Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Uganda, Indonesia, Spain, Guyana and Mexico is particularly significant given it is seen as a defence of the U.N. Secretary General and the U.N. itself, not any of the parties in the conflict.

Most neighbouring countries in South Asia, as well as West Asia, South America and Africa — making up the developing world — signed the letter that was circulated at the U.N. last week.

The maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Jamnagar and former cricketer Shatrushalyasinh Jadeja declared his nephew and former cricketer Ajay Jadeja as his heir to the throne on the auspicious eve of Dussehra on Saturday.

Jadeja, 53, will now be named the new Jamsaheb, the titular head of Jamnagar.

Known as a family of cricket legends, Jadeja’s great grand uncle Ranjitsinh and grand uncle Duleepsinh, both former Jamsahebs, have trophies named after them.

In a statement, Shatrushalyasinh, titular head of the former Nawanagar state, said on Saturday, “It is a blessing for Jamnagar that Ajay Jadeja has accepted to be my heir.”

India has been ranked 105th out of 127 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2024, placing it in the "serious" category for hunger levels. The GHI, a tool used to measure and track hunger globally, is based on indicators like undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality. The index is published by Concern Worldwide, an Irish humanitarian organisation, and Welthungerhilfe, a German aid agency.

With a GHI score of 27.3, India's performance remains concerning, particularly when compared to its South Asian neighbours such as Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, which fall into the "moderate" category. India is listed alongside countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, which also face severe hunger challenges.

After two years of Europe-centric Nobel Prizes in Literature (Jon Fosse, Annie Ernaux), the Swedish Academy has looked east this year. It has awarded the 2024 prize to South Korean writer Han Kang “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”.

In awarding the top prize to a 53-year-old Asian writer at the peak of her writing career, the academy has ensured a wider readership of an “innovator in contemporary prose” who with her experimental style has conjured up universal tales of the human condition. With a radical and poetic imagination, she writes about women battling patriarchy, violence, grief and also about historical wrongs and injustices.

The US and India have announced grants of over USD 2 million for joint research projects aimed at advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies for social good.

This announcement was made during an event hosted by US Ambassador Eric Garcetti and Seth Center, Acting Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technologies, along with Indian Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and other top officials, the US Embassy said in a statement.

A total of 17 projects, 11 focusing on AI and 6 on quantum technologies, will receive nearly USD 120,000 each. These projects aim to tackle critical societal challenges, including AI-assisted early cancer detection and advancements in quantum computing. The grant competition is part of the broader US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).

Saudi Arabia was thwarted Wednesday in its bid to join the UN's human rights council, which is charged with protecting freedoms globally, after coming sixth in a vote of UN members for one of five regional seats.

Ethiopia and Qatar were among the 18 countries elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council for three-year terms, despite campaign groups previously alleging rights violations in both countries.

"This vote to deny Saudi Arabia a seat on the UN Human Rights Council matters. For far too long, (Crown Prince) Mohammed bin Salman's regime has acted as if it has complete impunity to commit grave human rights abuses, safe in the knowledge that its international partners would look the other way," said campaign group Reprieve.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in August registered a year-on-year decline of 0.1%, a significant drop from the 4.7% growth recorded in July. This decrease is on account of reductions in the output of mining and electricity, alongside a notable slowdown in manufacturing for the month, the National Statistical Office (NSO) data showed.

As per the data, mining output fell by 4.3% in August, a sharp fall from the 3.8% growth recorded in the previous month. Electricity output fell by 3.7%, down from 7.9%. Manufacturing output slowed to 1% in August, compared to 4.4% in July.

Data indicated that 11 out of the 23 manufacturing sectors saw a fall in output growth during August, with sectors including food products, beverages, paper, coke, and refined products among those affected. Output in various use-based categories saw a slowdown, with capital goods growing by 0.7%, intermediate goods by 3%, infrastructure goods by 1.9%, and consumer durables by 5.2%. Conversely, output in primary goods contracted by 2.6%, while consumer non-durables saw a decline of 4.5% during the month.

Subhash Prasad Gupta, presently Ambassador of India to the Republic of Suriname, has been concurrently accredited as the next High Commissioner of India to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with residence in Paramaribo, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Friday.

Gupta is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 2006 batch.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the MEA added.

In July this year, Gupta was appointed as India's next Ambassador to Suriname.

Notably, India and Suriname share close, warm, and friendly relations, reinforced by cultural and people-to-people contacts bridged by the Indian Diaspora's arrival dating back to one and a half centuries, according to MEA.

The Army Chief, General Upendra Dwivedi on Friday, officially launched "Agniastra," a portable multi-target detonation device, during the Army Commanders Conference in Gangtok.

This device was developed by Major Rajprasad RS from the Indian Army's Corps of Engineers and is seen as a major advancement in both conventional and counter-terrorism operations.

According to Indian Army officials, the device holds "tremendous potential" for use in room interventions, remote bunker or hideout destruction, and reserve demolitions. Speaking about its capabilities, they added, "It has tremendous potential in both conventional and counter-terrorist operations like room intervention, remote bunker/hideout bursting, and reserve demolition."

The India Digital Agri Conference 2024 was organized in New Delhi on Friday to explore the transformative potential of digital agriculture. Speaking on the occasion Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare Secretary Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi emphasised the relevance of the digital mission in leveraging technology and data-driven solutions to modernize Indian agriculture. He also stressed on the pivotal role of digital agriculture in transforming the agricultural landscape of the country.

The Agriculture Ministry said that the conference aimed to foster knowledge exchange, showcase cutting-edge innovations and encourage cross-sector collaboration. It also said that by bringing together policymakers, industry experts, entrepreneurs, academicians, researchers and farmers the conference paved the way to shape the future of agriculture in the digital era.