Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and defending shot put champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor were on Friday named India's flag-bearers for the Asian Games opening ceremony, scheduled to be held here on Saturday.

"Manu Bhaker will be one of the flag-bearers," India's chef-de-Mission Sahdev Yadav said.

Later, the Athletics Federation of India confirmed that Toor will be the second flag-bearer.

Bhaker made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics by becoming the first athlete from independent India to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games.

Zimbabwe's Tavengwa Mukuhlani was named as the new deputy chair of the International Cricket Council until November 2027 as he replaced Singapore's Imran Khwaja. The appointment comes at a time where Zimbabwe is gearing up to host the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup along with Namibia and South Africa.

"Mukuhlani, who is the Chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket and represents it on the ICC Board, succeeds Khwaja following his departure from the Board. Mukuhlani currently serves on the ICC Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) and the Nominations Committee, and chairs the HR and Remuneration Committee," an ICC release stated on Thursday.

"I warmly congratulate Tavengwa Mukuhlani on his appointment as Deputy Chair of the ICC. His experience in cricket administration, understanding of the global game and commitment to its development will be invaluable to the ICC Board," ICC Chair Jay Shah said. "Tavengwa has earned the confidence of his fellow Directors, and I look forward to working closely with him to strengthen cricket across our Members and create greater opportunities for the game to grow worldwide. His election is also a significant milestone for Zimbabwe, as he becomes the first Zimbabwean to serve as Deputy Chair," Shah added.

Tata Consultancy Services on Thursday launched its Custom System-on-Chip (SoC) Design Services for automotive original equipment manufacturers and semiconductor ecosystem players.

The end-to-end semiconductor engineering service is designed to help auto manufacturers conceive, design, verify, implement, and validate custom SoC solutions for the next generation of software-defined vehicles (SDVs), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said in a statement.

The custom SoCs will enable automakers to align compute capabilities with software requirements, enhance performance-per-watt, and differentiate user experiences and vehicle applications.

Indian Railways has approved the doubling of the 10.86-km Chouk-Karjat railway section of Central Railway in Maharashtra at an estimated cost of ₹497 crore, in a move aimed at increasing rail capacity and improving passenger and freight train operations.

The project has been approved under the umbrella works covering doubling, tripling, quadrupling, flyover and bypass projects undertaken to augment capacity across the railway network.

The Chouk-Karjat section forms part of the Panvel-Chouk-Karjat route, an important corridor for both passenger and freight traffic. The section is currently a single-line stretch, and its doubling is expected to provide additional capacity and facilitate smoother train operations.

Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh on Wednesday launched India’s Net Zero Portal and the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) Dashboard on the occasion of World Ozone Day 2026.

The two digital initiatives are aimed at strengthening transparency, coordination and evidence-based climate action in the country. While the Net Zero Portal provides a central platform for voluntary Net Zero commitments by Indian entities, the NAPCC Dashboard enables consolidated monitoring of progress across the National Missions under the climate action plan.

The Net Zero Portal facilitates voluntary registration and disclosure of Net Zero commitments by entities across sectors. Participating entities can disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, declare Net Zero targets and provide annual updates on their progress.

The Ministry of Steel and its Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) will participate in Special Campaign 6.0 from 2 October to 31 October 2026. The campaign aims to strengthen the Ministry’s commitment to cleanliness, sustainability and efficient governance, with a renewed emphasis on effective collection, segregation and disposal of e-waste.

During Special Campaign 5.0 (October 2025), the Ministry and its PSUs made significant progress in clearing pending matters, disposing of obsolete files and optimising space. Subsequent efforts continued to weed out outdated records, streamline scrap disposal and improve grievance redressal.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Jordanian Armed Forces have launched exercise Eager Lion 2026 at Fort Carson in Colorado, marking the first time the United States has hosted the biennial military training event.

According to a CENTCOM statement, the two-week exercise brings together more than 200 military personnel from Jordan and the United States, including National Guard personnel from Colorado and Illinois, to deepen military cooperation between the two nations.

"Our longstanding military-to-military ties with the Jordanian Armed Forces are stronger than ever," said Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. "Working and training together will further strengthen our collective operational effectiveness and readiness."

The UEFA Executive Committee has confirmed Munich Football Arena in Germany and Camp Nou in Barcelona as the hosts of the UEFA Champions League finals in 2028 and 2029, respectively.

The decision was taken during the UEFA Executive Committee meeting held in Thessaloniki, Greece, where hosts for several UEFA finals were announced, according to the UEFA website.

The Munich Football Arena will stage the 2028 UEFA Champions League final, while Barcelona's Camp Nou has been selected to host the 2029 showpiece event.

The Union Cabinet has enhanced the wage ceiling for mandatory coverage under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from 15 thousand rupees to 25 thousand rupees per month.

Addressing the media in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the decision is expected to bring more than 51 lakh additional employees within the ambit of mandatory EPFO coverage, significantly widening social security protection for workers. The annual Government outgo on this is estimated at about 11 thousand 339 crore rupees. Mr Vaishnaw said that the revised wage ceiling will come into effect from Vishwakarma Jayanti today.

The minister said the EPFO wage ceiling remained unchanged throughout the decade from 2004 to 2014 before being substantially enhanced to 15 thousand rupees in September 2014. Mr Vaishnaw highlighted that the present decision carries forward this approach by further raising the ceiling to 25 thousand rupees to reflect the sustained wage growth, rising incomes and a continued expansion of formal employment over the intervening years.
Our correspondent reports that the approval will expand access to provident fund savings, pension protection under the Employees’ Pension Scheme.

Veteran Indian actor Anant Nag, known for his impressive work in Hindi and Kannada cinema in movies such as “Minchina Ota“, “Hamsageethe“, “Ankur” and “Manthan“, has been named as the recipient of prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024.

In a career spanning five decades, Nag has portrayed diverse characters in over 300 films across Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Marathi cinema including notable works such as Malgudi days. He will be given the award, the highest recognition in Indian cinema, at the National Film Awards ceremony in Kevadia, Gujarat, on September 22.

Congratulating the veteran actor, in a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “For several decades, his effortless performances, remarkable versatility and brilliance have left a very strong mark on Indian cinema, particularly Kannada cinema. In whichever role he has played, he brought rare depth and authenticity. This is indeed a richly deserved honour for a truly distinguished artist.”