The Union Cabinet on Friday (February 13, 2026) approved the launch of the ‘Urban Challenge Fund’ (UCF), a new Centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, with a total Central assistance of ₹1 lakh crore.

It aims to support transformative and bankable urban projects through competitive “challenge-mode” as urban infrastructure cannot be funded by public finance alone. Central assistance will cover 25% of project costs, subject to raising a minimum of 50% of the project cost from the market, including municipal bonds, bank loans, and public-private partnerships leading to an expected total investment of ₹4 lakh crore in the urban sector in the next five years.

The UCF marks a paradigm shift in India’s urban development approach from grant-based financing to market-linked, reform-driven and outcome-oriented infrastructure creation, a statement by the government said.

In a major push to secure India’s digital infrastructure against future quantum computing threats, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has signed an agreement with Synergy Quantum India Private Limited to jointly develop an automated tool for identifying quantum-vulnerable cryptographic algorithms.

The initiative aims to help organizations proactively assess their cybersecurity posture and transition toward quantum-safe cryptography.

Veteran Kannada film director and actor Joe Simon passed away on Friday following a heart attack, industry sources said. He was 80.

Simon suffered a cardiac arrest at the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce in Bengaluru, where he had attended a meeting this afternoon. He was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead at around 4.30 pm, sources added.

The filmmaker had directed several popular Kannada films, including Sahasa Simha, Snehada Kadalalli, Simha Jodi, and Mr Vasu.

Vast Space, a privately-held American aerospace company, has signed an order with NASA for the sixth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than summer 2027 from Florida.

It will be Vast’s first private astronaut mission to the space station in partnership with NASA.

Max Haot, CEO, Vast said leveraging the remaining life of the International Space Station with science and research-led commercial crewed missions is a critical part of the transition to commercial space stations and fully unlocking the orbital economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated a series of major infrastructure projects in Assam, including the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu over the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati and the Northeast’s first Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) on a national highway in Dibrugarh district.

The projects are part of a broader development push in the region, with the Prime Minister set to inaugurate and flag off initiatives worth over ₹5,450 crore aimed at boosting connectivity, digital infrastructure, higher education and urban mobility.

Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu to Transform Guwahati Connectivity

At around 1 pm, the Prime Minister inspected and inaugurated the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu, a 2.86-km-long, six-lane extradosed Prestressed Concrete (PSC) bridge built at a cost of approximately ₹3,030 crore.

High above the rainforests of the Philippines, a towering raptor with piercing blue green eyes continues to command awe while facing an uncertain future. The Philippine eagle, one of the largest birds of prey on Earth, remains both a national symbol and a species on the brink.

The Philippine eagle stands about three feet tall. Its wingspan stretches beyond six feet wide. It ranks among the longest eagles worldwide. In wing surface, it surpasses many rivals. However, it weighs less than some species. Harpy and Steller’s eagles are heavier birds. Even so, adults can reach 18 pounds.

The bird’s back shows long brown plumage. Its underside appears bright white in contrast. The face blends brown and white tones. Between sharp eyes sits a curved beak. The beak carries a blue grey shade. Strong talons help secure struggling prey. These features make it formidable hunter.

President Droupadi Murmu today said that the building of a developed nation requires not only political stability and a strong economy, but also healthy, educated, and responsible citizens.

Addressing the nationwide campaign on Karmayoga for Empowered Bharat in New Delhi, the President said that achieving any national goal is difficult without the active participation of the people.

President Murmu noted that for balanced and holistic development, progress must be integrated with morality and spirituality.

The president further added that economic growth brings prosperity, and technological advancement promotes innovation, efficiency, and competitiveness and together they lay the foundation of a prosperous nation.

The president urged citizens to focus on work with sincerity and dedication, leaving the results aside.

In a major scientific breakthrough, researchers have discovered an unusual mechanism of heat transport in solids that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of how heat flows in crystalline materials with local disorder. This can have implications in next-generation thermoelectrics and thermal management technologies.

Heat in solids is typically carried by phonons, which generally behave like particles that scatter as they move through a crystal lattice. This classical “phonon gas” picture has guided materials design for decades.

Researchers at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology (DST) have now demonstrated a rare transition in which phonons stop behaving like particles and instead propagate through wave-like coherence, tunnelling between localized vibrational states. This particle-to-wave-like crossover was observed in a newly studied material which is a zero-dimensional inorganic metal halide, Tl2AgI3.

In this work, led by Prof. Kanishka Biswas from the New Chemistry Unit (NCU), JNCASR, published in the prestigious journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (PNAS), the materials exhibits an exceptionally low lattice thermal conductivity of about 0.18 W/m·K. Remarkably, instead of decreasing continuously with temperature as expected for normal crystals, the thermal conductivity becomes nearly temperature independent above around 125 K, signalling a breakdown of conventional phonon gas model.

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi today said that the government aims to make every working sector safe for women and provide equal working opportunities to them.

Addressing the National Conference on Safety of Women at Workplace in New Delhi, the Minister said that the SHe-Box portal has made it easier for women to register their complaints at the workplace.

The Minister highlighted that several workplaces have registered themselves with this centralised portal. She emphasised that the safety of women at the workplace is a top priority of the government in India’s journey of Viksit Bharat. She also hailed the Union Budget 2026 for giving importance to women’s empowerment.

The Minister also praised government schemes for working for women’s welfare including Ujjwala Yojna, Mudra Yojna and others.

The Indian Army will host the first-ever International Military Adventure Challenge Cup (IMACC) 2026 between the 18th and 23rd of February in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas. Defence Ministry said in a statement that the event will bring together military teams from India and friendly foreign countries for a week-long series of challenging adventure and endurance competitions. Teams from seven friendly foreign countries – Bhutan, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia, along with teams from the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Indian Coast Guard and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will take part in IMACC 2026. The event has been designed to test the essential qualities of a soldier, including physical fitness, mental resilience, teamwork, leadership and decision-making under pressure.

The competition will feature terrain-based challenges conducted in tough mountain conditions, closely reflecting the realities faced by soldiers during operations. International military sports have long played an important role in building trust and cooperation among armed forces worldwide under the banner of the International Military Sports Council (CISM), guided by the motto Friendship through Sport. India has been an active participant in this global tradition and has earlier hosted the 4th CISM Military World Games in 2007.