James Gray to receive Lifetime Career Award at 2026 Locarno Film Festival
James Gray will be honoured with the prestigious Pardo alla Carriera (Career Achievement Award) at the 79th Locarno Film Festival, adding another milestone to the acclaimed American filmmaker's career.
As per Variety, Gray will receive the honour on August 9, during this year's edition of the Swiss festival, where his latest feature, 'Paper Tiger,' will also be showcased.
The filmmaker will present 'Paper Tiger' at Locarno's iconic Piazza Grande outdoor venue.
India joins WTO fisheries subsidies agreement, becomes 123rd member
India on Monday formally accepted the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, becoming the 123rd member to ratify the global pact that aims to curb subsidies related to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, fishing of overfished stocks, and certain fishing activities on the unregulated high seas.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal deposited India's Instrument of Acceptance with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to mark New Delhi's entry into the agreement.
The agreement, adopted at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva in June 2022, is the first multilateral WTO accord with an environmental sustainability objective. It came into force in September 2025 after two-thirds of WTO members accepted it.
Delhi approves PARIVARTAN scheme to replace old buses, trucks with cleaner models
In a bid to curb vehicular pollution, the Delhi government approved the Centre’s Programme for Accelerated Renewal and Incentivisation of Vehicle Assets for Reducing Transport Air Pollution and Network Emissions (PARIVARTAN) scheme to phase out old, polluting trucks and buses and replace them with Bharat Stage (BS)-VI-compliant or electric vehicles, officials said on Monday.
The scheme was approved in the recent cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, they added. Gupta said that the scheme is expected to benefit around 2.07 lakh truck and bus owners in Delhi-NCR.
Under this scheme, owners of BS-IV or older Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) who scrap their vehicles and purchase a new electric LGV will receive a 100% exemption on motor vehicle tax and registration fees for 10 years from the Delhi government. They will also be eligible for a 5% interest subvention, an 8% discount from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and fuel vouchers or a one-time benefit equivalent to the discounted value of the fuel vouchers, an official said.
Kanishka Narayan Indian-origin MP named UK’s first AI Minister
Kanishka Narayan, the India-born MP who made history as Wales’ first ethnic minority MP, has kept his post as Minister of State for AI in Andy Burnham’s new cabinet, according to BBC News.
Narayan, who was born in Bihar and moved to Cardiff as a child, is one of several familiar faces retained as Burnham assembles his top team following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation on Monday. His cabinet blends ministers who served under Starmer with longtime, trusted allies.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Narayan is a member of the UK Parliament for the Vale of Glamorgan. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from the University of Oxford and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Stanford University.
Vikram-1 successfully deployed Grahaa Space's SOLARAS satellite in space
Vikram-1 rocket successfully launched into space the Grahaa Space’s SOLARAS satellite and also the SPACE Capability technology demonstration satellite from Skyroot Aerospace.
It also carried in-space experiments from Cosmoserve Space and German aerospace firm DCUBED, thus proving that this rocket can carry payloads both commercially as well as for research purposes.
The successful launch marked the transition of Skyroot from just testing their rockets to launching satellites into orbit, which is a collection of private firms with orbital launch capabilities.
72nd National Film Awards announced; Yami Gautam wins best actress award for Article 370
Hindi film Article 370 has won the Best Film Award in the 72nd National Film Awards. Announcing the awards today in New Delhi this evening, Chairman of Jury (Feature Film) Jayaraj said Mammooty and Kartik Aryan have won the National Film Awards in the Best Actor category for their movies Bramayugam and Chandu Champion. He said Yami Gautam will be given the Best Actress award for her performance in the film Article 370.
Chairman of Jury (Non-Feature Film) Asim Kumar Sinha said, Bhangaaar directed by Sumira Roy has bagged the Best Non-Featuring Film Award. The best short film is Hamasafar in Marathi. He said the Best Direction Award will be given to Anand L Rai for Statue of Unity-Ekta Ka Prateek.
Best Film Critic award will be given to Sanjeev Srivastava. The award for best writing on Cinema will be given to K. Pradeep Kumar Shetty for his Kannada Book Naaniruvude Nimagaagi Naadiruvude Nanagaagi Kannada Cinemaada Thathva matthu Rajakeeya.
Spain beat Argentina to win World Cup
Describing a result as a 'victory for football' might seem like a trite cliche - but you won't find many neutrals disagreeing with that description of Spain's win in the 2026 World Cup final.
When Ferran Torres slammed in the extra-time winner, and Rodri lifted the trophy high in New Jersey, it is hard to imagine many will have had sympathy for Argentina.
Spain triumphed in a battle of endurance, for players and spectators, to beat the Argentines and win their second men's World Cup.
On every football metric - and, some would say, morality too - this was the right result.
"There is no doubt that the right team won," former England captain Alan Shearer said on BBC One. "From start to finish, Spain controlled possession. They were the ones looking to play football, create chances and get in behind.
Indian-Origin Tech Executive Uday Ruddaraju Named OpenAI's CTO Of Compute
OpenAI has promoted Indian-origin tech executive Uday Ruddaraju to the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Compute, just a year after he joined the company from Elon Musk's xAI. Announcing the news on LinkedIn, Ruddaraju reflected on his first year at OpenAI, calling it an incredibly rewarding experience. He said his team had focused on rapidly expanding the computing infrastructure needed to train increasingly advanced AI models.
According to Ruddaraju, the compute team spent the past year bringing massive new computing capacity online while building systems for networking, storage, and machine learning that power frontier AI models, including GPT-5.6.
All 4 students from Team India won Gold Medals at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
India performed exceptionally well at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2026 held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 10 to 19 July 2026, with all four students bagging gold medals!
The students were:
Debadatta Priyadarshi (GOLD) from Bhubaneshwar, Odisha
Harshit Singla (GOLD) from Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab
Kabeer Chillar (GOLD) from Delhi
Sandeep Kuchi GOLD) from Hyderabad, Telangana
There were four Jury Members from India: Prof. Subhajit Bandyopadhyay as Head Mentor, Dr. Indrani Sen (HBCSE, Mumbai) as Mentor, Dr. Anubendu Adhikary (IIT Kharagpur) and Dr. Jayasree Gopalakrishnan (NES Ratnam College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai) as Scientific Observers.
In the country-wise medals tally, India was placed at the first position, jointly with China, Vietnam, and Individual Participants Group B (from Russia). This year's IChO had 363 students from 93 countries, making it the biggest IChO till date. This is India's best performance in IChO with the first-ever all-gold haul!
Bangladesh-US army begins "EXERCISE TIGER LIGHTNING (TL)-2026" in Sylhet
The opening ceremony of 'Exercise Tiger Lightning (TL)-2026' was held at the Para Commando Brigade in Jalalabad Cantonment, Sylhet on Sunday, with the joint participation of the Bangladesh Army and the United States Army Pacific Command (USARPAC), the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The ceremony was attended by the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Brent T. Christensen and the Chief of General Staff of the Bangladesh Army, Lieutenant General Md Mainur Rahman, OSP, SUP, awc, psc, who was present as the senior representative of the Bangladesh Army.