The 6th ASEAN-India Digital Ministers Meeting was held virtually yesterday under the theme Adaptive ASEAN: From Connectivity to Connected Intelligence. The meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment of ASEAN Member States and India to strengthen regional digital cooperation with a focus on digital inclusion and integration.

In a statement, the Ministry of Communications said that the meeting was co-chaired by Telecom Secretary Amit Agrawal and Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung. The Meeting welcomed the approval of the ASEAN-India Digital Work Plan 2026, which includes the themes of ICT training or capacity-building programmes, the India-ASEAN Regulators’ Conference and the deployment of telecom ICT solutions. The Meeting also welcomed the operationalisation of a special ASEAN-India Fund for the Digital Future.

It added that India highlighted its indigenous and cost-effective digital solutions, Digital Public Infrastructure such as Aadhaar, UPI and DigiLocker, and the Sanchar Saathi initiative for telecom user protection and fraud prevention. India also underlined cooperation in Artificial Intelligence through the IndiaAI Mission, with emphasis on safe and trusted AI. The meeting underlined the shared vision of India and ASEAN to build an open, secure and inclusive digital ecosystem for regional growth.

The prestigious ‘Padmapani Award’ of the 11th Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival has been announced for this year’s veteran music composer Ilaiyaraaja, in recognition of his unparalleled contribution to Indian cinema.

The award comprises a Padmapani memento, a citation certificate, and a cash prize of 2 lakh rupees. The 11th Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival will be held from 28 January to 1 February at Mahatma Gandhi Mission, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

The Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival is being organised with the support of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, and the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra, with co-presentation by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation, Government of Maharashtra.

The 86th All India Presiding Officers Conference (AIPOC) will begin at Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow today. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will address the inaugural session.

During the conference, the presiding officers, secretaries and distinguished representatives will hold a wide-ranging discussion on legislative procedures, parliamentary traditions, the conduct of the House, good governance, and current legislative issues.

During the three-day conference, the dignitaries will brainstorm on different aspects of Leveraging Technology for Transparent, Efficient and Citizen – Centric Legislative Processes, along with Capacity Building of Legislators to Increase Efficiency and Strengthen Democratic Governance; and accountability of the Legislature towards the Public.

India has been ranked 16th among 154 countries in the Responsible Nations Index, a new global framework that measures how responsibly nations use their power in relation to their citizens, the environment and the wider world.

The index was launched on Monday and places Singapore at the top, followed by Switzerland and Denmark.

The Responsible Nations Index, or RNI, is an initiative of the World Intellectual Foundation and is the outcome of a three-year academic and policy exercise.

Unlike traditional global rankings that focus on economic size, military strength or geopolitical influence, the RNI shifts attention to responsibility as the central measure of national success.

They say the easy part about a title is winning it. Keeping it, now that’s not easy. Unless you happen to be Abu Dhabi – which has been named for the 10th year in a row the safest city in the world.

The top spot was given by Numbeo, which recently released its global safety rankings. The index surveyed 400 cities from 150 countries.

It is ranked first in:

Safety when walking alone at night

Safety when walking alone in the day

Behind that feeling of safety is a serious commitment to smart, forward-thinking policing. Major General Ahmed Saif bin Zaitoon Al Muhairi, Commander-in-Chief of Abu Dhabi Police, credits advanced technology, digital transformation and the use of AI and predictive analytics for keeping the city one step ahead. In short: Abu Dhabi doesn’t just feel safe — it’s designed to be.

The Republic Day Celebrations 2026 at Kartavya Path on January 26, 2026, will be unique blend of 150 years of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’, India’s military might and cultural diversity, officials said.

This will be first Republic Day parade after Operation Sindoor – India's precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in the aftermath of Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir in April last year.

At the parade, India will showcase its military might, including its newly-raised Bhairav light commando battalion and a range of indigenous platforms, in a phased battle array format.

China's Fengyun-3D satellite has found that A23a, once the world's largest iceberg, has entered the final stage of its disintegration. True-color images with 250-meter resolution captured on January 14 showed that the iceberg's main body has reduced to just 506 square kilometers, reported CGTN.

According to the China Meteorological Administration, the iceberg has shrunk to less than one-eighth its initial size of 4,170 square kilometers when it broke away from the Antarctic ice shelf in 1986.

A23a's disintegration has accelerated significantly in recent weeks. Just three weeks ago, its main body covered approximately 948 square kilometers, suggesting its rapid disintegration.

Vidarbha finally shed the weight of last year’s heartbreak to script history, clinching their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title with a commanding 38-run victory over Saurashtra in the final at Bengaluru on January 18, 2026. Twelve months after tasting defeat in their first-ever final, Vidarbha returned wiser, tougher and far more ruthless when it mattered most.

In the 2025 final at Vadodara, Vidarbha’s fairytale run had ended painfully as Karnataka outplayed them by 46 runs. That loss lingered as unfinished business, and on Sunday, it fuelled a performance built on composure and clarity. Asked to set a target, Vidarbha came out firing, led by a magnificent century from Atharva Taide. The opener anchored the innings with a superb 128 off 118 balls, striking 15 fours and three sixes, perfectly balancing aggression with responsibility on the big stage.

The world economy is likely to stay resilient this year despite President Donald Trump's protectionist trade policies, driven largely by heavy investments in artificial intelligence by companies in North America and Asia, the International Monetary Fund said in a report on Monday.

According to the IMF report, global economic growth is projected at 3.3% in 2026 and 3.2% in 2027, from an estimated 3.3% expansion in 2025. The 2026 outlook has been revised up by 20 basis points from the October forecast, while the 2027 projection remains unchanged.

The world economy “continues to show notable resilience despite significant US-led trade disruptions and heightened uncertainty,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas and his colleague Tobias Adrian wrote in a blog post accompanying the latest update to the fund's World Economic Outlook.

China's birth rates sunk to a record low in 2025, despite the government rolling out a spate of incentives to boost it, as the country's population fell for the fourth straight year.

Government data on Monday showed that the country's birth rate fell to 5.63 per 1,000 people – a record low since the Communist Party took power in 1949 – while its death rate rose to 8.04 per 1,000 people, the highest since 1968.

Its population fell 3.39 million to reach 1.4 billion by the end of 2025, marking a quicker decline than the previous year.

Faced with an ageing population and sluggish economy, Beijing has been trying hard to encourage more young people to marry and have children.