Mamata visits Bhabanipur EVM strong room, warns against counting irregularities

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee early on Friday (May 1, 2026) warned against any attempt to tamper with the counting process, hours after she visited an EVM strong room in Bhabanipur, alleging possible malpractice. Ms. Banerjee, who emerged around 12:07 a.m. after spending nearly four hours at the counting centre for her Bhabanipur constituency housed in Sakhawat Memorial School in south Kolkata, said only one person would be allowed inside the designated counting area.

Italy told to avoid sharing of defence tech with Pakistan

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with his Italian counterpart Guido Crosetto at the Manekshaw Centre on Thursday (April 30, 2026), urging Italy to refrain from sharing sensitive defence technologies with Pakistan.

India’s first green methanol plant to turn Kutch’s most invasive weed into marine fuel

The project, sited at the Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Kandla, will produce five tonnes of methanol a day and is being built by Pune-based Thermax Energy with gasification technology from Vadodara’s Ankur Scientific, and will be owned by the port authority. Both companies are betting that the Government of India’s policy to convert ports along the western coast into “green ports” will create demand for a fuel that the global shipping industry is being obliged to adopt under International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules.

Empty LNG ship from India heads into Strait of Hormuz for loading in UAE’s Das Island

In a development that has given hope of normalcy returning across the Strait of Hormuz, LNG carrier Umm Al Ashtan, which had departed Dahej in Gujarat after unloading its cargo there, is heading up towards crossing the strait. The vessel, which had finished cargo operations early in March and had been drifting, is likely to cross the strait early on Friday (May 1) and make way to Das Island, an LNG terminal in the UAE.

Former Air Chief says Greater Nicobar project important for ‘military footprint’

The Greater Nicobar project is “important for India’s military footprint” in the area, a former chief of the Indian Air Force said on Thursday (April 30, 2026), as part of the BJP’s pushback against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comments against the project and its harmful ecological footprint.

‘Systemic failures’ made tribal man take his sister’s skeletal remains to bank, finds probe in Odisha

A preliminary inquiry by the Odisha government has indicated systemic failures behind the desperate and disturbing act of a tribal man who carried his sister’s skeletal remains to a bank in order to prove her death. Asked by the bank to submit proof of his sister’s death to withdraw money from her account, Jitu Munda of Diananali village under Patna block in Keonjhar district had exhumed his sister’s body and carried the skeletal remains on his shoulder to the bank on Monday (April 27, 2026). Mr. Munda wanted to withdraw ₹19,300 that was in the account of Kalara Munda, who had died two months ago.

Centre notifies changes to Citizenship Rules; focus on OCI registration

The Union Home Ministry on Thursday (April 30, 2026) notified changes to the Citizenship Rules, 2009, introducing a digital shift across various processes for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders and citizenship applications. In a gazette notification published on Thursday (April 30), the government has added a specific proviso for citizenship applicants involving children that “the minor child cannot at any time hold the passport of any other country while also holding the Indian passport”.

Chhattisgarh Assembly passes resolution for one-third quota for women in legislative bodies

Following a nearly 10-hour long discussion, the Chhattisgarh Assembly on Thursday (April 30, 2026) passed a resolution seeking the immediate implementation of one-third reservation for women in the Parliament and all Legislative Assemblies after completion of the delimitation process.

U.K. calls antisemitism an emergency as police investigate stabbing attack on 2 Jewish men

The U.K. government on Thursday (April 30, 2026) said that the country is facing an antisemitism emergency and pledged to increase security for Jewish communities after a string of arson attacks and a double stabbing that have sparked fear and anger among Jews.

IPL 2026 | Holder in the thick of it as GT gets the better of RCB

It is difficult to cut an imposing figure in an arena as gigantic as the Narendra Modi Stadium. It is even tougher when more than 90,000 fans turn it into a raucous theatre where every creature can feel small and diminished. But Jason Holder, the Barbados-born burly man of 6’7” frame, managed that Herculean feat with an all-round effort to carry Gujarat Titans to an important four-wicket victory over the in-form Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2026 on Thursday (April 30, 2026).