India signs FTA with Oman, receives zero duty access on 99% of its exports

India and Oman signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on Thursday (December 18, 2025), under which Oman will provide India duty-free access to 98.08% of its tariff lines, which covers 99.38% of what India exports to Oman. India, on the other hand, has offered liberalised tariffs on 77.79% of its total tariff lines, covering 94.81% of what India imports from Oman. Apart from the tariff removal on merchandise exports, the deal also includes several concessions that are expected to benefit India’s service sector, including in terms of mobility of workers. Also, PM Modi was conferred with the Order of Oman, the Sultanate’s uniquely distinct civilian honour, by Sultan Haitham bin Tarik for his contributions to strengthening bilateral ties.

Opposition sits on overnight protest in Parliament against passage of VB-G RAM G Bill

Opposition leaders staged overnight protest dharna in Parliament complex on Thursday (December 18, 2025) night, while protesting against the passage of the VB-G RAM G Bill. Both Houses of Parliament passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, replacing the 20-year-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Critically injured Bangladesh uprising leader dies in Singapore, Yunus urges citizens to maintain peace

Sharif Osman Hadi, a prominent leader of the July Uprising who was shot last week, died on Thursday (December 18, 2025) while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital after fighting for his life for six days. Hadi, also a candidate in the scheduled February 12 general elections, was shot in the head by masked gunmen on Friday as he initiated his election campaign at central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area.

Rajya Sabha clears SHANTI Bill; dangerous and vendor-driven, alleges Opposition

With the Rajya Sabha also clearing the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill on Thursday (December 18, 2025), the Union Government said the Bill seeks to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and increase the capacity of India’s atomic energy sector. 

India faces its ‘greatest strategic challenge’ in Bangladesh since 1971: Parliamentary committee on external affairs

The developments in Bangladesh pose the “greatest strategic challenge” to India since the Liberation War of 1971, a Parliamentary panel has said in its report. The report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, chaired by Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, has covered the turbulent India-Bangladesh relation of the past two years and said that Bangladesh is witnessing a “shift” and that New Delhi could end up losing the “strategic space” in Dhaka without necessary recalibration.

Congress Working Committee to meet on December 27 to discuss MGNREGA

The Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, will meet on December 27 to deliberate on the government’s move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with new legislation, sources said on Thursday (December 18, 2025).

Sahitya Akademi cancels awards announcement following directive from Culture Ministry

Confusion prevailed on Thursday (December 18, 2025) when the Sahitya Akademi was forced to cancel a press conference called by it to announce its annual literary awards following a directive from the Union Ministry of Culture. The press conference was scheduled to be held at 3 p.m. in Delhi after a meeting of the Executive Board of the literary body, which cleared the awardees.

NCST to probe suspected murder of tribal boy on KISS campus

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) on Thursday announced that it would investigate the alleged murder of a minor tribal student by three of his hostel mates at the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), which claims to provide education to nearly 30,000 tribal students on its Bhubaneswar campus.

Of 202 Indian recruits in Russian Army, 26 killed, seven missing, MEA tells Rajya Sabha

As many as 202 Indians are “believed to have been recruited into the Russian armed forces” since 2022, and 26 of them are reported to have lost their lives, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (December 18, 2025), adding that at least two Indians have been cremated in Russia.

Kingfisher Airlines employees to get ₹311.67 crore payment towards long-pending dues

The Enforcement Directorate has facilitated the restitution of ₹311.67 crore towards long-pending workmen dues of Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KAL), a senior agency official said on Thursday (December 18, 2025).

Democrats release dozens more new images from Jeffrey Epstein estate

Congressional Democrats released dozens of new images from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday (December 18, 2025), a day before the U.S. Justice Department is required by law to release unclassified files from its investigation of the disgraced financier.

Extend date of submission of SIR enumeration forms, Supreme Court tells ECI

The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 18, 2025) asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to a “sympathetic view” of pleas to extend the date of submission of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 of the electoral rolls, taking into consideration the “ground realities” in various States, including Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. The schedule for Kerala had been revised earlier, with the enumeration deadline pushed to (Thursday) December 18 and the draft voter list to be published on December 23. The revised deadline for U.P. was modified to December 26.

India resumes visa centre operation in Dhaka, functioning suspended at two others

Indian on Thursday (December 18, 2025) resumed operations at its visa application centre in Dhaka, a day after closing it over escalated security concerns, but closed two other identical facilities in other parts of Bangladesh, officials and reports said. The Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) at southwestern Khulna and northwestern Rajshahi were closed on the same grounds of security concerns. “Indian Visa Application Centre in Dhaka is now operational and functioning normally,” an IVAC official told PTI.

U.S., Russia to hold talks on Ukraine in Miami: White House

U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Miami this weekend for new talks on President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the Ukraine war, a White House official told AFP. The talks come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed progress during two days of meetings in Berlin between Kyiv and Mr. Trump’s envoys, while warning that Moscow was preparing for a “new year of war.” Mr. Trump’s roving envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to take part on the U.S. side, while Mr. Putin’s economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev is set to be in the Russian delegation, Politico reported.

Rare smog spike hits Beijing after years of pollution clean-up

Beijing was shrouded in heavy smog on Thursday (December 18, 2025) with Air Quality Index (AQI) climbing to “very unhealthy” levels of 215, a rare spike in pollution in the Chinese capital after years of expensive cleaning up. China’s national observatory issued a yellow alert for heavy fog in some parts of the country, saying that thick fog is expected to shroud parts of Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei, the Sichuan Basin and Chongqing on Thursday (December 18, 2025). The smog with polluted air quality is rare these days in Beijing, which used to witness very heavy pollution before the government initiated a series of steps, including closure and relocation of heavy polluting industries in 2016, spending billions of dollars.

Israel launches intense airstrikes in Lebanon as deadline looms to disarm Hezbollah

Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on southern and northeastern Lebanon on Thursday (December 18, 2025) as a deadline looms to disarm the militant Hezbollah group along the tense frontier. The strikes came a day before a meeting of the committee monitoring the enforcement of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah a year ago. The Israeli military said the strikes hit Hezbollah infrastructure sites and launching sites in a military compound used by the group to conduct training and courses for its fighters. The Israeli military added that it struck several Hezbollah military structures in which weapons were stored, and from which Hezbollah members operated recently.

Dubious hat-trick: India worst doping offender for third straight year, says WADA

India tops the rankings of global sports drug cheats for a third straight year, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said, marking a dubious hat-trick for the country. India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) collected 7,113 urine and blood samples, out of which 260 tested positive in 2024, the international watchdog said in its annual report published late on Tuesday (December 16, 2025). The findings are a major blow to India, which is preparing to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games — an event seen as a stepping stone for the country’s ambition of hosting the 2036 Olympics. Athletics (76) had the highest number of doping cases last year, followed by weightlifting (43) and wrestling (29).