Current Affairs

New Delhi, Union Health Minister J P Nadda has said that 20 new AIIMS should progressively establish world standards in patient care, underscoring the need to institute structured patient feedback mechanisms and taking concrete steps to enhance patient satisfaction. He was addressing the Leadership Conclave for the presidents and executive directors of the new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences convened by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare here on Thursday. The conclave is envisaged as an ongoing endeavour to build institutional capacities, promote inter-institutional collaboration and establish a strong and cohesive network of AIIMS institutions to further strengthen public health systems in the country.

Actor-politician Vijay-led TVK on Friday claimed that the Centre's ruling BJP has been putting pressure on it for an alliance in the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. "Earlier, they (BJP) were not exerting pressure. It is only now that they have begun to do so," Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) general secretary (policy and propaganda) Arun Raj said in Madurai, as per news agency PTI.

Thiruvananthapuram, The Kerala cabinet on Friday approved the state's Information Technology Policy 2026, setting ambitious targets to boost jobs, exports and digital governance as part of its push to become a major technology and innovation hub. The new policy aims to secure at least a 10 per cent share of India's IT exports and create a minimum of five lakh new jobs in IT and allied sectors, an official release said after Chief Minster Pinarayi Vijayan-chaired cabinet approved the policy. According to it, the government plans to triple IT infrastructure space across the state through private participation and decentralised growth, while increasing the number of startups to 20,000.

Expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam on Friday claimed that the ruling DMK has a chance to return to power through the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election. The former Chief Minister, who quit the NDA recently, sprang a surprise by meeting Chief Minister M K Stalin on the Assembly premises at the Secretariat here and greeted him. Later, when reporters asked about his sudden meeting, Panneerselvam said he met Chief Minister Stalin and greeted him upon completing five years in office.

Thiruvananthapuram, Marking a milestone in Kerala's inland waterways development, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the first phase of 280-km Akkulam-Chettuva Water Way at Chilakoor Beach Park in Varkala on February 26. The Water Way, spanning across different districts, is a major component of the state government's flagship West Coast Canal Renovation project, which is set to accelerate Kerala's sustainable and inclusive development by unlocking immense opportunities in multiple verticals including logistics and tourism, an official release said here on Friday. V Joy, MLA, will preside over the function scheduled at 4.30 pm, where Minister for Electricity K Krishnankutty will be the chief guest.

Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa has announced on social media that he has been freed after "almost nine months of unjust imprisonment". His comments come shortly after the country's interim President, Delcy Rodríguez, signed an amnesty bill approved by its National Assembly that could lead to the release of hundreds of political prisoners. Rodríguez's interim government has faced pressure from the US to speed up the release of Venezuela's remaining political prisoners after delays to the law.

Just before sunset on Thursday, Nisreen Nassar crouched over her makeshift oven, burning wood and scraps of plastic to bake bread for her family so they could break their fast. Four months after the United States-brokered “ceasefire” came into effect in October, and as US President Donald Trump convened the first meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday, she wasn’t expecting to be sheltering with her family in an abandoned school and cooking on an open fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “Our preparations and expectations for Ramadan this month were that it would be better than previous ones during the war.

In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court on Friday decided to depute judicial officers in West Bengal to adjudicate claims of voters listed under the “logical discrepancy” category in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, acknowledging that this was an extraordinary decision in view of the extraordinary circumstances. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant noted the “trust deficit” and an “unfortunate blame game” between the elected state government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) and underlined the significance of completing the SIR exercise before the state elections a few months later. “We are left with hardly another option but to request the chief justice of the Calcutta high court to spare some serving judicial officers, along with former judicial officers with impeccable integrity, in the rank of additional district judge or district judge, who can then, in each district, be requested to revisit or dispose of claims under the category of logical discrepancy,” the bench comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Panchol said.

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have cast a long shadow over the British monarchy, even as King Charles III has taken strong action recently against his younger brother. The case has the potential to shake confidence in a central pillar of the British establishment. On Thursday morning, Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested on suspicions of misconduct in public office amid reports that he had shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy.

In an extraordinary order, the Supreme Court on Friday directed deployment of serving and former district judges to assist the Election Commission in the controversy-ridden special intensive revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal. Ruing the "unfortunate blame game" between the EC and the TMC-led government, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi passed a slew of fresh directions to ensure completion of the special intensive revision (SIR) process in the state. The bench ordered deputation of judicial officers for adjudication of claims and objections of persons put under logical discrepancy list.

What if the next war over Arunachal Pradesh is not fought on a mountain, but on a motherboard? The signs are on the wall. At the recently concluded India AI Summit, Lt. Gen. Dinesh Singh Rana, commander-in-chief, Strategic Forces Command, spoke of India using AI to anticipate and foil a Chinese incursion into the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Black comedy thriller. A student at University finds himself drawn into the world of a charming, aristocratic classmate. More

Mumbai, The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday raised concerns over a "disturbing pattern" in recent times, where matrimonial prosecutions are initiated by women against their spouse and family members as a "pressure tactic". A single bench of Justice Pravin Patil, while quashing an FIR filed by the Wardha police against a man, his parents and relatives based on the complaint of his estranged wife alleging cruelty and harassment, noted that the provisions of section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code are being misused nowadays and cases are registered over trivial issues. The court, in its order, said most matrimonial cases nowadays are initiated with oblique or collateral motives.

UK ex-prince leaves police station after arrest related to Epstein files The UK’s former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was filmed leaving a police station on Thursday night, following his arrest related to the Epstein files.

The United States and Iran are once again on the brink, with a calibrated military build‑up and fragile back‑channel diplomacy unfolding in parallel. In a wide‑ranging conversation on Hindustan Times’ Point Blank, Executive Editor Shishir Gupta and Senior Anchor Aayesha Varma unpack how close the region is to a potential strike, why this moment is uniquely dangerous, and where India fits into the rapidly shifting equation. US President Donald Trump has publicly declared that the world will know within 10 days whether Washington reaches a deal with Tehran or “takes things further” – a deliberately ambiguous formulation that keeps both diplomacy and force on the table.

Experts say there are already sufficient US military assets in the Middle East to begin an aerial bombing campaign against Iran, potentially in conjunction with Israel, though it is less clear what this would achieve. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and other warships in a strike group have been in the Arabian Sea for nearly a month, with nine squadrons of aircraft including F-35 Lightning IIs and F/A-18 Super Hornets. A second carrier strike group, led by the USS Gerald R Ford, was last confirmed to be in the Atlantic west of Morocco on Tuesday.

Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK. Find out how to listen to other BBC stations Who are the people shaping MAGA ideology in the US? Tucker Carlson’s story tells a larger one about just how much conservative media has changed in the United States, and the direction of conservatism itself.

United States President Donald Trump's announcement of releasing government files on “aliens” and unidentified flying objects (UFO) did not sit well with a Congressman of his own party, who sought to remind that even with this new release, the Epstein files “are not going away”. Thomas Massie, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, quoted the White House's post on X (formerly Twitter) about the alien files statement by Trump, and wrote: “They’ve deployed the ultimate weapon of mass distraction, but the Epstein files aren’t going away… even for aliens.” Thomas Massie is a Republican politician who represents Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, which stretches across Northern Kentucky and 280 miles of the Ohio River, in the US House of Representatives of the US Congress. Also read: Trump orders UFO, alien files released, faces backlash over Epstein documents; ‘distracting from mess’ He was elected to the Congress in November 2012 before which, he served as Lewis County Judge Executive.

Agreement across continent that Mountbatten-Windsor €™s detention has put monarchy in unprecedented danger Neither the shock nor the historical significance of the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was lost on the European press. And if there was one thing that correspondents and leader writers around the continent could agree on, it was that the former prince €™s detention had plunged the British monarchy into a place of unprecedented danger and vulnerability. €œDespite all the scandals that have shaken the British royal family over the decades, it €™s no exaggeration to say that the arrest of King Charles III €™s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor represents a momentous watershed for the Windsor monarchy, € El País said in a leader on Friday.