02 May 2026
India has formally communicated to France its decision to procure 26 naval variant jets of the Rafale fighter aircraft for the Indian Navy, kick-starting the procurement process under an intergovernmental framework, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
In July, the defence ministry approved the purchase of the Rafale (marine) jets from France, primarily for deployment on board the indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
Five terrorists were killed in an encounter between terrorists and security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district in the Machhal sector on Thursday.
"In a Joint Operation launched by #IndianArmy, @JmuKmrPolice & Intelligence agencies on 26 Oct 23, an infiltration bid has been foiled by alert troops along the #LoC in #Kupwara sector," Srinagar based Chinar Corps of the Army said in a post on X.
Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel to torpedo the India-Middle East- Europe economic corridor formalised recently at the G20 summit, US President Joe Biden suggested on Wednesday, amid calls for New Delhi to designate Hamas a terrorist group.
“I'm convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can't leave that work behind,” Biden said at a White House joint press conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Eight former Indian Navy personnel have been given the death penalty by a Qatar court on Thursday.
The Ministry of External Affairs said it is deeply shocked and is awaiting the detailed judgement in the case.
The Indian nationals, all employees of Al Dahra company, were taken into custody in August last year in an alleged case of espionage. However, the charges against them were not made public by Qatari authorities.
Infosys founder Narayana Murthy believes that if India wants to make significant progress then the Indian youth will have to step up productivity and work hard, to the extent of even 70 hours a week. Murthy made this request to youngsters in the debut episode of “The Record”, a video series by 3one4 Capital. My request is that our youngsters must say: "This is my country, I want to work 70 hours a week.”
