The situation involving Iran’s nuclear programme has reached a critical inflection point in May 2026. Following a ceasefire that came into effect on April 8 after U.S.-Israeli military strikes that began on February 28, including strikes that killed Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran and the United States find themselves in a diplomatic…
On January 1, 2026, the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism came into full operational effect. The mechanism requires importers of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity, and hydrogen into the EU to pay a carbon price on the embedded emissions of their products, equivalent to what EU producers pay under the EU Emissions Trading System….
The editorial page of The Hindu on May 4, 2026 carries a sharply worded critique of the Union government’s use of the Sahyog portal to expand its censorial reach over online speech. The newspaper’s editorial argues that the government has systematically weaponised Sections 69A and 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 to take down…
The National Green Tribunal’s Southern Zone Bench in Chennai has directed all five southern States and the Union Territory of Puducherry to ensure strict and time-bound implementation of their State Action Plans under the National Clean Air Programme. The judgment flags persistent particulate pollution across the southern region and warns that continued under-utilisation of clean…
On May 3, 2026, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched India’s Cell Broadcast Alert System, a nationwide emergency alerting technology developed indigenously by the Centre for Development of Telematics in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority. The system was tested simultaneously across all telecom networks except in poll-bound States, sending a test message to…
On May 1, 2026, the United Arab Emirates officially exited the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the broader OPEC+ alliance, marking one of the most consequential shifts in global energy governance since the formation of OPEC+ in 2016. The UAE, OPEC’s third-largest producer and one of only two members with meaningful swing production…
The resignation of Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma, submitted to President Droupadi Murmu on April 9, 2026, brings to a close one of the most extraordinary chapters in the recent history of Indian judiciary. The judge’s resignation came after a three-judge inquiry committee found prima facie evidence that cash had been recovered from a…
On the eve of vote counting for the West Bengal Assembly elections, the Supreme Court of India dismissed a petition filed by the Trinamool Congress alleging that the Election Commission of India was deliberately favouring the Bharatiya Janata Party by deploying Central government employees at counting centres. The petition challenged an April 13 circular issued…
A detailed investigative report published in The Hindu on May 2, 2026 documented a systematic and expanding infrastructure of content takedowns targeting social media accounts, YouTube channels, and online news outlets critical of governments at both the central and state levels. The report described how dozens of accounts, including those with hundreds of thousands of…
The Karnataka government operationalised a specialised grievance redressal mechanism for platform-based gig workers through the Integrated Public Grievance Redressal System portal, marking the first formal digital dispute resolution infrastructure for the gig economy in India. Developed by the Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers’ Board in collaboration with the Department of e-Governance, the mechanism allows gig workers…