CURRENT AFFAIRS INDIA

Government & Policy
PM Modi meets new NDA MPs : Breakfast meeting held to discuss parliamentary strategy ahead of Monsoon session. Centre releases ₹1.09 Lakh Crore Extra tax devolution to states made on Aug 1, 2026. ₹2.5 billion Biogas push Cabinet approved ₹237.31 billion to boost compressed biogas production & distribution. NH-15 Guwahati-Tezpur corridor : Cabinet clears 135.871 km corridor in Assam at ₹8,970 cr

Economy & Banking:
RBI holds repo rate at 5.25% for 4th time. Governor says inflation up due to fuel, but no rate hike expected in 2026
Indian markets : Nifty 50 at 26,624, Sensex at 78,581 after RBI pause
Rupee Closed at 95.22/$ amid importer hedging
India Inc Q1 FY27 Profits up 17% YoY, led by BFSI, metals, tech

Weather & Environment:
Below-average August monsoon forecast : IMD says rainfall likely <94% of normal. El Nino expected to strengthen to “strong” by Sept. UN warns : Strong El Nino + positive Indian Ocean Dipole to hit from August, risk of drought/floods

Education & Other news:
Indian Statistical Institute Bill 2026 : Govt proposes new governance board. Faculty protest, say it hurts autonomy
16th Census begins : Digital self-enumeration started in West Bengal
Meta apologizes : For briefly restricting PM Modi’s post in July
NSA Ajit Doval : Received Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026

Sports
Commonwealth Games 2026:
India finished 4th with 39 medals
Hockey World Cup 2026 : Schedule & India squad announced

* INTERNATIONAL – CURRENT AFFAIRS*

Middle East & US
US-Iran tensions : Trump signed orders to limit birthright citizenship. Iran threatens Gulf states if US launches new strikes
Strait of Hormuz : US & Oman in talks to reopen shipping route. Oil prices fell to $79.36/barrel
Houthi attacks : 18 Yemeni soldiers killed, Saudi tankers targeted

Asia-Pacific
Taiwan drills : Annual “Han Kuang” war games ongoing. China deployed 21 aircraft, 9 warships on Aug 4
Japan : Evacuations ordered as Typhoon Dolphin approaches, 500 flights cancelled
Pacific ministers : Discussing joint statement on China missile test

Climate & Economy
World food prices warning : FAO says new surge expected by year-end due to Iran/Ukraine wars + El Nino
Russia oil exports : Up 4% in August to 2.7 million bpd as Asia demand firms
Stock markets : Dow, S&P 500, STOXX 600 hit record highs on strong company forecasts

Other News:
Congo Ebola : Cases top 4,053 with 1,850 deaths. UNICEF warns 330 children killed
IMF Unlocks $1.8 billion for Egypt
Nauru renamed : Now officially “Republic of Naoero”

5 QUICK FACTS

1. INDIA: RBI keeps rates at 5.25%. Monsoon may be weak in August.
2. WORLD: El Nino strengthening from August – UN warns of heat + floods.
3. SPORTS: India wins 39 medals at Commonwealth Games 2026.
4. TECH: India signs 23 DPI agreements for global digital diplomacy.
5. OIL: Prices drop below $80 as US-Iran talks raise hopes.

SPORTS SCOREBOARD

FOOTBALL

Salah will pocket Turkish millions – but moving there comes with a health warning. Former Liverpool forward joins Leandro Trossard and Mason Greenwood in Turkey as Super Lig riches rival those on offer in Saudi Pro League.

Ranjit Bajaj Sparks Fresh Row, Rejects India U15 Team Job: “There Is No Point”. Minerva Academy owner Ranjit Bajaj rejected the role of Indian U15 football team manager just hours after his appointment.Minerva Academy owner Ranjit Bajaj rejected the role of Indian U15 football team manager just hours after his appointment. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) took a big call as they appointed Bajaj as the team manager while Bibiano Fernandes retained his position as head coach. Bajaj has been one of the most vocal critics of AIFF in the recent past and he has been a big advocate of developing the game at the grassroot levels in the country. However, Bajaj pointed out the difference between his style of football and the kind of football that Bibiano has played with the junior team in the past.

UEFA stands by World Cup boycott plans despite FIFA, Gianni Infantino apology.

UEFA said its participating members could still boycott FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, despite Gianni Infantino’s apology for his failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup.

Following a meeting of senior FIFA leadership in Rabat, Morocco, on Wednesday, the governing body acknowledged that “mistakes were made” over the proposal but “reaffirmed their full support” for Infantino’s presidency.

– Who could challenge Gianni Infantino for FIFA presidency?

UEFA’s member nations had announced their decision to boycott all FIFA tournaments in the immediate aftermath of FIFA’s World Cup privatization plans, and said Thursday they stand by their stance.

“UEFA’s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to the non participation in FIFA competitions,” UEFA said in a statement. “First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.

“These conditions have not been met. In addition, UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency. That position holds.”

CHESS

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz after leading the tournament from start to finish. The Indian grandmaster secured the title with a round to spare by holding Javokhir Sindarov in their penultimate-round encounter, before finishing 1½ points clear. The result moved Praggnanandhaa into second place in the Grand Chess Tour standings ahead of the Sinquefield Cup.

CRICKET

Ajinkya Rahane joins Amsterdam Flames for inaugural ETPL season.

Telegram taken down from Apple’s App Store, then restored: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov blamed an extortionist for allegedly planting CSAM (child sexual abuse material) in a public chat to get the app temporarily removed from the App Store. Apple on Monday night, August 3, removed Telegram from the App Store globally. The app was restored the next day after Apple said that Telegram had promptly removed the CSAM content and banned the user who posted it.

SpaceX may launch next Starship this month: SpaceX is aiming to launch the next test flight of its Starship megarocket before the end of August, with plans to attempt the first-ever catch of the vehicle’s upper stage using the launch tower, CEO Elon Musk announced during the company’s first quarterly earnings call since its historic public listing. The mission will be known as Starship Flight 14.

Hackers could use AI agents to spam WhatsApp contacts: Researchers at security firm Zenity have discovered security flaws that allow OpenAI’s Atlas to be tricked into spamming dozens of WhatsApp contacts. While the Meta-owned platform has rolled out several features to curb the menace, researchers warn that the next wave of spam delivered to your WhatsApp chat screen could be end-to-end automated by hijacking AI agents offered by leading AI companies such as OpenAI.

Demis Hassabis becomes Alphabet chief scientist: Google parent company Alphabet has overhauled its AI leadership, with Demis Hassabis, a Nobel Prize recipient, becoming chief scientist, Koray Kavukcuoglu taking operational control of Google DeepMind, and several senior Gemini leaders leaving to launch AI startup Discovery Loop.

This was announced on Wednesday.

Discovery Loop, AI startup launched by Google: Jeff Dean, the chief scientist at Google DeepMind, is leaving the company to launch a new AI startup called Discovery Loop, along with three other top-tier Google AI researchers. They are namely Oriol Vinyals, Sanjay Ghemawat and Quoc Le.

China’s humanoid robots: China, which supplies the vast majority of the world’s humanoid robots, has suddenly been cut off from its largest export market as the US government moves to curb its reliance on foreign technology. On Tuesday, the Trump Administration banned new humanoid and quadruped robot imports from foreign manufacturers, saying they pose “unacceptable risks” to US national security. The ban also includes power converters used to connect renewable energy infrastructure and batteries to the power grid.

The UAE’s bid for space sovereignty: From satellites to data systems, the United Arab Emirates is positioning space as a cornerstone of its economic future. Dr. Hamdullah Mohib of Orbitworks speaks to CNN about the UAE’s bid to become a global space power.

AI may not take away many jobs in countries like India: A new report by the World Bank states that the AI threat to jobs in emerging economies is smaller than expected, but one sector faces big risk.

Only 4.5 per cent of jobs in low- and middle-income countries are exposed to AI compared with 14.2 per cent in rich countries, according to a report published by the World Bank on Tuesday, August 4. Poorer economies are less likely to suffer widespread job losses due to AI because they are “still agrarian and reliant on small enterprises,” it said

Google’s $15 billion India data centre project battles water, wildlife concerns: Work to build Google’s planned Indian data centre hub is in full swing, with a ​hillside above the site stripped to red earth and terraced into steps, but mounting opposition from environmentalists is creating hurdles for the U.S. tech ‌giant’s project.

Microsoft opens its largest India data center hub: Microsoft launched its largest India data center in Hyderabad on Thursday and has signed up Adani Group and ​HDFC Bank among early users as it races ‌rivals for the country’s fast-growing AI market.The India South Central facility brings Microsoft’s cloud regions in India to four, adding to ​existing centers in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai, and ​cementing its position as the country’s largest cloud-computing ⁠provider.

SUPERB SCIENCES 

COVID can wake up a slew of dormant viruses: It was found according to a study of more than 1,000 people hospitalized with the disease, published today in Nature. The analysis finds that this reactivation of pathogens is linked to especially intense bouts of COVID-19 and to the development of long COVID.

Tiny patch of Amazon probably holds 40,000 insect species:

Tiny patch of Amazon probably holds 40,000 insect species , many new to science. The Mega project involving hundreds of sites is cataloguing rainforest insects. Hundreds of scientists in Brazil are collaborating on a quest to count every species of insect in one expanse of the Amazon — the largest insect-biodiversity study ever to explore the forest from the ground to the canopy.

40,000-year-old bird carvings provide clues to how ice age humans flourished: Newly discovered figurines in Hohle Fels Cave, Germany, point to skills that might have helped shape early humans’ expansion across Europe. Over the past three decades, archaeologists have dug up one jaw-dropping find after another. These include expertly crafted objects such as the world’s oldest human figurine — the 40,000-year-old ‘Venus of Hohle Fels’ — and the earliest known musical instruments

Mountain flower from China joins the world’s carnivorous plant club: For most insects, a flowering alpine plant might seem an unlikely predator. But researchers have discovered that a delicate wildflower that grows in rocky mountain crevices ​in southwestern China lures prey onto sticky hairs, digests their bodies and absorbs the nutrients left behind. It is the first confirmed carnivorous plant in its ‌botanical grouping.

Its scientific name is Saxifraga candelabrum, and it is a member of a diverse botanical order, a taxonomic category called Saxifragales, that spans more than 2,000 species.

Prehistoric people targeted mammoths:

New research shows that prehistoric people were highly selective in the mammoths they hunted.

Woolly mammoths were a favorite hunting target for Ice Age people in Eurasia and North America for many reasons. A single animal would provide a large amount ​of meat and fat. Its hide could be used for clothing. Its bones and tusks could be shaped into tools, weapons and art. And the largest bones ‌could be used as building material for shelters or other structures.

Total Solar Eclipse:

On August 12, 2026, Europe will experience its first total solar eclipse since 1999, as the moon’s shadow sweeps across Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain and the Balearic Islands.

Along the narrow path of totality, day will briefly turn to twilight as the moon completely covers the sun, revealing its elusive outer atmosphere.

A hidden supermassive black hole found: University of Maryland astronomers have identified a dormant supermassive black hole positioned far from the center of its host galaxy. The discovery marks the first time scientists have found an inactive black hole at such a great distance from a galactic core.

Because the black hole was not actively consuming matter, it would ordinarily have remained invisible. Its location was exposed only when it tore apart a passing star, producing a brief but powerful burst of light. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 27, 2026.

WEEKLY WATCH 

*MOVIE REVIEW: SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME*

Spider-Man: No Way Home brings together action, emotion, and nostalgia in one big story.

After his identity is exposed, Peter Parker asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell to make everyone forget. The spell goes wrong and opens the multiverse. Villains from other Spider-Man universes come to this world, including Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Electro.

Tom Holland gives his best performance as Peter, showing both the fun and the pain of being Spider-Man. The biggest surprise is seeing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return. Their scenes with Holland feel real and add a lot of heart to the movie.

The action is huge, but the story is really about responsibility and loss. The ending changes Peter’s life forever.

It is emotional, funny, and a perfect love letter to all Spider-Man fans. Worth watching on the big screen.