NEET Protest Legal Relief: The Delhi government announced it will drop cases against participants of the youth-led “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) protests over NEET-UG exam irregularities. This follows the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. However, the legal relief excludes individuals with prior criminal records.

Parliament Storm: Opposition MPs staged intense protests inside the Parliament complex, demanding answers over the alleged use of pellet guns against student demonstrators and raising questions regarding donation management for the Ram Temple.

Vande Mataram Bill: The Lok Sabha is currently debating a bill aimed at criminalising insults to Vande Mataram, sparking strong constitutional objections from opposition leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi.

Assam Flood Crisis: Flooding in Assam has worsened, with the official death toll rising to 78 fatalities. The disaster continues to affect hundreds of thousands of people across multiple districts.

Monsoon Alerts: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued heavy rainfall alerts extending until August 3 for several regions, including Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh, raising further concerns over localized waterlogging.

Diplomatic Row with NYT: The Indian Embassy in the US publicly called out The New York Times for using a “misleading and incorrect” headline that referred to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as “Pakistani Kashmir,” reiterating that the region remains an integral part of India.

Office Relocation: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is set to shift his official office to the iconic 23-story Air India building at Nariman Point, a move expected to save the state government ₹200 crore in rental expenses.

Former PM Manmohan Singh gets posthumous clean chit: Recalling the coal block ‘scam’ case that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was probing.

FSSAI Energy Drink Directive: Major brands like Red Bull, Monster, and PepsiCo have been given 90 days to remove “energy drink” branding due to misbranding regulations.

French ex-pilot, who claimed IAF lost Rafales, praised Chinese jets, held for spying for China. A former French Navy pilot was detained and probed in France over allegations that he passed sensitive military information to China. The pilot, Pierre-Henri Chuet, had claimed that India lost Rafale jets during Operation Sindoor to Pakistan’s Chinese warplanes. The French Navy pilot was detained and is being investigated in France for passing on sensitive military information to Chinese operatives.

India-China Border Trade: Border trade via the historic Nathu La Pass in Sikkim is set to resume on August 1 after a six-year hiatus.

U.S. Strikes: The U.S. launched a “heavy wave” of strikes hitting multiple targets inside Iran—including Qeshm Island, Bushehr, and Khuzestan province. The United States and Iran have resumed intense overnight exchanges of fire.

Japan earthquake death toll rises to 34 as evacuees battle sweltering heat. Rescuers are still working to find survivors after the magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Kumamoto on Kyushu island on Tuesday, July 28,2026,  causing widespread damage to houses and power lines.

Several people died after part of a shopping centre collapsed and an explosion ripped through the mall about an hour later.

Heatwave and Blazes: Severe heatwaves hitting France and Spain with temperatures soaring to 40°C are feeding aggressive wildfires. Meanwhile, in stark contrast to Europe’s fires, an exceptionally serious drought in UK has officially triggered restrictions across half of England.

Deadly Strikes in Ukraine: A series of Russian missile strikes targeted a village near Kryvyi Rih, killing six people—including three children. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Ukraine’s safety rests heavily on its allies providing immediate anti-missile defense support.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Physician and former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of United States, invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during a contentious Senate hearing led by Sen. Rand Paul, prompting Republican plans for a contempt of Congress vote.  On the advice of his lawyers, he repeatedly declined to answer questions regarding COVID-19 origins and pandemic policies.

Death toll tops 1,500 in fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, says Congo. The outbreak declared on May 15 is unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks because the Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments. Ebola is rare but highly contagious and can be contracted via bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is severe and often fatal.

The Chinese robot army is transforming the UK’s retail industry. Geek+, which listed in Hong Kong last year in one of the biggest robotics share sales of 2025, has become the world’s largest supplier of autonomous mobile robots. Geek+ is developing humanoid robots for picking and packing.

BTS withdraws from Grammys, a month after Asian pop prize is introduced: Korean pop group BTS have announced they will not submit their music for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards. “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year,” a translation of the message read. “I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”

SPORTS SCOREBOARD

FIFA’s Infantino scraps controversial World Cup private investment plan

FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, faced fierce backlash across the football world over plans to sell a stake in World Cup.

World football’s governing body, FIFA, has said it will not proceed with its proposal to sell a piece of its business empire to outside investors after the project ⁠was met with fierce resistance from some of its member associations.

FIFA’s plan was to raise up to $4.2bn by selling about a 20 percent stake in a new unit that would run FIFA events including the ‌World Cup, valuing it at $20bn.

The proposal, first announced on Tuesday, was strongly opposed by European football’s governing body, UEFA, In a statement, UEFA said that it was “irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret”.

The Switzerland-based organisation’s statement also accused FIFA of putting the sport’s “soul” up for sale.

“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature ⁠that, regardless of the level of support, are ⁠no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.  “Our purpose has always been – and will ⁠always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”Earlier on Friday, ⁠Infantino’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned with ⁠immediate effect, calling the plan “a bad deal for football”.

Pathirage beats Chopra and Nadeem to win Commonwealth gold in javelin

Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage wins gold, while Neeraj Chopra takes silver, but Arshad Nadeem ,makes early exit.The 23-year-old faced  dauntingthe prospect in Glasgow of battling the great Pakistan and India pairing of Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra, so long the top two in the discipline.

Commonwealth Games: Gavit, Basil script historic 1-2 finish for India in men’s 100m T47 final.Gavit clocked a Games record and season-best time of 10.71 seconds to take the top spot with a clear lead, while Basil produced a season-best 10.83 seconds to finish second in a closely-fought race. India scripted history in para athletics at the Commonwealth Games by securing a historic one-two finish in the men’s 100m T47 final, with Dilip Mahadu Gavit winning gold and Mohammed Basil Morssinganakath claiming silver.

Asmita Dey, Harsh Singh make history as India’s first gold medallists in judo at Commonwealth Games. The former edges out Canada’s Quach in a nail-biting contest in the women’s 48kg final, while the latter pulls off a huge win over Australia’s Katz in the men’s 60kg gold-medal bout. Indian judokas added to the country’s celebrations by clinching two historic gold medals at the Commonwealth Games at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow on Friday (July 31, 2026).Asmita Dey defeated Heidi Quach of Canada 2-1 in the 48kg women’s final while Harsh Singh stunned Joshua Katz of Australia, who was the reigning bronze medallist, 10-0 in the men’s 60kg summit clash.

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HEAL THE WORLD 

Spain’s PM visits Ceuta after 57 migrants die breaching border from Morocco. Regional leader says 60,000 crossed into Ceuta by land and sea as EU chief calls situation ‘unacceptable’. At least 57 migrants trying to reach the Spanish territory of Ceuta have died after breaching the border from Morocco, as tens of thousands of people entered the enclave⁠in the past 24 ⁠hours. The Spanish government confirmed the raised death toll on Friday evening. Earlier in the day, Juan Jesus Vivas, the regional president of the North African Spanish enclave, had told reporters that 34 people had perished, without giving details about how they died. He said about 60,000 people had crossed from Morocco into Ceuta by land and sea, many by swimming around a border barrier stretching into the water. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who travelled to Ceuta on Friday, said his government was mobilising all available resources in response to the situation. Sanchez called the crossings a “violation” of Spanish territorial sovereignty, saying that authorities were speeding up the repatriation of this week’s arrivals. Spain’s Ministry of Interior said some 25,000 people were returned from Ceuta to Morocco so far on Friday.

Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers’ association representing Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, called the situation a “serious humanitarian crisis”, saying thousands of migrants, including unaccompanied children, were sleeping on sidewalks, while others roamed the streets aimlessly.

HAMAS DIARMAMENT AGREEMENT– World reacts with cautious optimism to Hamas disarmament agreement. Deal for Hamas to disarm in stages in return for Israeli withdrawal has been announced, but implementation will be key.

Palestinian group Hamas has announced that it has agreed to a deal aimed at fully ending Israel’s war on Gaza, which has inflicted death and destruction on the enclave for nearly three years. The agreement, which was confirmed on Thursday and Friday by the United States and other mediators, requires Hamas to make provisions to disarm and surrender its weapons in stages. Meanwhile, Israel would withdraw its forces.

The agreement was announced late on Thursday by President Donald Trump, after the US-led Board of Peace and International Stabilization Force for Gaza announced that mediators from Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the US had finalised a roadmap for moving on to the next phase of the ceasefire. A truce deal was struck last October, but has failed to halt the hostilities, albeit the violence has been scaled back. Trump heralded the deal as “a historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza” and “a monumental step toward lasting peace and security”. However, given the failure of the first phase of the ceasefire, and the deep mistrust between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, concern regarding the likely implementation of the agreement, and the potential for it to end the violence, is rife.