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Representative image. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The rate of unemployment in the country among persons aged 15 years and above rose slightly to 5% in January this year from 4.8% in December 2025, according to a government survey released on Monday (February 16, 2026).The UR (unemployment rate) or joblessness recorded a marginal increase in January in both rural and urban areas, showed the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). The data also showed a lower labour force participation rate (LFPR) as well as workers population ratio (WPR) across the rural and urban areas. The National Statistics Office (NSO) under…

Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan during a practice session on the eve of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, cricket match between Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates, at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on February 15, 2026. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan became the first player to achieve 700 T20 wickets during Afghanistan’s group-stage match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), being played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Monday (February 16, 2026).He got one wicket in the match, conceding 24 runs in his four overs as Afghanistan halted the UAE to 160/9…

Varanasi is awake. Even before the morning sun’s rays hit Varanasi’s ghats, the Ganga Aarthi begins. Replete with chanting of hymns, this aarthi, an everyday ritual, is an offering to the magnificent river.On its banks, a rare quiet envelopes Assi Ghat. Someone is chanting ‘Om’. A few yards away, someone else is offering a surya namaskar to the rising sun. This quaint ghat gets its name from the legend of Devi Durga throwing down her sword (‘asi’ in Sanskrit) after slaying demon-brothers Shumbh-Nishumbh, thus creating a river named Asi; it is considered among the most sacred in this town. These…

I am beginning to feel quite like ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’, who was destined to be ignored. For, I was sceptical last week about the India-EU free trade agreement. Now I am equally sceptical about the India-US trade ‘deal’, which actually a sort of statement of direction about the way to an actual deal. But I have reasons for that.Reason No. 1: Trump’s Exaggeration and U-TurnsThe very first reason for the scepticism about the India-US lovefest is that it was announced by President Donald Trump, who, in the past six months, has, in his whimsical way, executed any number…

An optical colour composite image of the viewing field taken from the PanSTARRS survey. The yellow cross-hair indicates the position of the star. | Photo Credit: DOI: 10.1126/science.adt485 When a sufficiently massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses and triggers a supernova, a dramatic explosion that scatters the star’s outer layers into space. But scientists have long suspected that sometimes, the explosion fails and instead of a supernova, the star just… disappears.In a recent paper in Science, astronomers have reported observational evidence of such a star in the Andromeda Galaxy, dubbed M31-2014-DS1.The star was a supergiant about 100,000-times…

HyderabadStudents of Resonance Junior Colleges registered an outstanding performance in the JEE Main 2026 Session 1 examination, with 63 from the college securing above the 99 percentile, and over 505 getting the 99 percentile in different subjects.The performers, along with their parents and faculty members, were felicitated by Purnachandra Rao, Director, Resonance Educational Institutions (Telangana & Andhra Pradesh) on Friday.Mr. Purnachandra Rao highlighted the effectiveness of Resonance’s structured curriculum, experienced faculty, and personalised mentoring system. The top five students are Samriddh Bhattacharya, Revanth Vangala, Saketh Reddy Bommadi, Buneti Adithya Reddy and Settipalli Anwitha Reddy, a press release said. Published -…

The tragic collapse of the Mujpur-Ghambira bridge in Vadodara, Gujarat, which claimed 20 lives, has cast a harsh light on the state’s crumbling infrastructure and official negligence. Despite repeated warnings from locals and even internal assessments acknowledging structural risks, no action was taken until disaster struck. This in-depth ground report by The Hindu’s Abhinay Deshpande uncovers the systemic failures, community grief, and political fallout in a state where at least six bridges have collapsed in the past four years.Reporting: Abhinay DeshpandeVideo: Abhinay Deshpande and Vijaukumar SonejiScript: Shikha Kumari AEditing: Tayyab HussainVoiceover: Vishnoo Jotshi Published – July 25, 2025 10:42 am…

Budget 2026 has initiated, albeit limited, some important shifts in India’s approach to financial-sector reform. There are proposals to introduce a market-making framework for corporate bonds, develop total-return swaps and bond-index derivatives, establish an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund, and recycle Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) real estate assets through dedicated Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT). But all these reflect an implicit recognition of a deeper structural problem: Indian banks are shouldering risks that functioning markets absorb elsewhereOverburdened balance sheetsWhen Indian banks struggle, weak governance, political interference, and poor risk management are the usual explanations. Each contains some truth. Taken together,…

Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka, left, shakes hands with Australia’s Steve Smith after the Lankans won the T20 World Cup cricket match on February 16, 2026 | Photo Credit: AP Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka on Monday (February 16, 2026) described his team’s win over Australia in the T20 World Cup here as “one of the best performances in recent past”. Swashbuckling opener Pathum Nissanka struck a belligerent 52-ball 100 to power Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win and secure their place in the Super Eights. “One of the best performances in recent past. Happy about the way first innings went,”…

The sounds of the forest deepen; the rustle of bamboo, the rhythmic call of drongos and somewhere ahead, the faint alarm call of a spotted deer. A few turns later, as we round a bend, a tiger appears, reclining beneath a sal tree, its striped flank rising and falling in slow rhythm. For a moment, all sound stills. The forest holds its breath.I am on a safari at Bandhavgarh, with Guljar Singh, who has been exploring these forests for years. “The forest changes with every rain,” he says as we drive past patches of grassland and sal thickets, the sunlight…