No cash payments at highway tolls from April 1? NHAI weighs FASTag, UPI-only payments

National Highaways (File photo- PTI) Commuters on National Highways may soon have to rely entirely on digital payment modes at toll plazas, as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is considering phasing out cash transactions nationwide.Post implementation, all toll payments at National Highway fee plazas will be processed exclusively through digital modes using FASTag…

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‘Not a negotiated document’: India clarifies on signing UN statement condemning Israel’s West Bank expansion | India News

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal (ANI photo) NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs on Friday said the United Nations joint statement India signed was not a “negotiated document” that condemned Israel’s West Bank expansion.The foreign ministry said New Delhi’s stand on the expansion issue was already expressed in the India-Arab League Ministerial meeting that laid…

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‘India diversifying oil sourcing’: US envoy Sergio Gor notes Russia shift – what he said on Venezuela option

NEW DELHI: India on Friday reiterated its position on Russian oil purchases and the possibility of sourcing crude from Venezuela, after remarks by US envoy Sergio Gor. Clarifying New Delhi’s stance, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India would consider Venezuelan crude if it was “commercially viable,” reaffirming the government’s earlier position on…

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‘PM Modi torn between grips of US & China’: Rahul returns with jiu-jitsu analogy; explains why he used it in Parliament | India News

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition on Friday unpacked his fiery “jiu-jitsu” analogy from the Budget Session speech, detailing the “political grips and chokes” squeezing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a video post on X, Gandhi highlighted the Gautam Adani indictment, plus the Epstein files that mention Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Anil…

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India gets first WIM from Northeast: How 15-year-old Arshiya Das is rewriting chess geography | Chess News

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements) NEW DELHI: In a region where borders blur into mountains and valleys fold into one another, India’s Northeast has never lacked talent. What it has lacked, for decades, is attention. Its athletes have long defined a culture of discipline that rarely seeks validation from the mainland.And today, riding on India’s unequivocal…

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Break the spine, but spare the bones: How Taliban is crushing women, one rule at a time

The Taliban has introduced a new penal code in Afghanistan that formalises some of its most hardline policies, prompting concern among human rights groups about the consequences for women and children. Signed by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, the 90-page criminal code allows husbands to physically discipline their wives and children as long as it does…

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