Daily News Digest — Top Stories, August 10, 2026

National & Politics

Jharkhand Cancels Three Recruitment Exams Amid Student Protests

Following two weeks of student protests in Ranchi over alleged irregularities in State recruitment examinations, the Jharkhand government agreed to cancel the JPSC preliminary exam and two backlog exams. An Enforcement Directorate probe has also been ordered, though protesters continue to demand a CBI investigation into a separate staff selection exam.

India’s Delimitation Debate: What Changes After the 2027 Census

With the BJP pushing for a Constitutional amendment to expand the Lok Sabha to 850 seats and reserve a third of seats for women, this explainer breaks down how a fresh, census-linked delimitation could reshape seat distribution, with southern States likely to lose relative share and Hindi-heartland States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan set to gain.

Congress to Oppose FCRA Amendment Bill in Parliament

The Congress has issued a whip asking its MPs to remain present in Parliament through August 12, warning it will strongly resist the proposed Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill, which it alleges targets minority-run NGOs. Mizoram’s Chief Minister and several Christian church bodies have separately urged the Centre to send the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

States News Update

Kashmiri Pandit Body Flags ‘Terror Threat’ Communication

A Kashmiri Pandit organisation has demanded a probe into an online threat communication that named individuals working in Kashmir under a government rehabilitation scheme, prompting several employees to reportedly go on leave amid renewed security concerns following recent targeted killings in south Kashmir.

Ladakh to Conduct India’s First Digital Caste Census

Ladakh will lead the country’s second Census phase from August 17, becoming the first region to record caste data since Independence through an open-ended column. Officials are also printing paper schedules for defence-sensitive, snow-bound border areas that cannot be geo-tagged for security reasons.

Assam Floods: Death Toll Crosses 100 as Sivasagar Reels

Unprecedented localised floods across Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat districts have killed 101 people and affected 7.21 lakh residents since April, exposing gaps in disaster preparedness in regions with no recent history of major flooding. Authorities point to erratic rainfall patterns and unresolved concerns over riverbed mining as aggravating factors.

Kerala Government May Row Back Vande Mataram Directive

Facing Opposition charges of bowing to RSS pressure, Kerala’s Health Minister indicated only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung at State programmes, even as the Chief Minister’s Office has not officially clarified or withdrawn the Chief Secretary’s earlier directive.

International News Update

Netanyahu Rejects Trump-Backed Gaza Peace Plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally rejected the 15-point Gaza plan endorsed by the United States and Hamas, insisting troops will not withdraw until Hamas disarms. The move, driven partly by pressure from his right-wing base ahead of October elections, marks a rare public rift with Washington.

Houthi Strikes Kill 11 in Yemen; Saudi Oil Facility Targeted

At least 11 people, including eight military personnel, were killed as Houthi rebels struck Yemen’s port city of Mokha, while a separate drone salvo hit a Saudi Aramco oil refinery on the Red Sea coast, signalling a further breakdown of the fragile Yemen civil war truce.

Russia-Ukraine Overnight Strikes Leave Seven Dead

Cross-border drone and missile strikes killed civilians on both sides over the weekend, with Russian strikes hitting Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa and Kharkiv, while Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Belgorod region, as both countries continue long-range attacks on energy and infrastructure targets.

Explainer: The New Pakistan-Saudi-Turkiye Defence Pact

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, under which an attack on any one of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Turkiye would be treated as an attack on all three, marks a significant regional realignment following the US-Iran conflict. Analysts remain divided on whether it signals a genuine ‘Muslim NATO’ or a largely symbolic response to shared security anxieties, with implications for India’s own strategic balancing in West Asia.

Sports News Update

Ashmita Chaliha Wins Maiden BWF World Tour Title

Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha rallied from a game down to beat China’s Han Qian Xi in the Korea Masters Super 300 final, claiming her first BWF World Tour title and continuing India’s strong recent run in badminton after Tanvi Sharma’s Taipei Open win the previous week.

Sarfaraz Khan Returns to India’s Test Squad for Sri Lanka Tour

Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan has been recalled to India’s Test squad after 20 months, replacing the injured B. Sai Sudharsan for the two-match series against Sri Lanka beginning in Galle, as India continues to manage a growing list of injury-enforced changes ahead of the tour.

Science & Technology

Study Finds Inherited Traits That Break Mendel’s Genetic Rules

Johns Hopkins researchers studying mice have found that certain inherited traits are passed on not through gene mutations but through chemical modifications of DNA that can change depending on an animal’s sex, skip Mendelian inheritance patterns, and in some cases even copy themselves from one gene copy to another — a finding that could reshape how scientists study heritable human diseases.

Physicists Move Closer to Confirming ‘Glueball’ Particles Exist

Data from China’s BESIII experiment has strengthened the case that a particle called X(2370) is a glueball — a theoretical particle made entirely from gluons, the carriers of the strong nuclear force — offering some of the strongest evidence yet for a form of matter built purely from force-carrying particles.