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The rupee fell to a record low of 95.3 against the US dollar on account of rising global oil prices and selling in the domestic equity markets. It had recovered to 94.2 against the dollar by the time the day’s trade session closed.

Global oil prices rose more than 7% on Thursday to a four-year high following a report that United States President Donald Trump was planning an extended US blockade of Iranian ports.

The benchmark Brent crude touched $126.4 per barrel before falling to $116 per barrel. The price of Brent was $78 per barrel on February 27, a day before the conflict started. Read on.

India’s rank in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index fell to 157 of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières said. In 2025, the country was ranked 151st.

It remains in the “very serious” category, said the non-government organisation that has been publishing the World Press Freedom Index since 2002. “In India, judicial harassment of independent media is intensifying, driven by the growing use of criminal statutes – defamation and national security laws among them – directly targeting journalists,” said the organisation.

Among its neighbours, India ranks below Nepal (87), the Maldives (108), Sri Lanka (134), Bhutan (150), Bangladesh (152) and Pakistan (153). Read on.

A Delhi court granted bail to Vinesh Chandel, director of political consultancy firm I-PAC, in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged coal smuggling operation in West Bengal. The Enforcement Directorate, which had arrested Chandel on April 13, did not oppose his bail.

Chandel was arrested days before the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections. I-PAC, or the Indian Political Action Committee, has managed the Trinamool Congress’ election campaigns, including the 2021 Assembly elections. It was also managing the party’s campaign for the 2026 Assembly polls.

Voting for the West Bengal elections was held on April 23 and April 29, the results will be announced on May 4. Read on.

Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti was booked for sharing on social media an old video of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani discussing the importance of the Urdu language. The police accused her of propagating “separatist and secessionist narrative through digital platforms”.

In her post, Iltija Mufti said that while she “may not concur” with Geelani’s ideology, she agreed with his remarks in the undated video.

Iltija Mufti has been leading the Peoples Democratic Party’s protest against the Omar Abdullah government for dropping Urdu, one of the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir, from the newly amended draft recruitment rules for revenue posts. Read on.

The Supreme Court declined to entertain a petition by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences against an order from last week allowing the termination of a 30-week pregnancy of a minor girl. Chief Justice Surya Kant noted that the minor had been raped and would have a “lifelong scar and trauma” if the medical procedure was not allowed.

The court said that it would “not allow the institution to choose for the parents”. However, it allowed AIIMS doctors to counsel the girl and her family so that they could make an informed choice.

Earlier in the day, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati told the bench that the foetus is now 30 weeks old and in four weeks, the newborn could be given for adoption. Kant, however, said that the hospital should consider not just the condition of the foetus, but also the trauma faced by the minor. Read on.

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