Honours

• King Charles hosted an honours ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday, where several high-profile figures were recognized for their achievements. • Recipients included actor Idris Elba, comedian Meera Syal, and skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. • Dame Jayne Torvill, 68, noted that the timing of the award is "perfect" as it follows the duo's final professional ice dancing tour and retirement.

• Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann honored 1,070 medal-winning athletes and 87 Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award recipients from 2019-2023, distributing ₹32 crore in prize money. • To clear the awards backlog, most funds were sent via direct benefit transfer, while Olympic and Asian Games medallists received ₹1 crore each and nine players were granted jobs. • The state is investing heavily in grassroots sports, allocating a record ₹1,763-crore budget for 2026-27 and spending ₹1,300 crore to develop 3,148 rural sports grounds.

The honour recognises Albanese’s work ‘documenting and denouncing violations of international law in Gaza’The Spanish government awarded the UN legal expert Francesca Albanese one of its highest civilian honours in recognition of what it termed her “extensive work in documenting and denouncing violations of international law in Gaza”.Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer who serves as UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, has been vocal in her criticisms of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, which she has described as genocide. Continue reading...