News Updates

• The International Cricket Council (ICC), led by Jay Shah, has announced a strategic goal to establish women's cricket as the most popular sport globally. • This initiative involves expanding the reach and visibility of the women's game through increased investment and structural support. • The move matters as it seeks to bridge the gender gap in sports popularity and capitalize on the growing global interest in female athletes.

• LTM has issued an offer to acquire Randstad's Technology and Consulting Services business across France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Australia. • The acquisition targets a business segment representing over $500 million (€469M) in annual revenue. • This strategic move aims to scale LTM's domain-driven solutions and AI services within these key international regions.

• The Indian stock market saw a recovery as the Nifty reclaimed the 23,800 level and the Rupee strengthened to move below 96. • Gains were driven by the Nifty Bank and financial services indices, which rose by approximately 0.8% and 0.77%, while media, realty, and IT sectors experienced declines. • Honasa Consumer shares hit a 10% upper circuit following strong Q4 results, reporting a 177.9% increase in net profit to Rs 69.2 crore and revenue growth of 23.1% to Rs 657.1 crore.

• SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its upgraded Starship rocket from Texas on Thursday after multiple countdown pauses caused by fuel temperature and pressure issues. • The company plans to retry the launch this coming Friday following the technical delays that occurred seconds before the planned liftoff. • Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Cuba that the U.S. remains focused on changing the island's communist system.

• SportsCafe is providing comprehensive daily coverage of football news, transfer updates, and match scores for 2025, with a specific focus on the Indian market. • The platform tracks both domestic Indian football and major international clubs, including Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Liverpool. • This service allows fans to stay current on breaking highlights and detailed player movements through a filtered search system for teams and tournaments.

• India and South Korea have officially exchanged agreements to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the critical field of Defence Cyber. • The deal includes a specific partnership to facilitate training and academic exchange between India's National Defence College and the Korea National Defence University. • This collaboration matters as it enhances the strategic security capabilities of both nations against evolving digital threats and cyber warfare.

Deputy Liberal leader says Coalition should listen ‘very carefully’ to results of Farrer byelection. Follow the latest updatesFederal budget 2026: what we know so farSee all our Australia budget 2026 coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAsked last night about a possible Liberal/National alliance with One Nation, Jane Hume refused to reject the idea outright.Pressed on the possible scenario, she said “only One Nation are in favour of that” and wouldn’t talk about “what is going to happen after the next election”.The most important is to get the primary vote up for the Liberal and National party … There are so many hypotheticals … I will say that the Coalition are determined and dedicated to present to the Australian public a platform that they can vote for …There is no-one in the Coalition party room today that is telling us we need to expand the Coalition to include One Nation.The message we sent in Farrer was that the teals vote with Greens, 70% of the time and for the people of Farrer that wasn’t going to represent their interests … We will always put our preferences where we think the national interests lies, where we think the interests of the electorate lies and that is what we did in Farrer.They wanted change. Standing on a booth with teals in orange on one side and One Nation in orange on the other, both of them were saying ‘vote for change’.This is … a byelection that nobody wanted. It occurred only a year after the election, after a local member had retired, after a quarter of a century which is a long time to have a seat … There was no love lost for the Labor party either. It is just that the Labor party didn’t have the balls to turn up … The Liberal party lost its way. The Coalition lost its way. We split twice in the last 12 months. There is frustration out there. We will take the result with humility. Continue reading...