The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has now cleared director Mu Muran’s much-awaited thriller drama ‘Blackmail’, featuring actor, music director and producer G V Prakash in the lead, for release with a clean U/A certificate.

Taking to its X timeline, JDS Film Factory, the production house that has produced the film, said, "#Blackmail U/A Censored Certificate."

It may be recalled that the film which was originally scheduled to hit screens worldwide on August 1 this year was indefinitely postponed just a day before its release.

Fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been released from India’s squad, after not being included in playing XI for the ongoing fifth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test against England at The Oval, due to workload management, said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

In a significant breakthrough, railway authorities in Assam foiled a human trafficking operation at Tinsukia railway station, rescuing 26 minor girls and young women who were reportedly being trafficked to Tamil Nadu using forged documents, officials said on Friday.

The joint operation, carried out by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRPF), was part of a routine inspection.

A total of 1,704 centres dialysis centres are operational till June 30 in India, said Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav on Friday.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Jadhav said that the dialysis centres, under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP), are operational in 751 districts in 36 states.

"There is a total of 1,704 centres operational as of June 30,” Jadhav said.

He informed that the government has recommended setting up of haemodialysis centres in all the district hospitals initially and on saturation scale down till the Community Health Centres (CHCs) at the taluka level.

Actress Aneet Padda, who has been getting a lot of positive response to her work in the recently released film ‘Saiyaara’, is overwhelmed with the love poured by her alma mater in Amritsar, Punjab.

On Friday, the actress took to her Instagram, and shared a video in which the teachers at her school can be seen recollecting how she was a student, and was always a promising talent, taking up theatre at a very tender age.

She also penned a long note in the caption, as she spoke about the love given to her by her school. She wrote, “I don’t even know how to put this into words. Watching this, I just sat there with the biggest smile on my face and tears in my eyes. Dales is where I’ve grown up, where I’ve learnt how to dream big, where people believed in me long before I even had the courage to believe in myself. To see my teachers, my mentors, and even the students come together to make something this beautiful is overwhelming in the best way”.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday dismissed the plea of actress-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut for quashing the summoning order against her by a local court in Bathinda in a defamation case over her farm protest remark against an elderly woman farmer.

"There are specific allegations against the petitioner who is a celebrity, that false and defamatory imputations by her in the retweet have dented the respondent's reputation and lowered her in her own estimation, as also in the eyes of others. Therefore, filing of the complaint to vindicate her rights cannot be termed mala fide," Justice Tribhuvan Singh Dahiya observed.

The defamation complaint against the BJP's Member of Parliament was filed by Mahinder Kaur (73) of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda district, alleging that Kangana had defamed her in a post on the social media platform X by identifying her wrongly as Bilkis Bano of Shaheen Bagh fame and implying that such women could be hired to protest for Rs 100.

UAE will host Pakistan and Afghanistan in a seven-match T20I Tri-Series at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium from August 29. The three teams will play each other twice in the six-match group stage. The top two teams will then compete in the final on September 7.

Afghanistan will take on Pakistan in the tournament opener on August 29. Host UAE will open their campaign against Pakistan on August 30 followed by Afghanistan’s clash against UAE on September 1 and their second group-stage match against Pakistan on September 2.

Pakistan and UAE’s second group-stage match will be played on September 4 followed by the Afghanistan-UAE match on September 5.

The tournament will provide the ideal preparation opportunity to the three teams ahead of the eight-team ACC Asia Cup 2025 which will be played in the UAE from September 9.

Fintech company One MobiKwik Systems reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 41.9 crore for the April-June quarter(Q1 FY26), surging over 6 times from the Rs 6.6 crore loss reported during the same period the previous year.

According to its regulatory filing, the company's operating revenue was Rs 271.3 crore, around a 21 per cent decrease from the Rs 342.2 crore recorded in Q1 FY25.

However, MobiKwik demonstrated some improvement on a sequential basis, with revenue rising marginally by 1.3 per cent from Rs 267.7 crore. The losses have also decreased from Rs 56 crore in the previous quarter (Q4 FY25).

India does not make trade deals under any pressure or deadlines, and there is no chance to compromise on farmers, dairy and agriculture interests, government officials here said on Friday.

According to officials familiar with the subject, the 25 per cent tariff hike imposed by US President Donald Trump from August 1 is not at all alarming for the Indian markets.

“There is absolutely no chance of compromising on farmers, dairy and MSMEs, and no chance of allowing import of genetically-modified crops either,’ said officials, adding that "lower tariffs on Pakistan and Bangladesh will have no impact on us".

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the schedule for the 17th Vice Presidential election, with polling to be held on September 9.

The election is being held to fill the vacancy in the Vice President's office following a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs dated July 22. The new Vice President will serve a full five-year term from the date the office is assumed.

According to the schedule shared by the poll panel, the notification for the election will be issued on August 7, last date for making nominations is August 21, date for the scrutiny of nominations on August 22, last date for the withdrawal of candidatures is August 25, the date of poll (if needed) on September 9 (between 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.) and the date of counting (if needed) on the same day of polling.

The Vice President is elected by an electoral college consisting of members from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The 2025 electoral college is composed of 788 members, including 233 elected (presently five seats are vacant in the Upper House) and 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha (one seat vacant in the Lower House).