Tottenham Hotspur have qualified for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League after winning the UEFA Europa League final 1-0 in Bilbao with a goal by Brennan Johnson in the 42nd minute.

With Spurs set to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League, there will therefore be six English teams in the 2025/26 league phase for the Champions League. They will be joined by the teams who finish in the top five of this season's Premier League

It means the Premier League will have SIX clubs in the Champions League next season, the first time any league has had more than five clubs in Europe's leading competition in the same campaign.

The global growth continues to face headwinds with persistent trade frictions, heightened policy uncertainty, and weak consumer sentiment weighing on the outlook. Despite this, the Indian economy is exhibiting resilience even after high trade and tariff-related concerns, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.

Persistent trade frictions, heightened policy uncertainty, and weak consumer sentiment continue to create headwinds for global growth.

“Amidst these challenges, the Indian economy exhibited resilience. Various high frequency indicators of industrial and services sectors sustained their momentum in April,” according to the RBI Bulletin.

A bumper rabi harvest and higher acreage for summer crops, coupled with favourable southwest monsoon forecasts for 2025, augur well for the agriculture sector.

Eleven fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard earlier this year, returned home on Wednesday night to an emotional reception at Chennai airport.

The fishermen, all residents of Rameswaram, had set out to sea on January 11 for a routine fishing expedition. However, they were intercepted mid-sea by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

Their boats were seized, and the fishermen were taken into custody, later remanded in judicial custody and lodged in a Sri Lankan prison.

The arrests sparked concern in Tamil Nadu, prompting Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to appeal to the Union government for immediate intervention.

The South Korean consortium has a competitive advantage in technology transfer over its Chinese rival as it vies to win the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) high-speed railway project, estimated to cost $13.6 billion, Seoul's transport minister said.

Transport Minister Park Sang-woo said that the Korean consortium, consisting of the Korea National Railway, Korea Railroad Corp., Hyundai Rotem Co. and POSCO E&C Co., has passed the pre-qualification procedure to enter the official bid for the Middle Eastern country's railway project.

Park was in the eastern German city of Leipzig to attend the three-day International Transport Forum (ITF) Summit.

"Our primary focus is on technology transfer on top of product quality, while China appears to focus on the price dimension," Park told News Agency.

The domestic benchmark indices opened lower on Thursday amid negative global cues as selling was seen in the IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.26 am, Sensex was trading 726.42 points or 0.89 per cent down at 80,870.21 while the Nifty declined 225.0 point or 0.91 per cent at 24,588.45

Nifty Bank was down 336.20 points or 0.61 per cent at 54,738.90. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,312.00 after dropping 307.60 points or 0.54 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,509.10 after declining 39.50 points or 0.23 per cent.

According to analysts, technically, a breakout above or below the inside bar's range could offer clear directional cues. On the downside, 24,600 remains a critical immediate support, with stronger support near 24,500. A breakdown below this level could increase selling pressure and drag the Nifty index toward the 24,300–24,000 zone.

Heavy rain, hail, and powerful winds battered several parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday evening, providing much-needed relief from the scorching summer heat but also causing widespread disruption across the region.

Visuals from Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport showed continuous rainfall, while strong winds swept through central and western Delhi. Areas such as Gol Market and Lodi Road experienced a brief but intense hailstorm, adding to the dramatic shift in weather. In Noida, drivers reported navigating through sheets of rain and hail, leading to low visibility and waterlogged roads.

Security forces have seized contraband and cattle valued at Rs 3.94 crore in Manipur and Tripura during the past 24 hours, officials said, adding that four people were arrested in connection with the illegal trades.

A Defence spokesman said that based on specific intelligence, a joint operation was launched by a team of Assam Rifles and Manipur Police at Savomphai in Jiribam district, leading to the arrest of two drug peddlers.

The security personnel recovered 98 bags of foreign cigarettes, with each bag containing 1,000 cigarette packets and having an overall estimated value of Rs 2 crore.

The Indian economy is projected to expand by 7.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024-25, due to an improvement in the agriculture sector and a sharp increase in net indirect tax, according to Barclays.

"We think the agriculture sector growth is likely to show improvement year-on-year, as suggested by advance estimates of crop production, which show record high wheat production. Accordingly, we estimate agriculture GVA growth at 5.8 per cent in Q4, accelerating from 5.6 per cent in Q3," Barclays's India Chief Economist, Aastha Gudwani, said.

Meanwhile, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on Monday that India’s foodgrain production has increased by over 106 lakh tonnes to 1,663.91 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, which represents a 6.83 per cent increase over the corresponding figure of the previous year.

Gujarat is set to witness an extended spell of pre-monsoon rainfall as an upper air cyclonic circulation continues to persist over the Arabian Sea.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), widespread light to heavy rain is expected across the state through May 27. The weather agency has issued a series of alerts, with orange warnings for parts of coastal South Gujarat and Saurashtra on May 23 and May 25, indicating the likelihood of heavy to very heavy downpours.

Yellow alerts have also been issued for multiple districts on other days, pointing to moderate rainfall and the possibility of thunderstorms. On May 22, the alert extends to Anand, Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Bharuch, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Gir Somnath, and Diu. An orange alert has been issued for Navsari, Valsad, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Amreli, and Bhavnagar on May 23, while a yellow alert remains in place for Rajkot, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Bharuch, Surat, Narmada, Tapi, and Dang.

recently spotted practicing with the red ball during a net session, here on Wednesday.

While his teammates focused on power-hitting and death-over strategies, Gill took a brief detour from the slam-bang format to hone his technique against the red cherry. The sight of the elegant right-hander defending and driving with classical poise sparked speculation: is Gill already thinking ahead to the high-stakes Test series against England slated for next month?

Sources suggest that Gill, who is expected to play a crucial role in India's top order, is intent on refining his red-ball game. The five-match series in England will be a significant test of India's batting depth and temperament, and Gill seems keen on ensuring that he's prepared both mentally and technically.