Image of the Day: "Mining Push Meets Tribal Resistance" — Satyasundar Barik (The Hindu) This is the finest piece of journalism in the entire edition. Barik travels to the Sijimali hills in south Odisha and builds the story from the ground up, anchoring it in the voice of Hamdu Majhi, a Kondh tribesman whose trembling words open the piece with immediate human weight. The reporting is layered across multiple dimensions simultaneously — corporate interest (Vedanta Group's alumina refinery), constitutional law (Forest Rights Act, PESA), environmental science, economic data (311 million tonnes of bauxite reserves, Rs 2,511 crore in projected annual revenue), historical precedent (the Niyamgiri referendum of 2013), and the lived experience of villagers including pregnant women and schoolgirls arrested during police operations. What distinguishes the piece analytically is that it refuses simple binaries; it presents the state's economic rationale honestly

Pune Police have booked four journalists for allegedly recording a video of a woman while she was changing clothes in a hotel room in the Budhwar Peth area of the city. According to police, the accused identified as Rohan Kadam, who worked with a television news channel, along with three others, had rented a room at Ajay Lodge on April 8. They allegedly filmed the woman in another room, claiming they were conducting a “sting operation”. The matter came to light after the woman reportedly noticed the act, raised an alarm and subsequently lodged a First Information Report (FIR) at the Vishrambag police station on Friday night. Police have registered a case against the accused under Section 77 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to capturing or sharing images of a woman where she has a reasonable expectation of privacy, along with Section 3(5) of the BNS, as reported by The Indian Express. Influencing India attempted to reach officials at the Vishrambag police st

The Good Edge has been named the public relations and communications partner for Westlife Foodworld Limited, which owns and operates McDonald’s outlets across West and South India. As part of the mandate, The Good Edge will handle corporate communications, media relations, public affairs, corporate reputation management, and crisis communications for Westlife Foodworld, the McDonald’s brand in West and South India, and Ronald McDonald House India. The partnership will focus on strengthening narratives around the company, its business, and its foundation, while enhancing leadership positioning in innovation, brand initiatives, sustainability, and consumer engagement within India’s evolving QSR sector. Westlife Foodworld currently operates over 450 McDonald’s restaurants across multiple states and continues to expand. The Good Edge is also strengthening its presence across sectors such as BFSI, real estate, infrastructure, technology, and consumer-focused mand

A journalist has been arrested in an alleged extortion case. The incident came to light after the victim, a woman, approached the police. As per her complaint, the victim, a resident of a village near Kalol in Gandhinagar district, stated that four persons posing as journalists visited her home and recorded a video with liquor pouches. They allegedly threatened her that they would make the video go viral and demanded Rs 40,000 every month. Fearing repercussions, the woman paid over Rs 1 lakh. So far, the police have arrested one person, and further investigation is underway, The Times of India reported.

The Nai Duniya Foundation will host the Media for Unity Awards 2026 on April 18 at the India International Centre, recognising contributions of journalists, writers, and artists working towards social harmony. The event will take place at the Kamla Devi Complex from 6 pm onwards, led by foundation chairman Shahid Siddiqui and convener Shafique ul Hasan. The awards aim to honour individuals from media, arts, and public discourse who have promoted unity and social cohesion through their work. This year’s awardees include: Ziya Us Salam, Associate Editor, The Hindu Fazil Hussain Parvez, Editor, Gawah Prof. Purushottam Agarwal, writer and academic Vivek Shukla, journalist Neerja Chowdhury, senior journalist Manjul, political cartoonist Sudhir Mishra, filmmaker Sandeep Chaudhary, senior journalist and anchor, ABP News Arvind Gaur, theatre director Rani Khanam, artistic director, Aamad and choreographer Saurabh Shukla, journalist a

Refinery inferno reignites Australia’s fuel security fears The blaze and explosions at Viva Energy’s Geelong refinery have knocked out around a fifth of local petrol production, sharpening concerns about supply resilience and the prospect of emergency conservation or rationing. Papers vary on emphasis: some focus on immediate safety and disruption in Victoria, while others frame it as a national fuel-security failure that forces greater reliance on imports. Covered by: The Age, Herald Sun, Courier Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Australian, Australian Financial Review, The Mercury, The West Australian. Bowen’s rethink: bigger reserves, diesel imports and EV trucks In response to the refinery shock and broader global supply risks, the government is moving to shore up diesel imports and is signalling a policy pivot toward larger strategic fuel reserves and regulatory changes to speed electric-truck uptake. The shift matters because it links energy security to climate po

NDTV has achieved a milestone in applied artificial intelligence, with its research paper accepted at ACM SIGIR 2026, one of the world’s leading conferences on search and information retrieval. The paper, “All the News That Fits in Bits: Learned Rotation‑Aware Binary Projections for Efficient News Retrieval at NDTV”, explores methods to improve search speed and relevance across vast news archives. As content volumes grow, delivering accurate and timely search results becomes more challenging. NDTV’s system enhances speed and efficiency while maintaining quality, and has been tested in real newsroom settings where editorial teams found its output as reliable as existing solutions. The achievement is notable given the selective nature of SIGIR’s Industry Track, which features limited global participation. NDTV is the first Indian media company to be selected in this category, Adgully reported. Lead author Ritwick Ghosh, Machine Learning Engineer, sai