Government has imposed a Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) of ₹3 per litre on export of petrol, with effect from May 16. The SAED on diesel exports, however, has been trimmed to ₹16.5 per litre from ₹23 at present, and the same on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been reduced to ₹16 from ₹33 a litre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded after a report claimed that "government is considering tax/cess/surcharge on foreign travel". In a post, he wrote, "This is totally false. Not an iota of truth in this. There is no question of putting such restrictions on foreign travel. We remain committed to improving 'Ease of Doing Business' and 'Ease of Living' for our people."

The CBI has said it identified Chemistry lecturer PV Kulkarni as kingpin of NEET-UG 2026 paper leak. Kulkarni, who was involved in the process of examination on behalf of NTA, had access to the question papers. The questions and correct answers he dictated to students during special coaching classes have exactly tallied with actual question paper of NEET-UG 2026 Examination.

Anthropic is set to hit a valuation of $900 billion, surpassing its rival OpenAI, after agreeing to the terms of a $30-billion fundraising round, Financial Times reported. The Dario Amodei-led AI startup had hit a $380 billion valuation in February. Amodei was the VP of Research at OpenAI but reportedly left due to differences with its CEO Sam Altman.

In a jolt for Pakistan, Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi pitched India for peace amid West Asia war. "India with its good reputation, can play greater role in [West Asia] to...promote peace and security," Araghchi said. Commenting on Pakistan, which is acting as mediator between Iran and US, Araghchi said, "Mediation process led by Pakistan is in difficult position."