1.Four astronauts blasted off from Florida Wednesday on NASA’s Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the US’ boldest step yet towards returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.

2.The Budget Session of Parliament will reconvene April 16 after a brief recess to pass Bills to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats so that the women’s reservation law can be implemented at the earliest, in what is expected to be the latest fl ashpoint between the government and the Opposition amid the poll season.

3.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Thursday replaced its deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, Raghav Chadha, with Ashok Mittal, amid buzz over his alleged differences with the top leadership, though Chadha did not respond to the development, when contacted.

4.The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, was passed in the Rajya Sabha with a voice vote after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal replied to a discussion on the legislation.

5.Parliament Thursday passed a Bill seeking to recognise Amaravati as the sole and new capital of Andhra Pradesh with the Rajya Sabha giving its nod to it with a voice vote, and all parties except the YSRCP supporting the proposed legislation.

6.Dozens of countries sought ways to restart vital energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz after US President Donald Trump vowed more aggressive strikes on Iran, pushing oil prices back up to damaging levels.

7.Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, one of country’s largest export gateways, lost at least 40% of its storage facilities in Ukrainian drone attacks last month, US commercial satellite images seen by Reuters showed Thursday.

8.Transaction through the Unifi ed Payments Interface (UPI) touched a record high of 22.64 billion in volume terms in March. "UPI achieves 22.64 Bn transaction count in March'26.  

9.Rajnath Singh warns Pakistan of unprecedented action if terror attacks repeat after Pahalgam incident.

10.Punjab Congress leader Khushbaz Singh Jattana and his driver died in a road accident in Sonipat district.

11.Chhattisgarh High Court convicts Amit Jogi in 2003 murder of NCP leader Ramavatar Jaggi.

12.Election Commission deploys 2.4 lakh CAPF personnel in West Bengal for highest-ever election security.

13.Himachal Assembly passes bill to bar pensions for six MLAs disqualified under anti-defection law.

14.The Election Commission of India on Thursday handed over the probe into the gherao of the seven judicial officers in West Bengal's Malda district to the NIA, following a Supreme Court directive.

15.CBSE Board Exams 2026: The advisory comes in the wake of recent incidents where QR codes in CBSE exams went viral on social media for reasons unrelated to the examination.