Today News Headlines for School Assembly, August 21, 2026: Elon Musk pitches Starlink to boost connectivity across rural India

National News

Elon Musk took to his X account to pitch Starlink’s satellite internet service to resolve network connectivity issues in the rural areas of India. Starlink is a satellite internet network operated by SpaceX, an aerospace company owned by Musk.

The Qaumi Insaaf Morcha has called a seven-hour bandh on August 21 between 7 am and 2 pm demanding the release of Sikh prisoners, or “bandi Singhs”, who remain in jails despite completing their sentences.

Indian Railways has launched a new Amrit Bharat Express, which will operate between Bhagalpur and Ahmedabad. As per the Eastern Railway, the new train has been introduced to satiate the rising demand from passengers and improve connectivity between Bihar and Gujarat.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has incorporated a high-level core group to carry out monthly reviews of self-harm cases to fortify institutional prevention measures, amid rising numbers of deaths by suicide cases among CRPF personnel. As per official data, a total of 59 CRPF personnel committed suicide last year.

World News

The Foreign Minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, has criticised US President Donald Trump over his “Economic D-Day” operation, and proclaimed that the step was a “diversion from America’s own crisis”.

As per the statement of the Treasury Department, the US national debt has crossed $40 trillion for the first time. The latest daily cash and debt balances statement projects that the total debt of the country stands at $40.047 trillion, including $32.266 trillion held by the public and $7.782 trillion in government-held debt.

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Sports News

The Indian hockey team has defeated Pakistan with an overpowering score of 5-3 in a thrilling Hockey World Cup match on August 19. With this victory, India has secured a place in the next round, which will likely be played against the Netherlands.

The Indian Super League (ISL) 2026-27 season will now commence with 13 teams after Diamond Harbour FC failed to meet the deadline for paying its pending participation fee. Diamond Harbour FC, winner of the 2025-26 Indian Football League, had to pay the second instalment of Rs 55 lakh but missed the final deadline on August 19.

Business News

Google has announced a one-year subscription plan of the Google AI free of cost to all eligible college students. This offer provides students with access to 4x higher usage limits in Gemini, access to Gemini Spark, Gemini assistance in Google apps like Gmail and Google Docs, along with 5 TB of storage, Google Health, etc. In India, the subscription plan is currently priced at Rs 399 a month, or Rs 4,788 over 12 months.

The Union Cabinet has approved four railway multi-tracking projects to decongest high traffic from the Howrah-Chennai route for Rs 9,450 crore and one four-lane Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi-Sonbarsa Corridor (NH-22) highway project at Rs 3,591 crore. All these projects together will cost around Rs 13,041 crore.

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Education News

Taking the “prevailing law-and-order situation” into account, Manipur has declared a three-day closure for all the schools, colleges and higher education institutes in the state. All the schools will remain closed from August 20 to August 22, 2026.

The Delhi government has removed the provision in its revised class 9 examination and promotion policy that mandated students to qualify in the third language (R3) opted in order to be eligible for the class 10 board examination.