Current affairs — 15 September 2026

Prelims pointers

• The September 14, 2026 notification changed provisions under the Payment and Settlement Act, 2007.
• Banks cannot impose charges on Unified Payments Interface transactions of up to ₹2,000 under the notified change.
• The gazette specified UPI payments up to ₹2,000 and RuPay-powered debit-card payments as covered electronic modes.
• No bank or system provider may directly or indirectly charge a person making or receiving payments through the specified modes.
• The report said charges on larger UPI transfers became possible, but no final decision on their introduction or levy had been taken.

Prelims pointers

• The Houthis said Saudi Arabia carried out 54 strikes across western Yemen during a 24-hour period.
• The Saudi strikes followed Houthi attacks using dozens of drones and missiles against Saudi military facilities.
• Saudi civil defence issued alerts for Khamis Mushait and Abha and later a brief alert for Najran in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
• The Iran-backed Houthis were fighting Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government.
• The report said the Houthis had seized Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait as the Strait of Hormuz was constrained by wider war.

Prelims pointers

• A NATO fighter jet shot down a drone near Pratkunai village in southern Lithuania shortly after midnight on September 15, 2026.
• Officials said the drone likely entered from Belarus, although its origin had not yet been determined.
• A drone alert was issued earlier for Lithuania’s capital Vilnius and its surrounding region.
• NATO Baltic Air Defence fighters have patrolled Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since the three countries joined NATO in 2004.
• The report said Ukrainian military drones had strayed into Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, with Ukraine blaming Russian electromagnetic warfare.