The Navy carried out a massive Carrier Battle Group (CBG) operation involving more than 35 aircraft in the Arabian Sea on Saturday, one of the biggest demonstrations of its operational capabilities in recent years amid increasing Chinese forays in the Indian Ocean.

A CBG is a naval fleet comprising an aircraft carrier and its multiple escort vessels.

Saturday’s exercise was a twin CBG operation involving both of India’s aircraft carriers — INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant — along with a diverse fleet of escort ships, submarines and aircraft.

Top Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar secured a creditable third place in the Paris Diamond League with a jump of 8.09m, his maiden top-three finish in the prestigious one-day meeting series.

Sreeshankar also became the only third Indian to finish in top-three of a Diamond League after Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and former discus thrower Vikas Gowda.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sreeshankar achieved his best jump of the day in his third attempt on Friday night.

From a new investigation against Chennai’s Saveetha Dental College to finding molecular fossils of the primordial forerunners of all the organisms on Earth, here are this week’s important science-related news and discoveries.

A new NASA-funded study provides a deeper understanding of space affects the human brain. Researchers said that astronauts who travelled on the International Space Station (ISS) or NASA space shuttles on missions lasting at least six months experienced significant expansion of the cerebral ventricles - spaces in the middle of the brain containing cerebrospinal fluid. This colourless and watery fluid flows in and around the brain and spinal cord. It cushions the brain to help protect against sudden impact and removes waste products. Based on brain scans of 30 astronauts, the researchers found that it took three years for the ventricles to fully recover after such journeys.

When many 14-year-old kids in the US were finishing Class 10, Kairan Quazi graduated from Santa Clara University with a bachelor’s degree to become the youngest graduate in Santa Clara’s 172-year history. Next month, he will become the youngest software developer at SpaceX when he starts his first full-time job.

Quazi has managed to gain academic and professional success at such a young age thanks to his exceptional IQ. As per The Mercury News, Quazi is qualified as “profoundly gifted,” with an IQ above the 99.9th percentile of the population.

Nitin Agarwal, a 1989-batch IPS officer of Kerala cadre, was on Sunday night appointed as the new Director- General of the Border Security Force (BSF), more than five months after the post fell vacant.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) becomes the first public sector bank to introduce an IVR-based UPI solution - UPI 123PAY, aligning with the Digital Payment Vision 2025 towards a cashless and cardless society.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a 24-hour payment channel enabling customers to perform fast, encrypted and real-time payments. Till now, the solution was accessible only through smartphones or through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service and was dependent on good internet connectivity. The UPI 123PAY solution would extend the functionality and facilitate the feature to any phone users and those in low internet connectivity zones to perform UPI transactions.

In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today launched a new scheme for women empowerment in the state level 'Mukhyamantri Ladli Bahna Yojana' program organized at Garrison Ground, Jabalpur. Under this scheme named Mukhyamantri Ladli Bahna Yojana, the Chief Minister inaugurated this scheme by depositing an amount of 1,000 rupees each in the accounts of 1.25 crore women of the state.

In his address on this occasion, Mr. Chouhan said that with time, the amount of Ladli Bahna Yojana will be increased upto 2,000 rupees to 3,000 rupees. He said that now women will not depend on the small requirements of their children from the family members. A road show was also held before the inauguration programme. Ladli Bahna Yojana programs were organized across the state today. It is noteworthy that the Ladli Bahna Yojana was announced on March 5 this year and in about 35 days more than 1 crore 25 lakh women submitted applications to take advantage of this scheme.

The Indian Junior Women's Hockey Team achieved a remarkable triumph in the Women's Junior Asia Cup 2023, which took place in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. They secured the championship title by defeating Korea in a captivating final match on Sunday, with a score of 2-1.

Although Annu (at 22 minutes) and Neelam (at 41 minutes) contributed one goal each for India, it was the combined efforts of the entire team that ultimately paved the way for their victorious outcome in this crucial encounter.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and Israel's Finance Ministry successfully completed the proof of concept phase for a digital Israeli Bond traded on a dedicated blockchain platform, the TASE announced on Tuesday. The development positions Israel to release the world's first digital government bond.

The collaboration between the TASE and the Finance Ministry's Office of the Accountant General "marks a significant milestone in revolutionizing the settlement and issuance processes in traditional capital markets," the TASE said.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), one of the leading oil manufacturing companies (OMC) has launched pilot study on vehicles using E27 fuel and ethanol-blended diesel fuel.

Under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, HPCL becomes the first OMC in India to initiate such a research program, in line with the ‘Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India by 2025,’ which aims to promote the adoption of ethanol blending in petrol.