At just the age of 16, Jiya Rai became the youngest para swimmer to cross an English Channel. The teenager is not just the youngest, but also the fastest para swimmer in the world to achieve this feat on July 28-29. Jiya swam through the English Channel from the Abbot's Cliff in England to Pointe de la Courte-Dune in France in a time of 17 hours and 25 minutes from July 28 to 29. She covered a distance of 34 kilometres en route to her feat.

Jiya, who hails from Mumbai with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is the daughter of Madan Rai, the MC-at-Arms serving in Mumbai. The Western Naval Command (WNC) congratulated the young para swimmer on her momentous achievement. "All personnel of WNC convey their heartiest congratulations to Jiya Rai for becoming the world's youngest and fastest female para swimmer to successfully swim solo across the English Channel," the Western Naval Command (WNC) wrote on X.

Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh shone bright on Day 4 of medal events at the Paris Olympics 2024 as they clinched the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team shooting event. The duo defeated South Korea. Bhaker became the first athlete in the history of independent India to win two medals in a single Olympics edition. In boxing, Amit Panghal (men's 51 kg - Rd of 16) and Jaismine Lamboria (women's 57 kg - rd of 32)  and Preeti Pawar (women's 54kg Round of 16) lost. In archery, Bhajan Kaur reached Round of 16 in women's archery individual round event. Coming to rowing, Balraj Panwar finished 5th in the men's single sculls quarterfinal. India men's hockey team defeated Ireland 2-0.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate capital market access for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for fund raising.

The move comes after the stocks of major defence companies, whether government-owned or private, have been trading well on the bourses in the last couple of years since the government’s aatmanirbharta push in the military sector.

“The MoU intends to facilitate MSMEs in the defence sector to raise productive capital for their growth plan in an efficient and transparent manner through NSE platform ‘NSE Emerge’. The platform offers new and viable options for raising equity capital from diversified set of investors,” the MoD said in a statement.

It was signed by Anurag Bajpai, Additional Secretary, Department of Defence Production (DDP), and Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director, NSE, in the presence of Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane.

Manika Batra made history as the first Indian table tennis player to reach the pre-quarterfinals of any singles event at the Olympics. The 29-year-old triumphed over France’s world No. 18, Prithika Pavade, commanding the match from start to finish with scores of 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, and 11-7. This victory earned her a place in the Round of 16, where she will face either Hong Kong’s Zhu Chengzhu or Japan’s Miu Hirano.

This match marked a significant achievement in Indian table tennis at the Olympics. Manika had previously reached the round of 32 at the Tokyo Olympics and improved on that performance on Monday.

In the opening game, Batra overcame a two-point deficit to win 11-9. She then comfortably claimed the second game with a five-point lead, 11-6. Despite Pavade’s resilience in the third game, Batra secured another 11-9 victory.

In the fourth game, Batra started strong, quickly gaining a 5-1 lead. However, Pavade rallied to take the lead at 6-5. The lead exchanged hands several times, and Pavade eventually took the game 11-9, staging a significant comeback.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav launched today Ideas4LiFE for inviting ideas related to products and services, which induce behavioral changes related to environment-friendly lifestyles in the presence of Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Shri Yadav called upon the fraternity of students, research scholars, faculty and innovators to come up with innovative and out of box ideas, which will work towards fulfillment of the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister for mindful and deliberate utilization of resources.

Interacting with participants and students at the launch event of Ideas4LiFE, Shri Yadav said this initiative aims to encourage and motivate students, faculty and research scholars to contribute their innovative ideas to the global initiative of Mission LiFE. He said this is a remarkable opportunity for inspired minds to participate in global movement dedicated to environmental sustainability.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) has been honored with the GEEF Global WaterTech Award under the category ‘Water Department of the Year’ at the prestigious Global Water Tech Summit -2024 organized by the Global Energy and Environment Foundation (GEEF) in New Delhi.

The Global Energy and Environment Foundation acknowledged the Central Water Commission's (CWC) pivotal role in hydro-meteorological data collection, flood forecasting, reservoir storage monitoring, water quality monitoring, coastal area management, appraisal and monitoring of water resources projects, and resolving inter-state water issues.

The Global Awards recognizes the most important achievements in the water sector in several categories to honor and reward initiatives in the water, wastewater, and desalination sectors on innovation, technology, conservation, and sustainable development.

Additionally foundation recognized several new initiatives taken by CWC like interactions with the Water Resources/ Irrigation/ Jal Shakti Departments of all the States/ UTs to enhance synergy in the works being done by CWC and those undertaken by the States/ UTs in various areas related to Water Resources.

Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner in Venezuela's presidential election Sunday, even as his opponents were preparing to dispute the results, setting up a high-stakes showdown that will determine whether the South American nation transitions away from one party rule.

Shortly after midnight, the National Electoral Council said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming the main opposition candidate, Edmundo González, who garnered 44%.

But the electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, didn't immediately release the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, hampering the opposition's ability to challenge the results after claiming it had data for only 30% of the ballot boxes.

Foreign leaders held off recognizing the results as the electoral council promised to release official tallies in the "coming hours."

India accounts for nearly half of the world’s digital payments, holding a 48.5 percent share in global real-time payment volumes, according to a report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday. The report also underscores India’s leadership in global remittances, receiving USD 115.3 billion in 2023.

“India is leading the world with a share of 48.5 percent in global real-time payments volume. Global remittances that are increasingly being affected through mobile money and digital platforms are estimated to have increased to USD 857.3 billion in 2023, led by India (USD 115.3 billion),” said the report.

The digital economy currently makes up about a tenth of India’s GDP and is expected to grow to a fifth of GDP by 2026, based on growth rates observed over the past decade.

The IAEA and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) will launch a new series of joint activities to enhance collaboration, following an agreement signed during the recent UN High Level Political Forum in New York. The agreement, which includes joint workshops, outreach events and a new publication, will link the IAEA more closely with an international community of South-South practitioners.

“South-South cooperation is at the heart of the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme, as it is key to enhancing impact and ensuring sustainable development. We look forward to strengthening our ties with UNOSSC to widen the reach of our activities and support offered through South-South cooperation,” said Hua Liu, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation.

Master Mathan (91), Badaga leader and former BJP MP, passed away late on Friday night due to age related issues after a brief illness at his residence in Balaji Garden in Press Colony.

He is survived by his wife and three children. Mathan represented the Nilgiris Lok Sabha constituency from 1998 to 1999.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of former MP Master Mathan in the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).