Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy, currently facing the threat of prosecution over historic comments on Kashmir 14 years ago, was on Thursday honoured with the prestigious Pen Pinter Prize 2024 for her “unflinching and unswerving” writings.

The prize, established in 2009 by the charity English PEN, defends freedom of expression and celebrates literature in memory of Nobel-Laureate playwright Harold Pinter.

Roy expressed her delight at being named this year's winner amid an “incomprehensible turn” the world is taking.

SpaceX successfully launched the fourth and final satellite for NASA's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) programme on June 25.

The series of advanced satellites called GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) are expected to aid with "continuous coverage of weather and hazardous environmental conditions across much of the Western Hemisphere", NASA said in a press release.

NASA, SpaceX, and Elon Musk celebrated the milestone by posting pictures and videos on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter). “New weather satellite delivered!" Musk, who owns SpaceX, said.

The Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and the International Dairy Federation (IDF) are jointly organising the first IDF Regional Dairy Conference Asia Pacific-2024 from June 26 to 28 in Kochi.

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh will deliver his address virtually. J. Chinchurani, Kerala’s Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister; Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation; Alka Upadhyaya, Secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and President, Indian National Committee of IDF; and Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB, and Member Secretary, Indian National Committee of IDF, will take part in the event.

The three-day conference is being held at Grand Hyatt, Bolgatty.

The former Pakistan batter and men's chief selector Mohammad Wasim has been appointed as the head coach of the women's team for the Women's T20 Asia Cup 2024 starting next month.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in an official statement confirmed the team management for the ACC Women's Asia Cup 2024. Wasim will be the head coach, while former Test bowlers Abdur Rehman and Junaid Khan will be the spin bowling and assistant coaches, respectively.

"The players will also undergo practice sessions at the High-Performance Centre on Friday, while they will play T20 practice games at the Moin Khan Academy on Thursday and Saturday. The camp will be supervised by Abdur Rehman and Hanif Malik," the PCB said in an official statement.

Meta has launched its advanced AI assistant, Meta AI, in India. People who use its Instagram, FaceBook and WhatsApp services will be able to use Meta AI in these apps. The company claims that its Meta AI can help users with everyday tasks, learning, and creative work. Initially launched at last year’s Meta Connect and powered by the latest Llama 3 technology, Meta AI has been expanding globally since April and is now accessible to users in India.

On WhatsApp, Meta AI can be summoned in group chats to assist with planning and suggestions. Whether you need restaurant recommendations for a night out or itinerary ideas for a road trip, the company says users can ask Meta AI within their WhatsApp conversation. To directly access Meta AI, one can look for a blue-purple circle icon at the top of the app once the update is available to your device.

On Instagram, users can interact with Meta AI in Direct Messages by typing "@" followed by their query. Meta AI can provide information, help plan events, or generate ideas in your chat. Whether this AI feature will prove to be useful or not in apps like Instagram, only time will tell because people are more likely to use it on WhatsApp than on this social media app.

The expiring spectrum in 2024 and the unsold spectrum of previous Spectrum Auction held in 2022 were put to auction this year to meet spectrum requirement of Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to ensure continuity and growth of the services.

All the available spectrum in 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz bands were put to auction. This year auction has seen activity in 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz and 2500 MHz bands.

The Auction started on 25th June 2024 at 10:00 AM and concluded on 26th June 2024 at 11:45 AM after 7 rounds. As auction for 5G spectrum was held recently & 5G Monetization is still in progress, no bidding took place in 800MHz, 2300MHz, 3300MHz and 26GHz bands. A total quantum of 141.4 MHz (26.5%) was sold from the balance 533.6 MHz Spectrum. This is despite the fact that a very large amount of spectrum i.e., 51.2 Ghz of spectrum was sold in August 2022.

Paraguay has become the 100th country to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA) as a full member. The South American nation officially handed over its Instrument of Ratification to the ISA in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The ceremony took place during a meeting between Paraguay’s Ambassador to India, Fleming Raul Duarte, and Abhishek Singh, Joint Secretary of Economic Diplomacy and States Division at India’s Ministry of External Affairs. Singh, who serves as the Head of Depository for the ISA, received the ratification document.

The ISA, co-founded by India and France during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, aims to promote solar energy deployment worldwide. It serves as a collaborative platform for member countries to increase energy access, ensure energy security, and drive the transition towards sustainable energy sources.

June 27 is observed as Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Day every year. On April 6, 2017, the UN General Assembly decided to observe this day to raise public awareness of their contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to a report by the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) make up over 90 percent of all firms and account on average for 60-70 percent of total employment.

The United Nations (UN) also reported that they account for half of global GDP. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Building a Stronger Future Together.” The 2024 MSME Day provides an opportunity for key stakeholders, including large corporations, financial institutions, policymakers, and the international community, to discuss and exchange ideas on how to support MSMEs businesses in advancing the 2030 Agenda and contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals, such as poverty eradication and decent work for all.

In an advancement for tuberculosis research, scientists at Indian Institute of Science created a novel 3D hydrogel culture system that closely mimics the human lung. This provides a platform to track and study how tuberculosis bacteria infect lung cells and test the efficacy of therapeutics used to treat the infection.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a dangerous pathogen.

In 2022, it affected 10.6 million people and caused 1.3 million deaths, according to World Health Organisation.

Led by Rachit Agarwal, associate professor at the department of bioengineering, the IISc team addressed limitations of traditional 2D culture models. These older models fail to replicate the complex 3D structure of lung tissue, potentially skewing research results. “It is a very old bug, and it has evolved with us quite a bit,” said Agarwal, who’s a corresponding author of the study, published in Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Doon School Srinagar was honored with the “Award for Transformative Education Excellence” at Mind Mingle’s Indo-Norway International Education Summit and Awards 2024, held in Stortinget, Norway, on June 5, 2024. This recognition celebrates the school’s outstanding contributions to education, particularly under the leadership of its Chairman, Showkat Hussain Khan.

The summit, which gathered global leaders to celebrate innovations in education, featured keynote speeches by notable figures such as Chief Guest Himanshu Gulati, Member of Parliament, Kingdom of Norway. Guests of Honor Ole Jacob Johansen, Minister of State for Akershus, and Dr Acquino Vimal, Indian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway, also praised the awardees for their significant contributions.