India's second home-built 700 MW nuclear power reactor at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat on Wednesday started operating at its full capacity, the plant operator said. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said Unit 4 at KAPS had been operating at 90 per cent capacity before raising it to full power of 700 MWe.

"The full power operation of KAPS-4 after the smooth operation of its twin unit KAPS-3 at full power demonstrates the strength of the first of a kind indigenous 700 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) design," the NPCIL said.

The KAPS-4 unit achieved first criticality on December 17 last year and commenced commercial operations on March 31.

ICC has officially confirmed the change of venue for the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates. The event will commence as scheduled on October 3 and will be played at two venues in Dubai and Sharjah until 20 October. ICC took the decision after a virtual board meeting where the Bangladesh Cricket Board also agreed to move the marquee tournament to the UAE.

Notably, Bangladesh has been in turmoil ever since Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on August 5 after weeks of deadly unrest. Soon afterwards, a number of the country's top officials were forced to resign by the protesters, and an interim government was formed under the leadership of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

The new government did make a last-minute bid through the United Nations to keep the Women's T20 World Cup in the country, but with the likes of India, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom already issuing travel advisories against travelling to the Asian nation, their efforts were in vain.

India and Japan on Tuesday signed their first project offtake agreement for the export of green ammonia to the latter in the presence of Minister of New & Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi.

The project offtake agreement marks a significant step forward in India’s journey to becoming a global leader in green hydrogen and ammonia production, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) said.

The Heads of Terms (HoT) agreement was signed between Sembcorp Industries, Sojitz Corporation, Kyushu Electric Power and NYK Line, solidifying a cross-border green ammonia supply partnership from India to Japan, it added.

The Union Minister of Power and Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Manohar Lal, today launched Portal for Online monitoring of Projects – Thermal (PROMPT) in New Delhi.

Speaking at the launch, Union Minister Shri Manohar Lal remarked that the electricity is the key driver for the ongoing economic activities in the country. Accordingly, the demand for power is also increasing therefore completion of ongoing schemes and thermal projects in timebound manner is extremely critical. "The launch of the portal PROMPT will enable transparent, coordinated, and effective working of the power sector in the country.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has been actively monitoring the progress of under-construction power projects through regular site visits, interactions with developers, and periodic review meetings with stakeholders. These efforts are aimed at identifying and resolving critical issues to ensure timely commissioning of power projects. Taking a step further in monitoring of these thermal power projects and to facilitate the power project developers towards a digital process of monitoring, this online thermal project monitoring portal is developed. NTPC has helped in developing this portal.

The newly launched PROMPT portal is designed to facilitate real-time tracking and analysis of thermal power projects. This online platform enables project managers and stakeholders to make informed decisions swiftly, ensuring that potential delays and issues are identified early and addressed promptly.

The India-Japan partnership is set against a larger context of a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific and it will continue to grow, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Tuesday as the two sides held a fresh edition of "2+2" dialogue amid China's increasing military muscle-flexing in the region.

The Japanese delegation at the talks in Delhi was headed by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Kihara Minoru. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh headed the Indian team.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Indian company ‘Petronet LNG limited’ and a Sri Lanka based private company for infrastructure development and supply of Liquified Natural Gas in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s Minister for Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara and Deputy High Commissioner of India Dr. Satyanjal Pandey witnessed the signing of the MoU. The agreement will give a major boost to the island nation’s efforts towards sustainable energy generation. The MoU would allow for development of LNG based power plants with capacity of over 1000 MW at Kerawalapitiya near Colombo as well as supply of the fuel from Kochi LNG Terminal. Speaking at the event, Mr. Wijesekara thanked the Indian Government for the support it extended Sri Lanka during the crisis. He added that the MoU would also provide for use of LNG as a fuel in households and other domestic requirements.

Two days after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) issued advertisements for lateral recruitment into government service for 45 posts of Joint Secretary, Director, and Deputy Secretary levels, the government on Tuesday moved to cancel these planned recruitments, citing lack of quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). Later in the day, the UPSC issued a notification cancelling the recruitments as advertised, citing a request by “the requisitioning authority”.

Minister for the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Jitendra Singh wrote to the Chairperson of the UPSC Priti Sudan on Tuesday, asking that the advertisements be withdrawn and the plans for lateral recruitment cancelled, with norms for recruitment from outside the government to be reviewed keeping equity and social justice in mind.

This follows not only protests by the Opposition against the move, but National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) declaring that entry into government service without quotas set aside for SCs and STs was “unacceptable”.

The vice-president of the Paris Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), Satya Prakash Sangwan, was named as the chef de mission of the Indian contingent for the upcoming Paris Paralympics 2024. Meanwhile, Bhagyashree Jadhav and Sumit Antil have been named India's flagbearers for the Paris Paralympics, leading the nation's contingent of 84 athletes. This will also mark a special moment for India, as it will be the country's largest-ever contingent of 84 athletes, a significant increase from the 54 who competed in Tokyo.

"It is a great honour to be entrusted with this responsibility. I am committed to ensuring that our athletes have everything they need to succeed and make India proud at the Paralympics," Sangwan told the media after the announcement. He brings with him over a decade of dedicated service and experience within the Paralympic movement. As the chef de mission, he will be leading India's largest-ever contingent of 84 para-athletes, who will be competing across 12 sports.

Skygazers will be in for a treat on August 19 since they will get to see a supermoon, one of the largest and brightest moons of 2024. A supermoon is called so because the moon appears significantly large in the sky since it is the closest to Earth at a time when it is full. The combination of a Supermoon and a Blue Moon, which only occurs a few times per few decades, will make for a highly uncommon astronomical event tomorrow. Since the full moon that occurs in August is traditionally referred to as a "Sturgeon Moon," this Supermoon blue moon is also termed a "Sturgeon Moon." 

Though it's called a blue moon, it doesn't have anything to do with colour. There are two types of blue moon - seasonal and monthly - according to Space.com.

China approved 11 nuclear reactors across five sites on Monday, a record amount of permits as the government leans even more heavily on atomic energy to support its push to cut emissions.

The State Council greenlighted the new reactors in sites spread across Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Guangxi, state-run China Energy News reported. The total investment for all 11 units will be at least 220 billion yuan ($31 billion) with construction taking about five years, according to financial publication Jiemian.

China has more nuclear reactors under construction than any other nation in the world, and approved 10 new reactors in each of the last two years. The country is expected to surpass France and the US to be the world’s leading atomic power generator by 2030, according to BloombergNEF.