In an effort to revive and conserve the nearly defunct Royal Bird Sanctuary at Majuli—the world’s largest river island—the Charaichung Festival has been organised in the island district for the second time.

The festival commemorates the 392-year-old legacy of Asia’s first protected Royal Bird Sanctuary, ‘Charaichung’, established in 1633 AD by Ahom king Swargadeu Pratap Singha. The four-day festival, being held from December 7 to 10, has been organised under the initiative of Majuli Sahitya and locals, with the aim of placing Charaichung on the global map and rejuvenating its bird habitat.

The festival also features a special exhibition highlighting forest conservation efforts. The display sheds light on ongoing initiatives to protect Majuli’s biodiversity and reflects the collective commitment to safeguarding the island’s natural heritage.

Bitcoin MENA 2025, the Middle East’s premier annual conference dedicated to advancing Bitcoin understanding, adoption, and innovation, concluded today at the ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi after two days of intensive discussions on digital finance transformation in the region.

The conference brought together more than 12,000 attendees from over 100 countries for panel discussions, keynote sessions, and fireside chats across four stages, featuring industry leaders addressing topics ranging from corporate Bitcoin adoption and mining infrastructure to regulatory frameworks and institutional investment strategies. The final day explored emerging trends in the region’s rapidly expanding crypto ecosystem.

The United Arab Emirates has established itself as a key player in the global digital asset landscape, with a crypto ownership rate exceeding 30 percent of its population and inflows of USD 34 billion between July 2023 and June 2024. This growth is supported by the nation’s zero-tax policy on personal crypto gains and clear regulatory frameworks provided by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and the Securities and Commodities Authority.

On December 10, the world observes Human Rights Day to commemorate the anniversary of the United Nations' adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a significant document.

The UN advocates for freedom, equality, and respect for all people on Human Rights Day. On this day, numerous humanitarian initiatives, events, talks, and campaigns are held worldwide to promote awareness of the importance of collective action in protecting human rights.

Human Rights Day 2025 Theme

This year's theme, "Human Rights, Our Everyday Essentials," emphasises the significance of human rights in our day-to-day existence. It falls on Wednesday, December 10, in 2025. On this day, we are reminded to speak out against hate, false information, and lies and to take concrete action to defend human rights.

India will host the Squash World Cup for the third consecutive time, with the tournament taking place at SDAT Stadium in Chennai from tomorrow till the 14th of this month.

Twelve nations will compete, including hosts India, defending champions Egypt, and 2023 runners-up Malaysia. Each team has two men and two women, and matches follow the format introduced in the 2023 games to seven points with sudden-death tiebreaks at 6-6.

India has announced its squad, blending experience and young talent. In the men’s category, No.1 Abhay Singh will team up with Velavan Senthilkumar. Former World No.10 Joshna Chinappa returns, aiming to improve on India’s third-place finish in 2023. On the women’s side, No.1 Anahat Singh will make her World Cup debut.

Former captain Rohit Sharma achieved a major milestone on Saturday, going past 20,000 runs in international cricket. The 38-year-old achieved the feat when he got to 27 in his knock of 75 during India's chase of 271 against South Africa in the final ODI of a three-match series in Visakhapatnam.

Rohit Sharma became only the fourth Indian batter to achieve the landmark and the 14th batter to get to the milestone in international cricket. Rohit joined an elite list of Indian batters, including Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

Rohit hit 75 off 73 balls, smashing seven boundaries and a six before getting out to Keshav Maharaj. The senior campaigner and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 155 runs for the opening partnership, laying a strong foundation for India's chase in the series decider.

Indian scientists have discovered an ancient and massive galaxy called Alaknanda. It looks similar to our Milky Way galaxy and is special because it has clear spiral arms, even though it formed when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old. Today, the universe is 13.8 billion years old.

Announcing the discovery, Professor Yogesh Wadadekar at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCRA-TIFR) said, "This galaxy looks like a regular, well-structured system."

Such galaxies should take at least three billion years to develop stable spiral arms, he added, unlike the Milky Way, which took billions of years to form its spiral discs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal's maiden ODI century trumped Quinton de Kock's 23rd as India clinched the series from South Africa by nine wickets on Saturday. Jaiswal's unbeaten 116, beside Rohit Sharma's 75 and Virat Kohli's unbeaten 65 powered India to the target of 271 with 10.1 overs to spare. They won the series 2-1 after losing the test series 2-0. The teams start a five-match T20I series on Tuesday in Cuttack. Jaiswal also became just the sixth man from India to smash a ton across formats. He joined Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill in the list. Notably, women's team batter Smriti Mandhana has also achieved the feat.

De Kock's 89-ball 106 and captain Temba Bavuma's 48 were South Africa's only substantial innings before it was all out for 270 in 47.5 overs.

Medium-pacer Prasidh Krishna took the sting out of the Proteas with three wickets in three overs, including de Kock, after India ended a string of 20 lost tosses in ODIs since the 2023 Cricket World Cup semifinals.

Swooping, swirling, gleaming, sculpted — Frank Gehry made buildings we'd never seen before. The architect behind the Guggenheim Museum in Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles transformed contemporary architecture. He died Friday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., after a brief respiratory illness, according to his chief of staff. He was 96.

Gehry won all the top awards — including the Pritzker Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1999, when the American Institute of Architects gave him their Gold Medal, Gehry looked out at an audience that included contemporary gods of building — Philip Johnson, Robert Venturi, Michael Graves — and said, "it's like finding out my big brothers love me after all."

At a time when Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy says he does not believe in work-life balance and advocates for 72-hour work week, Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule introduced a private member's Bill in the Lower House on Friday, which seeks to protect employees from after-hours work demands.

Supriya Sule introduced "The Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025" which “aims to foster a better quality of life and a healthier work-life balance by reducing the burnout caused by today's digital culture.”

The Bill was first introduced on October 28, 2019.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced a two-pronged liquidity injection operation worth over Rs 1.6 lakh crore for the month of December. The move aims to support credit growth and reinforce the transmission of past policy rate cuts into the broader economy.

The central bank will conduct Open Market Operation (OMO) purchases of government securities worth Rs 1,00,000 crore in two equal tranches of Rs 50,000 crore each on December 11 and December 18. Simultaneously, it will undertake a 3-year USD/INR Buy/Sell Swap auction of $5 billion (approximately Rs 61,500 crore at current exchange rates) on December 16. These operations are designed to provide durable liquidity to the system.