In a remarkable discovery, the Siamese Fireback, Thailand's national bird, has been spotted for the first time in the forest area of Ranikhet, a popular tourist destination in Almora district in Uttarakhand.

Nature and bird enthusiasts are excited by this rare sighting. Surendra Singh Jalal, a bird enthusiast associated with Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, captured the bird on camera recently. The sighting was made in a dense forest, approximately 600 metres away from Binsar Mahadev temple.

Jalal told TNIE he was "thrilled" to spot the rare bird in its natural habitat. He emphasized the sighting's significance, stating it "opens new avenues for birdwatching" and highlights the region's rich potential for avian tourism.

In a push to curb rising dust pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Tuesday signed a tripartite agreement with the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA).

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aims to facilitate the implementation of a standardised framework for the redevelopment of urban roads, including paving and greening of footpaths and sidewalks — a measure seen as critical to reducing dust levels, a major contributor to air pollution in the region.

The agreement also envisions the setting up of a Project Monitoring Cell (PMC) at CAQM, with technical support from CRRI and SPA. The cell will be tasked with overseeing the phased rollout of the redevelopment framework across NCR states.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged regulators to expedite refunds of unclaimed deposits, shares, insurance, and pension funds through special district-level camps. She emphasised the need to keep citizens’ interests at the forefront and ensure a smooth refund process.

The Minister stated this while chairing the 29th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) in Mumbai today. The meeting discussed the issues related to further improving macro-financial stability, streamlining KYC norms, reducing unclaimed financial assets, and strengthening cybersecurity in the financial sector.

The FSDC also discussed simplification and digitisation of the KYC procedures, especially for NRIs, enhancing investment flows, and effective use of account aggregator networks. It resolved to boost inter-agency coordination for the overall development of India’s financial ecosystem.

The Reserve Bank of India has discontinued daily Variable Rate Repo (VRR) auctions starting today, in view of a liquidity surplus in the banking system, currently estimated at around 2.75 to 3 lakh crore rupees. The daily VRR auctions were launched on January 16 2025 to ease short-term liquidity tightness caused by tax-related outflows and foreign exchange interventions. However, recent auctions saw very low demand, with banks borrowing just 3,711 crore rupees on 9th June and 3,853 crore rupees on 10th June against a notified amount of 25,000 crore rupees.

This step comes soon after the RBI’s decision to cut the Cash Reserve Ratio by 100 basis points, a move expected to release 2.5 lakh crore rupees into the system in phases.

While daily VRR auctions have ended, the RBI will continue using tools like the 14-day VRR, Open Market Operations, and Standing Deposit Facility to manage liquidity as needed.

The Union Cabinet has approved two projects of the Ministry of Railways with a total cost of six thousand 405 crore rupees. The projects include the doubling of Koderma – Barkakana rail line has been approved at a cost of three thousand and 63 crore rupees, while the doubling of the Ballari – Chikjajur rail line has been approved at a cost of three thousand and 342 crore rupees. Briefing media in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Koderma – Barkakana doubling project of 133 kilometres will provide enhanced connectivity to 938 villages and 15 lakh population. He said, the projects will connect four districts in Jharkhand – Koderma, Chatra, Hazaribagh and Ramgarh. Mr Vaishnaw informed that the project section will pass through a major coal-producing area of Jharkhand.

Mr Vaishnaw said, the second project Ballary – Chikjajur doubling rail line of 185 kilometres will connect Mangalore port to Secunderabad. He said, the project line traverses through Ballari and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka and Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Mr Vaishnaw said that the project will cater to the transport of iron ore, coking coal, finished steel and fertilizers.

The first State and Union Territory Engagement Workshop under NOHM concluded successfully on 9th June 2025, charting a collaborative path forward for strengthening India's integrated One Health approach. Chaired by Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, the workshop brought together a diverse array of stakeholders, including state government officials, representatives of all the stakeholder departments, and other agencies.

The workshop commenced with opening remarks from Prof. Ajay Sood, setting the vision for the workshop. He emphasised the pivotal role state governments play in advancing the mission's objectives. Ms. Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, commended the initiative and stressed the need to align and leverage relevant resources to strengthen the state infrastructure. Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research & Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, underscored the critical importance of multi-sectoral engagement in tackling complex One Health challenges, the importance of syndromic surveillance and mock drills like the Vishanu Yuddh Abhyaas that tests the preparedness of rapid response teams and intersectoral coordination in the face of disease outbreaks. Dr. Sindura Ganapathi, PSA fellow, presented a brief overview of the mission’s objectives and governance mechanism.

The Delhi Government today approved the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance, 2025, to regulate arbitrary fee hikes by private schools in the national capital. It will give major relief to lakhs of students studying in private schools and their parents in the city. This was informed by City Education Minister Ashish Sood while addressing the media. He added that after the President’s assent, the ordinance will come into effect retrospectively from April this year.

India’s first underwater museum and artificial coral reef will be developed around the decommissioned warship INS Guldar near Nivati Rocks at Vengurla in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today attended the initiation of the project virtually.

The initiative, supported by the central government, aims to boost marine conservation and tourism, offering scuba diving and future submarine tours. The Union Tourism Ministry has approved 46.91 crore rupees for the project.

The ship, weighing 1,120 tons, was decommissioned in January 2024. It has been officially handed over by the central government to the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation for conversion into a submerged museum. Environmental cleaning of the ship is complete, and it will soon be scuttled at the designated site to begin the coral reef formation.

Indian racewalkers delivered a commendable performance at the Austrian Racewalking Championships in Innsbruck, yesterday, with Priyanka Goswami won gold in the women’s 10km race with a time of 47:54. This was her first win of the season.

In the men’s 35km event, Sandeep Kumar secured silver with a time of 2:38:45, and Ram Baboo took bronze with 2:41:47. Jaromír Morávek of the Czech Republic won gold 2:34:41, and Jerome Caprice from Mauritius finished fourth 3:14:05.

Sandeep Kumar is the Indian national record holder in the 50km racewalk, has competed in the Tokyo Olympics, and won a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the 10,000m racewalk. On the other hand Ram Baboo holds the Indian record in the 35km racewalk with a best time of 2:29:56.

The cricket world has been rocked in the last five weeks by a string of high-profile retirements, by superstars of different vintages from different formats of the game. It started with Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain, pulling the plug on his Test career on May 7, five days before his predecessor, the talismanic Virat Kohli, followed suit.

Their decisions weren’t completely unexpected though when they were formalised, there was a touch of the sudden, leaving a huge gap in Indian cricket. These were followed by Glenn Maxwell bidding adieu to One-Day International cricket so that he could channel his energies towards the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka early next year, and South African stumper Heinrich Klaasen walking away from white-ball formats internationally – he had already retired from Tests – within a few hours of each other.