In a pioneering move, Sense International India, in collaboration with global partners and with support from the Nelumbo Foundation, has launched the Global Deafblindness Resource Hub (GRH) — the first multilingual, inclusive platform offering practical, accessible knowledge for individuals with deafblindness, their caregivers, and professionals.

The launch aligns with a historic moment — the first-ever International Day of Deafblindness, declared by the United Nations and celebrated globally today on Helen Keller’s birth anniversary. With over 15 million people worldwide living with deafblindness, the GRH seeks to address a longstanding gap in access to credible and user-friendly resources.

The virtual launch event brought together individuals with deafblindness, global experts, educators, caregivers, and advocates. Attendees witnessed a live demonstration of the platform’s accessible design, followed by a panel discussion on “Bridging the Information Gap: Accessibility, Inclusion, and the Right to Know.”

The historic Golconda Fort came alive with colour, devotion and festive fervour as the annual Bonalu celebrations kicked off on a grand note on Thursday. The month-long festivities began with traditional prayers to Goddess Jagadambika at the Sri Jagadamba Mahankali temple atop the fort.

The first Bonam — a traditional offering of rice, jaggery, curd and neem leaves carried in decorated brass or earthen pots — was brought in a massive procession from Langar Houz Crossroads, accompanied by beats of drums, chants and the rhythmic dance of ‘Potharajus’ wielding whips.

Women dressed in vibrant traditional attire thronged the temple, offering Bonams to the goddess as priests performed age-old rituals. The celebration, rooted in Telangana’s rich folk culture, draws lakhs of devotees every year from Hyderabad, Secunderabad and beyond.

India recorded a sharp jump in foreign direct investment at the start of FY26, with gross FDI inflows rising nearly 23% year-on-year to $8.8 billion in April 2025, according to the Finance Ministry’s Monthly Economic Review for May 2025.

The gross inflows were also higher than the $5.9 billion recorded in March 2025, signaling continued investor confidence despite persistent global headwinds.

Net FDI - which excludes repatriations and outward investments - more than doubled in April, supported by a sharp decline in repatriations, the review showed. Repatriated FDI dropped 59% year-on-year to $1.7 billion, while net outward FDI stood at $3.2 billion, up nearly 169% from April 2024 but lower than the previous month.

The Indian Conservation Conference (ICCON) 2025, India’s foremost platform for conservation science, policy, and practice, will be held from 25–27 June 2025 at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India.The Conference shall be inaugurated by the union minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India Sh Bhupender Yadav on 25th June 2025.

The three-day event brings together over 500 participants from across India and the Global South — including scientists, researchers, Indian Forest Service officers, students, NGOs, and international organisations, policymakers — to discuss, deliberate, and shape solutions for India’s most urgent biodiversity challenges.

ICCON was first launched in 2023 during the golden jubilee celebrations of Project Tiger, alongside the historic announcement of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA). Since then, it has grown into a credible and inclusive forum dedicated to cross-sectoral dialogue, cutting-edge conservation science, and youth engagement. This year’s edition features 17 thematic areas, hundreds of oral and speed talks, poster sessions, spotlight lectures, and 10 capacity-building workshops. A key highlight is the introduction of TechBridge — a first-of-its-kind wildlife technology forum designed to showcase innovative tools and solutions for field application.

Adani Total Gas Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd arm Jio-bp have partnered to sell auto fuel across select outlets, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.

Select ATGL outlets will sell Jio-bp’s petrol and diesel, and the Jio-bp outlets will integrate ATGL’s compressed natural gas (CNG) dispensing units, the statement said.

“This partnership will enable us to leverage each other’s infrastructure, thus enhancing customer experience and offerings,” said Suresh P. Manglani, executive director and CEO of Adani Total Gas.

It was an evening of celebration, filled with fascinating anecdotes and a trip down memory lane during the launch of a book on former India leg-spinner V.V. Kumar to commemorate his 90th birthday.

The book titled Celebrating V.V. Kumar @ 90 features articles by former cricketers and other eminent personalities, including G.R. Viswanath and S. Venkataraghavan. It was released by C.D. Gopinath, the only surviving member of India’s first Test win in 1952 against England, with Kumar receiving the first copy.

“He and I played together for several years. He was a good team man. He was not only very popular but cheerful and made a lot of people laugh,” said Gopinath. “His bowling was phenomenal. He had so much control over his bowling that he could do anything he wanted. The way he was dropped was unfair. He would have been highly successful and won a lot of matches for India,” he added.

Beijing, China's former Vice Finance Minister Zou Jiayi was on Tuesday named as the next president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank here.

The AIIB Board of Governors chair during the 10th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors said Zou would succeed the Beijing-headquartered multilateral development bank's founding President Jin Liqun.

According to the bank's official data, China is the largest shareholder of the AIIB, with 26.54 per cent voting shares.

Set amidst idyllic surroundings, Salkhan Fossils Park in Sonbhadra—one of the oldest fossil sites in the world—has been included in UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites. Detailed information about the park is now made available on the official UNESCO website. This milestone is expected to significantly boost Uttar Pradesh’s global tourism profile.

Following the chief minister’s directives, the Uttar Pradesh eco-tourism development board is preparing a comprehensive dossier to support the park’s nomination for UNESCO’s permanent World Heritage status, said officials. The dossier will soon be submitted to the government of India and officials are optimistic that the park could attain full World Heritage status within the next two years.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister for Science & Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh on Thursday laid the foundation stone and performed the Bhumi Pujan for a state-of-the-art Green Data Centre in Sahibabad, Ghaziabad. The project, a collaboration between Central Electronics Limited (CEL), a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Science & Technology, and ESDS, involves an investment of approximately ₹1,000 crore and boasts a 30 MW capacity.

Dr. Jitendra Singh described the data centre as a pivotal step in India’s journey toward becoming a self-reliant global digital power. The facility is designed with sustainability at its core, incorporating energy-efficient technologies, renewable energy sources, and eco-friendly practices to minimize environmental impact. It will feature a scalable infrastructure capable of supporting 200 high-density racks per floor, adhering to Tier III/TIA/Uptime-compliant standards for high availability and resilience. Equipped with a 40 Gbps ring fibre network and dual 10 Gbps links for cloud integration and disaster recovery, the centre will also include rainwater harvesting, reflective roofing, and smart cooling systems to enhance energy efficiency.

India was among the eight countries where more than half the unvaccinated children from around the world lived as of 2023, an analysis published in The Lancet journal showed, "emphasising persistent inequities."

Providing global estimates of current vaccine coverage, the study found that the same year, there were 15.7 million children -- 1.44 million in India -- who had received no doses of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine in their first year.

An international team of researchers forming the 'Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 Vaccine Coverage Collaborators' updated global, regional, and national estimates of routine childhood vaccine coverage from 1980 to 2023 for 204 countries and territories.