India’s foreign exchange reserves rose to a record high of $728.49 billion in the week ended February 27, latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. The total reserves increased by $4.88 billion during the week on the back of a rise in gold reserves and foreign currency assets.

The previous record high of $726 billion was hit in the week ended February 13.

Gold reserves increased by $4.14 billion to $131 billion in the reported week. Gold prices increased by 3.36 per cent to $5,278/oz during the reported week.

Smriti Mandhana, who is known to achieve great feats in the cricketing field has added another jewel in her crown as she has been included in the iconic Barbie Dream Team.

The stylish southpaw received an exclusive Barbie doll replicating her identity from Mattel - the parent company of Barbie and with it she became the first female cricketer to be included in the renowned Barbie Dream team.

Smriti Mandhana got the honour on March 5 just days before the official Women's day (March 8), making it even more special for the Indian cricketer.

In a discovery that has sent ripples of excitement through the conservation community, a pair of rare dusky eagle owls has been sighted in the Phato tourism zone of the Terai West forest division, adjacent to the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand.

The sighting is being hailed as a landmark event, as the species—known for its highly elusive nature—was last officially recorded in the region over 15 years ago in 2010. The rare pair was documented by naturalist Himanshu Tiruva, whose photographs have since gone viral among ornithologists and wildlife enthusiasts.

"The dusky eagle owl is a master of camouflage and is incredibly wary of human presence," said Tiruva. "Finding them in the dense canopy after such a long hiatus is not just a personal milestone but a significant record for the state’s avian diversity."

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government to issue a further notification to include the left-out areas of the Kappatagudda reserve forest as part of the Kappatagudda Wildlife Sanctuary in Gadag district, as per the resolution passed at the 11th meeting of the Karnataka State Wildlife Board (KSWB) in January 2019.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha issued the direction after noticing that only 244.15 sq. km area was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in the May 16, 2019, notification, even though the KSWB had on January 9, 2019, unanimously resolved to declare the entire 300 sq. km of Kappatagudda reserve forest as wildlife sanctuary.

AI robot powers the next generation of urban sanitation in Thiruvananthapuram as the local municipal corporation deployed the G-SPIDER system to manage high-risk waste removal. This initiative, launched under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, aims to ensure human-free canal cleaning in inaccessible areas.

According to the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, the technology provides a solution for the Amayizhanchan canal near the Thampanoor railway station premises, where restricted vertical clearance and continuous water flow make conventional maintenance difficult.

The Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation commissioned the AI-powered robotic canal-cleaning system to phase out manual scavenging. Developed by Genrobotic Innovations, the G-SPIDER robot operates on a Cable-Driven Parallel Robotics architecture.

Former Indian Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been appointed as the new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, according to official communiqué issued by President’s Secretariat.

Sandhu will replace Vinai Kumar Saxena, who has served as Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor since May 26, 2022. Saxena has now been appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, replacing Kavinder Gupta, who will take charge as Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

The appointments are part of a broader reshuffle of Governors and Lieutenant Governors across several states and Union Territories announced by President Droupadi Murmu. The changes will come into effect once the appointees assume charge of their respective offices.

The US has tested the unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, dubbed the "doomsday missile", amid a raging war with Iran.

The test launch was equipped with two test re-entry vehicles and was conducted on Tuesday from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, the Air Force Global Strike Command said in an official statement on Wednesday.

The launch was scheduled years ago and is "not in response to world events", it said.

The inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG) will be held in three cities of Chhattisgarh—Raipur, Jagdalpur and Sarguja—between March 25 and April 6.

The KITG will feature seven medal sports—athletics, football, hockey, weightlifting, archery, swimming and wrestling. There will be two demonstration sports—mallakhamb and kabaddi. The Games will see representation from most states and Union Territories of India.

“The Khelo India Tribal Games are part of our expanding footprint that offers an opportunity and scope to every young person wanting to play a sport. It is part of PM Narendra Modi’s vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047, and sports have a massive role to play in that journey,” said Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

NITI Aayog on Thursday said that it has signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) with UNICEF India to support strategic interventions in aspirational districts and aspirational blocks. The objective of this agreement to leverage the strengths of both institutions to advance efforts towards improving maternal and child nutrition outcomes in underserved areas. The SOI was signed by Rohit Kumar, Additional Secretary and Mission Director of the Aspirational Districts and Blocks Programme at NITI Aayog, and Arjan de Wagt, Deputy Representative at UNICEF India, the government think tank said.

“The partnership will support the promotion of multi-stakeholder engagement and strengthen implementation systems for nutrition and health interventions at the block level,” NITI Aayog said.

Korea district in Chhattisgarh has emerged as an example of community-led water conservation through the ‘Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari’ initiative, where farmers voluntarily dedicate a small portion of their land to support groundwater recharge and sustainable water management.

The initiative, carried out under the Aawa Paani Jhoki movement, encourages farmers to set aside five per cent of their agricultural land to create small recharge ponds and terraced pits. These structures capture rainwater directly in the fields, allowing it to seep into the soil and replenish groundwater.

According to official information, the initiative has helped retain rainwater that earlier flowed away during the monsoon season. The structures have improved soil moisture, reduced soil erosion and contributed to steady groundwater recharge in the region.