India opened its medal account on the third day of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, USA, with Ashish Yadav winning silver in the men’s javelin throw.

The 19-year-old produced his best effort of 74.09 metres in his third attempt to finish second. Ashish became only the second Indian after Neeraj Chopra to win a silver medal in the event at the World Athletics U20 Championships.

Chopra had won gold at the 2016 edition in Poland, where he set the still-standing world junior record of 86.48 metres.
South Africa’s Jan-Hendrik Heymans won the gold medal with a throw of 80.50 metres in his sixth and final attempt, which also became the season’s leading U20 world mark.

India’s private space sector has crossed another important milestone, with Bengaluru-based startup Astrobase Space Technologies unveiling a complete, ready-to-test full-flow staged combustion rocket engine that has been built entirely in India.

Called Everest, the 80-tonne-class engine uses liquid oxygen and liquid methane, a combination known as methalox, and is designed to produce about 800 kilonewtons of thrust in the vacuum of space.

That is roughly equivalent to the force needed to lift 80 tonnes.

What makes the engine particularly significant is its full-flow staged combustion design, a highly advanced approach used in SpaceX’s Starship engines.

The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), the apex research organisation under the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly advance quality standards, conformity assessment, scientific research and capacity building for the Ayush sector.

The MoU was signed by Prof. (Vaidya) Rabinarayan Acharya, Director General, CCRAS, and Shri Sanjay Pant, Deputy Director General (Standardisation-II), BIS, in the august presence of Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush. The agreement marks a significant milestone in India's efforts to establish globally benchmarked quality standards for Ayurveda, paving the way for safer, scientifically validated and internationally accepted Ayurvedic products, practices and research.

The partnership will facilitate collaborative development of Standards for Ayurveda and other Ayush systems, strengthen laboratory quality and conformity assessment mechanisms, promote scientific validation of traditional knowledge, and enhance India's contribution to international standardisation initiatives.

Indian-origin Nasa astronaut Anil Menon has completed his first spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS), marking a major milestone in his first mission in orbit.

Menon and Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir completed US Spacewalk 96 on Thursday, August 6, after spending 6 hours and 27 minutes outside the orbital laboratory.

Nasa confirmed that the spacewalk ended at 12:30 am IST on August 7, after the astronauts completed their primary objectives.

For Menon, the excursion was his first time working outside the ISS. Meir, meanwhile, completed her sixth spacewalk.

Indian Air Force (IAF) Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth has scripted yet another milestone by becoming the first woman fighter pilot to successfully complete the prestigious Fighter Combat Leader (FCL) course at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) in Gwalior.

The 20-week programme is regarded as one of the IAF’s most demanding advanced combat courses and is reserved for a select group of fighter pilots. Successful completion qualifies pilots to lead complex air combat missions and places them among the Air Force’s frontline combat tacticians.

A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms in the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March.

In a ruling late Thursday, Judge Bryan Biedcheid said the bulk of the money - $420 million - will be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years.

In the first phase, jurors had ordered $375 million in civil penalties against Meta, determining that it knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday launched the distribution of application forms for the Mukhya Mantrir Nijut Monia Scheme and Mukhya Mantrir Nijut Babu Scheme at a central programme held at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati.

At the same programme, the Chief Minister also disbursed Rs 15.86 crore via DBT to 793 flood-affected schools across Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat and launched financial assistance of over Rs 4.26 crore from the CMRF for 21,025 students in Sivasagar and Charaideo to purchase educational materials after the recent floods. Of the amount, Rs 11.00 crore has been allocated to 550 schools of Sivasagar, Rs 2.22 crore to 111 schools, Rs 2.06 crore to 103 schools of Jorhat and Rs 0.58 crore to 29 schools of Golaghat district.

Microsoft on Thursday launched its largest data centre region in India in Hyderabad, expanding its cloud infrastructure to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services. Adani Group, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and PB Pay are among the early customers using the new facility.

The launch of the India South Central region expands Microsoft’s cloud footprint in the country to four regions, alongside Pune, Chennai and Mumbai.

The company said the addition gives it the largest hyperscale cloud presence in India, offering customers more options to run cloud services and AI workloads within the country.

OpenAI's anticipated push into consumer hardware is beginning to take shape. Months after reports first suggested the ChatGPT maker was working on an AI companion with former Apple design chief Jony Ive, Bloomberg has revealed that OpenAI's first mass market hardware product could be a portable, screenless AI companion.

According to the report, the device will resemble a doughnut roughly the size of a hockey puck, making it small enough to carry around the house with one hand. It is expected to cost between $300 and $400 and is currently slated for release in 2027. Rather than being another smart speaker, OpenAI reportedly sees it as an AI-first computer designed to help users complete everyday tasks through natural conversations.

The 10th BRICS Industry Ministers' Meeting, held under India's chairship, concluded in Jaipur on Thursday with member countries adopting a joint declaration for strengthening industrial cooperation and promoting innovation-driven growth.

Held under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability", the meeting brought together industry ministers and senior representatives from BRICS nations to deliberate on enhancing industrial capabilities, leveraging technological transformation and expanding collaborative opportunities.

Addressing the gathering, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said BRICS countries must convert aspirations into practical innovation and cooperation, and leverage their complementary strengths to build resilient industries. He noted that the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) has emerged as a key mechanism for such collaboration.