The illicit trafficking of cultural property is a longstanding issue that has affected many cultures and countries throughout history. India has been particularly affected by this issue and a large number of antiquities have been smuggled out of the country.

During this visit of PM Modi to U.S., 297 antiquities were handed over to India.

This takes the total number of antiquities recovered by India since 2014 to 640. The total number of antiquities returned from the USA alone will be 578.

The Centre notified the appointment of Chief Justices in eight High Courts on Saturday (September 21, 2024). These includes the High Courts of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Madras (Tamil Nadu) and Jharkhand.

The appointments came after the Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday (September 17, 2024) amended some of its July 11, 2024 recommendations.

Justice K.R. Shriram of the Bombay High Court has been made Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, while Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar, a Bombay High Court judge, will now be the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.

Buoyed by the peaceful ongoing election in Jammu and Kashmi, and a higher voter turnout of 61% in the first phase of polling, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has invited a group of senior diplomats, mainly from the American, European and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) embassies, to visit Kashmir “for a first-hand account of the ongoing election process in J&K”, sources told The Hindu.

Official sources said the MEA extended invitations to around 20 diplomats of select embassies functioning in New Delhi, including the U.S., France, Germany, Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia. So far, 16 diplomats have accepted the invitation. They are expected to arrive in Kashmir on a two-day visit on September 25, the day Srinagar is going to the polls.

Nazira Banoo, a talented athlete from the LOC village of Lato in Kargil, UT Ladakh, made her region proud by clinching a gold medal in the individual Poomsae under-30 category at the 1st Khelo India Women’s Taekwondo League Phase 1, held in Vadodara, Gujarat.

The tournament, organised by the Taekwondo Federation of India in collaboration with Khelo India, hosted hundreds of participants from different states and union territories across the country.

Nazira’s gold-medal performance earned her a spot in the upcoming Khelo India Women’s League Nationals Phase-III, scheduled to take place in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The president of the Ladakh Taekwondo Association, Gulzar Hussain Munshi, congratulated Nazira for her outstanding performance, expressing pride in her accomplishment on the national stage.

The Indian Air Force has successfully completed Exercise Eastern Bridge-7 with the Royal Air Force of Oman in Masirah, Oman. The exercise included a comprehensive series of training missions, which featured the participation of MiG-29 and Jaguar aircraft from the Indian Air Force and F-16 and Hawk from the Royal Air Force of Oman.

The Defence Ministry said that the completion of the exercise underscores the commitment of India and Oman towards maintaining regional peace and security. It also added that both forces demonstrated their capability to operate jointly in diverse scenarios, enhancing their preparedness to face emerging security challenges.

Booker-winning writer Arundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, “Mother Mary Comes to Me”, will hit the stands in September next year, publisher Penguin Random House announced on Friday.

The book is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became the person she is, shaped by circumstance, but, above all, by her complex relationship to the extraordinary, singular mother she describes as “my shelter and my storm”.

Her latest writing is borne out of her response to the death of her mother and women’s rights activist Mary Roy in September 2022.

Earth is about to gain an unexpected visitor — a mini-moon — but don’t blink, or you might miss it. Astronomers have just discovered a small asteroid, 2024 PT5, which will be temporarily caught in Earth’s gravitational pull, orbiting our planet for just two months before slipping away into space.

Starting September 29, this fleeting mini-moon will make its brief appearance, only to vanish by November 25.

Details about the asteroid, its brief capture, and its horseshoe-shaped path were recently published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. First spotted on August 7 by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), the asteroid is believed to be about 37 feet in diameter, though more data is needed to confirm its size.

As part of the ongoing 'Swachhata Hi Seva' 2024 campaign, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Steel, organized a special health check-up camp titled 'Safai Mitr Suraksha Shivir' at its Corporate Office. This initiative emphasizes SAIL's commitment to the well-being of the safai mitras (cleanliness workers), who play a crucial role in ensuring cleanliness across SAIL's plants and units.

The 'Safai Mitr Suraksha Shivir' aims to provide essential health check-ups and medical support to the safai mitras, recognizing their invaluable contribution to the cleanliness mission. The health camp is a reflection of SAIL's holistic approach toward promoting cleanliness, sustainability, and care for the individuals working on the ground to make these efforts successful.

Speaking on the occasion, SAIL Chairman Shri Amarendu Prakash said, "Safai mitras are the backbone of our cleanliness initiatives. Through the 'Safai Mitr Suraksha Shivir,' we are ensuring that their health and safety are prioritized, as they play a vital role in realizing the vision of a cleaner and greener India."

The health camp included comprehensive medical check-ups by a team of doctors and health professionals, offering general health consultations, along with specialized screenings for any potential occupational health issues that safai mitras might face in their daily work. The initiative is part of a series of activities under the 'Swachhata Hi Seva' campaign, which runs from 17th September to 2nd October 2024.

The IndiaAI Independent Business Division, under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has announced the IndiaAI Innovation Challenge. The challenge is part of the Applications Development Initiative within the IndiaAI Mission. The Ministry, in a statement, said the Innovation Challenge is open to Indian innovators, startups, non-profits, students, and academic and research and development organizations. The deadline for application submission for this challenge is the 30th of this month.

.The winners will receive up to one crore rupees as an award and an opportunity to showcase their solutions on a national scale. Applicants can apply on the official website, www.indiaai.gov.in till 30th of this month.

The AI India Mission seeks to develop and adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in critical sectors. The innovation challenge aims to promote impactful AI solutions to enable socio-economic transformation. The focus areas of this challenge are healthcare, improved governance, agriculture, assistive technology for learning disabilities, and climate change and disaster management.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday flagged-in a first-of-its-kind Open Water Swimming Expedition to the 21 Islands of the Andaman & Nicobar archipelago named after the Param Vir Chakra (PVC) Awardees, in New Delhi.

The Andaman & Nicobar Command Tri-service launched ‘Expedition Param Vir’, wherein a team of personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard swam to all the 21 islands as a tribute to the gallantry awardees and unfurled the national flag on each island. The 11-member expedition team was led by Wing Commander Paramvir Singh.

The expedition was formally flagged-off on World Water Day on March 22, 2024 from Shri Vijayapuram, with an inaugural swim to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Dweep.