State-owned engineering and consultancy firm RITES Ltd on Friday, December 19, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the the government of Botswana to collaborate on the development and modernisation of the country’s railway and transport infrastructure.

The MoU was signed in Gurugram on December 19, 2025, with Botswana represented by its Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.

The exchange filing said the partnership aims to accelerate the growth of Botswana’s transport sector by leveraging advanced technologies, best practices, and capacity-building initiatives to enhance efficiency, safety, and reliability.

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the Cyient vijAIpatha initiative will play a key role in equipping government school students with future-ready skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI); science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); robotics; coding and digital innovation. She inaugurated the Cyient vijAIpatha, an artificial intelligence initiative, jointly launched by the Cyient Foundation and the Government of Karnataka at the Government Girls’ High School in Hosapete. The Minister also interacted with students of the school during the event.

The pilot project is being implemented in five government schools in Hosapete taluk of Vijayanagara district and is expected to empower over 2,000 students from Classes 6 to 10. As part of the programme, more than 100 teachers will receive training through capacity-building initiatives.

Astronomers have found a strange world outside the solar system that is ripe for science fiction — but it's all real.

The exoplanet, dubbed PSR J2322-2650 b, has a helium-and-carbon atmosphere, something researchers say they've never seen before. The air could be full of soot clouds, and deep inside, carbon could even clump together into solid crystals, possibly forming diamonds.

This all takes place on a lemon-shaped planet that is orbiting a pulsar, a special type of neutron star that spins and strobes like a lighthouse in space. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope made the observations.

"Our collective reaction was 'What the heck is this?'" said Peter Gao, a coauthor on the new research based at Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory, in a statement. "It's extremely different from what we expected."

Noida golfer Sukhman Singh rang in early Christmas celebrations by capturing the Amateur Golf Championship of India here Sunday.

Sukhman posted a dominant performance to defeat Harman Sachdeva of Haryana in the 36-hole final following an unassailable 7UP lead after 29 holes at the Tollygunge Club.

It is the world’s longest-running amateur matchplay championship organised by the Indian Golf Union (IGU).

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch a communication satellite BlueBird Block-2 on Wednesday. The satellite of AST SpaceMobile of the USA will be the largest commercial communications satellite to reach the Low Earth Orbit in LVM3-M6. It is part of a next generation of BlueBird Block-2 communication satellites, designed to provide space-based cellular broadband connectivity directly to standard mobile smartphones. Launch Vehicle Mark-3 or LVM3, developed by ISRO, is a three-stage launch vehicle, earlier used to launch Chandrayaan-2 and 3, and two OneWeb missions carrying 72 satellites. It also successfully accomplished the M5-CMS-03 mission, carried out last month.

National Mathematics Day will be observed today to commemorate the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of India’s most influential and globally recognised mathematicians. The day will be marked across educational institutions, research bodies and academic forums to highlight the importance of mathematics in scientific progress and everyday life. The observance was formally instituted by the Government of India in December 2011, and December 22 was designated as National Mathematics Day in recognition of Ramanujan’s extraordinary contributions to the discipline. The following year, 2012, was observed nationwide as the National Mathematics Year, giving further institutional push to mathematical learning and research. December 22 marks the birth of Srinivasa Ramanujan, whose work continues to influence modern mathematics more than a century later.

The Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) has imported eight black-capped capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) from the Induna Primate and Parrot Park in South Africa under an animal exchange programme.

The eight capuchin monkeys, which includes four male and four females, arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Sunday.

The capuchins have been kept in a designated quarantine facility and will undergo post-import health checks before being moved to the zoo premises.

The BBP said that the import was carried out in strict compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements.

Prior approvals were obtained from the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi, along with No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the State Chief Wildlife Warden, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal today to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for two National Highway projects worth around Rs. 3,200 crore, aimed at improving road connectivity and supporting economic growth in the state.

At around 11:15 AM, the Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of the highway projects at Ranaghat in Nadia district. He will also address a public gathering on the occasion.

During the visit, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the 66.7-kilometre-long four-laning of the Barajaguli–Krishnanagar section of National Highway-34 in Nadia district. He will also lay the foundation stone for the four-laning of the 17.6-kilometre-long Barasat–Barajaguli section of NH-34 in North 24 Parganas district.

A small new Brazilian study published in the international Journal of Alzheimer's Disease investigated the effects of microdoses of cannabis extract on patients with mild Alzheimer's disease. The results found positive effects, without the associated “high” of cannabis.

The logic of microdoses
The study, led by professor Francisney Nascimento and colleagues at the Federal University of Latin American Integration (UNILA), recruited 24 elderly patients (60-80 years) diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's. It evaluated the effects of daily use of an oil prepared from Cannabis extract containing THC and CBD in similar proportions and extremely low concentrations (0.3 mg of each cannabinoid). These sub-psychoactive doses do not cause the “high” associated with recreational use of the plant.

President Droupadi Murmu today exhorted the Public Service Commissions in the country to make efforts to achieve the goal of equality of outcomes, besides working for equality of opportunity. Addressing the National Conference of Chairpersons of State Public Service Commissions, the President said the UPSC and PSCs should give the highest priority to the aspect of honesty and integrity in recruitment.

Recalling that the writers of the Constitution dedicated an entire part to the services and PSCs, the President said the Constitution highlighted the significance that the Constitution of India attached to them. The President said the constitutional ideals of social, economic and political justice, and equality of status and of opportunity are most pertinent to the functioning of the PSCs. The President further said the integrity, sensitivity and competence of the civil servants constituting the permanent executive are of utmost importance for implementing the people-oriented policies at national and state levels.