North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets and pledged to spur development of such weapons to boost his military's war readiness, state media said Monday.

Kim has been flaunting his growing military capabilities amid tensions with Washington and Seoul. North Korean photos of the test showed a white drone with X-shaped tails and wings supposedly crashing into and destroying a target resembling South Korea's main K-2 battle tank. Most combat drones stand off from targets and fire missiles.

The test, which state media said took place Saturday, came as the U.S. and South Korean militaries are conducting a large-scale exercise aimed at enhancing their combined capabilities to defend against growing North Korean nuclear threats.

Department of Posts has launched a philately scholarship scheme for generating interest regarding philately amongst students. Launched under Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana, the scholarship is aimed at promotion of aptitude and research in stamps as a hobby. Students of Class VI to IX having good academic record and pursuing philately as a hobby will be awarded the scholarship on the basis of Philately Quiz & Philately Project which will be conducted by circle offices of the department.

To be eligible for the scholarship, a candidate must be a student (Class VI to IX) of a recognized School within India. The candidate’s school should have a Philately Club and he or she should be a member of the club. In case the School Philately Club hasn’t been established, a student having his own Philately Deposit Account may also be considered. The candidate must also have good academic record. At the time of selection for award of scholarship, the candidate must have scored at least 60 percent marks or equivalent grade in the recent final examination. There will be five percent relaxation for SC/ST students.

IndiGo is evaluating introducing the gender-neutral option of honorific ‘Mx’ for internal candidates as part of larger efforts to boost inclusivity.

Besides, the country’s largest carrier, which has a domestic market share of 62 per cent, aims to increase by two-fold the number of individuals with disabilities employed by it.

An airline spokesperson said it is evaluating introducing the option of honorific ‘Mx’ for internal candidates.

Sukhjit S Pasricha, Group Chief Human Resources Officer at IndiGo, told PTI that the airline has implemented various initiatives for the LGBTQ+ community, including employee referral programmes specifically designed to encourage hiring of LGBTQ+ individuals.

India and Indonesia have condemned the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism amid Pakistan's support to terror groups carrying out terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The issue of cross-border terrorism figured at the sixth meeting of the India-Indonesia joint working group on counter-terrorism that was held in Jakarta on Friday.

The two sides focused on ways to effectively combat terrorism, including how to stop the use of new and emerging technologies by terrorists, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"India and Indonesia strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and emphasised the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner," it said in a statement on Sunday.

The Union Cabinet on Saturday (August 24, 2024) cleared a proposal to bolster biotechnology-based manufacturing, called BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy for Fostering High Performance Biomanufacturing. To be steered by the Department of Biotechnology, the aim is to have it catalyse a technology revolution “just as the IT industry revolutionised life in the 1990s”, an internal note viewed by The Hindu said.

A financial outlay wasn’t specified for the programme. High performance biomanufacturing is the ability to produce products from medicine to materials, address farming and food challenges, and promote manufacturing of bio-based products through integration of advanced biotechnological processes.

Assam has recorded the mithun (Bos frontalis) for the first time, generations after the semi-wild gaur-like animal began to be reared by tribals in the state’s hill district of Dima Hasao.

During past livestock censuses, the enumerators recorded the animal in the column of “others” and the government had no idea about its presence.

Mithun is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and found also in the hills of Mizoram and Manipur. It is primarily reared for its meat.

Bhairab K Kakati, Additional Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department (Hills), told The New Indian Express that a team had spotted the animal during a visit to the three remote villages of Laisong, Langting and Thaijuwari in Dima Hasao on August 21.

Flour, chocolate, cocoa powder, eggs, and butter are all the ingredients to make a sweet treat you crave.

The only thing you need right now is a step-by-step recipe to help you turn the ingredients into a yummy brownie.

Nature also has the ingredients it needs to ‘make’ living organisms, using a genetic instruction manual called the genome. A small change in the genome’s composition can determine whether the living thing being made is a flower that exhibits two petal colours, a cat that has big or small ears or if the coriander leaves will taste like soap to some people.

South India’s first adivasi library, ‘Kaanu’, will be inaugurated at BR Hills in Chamarajanagar district on August 25.‘Kaanu’ means evergreen forest in Soliga language. It will be the first South Indian Adivasi Knowledge Centre.

There is no institution dedicated for research on various aspects related to adivasis in South India.

Scholars from tribal communities held talks with Prashanth N Srinivas, a medical doctor and public health researcher at BR Hills, and Wraner from Germany last year and decided to set up this exclusive library to showcase works and promote research on Jenu Kuruba, Kadu Kuruba, Betta Kuruba, Soliga and other forest-based tribes.

‘Kaanu’ has been set up at the Institute of Public Health building with 1,200 books, research papers and contemporary works on South Indian forest tribes by adivasis and non-adivasis.

The ‘home of cricket’ Lord’s will host its first-ever women’s Test to be played between India and England in 2026, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Thursday.

The ECB said on its website that after a three-match ODI series between India and England in July 2025, the former will return in 2026 for a one-off Test.

“I’m also delighted we can confirm that India Women will return in 2026 to take on England Women in the first-ever women’s Test match at Lord’s. It will be a truly special occasion, and one of real significance,” ECB CEO Richard Gould said.

A new way to probe deeper into the Sun’s secrets has been found by studying the magnetic field at different layers of the solar atmosphere using data from the Kodaikanal Tower Tunnel Telescope. The solar atmosphere is composed of various layers interconnected through magnetic fields. The magnetic field acts as a conduit to transfer energy and mass from the inner layers to the outer layers, commonly known as the “coronal heating problem,” and is also the prime driver of the solar wind. To understand the physical mechanisms behind these processes, measurements of magnetic fields at different heights of the solar atmosphere are important. The strength of the magnetic field can be inferred by precise measurements of the spectral line intensities across the Sun in full polarization. Simultaneous multiline spectropolarimetry is an observational technique that captures this magnetic field at different layers of the solar atmosphere. Recent studies have demonstrated the technique's capability to detail the magnetic structure of sunspots, umbral flashes, and chromospheric variations during solar flares.

A study led by astronomers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), examined an active region (sunspot) with complex features, including multiple umbrae and a penumbra, through simultaneous observations in the Hydrogen-alpha and Calcium II 8662 Å lines from the Kodaikanal Tower Tunnel telescope.

The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO), operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, is known for the discovery of the Evershed Effect in 1909. The study used data from multiple spectral lines acquired simultaneously, especially the Hydrogen-alpha line, at 6562.8 Angstroms (Å), to infer the magnetic field's stratification at various heights of the solar atmosphere, taken from the Tunnel Telescope at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, which is operated by IIA.