The US has come up with a twenty-billion-dollar plan to help ease Argentina’s currency crisis. President Trump met Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House over a bilateral lunch. The meeting took place shortly after the US government announced the financial package to support Argentina’s economy.

President Trump has made it clear that US economic assistance depends on how Argentine President Javier Milei and his party perform in the upcoming elections. President Trump added that the US is not going to waste its time if Milei’s party does not win.

Argentina’s financial turmoil comes ahead of the national midterm elections to be held on 26th October. Argentina is at risk of a financial collapse. The country’s currency fell sharply after President Milei’s party suffered a significant defeat in provincial elections last month. The losses shook investors’ confidence in President Milei’s ability to see through his economic reforms. President Milei has slashed government spending, cut regulations and fired tens of thousands of public-sector workers since taking charge of his office in 2023.

A model of Sustainable Aquaculture in Mangrove Ecosystems (SAIME) developed by the Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) in West Bengal’s Sundarbans has been conferred Global Technical Recognition by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The recognition was conferred on the non-governmental organisation on October 15, 2025, during FAO’s 80th Anniversary Celebrations and the World Food Forum at its headquarters in Rome, Italy.

The SAIME initiative in the Indian Sundarbans exemplifies an ecosystem-based, climate-adaptive, and conservation-linked livelihood approach, ensuring 5%–30% mangrove coverage in aquaculture ponds. After a few years of implementation across 29.84 hectares of farm area by 42 fish farmers, the annual average net profit of farmers increased by over 100%, owing to a significant reduction in production costs.

Indian travellers may find their global mobility slightly restricted this year. According to the 2025 Henley Passport Index, India has fallen five places to rank 85th, granting visa-free access to 57 destinations around the world. In 2024, the Indian passport held the 80th position, offering visa-free travel to 62 countries. India's strongest performance on the index came back in 2006, when it was ranked 71st.

What Is The Henley Passport Index?

The Henley Passport Index is a global ranking that measures the strength of passports based on the number of destinations their holders can enter without obtaining a visa in advance. It is compiled using exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and updated monthly by Henley & Partners.

The 2025 index compares 199 passports and 227 travel destinations, serving as a key reference for travellers and governments alike to gauge international mobility and travel freedom.

India has rushed a consignment of Prussian Blue (Pru-Decorp) capsules to Indonesia to help mitigate the effects of Cesium-137 contamination after Jakarta detected traces of radioactivity in exported food products.

Responding swiftly to a request from Indonesia's Ministry of Health, the Embassy of India in Jakarta, through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), mobilised and delivered the urgently required capsules to mitigate the effects of Cesium-137 (Cs-137) contamination.

Indian Ambassador Sandeep Chakravorty handed over the medicines to Indonesian officials on Wednesday, reaffirming India's role as a regional first responder in humanitarian and emergencies.

Scientists have discovered a new phase of matter called a time rondeau crystal that shows an unusual kind of order in time, rather than in space like solids and liquids. The phase is related to, but distinct from, a time crystal.

In normal matter, the arrangement of atoms can be either ordered or disordered. For example a (solid) crystal has a repeating structure while a liquid doesn’t. The order in a crystal comes from breaking the perfect symmetry of space: instead of looking the same everywhere, it repeats in a regular pattern.

A time crystal, predicted in 2012 and observed in later experiments, shows a similar idea in time rather than space. When a system is periodically imparted some energy — like pushing a swing at regular intervals — it might oscillate at a different rhythm, such as every two pulses instead of one. Now the system can be said to be behaving in a repeating way in time, forming a crystal pattern in time rather than in space.

Renowned wildlife conservationist Vivek Menon has been elected as the new Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) for the 2025–2029 quadrennium. The election was announced at the IUCN World Conservation Congress held in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Menon’s appointment marks the first time in the Commission’s 75-year history that an Asian leader will head the global body — a significant recognition of the growing leadership of Asia and the Global South in shaping conservation action worldwide.

A leading Indian wildlife conservationist, environmental commentator, author and photographer with a deep passion for elephants, Vivek Menon has dedicated his life to wildlife protection and habitat conservation.

The Indian Navy is hosting the fifth edition of the Indo-Indonesian Joint Bilateral Maritime Exercise, ‘Samudra Shakti – 2025,’ which will run till October 17.

The participating units include INS Kavaratti, an Anti- Submarine Warfare Corvette of the Eastern Fleet under the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) and the Indonesian Navy Ship KRI John Lie, a Corvette (with an integral helicopter), that has arrived at Visakhapatnam for the exercise.

The harbour phase will feature a range of activities aimed at building camaraderie and professional rapport that include cross deck visits, joint yoga sessions, friendly sports fixtures, and Professional Subject Matter Expert Exchanges (SMEE).

Museums offer us a window into humanity’s past, allowing us to journey through different eras by observing the objects they preserve. The paintings, sculptures, tools, and artefacts on display tell stories of human evolution, the cultures that once thrived, and the heritage passed down by our ancestors.

From the age of cave dwellers to the Indus Valley Civilisation and now to the era of artificial intelligence, museums reflect humankind’s timeless desire to create, innovate, and preserve the extraordinary.

Yet, alongside the passion to create and collect, there also emerged a darker impulse, the pursuit of profit and possession. This greed has led to the theft, looting, and illicit trafficking of countless cultural treasures, depriving communities of their heritage and history.

India registered 2.52 crore births in 2023, around 2.32 lakh fewer than in 2022, the Vital Statistics of India based on Civil Registration System (CRS) report for the year 2023 shows.

The report, compiled by the Registrar General of India (RGI) and released on Monday (October 13, 2025), stated that 86.6 lakh deaths were registered in 2023, a marginal increase from 86.5 lakh deaths in 2022.

The report shows that there was no major spike in deaths in 2022 and 2023, despite the COVID-19 dashboard maintained by the Health Ministry showing that the total number of pandemic-induced deaths stood at 5,33,665 as on May 5, 2025. However, there was a significant rise in deaths in 2021, the second-year of COVID-19 lockdown, which recorded an excess of 21 lakh deaths from the 2020 count. There were 81.2 lakh deaths in 2020 and 102.2 lakh in 2021.

India's wild elephant population has been estimated at 22,446, lower than the 2017 figure of 27,312, according to the country's first-ever DNA-based count.

The All-India Synchronous Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2025 puts India's elephant population between 18,255 and 26,645, with an average of 22,446.

The government released the long-delayed report on Tuesday, nearly four years after the survey began in 2021.

Officials said the delay was due to the complex genetic analysis and data validation involved in the exercise.