NASA has successfully launched the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), a new spacecraft designed to study the vast protective bubble surrounding our solar system known as the heliosphere.

The mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, September 24, marking a significant step in understanding how the Sun shields Earth from dangerous cosmic radiation.

According to NASA, the heliosphere is formed by the Sun’s constant outflow of charged particles, known as the solar wind. These streams travel well past all the planets, extending nearly three times the distance of Pluto, before colliding with the interstellar medium. The result is a gigantic bubble that envelopes the Sun and its planets. Scientists say this natural shield plays a vital role in protecting life on Earth from high-energy particles that could otherwise strip away our atmosphere.

In Telangana, the celebrations of Bathukamma Festival, organised by the state Government, have set two new Guinness World Records last evening. The event has been held at the Saroornagar Stadium in Hyderabad. The two world records for its largest Bathukamma floral decoration consist of about seven tonnes of flowers and of 63.11 feet high, 11 feet wide. The second record for the highly synchronised performance by a large number of women, of 1354.

The representatives of the Guinness World Records declared the performance as a world record and presented certificates to State Tourism Minister Krishna Rao and Women Development Minister Anasuya Sitakka.
Miss World 2025 Opal Suchata Chuangsri and the Miss World team, and other finalists of the pageant were also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, the State Tourism Minister congratulated everyone who made the record possible. Telangana Tourism Development Corporation (TGTDC) Managing Director Valluru Kranthi, the final count of women who participated was 1354, and it was accepted by Guinness. The Bathukamma was built by around 300 workers with metal, bamboo, and flowers, and the structure took 72 hours to complete.

The Maharashtra Cabinet has approved a comprehensive cancer care policy, ensuring access to quality treatment for cancer patients across the state. A three-tier cancer treatment service system will be established, offering specialized care through 18 hospitals. To support this initiative, the state government will establish a new entity  the Maharashtra Cancer Care, Research and Education Foundation (MAHACARE Foundation) with an initial corpus of 100 crore rupees for capital investment. In addition, the Cabinet approved the imposition of an additional electricity duty on industrial, commercial, and other consumer categories.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has introduced four new visa categories for visitors. On Monday, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) also introduced some new regulations on the durations, conditions, and eligibility requirements of a number of existing visas.

Among the newly introduced four visa categories, the most notable is for those from the technology field, in particular, Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The AI specialists visa will be issued for single or multiple entries for a specific period. AI specialists can avail the visa, subject to a letter from a host or sponsoring technology company in the Emirates. The timing of the AI specialists’ visas is significant, as the Middle East is touted to gain the most from the H-1B visa restrictions in the US. In recent years, the UAE has also made significant investments in AI and has attracted talent and companies from around the world to cities including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Lingering flooding from Typhoon Bualoi devastated homes, infrastructure and farmland across swaths of Vietnam on Tuesday, with the death toll rising to 26 and dozens more missing.

Rainfall from the storm inundated the capital Hanoi, bringing large parts of the city to a standstill and rerouting dozens of flights.

Bualoi made landfall in central Vietnam late Sunday, packing winds of 130 kilometres (80 miles) per hour, and remained over land for almost 12 hours.

RITES Limited, India’s leading transport infrastructure consultancy and engineering firm, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Etihad Rail to strengthen business collaboration in the mobility sector across the UAE and international markets. The agreement was formalized at the Global Rail Transport Infrastructure Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, running from September 30 to October 2, 2025.

The MoU was signed by Shadi Malak, CEO of Etihad Rail, and Rahul Mithal, Chairman and Managing Director of RITES Limited, in the presence of SheikhTheyab Bin Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Chairman of Etihad Rail and Sunjay Sudhir, Ambassador of India to the UAE. Under this partnership, RITES will collaborate with National Infrastructure Construction Company (NICC) LLC, a its subsidiary of Etihad Rail , to explore business opportunities in the region and beyond.

The collaboration aims to combine RITES’ five decades of expertise in consultancy, transport infrastructure, and engineering solutions with NICC’s execution capabilities, creating synergies for developing infrastructure projects across the region. This partnership strengthens RITES’ international presence under its strategic initiative ‘RITES Videsh’ and reinforces the company’s commitment to shaping infrastructure that transforms lives.

South Korea and Japan have agreed to cooperate on shared social challenges such as low birth rates and aging population. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Busan. Both leaders have expressed willingness to cooperate to tackle shared challenges. Mr. Lee expressed hope that the two Asian neighbours could work together to tackle shared social challenges, such as overconcentration in the capital region. Mr. Ishiba said, South Korea and Japan can work closely together, maintain frequent exchanges and achieve tangible outcomes of shuttle diplomacy

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), headquartered in Chennai, has sanctioned an amount of ₹82 lakh to the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board for the conservation of Red Sanders, according to the environment ministry.

The funds are aimed at raising one lakh saplings of Red Sanders, which will subsequently be supplied to farmers, thereby contributing to the Trees Outside Forests (ToF) programme, and thus marking a significant step towards conserving a species unique to the region, the ministry has said on Monday. Red sanders is in high demand globally particularly in China and East Asia, for furniture, musical instruments, traditional medicine, and cosmetics.

The funding has been provided from the benefit-sharing amount collected from users of Red Sanders and is being channelled back to the local farmers and biodiversity board for conservation-related activities.

On the auspicious occasion of CSIR’s Foundation Day, 26th September 2025, SODAR (Sound Detection and Ranging) system facility, designed & developed by CSIR–Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI), Bhopal was inaugurated at India Meteorological Department, (IMD), Delhi by Dr. M. Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, India Meteorological Department and Prof. Dr. Thallada Bhaskar, Director, CSIR-AMPRI, Bhopal. Dr. Mohd. Akram Khan, Chief Scientist & Energy and Environmental Solutions Division; Dr. Sandeep Singhai, Senior Principal Scientist & Head, Business Development Group, Dr. Kirti Soni, Senior Principal Scientist & Principal Investigator of the SODAR activity, CSIR-AMPRI, Bhopal and Dr Manish Mohan Gore, Senior Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR, Delhi were also present on the occasion.

Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, DG CSIR and Secretary, DSIR joined the event virtually and underscored this initiative a very significant in terms of strengthening indigenisation of Indian technology for serving the society.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said the limit for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the central government for the second half of the financial year 2025-26 will be 50,000 crore rupees. The WMA is a temporary advance given by the RBI to the central, state governments and Union Territories to tide over any mismatch in receipts and payments.

The Central bank in a statement yesterday said, the WMA has been decided in consultation with the Central government. It added that Reserve Bank of India may trigger fresh floatation of market loans when the Centre utilises 75 per cent of the WMA limit. Both RBI and Government, retains the flexibility to revise the WMA limit at any time taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances. The interest rate on WMA will be the prevailing repo rate and on overdraft it will be 2 per cent above the repo rate.