International Booker prize winning Hindi author Geetanjali Shree's "Once Elephants Lived Here", translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, has been named one of the 14 titles to win the PEN Translates award, English PEN announced on Thursday.

The London-based human rights organisation has selected 14 titles in 13 languages from 11 regions across the world.

Among the winners, featured through the PEN Translates x SALT collaboration, are "Once Elephants Lived Here" by Geetanjali Shree, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, and "Eyes, Eyes, Eyes" by Pakistani poet Sara Shagufta, translated from the Urdu by Javeria Hasnain.

A day after women constable recruits protested over poor condition and lack of basic amenities in their barracks at the 26th Battalion provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) centre in Gorakhpur, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday inaugurated an 11-storey barrack tower and a 30-bed hospital in the campus.

Speaking at the event, the chief minister said earlier lakhs of police posts remained vacant and the previous governments failed to make the recruitment process transparent due to lack of intent. “Frequent irregularities and corruption led to court-imposed stays, leaving young aspirants disillusioned and directionless,” he added.

“Eight years ago, the state had the capacity to train only 3,000 police personnel at a time. Today, that capacity has expanded with over 60,000 trainees undergoing training simultaneously at 112 police training centres,” he claimed.

World Drowning Prevention Day 2025: Observed annually on July 25, World Drowning Prevention Day aims to raise awareness about the devastating and long-term impact of drowning on families and communities. The day also serves to promote effective drowning prevention strategies. According to research, an estimated 2,36,000 people lose their lives to drowning each year, many of them children aged 5 to 14. The risk is especially high in rural areas, where children often enter water without proper safety measures, making them more vulnerable to such tragedies.

World Drowning Prevention Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution A/RES/75/273 in April 2021 as part of a global effort to raise awareness about drowning and promote prevention strategies.

Drowning is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid." It can result in death, morbidity, or no morbidity. Contrary to common assumptions, drowning is often silent and quick.

On 4 March 2025, the United Nations General Assembly voted 160 to 1 (USA) with 3 abstentions to make 25 July each year the International Day for Judicial Wellbeing taking into account the Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-Being launched on 25 July 2024.

Justice Rangajeeva Wimalasena who was the inspiration behind the Declaration stated: “Judicial wellbeing is not just about individual resilience, it is about safeguarding the independence, integrity, and effectiveness of judicial systems worldwide. This recognition at the UN level is a testament to the growing awareness that a strong, well-supported judiciary is fundamental to justice and democracy. Let this be a call to action for all stakeholders to prioritise judicial wellbeing and ensure that those who uphold justice receive the support they need.”

Liquidity in the the banking system seems to have come under strain following GST-related outflows, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a surprise move, conducting a two-day variable rate repo (VRR) auction to infuse liquidity amounting to ₹50,000 crore.

Against the notified amount of ₹50,000 crore, banks put in bids aggregating ₹71,902 crore for drawing liquidity from the RBI.

The central bank accepted bids aggregating ₹50,001 crore from banks at a weighted average rate of 5.58 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved Currant Sea Investments B.V., an affiliate of global private equity major Warburg Pincus, to acquire up to 9.99 percent stake in IDFC First Bank. The bank disclosed the development in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.

we wish to inform that Currant Sea Investments B.V. has received the approval of the RBI with respect to its proposed investment of up to 9.99 percent of the paid-up share capital of the Bank," the filing stated.

This follows a similar clearance granted by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on June 3 for the proposed investment. Currant Sea had approached the CCI in April seeking approval for the stake acquisition.

Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah today unveiled the National Cooperative Policy 2025 in New Delhi this evening. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shah said the Policy will play a huge role in achieving the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047. He added that the Policy aims to realize the vision of prosperity through cooperation by creating a roadmap at the grassroots level. He said that the country’s first National Cooperative Policy was issued in 2002 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday instructed the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) to upgrade its online recruitment portal to ensure it is more accessible and user-friendly for visually impaired applicants.

The directive emerged from a plea filed by the National Federation of the Blind, which highlighted the difficulties these candidates face, particularly with the mandatory live face recognition step required to upload photographs during the application process.

The Court expressed concern over the lack of accessible options, especially for exams such as the Combined Graduate Level (CGL), Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL), and the Multi-Tasking Staff and Havaldar (MTS) recruitment slated for 2025.

In Chess, India’s Divya Deshmukh beat China’s Tan Zhongyi in Game 2 of the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 semifinal to secure a spot in the final, in Batumi, Georgia yesterday. The Indian chess star outplayed her opponent with white pieces to claim a 1.5-0.5 win in the semifinal, after having drawn the first game on Tuesday.

With this win, Deshmukh also claimed a spot in the Candidates tournament set to happen in 2026, while also securing her first Grand Master norm. The 19-year-old also became the first Indian to enter the final of FIDE Women’s World Cup.

Divya will take on the winner of the second semifinal played between top seed China’s Lei Tingjie and India No. 1 Koneru Humpy. The Humpy vs Lei game moved to tiebreaks after the duo played two draws in the Classical legs.

Ozzy Osbourne, the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who became the throaty, growling voice — and drug-and-alcohol ravaged id — of heavy metal, died on Tuesday (July 22, 2025), just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76.

Either clad in black or bare-chested, the singer was often the target of parents’ groups for his imagery and once caused an uproar for biting the head off a bat. Later, he would reveal himself to be a doddering and sweet father on the reality TV show “The Osbournes.”

Black Sabbath’s 1969 self-titled debut LP has been likened to the Big Bang of heavy metal. It came during the height of the Vietnam War and crashed the hippie party, dripping menace and foreboding.