India’s gold demand surged past 800 tonnes in 2024, driven by a rise in jewellery consumption and increased investments in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs), according to a new report released on Tuesday.

The report by Zerodha Fund House revealed that India was the world’s largest consumer of gold jewellery in 2024, with total consumption reaching 563 tonnes.

The value of this consumption was estimated at around Rs 3.6 lakh crore. Gold continues to hold a significant place in Indian culture, particularly during weddings and other auspicious occasions, where its use is widespread.

Apart from jewellery, Indians are also investing heavily in gold in the form of bars and coins. In 2024, the country purchased 239 tonnes of gold in bar and coin form, valued at approximately Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) as an authority under clause 46A of section 10 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, granting it exemptions from taxes on income. NMCG implements the Union government’s ambitious Namami Gange scheme.

The notification was issued on April 22, 2025. The clause allows tax exemption for any income arising to a body, authority, board, trust, or commission, not being a company, which has been established or constituted by or under a Central or State Act for specified purposes.

“In exercise of the powers conferred…the Central Government hereby notifies the “National Mission for Clean Ganga”, an authority constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (No.29 of 1986), for the purposes of the said clause,” states the notification.

India's space regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) has invited applications from private companies to design and develop satellite-bus platforms to reduce import dependence.

The new initiative called the Satellite Bus as a Service (SBaaS) aims to provide a pathway for Indian private space players to design and develop small satellite bus platforms for hosted payload applications, IN-SPACe said in a statement.

Through this Announcement of Opportunity (AO), IN-SPACe invites applications from eligible Indian non-governmental entities (NGEs) to undertake the design, development, and realisation of small satellite bus systems capable of supporting multiple payloads.

Over 3,050 pigs have died in four districts of Mizoram due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the last one month, said officials of Mizoram’s Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department on Saturday.

So far, 46 localities in four districts of the northeastern state – Siaha, Lawngtlai, Lunglei, and Mamit – have been declared as ASF-infected zones by the department.

Nearly 1,000 pigs were culled in these four districts to prevent the spread of the disease.

Of the four infected zones, Siaha district is the most affected, with the cumulative death toll of pigs at 1,651.

Officials stated that the hot climatic conditions and intermittent showers are favourable for the spread of the virus.

The race to bring internet from space just got exciting. Amazon has finally sent its first 27 Kuiper satellites into orbit after years of waiting. As the sun set in Florida, the launch kicked off a new chapter for the tech giant.

The satellites soared into the sky aboard an Atlas V rocket. The launch happened at 7 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. United Launch Alliance, a Boeing and Lockheed Martin venture, handled the rocket's journey. An earlier launch attempt on 9 April was cancelled because of bad weather. These satellites are the first of 3,236 Amazon plans to deploy. The Kuiper project, first revealed in 2019, aims to beam internet worldwide. It hopes to reach homes, businesses and governments, much like SpaceX’s Starlink network.

Kuiper is Amazon’s most ambitious space project yet, valued at $10 billion. It puts Amazon in direct competition with not only Starlink but also firms like AT&T and T-Mobile. The company has highlighted its goal to improve internet in rural areas. Many communities today still lack reliable or affordable connectivity.

Looks like scientists have found a new cousin to the eels! Well, not another eel, but a bacterium that can conduct electricity. And no, it doesn’t zap, but it does work like biological wiring hidden in the mud.

The findings are published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The novel species of bacteria act as electrical wiring, and could hold the potential to develop bioelectronic devices for use in medicine, industry, food safety, and environmental monitoring and cleanup.

The researchers discovered the cable bacteria species in a mud flat at the Oregon coast and named it Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensis is named in honor of the Native Americans of the region where the species was found.

The US military has deployed an anti-ship missile launcher for the first time on Batan Island in the Philippines, as Marines unloaded the high-precision weapon on the northern tip of the archipelago, just a sea border away from Taiwan.

US and Philippine forces separately unleashed a barrage of missile and artillery fire that shot down several drones acting as hostile aircraft in live-fire drills on Sunday in Zambales province facing the disputed South China Sea.

The mock battle scenarios over the weekend in the annual Balikatan exercises between the US and its oldest treaty ally in Asia, the Philippines, not only simulated real-life war.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 27 urged citizens to use the National Disaster Management Authority's (NDMA) ‘Sachet’ mobile app, which has been designed to provide real-time alerts in local languages.

“The most important thing in dealing with any natural disaster is your alertness. You can now get help in this alertness from a special app on your mobile. This app can save you from getting trapped in any natural disaster — its name is ‘Sachet’,” the prime minister said in his 'Mann ki Baat' address.

He added that using the app will help people prepare ahead in case of natural disasters, according to an ANI report.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be the next Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Her party United National Congress has won the parliamentary election of the twin-island Caribbean nation.

The victory marks a remarkable comeback for 73 year old Persad-Bissesar who previously served as Prime Minister from 2010-2015. She is the only woman ever to have led the Caribbean country.

In her victory speech, Persad-Bissesar pledged to deliver on election promises. She credited the victory to the people and said, the victory is for the senior citizens to keep their pensions, for public servants to get their rightful salary increases, to reopen children’s hospital, to create over 50,000 jobs.

The snap election was triggered after the former Prime Minister Keith Rowley of People’s National Movement resigned amid a surge in the cost of living, Trump’s trade wars and soaring crime rates.

“The characteristic features of Indian culture have long been a search for ultimate verities and the concomitant disciple-guru relationship” – these are the first words of Autobiography of a Yogi written by Indian spiritual leader Paramahansa Yogananda, originally published in 1946.

Close to eight decades later, a manifestation of these very words came to public notice in the relationship between the late Fali S. Nariman, a towering figure in Indian Jurisprudence and Subhash Sharma, his trusted lieutenant for nearly 40 years.

In fact, Sharma had read out a 1952 speech of Yogananda to Nariman five hours before the eminent lawyer breathed his last on February 21 last year. “I started crying after reading the speech…looking at me, Fali started weeping too,” Sharma told The Indian Express.