In a groundbreaking discovery, India has recorded its first-ever confirmed record of a rare Tibetan Brown Bear. The bear was spotted in high altitudes of Northern Sikkim thanks to the camera traps installed by the Sikkim Forest Department and WWF-India. With this discovery, the nation's animal diversity has increased by one subspecies.

An image of this Tibetan Brown Bear was shared on Instagram by All India Radio News. In the caption of their post, the news agency informed, "The camera traps that recorded the bear were placed by Phuchung Lachenpa, Tashi Palden Lachenpa and Palden Lepcha in the high altitudes of Mangan district and caught this elusive bear in December 2023. These photos highlight the characteristic yellowish scarf-like collar of this bear that broadens from the shoulders to the chest." They also shared two pictures of the Tibetian brown bear.

The United States continues to have the most powerful military in the world, followed by Russia and China, according to the Global Firepower rankings 2024.

India has the fourth strongest military globally, according to the index which evaluated the strength of 145 countries.

According to the ranking, Pakistan is at number 9 while Bhutan has the least powerful military in the world.

The index takes into account around 60 factors, including the number of troops, military equipment, financial stability, geographic location and available resources.

Continuing its dominance among peers for five years, the National Stock Exchange of India emerged as the world's largest derivative exchange in 2023 by the number of contracts traded. In addition to this, it ranked 3rd in the world in the equity segment by number of trades (electronic order book).

“NSE Group (National Stock Exchange of India and NSE International Exchange) has once again emerged as the world’s largest derivatives exchange group in the calendar year 2023 by number of contracts traded based on statistics published by Futures Industry Association (FIA), a derivatives trade body," said the stock exchange in its release on Thursday.

The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram will present Onavillu, a traditional ceremonial bow, to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in connection with its consecration on January 22.

Temple tantri Tharananellur Satheesan Namboothiripad and administrative committee members, including Avittam Thirunal Adithya Varma of the royal family of erstwhile Travancore, will hand over the Onavillu to representatives of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust at a function at 5.30 p.m. on January 18, a statement from the temple executive office has said.

Vinícius Júnior did his best Cristiano Ronaldo impression in Saudi Arabia, scoring a hat trick and leading Real Madrid to a 4-1 rout of Barcelona and the Spanish Super Cup trophy.

Vinícius scored his three goals in the first half as Madrid beat Barcelona to lift its first trophy of the season on January 14. After his first goal, the Brazil forward imitated the trademark celebration of the former Madrid great, with Ronaldo reportedly at the Riyadh stadium.

“It was for Cris, because he is my idol and now he is playing here,” said Vinícius, who was named the best player of the final. “I'm very happy with myself and with my team. It's not easy to play against Barcelona and to win 4-1 is tough. We played an almost perfect match.”

Novak Djokovic was named the Best Balkan Athlete of the Year on Monday for a record eighth time, ahead of NBA star Nikola Jokic.

The 36-year-old Djokovic won three Grand Slam titles in 2023 to take his record tally to 24, while Jokic was named the NBA Finals MVP after leading the Denver Nuggets to the title. Both are from Serbia.

The results of the annual poll were published by the Bulgarian News Agency. A total of 58 athletes received votes in the poll this year, with Bulgarian basketball player Alexandar Vezenkov coming third.

New Delhi, State-owned NLC India has awarded a contract to BHEL to set up a 2,400 mw thermal power project at Jharsuguda district in Odisha. The Pit Head Green Field Thermal Power Project of 2,400 MW capacity, comprising three units of 800 MW each, is based on Ultra Super Critical Technology.

The scope of the work includes engineering, manufacturing, supply, erection and commissioning of equipment such as boilers, turbines and generators for stage one of the power plant, a company statement said.

The entire power of 2,400 MW is tied up with Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Kerala and Puducherry and power purchase agreements (PPAs) are already executed.

Billionaire Gautam Adani's apples-to-airport conglomerate will invest Rs 62,400 crore in the next 10 years in setting up data centres in Maharashtra and Telangana to provide infrastructure for the booming digital services demand in the country.

The conglomerate's flagship firm Adani Enterprises will invest Rs 50,000 crore over the next 10 years in setting up a 1 gigawatt (GW) hyperscale data centre in either Mumbai or Navi Mumbai and Pune, and another Rs 5,000 crore in setting up a 100 MW data centre in Telangana, it said on Wednesday.

Data centres is one of the newer businesses for the Adani group, which predominately was a ports operator and coal trader.

Google India Digital Services and NPCI International Payments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand UPI to countries beyond India.

The MoU has three key objectives. To broaden the use of UPI payments for travelers outside of India, enabling them to conveniently make transactions abroad. To assist in establishing UPI-like digital payment systems in other countries, and to focus on easing the process of remittances between countries by utilizing the UPI infrastructure, thereby simplifying cross-border financial exchanges.

“We are pleased to team up with Google Pay to propel UPI onto the global stage. This strategic partnership will not only simplify foreign transactions for Indian travelers but will also allow us to extend our knowledge and expertise of operating a successful digital payments ecosystem to other countries”, Ritesh Shukla, CEO – NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), said.

RuPay Prime Volleyball powered by A23 has appointed Hrithik Roshan as its brand ambassador. Hrithik enjoys the physical nature of volleyball and described the partnership as a natural fit for him. Hrithik engaged in a discussion about the upcoming season of RuPay Prime Volleyball League powered by A23 with some of the top volleyball stars who will be competing in the third edition.

“The actor has redefined the meaning of athleticism and fitness over the years and has been a true source of inspiration for many of our athletes. He has been quite vocal about the need to maintain physical and mental fitness, and hence we wanted a star personality such as him to be associated with our product. His presence will not only add glamour to RuPay Prime Volleyball League powered by A23, but it will also make the overall product even more exciting and adventurous,” Tuhin Mishra, managing director and co-founder, Baseline Venture, said.