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Italian, French and Norwegian researchers are in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago to preserve crucial ice records for analysing past environmental conditions. Scientists camped in the Arctic are set to start drilling to save samples of ancient ice for analysis before the frozen layers melt away due to climate change. They will extract ice in a series of tubes from as far …

A video of a group of men performing the traditional dance of Indian ‘garba’ under the stunning northern lights in Alaska has gone viral. What are ‘Auroras’? Auroras are a natural phenomenon caused by magnetic storms initiated by the Sun’s activity such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. They are visible as bright lights in the sky and are …

The famous Banarasi Paan and Banarasi Langda mango are the two latest products to have got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. As many as 33 products were granted GI certification on a single day by the GI Registry, Chennai. Among them 10 products belong to Uttar Pradesh, including three from Varanasi. As of now, UP has 45 GI goods, …

India and Malaysia have agreed to settle trade in the Indian rupee which indicates that India is willing to take concrete steps towards de-dollarisation of its international trade.  Key details: The Union Bank of India has become the first bank in India to operationalise this option by opening a Special Rupee Vostro Account through …

Bandipur completes 50 years as Project Tiger reserve. It was on April 1, 1973, that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Project Tiger, the flagship conservation programme to arrest the big cat’s dwindling population. There were 12 tigers in Bandipur when Project Tiger was launched and now the number of tigers utilising the park is 173 while the number …

The government will expand the definition of “political risk” under the export guarantee scheme. To cover any fresh imposition of non-tariff barriers by importing nations after a shipment has left Indian shores. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) indemnifies exporters for: losses when buyers turn insolvent or default on payments, political risks like war and sudden import restrictions or promulgations of laws or decrees But it does …

Chile is keen to partner with India on tapping into the lithium value chain by extending technical expertise in exploiting the newly established “inferred” lithium resources of 5.9 million tonnes in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir. Key details: The ‘inferred’ reserves of 5.9 mn tonnes in J&K’s Reasi are …

The Eravikulam National Park (ENP) in Kerala has a new attraction — a fernarium set up inside the park. This is the first time such a fern collection is being set up in the hill station. Key details: That ferns are the ecological indicator of healthy forests. The climatic condition inside the ENP is …

Context: The Indian Space Research Organisation and its partners successfully demonstrated a precise landing experiment for a Reusable Launch Vehicle at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka. Key details: The Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) test was the second of five tests that are a part of ISRO’s efforts …

The UN asked the International Court of Justice to give an ‘advisory opinion’ on whether countries have legal obligations to protect people from climate extremities. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that asked the International Court of Justice at The Hague to provide an opinion on what kind of obligations countries have towards climate change reduction, based on …