On the one-year anniversary of India's historic Moon landing, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) made scientific data from the Chandrayaan-3 mission available to researchers worldwide. This move demonstrates ISRO's commitment to advance worldwide lunar research. On August 23, 2023, Chandrayaan-3 made a gentle landing near the Moon's south pole, a previously unknown region. In recognition of this accomplishment, the Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) has made over 55 gigabytes of data from the mission's five payloads—three on the Vikram lander and two on the Pragyan rover
Following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas Morera, Tomiko Itooka, who was born on May 23, 1908, was named the oldest living person in the world at 116 years old. The Gerontology Research Group and Guinness World Records have both confirmed her age. Tomiko lived with her daughters until she was 110 years old, at which point she went into a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Even though she has hearing loss, Tomiko can communicate well and shows her carers her appreciation frequently. She drinks Calpis every day and likes bananas. She was raised in Osaka, participated i
Citizens of 35 countries, including China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, will be able to enter Sri Lanka visa-free for six months beginning October 1, 2024. Participating countries include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan Indonesia, Thailand and Australia. The program's overarching goal is to increase tourism. This is in continuation of a previous initiative that ran from last year to March 2024. The visa-on-arrival option would still be available to Indian travellers until the new policy takes effect. T
The Indian diaspora in Warsaw welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi with open arms before he made history as the first prime minister to pay tributes at the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar Memorial. Additionally, he paid his respects at two Warsaw memorials—the Monte Cassino and the Kolhapur. The history of these memorials has a unique connection between India and Poland, according to Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs. Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar (now in Gujarat) saved Jewish children from Poland and gave them a safe home in India during WWII. Jam Saheb Digv
The Canadian company Lucara Diamond owns the Karowe mine in Botswana, where it found the second-largest rough diamond ever discovered, weighing 2,492 carats. This is the largest diamond discovered since the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond in South Africa in 1905. Botswana's government claimed that this is the largest diamond ever discovered in the country, surpassing a 1,758-carat diamond discovered at the same mine in 2019. Lucara Diamond, Botswana's leading diamond producer, revealed that the stone is one of the largest raw diamonds ever discovered. "We are ecstatic about the recovery of th
According to the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO), 3,292,500 tourists visited Japan in July, a 41.9% rise over the previous year and a record for the second consecutive month. This spike was fuelled by robust summer vacation demand and a weak yen, making Japan an appealing destination. The total number of July visitors likewise exceeded pre-pandemic levels, up 10.1% from July 2019. In the first seven months of 2024, Japan received 21.06 million overseas visitors, the quickest rate of exceeding 20 million ever recorded. This surge positions Japan to beat its previous yearly high o
India will invest $300 million over two years to enlarge water bodies and install drains in seven major cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru, to combat flooding and preserve water, according to a government official. Growing urbanisation and clogged drains have made urban flooding, a frequent and occasionally dangerous problem during the monsoon season, worse. Cities like Delhi and Bengaluru have also seen severe water shortages as water storage spaces have shrunk. The federal government recently approved the funding, making it the first flood prevention project aimed at water
On Monday, Aug. 19, the night sky was illuminated by a rare blue supermoon along with the appearance of vibrant "moonbows" throughout the United States. Lunar rainbows are a rare occurrence that mimics the appearance of solar rainbows but are lit by the moon instead of the sun. The only time to see a moonbow is during a full moon when the moonlight is at its strongest. But because moonlight is so much weaker than sunshine, their colours often look white to the naked eye. The extraordinary brightness of the moon in the days preceding the supermoon made moonbows appear more vibrant. On the m
NASA's citizen scientists discovered CWISE J1249, a strange object speeding the Milky Way at a speed of 16,09,344 kilometres per hour. NASA's Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WISE) mission photos were used to detect the object as it zoomed out of our galaxy. This hypervelocity object, discovered by citizen scientists from the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, is travelling so quickly that it will escape the Milky Way's gravity and enter intergalactic space. It is the first such object with a mass comparable to or less than that of a low-mass star. Backyard Worlds uses data from NASA's WIS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the Indian government will create 75,000 new medical seats over the next five years. On the 78th anniversary of Independence Day, Modi spoke from the Red Fort on the huge financial burden that many middle-class families suffer when sending their children overseas for medical school. The cost of studying abroad frequently approaches "lakhs and crores," PM Modi stated. Over the last decade, the government has expanded the overall number of medical seats to almost 1 lakh to meet the rising demand for medical education. PM Modi noted that approximately