LNG imports rise as US, Nigeria and Oman offset Hormuz volume loss

Agility in ramping up Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports from regions that were not impacted by the Strait of Hormuz crisis helped India import higher volumes of the super-chilled gas in the May-July period, after seeing a dip in import volumes in March and April-the initial two months of the West Asia war, according to latest ship-tracking data.

New real-time portal for organ transplants: National wait lists, Aadhaar-linked pledges

The national regulator overseeing organ transplantation has launched a dynamic, real-time portal and mobile application that will generate a country-wide waiting list and update the status of recipients waiting for organs. The portal will also allow hospitals, states and regional bodies to raise "super urgent" requests based on the condition of recipients.

Vikram Sarabhai Medal for Annapurni Subramaniam

Astrophysicist Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, became the first Indian woman scientist to receive the COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal-2026 on Monday during the ongoing 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Florence, Italy.

Subramaniam, who specialises in stellar physics, studies star clusters and nearby galaxies, also holds the additional charge as director of the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS). In 2024, she was bestowed with Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar-Vigyan Shri in the Space Science and Technology category.

Why Iran war didn't cause fertiliser crisis

The United States-Israel versus Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz since February 28 has triggered arguably the greatest global energy supply shock in history, eclipsing even the ones of 1973 and 1979.

However, its impact hasn't been felt as much in India with regard to fertilisers, especially urea.

Data from the Fertiliser Association of India shows the country's urea production fell to 17.5 lakh tonnes (It) in March 2026, from 24.7 It in March 2025.

The main reason was the supply disruptions in the primary feedstock, liquefied natural gas (LNG). Before the war, 53-54% of India's LNG imports came from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), mostly against long-term supply contract agreements. These couldn't be honoured due to shipping blockades as well as damage to key liquefaction infrastructure from Iranian missile and drone strikes.

Behind Kerala's decision to take some forest spots off Google Maps

Geotagging is the process of assigning a geographical location to a photo or video or any other pictorial representation on an online map. The process becomes illegal, according to the Kerala state government, if the location being added to the map is "a sensitive ecological spot".

The forest department has referred illegal geotagging to their IT wing to collate a list of such tagged locations, which will then be forwarded to the Forest Management Wing.

US-Japan joint action: How a stronger yen affects Indian markets

The US and Japan on Monday confirmed a joint coordinated intervention in the Japanese currency market aimed at smoothing out excessive volatility in the yen. The move, taken on Friday, strengthened the yen against the US dollar, ringing potential alarm bells for Indian markets.

The joint action - the first since 2011 - was under the US-Japan Finance Ministers' Joint Statement issued in September 2025, with both countries keeping the door open for further joint intervention efforts. This comes against the backdrop of the Japanese currency falling to 40-year lows in July.

Climate whiplash, fire clouds: The factors fuelling Europe's massive wildfires

The Wildfires that have been raging across much of Europe for the past week are among the most intense in Greece now. Last week, the fires triggered the largest peace-time evacuation in France and burnt through 172,000 hectares in Spain. Major blazes have also been reported in Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, and Croatia, among others.

Scientists say Europe's wildfires are increasingly being fuelled by a dangerous combination of climate change, rapidly swinging weather extremes known as climate whiplash, and decades of changes in how people use - and no longer use the land.

Govt plans tax relief for offshore funds, electronics' contract mfg

In a bid to "promote fund management activity and provide tax certainty", the government has proposed substantial relaxations in the conditions for Eligible Investment Funds or offshore funds, managed from India, to avail tax exemption under the Income-tax Act. The government also proposes to extend the exemption provided in Budget 2026-27 till tax year 2040-41 from 2030-31 to a foreign company providing capital goods, equipment or tooling to a contract manufacturer for making electronics in India.