China achieves first controlled recovery of reusable rocket booster

China on Friday achieved its first controlled recovery of an orbital-class reusable rocket booster after the maiden launch of its Long March-10B carrier rocket, marking a major milestone in the country's reusable space technology.

The achievement comes over a decade after US-based SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, became the first company to successfully recover an orbital-class rocket booster in December 2015. 

E20 here to stay, giving choice not feasible: Govt

Countering criticism over its ethanol blended petrol programme, the government on Friday said while the cur-rent base fuel E20-80% petrol, 20% ethanol - can reduce fuel economy in some vehicles by 3-5%, it is cleaner and superior in other performance parameters vis-a-vis pure petrol and lower ethanol-petrol blends. 

Modi first Indian PM to visit New Zealand in 40 years, trade and sports top agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Saturday, with talks focused on trade and investment, and high-tech innovation in dairying, farming and high-performance sports, sources said.

Modi arrived in Auckland on the final leg of his three-nation visit, where he was received by Luxon at the airport. This is the first visit to New Zealand by an Indian prime minister in 40 years.

Next leap will come from bringing Al and digital public infrastructure together

The failure of multiple visits by the Japanese government to 111-year-old Sogen Kato's house to honour him - he was never home-had a simple explanation. He had been dead for 30 years while his family collected his pension. This triggered a national investigation that identified 3 lakh people who were assumed to be "living" but were dead. India's Aadhaar programme has reduced such pension scandals, improved the efficiency of government spending (up 117 times since 1991), and catalysed digital payments (42 per cent of the world's transactions). 

Easing on China is right move at right time

In 2019, India decided against joining RCEP, a trade agreement spanning 15 Asia-Pacific countries. A few months later, in April 2020, the Centre amended the FDI policy via Press Note 3, making government approval mandatory for investments from countries that share a land border with India. Both decisions were, in part, driven by concerns over China. But despite the ambiguity since then over the relationship with Beijing, trade ties between the two countries have deepened considerably. Imports from China touched $131 billion in 2025-26 and the country now accounts for roughly half of India's non-oil goods trade deficit. However, FDI from China has been minuscule. Since 2000, investment flows to India have added up to just $2.5 billion. The government has now approved a joint venture between Dixon Technologies and Vivo Mobile for manufacturing electronic devices and smartphones in the country. This is a step in the right direction.

El Niño strengthens, could develop into strongest since 1950, says US agency

The Prevailing EI Niño in the Pacific Ocean could turn into one of the largest events in history, US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday.

"There is an 81 per cent chance of a very strong El Niño during October-December that would rank among the largest El Niño events in the historical record, going back to 1950," NOAA said in its monthly bulletin.

Landslides: The need for early warning systems

The landslides in recent days in the Western Ghats and other parts of India have reignited discussions on the need for an early warning system for such events.

Creating warning systems

Landslides can indeed be predicted, at least in highly prone areas such as Wayanad - where a 2024 landslide killed more than 300 people. Early warning system can be installed for timely evacuations from danger zones. Such systems already work effectively in many countries.

In India, too, such systems have worked in the past. Barely two weeks before the 2024 landslides in Wayanad, a series of landslides in the hills of Munnar (further south in Kerala) saw no loss of life. This was partly because the Idukki district administration evacuated people on the advice of a team of researchers from Amrita University, who were testing an early warning system. Led by Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, it is one of many groups developing such systems in collaboration with government agencies.

Why weekly diabetes shot could reshape treatment

• Icodec, which lowers blood glucose levels, becomes more effective when combined with GLP-1 drugs.

• This is because abdominal obesity, which GLP-1 tackles, reduces insulin sensitivity.

Meaning, more insulin is needed to process same amount of sugar.

June inflation may breach RBI 4% target: Transport is driving this

The retail inflation rate is set to breach the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) target level of 4%, according to an analysis by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The next set of inflation data, covering June, will be released Monday.

Retail inflation fell sharply from more than 6% in October 2024 to zero in October 2025. Since then the figure has started edgingup-a trend exacerbated by supply constraints in the wake of the West Asia war.

Even so, retail inflation stayed below the RBI's target rate of 4% for the past 16 months.

In May, the retail inflation was 3.93%. According to CMIE's estimates, the overall retail inflation in June is likely to be 4.25%.