Port Blair is now Sri Vijaya Puram, Shah says removing slavery symbol

The Centre renamed Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as Sri Vijaya Puram. Making the announcement, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the decision was taken as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to "rid the country of all symbols of slavery". 

Andaman and Nicobar Islands had an "unparalleled place" in India's freedom struggle, Shah said.

He recalled that V D Savarkar had spent years in the Cellular Jail in the Andamans and that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had hoisted the Tricolour on the island.

Disengaged at four places in Eastern Ladakh, situation stable, says China

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that about 75 per cent of the "disengagement problems" with China have been sorted out, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the troops have disengaged at four places in Eastern Ladakh, including Galwan Valley.

This came a day after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on the sidelines of a meeting of BRICS NSAs in St Petersburg in Russia where they discussed the progress made in the recent consultations on border issues, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

"In recent years, frontline armies of the two countries have realised disengagement in four areas in the Western sector of the China-India border, including the Galwan Valley. The China-India border situation is generally stable and under control," Ning said. 

IISc proposes 'human brain-inspired' computing platform to boost AI tools

In a pathbreaking technological progress in the field of Al, a group of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed an analogous computing platform within a molecular film that can mimic human brain-like functioning.

The Bengaluru-based researchers working at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at IISc said that the 'brain on the chip' design, even though it is analogous, could perform functions like processing and data storage which showed close resemblance to that of a human brain.

More importantly, it offers 16,500 conductance states within the molecular film. For comparison, the existing digital computing platform needs to be programmed and it operates on the binary states of 0 and 1. 

They can also be bulky on energy and time consumption, thus offering a reduced speed in comparison to the estimated Al-based calculation speeds with this platform. 

'High targets can help cut CO2 emissions from transport sector up to 71% by 2050'

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from India's transport sector could be reduced up to 71 per cent by 2050 if high-ambition strategies are adopted on three key parameters viz. electrification, improving fuel economy standards, and switching to cleaner modes of transport and mobility said a new study by World Resources Institute (WRI) India.

India's transport sector accounted for 14 per cent of the energy-related CO2 emissions in 2020, and there's a need for an emission drop roadmap and targets for this sector, the study said.

The study noted that following a high emission reduction target in the transport sector would also be pivotal in achieving India's net-zero target by 2070.

The study's findings are based on the energy policy simulator, which allows users to develop dynamic models for different decarbonisation targets and their outcomes. In addition to the simulation, inputs were also collected from expert stakeholder consultations. 

WHAT IS OPENAI 01, THE AI MODEL THAT 'THINKS' BEFORE IT ANSWERS?

OpenAI, the world's premier artificial intelligence research organization, released its latest Al model. 

The new Open-Al o1 is the first in a planned series of "reasoning" models that have been designed to solve more complex tasks and problems in science, coding, and maths.

The model is part of the organisation's secretive Project Strawberry, which is expected to feature autonomous Internet research and dramatically improve Al reasoning capabilities. 

WHAT IS HELIUM AND WHY IS IT USED IN ROCKETS?

Two NASA astronauts aboard Boeing's Starliner will stay on the International Space Station for months because of a faulty propulsion system whose problems included helium leaks.

Back on Earth, SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, which finally launched on Tuesday, was delayed because of helium issues on ground equipment.

Why do spacecraft and rockets use helium?

Helium is inert, it does not react with other substances or combust-and its atomic number is 2, making it the second lightest element after hydrogen.

Rockets need to achieve specific speeds and altitudes to reach and maintain orbit. A heavier rocket requires more energy, not only increasing fuel consumption but also needing more powerful engines, which are more expensive to develop, test, and maintain.

Helium has a very low boiling point (- 268.9 degrees Celsius), allowing it to remain a gas even in super-cold environments, an important feature because many rocket fuels are stored in that temperature range.

Port Blair and its historical connection to the Chola conquest of Srivijaya

Port Blair will be renamed as Sri Vijaya Puram, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced. The change of name was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision "to free the nation from the colonial imprints", Shah said. 

The name Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the unique role of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India's freedom struggle, and the territory "that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire" is now set to become a critical base for achieving India's strategic aspirations, he said. 

WHO grants first mpox vaccine approval

The WHO said it has granted its first authorisation for the use of a vaccine against mpox in adults, calling it an important step toward fighting the disease in Africa and beyond. 

The pre-qualification of the vaccine by Bavarian Nordic A/S means that donors like GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF can buy it. 

China signs pact with debt-ridden Maldives

China's Central Bank said it had signed an agreement with the Maldivian authorities to strengthen trade and investment, as the debt-distressed Indian Ocean nation strives to avoid default.

The People's Bank of China and the Maldivian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade signed a memorandum of understanding to boost local currency settlement for current account transactions and direct investment, a statement from the People's Bank of China said.

China's foreign ministry earlier in the day said the world's second-largest economy and biggest bilateral lender had been in touch with the Maldives about its debt to Beijing and stepping up financial cooperation between the two countries.

India's economic relationship with China unfair, lacking balance, says Jaishankar

Amid A growing trade deficit with China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India's economic relationship with China has been lacking balance, as Indian goods do not have the same market access in China as Chinese products enjoy in India.

This comes after imports from China surpassed $100 billion in FY24 and continue to rise in the current financial year. However, India's exports barely crossed $16 billion in the last financial year. Imports from China have already exceeded $60 billion in the first seven months of 2024, a 10 per cent increase compared to $55 billion recorded during the same period last year.

"We feel that the economic relationship with China has been very unfair and very unbalanced. We don't have the same market access there, while they have much better market access in India," Jaishankar said during an address at the Global Centre for Security Policy in Geneva.

Inflation has moderated but we still have distance to cover: Das

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said even as consumer price index (CPI) inflation has softened to the 2-6 per cent tolerance band, there is still a 'distance to cover'.

The Governor's statement comes a day after the National Statistical Office (NSO) data showed CPI inflation, or retail inflation, inched up marginally to 3.65 per cent in August, from the five-year low print of 3.60 per cent in July. 

"Inflation has moderated from its peak of 7.8 per cent in April 2022 into the tolerance band of +/- 2 per cent around the target of 4 per cent, but we still have a distance to cover and cannot afford to look the other way," Das said in his address at the Future of Finance Forum 2024 organised by the Bretton Woods Committee, Singapore. 

Smart digital regulation soon says Vaishnaw

The Government is working on a framework of digital regulations that would at once promote innovation in the fast-growing sector and prevent any harm to citizens from its unbridled power, Union Minister of Railways, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said. 

Speaking at the FE CFO Awards here, the minister said India would find a niche in digital regulation, with a "smart framework" that would comprise horizontal laws, such as the one for data protection, which apply to all sectors, and vertical legislation, wherever required to address sector-specific issues. "It is important to create a good balance between innovation and regulation," he stressed.

The minister added that the government would also look to bring a UPI-like framework for cybersecurity, which will help resource-scarce MSMEs and other entities get the requisite resources to secure their systems.-