Starmer is UK's new PM: Will deliver change... rebuild faith in politics

Britain's New Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to use his massive electoral majority to rebuild the country, saying he wanted to take the heat out of politics after years of upheaval and strife.

Standing outside his new office and residence at Number 10 Downing Street, Starmer acknowledged the scale of the challenge after his party's landslide victory in a parliamentary election that ended 14 years of often tumultuous Conservative government.

Manufacturing in Defence hits record high at ₹1.27 lakh cr

India's Indigenous defence production rose to a record high value of Rs 1.27 lakh crore in 2023-24, the Defence Ministry said, attributing the 16.7% growth against the previous fiscal to government policies and self-reliance initiatives.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the Government was committed to creating a more conducive regime for developing India as a leading global defence manufacturing hub.

2 Gaganyaan astronauts to go to ISS aboard 3 the Axiom-4 mission

The Indian Space Research Organisation has selected two of its four trained Gaganyaan astronauts to go to the International Space Station (ISS) in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) later this year, said officials familiar with the matter.

The mission will take place "no earlier than October 2024," according to the information available on the NASA website. 

The astronauts will have to go to the United States ahead of the mission to train on the specifics of the ISS, said one of the officials quoted above. 

"While they have general training for space-fairing, much of their training in India focussed on Gaganyaan modules. They will have to be familiarised with ISS modules and protocols," the official said.

The Axiom-4 mission, which will take the Indian astronauts to the ISS, is the fourth private astronaut mission of NASA and a private US company Axiom Space. 

The mission is expected to dock with the ISS for fourteen days. 

Centre looks to resume rice sale to states

With Its granaries full, the Centre is contemplating options to offload "excess" rice, including allowing states to buy rice from Food Corporation of India (FCI) under the Open Market Sale Scheme-Domestic (OMSSD), The Indian Express has learnt.

According to sources, the available rice stock in the central pool stood at 329.17 lakh metric tonnes as on July 3, 2024. This is separate from un-milled paddy stock, from which the FCI would receive another 153.07 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of rice. 

The total rice stock would reach 482.24 LMT, which is higher than the annual requirement of about 400 LMT. With the new kharif crop just 3-4 months away, the rice stock is expected to increase further. 

As per buffer norms, the Centre is required to maintain a stock of 135.40 LMT of rice as on the first day of July.

APHELION

That Earth has an aphelion is a result of its orbit being elliptical, rather than circular. According to Kirby Runyon, a geologist at the Planetary Science Institute, all planets in the solar system travel in elongated circles around the Sun, rather than perfect ones. This is most likely true for worlds around other stars, too.

Behind elliptical orbits lies gravity. "All the planets tend to jostle each other around," pulling their orbits from perfect circles, Runyon said. "It's literally this chaotic tug of war between small amounts of gravitational influence that the planets have on each other."

Jupiter exerts the most influence because it is the most massive planet in our solar system.

Balance of Payments

Data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that India's current account registered a surplus during the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar) of the 2023-24 financial year. This was the first time in 11 quarters that India had witnessed a surplus.

Movements in the current account are closely monitored as they not only impact the exchange rate of the rupee and India's sovereign ratings but also because they point to the overall health of the economy.

Why China wants to build a rail network to Singapore, via Southeast Asia

During his visit to Malaysia, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said that China was willing to study a plan to connect its railway projects in the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Laos, and Thailand to "enhance regional connectivity". Li was at the groundbreaking ceremony for a terminal station of Malaysia's East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).

China has made major investments in the region under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), billed as an attempt to enhance infrastructure development in Asia, Africa, and South America.

How the US, and EU tariff wars on China are fuelling a global container shortage

As European Union's (EU) 37.6 per cent tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) kick in from Friday, barely a month before United States' (US) tariffs are slated to come into effect, India exporters as well as traders globally are hit by unprecedented container shortages.

At a review meeting in the Commerce Ministry last month, exporters brought up concerns of a sudden shortage of containers, pointing at a structural weakness that has been hurting Indian goods exports since the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Shortages have also resurfaced as the voyage time of ships has increased amid the ongoing Red Sea crisis and fresh trade tensions between the US and China.