China recently launched the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) in Shanghai.

• Concurrently, China's Moonshot AI introduced Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter (highest in the world) open-weight AI model with 1-million-token context.

About WAICO (HQ: Shanghai)

• Genesis: Inter-governmental body formally established July 16, 2026.
• Members: 29 nations, including Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, Senegal, Russia and Pakistan. (India is not a member yet).
• Core Objectives: To promote international AI cooperation, shape global AI regulation, ensure equitable Global South access.
• Geopolitical Significance: Counterbalances US tech dominance by opposing the weaponization of national security constraints in global AI development and semiconductor trade.
  • Seen as China's bid to counter US influence in AI governance and UN norm-setting.

The Prime Minister inaugurated 75 newly redeveloped railway stations across India under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.

About Amrit Bharat Station Scheme

• Nodal Ministry: The Ministry of Railways.
• Core Aim: Envisions the holistic transformation of railway stations through a phased, long-term master planning approach.
  • Focuses on upgrading passenger amenities, improving station façades, and integrating stations smoothly with surrounding urban city centres.
• Key Features:
  • Incorporates local cultural heritage, art, and traditional architecture into the design profiles of newly upgraded buildings.
  • Elevates accessibility by integrating standard Divyangjan-friendly facilities.
  • Promotes indigenous local crafts and regional economies by establishing dedicated 'One Station One Product' display and sale kiosks.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) recently approved Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy (semaglutide) for treating MASH.

• It is the first and only GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy to be approved both globally and in India for the treatment of noncirrhotic MASH.

About MASH

• Formerly called NASH (Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis), it is an advanced, progressive form of fatty liver disease.
• Mechanism: Caused by excess fat accumulation in liver cells, triggering chronic inflammation, scarring (fibrosis), and cell damage.
• Health Impact: Untreated MASH can progress to cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer, or need for transplant.
• Risk Factors: It is intrinsically linked to metabolic syndromes such as obesity, insulin resistance, and type-2 diabetes.
  • Often asymptomatic in early stages, leading to delayed diagnosis.

Scientists have categorised Colobus Congoensis monkey from Africa as a new species.

About Colobus Congoensis

• Known locally as the ‘Likweli’ and belongs to the genus Colobus.
• Characteristics:
  • Small size, a striking orange cream patch surrounding the mouth, and a white perianal patch that is covered with fine white hairs in males and is glabrous (hair free) in females.
• Habitat: Tropical rainforests of Central Africa, especially the Congo Basin.
• Behaviour: Arboreal (tree-dwelling), diurnal, and lives in social groups.
• Ecological Role: Important seed disperser and helps maintain forest ecosystems.
• Threats: Habitat loss, deforestation, hunting (bushmeat), and forest fragmentation.
   

The Indian Navy has received another MH-60R Seahawk multi-role naval helicopter from the United States.

• India had signed a deal in 2020 to procure 24 MH-60R helicopters from the U.S. to replace the ageing Sea King fleet.

About MH-60R Seahawk

• Manufactured by Lockheed Martin under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme.
• Features:
  • MH-60R is among the world’s most advanced shipborne helicopters.
  • It is designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), search and rescue (SAR), medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) and vertical replenishment (VERTREP).
  • It is equipped with a dipping sonar, sonobuoys, a multi-mode radar, electro-optical sensors and Mk-54 lightweight torpedoes. 
  • It can also carry AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and machine guns to engage surface threats.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) destroyed a surveillance tower at Iran's Shahid Kalantari Port in Chabahar.

About Chabahar Port 

• Location: Sistan and Baluchestan province on the Makran coast in South-eastern part of Iran, on the Gulf of Oman and outside Strait of Hormuz
• It is the only deep-sea port in Iran with direct ocean access.
• There are two terminals in Chabahar Port project i.e. Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari.
• Significance for India:
  • It offers India a direct maritime gateway to Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
  • Counter- balance Pakistan’s Gwadar Port and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

RBI issued consolidated circular on Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVAs), rationalising instructions.

About SRVAs

• SRVAs are INR denominated accounts held by overseas banks with Indian Banks.
• The framework, introduced by RBI in 2022, enables seamless cross-border trade by facilitating transactions in Indian Rupees (INR).
• Salient features:
• Invoicing: All exports and imports under this arrangement denominated and invoiced in Rupee (INR).
• Exchange Rate: Exchange rate between the currencies of the two trading partner countries is market determined.
• Settlement: The settlement of trade transactions under this arrangement takes place in INR.
• Benefits:  Reducing reliance on third-party currencies and enhancing financial stability.

Indian researchers have shown that the slow movement of plasma (hot gases) from the Sun’s equator to poles (known as meridional flow) continues much higher (nearly 3000 Km) into the Sun’s atmosphere than previously known. 

• The new study helps in understanding space weather that affect satellites, communication systems, navigation networks and even power grids on Earth.

About Meridional Flow

• It acts like a giant conveyor belt, helping transport the Sun’s magnetic fields across its surface.
• It plays an important role in controlling the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle, which influences the appearance of sunspots and other forms of solar activity.
• The "Magnetic Tree" Hypothesis: The study strongly supports this long-standing hypothesis which proposes that magnetic structures extending high into the solar atmosphere remain structurally tied to deeper layers, much like the branches of a tree are connected to its trunk and roots.

Madhya Pradesh’s Sleemanabad Tunnel, a key component of Bargi Diversion Project, is on the verge of completion. 

• Part of 197 km long Right Bank Main Canal, Sleemanabad Tunnel is India’s longest underground water conveyance tunnel. 
• Tunnel will carry Narmada waters from Bargi reservoir to drough prone Vindhya region and Son basin through gravity flow. 

About Narmada River

• Narmada is fifth largest river in India and its basin extends over states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh. 
• Bounded by Vindhyas, Maikala range, Satpuras, and Arabian Sea. 
• Originates from Amarkantak in Maikal Hills in Madhya Pradesh and flows westward through rift valley. 
• Tributaries: Tawa, Banjar, Dudhi, Hiran, Kolar etc.