The Union Minister for Education  announced the establishment of three AI CoE focused on Healthcare, Agriculture, and Sustainable Cities.

• As part of the vision to "Make AI in India and Make AI work for India," the establishment of these centres was announced under the Budget (2023-24).
• Significance: will give further impetus to the start-up ecosystem, help create a new generation of job and wealth creators, and establish new paradigms of global public good.

UN said that the Israeli military has fired on its peacekeepers near the Blue Line. 

About Blue Line

• Established by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 2000.
• It is an area spanning 120 km along southern Lebanon to ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.
• It acts as a de-facto border between Israel and Lebanon, mapped by UN.
• It is made of blue barrels and runs from the Mediterranean to the Golan Heights.

India's first-of-class Indigenous multi-purpose vessel, INS Samarthak launched.

About INS Samarthak:

• It is a highly specialised, multi-role platform envisaged to be a trial platform for the development of next generation weapons and sensors for the Indian Navy.
• It is one of the two Multi-Purpose Vessels being indigenously built by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for the Indian Navy
• It can achieve a maximum speed of 15 knots.
• Other roles: Launch and recovery of surface and aerial targets, maritime surveillance and patrolling, humanitarian assistance, combating sea pollution, etc. 

USA announced that it will send its Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) Battery System to aid Israel.

About THAAD System

• It is an advanced defence system against short, medium, and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats developed by Lockheed Martin Corporation.
• It is the only US system designed to intercept targets outside and inside the atmosphere employing “hit-to-kill” technology.
• A THAAD battery consists of 95 soldiers, truck-mounted launchers, interceptors, radar surveillance and radar, etc.

Note: India bought S-400 Triumf air defence missile system from Russia.

Recently, agreement on the equitable use of water resources from the Nile River basin has come into force despite the notable opposition of Egypt.

About Nile Basin

• The Nile is the world’s longest river and has a drainage area of nearly 10% of the landmass of the African continent.
• Runs through 11 countries from south to north.
• 2 main tributaries: White Nile (Originate from Burundi and Rwanda) and Blue Nile (originating in Ethiopia).
  • Other tributaries: Sobat River, Atbara River, Bahr el Ghazal, etc.

Recently, Supreme Court held that the existence of physical disability should not be a ground to disbar a candidate from medical education.

• Currently, Graduate Medical Education Regulation, 1997 bars persons with benchmark disability from MBBS course.

About Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD)

• Section 2(r) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 defines PwBD as a person with not less than 40% of a specified disability as certified by the certifying authority.
• Special provisions: Free education for children (6-18 years), 5% reservation in government and aided higher educational institutions, 4% reservation in government jobs, etc.

SpaceX has achieved a significant milestone in space exploration by landing its Starship rocket using an innovative structure called "Mechazilla."

About Mechazilla

• It is the nickname for the large 400-ft rocket-catching structure. 
• It is a tall structure, equipped with massive mechanical arms, to catch Super Heavy booster (booster rockets are designed to launch the Starship spacecraft) in mid-air as it returns to Earth. 
• This is a new method of rocket recovery which is more efficient and reusable compared to traditional landing techniques.

Google signed its first ever corporate agreement with California-based Kairos Power to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors (SMRs).

About Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)

• SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit.
• Only two SMR projects have reached to operational stage globally.
  • In India, Budget 2024-25 announced the develop Bharat Small Reactors (BSRs). 
• Significance of the SMRs: Reduced fuel requirements, Saves construction time, Eliminate or significantly lower the potential for unsafe releases of radioactivity to the environment, etc.