The Supreme Court set aside an order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for Using AI-Hallucinated Citations.

About AI hallucination

• These are incorrect or misleading results that AI models generate.
• It perceives patterns or objects that are non-existent or imperceptible to human observers, creating outputs that are nonsensical or altogether inaccurate.

• E.g., Google’s Bard chatbot incorrectly claimed that the James Webb Space Telescope had captured the world’s first images of a planet outside our solar system.

• Factors responsible are insufficient training data, incorrect assumptions made by the model, or biases in the data used to train the model.

German prosecutors have accused Ukrainian state authorities of ordering the 2022 explosives attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

About Nord Stream Pipeline

• Nord Stream is a major natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
• It passes through the Baltic Sea. 
• Pipelines: Nord Stream 1 & Nord Stream 2.
• Significance:
  • Ensures energy security for Europe, especially Germany.
  • Provides a direct, reliable gas supply from Russia, bypassing transit countries.

Coal Blocks Allocation (Amendment) Rules, 2026 enabled the use of Insurance Surety Bonds (ISBs) in place of Performance Bank Guarantees (PBGs). 

• The reform currently covers coal blocks allocated under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, later proposed to be extended to coal blocks allocated under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015.

Insurance Surety Bonds (ISBs) & Performance Bank Guarantees (PBGs)

• Insurance Surety Bonds (ISBs): A financial guarantee issued by an insurance company that compensates the government if the contractor or allocatee fails to meet contractual obligations.
• Performance Bank Guarantees (PBGs): A bank-issued guarantee ensuring that a project developer fulfils contractual obligations; if the developer defaults, the government can recover the guaranteed amount from the bank.

Animal Discoveries–2025, released by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) reported 709 new faunal records, including 483 new species and 226 species recorded in India for the first time.

About Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)

• It is India's premier institution for survey, exploration, taxonomy, documentation, and conservation of the country's faunal diversity.
• Established in 1916 
• It functions under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
• Key Objectives: 
  • Maintenance & Development of National Zoological Collections
  • Periodic review of the Status of Threatened and Endemic species, etc.
• HQ: Kolkata and has 16 regional centers spread across the country.

Scientists have discovered that Mount Erebus emits volcanic gases containing microscopic crystals of pure gold.

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About Mount Erebus 

• Location: Ross Island in the Ross Sea, Antarctica,
• Key features
  • It is the world's southernmost active volcano
  • It has a permanent lava lake
  • It is a stratovolcano and is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire that encircles the Pacific Ocean basin. 

Recently, rising water levels in Lonar Lake have submerged parts of nearby temples, including the Kamalja Devi Temple.

About Lonar lake 

• Location: Vidarbha region, Maharashtra.
• Origin: Formed nearly 50,000 to 52,000 years ago when a meteorite impacted the Earth in the basalt formations of the Deccan Plateau. 
  • It is the one of the largest crater lake.
• Conservation: It has been designated a Wildlife Sanctuary, National Geo-Heritage Site and Ramsar Site
• Key features 
  • Unique Biodiversity: It has 2 distinct layers (alkaline and saline) of water, harboring microorganisms not found anywhere else.
  • Endorheic basin: a closed drainage basin with no outflow.
  • Moon resemblance: Minerals in the lake soil closely resemble those found in moon rocks

The Borjuli wetland has been notified as a Biodiversity Heritage Site. 

About Borjuli Wetland

• Location: Sonitpur District, Assam 
• It is known for harbouring a variety of wild rice (Oryza rufipogon)
  • It is the progenitor of present-day cultivated rice, Oryza sativa. 
  • It is disease- and pest-resistant and can tolerate flooding and saline conditions. 

Biodiversity Heritage Site 

• They are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems having rich biodiversity comprising some specific components. E.g., high endemism, presence of threatened species etc. 
• Notification: by the State Government in consultation with local bodies under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. 
• National Biodiversity Authority, under ministry of Environment, advises the State Government in the selection and management

Recently an Indian company secured long-term offtake deal with leading Japanese companies for Green Ammonia and Green Methanol.

Green ammonia 

• It is a pungent gas primarily used to make fertilizers (China is the largest producer of ammonia)
• Production: using the Haber-Bosch process, where hydrogen and nitrogen are combined. 
• Significance: Reducing GHG emissions, can be used as a fuel (has higher density in relation to other chemicals produced via renewable processes), can be used to produce hydrogen 

Green Methanol

• Methanol is a colourless liquid 
• Applications : mainly used for producing other chemicals such as formaldehyde, acetic acid and plastics
  • It can be used as a fuel source for engines, but it is also expensive, flammable and requires double the fuel tank size compared to its oil equivalent.
• Production: Green methanol is produced from low-carbon sources such as biomass, or via carbon capture.