Oman and Saudi Arabia have signed a cross-border freight deal as an alternative to chokepoints like Strait of Hormuz. This deal utilizes the direct overland road through the Rub' al Khali. 

About Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter)

• World's largest continuous sand desert, stretching over 650,000 square kilometers. 
• Located primarily in south-eastern Saudi Arabia. 
• Shared across four countries: Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, and Yemen. 
• It is one of Earth's driest places on earth, receiving less than 3 cm of annual rainfall, with summer temperatures rising above 50°C and dropping sharply at night.
• Bedouin tribes are found in this desert. 

Japan protests Russia President’s visit to Kuril Islands.

About Kuril Islands

• The archipelago comprises 22 major islands, 36 smaller islets, and several rocks covering 15,600 square kilometers.
• Location: Between Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) and Hokkaido (Japan) and separate Pacific Ocean on east and Sea of Okhotsk on west.
• Part of Pacific Ring of Fire, a region in Pacific Ocean that experiences frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
• The islands are part of strato-volcanoes that were formed through subduction, a process that also formed Kuril Trench. 

Government receives 20 bids for rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing scheme.

• REPMs are amongst the strongest types of permanent magnets. 
• Their high magnetic strength and stability make them integral to EV motors, Wind turbine generators, Consumer and industrial electronics, Aerospace and defence systems, etc. 

About REPM Scheme

• Objective: Establish 6,000 Metric Tons per Annum (MTPA) of integrated REPMs manufacturing in India.
• Financial Outlay: Rs. 7,280 crore.
• Total Duration of the Scheme: 7 years
  • 2 years: Facility setup (gestation period)
  • 5 years: Incentive disbursement on sales
• Beneficiaries Allocation: 6,000 MTPA capacity will be allocated to five beneficiaries through global competitive bidding.
• End-to-End Manufacturing Integration:  It supports creation of facilities that cover the complete processing facilities i.e. Rare earth oxides → metals→ alloys→ finished rare earth permanent magnets. 

Supreme Court has asked the Centre to consider establishing regional and circuit benches of NCDRC to expedite case disposal.

About NCDRC (HQ: New Delhi)

• Quasi-judicial commission which was set up in 1988 under Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
• Headed by a sitting or a retired Judge of Supreme Court or a sitting or a retired Chief Justice of High Court. 
• Section 21 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 provides that NCDRC shall have jurisdiction 

• to entertain a complaint valued more than one crore and also have appellate and revisional jurisdiction from orders of State Commissions or District fora as the case may be.

President of India presented Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for 2024 and 2025.

About Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA)

• Set up in 1953 as apex body dedicated to preserving and promoting India’s intangible heritage in music, dance, and drama.
• Functions as an autonomous body under Ministry of Culture. 

About Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna)

• Highest, most prestigious honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi for sustained contribution in performing arts. 

About Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar)

• Conferred since 1952 by Sangeet Natak Akademi in fields of activity including Music, Dance, Theatre, etc.
• Award of Akademi Fellow carries purse money of three lakh only while Akademi Award carries one lakh only, besides a Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

India’s cumulative exports (merchandise & services) during April-July 2026-27 are estimated at US$ 316.42 Billion, as compared to US$ 279.63 Billion in April-July 2025-26.

• Total imports during April-July 2026-27 are estimated at US$ 365.85 Billion.
• Merchandise exports during April-July 2026-27 were US$ 173.78 Billion while Services exports are US$ 142.64 Billion. 
• Major drivers of merchandise exports in July 2026: Petroleum products, electronic goods, engineering goods, organic & Inorganic Chemicals, and Cotton Yarn/Fabs./made-ups, Handloom Products etc.

Researchers at IISc’s SPIRE Lab, in collaboration with ARTPARK and Google have released the SraVaani.

About SraVaani

• It's a multilingual model trained for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems on 65 Indian languages and dialects.
• It covers 20 scheduled languages and 45 regional languages and dialects
• It is built on top of the Vaani dataset (one of the largest speech corpora for Indian languages).

India and Indonesia have launched a landmark project to restore the Prambanan Temple.

About Prambanan Temple

• Built in the 9th century, this is the largest temple compound dedicated to Lord Shiva in Indonesia.
• Also called Loro Jonggrang, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Key-Features:
• The temple is dedicated to the Trimurti (Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva).
• Ramayana Reliefs: Stone carvings narrate the classic Hindu epic across the galleries.

The International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook has released a report on the countries with the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in 2026.

• The debt-to-GDP ratio compares a country's total public debt to its gross domestic product.

Key Highlights:

• The IMF estimates that global debt was around 94 per cent of world GDP in 2025 and will likely be near 100 per cent by 2029.
• Countries with highest debt-to-GDP ratio: Japan (204.4%), Singapore (171.9 %), Sudan (169.1%).

Note: The debt-to-GDP ratio of India is estimated to be 55.6 percent of GDP in BE 2026-27, compared to 56.1 percent of GDP in RE 2025-26.

Ladakh hosts first-ever Black-Necked Crane Festival to highlight conservation of endangered species.

About Black-Necked Crane: 

• Out of the fifteen species of Crane in the world, Black -Necked Crane is the only Alpine Crane in the world.
• Other Names: It is locally known as “cha thung-thung” in Ladakh and “thungdung karma” in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Distribution: High altitude marshes and lakes of Tibetan Plateau, China, and eastern Ladakh.
  • It is State Bird of Ladakh and Changthang Cold Wildlife Sanctuary in Ladakh is the only breeding place in India. 

• Conservation Status:

• IUCN: Near Threatened
• CITES: Appendix I
• Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I