Indian researchers have discovered a new blue-coloured ant species named Paraparatrechina neela in Siang Valley.

About Siang Valley

• Lies primarily in Arunachal Pradesh. 
  • Brahmaputra River in Arunachal Pradesh is known as the Siang River.
• Part of the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot.
  • Key Protected Areas in this valley includes Mouling National Park and Daying Ering Wildlife Sanctuary. 
• Tribal Groups: Nyishi, Adi tribes etc. 
• Threats: Large-scale infrastructure projects like dams, highways and military installations and climate change.

OPEC+ agreed to extend its deep oil output cuts into 2025.

About OPEC+

• OPEC (HQ: Vienna, Austria) was established at Baghdad Conference (1960), by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Currently it has 12 members.
  • Other members: Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, Congo, & UAE.
• Objective: To co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers. 
• In 2016, OPEC signed an agreement with 10 other oil-producing countries and this grouping is known as OPEC+.
  • Members: Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Oman, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Bahrain, South Sudan, Brunei, Sudan.

Phenome India-CSIR Health Cohort Knowledgebase (PI-CheCK) Project successful concluded the first phase.

About PI-CHeCK Project

• It is the flagship project launched by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2023. 
• It aims to assess risk factors in non-communicable (cardio-metabolic) diseases within Indian population. 
• It ensures “Swasthya Bharat Viksit Bharat” through health and wellness check. 
• It exemplifies CSIR's commitment to advancing precision medicine through Predictive, Personalized, Participatory, and Preventive healthcare. 

India participates in International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland.

• WSIS+20 Forum marks 20 years of progress made in implementation of outcomes of WSIS, which took place in two phases in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005). 

About WSIS 

• WSIS forum is co-organised annually by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD and co-hosted by ITU and Swiss Confederation.
• Aim: Create multi- stakeholder platform to address issues raised by information and communication technologies through inclusive approach at national, regional and international levels.
• Goal: To build a people-centric, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, enabling universal access, utilization, and sharing of information.

ISRO develops PraVaHa (Parallel RANS Solver for Aerospace Vehicle Aero-thermo-dynamic Analysis) software. 

About PraVaHa

• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. 
• Can simulate external and internal flows on launch vehicles, winged and non-winged re-entry vehicles.
• Developed in ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). 

About Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

• Responsible for the design and development of launch vehicle technology. 
  • Major programme includes Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), GSLV Mk Ill etc.
• HQ: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

As per experts, the phenomenon of greedflation is contributing to high rates of inflation in Western countries.

About Greedflation 

• Greedflation means corporate greed is fuelling inflation. Instead of the wage-price spiral, it is the profit-price spiral that fuels inflation.
  • A wage-price spiral is an economic situation in which rising wages and rising prices feed into each other in a self-reinforcing cycle. 
• It implies that Companies exploit inflation by increasing their prices beyond just covering their increased costs and then use that to maximize their profit margins which further fuelled inflation.

Iran summoned China's envoy over a China-UAE statement questioning Iran's sovereignty over the disputed Abu Musa Island and 2 other islands i.e Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb.

• Abu Musa Island is largest among them.
• Also, it is rich in offshore oil and natural gas. 

Disputes over Islands

• Claimed by both Iran and United Arab Emirates (UAE) but have been held by Iran since 1971.

• Iran took control over these Islands after withdrawal of British.

• Strategic Importance: Located close to the Strait of Hormuz (Connects Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea). 
  • About a fifth of the volume of the world's total oil consumption passes through the Strait on a daily basis.

GSP Assembly calls for urgent action to improve and maintain health of at least 50 percent of world's soils by 2030 at Twelfth Plenary session (hosted by FAO).

About Global Soil Partnership 

• It was established in 2012 by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a mechanism to develop a strong interactive partnership and enhanced collaboration and synergy of efforts between all stakeholders.
• It aims to position soils on Global Agenda, promote inclusive policies and soil governance as well as sustainable soil management.