🧘‍♂️🌐 1. ‘Yoga Bandhan’ Launched to Unite the World Before International Day of Yoga 2025

📍 Organized by: Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), Ministry of Ayush

📍 Location: MDNIY Campus, Delhi

🌎 Participants: Yoga ambassadors from 17 countries

🎯 Aim: Strengthen global partnerships and institutional ties through Yoga

📅 Part of: 10 Signature Events leading up to International Day of Yoga (IDY) 2025

💡 Extra Context:

India has been promoting Yoga as a global cultural heritage ever since PM Modi proposed June 21 as International Day of Yoga, adopted by the UN in 2014.

This event titled “Yoga Bandhan” (Bond of Yoga) symbolizes unity, health, and spiritual diplomacy, connecting continents through ancient Indian wisdom.

📸 Expect global collaborations, wellness innovations, and policy dialogues on integrating Yoga into mainstream healthcare and education systems!

🛡️📲 2. Google Opens Asia-Pacific’s First Online Safety Centre in Hyderabad

🏢 New Safety Engineering Hub: Hyderabad, India

🎉 Inaugurated by: Telangana CM A. Revanth Reddy

🌍 Other Global Safety Centres:

• Munich 🇩🇪
• Malaga 🇪🇸
• Dublin 🇮🇪

🔐 Focus Areas:

• Fighting online abuse, misinformation, scams, and digital threats
• Developing AI tools for child safety, data protection, and user education

📌 Context:

India has 850+ million internet users, making digital safety a national priority. With Hyderabad emerging as a tech innovation hub, this new centre strengthens India's position in global cyber policy and online trust architecture.

🌐 Fun Fact: India now plays a strategic role in Google’s global safety infrastructure—especially for multilingual and mobile-first markets.

🏏⏳ 3. ICC Approves 4-Day Test Matches for Emerging Cricket Nations (2027–29 Cycle)

📣 Big Update: ICC has greenlit 4-day Test matches for smaller cricketing nations in the 2027–29 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

📌 What stays the same?

• 🏏 India, Australia, England & top teams will continue with 5-day Tests
• The current 2025–27 cycle will remain entirely 5-day format

🧠 Why the change?

• ⏳ Shorter matches = lower cost, better scheduling
• 🧲 Aim to increase viewership and make Test cricket more appealing to fans in developing cricket countries

🎯 Context:

The ICC is trying to revive Test cricket in associate and lower-ranked full member nations like Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan, and others, while also making room in an increasingly crowded calendar dominated by T20 leagues like the IPL and The Hundred.

🧬💉 4. ‘Birsa Munda Prize’ to Fund Sickle Cell Drug Research in India

🏛️ Announced by: MoS Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey

📍 Venue: AIIMS, New Delhi

📅 Occasion: World Sickle Cell Day – June 19, 2025

💰 Funding: Up to ₹10 crore for approved research proposals

🔬 Purpose:

• Encourage pharmaceutical and genetic research for Sickle Cell Anaemia, a disease that disproportionately affects tribal populations in India.

📜 Background:

• PM Modi launched the National Mission to Eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia on 1 July 2023 from Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh.
• 🎯 Goal: Eliminate genetic transmission of the disease by 2047 — India’s 100th year of Independence.

🩺 Context:

Sickle Cell Anaemia affects 20 lakh+ Indians, especially in tribal belts like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. This prize, named after tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda, highlights the government’s focus on health equity and tribal welfare.

🦏🌳 5. UP Approves ₹1.5 Crore Rhino Conservation Project at Dudhwa National Park

📍 Location: Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh

💰 Funding: ₹1.5 crore approved by UP Government

🔧 Project Plan:

• Establish two new enclosures: RRA-3 and RRA-4
• Model based on earlier enclosures: RRA-1 and RRA-2
• 🦏 Current Rhino Population: ~50 Indian one-horned rhinos

🌿 Goal:

Promote biodiversity, support semi-wild rehabilitation, and protect this vulnerable species from threats like poaching and habitat loss.

📌 Extra Info:

• Dudhwa is one of the few sanctuaries in North India where rhinos are reintroduced and monitored under Project Rhino
• The project is in line with India’s broader efforts under Project Tiger, Project Elephant, and the Global Biodiversity Framework 2030

🌍 Conservation = Climate Action + Ecotourism + Heritage