The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has been honoured with the prestigious Aviation Week Laureates Award for its achievements with the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission.

The award was received on behalf of Isro by Sripriya Ranganathan, Deputy Ambassador at the Indian Embassy in the US.

The Aviation Week Laureates Award is renowned for recognising extraordinary accomplishments within the aerospace industry, and this year, it celebrated Isro's groundbreaking mission, Chandrayaan-3.

The European Space Agency (ESA)’s Gaia space telescope has discovered two surprising streams of stars that formed and wove together over 12 billion years ago.

• The two streams, named Shakti and Shiva, helped form the infant Milky Way.
• Both are so ancient that they likely formed before even the oldest parts of our present-day galaxy’s spiral arms and disc.
• Each stream contains the mass of about 10 million Suns, with stars of 12 to 13 billion years in age, all moving in very similar orbits with similar compositions. 

Gaia is a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 2013 and expected to operate until 2025. The spacecraft is designed for astrometry: measuring the positions, distances and motions of stars with unprecedented precision, and the positions of exoplanets by measuring attributes about the stars they orbit such as their apparent magnitude and color.

The mission aims to construct by far the largest and most precise 3D space catalog ever made, totalling approximately 1 billion astronomical objects, mainly stars, but also planets, comets, asteroids and quasars, among others.

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the first global resolution on artificial intelligence (AI). This encourages countries to safeguard human rights, monitor AI for risks, and protect personal data. The resolution was proposed by the US and co-sponsored by China and over 120 other nations.

• The nonbinding resolution advocates the strengthening of privacy policies.
•  Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the UN stated that all 193 members of the UN general assembly have chosen to govern AI rather than let it govern people.
• This resolution is one of the latest in a series of initiatives by different governments around the world to shape AI’s development.
• These initiatives have been built amid fears that the technology can be used to disrupt the democratic process, create job loss, and create fraud.

S&P Global Ratings on Tuesday increased India’s FY25 GDP forecast by 0.4% to 6.8%. However, it said a reduced fiscal deficit could potentially weaken the economic growth.

• The Reserve Bank of India had projected a GDP growth of 7% for FY25. S&P Global in its report said it expects the growth in FY25 to moderate from the better than expected 7.6% growth in FY2024.
• The report mentioned that elevated interest rates may impact demand in the upcoming fiscal year and the regulatory mechanisms to control unsecured lending could impact credit expansion.
• The agency said that it expects loan growth to decline to 14% in FY25 from 16% in FY24, reflecting the cumulative impact of all these actions.

Ace table tennis player Sharath Kamal will be the Indian team’s flagbearer for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics, while Olympic bronze medalist MC Mary Kom has been named as the chef de mission for the Summer Games.

• Ranked World No. 88, Kamal has won the national table tennis championship a record 10 times.
• MC Mary Kom, the first female boxer in boxing history to have captured six world titles. The five-time Asian champion was also the first female boxer from India to win a gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games.
• Gagan Narang, a bronze medalist in the 10m air rifle event at the 2012 London Olympics, has been appointed to head the shooting village operations for the Paris Olympics.
• Shooting, which earned India its first individual Olympic medal in Beijing 2008, has not produced an Indian medalist since London 2012.
• The Olympic Games will take place from July 26 to August 11.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) India celebrated Earth Hour 2024 on March 23 from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., worldwide.

• This year marks the 18th edition of Earth Hour, with the theme "Biggest Hour for Earth".
• The event encouraged people worldwide to turn off their lights for 60 minutes from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. as a symbolic gesture of support for our planet.
• Earth Hour serves as a beacon of positivity, hope, and inspiration, rallying people around the globe to come together in solidarity for the environment.
• The aim is to engage as many individuals as possible, especially those who may not yet be fully aware of the environmental crisis we face.
• To commemorate Earth Hour, a special anthem has been released by WWF, composed by Shantanu Moitra and sung by Papon. The lyrics by Tanveer Ghazi evoke the beauty of nature and the shared responsibility we all have in protecting it.