79th World Health Assembly Convenes in Geneva

18 May 2026National

The 79th WHA met under the theme 'Reshaping global health', adopting 13 resolutions and over 20 decisions. Dr Victor Elias Atallah Lajam of the Dominican Republic was elected President of the Assembly.

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Bud Rot Outbreak Hits Coconut Palms in Tiptur Taluk of Karnataka's Tumakuru District

An outbreak of Bud Rot, a fatal coconut palm disease caused by the pathogen *Phytophthora palmivora*, has struck Tiptur taluk of Tumakuru district, Karnataka, affecting villages including Mattihalli, Hosahalli and Halkurike and parts of the Nonavinakere and Kasaba hoblis. The disease rots the terminal bud and surrounding tissue; once the growing point is destroyed the palm cannot recover and must be removed. Palms of all ages are susceptible, but young palms are the most vulnerable, and the infection spreads fastest in the high humidity of the monsoon. Tumakuru is one of Karnataka's biggest coconut-growing districts and Tiptur is a major copra trading centre.

GK ByteIndia is the world's largest coconut producer, with Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh the leading states | The Coconut Development Board was set up in 1981 and is headquartered at Kochi, Kerala | Phytophthora palmivora is an oomycete or water mould and also causes black pod disease in cocoa

📅 21 Oct 2026InternationalRead complete →

US Order Removing DeepSeek AI from Federal Civilian IT Systems Takes Effect on 20 October 2026

A US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) order directing federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products, and third-party services built on its AI models, took effect on publication in the Federal Register on 20 October 2026. Signed by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on 24 July 2026 and made public on 19 October, it was issued under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018. DHS cited the risk of sensitive data reaching China and possible malware in the models. Treasury, State and Justice are covered; Defense agencies are exempt, and exception requests are allowed within 60 days.

GK ByteThe US Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002 after the 9/11 attacks and is headquartered at Washington, D.C. | The Federal Register is the official daily journal of the US federal government, and rules take legal effect on publication in it | DeepSeek is based at Hangzhou, China, and released its R1 model in January 2025

📅 20 Oct 2026InternationalRead complete →

Astronomers Identify WD J1330+6435, the First White Dwarf Found to Appear Chartreuse Green

A team led by astrophysicist Mark Hollands of the University of Warwick has identified WD J1330+6435, a white dwarf about 280 light-years away in the constellation Draco, whose spectrum implies a chartreuse-green colour to the human eye - a shade not previously recorded for a star. Its surface is about 4,000 degrees Celsius, and the colour is attributed to sodium interacting with helium in an extremely dense atmosphere. Sodium, calcium and lithium detected there are thought to be rocky planetary debris that fell onto the star. The same study reports the salmon-pink WD J1011+2845, 48 light-years away in Leo Minor, in RAS Techniques and Instruments.

GK ByteA white dwarf is the dense remnant of a low- or medium-mass star that has exhausted its nuclear fuel; it is roughly Earth-sized and is held up against collapse by electron degeneracy pressure | The Chandrasekhar limit, about 1.4 solar masses, is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf | Sirius B, the companion of Sirius, was the first white dwarf to be identified

📅 19 Oct 2026InternationalRead complete →

Samsung Semiconductor India Research and IISc Inaugurate Quantum Research Lab in Bengaluru

Samsung Semiconductor India Research (SSIR) and the Indian Institute of Science have inaugurated a Quantum Research Lab on the IISc campus in Bengaluru, funded through SSIR's CSR support and housed in the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering. Led by Professor Mayank Shrivastava, it will work on qubit characterisation, cryogenic electronics, single-photon sources and detectors, and 2D-material quantum devices. The lab feeds India's National Quantum Mission, approved in 2023 with an outlay of Rs 6,003.65 crore for FY 2023-24 to FY 2030-31 and implemented by the Department of Science and Technology. IISc already hosts a quantum computing hub opened in September 2026.

GK ByteThe National Quantum Mission, approved by the Union Cabinet in April 2023, targets intermediate-scale quantum computers of 50 to 1,000 physical qubits over eight years | The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, was founded in 1909 with support from Jamsetji Tata and the Mysore royal family | A qubit, or quantum bit, can exist in superposition, unlike a classical binary bit

📅 17 Oct 2026InternationalRead complete →

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