ABP Live News Shots: Chandrayaan-3's Successful Landing On Moon To Expansion Of BRICS — Top Headlines This Week

ABP Live News Shots: From Chandrayaan-3's successful landing on the Moon to the expansion of the BRICS — bringing to you the big news that made headlines this past week, in case you missed it

This week, India etched history with the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon's south pole and became the first country to do so. The landing received applauds from leaders across the globe and the science fraternity. PM Narendra Modi watched the entire landing sequence live from South Africa where he had gone to attend the 15th BRICS Summit. On another front, in a big development, the BRICS group has now added six more member nations, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Ethiopia, taking the count to 11. A plane crash is believed to have killed Russian mercenary group Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who led a brief armed mutiny against Vladimir Putin in June this year. In another first for Donald Trump, he has become the first former US President to have a mugshot. Trump spent 20 minutes in jail on charges of election racketeering.

 

INDIA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met the ISRO chief S Somnath and scientists who worked on the Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission. The PM returned from his recent South Africa and Greece visit and soon decided to meet and greet the minds behind India's successful third lunar mission. Speaking to the gathering in Bengaluru, the PM said that although he was in South Africa, his mind was here in India with scientists. The PM also announced that the landing site of the Chandryaan-3 will now be named 'Shiv Shakti' and the touch-down point of Chandryaan-2 will be called 'Tiranga'.

Modi-Xi Meeting in South Africa: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday held a “conversation” on the margins of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the military standoff in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) figured in it. Both leaders agreed to direct officials for an “expeditious disengagement and de-escalation” of the troops, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said at a press conference.

Amidst the incessant rainfall in Himachal Pradesh, several buildings collapsed in Kullu due to the landslides in the district. In a video that surfaced on social media, buildings can be seen collapsing in Anni town of Kullu. At least eight to nine big buildings collapsed near a bus stand in Anni town.

 

WORLD

BRICS SUMMIT 2023: Injecting a fresh lease of life into the bloc, leaders of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) went for a substantial expansion Thursday by adding six new members – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Ethiopia – while vowing to include more in the coming years. The announcement was made on the second day of the 15th BRICS Summit, which was held in Johannesburg under the South African chairmanship.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was feared killed in a plane crash in Russia, Ria Novosti reported. Russian emergency services found eight bodies at site of the crash. According to Russian media, while the Wagner chief was on the list of passengers on board the flight, it could not be determined if he was among the dead.

Former US President Donald Trump has been arrested for Georgia election racketeering, and conspiracy charges, and spent around 20 minutes in jail. Fulton County jail also released his mugshot making Trump the first ex-US president to have one. According to CNN, Trump surrendered at the jail on over a dozen charges in his efforts to reverse Georgia’s 2020 election results, the fourth time this year the former president has faced criminal charges.

 

BUSINESS

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom is expected soon and the country is also making an effort for FTA with Canada and EFTA countries. Talking during the B20 India Summit, Sitharaman also said that sustained global economic recovery will be a key issue for the next few years."We are continually making efforts for FTA with the UK, Canada, and EFTA countries along with the commerce ministry. The speed it is going now is this year we should conclude the agreement with FTA. FTA with European Free Trade Association also in the works," Sitharaman said. EFTA includes Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland. She elaborated on the significance of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in broadening supply chain diversity. 

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, on Tuesday launched the much-awaited Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP), aimed at improving road safety standards of motor vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes. Bharat NCAP will be implemented from October 1, 2023. Gadkari said the Bharat NCAP is India's own crash testing programme which aims to improve safety features in the vehicles, while adding that the country is facing two challenges, namely road accident and air pollution. Every year around 5 lakh accidents take place in India and 1.5 lakh deaths because of these accidents.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Friday said artificial intelligence (AI) will create more jobs in India as it will empower more people with little skill or no skill to perform higher level jobs. In his address to the B20 Summit India 2023, Chandrasekaran, who is also the B20 India Chair, said, "Actually in a country like us, it will create jobs because it will empower people with the little skill or no skill, will empower them with information skill so that they can perform a higher level of jobs," the PTI reported. Seeking to address concerns over privacy and jobs with the advent of AI, he cited an example of a nurse and said due to AI "the nurse will be able to take away the workload of a doctor and that's the way we are going to scale up". Chandra, however, said that the impact of AI will play out in different markets and different segments of the society differently.

 

TECH

Donald Trump is slowly becoming a parody of himself. If you think that's an unfounded statement, just check out his Fulton County Jail mugshot, taken after he was put under arrest for Georgia election racketeering and conspiracy charges. After reportedly spending about 20 minutes in jail and getting released on a $200,000 bond bail on Friday, the former US president (the only one to have a mugshot) took to X (formerly Twitter) with an incredulous promotion of his website, where he is asking for donations to support his presidential election campaign. 

The doltish mugshot shows Trump with a stern (some might say determined) look on his face, appearing rather inconvenienced to appear in prison after announcing his plans to surrender earlier this week. However, what's even more asinine was to see how he used that mugshot as a glorified PR tool. Trump shared his mug shot accompanied by the text: "ELECTION INTERFERENCE! NEVER SURRENDER!" 

Trump's post garnered over 41 million views at the time of writing. The tweet found support from several Trump fans. Even X owner Elon Musk shared the post, calling the move "next-level".

French electronics manufacturer Thomson is the latest brand to foray into the laptop category in India. The OEM is working towards finalising a local contract manufacturer based out of Noida, Uttar Pradesh to start assembling devices within the country. Thomson is currently selling its laptops in several European countries, including France.

The company made a re-entry into India in 2018 via a strategic partnership with homegrown SPPL, similar to what we have seen brands like Blaupaunkt doing. Thomson currently sells only televisions in India via e-commerce site Flipkart and would follow the same for its laptops.

Meta on Tuesday announced the launch of its latest AI marvel, an innovative model capable of swiftly translating and transcribing speech in an impressive array of 100 languages. The transformative potential of this development is set to redefine cross-cultural communication and comprehension. Dubbed SeamlessM4T, the cutting-edge multimodal AI model takes centre stage in Meta's strategic vision to foster more seamless connections among individuals speaking diverse languages. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Facebook to introduce the game-changing technology.

 

SPORTS

Star India Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Friday (August 25) ensured his entry in the 2024 Paris Olympics after throwing the spear for  88.77m in his first attempt of the World Athletics Championships Men's Javelin Throw Qualifiers. The 25-year-old player’s qualifying round lasted for only a few minutes after he sent the spear to his fourth career-best distance while competing in the Group A qualification round. This was also his season-best throw. Chopra had bagged the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

World no. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway beat India's 18-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in their FIDE Chess World Cup 2023 final after winning the tiebreak 1.5-0.5 in Baku on Thursday (August 24). With this Carlsen added the only major title missing from his trophy cabinet. Carlsen will take home $1,10,000 while the runner-up will be awarded $80,000. Despite the defeat, it was quite a memorable journey for the 18-year-old Indian who took down two of the world's top three-ranked players, to set up a summit clash with Carlsen. The Chennai-born secured his place in 2024 Candidates Tournament - an event that determines who gets to challenge reigning world champion Ding Liren of China.

Spain beat England 1-0 in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 final at Stadium Australia in Sydney on Sunday (August 20). While England were touted as slight favourites heading into this fixture owing to their better head-to-head record both overall and in their recent meetings with the Lionesses securing a win over La Roja on their way to a European Championship victory last year, Spain saved some of their best football for the World Cup summit clash even though the dramatic fixture saw some major errors from the Spanish side including a penalty miss. However, Spain captain Olga Carmona's 29th minute strike was enough for Spain to secure their maiden title.

 

SCIENCE

Chandrayaan-3 has landed softly on the Moon’s south pole, making India the first country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar south pole. Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the Moon at 6:04 pm IST on August 23, 2023. All the phases of descent during the ‘15 minutes of terror’ were successfully completed. Chandrayaan-3 underwent initial preparation, velocity reduction, orientation change, attitude hold phase, fine braking, final descent, and touchdown. Powered descent began after the automatic landing sequence was initiated. After the Vikram lander successfully landed on the lunar south pole, the sensors signalled the computer onboard the spacecraft. About four hours after touchdown, the Pragyan rover rolled out of the Vikram lander.

After Chandrayaan-3 successfully soft landed on the Moon's south pole on August 23, 2023, S Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said that the Indian space agency's next goal is the Aditya-L1 mission. He said that the Aditya-L1 mission is getting ready at Sriharikota, news agency ANI reported. Aditya-L1 will be India's first space-based mission to study the Sun, and will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 of the Sun-Earth system. Aditya-L1 has a planned mission duration of five years. The solar mission is expected to be launched by the end of August, or early September this year.

Chandrayaan-3’s activities are on schedule and all activities are normal, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on August 24, 2023, a day after the spacecraft’s historic soft landing on the Moon’s south pole. Most of Vikram lander’s payloads have been turned on, and the Pragyan rover has begun its mobility operations. Pragyan was rolled out of Vikram on August 23, about four hours after Chandrayaan-3’s touchdown. Vikram is a lander, and hence, will conduct experiments by remaining in a fixed position. Meanwhile, Pragyan will explore the lunar surface, performing scientific activities. 

 

ENT

The 69th National Film Awards were announced on Thursday (August 24). The winners list had many popular names this year, with Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon sharing the Best Actress award for ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ and ‘Mimi’, respectively. And Allu Arjun bagging the Best Actor award for his blockbuster film ‘Pushpa: The Rise - Part 1.’ 

Madhavan starrer Rocketry: The Nambi Effect bagged National Award for Best Feature Film. While Rajamouli’s magnum opus RRR was awarded best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Kashmir Files’ won award for best film on national integration. 

Rakhi Sawant’s ex-husband Adil Khan Durrani denied all the allegations made by the reality TV star and accused her of physical violence, cheating, and levelling wrong charges against him. In an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Adil opened up about what transpired between Rakhi and her and presented his side of the story. He also denied Rakhi’s miscarriage claims and said that the actor couldn’t get pregnant as she had undergone surgery to remove her uterus due to ‘age-related issues.’ 

Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan is all set to release on September 7, and his fans eagerly await to see King Khan in a new avatar on the silver screen. The Atlee directorial also features Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Sanya Malhotra, and others. The Central Board of Film Certification(CBFC) has finally provided a U/A certificate to the film with a few cuts. The approved runtime of the film is 2 hours and 49 minutes. Suicide visuals were asked to be reduced. The violent visuals of the beheaded body were asked to be removed.