Chinese astronauts have successfully harvested the first rice crop grown in space aboard the Tiangong space station. The achievement is an important step toward growing food for future missions to the Moon, Mars and other deep-space destinations.

The rice seeds were taken to space on the Shenzhou-23 mission in May. After more than two months, astronauts collected the crop and stored samples for further research.

Scientists are studying how rice grows in microgravity and whether it can be cultivated over multiple generations in space. The goal is to make future long-term space missions less dependent on food supplies from Earth.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that judicial officers are not government servants and constitute a distinct and separate class, while considering the proposal to increase the retirement age of District Judges from 60 to 62 years.

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🇸🇦🇺🇸 US imports of Saudi crude oil fall to zero for the first time since 1985.

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Educational institutions seeking minority status in Maharashtra could soon face tighter scrutiny, with a government-appointed committee recommending that the approval process be supervised by a senior IAS officer, applications be vetted by a multi-department expert panel, and institutions be subjected to periodic review even after minority status is granted.