DNA samples from 2 human skeletons found in burial pits at Harappan-era Rakhigarhi sent for analysis

• The skeletons of two women were found a couple of months ago at mound number 7 (named RGR 7 by the Archaeological Survey of India or ASI), believed to be nearly 5,000 years old.
• Pots and other artefacts were also found buried next to them in a pit, part of the funerary rituals back in the Harappan Civilisation era.
• Seven mounds scattered around two villages (Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur) in Hisar district are part of the Rakhigarhi archaeological site.
• RGR 7 is a cemetery site of the Harappan period when this was a well-organised city.
• At present RGR 1, RGR 3 and RGR 7 have been taken up for investigation.

State of the World''s Birds

• Humans eat 14% of the world’s surviving species of birds. However, this is not the only reason why 48% of the extant bird species are undergoing population decline, a study led by the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) says.
• The report has attributed the threat to almost half of the 10,994 recognised extant species of birds to the expanding human footprint on the natural world and climate change.
• The degradation and loss of natural habitats as well as direct overexploitation of many species are the key threats to avian biodiversity, the study
• The use of 37% of the surviving bird species as common or exotic pets and 14% as food are examples of direct overexploitation.
• The review found that 5,245 or about 48% of the existing bird species worldwide were known or suspected to be undergoing population decline.
• While 4,295 or 39% of the species had stable trends, about 7% or 778 species had increasing population trends. The trend of 37 species was unknown.

Modi to dedicate RFCL unit at Ramagundam

• The RFCL is a joint venture between National Fertilizers Limited, Engineers India Limited and Fertilizer Corporation of India, which operated the unit until it stopped production on March 31, 1999.
• By a 2015 revival package, the plant was commissioned with an investment of ₹6,180 crore.
• It was targeted to complete the works by 2018 but quite a few deadlines were jumped since.

India’s Forex Reserves rise $8.895 billion to record high of $642.453 billion

• Foreign exchange reserves declined by $ 2.69 billion to $ 597.72 billion during the week ended April 29.
• With this fall, forex reserves have declined $ 44.73 billion from $ 642.45 billion recorded on September 3, 2021, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
• The decline was on account of a fall in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves. The foreign currency assets also include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the reserves.
• A major reason for the decline in forex reserves is capital outflows by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) who pulled out $ 21.43 billion since September 2021 as the US Federal Reserve started monetary policy tightening and interest rate hikes.

Mastodon, the ‘Twitter alternative’

• Dubbed as an open-source and distributed or federated social network, Mastodon allows users to create their own networks or ‘instances’, essentially handing control and ownership of data back to the user.
• Each instance has its own policies related to content moderation, code of conduct, terms of service and privacy etc. Users can select which instance they want to be part of, based on which policies align best with what they want from the social media platform.
• But even if you are part of a certain instance, you can still communicate with users who are part of other instances.
• This is intended at giving users the flexibility to select an instance whose policies they prefer while still giving them the benefit of access to a wider social network.
• social is the flagship server of the service and it is run by a Mastodon gGmbH, a non-profit that is crowdfunded by Patreon donations.

Monkeypox virus case confirmed in U.K. after Nigeria travel link

• The monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus, which is a genus of viruses that also includes the variola virus, which causes smallpox, and vaccinia virus, which was used in the smallpox vaccine.
• Monkeypox causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although they are less severe.
• While vaccination eradicated smallpox worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in a swathe of countries in Central and West Africa, and has on occasion showed up elsewhere.
• According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), two distinct clade are identified: the West African clade and the Congo Basin clade, also known as the Central African clade.
• Monkeypox is a zoonosis, that is, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans.
• Cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus. Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.
• Human-to-human transmission is, however, limited. Transmission, when it occurs, can be through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects.

Women and Foreign Correspondents press clubs get notice to vacate

• The Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) was founded in 1958 by overseas correspondents posted in India to cover the country and the region — including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc — for their publications.
• In 1990, the FCC was allotted premises on Mathura Road.
• The Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) is India’s first association of women journalists.
• It came up on 5 Windsor Place in 1994 after 18 women journalists pooled in Rs 1,000 each, set up a trust and organised themselves as a support group to help their colleagues meet challenges that were unique to women, and ensure women’s bylines were respected and heard.