Washington, October 22, 2025 

• NASA has confirmed the discovery of 2025 PN7, a newly identified quasi-moon orbiting alongside Earth. Detected by the Pan-STARRS observatory in Hawaii, the small asteroid — about 19 metres wide — has been accompanying Earth since the 1960s and is expected to remain in orbit until around 2038.

• New Delhi, October 22, 2025 — The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched ‘UPI Help’, an AI-powered assistant aimed at improving user support and grievance redressal within the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem. The feature is designed to provide real-time assistance for payment issues, mandate management, and transaction tracking.

• New Delhi, October 22, 2025 — India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has introduced a groundbreaking feature — ‘Pay with Mutual Fund’ — enabling users to make real-time payments directly from their liquid mutual fund holdings. The feature, launched in collaboration with ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Bajaj Finserv AMC, and Curie Money, marks a global first in linking investment assets with day-to-day payments.

• Sabarimala, Kerala — October 22: President Droupadi Murmu offered prayers at the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, becoming the first woman President of India to do so. This marks only the second presidential visit to the shrine since V. V. Giri’s pilgrimage in the 1970s.

• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will deploy Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs) across 23 states, covering a total of 20,933 km of National Highways. The initiative aims to enhance road safety, maintenance, and asset management through advanced data collection and analysis.