Geneva, October 22, 2025 

• At the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16), India urged developing and least developed nations to unite in confronting global trade inequalities. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called for the Global South to “speak with one voice” to ensure equitable participation in the international trading system.

Tehran, October 22, 2025 

• Iran has officially ratified the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT Treaty), marking a major step toward meeting Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. The move, led by President Masoud Pezeshkian’s reformist government, aims to ease economic isolation and restore access to the global banking system.

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.