Author: M Pansare

by Andrew Schmitz and Bill DeBaun, The Hechinger Report February 23, 2026 U.S. high schools and districts need to treat college and career readiness as a core, systemic responsibility — not an add-on.   Sure, they are working hard to better prepare students for life after graduation: FAFSA completion events, career exploration fairs, internships with local businesses and dual-credit classes at community colleges now define the student experience in many schools.   While these programs and events reflect a genuine effort to support students navigating an increasingly complex postsecondary landscape, they fail to coalesce into a clear strategy.  That has to change.…

UPSC CSE application window 2026 UPSC CSE application 2026: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will close the registrations for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2026 and the Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination on the official portal, upsc.gov.in at 6:00 PM. The notification for both examinations was released on February 4, 2026, and the online application process began the same day at upsconline.nic.in. With the deadline now hours away, candidates have been advised to complete the process well before the cut-off time to avoid last-minute technical glitches.’According to the official notification, the Civil Services Examination 2026 aims to fill 933…

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday used the 131st episode of his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat to highlight the power of organ donation, sharing the story of a one-year-old from Kerala whose parents chose to donate her organs after her death.“There can be no greater sorrow than parents losing their child,” he said, referring to Aalin Sherin Abraham. He spoke of the unimaginable grief of losing a child so young, with her entire life ahead of her. Yet, amid that pain, her parents, Arun Abraham and Sherin, decided to donate their daughter’s organs — a decision…

Los Angeles: Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people’s use of Instagram, his congressional testimony and internal advice he’s received about being “authentic” and not “robotic.” Zuckerberg’s testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm children.Attorneys representing the plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, claim her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining…

New Delhi: One in seven stroke patients in India is younger than 45 years. Nearly two in five reach hospital more than 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. Three months later, more than half either die or suffer significant disability.These findings come from India’s largest hospital-based stroke registry analysis, published in ‘International Journal of Stroke’. The study was led by Prashant Mathur of ICMR–National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (ICMR-NCDIR), Bengaluru, along with investigators of the National Stroke Registry Programme.The analysis reviewed 34,792 stroke cases recorded across 30 hospitals between 2020 and 2022, providing one of the most…

Nairobi: Kenya will roll out a groundbreaking new HIV-prevention drug in March across 15 priority regions, the health ministry said on Wednesday.Lenacapavir, taken twice a year, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent, though it is technically a chemical drug rather than a vaccine because it does not train the immune system.Kenya was among nine African countries selected last year to introduce lenacapavir, with rollout already under way in South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia since December.Eastern and southern Africa account for about 52 percent of the 40.8 million people living with HIV…

New Delhi: An ambitious climate action representing a sustainability pathway to improve global air quality could save up to 1.32 million lives per year by 2040, according to a study.Researchers, led by those at Cardiff University in the UK, said the study shows how developing countries rely upon international cooperation to see benefits, as much of their pollution originates outside their borders.The “first-of-its-kind” study analysed cross-border pollution “exchanges” for 168 countries, focusing on the impact of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and simulated different future emissions scenarios for the year 2040.Findings published in the journal Nature Communications reveal that a fragmented…

Washington: National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will also temporarily become acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an administration official said Wednesday.The change was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the appointment hadn’t been made public.Bhattacharya will be the third leader of the embattled CDC, the nation’s top public health agency, during President Donald Trump’s second term. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired then-CDC Director Susan Monarez last summer, less than a month after the Senate confirmed her for the…

Washington: A coalition of health and environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, challenging the rescinding of a scientific finding that has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.A rule finalized by the EPA last week revoked a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating…

New Delhi: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas issued a statutory direction on Saturday, proposing a more stringent particulate matter (PM) emission standard of 50 mg/Nm3 for identified industries in the region, officials said.The revised standard is expected to reduce industrial emissions and contribute to the abatement of air pollution.”The commission, considering the recommendations of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) based on studies conducted by IIT Kanpur, as well as the technical committee constituted by CPCB, is of the view that a PM emission standard of 50 mg/Nm3 is…