The 33rd edition of the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX-2026) was held in Visakhapatnam from 21 to 26 October 2026. The exercise involves the Indian Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). Singapore’s naval ship RSS Supreme arrived in Visakhapatnam on 21 October 2026 to participate in the exercise. SIMBEX began in 1994 as Exercise Lion King and has evolved into an important bilateral maritime engagement.

France confirmed the first known human case of the Shamonda virus in a patient who died at a hospital in Lyon in October 2026. The Shamonda virus was first isolated in cattle in Nigeria in 1965 and has since been identified in parts of Africa, Asia and Europe. The virus is spread primarily through the bites of Culicoides midges, which are small, blood-feeding insects. The reported human infection raises concerns about zoonotic diseases, which are infections that spread between animals and humans.

On October 23, 2026, the Union Environment Ministry’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) evaluated NHPC Limited’s forest-diversion proposal for the 1,720 MW Kamala Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal Pradesh. The project proposes to divert 3,278 hectares of forest land across Kra Daadi, Kurung Kumey and Kamle districts, potentially involving the felling of 23,40,213 trees. The Kamala Hydroelectric Project is a 1,720 MW hydropower project developed in Arunachal Pradesh to generate renewable electricity. The project is located on the Kamala River, a major tributary of the Subansiri River, and spans Kamle, Kra Daadi and Kurung Kumey districts.

Radhakrishnan M.S., an architecture student from Kochi, won the 28th Charles Correa Gold Medal on October 22, 2026, in Mumbai. He is a student at Seed APJ Abdul School of Environmental Design, Kochi, Kerala. His award-winning project was titled “Energy Commons: Reimagining Energy Infrastructure as a Place for Civic Engagement.” The project reimagines essential energy infrastructure as a shared civic resource, transforming traditionally restricted spaces into places for public interaction. The Charles Correa Gold Medal was established in 1998 to recognise outstanding undergraduate architectural thesis projects addressing challenges related to the built environment. The award ceremony was held at TARQ Gallery in Mumbai.

Indian scientists from the Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have discovered evidence that the X-ray pulsar Centaurus X-3 accretes matter through an accretion disk. Centaurus X-3 is located approximately 24,000 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. It is classified as a High-Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB), consisting of a compact object and a massive companion star exceeding ten solar masses. A pulsar is a highly magnetised, rotating neutron star that emits radiation from regions near its magnetic poles.