IslamCalicut's Mishkal Mosque: 650 years of timber architecture
Built in the 14th century by the Yemeni shipowner Nakhuda Mishkal at Kuttichira in Kerala, the mosque once rose seven storeys; four survive today, standing on 24 pillars.
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World
Islam
IslamIndonesia's average Hajj wait falls to 14 years after data clean-up
Indonesia's Hajj and Umrah ministry says the national average wait to perform Hajj is now 14 years, after checking some 5.7 million registrations and removing about 400,000 invalid records.
AgrotechBrazil clears Switch Bioworks to field-test its nitrogen-making microbes
The US startup's engineered soil microbes switch on nitrogen production around a crop's roots about six weeks after planting; Brazil's biosafety approval opens field trials in a country that imports most of its fertiliser.
Health
Climate change is driving up skin disease, study of 136 countries finds
In research presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology congress, 42.6 per cent of countries reported climate-related changes in skin disease, with heat rash rising most.
AgrotechAntobot plans 300 UV-C robots in strawberry fields next year
The UK startup's autonomous robots treat strawberry crops with UV-C light instead of fungicide sprays, and it now wants 300 of them deployed in 2027 as growers buy the machines outright.
Environment
ICAR institute plants 800 trees to hold eroding hill slopes near Dehradun
ICAR-IISWC planted bamboo and kachnar on erosion-prone slopes and guava and amla on field bunds in three villages of Kalsi, Dehradun, to show farmers how trees can stop soil loss and add income.
Crops
Washing stations and cooperatives lift coffee farmers in Rwanda and Kenya
On International Coffee Day, FAO describes how washing stations in Rwanda and a reformed cooperative in Kenya's Baringo County are raising the quality of smallholder coffee and the earnings that come with it.
WorldEthiopia's enset, the drought-proof 'tree against hunger' that could feed millions
Enset, the 'false banana', survives drought and has fed Ethiopian farmers for centuries as kocho, but strict laws, laborious processing and an unfamiliar taste have kept it inside the country.
OpinionNo escape even for non-smokers: Aditya Ghosh on the toll of secondhand smoke
Writing in Kolkata's Sangbad Pratidin, essayist Aditya Ghosh says about 444 million people in India were exposed to others' tobacco smoke in 2023, and smoking in public places can no longer be shrugged off as a petty offence.
EnvironmentOceans soaked up a record 23 zettajoules of heat in 2025, Copernicus report warns
The Copernicus Ocean State Report published on 30 September says the rate of ocean warming has doubled in two decades and ocean heat set a record for the ninth year running, with rising seas and dying coral.
FruitsADAMA launches beet-based fungicide Actavan for grapes in Australia and New Zealand
The plant-derived product triggers grapevines' own defences against Botrytis, leaves no residue and needs no pre-harvest interval; it goes on sale from October 2026.
Market ManagementIndia clears ₹5,547.99 crore MSP purchase of pulses and oilseeds in three states
Tur, moong, soybean and sunflower will be bought at minimum support price under the Price Support Scheme in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana for kharif 2026-27.
CropsInternational Coffee Day: the long road from coffee cherry to your cup
About 25 million households, most of them smallholders in developing countries, grow around 80 per cent of the world's coffee; the value chain from picking the cherries to green coffee, export and roasting.