News in Short

• Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have devised a machine-learning (ML) model that will monitor updates to news articles and suggest edits to irrelevant and unverified information.
• The team also developed a model to automatically revise texts and potentially suggest edits to related articles. Changes made by the model were rated as accurate as those made by humans, they noted.
• The model is said to improve fact-checking systems worldwide, mitigating social biases that otherwise come as part of AI-powered technologies. It could also save time and effort as compared to manual fact-checking.

• A special CBI court in Ahmedabad has discharged three cops accused in the extrajudicial killing of Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, and two others in June 2004.
• The three police officials had filed the discharge applications on March 20. With the proceedings against the three dropped, the trial has practically come to an end, unless the CBI appeals against the same.
• The CBI had not appealed against the discharge of four other officers earlier. This was cited as a ground for the discharge of the last three accused in the case.
• Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, who were said to be Pakistani nationals, were killed near Kotarpur waterworks on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004, by the Ahmedabad City Detection of Crime Branch.

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has brought out a draft notification proposing concessions in motor vehicle tax for those who take their old vehicle for scrapping.
• The draft proposes up to 25% concession in motor vehicle tax for non-transport vehicles and up to 15% in case of transport vehicles upon submitting a “Certificate of vehicle scrapping”.
• The concession will be valid for a period of 15 years for non-transport vehicles and for 8 years for transport vehicles.
• The concession is among the several incentives planned by the Centre, including waiver of registration fees on purchase of new vehicles, to encourage scrapping of old vehicles.

• India batsman Rishabh Pant was on Tuesday named captain of Delhi Capitals in place of an injured Shreyas Iyer for the upcoming Indian Premier League.
• Iyer has been ruled out of the IPL after injuring his left shoulder during the recently-concluded India-England ODI series.
• This will be Pant's debut as IPL captain. The wicketkeeper-batsman has captained Delhi's state team in the past.
• Pant was one of the architects of India's historic 2-1 Test series win in Australia in January. He then played a big role in India's 3-1 Test series win against England.

• A new sub-species of the six line blue butterfly named Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii has been discovered from the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• The new butterfly species is named after Lord Rama, signifying the connection across the sea to Sri Lanka.
• The research team investigated the leaves of the Dimocarpus longon, the host plant of the butterfly from various states of egg to final instar larvae. The larvae were reared and details of adulthood noted.
• The distribution of line blues butterflies range from India and Sri Lanka, to the whole of south-eastern Asia, Australia and Samoa.