 US President Donald Trump has picked Indian-American computer scientist Sethuraman Panchanathan to lead the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) in USA. The NSF is a US government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Panchanathan would succeed France Cordova when her six-year term as the NSF Director ends in 2020. Panchanathan is currently the Executive Vice President and the Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Arizona State University. He is also the Founding Director of the Centre for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at the ASU. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Ethiopia launched its first satellite, a landmark achievement for the country’s space program that caps a banner year for the African space industry. The launch of the Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS) took place at a space station in China. The launch makes Ethiopia the 11th African country to put a satellite into space. Egypt was the first in 1998. Data provided by Ethiopia’s satellite is expected to paint a fuller picture of the country’s agriculture, forestry and mining resources and improve responses to flooding and other disasters. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Donald Trump has become the third US President in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The impeachment will led to setting up a trial in the Senate that will decide whether Trump will remain in office or not. The House of Representatives formally charged Donald Trump with abuse of power. The Democratic-led House passed the abuse of power article of impeachment on a largely party-line 230-197 vote. Although, no President in the 243-year history of the United States has been removed from office by impeachment. Only two previous presidents have been impeached in the US history. The House in 1998 impeached President Bill Clinton while President Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Sri Lankan government has formally released its new National policy Framework titled ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendor’. The framework is meant to guide the government ministries and departments in implementing their policies. It is aimed at achieving fourfold outcome of being a productive citizen, a contented family, a virtuous, disciplined and just society and a prosperous nation. Maintaining GDP growth rate of 6.5% or higher under the macroeconomic programme, achieving a per capita income exceeding 6,500 US dollar during 2020 to 2025 are one of the key objectives of the framework. |
| Source: The News On AIR |
 Abdelmadjid Tebboune, former Prime Minister (PM) of Algeria was elected as the President of Algeria succeeding Abdelkader Bensalah. He served as the PM from May 2017 to August 2017, under the governance of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. |
| Source: The Aljazeera |
 The representatives from the United States, Mexico and Canada inked a revamped version of their regional trade pact after months of negotiations. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will now go to the countries’ legislatures for final approval. The accord is meant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a deal in place since 1994. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The world’s first fully-electric commercial aircraft took its inaugural test flight, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and flying for 15 minutes. A 62-year-old six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver seaplane re-fitted with a fully electric 750 horsepower motor was piloted by Greg McDougall, founder and chief executive of Harbour Air, a British Columbia-based charter airline that transport passengers between Vancouver. MagniX designed the motor and worked in partnership with Harbour Air which ferries thousands of people a year between Vancouver, Whistler ski resort and nearby islands. |
| Source: The DD News |
 Malaysia has reported the first case of Polio in 27 years, when a three-month-old Malaysian infant boy was diagnosed with polio. The last polio case in Asia-Pacific country occurred in 1992, and in 2000, after which the country was declared polio-free. In this recent case, the child was confirmed to be infected with vaccine-derived poliovirus Type 1 (VDPV1) on 6 December 2019. |
| Concern: Those who have been immunized/vaccinated will be protected from infection, but, in unsanitary environments, the virus can infect others who have not been immunised against polio and thus can spread in communities whose polio immunisation rates are below 95%. The longer the virus spreads in community, it will undergo genetic mutation until it once again becomes an active virus. Also, the resurgence of Polio in Malaysia comes just months after Philippines, north of Borneo, reported its 1st cases of polio since 1993 in September 2019. |
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 Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the special edition of Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) T20 cricket championship to mark Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary in 2020. A total of 7 teams are participating in the BBPL event. They will play 46 matches including the 4 playoff matches. The BBPL final will be held on January 17, 2020. This is the first time that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is organizing the Premier League matches without involving any franchise. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The 8th edition of the Embassy’s annual film festival titled “Ambassador’s Choice: Screening of Films” was inaugurated at the auditorium of Embassy of India, Riyadh. Embassy’s annual film festival titled “Ambassador’s Choice: Screening of Films” saw the popular Hindi film ‘Dangal’ screened at Riyadh, which drew a large number of audience. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
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