December 2019

Vladimir Putin thanks Donald Trump for helping foil terrorist acts in Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with President Donald Trump on Sunday to thank him for information that Putin said helped Russia foil terrorist attacks over the New Year’s holiday, the Kremlin said. Putin thanked Trump “for information transmitted through the special services that helped prevent the completion of terrorist acts in Russia,” the Kremlin said in a brief statement posted on its website. Source: Money control

Chinese scientist who created gene-edited babies last year gets 3 yrs jail A Chinese scientist who created the world’s first “gene-edited” babies has been sentenced to three years in prison for illegally practising medicine and violating the country’s medical regulations and ethics. He Jiankui, then an associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology in southern China’s Shenzhen province made a splash in November 2018 when he said that he had used gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to change the genes of twin girls to protect them from getting infected with the AIDS virus in the future. Source: Hindustan...

Hemant Soren takes oath as Jharkhand CM, carries forward father Shibu Soren’s legacy Hemant Soren, who took oath as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand here on Sunday, has succeeded in carrying forward the legacy of his father and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president Shibu Soren. Hemant Soren’s first public appearances along with his father began in 2004 when Shibu Soren was again confronted with a decade-old arrest warrant in a murder case. Hemant Soren came to his father’s support in this tough situation. Shibu Soren had to resign from the Union Coal Ministry and he was sent to jail....

DDCA officials want Gautam Gambhir to take over as president The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) is expected to elect its next President by January 13 and if all goes as per plan, former India opener Gautam Gambhir could be asked to take over the chair as the association looks to get back to normalcy post-Rajat Sharma’s resignation. Speaking to IANS, a DDCA official said that the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper has been approached and the experience that Gambhir has had as a captain and a former international player should help get DDCA back on track after...

Commerce Ministry to review free trade agreements: Piyush Goyal Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on December 30 said his ministry will review all existing free trade agreements with different countries to protect interest of industry and traders. Addressing domestic traders here, he said India also decided to walk out from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement keeping in view the interest of small traders and dairy industry. Source: Money Control

I wouldn’t have wasted my time on Donald Trump, says Greta Thunberg Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg said on Monday that talking to U.S. President Donald Trump at a United Nations summit on global warming would have been a waste of time since he would not have paid any attention. In an interview with BBC radio’s Today programme, for which she was the guest editor on Monday, Thunberg also said she regarded personal attacks on her as funny and that she hoped to go back to having a normal life. A video of the 16-year-old Swedish campaigner giving Trump...

Indian History Congress did not invite Governor: Irfan Habib Historian Irfan Habib said the Indian History Congress (IHC) did not invite Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and it was the host institution, Kannur University, which invited him and other political leaders. “It is the right of the host institution to invite, however, we would not have thought of him,” the historian said criticising the Governor. He was responding to the event that unfolded during the inauguration of the 80th session of the IHC at the university. Source: The Hindu

General Bipin Rawat named as the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff NEW DELHI: General Bipin Rawat has been named the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The Chief of Defence Staff will be a four-star General, the principal military advisor to the defence minister, and head the new Department of Military Affairs to ensure jointness in training, logistics and procurement of the three services. The defence ministry had recently amended the army, air force and navy rules by bringing in a new clause that allows the Chief of Defence Staff to serve upto a maximum age of 65 years. The notification...

Plan to strike Pakistan post 26/11 was rejected by then government: Ex-IAF Chief BS Dhanoa Former chief of Indian Air Force (IAF) B.S. Dhanoa said that a proposal to strike Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were rejected by the then government. Dhanoa said that the Indian Air Force was aware of the terror camps in Pakistan and was ready to hit out. “But it is a political decision on whether or not to carry out a strike,” he said. He gave the statement while addressing students at the VJTI’s annual festival, Technovanza. Source: newindianexpress

Finance Commission Chief Nand Kishore Singh Questions ‘Discriminatory’ IMF Scrutiny N.K. Singh, chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, accused the World Bank as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of “developing rigidities” while encountering new challenges and assigning a higher weighting to developed regions such as Europe and US. He went on to say that the “rules of the game” were applied in a discriminatory manner between the rich and poor nations. Singh questioned the way the IMF scrutinizes macroeconomic policies of the developing world, which he claimed is done differently than for the richer nations. He stressed on...