Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 29-02-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 29-02-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Coronage: Sensex suffers its 2nd biggest 1-day loss ever–Global markets went into a tailspin as investors stampeded out of stocks and commodities and flocked to the relative safety of government bonds, prompted by fears of a global recession due to the spread of the coronavirus. After Wall Street experienced its worst rout since 2011, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 1,190.95 points — its largest single-day drop in history — global markets took their cue. Indices across the world, beginning with Tokyo’s Nikkei, Seoul’s Kospi and European indices such as the FTSE 100 in London and Frankfurt’s DAX, were all bathed in red as investors rushed to dump shares.
2. Oct-Dec GDP growth slows to 7-yr low of 4.7%–India’s third-quarter growth decelerated to 4.7%, the slowest pace in about seven years, as a slump in manufacturing weighed on overall economic momentum. The Centre, however, asserted that the slowdown had bottomed out, with Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty citing a recent uptick in core sector output. The National Statistical Office (NSO) released data showing that the Gross Domestic Product expanded by 4.7% in the quarter ended in December 2019, compared with 5.6% in the year-earlier period.
3. Delhi toll up to 42 as 4 more succumb; Fri prayers peaceful–A 60-year-old ragpicker, Ayyub Shabbir became the latest victim of the violence that has gripped the city, taking the death toll in the clashes to 42. Three other persons succumbed at the Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Hospital to injuries sustained during the clashes. Senior IPS officer S.N. Shrivastava has been given additional charge of Commissioner of Police, Delhi, from March 1 until “further orders,” an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. Present Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik is set to retire on February 29. Mr. Shrivastava, a 1985-batch IPS officer, was recalled from the CRPF last week following the riots in north-east Delhi.
4. Delhi water fails to clear ISO norms–None of the drinking water samples randomly collected from across Delhi conforms to the ISO standards of purity in one or more requirements, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) informed the Supreme Court on Friday. Of a total of 11 domestic piped drinking water samples, one was collected from Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Pawan’s 12, Janpath residence. That, too, failed on the parameters of odour and aluminium and coliform contamination.
5. Summer to be hotter than usual, says IMD –The summer months from March to May are poised to be hotter than normal, a forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday. The forecast indicates that the MAM (March-May) season averaged temperatures are likely to be at least half a degree hotter than normal over northwest, west and central India and some parts of south India. The season averaged maximum temperature is likely to be warmer than normal in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh.
   
6. Govt rebuffs Census caste data plea –The Centre has rebuffed an attempt to secure an OBC headcount in the population by cold-shouldering a plea to rescue the data of the socio-economic caste census (SECC) that has been lying unused for over six years. It is learnt that the “national commission for sub-categorisation of OBCs” lobbied the Centre to put the SECC data to use. The subject was discussed with the government and the Registrar General of India but there was no positive indication from the government. Since then, the Justice Rohini panel has got another extension but without the assurance that it will be handed the SECC data.
7. 33 Turkish soldiers killed in Syrian air raid in Idlib –At least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike by Syrian government forces in northwestern Idlib province as Turkey vowed "to respond in kind" with attacks on "all" their positions.The rapid escalation of the conflict also threatened another refugee crisis as media reports cited Turkish officials as saying they "opened the gates" for Syrian refugees to transit unimpeded to Europe.Russia said Ankara failed to inform it that Turkish troops were fighting alongside rebels in Idlib - comments denied by Turkey.
8. WHO Raises Global Risk for Coronavirus to Very High – The World Health Organization raised its global risk assessment for the new coronavirus to “very high” from “high” as some countries struggle to contain the pathogen. Infections that are spreading from Italy and Iran to other countries are raising concerns about the virus that emerged in China, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing. Some health systems aren’t ready to deal with the widening epidemic.Elevating the risk level is meant to spur countries to step up their responses, said Mike Ryan, who runs the agency’s emergencies program. Health officials need to be ready to isolate patients and carefully trace their contacts to keep the disease from spiraling out of control.
9. Scotland Set to Be First Country to Provide Free Pads and Tampons –Scotland is set to become the first nation to provide free pads and tampons — a big win for the global movement to roll back onerous pricing for period products, including “tampon taxes” that classify sanitary pads as luxury items. The Scottish Parliament approved a plan to make menstrual products available free in public spaces such as community centers, pharmacies and youth clubs. Scotland has offered pads and tampons free of charge at schools and universities as a matter of national policy since 2018. The new plan will cost Edinburgh an estimated $31.2 million a year. The legislation passed an initial vote with 112 in favor, none against and one abstention. It now heads to a second phase during which legislators can propose amendments.
10. Pakistan says US invited to invest in CPEC – In an interesting move, cash-strapped Pakistan has invited the US to join the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an ambitious infrastructure project looked with suspicion by the Trump administration for being non-transparent. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's adviser on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said the government made the offer during a meeting with the US trade delegation led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	RITES Ltd	Engineer (Civil)	35	B.E/ B.Tech, B.Sc (Civil Engg)	March23, 2020	https://rites.com/web/images/stories/uploadVacancy/1_20-Engineer%20DFC-cont-pay-scale-ad.pdf
2	NFRA	Manager, Asst Manager	18	CA/ MBA	March 29, 2020	https://nfra.gov.in/sites/default/files/Circular%20Manager%20AM.pdf
3	Ministry of Rural Development	Tech., Institutional Strengthening, Procurement	8	-	March 25, 2020	http://davp.nic.in/WriteReadData/ADS/eng_35104_21_1920b.pdff
4	RMRC, NE Region	Scientist, DEO, Laboratory Tech., Field Worker	6	12th Class, Any Degree, PG, Ph.D	March12, 2020	http://rmrcne.org.in/images/pdf/appoint/foodborne_4664.pdf
5	Diesel Loco Modernisation Works	Apprentice	182	10th Class, ITI (Relevant Trade)	March 20, 2020	https://dmw.indianrailways.gov.in/works/uploads/File/notification%20and%20annexure%202019-20.pdf
6	NHM, Naharlagun	Pediatrician, Anesthetist, MO, Nursing Officer, Social Worker	79	10+2, Diploma (Engg), GNM, MBBS With PG Deg/ Dip	March31, 2020	http://nrhmarunachal.gov.in/Advertisements/27.02.2020_new_advertisement_NHM.pdf
7	DTE, Assam	Grade-IV	55	--	March20, 2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/02/Notification-DTE-Assam-Jr-Asst-Scientific-Asst-Other-Posts.pdf

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

1.1 Boycott of courts can't be justified as freedom of speech and expression : SC on lawyers' strikes

• The Supreme Court came down heavily on the advocates in the districts of Dehradun, Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar in the State of Uttarakhand for holding strike by boycotting courts.
• The SC also noted that despite directions in precedents such as Ex-Capt. Harish Uppal v. Union of India, lawyers' strikes were happening.
• A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah categorically held that boycott of courts byadvocates was illegal, and cannot be justified as an exercise of right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.
• The Court was considering an appeal filed by the District Bar Association, Dehradun against the judgment of the Uttarakhand High Court delivered on September 25 last year which held such strikes to be illegal.
• The HC had noted that the lawyers had been boycotting courts on Saturdays for past 35 years.The HC had also directed action against advocates for abstaining from work on court days.
• Before the SC, the Association submitted that the strike is a mode of peaceful representation to express the grievances by the lawyers' community in the bsence of other forum for the same.
  

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• 2. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper

2.1 Railway Board of India and the University of Birmingham has announced the launch of a joint masters programme

• The master’s program will be in Railway Systems Engineering and Integration and will start in the academic year 2020-21 by the National Rail Transportation Institute (NRTI)
• This initiative will benefit NRTI students by having access to world-class expertise and facilities in railway systems at the Birmingham Centre for Railway
  Research and Education (BCRRE).
• BCRRE will gain valuable insights into India’s transport sector and get involved research and development issues in India.
• The initiative has been taken under the Centre of Excellence for Next-Generation Transportation Systems which was set up by an MoU between the NRTI and the University of Birmingham in 2019.
• National Rail Transport Institute, Vadodara, Gujarat - It was set up as a deemed university and has been operational since 2018 and it is first of India to focus on transport-related education, multidisciplinary research and training. Its aim is to create best-in-class professionals for the transportation sector through institutional partnerships, research projects and executive education programs.
• Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education - It is the largest university-based centre for railway research and education in Europe. It is involved in developing new technologies alongside higher education programmes, research and innovations in Climate Change, Aerodynamics and International Benchmarking, Power Systems and Energy Use, Railway Control and Operations Simulation.

2.2 Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan met US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette in New Delhi.

2.3 RBI allowed Bandhan Bank to expand its branch network after baring it in September 2018 for not complying with the licensing conditions that required reduction in promoter stake in the bank from 82% to 40%.

2.4  TransUnion CIBIL, a credit information company operating in India, appointed Rajesh Kumar as new MD and CEO.

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• 3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

3.1 International Conference on ‘Ensemble Methods in Modelling and Data Assimilation (EMMDA)’

• Time – Feb 24 to 26, 2020
• Place – Noida,  
• Organisers – National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF)
• The Conference provides a platform for discussions and deliberations on the present status, future prospects and optimum use of Ensemble Prediction System (EPS).
• Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS) are Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) systems that allow one to estimate the uncertainty in a weather forecast as well as
  the most likely outcome.
• India has recently operationally implemented two global EPS which have the highest resolution in the world and also a regional EPS of horizontal resolution 4km which covers the Indian region.
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) provides weather and climate services to various users round the year and on a 24/7 basis.
• Both operational and research aspects for these services are implemented through its constituent units like Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), NCMRWF,
  Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),
• Pune and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad.
• The National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) is a centre of excellence in weather and climate modelling under the Ministry of Earth
  Sciences. The mission of the Centre is to continuously develop advanced numerical weather prediction systems, with increased reliability and accuracy over India and neighbouring regions through research, development and demonstration of new and novel applications, maintaining the highest level of knowledge, skills and technical bases. It is located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

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• 4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

4.1 Myanmar President U Win Myint’s visit to India

• The National Centre for Medium-Range 
• Myanmar President U Win Myint met PM Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
• He was accompanied by First Lady Daw Cho Cho.
• Myanmar, India signed 10 MoU svarious fields including infrastructure, energy, communication and health.
• Four are for construction of water supply systems, roads, schools and solar power systems in Rakhine state. The Rakhine state has witnessed a lot of violence in the past and scores of Rohingyas had fled the state facing persecution.
• Three MoUs on ‘combating timber trafficking’, ‘conservation of tigers and other wildlife’ and ‘in the field of petroleum products and communications’.
• Reaffirming  India’s ‘Act East’ and ‘Neighbourhood First’ policies and Myanmar’s non-aligned foreign policy both leaders committed to further strengthen the
  bilateral relations.
• Both sides agreed to cooperate in countering terrorist groups and their actions.
• Co-operation in defence and security along with matter of enhanced bilateral trade and economic engagements was also discussed.
• Coordinated Bus Service between Imphal and Mandalay is expected to begin from April 2020.
• The Indian side reiterated its commitment for construction of the Integrated Check Post in Tamu, Myanmar. With Anupam Mishra, Anand Chaturvedi, AIR News,
  Delhi.
   

4.2 Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt end postal blockage against Qatar; the 3 nations along with UAE had severed all diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017.

4.3 IAF’s C-17 Globemaster returned from coronavirus-hit Wuhan, China with 112 evacuees, including 36 foreign nationals.

4.4 119 Indians from coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess Cruise ship (docked off at Yokohama, Japan) brought back in Air India flight.

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• 5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES (Prelims, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3)

5.1 Not Available  Today

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Weekly Roundup – Sports

• Athletics – 

1. Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela set new indoor women's triple jump world record of 15.43m in Madrid
2. NTT ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup in Chennai: Serbia's Ognjen Stojanovic and Barbara Riveros of Chile won in men's and women's sections respectively 
3. IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon: Rashpal Singh (2:23:29) and Jyoti Gawte (2:50:37) won the men’s and women’s races respectively

• Boxing–Tyson Fury of Britain defeats Deontay Wilder of US to win World Boxing Council heavyweight title in Las Vegas

• Chess –

1. Alireza Firouzja of Iran wins Prague Chess Festival tournament; Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi finishes 2nd 
2. Indian Grandmaster D. Gukesh wins Cannes Open chess tournament in France  
3. Ice Hockey - Army RED Ice Hockey team won 9th National Ice Hockey Championship in New Delhi.

• Cricket –

1. New Zealand’s Ross Taylor becomes first cricketer to play 100 matches in all three formats of the game -- Test, ODI & T20
2. 33-year old spinner Pragyan Ojha retires from cricket; took 113 wickets in 24 Tests between 2009 and 2013
3. Pakistan government to confer honorary citizenship on former West Indian captain Darren Sammy 
4. New Zealand (348, 9/0) beat India (165, 191) by 10 wickets in the opening Test at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on the third day to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series on February 24, 2020.

•  Football –

1. Former India footballer Ashok Chatterjee dies in Kolkata at the age of 78
2. 1st Khelo India University Games being held in Bhubaneswar from February 22 to March 1

•  Lawn Tennis–

                               

1. Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece wins men’s singles title at Marseille tennis tournament.
2. 32-year old Russian women’s tennis player and five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova retires

• Rowing – Rajlaxmi Singh Deo elected as the president of the Rowing Federation of India
• Shooting–India to host Commonwealth shooting, archery events at Chandigarh in January 2022; medals to be counted in Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 27 to
  August 7, 2022) tally
• Table Tennis– ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open table tennis in Budapest: India’s Achanta Sharath Kamal and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan win silver medal in men’s doubles
• Wrestling –
  
  1. India’s women’s medal winners at Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi on Feb 21: Sakshi Malik (65kg, silver), Vinesh Phogat (53kg, bronze), Anshu Malik (57kg bronze) and Gursharan Preet Kaur (72kg, bronze).
  2. India’s men’s medal winners at Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi on Feb 22: Satywart Kadian (silver, 97 kg), Gourav Baliyan (silver, 79 kg) and Bajrang Punia (silver, 65 kg)
  3. Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi: India’s Ravi Dahiya won gold in men’s 57 kg freestyle; Jitender Kumar won silver medal in men’s 74kg freestyle, bronze medals won by Deepak Punia in men’s 86kg freestyle, Rahul Aware in men's 57 kg freestyle.
  Events – First-ever Khelo India Winter Games inaugurated in the Union Territory of Ladakh at Leh.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 The Union Cabinet has approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020. The Cabinet incorporated the recommendations of the Rajya Sabha Select Committee before approving the Bill

• Surrogacy means the process of carrying and delivering a child for another person. A surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child on behalf of another oman, either from her own egg or from the implantation in her womb of a fertilized egg from another woman. If a women does it for financial purposes it is commercial surrogacy otherwise altruistic surrogacy.
• Positives -Surrogacy gives hope to infertile couples, single people and members of the LGBT community to become parents. Intended parents may face fewer restrictions with surrogacy than with adoption; those who cannot adopt due to agency restrictions on factors like age can still pursue surrogacy.
• Indian market growing - Surrogacy cost in India which is around a third of that in developed countries, availability of women who could rent their womb at low cost and no specific legislation around surrogacy in the country had made India a favourable destination for foreign couples.
• Negatives -Surrogacy leads to commoditization of the child. Renting of the womb breaks the bond between a mother and the child, interferes with nature. There were no strong laws for issues such as rights of surrogate mother for fair compensation, maternal health care, right to abort, responsibility in case of death, citizenship laws etc.
• Recommendation of the Rajya Sabha Select Committee –
  
  1. Definition of “infertility” as the inability to conceive after five years of unprotected intercourse should be deleted. It is too long a period for a couple to wait for a child.
  2. It was recommended that a surrogate mother need not be a ‘close relative’.
  3. Single women (widow or a divorcee) should be allowed to avail of surrogacy.
  4. The insurance cover for a surrogate mother should be increased to 36 months from 16 months.
•  Key Features of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020 – 

1. It bans commercial surrogacy.
2. It seeks to allow ethical altruistic surrogacy to the intending infertile Indian married couple between the age of 23-50 years for females and 26-55 years for males.
3. It provides for the constitution of surrogacy boards at the national as well as state levels to ensure effective regulation
4. Only Indian couples can opt for surrogacy in the country.
5. The Bill also seeks to regulate the functioning of surrogacy clinics. All surrogacy clinics in the country need to be registered by the appropriate authority in order to undertake surrogacy or its related procedures.
6. It also provides that intending couples should not abandon the child born out of surrogacy under any condition. The new-born child shall be entitled to all rights and privileges that are available to a natural child.
7. The Bill seeks to regulate functioning of surrogacy clinics. All surrogacy clinics in the country need to be registered by the appropriate authority in order to undertake surrogacy or its related procedures.
8. It also specifies that no sex selection can be done when it comes to surrogacy.

• Concerns - No mention of Non-Resident Indians working or studying abroad who may want to come back home to have a baby. The Bill leaves out a lot of people who might want to have a baby through surrogacy, including unmarried couples, homosexual couples and single men and women. Surrogacy should be made inclusive for all class of people irrespective of their sexuality. By banning of Commercial Surrogacy the livelihood of poor women who are engaged in this sector will get compromised. Rather than penalising it the person providing a womb for surrogacy must be secured with a contract, ensuring proper, insurance and medical checks. 

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• 8. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2)

8.1 Tripartite MoU signed between NMCG, Uttarakhand Govt and Indorama Trust for development of Ghats at Gangotri and Badrinath.

8.2 MP becomes first state in the country to launch unified vehicle registration card and second to launch a unified driving license after UP.

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• 9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3)

9.1 Domestic aircraft carrier Vistara will be the first to offer inflight Wi-Fi by March-end

 

• As of now, only data services will be offered and voice calls could be introduced later.
• In-flight connectivity essentially allows those on-board aircraft to access voice, video and data services after the aircraft has attained an altitude of 3,000 meters. In-flight connectivity for aircraft flying over Indian airspace was approved by the DoT in May 2018.
• In-flight connectivity relies on -board antenna as well as satellites for Internet and mobile communications. Signals are picked from the nearest tower on the ground by Onboard Antenna but the connection does become an issue after a certain altitude if the aircraft is passing over an area with no towers, say a large water body. Through satellite it works in a manner similar to how satellite TV signals are transmitted. An on-board router, which connects to the plane’s antenna transmits data to a personal electronic device. The signals are then transmitted to ground station via satellites and is redirected to a billing server for calculation of the data consumption. Finally, the signal is relayed to the World Wide Web.
• On-board Wifi - While the telecom commission has allowed Internet services on-board, the telecom operator has said it will be made available when devices are used only on flight mode.  Internet services, hence, could only be used through on-board Wifi as of now.
• Cost factor- The airlines are free to decide the tariff. Globally, given the high cost of satellite connectivity, the internet services available on-board aircraft are charged at a premium over what is available otherwise. The airlines will have to incur high cost of installing equipment, including the installation of antennae on aircraft, increased fuel cost due to extra weight- all these additional cost could find a way into ticket prices. 
• Mobile communication on airlines (MCA) might still take time to be a reality. Several stakeholders had raised concerns over providing MCA to passengers citing a complex regulatory framework with issues such as interference, roaming, and spectrum use. Also, with in-flight broadband connectivity allowing messaging services and voice calling, there is little requirement to speed up MCA. However, some of the challenges with regard to inflight connectivity includes - relatively slow speeds of Internet, security risks due to possible interference with flight communication systems and expensive service which may increase the flight ticket price.

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• 10. FACTS, CHARTS, RANKINGS and EDITORIALS (Prelims + GS Mains)

10.1   Ranking – Hurun Rich List, 2020   

• India minted three billionaires every month as the nation’s stock markets surged to records despite a slowing economy.
• India – the Asia’s third-largest economy added 34 new billionaires in 2019.
• India rank third with 138 ultra-rich persons after the China and U.S. 
• The number rises to 170 if Indian-origin billionaires are tallied in. 
• That compares with 799 and 626 billionaires in China and the U.S., respectively — the top two spots that together make half of the billionaires in the world. 
• Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd., continues to be the richest Asian and the only Asian in global top 10 with a net worth of $67 billion.
• Other rising billionaires from India are Gautam Adani (chairman and founder of Adani Group), Sunil Mittal (chairman Bharti Airtel Ltd.), Radhakishan Damani (founder of D-Mart supermarket chain operator), Uday Kotak (chairman at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.)

To view the complete list visit here –

https://www.hurun.net/EN/Home/Index

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

• Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan was appointed Governor of Northern Province recently.
• Carl XVI Gustaf is the King of Sweden.
• Henrik Stenson of Sweden won the Hero World Challenge Golf tournament in Nassau, Bahamas in Dec 2019. 
• SATAT is Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation.
• NASA astronaut Christina Koch has created a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, surpassing the earlier record of 288 days in space.

10.3 Today's best editorials to read

• We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned. 

CLICK HERE TO OPEN AND READ!

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

Solve the online quiz given, right now. Check scores, and relative performance!

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