• National

Union Cabinet approves the continuation of GSLV Phase - 4 programme

• The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the GSLV Phase – 4 programmes consisting of five GSLV flights during the period from 2021 to 2024.
• The Phase – 4 will enable the launch of two tonne class of satellites for Geo-imaging, Navigation, Data Relay Communication and Space Sciences.
• The programme will meet the launch requirement of satellites for providing critical Satellite Navigation Services, Data Relay Communication for supporting the Indian Human spaceflight programme and the next interplanetary mission to Mars.
• The operationalization of GSLV has made the country self-reliant in the launching capability of 2 tonne class of satellites for communication and meteorological satellites.

• National

Cabinet approves the creation of one post of 'Deputy CAG' in the office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India

• The Union Cabinet has given its approval to create one post of Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General (Coordination, Communication and Information System) in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
• The Deputy CAG shall oversee the coordination among state audits, audit of telecommunication and coordinate the various information systems initiatives within the Indian Audit & Accounts Department (IA&AD).

• International

Social Democrats party wins general elections in Finland

• Finland’s leftist Social Democrats have recorded a razor-thin victory in general elections, holding off the far-right Finns Party.
• With 100 per cent of ballots counted, the Social Democrats, led by Antti Rinne, bagged 40 seats in the 200-member Parliament, while the Finns Party picked up 39 seats.
• The National Coalition Party claimed 38 seats, with the ruling Centre Party winning 31 seats. The remaining seats were won by other parties.
• His Centre party was the election’s biggest loser, blaming the difficult economic decisions his administration made to rebalance the economy.

• International

Giant six-engine aircraft lands its first flight in California

• The world’s largest aeroplane designed by Stratolaunch with two fuselages and six Boeing 747 engines, made its first test flight in California, USA.
• The mega jet carried out its maiden voyage over the Mojave Desert.
• It is designed to carry into space and drop a rocket that would ignite to deploy satellites.
• The aircraft is so big its wingspan is longer than a football field, or about 1.5 times that of an Airbus A380.

• Sports

ICC World Cup: Indian squad announced

• India announced their 15-man squad for the ICC World Cup to be played in England from 30th of next month.
• Virat Kohli will lead the team.
• Dinesh Karthik (33-year-old) returned to India’s World Cup squad after 12 years for the second wicket-keeper’s slot.
• Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar made it for his three-dimensional qualities.

• Sports

Shuttler Harsheel Dani Clinched Dutch International Badminton Title

• Former junior national champion Harsheel Dani rallied from a game down against Mads Christophersen of Denmark to clinch the Dutch International badminton title in The Hague, Netherlands.

• Awards

Scientist Dr A. K. Singh receives lifetime achievement award 2019

• Dr A K Singh, Director at Life Sciences has been honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 for contributions in life sciences, aerospace and aeronautics at Chandigarh University, Mohali.
• The conclave was organised by the university to note World Creativity and Innovation Day.
• The DST scientist has more than 18 patents and has contributed to more than 57 research publications at an international and national level.
• He has made notable contributions in Internal Decorporation of Fission Produced Radionuclides and Infection Imaging.
• To detect the infectious lesion, he discovered a “Diagnobact” Kit. and introduced Pharmacosyntigraphy, i.e. application of nuclear medicine imaging in drug research.

• Defence

India successfully test fires Sub-Sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay

• India Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired indigenously designed and developed Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile ‘Nirbhay’ from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur Odisha.
• It is the sixth development flight trial with the objective to prove the repeatability of boost phase, cruise phase using waypoint navigation at very low altitudes.
• The missile took off vertically turning horizontally into the desired direction, booster separated, the wing deployed, the engine started, cruised all the intended waypoints.

• Obituaries

Actress Bibi Andersson passes away

• The Swedish actress Bibi Andersson (83-years) passed away at Stockholm, Sweden.
• Bibi Andersson had received several awards including the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin international film festival in 1963.
• She is best known for starring in many of Bergman classics including The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957) and Persona (1966).

• Miscellaneous

India’s First Foreign Interactive Bird Park Launched in Mumbai

• India’s first exotic Bird Park ‘Essel World Bird Park’ was launched by EsselWorld Leisure Pvt. Ltd, the entertainment arm of the $6-billion Essel Group in Mumbai.
• The Park is spread over 1.4 acres of land and surrounded by flora and fauna.
• It is home to over 500 exotic birds from more than 60 species of flying, terrestrial and aquatic birds and has 200 species of special plants and trees for the birds.

• Agreements

DoT approves the merger of Tata Tele Unit & Airtel With Riders

• The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approved the merger of Tata Teleservices with Bharti Airtel Ltd., subject to the condition that it furnishes a Rs 7200 crore bank guarantee.
• Earlier, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha gave his conditional nod for the merger.
• The guarantees are mostly related to one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) and some deferred airwave charges, according to people aware of the development.
• The merger will be taken on record after Airtel submits a bank guarantee of about Rs 6,000 crore for one-time spectrum charges and another Rs 1,200 crore for the spectrum that would be acquired from TTSL.
• The proposed merger will include the transfer of all the customers and assets of Tata CMB to Airtel.