News Flash (7th December 2020): Top 10 Stories Of The Day

1. Police of Noida’s Gautam Buddha Nagar impose Section 144 till 2nd Jan 2021, amid pandemic

Ahead of farmer’s call for ‘Bharat Bandh’, police of Noida’s Gautam Buddha Nagar impose Section 144 till 2 Jan 2021 citing COVID reason 

The police of Noida’s Gautam Buddha Nagar has imposed Section 144 of CrPC till January 2, 2021 citing the attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection behind this imposition. The administration has taken steps towards bringing down the increasing number of cases during Christmas and New Year celebrations. All activities, social, religious, as well as political, have been banned, and processions can only be taken out with permission.

2. Voting for 4th phase of Jammu and Kashmir’s DDC polls begin

The fourth phase of the District Development Council (DDC) elections in 34 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir has begun. Over seven lakh citizens are to vote during this election. There are a total of 249 candidates today standing for the elections. Officials also informed that the by-polls to 50 vacant Sarpanch seats and 216 vacant Panch seats falling within these DDC constituencies too will be held in this 4th phase. 

3. SII 1st Indian firm seeks nod for emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine in the country

The Serum Institute of India (SII) has become the first Indian pharma company to apply for approval for the emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The vaccine named Covishield is being developed in association with the University of Oxford and British drugmaker AstraZeneca. Pfizer, on the other hand, has become the first company to seek government approval.

4. India’s Ritu Phogat consistently wins her fourth MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)

Indian wrestler, Ritu Phogat on Friday won her fourth consecutive MMA and boosted her career record to 4-0. Jomary Torres of the Philippines was defeated by Phogat via Technical Knock Out in the ONE Championship atomweight (52.2kg) match. This was Ritu’s second MMA victory in just over a month. Earlier, she had fought against Cambodia’s Nou Srey Pov on October 30.

5. WWF states, “60,000 koalas were killed or harmed in Australian bushfires”

During the Australian bushfires that occurred last summer, more than 60,000 koalas were killed, injured or displaced, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reported. “That is a devastating number for a species that was already sliding towards extinction in Eastern Australia. We cannot afford to lose koalas on our watch,” an official statement from the WWF informed.

6. Farmers’ protest against the new farm laws completes 11 days at the Haryana-Delhi border

The farmers have been conducting peaceful protests against the central government’s new farm bills for 12 days now at the Singhu border between Haryana and Delhi. The media reports that the Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal, and his other cabinet ministers will be visiting the protesting farmers at the Singhu border today to see the arrangements made by the UT government for farmers.

7. I will probably go into space in 2-3 years: Elon Musk

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently revealed in an interview that he will be going into space in the next two or three years and that he expects to see the first human on Mars in six years. Musk said his ambition is to make mankind “a multi-planet species and a spacefaring civilisation.”

8. A meeting to be held between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and President Kovind on December 9 over farmers’ protest

A meeting between the NCP chief Sharad Pawar and President Ram Nath Kovind has been been scheduled to be held on December 9 for the purpose of discussing the ongoing farmers’ protest against new farm laws, informed the party spokesperson Mahesh Tapase. The NCP also has extended their support to the Bharat Bandh called by farmer unions on December 8. Besides, the NCP had also staged a walk-out in Rajya Sabha when farm bills were introduced a few months back. 

9. US startup builds self-driving drone with 70% reusable system for launching satellites

Aevum, a US-based startup has developed Ravn X, a fully self-driving drone, designed for the purpose of delivering satellites to space as fast as every three hours. It is the world’s largest Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) by mass. It further informed that 70% of the drone’s system can be reused and aims for 95% reusability in future.

10. SpaceX rolls out the updated Dragon cargo ship to the ISS for 1st time ever

The first flight of the updated cargo version of Dragon spacecraft to the ISS has been launched by SpaceX with NASA’s cargo. This updated version is capable of carrying around 20% more volume than the old one and has double the amount of powered locker cargo capability.