 Former West Ham and Tottenham midfielder Martin Peters, who scored England’s second goal in the 1966 World Cup final against West Germany, passed away. He joined West Ham in 1959 as a 15-year-old, made his debut in 1962 and was a key player in the side who won the 1965 Cup Winners Cup final at Wembley. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Former India skipper and wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni been named captain of Cricket Australia’s (CA) ODI team of the decade and the line-up features three Indian players. Apart from Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have made the cut in CA’s team. CA’s ODI team of the decade: Rohit Sharma, Hashim Amla, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Shakib Al Hasan, Jos Buttler, MS Dhoni (c), Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan. |
| Source: The Times of India |
 Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has stepped down as the company is facing tough period following two fatal crashes. He will be replaced by Chairman David Calhoun effective January 13, 2020. He became the CEO of the world’s largest aerospace company in July 2015. The company’s best selling commercial jet was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two fatal crashes killed 346 people. |
| Source: The Times of India |
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He also laid the foundation stone for the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University in the Uttar Pradesh capital. The state government has given 50 acres of land for the varsity. |
| Source: The Economic Times |
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi named Rohtang passageway in Himachal Pradesh as Atal Tunnel to mark the 95th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The tunnel has been named as a tribute to the former Prime Minister who took the historic decision of constructing this strategic tunnel. It will provide all-weather connectivity to remote areas of Lahaul and Spiti Valley and also reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 Kilometres. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Indian tennis ace Leander Paes has announced that 2020 will be his last year as a professional tennis player. Leander, who made his Olympic debut in 1992, will look for one final flourish at Tokyo Olympics next year. He has won eight doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Renowned Hindi author Ganga Prasad Vimal passed away in a road accident in Sri Lanka. He was born in 1939 in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand. He wrote more than a dozen poetry collections, short story collections and novels. His last novel, Manushkhor, was published in 2013. He received several Hindi literary awards. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister unveiled India’s first long-distance CNG bus fitted with CNG cylinders in New Delhi. It can travel around 1000 kilometres in a single fill. The first long-range interstate CNG bus will ply from Delhi to Dehradun. This type of buses will soon ply between Delhi to Jaipur, Chandigarh and Agra. The project has been executed by Indraprastha Gas Limited, the largest CNG distribution company in the country. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The Pakistan Government decided to import Polio markers from India recently. The Government had suspended the trade with New Delhi for months after abrogation of Article 370. |
| Highlights There are three countries in the world where Polio is still endemic. It includes Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. As of December 2019, there have been 111 documented cases of wild polio virus in Pakistan. In 2014, Pakistan had the highest number of polio cases in the world. The country has recently decided to import polio markers from India. The cabinet has provided one-time permission for the import. The polio markers are used to mark the fingers of the children after they are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by the WHO. |
| Polio The disease is caused by Poliovirus. In 1995, India launched Global Polio Eradication initiative of WHO that aims at 100% coverage. With the programme successfully implemented, India has completely eradicated Polio. The last case of Polio was reported in 2011 in India. |
 On December 25, 2019, Union Minister of Communication and IT Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated “Digital Village Guruwara”. During the launch, it was announced that the Government has planned to offer free Wi-Fi services to all villages till March 2020. |
| Highlights The Government of India has so far connected 1,30,000-gram panchayats through Bharatnet. More than 50,000 Gram Panchayat are yet to be connected. The government is working under the current target that at least 15% of villages are to be digitalized in next four years. The free Wi-Fi services are being announced under Bharatnet project. The GoI in June 2018 announced that all gram panchayats will receive broadband connectivity by 2020. However, the connectivity has been made free now. |
| Bharatnet Project The initiative was launched in 2011. Under the initiative, 100 Mbps speed internet were to be provided to around 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats. The aim is to increase their speed to around 2 to 20 Mbps in the future to all households in rural areas. The project is a National Optical Fibre Network project. It is seen as a major initiative in order to succeed Digital India. It is being implemented by the Ministry of Telecommunications. |
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