 The Australian pacer Pat Cummins, with a base price of Rs.2 crore, became the most expensive overseas player in Indian Premier League (IPL) as he was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a whopping Rs.15.50 crore($2.2 million). |
| Key Highlights Kolkata Night Riders shelled out Rs.15.5 crore, nearly 43% of their purse, for the New South Welshman at the auction for IPL 2020, the 12th edition of Indian Premier League tournament. The 26-year-old is currently the number one ranked Test bowler in the world. He has previously played for Delhi Capitals or Delhi Daredevils (as they were known then) in 2017 edition and Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2014 edition. Prior to Cummins becoming the most expensive overseas buy in IPL, Ben Stokes was the player a team had spent most money on and that was when he was picked up for 2.16 million in 2017 by Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS). Overall, Cummins is third on list of most expensive IPL players ever bought with Yuvraj Singh occupying the first rank ande Gautam Gambhir occupying second rank, having also been bought by KKR. |
 Describing space as the world’s newest war-fighting domain, US President Donald Trump officially launched US military ‘Space Force’ at an army base near Washington. Trump highlighted that the Space Force will help to deter aggression and control ultimate high ground. |
| What is Space Force? It is United States’ first new military service in more than 70 years, since Air Force was spun off from US Army in 1947. While Space Force is not designed or intended to put combat troops in space, it will be the provider of forces and will build on work of US Space Command (SpaceCom). SpaceCom was created in August 2019 as the overseer of US military’s space operations. Space Force would comprise around 16,000 Air Force and civilian personnel and will be funded by an initial US $40million for its first year. Instead of being its own military department, like US Navy, US Army and US Air Force, the Space Force will be administered by Secretary of Air Force. |
| What will the Space Force actually do? It is not intended to put troops into orbit, but will protect US assets like hundreds of satellites used for communication and surveillance. This space mission comes as US military chiefs see China and Russia making advancements in military final frontier. The space mission is part of a broader vision of achieving American dominance in space as amid grave threats to US national security. |
 On December 18, 2019, the FSSAI (Food Safety Standards Association of India) announced that the front of packet labeling will be delinked from its general labeling regulation. The move is being implemented in order to make the consumers aware of food products that are high in fat, salt and sugar content. |
| Highlights The authority has decided that the front of the pack and the general labeling regulations must be de-linked. The authority will soon provide threshold limit of sugar, salt and fat in food products. The Front of Packet Labeling helps to identify the green (vegetarian foods ) and red (non-vegetarian foods). It also includes pictorial representation of nutrients, food group nutrients and summary indicators, etc. This can at times be misleading as consumers fail to give a detailed read about the product. |
| Front of Pack Labelling FoPL is a policy tool that help consumers to make healthier food choices. It was included for the first time in draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display Regulations), 2019. It aims at creating awareness to consumers about products that are high in sugar, fat and salt content. There are two aspects of FoPL namely threshold limit and the way the limit is depicted on packets of processed food. |
| Why the delinking? Delinking is breaking the connection or cutting off. On December 17, the Centre for Science and Environment released a report based on its study on packaged food. The Centre tested 33 foods, 19 fast foods, four different types of wrapped sandwiches, fried chicken, pizza, etc. The results showed high content of salt and fat in the food items. The thresholds that the companies follow were not up to Indian Standards. Therefore, FSSAI has delinked the FoPL standards from labelling regulations and will set new threshold. |
 On December 21, 2019, Indian and Chinese representatives met in New Delhi for the 22nd time to discuss the border issued between the countries. This is the first meeting of the representatives since the second informal summit between PM Modi and President Xi Jingping that was held at Chennai in October 2019. |
| Highlights India and China agreed to intensify their efforts in order to achieve reasonable solution to boundary problems. Also, the countries recognized the importance of Confidence Building Measures in order to promote communication between the border personnel. |
| Significance The India-china border dispute is in Aksai region in the western end and at the McMahon Line one the eastern side. The countries held 21st round of talks at Chengdu in China in 2018. The Special Representatives talks are given utmost importance by both the countries as it involves highest officials. It is also important the forum discusses common issues of the countries along with border issues. |
 The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that it has extended its partnership with UNICEF through to the Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 with the focus on empowering women and girls through cricket. The partnership and public donations continue to bring positive change to children through the programs in cricket playing nations focused on empowering women and girls in cricket. The money raised during the Women’s World T20 will go to similar projects in cricket playing nations, including an innovative program to promote girls” participation in cricket in Sri Lanka and build peace in communities. The ICC and UNICEF partnership commenced in 2015, as part of the ICC”s global community outreach program ”Cricket 4 Good”. During the Men’s 50-over World Cup held in England and Wales earlier this summer, UNICEF raised $180,000 as part of ‘One Day 4 Children’ and this money will go directly to fund a girls’ cricket project in Afghanistan. |
| Source: The DD News |
 Belgium has been crowned FIFA ‘Team of the Year’ for the second successive time after a record-breaking year for the global ladder. World champions France remains in the second place ahead of Brazil in third. Besides accumulating the biggest points haul, Qatar has also jumped a year-high 38 places, followed closely by fellow climbers Algeria (up 32 ranks) and Japan (up 22 places). |
| Source: The DD News |
 Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won the women’s 49kg category gold medal to open India’s account at the 6th Qatar International Cup in Doha. She bagged gold with an effort of 194kg in the Olympic qualifying event, with the points which will come in handy when the final rankings for Tokyo 2020 cut are done. She lifted 83kg in snatch and 111kg in clean and jerk to finish on top of the podium. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 US President Donald Trump has picked Indian-American computer scientist Sethuraman Panchanathan to lead the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) in USA. The NSF is a US government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Panchanathan would succeed France Cordova when her six-year term as the NSF Director ends in 2020. Panchanathan is currently the Executive Vice President and the Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Arizona State University. He is also the Founding Director of the Centre for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at the ASU. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 Ethiopia launched its first satellite, a landmark achievement for the country’s space program that caps a banner year for the African space industry. The launch of the Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS) took place at a space station in China. The launch makes Ethiopia the 11th African country to put a satellite into space. Egypt was the first in 1998. Data provided by Ethiopia’s satellite is expected to paint a fuller picture of the country’s agriculture, forestry and mining resources and improve responses to flooding and other disasters. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will simultaneously purchase and sell government securities worth Rs 10,000 crore under a special Open Market Operation (OMO). On a review of the current liquidity and market situation and an assessment of the evolving financial conditions, the Reserve Bank has decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities on December 23, 2019. The purchase will be for government securities worth Rs 10,000 crore for the instrument ‘6.45 per cent GS 2029’. The Reserve Bank reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase/sale of individual securities and to accept bids/offers for less than the aggregate amount. |
| Source: The Economic Times |
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