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Important Current Affairs 22nd December 2019

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Manuel Marrero Cruz appointed as The First Prime Minister of Cuba Since 1976

• Manuel Marrero Cruz has been appointed as the Prime Minister of Cuba. The announcement was made by President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel.

• The post of Prime Minister in Cuba was vacant since December 1976 with Fidel Castro as the last PM.

•  Manuel Marrero Cruz has served as the tourism minister of Cuba for 16 years.

• President of Cuba: Miguel Díaz-Canel;

• Capital of Cuba: Havana.

• Currency of Cuba: Cuban peso.

Eco: A renamed common currency Eight West African nations

• Eight West African countries have agreed to change the name of their common currency to Eco and severed their earlier currency CFA Franc's links to former colonial ruler France.

• Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo currently use the currency

• The CFA Franc was initially pegged to the French franc and has been linked to the euro for about two decades.

• All the countries are former French colonies with the exception of Guinea-Bissau.

• The CFA franc, created in 1945, was seen by many as a sign of French interference in its former African colonies even after the countries became independent.

US “space force” officially launched by Donald Trump

• Donald Trump has launched space force, the first new US military service in more than 70 years.

• Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes the space force. It is part of a $1.4tn (£1.1tn) government spending package – including the Pentagon’s budget – that provides a steady stream of financing for Trump’s US-Mexico border fence and reverses unpopular and unworkable automatic spending cuts to defence and domestic programmes.

• It is not intended to put troops into orbit, but will protect US assets – such as the hundreds of satellites used for communication and surveillance.

• Space Force will build on the work of the existing US Space Command (SpaceCom), which was created in August to handle the US military’s space operations.

NATIONAL NEWS

YSR Neetanna Nestham scheme launched in Andhra Pradesh’s in Krishna district's Pedana town for weavers

• Andhra Pradesh Panchayati Raj Minister P Ramachandra Reddy launched the YSR Neetanna Nestham scheme in Krishna district’s Pedana town under which weavers would be given Rs 24,000 annually.

• Around 75,000 weavers would be benefitted from the scheme.

SPORTS

Liverpool won FIFA Club World Cup champions

• Liverpool has won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time. Roberto Firmino scored the decisive goal in the 9th minute of extra time.

• The finals was held in Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar’s capital city of Doha.

• Liverpool defeated Flamengo in the finals.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

'Meghdoot': Secunderabad Railway Station Gets India’s First ‘Water From Air’ System

• The Indian Railways has announced that it has installed a first-of-its-kind ‘atmospheric water generator’ (AWG) system named ‘Meghdoot,’ which converts humid air into potable drinking water, at Secunderabad railway station in Telangana.

• The price of the potable drinking water ranges from INR 2 to INR 8. It costs less if the passengers carry their own bottles and containers.

• The minister of railways and commerce, Piyush Goyal informed about the installation of ‘Meghdoot’, which will produce water that complies with the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

Vaccine on wheels: IIT Hyderabad launches India’s first mobile vaccination clinic in Pune.

• A vaccine on wheels clinic, a first-of-its-kind service in India called ‘VaccineOnWheels.com’ 

• The clinic is the brainchild of Jignesh Patel, the Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship (CfHe) IIT Hyderabad fellow, and has been set up together with the Gates Foundation.

• There are many features which makes it a unique vaccination service, including providing low-cost vaccination service to the low-income group of the population, creating awareness for government’s immunisation programme and selling only those vaccines which are not provided through the government agencies and compliance with cold chain maintenance as per WHO guidelines with state-of-the-art equipment.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

R.N Kao: Gentleman Spymaster by Nitin A. Gokhale

• Book titled ”R N Kao: Gentleman Spymaster” authored by former journalist Nitin Gokhale was released by Army chief-designate Lieutenant General Manoj Naravane.

• Kao had served as the first chief of India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

OBITUARY

Veteran cinematographer Ramachandra Babu passes away at 72.

Renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Vidushi Savita Devi passes away at 80

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