ASSAM

• Protests over Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in three northeastern states

• Lending support to the voices of dissent over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, hundreds of student activists staged demonstrations across three northeast states.

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955. A key amendment in the bill seeks to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of their residence in India.

• The NRC was recently updated in Assam to document the “bonafide Indian citizens” living in the state.

INTERNATIONAL

• India sixth wealthiest country with total wealth of $8,230 billion

• India is the sixth wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of $8,230 billion, while the U.S. is the richest nation globally, says a report.

• According to the AfrAsia Bank Global Wealth Migration Review, the US is the wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of $62,584 billion, followed by China ($24,803 billion) in the second place and Japan ($19,522 billion) in third.

• Total wealth refers to the private wealth held by all the individuals living in each country. It includes all their assets (property, cash, equities, business interests) minus any liabilities.

• Government funds are excluded from these figures. Larger countries have an advantage due to higher populations.

·        Lionel Messi Won European Golden Shoe For The 5th Time

• Barcelona forward Lionel Messi won the European Golden Shoe for the fifth time.
• The Argentina international claimed the prize after scoring 34 goals in La Liga this season, helping his club to a 25th league triumph.
• Messi also won the award last year, as well as in 2010, 2012 and 2013.
• Four-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo finished ninth in the rankings after scoring 26 goals for Real Madrid in La Liga.

NATIONAL

• Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala

• As the death toll in the virus-induced fever in north Kerala rises to nine, the National Virology Institute in Pune has confirmed that the deceased were infected with Nipah virus (NiV).
• This is the first time the virus, which has high fatality rate and spreads mainly through bats, pigs and other animals, has been detected in the state.

• Nipah virus (NiV) infection is a newly-emerging zoonosis (a disease which can be transmitted to humans from animals) that causes severe disease in both animals and humans. The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus.

• NiV was first identified during an outbreak of disease that took place in Kampung Sungai Nipah, Malaysia in 1998. On this occasion, pigs were the intermediate hosts.

·        Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos tested successfully to validate new features

• Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was successfully fired from a test range along the Odisha coast to validate some new features.
• The missile, an Indo-Russian joint venture, was tested from a mobile launcher at Launch Pad 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore.
• The successful test will result in huge savings of replacement cost of missiles held in the inventory of the armed forces.
• The two-stage missile — first being solid and the second one, a ramjet liquid propellant — has already been introduced in the Army and the Navy, while the Air Force version had witnessed a successful trial.
• BrahMos variants can be launched from land, air, sea and under water. India successfully launched the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jet for the first time against a target in the Bay of Bengal in November, 2017.

·        Census 2021 likely to have 2,231 new census towns

• There are 2,231 villages that are likely to be declared new census towns for the upcoming census, says a recent study by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR). Join Our Telegram Channel