New Zealand topped the Global Bribery Risk Index in the year 2019. According to the list, the 5 countries with the lowest bribery risk in the world are New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. If a country gets a higher score, it means it is at a higher risk of business bribery.

India boxer Amit Panghal has conferred the Haryana Gaurav award for winning the silver medal in the World Boxing Championship. The award was conferred by the Haryana in UK Association. The association also honored the International Sports Curator Sunil Yash Kalra. The Haryana Gaurav award is presented every year to those who have been successful in leaving a mark in the field of sports.

On November 7, 2019, American aerospace agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) had detected a burst of X-rays from outer space through its Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope. The X-ray burst, the brightest ever seen through NICER at the International Space Station (ISS), was caused by thermonuclear flashes on the surface of a pulsar (highly magnetized rotating neutron star). The burst came from an object/pulsar named “J1808”. Publication: A paper describing the findings was published by The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The new signal fish ““Pteropsaron Indicum”” was found in Lakshadweep sea off Kerala coast, which is the home for unusual species like fish with a unique color.

The Japanese space organization’s (JAXA) spacecraft Hayabusa-2 reached the asteroid Ryugu, 300 million kilometers from Earth, after a three-and-a-half-year journey. It has collected some samples of the asteroid and now it is returning to Earth.

Bangladesh has the highest business bribery risk among South Asian courtiers, according to the Trace Bribery Matrix which releases annual ranking for 200 countries. Bangladesh has been placed in the 178th position among 200 countries in terms of business bribery risk. Bhutan has the lowest risk of bribery on the index in South Asia as it is placed at 52 in the ranking.

Making India Breathe

The Lancet Countdown is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration, dedicated to monitoring the evolving health profile of climate change, and providing an independent assessment of the delivery of commitments made by the governments worldwide under the Paris Agreement. The 2019 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change is ensuring that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate.

Mohammad Imran has been appointed as the new High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India. He is currently Bangladesh’s Ambassador to United Arab Emirates. He succeeds Syed Muazzem Ali

Indian athlete Dutee Chand has been included in the TIME 100 Next list. This list has been launched under the expansion of the list of 100 most effective people in the world. It includes those people who are ready to make a future in business, recreation, sports, politics, health and science.

The soft launch was scheduled for the acceptance of BHIM-UPI QR (Bharat Interface for Money- Unified Payments Interface Quick Response) based payments in Singapore. With this transaction, BHIM usage for the first time enters an international country.

Andhra Pradesh government has launched the ‘Nadu-Nedu’ programme to introduce English medium from classes 1 to 6 in state-run schools.

Industry body Ficci signed an agreement with Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) to boost cooperation for development of financial technology industry in India and the southeast Asian country.

Facebook has stopped 5.4 billion fake accounts so far in 2019, in a sign of a persistent battle on social media against manipulation and disinformation. A detailed report showed that government demands for user information hit a new high led by the US. Overall, requests by governments for Facebook user data rose 16 percent to 128,617 in the first half of 2019.