SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket blasted back into space on Thursday night to ferry the U.S. military’s secretive X-37B drone to a research mission.

After weeks of delays, the rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 pm Eastern Time (0107 GMT Friday) in a liftoff livestreamed on SpaceX’s website.

It is unclear where exactly the uncrewed and autonomously operating spacecraft is headed on its seventh mission.

The Pentagon has released little information about the space drone and its mission, which was initially scheduled for December 7, and SpaceX only cited the Pentagon’s mission code name — USSF-52 — in its statement on the launch.

President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to a bill that seeks to put in place a mechanism for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, according to a government notification issued Friday.

The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, has provisions to set up a search committee chaired by the law minister and two other persons not below the rank of secretary, to prepare a panel of five persons for consideration of the selection committee for appointment as CEC or ECs.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Labour and Employment Shri Bhupender Yadav today launched the National Transit Pass System (NTPS) pan-India  to facilitate the seamless transit of timber, bamboo, and other forest produce across the country. Currently, the transit permits are issued for transport of timber and forest produce based on state specific transit rules. The NTPS is envisioned as a "One Nation-One Pass" regime, which will enable seamless transit across the country. This initiative will streamline the issuance of timber transit permits by providing a unified, online mode for tree growers and farmers involved in agroforestry across the country, contributing to the ease of doing business.

In order to create awareness and showcase the applicability and ease of using NTPS, special Pan Indian vehicles carrying forest produce were flagged-off by Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav today. Two vehicles carrying timber and other forest produce from Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir were flagged-off which are bound for West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The QR coded transit permits generated under NTPS will allow check gates across various states to verify the validity of the permits and allow seamless transit.

After changing the name of Ayodhya railway station, the Uttar Pradesh government is about to name the new international airport 'Maharishi Valmiki International Airport Ayodhya Dham', ANI revealed, citing sources on Thursday.

Indian PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the new airport on Saturday. The remodelled Ayodhya railway station, which was renamed Ayodhya Dham Junction on Wednesday, will also be inaugurated by PM Modi.

China has named Dong Jun as its new defence minister, two months after his predecessor was officially sacked.

Mr Dong, a former navy commander, takes over from Li Shangfu - who was last seen in public in August.

Mr Dong's appointment was announced by China's top legislators at a Standing Committee meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing on Friday.

The move follows a slew of dismissals of top military officials from the country's top posts earlier this year.

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Vivek Srivastava (IPS) as Director General of Fire Service, Civil Defence & Home Guards under the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday. He is a 1989-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre.

According to an order issued from the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) on December 28, Srivastava has been appointed to the post for a period with effect from the date of joining the post and up to June 30, 2025 i.e. date of his superannuation or till further orders whichever takes place earlier. Presently, he is posted as Special Director in Intelligence Bureau.

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The public sector head hunter, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has shortlisted Ms. Rashmi Govil as the new Director (HR) of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).

Ms. Rashmi Govil is currently ED in Corporate office, have long and versatile experience of ER and HRD functions of Refineries as well as Corporate office. Her selection will maintain the women representation in board, post superannuation of Ms. Shulka Mistry, who is due for retirement from Director Refineries in March, 2024.

Aligned with the National Education Policy 2020, the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in collaboration with the Government of Assam's flagship Arohan scheme is actively engaged in motivating meritorious students to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in their higher education.

To date, the Institute has successfully hosted 3311 students (2009 girls and 1302 boys) and few hundred mentee teachers, inspiring them to explore the vast opportunities and interests in STEM education. Notably, the number of female students was around 65% of the total participants, highlighting the importance of encouraging and promoting girls and women in STEM education.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will attend the 21st Convocation of the Tezpur University in Assam on the 31st of December. Mr. Singh will confer Degrees and Diplomas to the successful candidates of the university. 783 Postgraduate degrees, 428 Undergraduate degrees, five PG diplomas, and more than 100 PhD degrees are expected to be conferred. Postgraduate degrees and diplomas to 23 learners under Distance and Online Education are also scheduled. 

J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar today laid the Foundation Stone of Composite Regional Centre (CRC) in Village Chak Jawala Singh of Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir. Member Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma, Chairman District Development Council Samba Keshav Dutt Sharma, PRI members and officers of Samba district administration were present at the e-foundation ceremony of CRC. The CRC will be housed in a new building to be constructed by NBCC in a multistory building with a barrier free environment for persons with disabilities, in a sprawling campus of 38 kanals 18 marlas of land in Samba near AIIMS-Jammu. The estimated cost of construction is 29 crores rupees and the  construction work will be finished within a span of one year.