French MPs on Thursday approved a controversial vaccine pass bill which requires people to be fully vaccinated to be a part of social gatherings, sporting, leisure and cultural activities. The bill was passed by 214 votes against 93 and 27 abstentions. For a bill to pass in the French parliament, it requires at least 157 MPs to vote for it.

The bill requires people to be fully vaccinated to access “leisure activities, restaurants and drinking establishments, fairs, seminars and trade shows as well as interregional transport” along with cinema halls, theatres, museums and other public places.

France earlier required people to show a health pass to enter public places and access public life, but with this bill it has moved to replace the health pass with a vaccination pass.

The government on Thursday approved Rs 12,031 crore intra-state transmission scheme for evacuation of renewable energy from 20 Gw power projects in seven states including Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

The Green Energy Corridor (GEC) Phase-II, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, targets addition of 10,750 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines and 27,500 Mega Volt-Amperes (MVA) transformation capacity of substations, an official statement said.

Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, inaugurated India’s first Open Rock Museum, here on Thursday.

The museum displays around 35 different varieties of rocks from different parts of India with ages ranging from 3.3 billion years to around 55 million years. These rocks also represent the deepest part of the Earth, up to 175 km of distance from the surface of the earth.

Addressed the scientists at the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) later, Singh said that ‘Big Earth data’ occupies the strategic high ground in the era of knowledge economies and India is fully exploiting this new frontier, contributing to the advancement of earth science.

An international team of researchers has now reported a new tropical tree from the Ebo Forest in Cameroon and named it after American actor and conservationist Leonardo DiCaprio. The paper published yesterday in the journal PeerJ explains that the actor’s name was chosen as he had “lobbied extensively on social media to draw attention to threats for the numerous rare Ebo species from the logging concession that had been announced at Ebo earlier that year.”

The tree, named Uvariopsis dicaprio, is four metres tall, with 15 cm long leaves, and bears bunches of large, glossy, bright yellow-green flowers on its trunk. The tree is endemic to the Ebo forest and is so far only known from the lower submontane forest which has an elevation of 850 metres. The area of occupation of U. dicaprio is estimated as 4 sq. km.

The Cabinet has cleared a plan to build a new bridge connecting India and Nepal, Union Minister for Information Broadcasting Anurag Thakur announced on Thursday. The two countries are set to sign a memorandum of understanding regarding the bridge, which will be built over the Mahakali river and link Dharchula in Uttarakhand with Nepal’s Dharchula.

Thakur said the bridge will strengthen the relationship between the two countries. It will be completed within three years, he added.

The government said in a statement that with the signing of an MoU, the “diplomatic relation between the two countries will further improve”.

“As close neighbours, India and Nepal share unique ties of friendship and cooperation characterised by an open border and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts of kinship and culture. Both India and Nepal have been working together on different regional forums,” the government statement said.

World Day of War Orphans is commemorated on January 6 each year, with the aim to shine the spotlight on the wide array of physical, mental, emotional and social challenges faced by minors who have been orphaned due to conflicts. The day also aims to raise awareness of the need to protect the human rights of such children and to mobilise will and efforts to secure a better tomorrow for them.

World Day for War Orphans is an annual observance established by SOS Enfants en Detresse, a French organisation working for improving the lives of children affected by wars. Kids are among the most vulnerable groups in societies /regions where conflicts erupt. Such events have a profound, long-lasting negative impact on the well-being of all minors. However, the ones who lose their parents due to conflicts face increased protection risks. Some common violations include recruitment of minors for fight, abduction, killing, attacks on schools, sexual abuse, sex trafficking and denial of access to humanitarian aid, among other egregious child rights violations. Abductions, forceful marriages and rapes also occur. Therefore, it is crucial to generate greater awareness and efforts to protect minors affected by war.

ONGC’s Director of Human Resources Alka Mittal on Monday took over additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the company, becoming the first woman to hold the post at the Maharatna company. Mittal replaces Subhash Kumar who superannuated on December 31.

Mittal took over as Director—HR of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in December 2018 and was also the first woman to hold the post of a full-time director on the board of ONGC.

ONGC has not appointed a full time CMD since the retirement of Shashi Shanker in March last year. The Public Enterprises Selection Board had in June interviewed nine candidates, including two serving IAS officers, for the top post but didn’t select any one opting instead to announce that it would set up a search committee to find a new CMD for ONGC.

Padma Shri awardee and founder of Shillong Chamber Choir, Neil Nongkynrih, died in Mumbai at the age of 52 on Wednesday (January 5) after a brief illness. As reported by NDTV, the choir said in a statement that, "It is with deep sorrow that we, the members and management of the Shillong Chamber Choir, announce the death of our beloved founder and music director, Mr Neil Nongkynrih (sic)."

"Uncle Neil was the life force of our world, a towering personality whose music, through the choir he so fondly nurtured, reached the ears of Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ambassadors, and some of the biggest names in the worlds of sports, culture, business, music, and film," it further stated.

After learning about the sad news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his heartfelt condolences on Twitter.

For the last three months, the music composer and his full Choir team have been in Mumbai as part of their professional commitment. 

The Punjab cabinet on Tuesday evening decided to give INR 2,000 as one-time internet allowance to all students studying in higher educational institutions to help them attend online classes in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases.

The decision will help nearly 8.67 lakh students, said Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi while addressing the media after the cabinet meeting.

In another decision, the cabinet approved a sum of Rs 6.65 crore, out of which Rs 4.03 crore would be spent to clear outstanding liabilities of 20 government cattle pounds and Rs 2.62 crore for the running cost for these cattle pounds for next three months.

The cabinet also gave ex-post facto approval to increase honorarium of anganwadi workers, mini anganwadi workers and helpers by Rs 1,400, Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,050 per month, respectively.

North Korea successfully tested a hypersonic missile on Wednesday, its first major weapons test this year, said a state media report.

KCNA said it "precisely hit" a set target 700km (434 miles) away.

This is the second reported test of a hypersonic missile, which can avoid detection for longer than ballistic missiles.

The test comes as its leader Kim Jong-un had earlier vowed to bolster Pyongyang's defences.

Mr Kim said in a New Year's speech that Pyongyang would continue to strengthen its defence capabilities due to an increasingly unstable military environment on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea tested a variety of missiles last year amid stalled talks with the South and US.