Hi Aditya, here and welcome to the weekly news update. Next week we will be launching Diwali competitions for children. Check out News4children.com for more.
Weekly news update:
In France recently, a French history teacher was killed by Islam extremists for showing cartoon of Prophet Mohammed in class. Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are widely regarded as taboo in Islam and are offensive to Muslims.
France President Emmanuel Macron has upheld freedom of expression. Many Islam nations like Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and many others have taken offense and protestesing and have called to boycott French products.
France is a secular country. What does secular mean? The principle of separation of the State from religious institutions. The institution State and the Church are separate. France does not have a State religion. Secularism is central to France’s national identity. They have freedom of expression and they consider religion as a private matter.
The 2020 United States 59th presidential election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2020. On November 3rd the voters will select presidential electors. These presidential electors will in turn vote on December 14, 2020, to elect the President and Vice-President. The main contenders are Donald Trump from Republican Party and Jeo Biden from the Democratic party. The United States of America has two-party system, unlike India which has multi-party system.
In India coronavirus cases have crossed 80 lakhs. Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla has said the Covidshield vaccine may be ready by the end of this year. Whereas, Covaxin, an indigenously developed vaccine in India has entered the 3rd phase of the trail.
In India, Bihar Legislative Assembly elections have started from October 28th. The election will be held in three phases for a total of 243 seats. The first phase of election was held on 28th October for 71 seats. The second for 94 seats on 3 November 2020 and the third for the remaining 78 will be on 7 November 2020. The results will be announced on 10 November 2020.
Changing the 7-decade old land reforms, On October 26th the central government passed the law, allowing any Indian to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir. Before the abrogation of special status and article 370, only permanent residents of J&K could own the land. The changes made to the Union Territory J&K laws do not apply to the Union Territory of Ladakh. According to a report in Quint, that are other states in India where buying land is restricted to only residents, to mention few are – Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sixth Schedule Regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram & Darjeeling.
Science update: NASA confirms, for the first time, the discovery of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.
NASA’s SOFIA, the world’s largest flying observatory, has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater. Located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere, Clavius Crater is one of the largest craters visible from Earth.
The amount of water found on the moon may be significantly very small roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water, but the discovery raises new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh, airless lunar surface.
In the famous column birthday, we have Diego Maradona born on October 30th, 1960, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
One of the most famous, talented football players in history. He was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award, the other player was Brazilian footballer Pelé.
With the Argentinian national team, which he played for from 1977 to 1994, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. He captained the team during the 1986 World Cup where the team won. A precocious talent, Maradona was given the nickname ‘The Golden Boy’, a name that stuck with him throughout his career. He is currently the coach of Argentine Primera División club.