• Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has received the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize or his efforts to achieve international peace and co-operation. Note: Ethiopia capital: Addis Ababa; Currency: Ethiopian birr.

• India, for the first time, ranks among the top 10 in this year’s Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)at the COP25 climate summit in the Spanish capital Madrid.

• India has been ranked 129th among 189 countries in the Human Development Index 2019 released by the  United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Note: The Human Development Index measures average achievement of the countries in 3 basic dimensions of human development i.e. life expectancy,  education and per capita income.

• R. Praggnanandhaa from India has won the FIDE Open category of the London Chess Classic held in London.

• Veteran opener Wasim Jaffer became the first player in Indian cricket to feature in 150 Ranji matches.

• Actor Suniel Shetty has been selected as the brand ambassador of National Anti-Doping Agency NADA.

• The 13th South Asian Games concluded in Nepal. India finished on top with 312 medals comprising 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze.

• The inventor of Universal Product Code (UPC)or Barcode,George Joseph Laurer, passed away. Barcode is a ubiquitous marking, composed of unique black bars and a 12-digit number, that allows retailers to identify products by means of scanning the code.

• International Mountain Day is held every year on 11 December globally. The theme for 2019 IMD is  “Mountains Matter for Youth”.

• The world’s first fully-electric commercial aircraft took its inaugural test flight, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and flying for 15 minutes.

• Xiaomi has formally launched its lending platform “Mi Credit”in India for Android phones. According to platform “Mi Credit” individuals can avail up to Rs 1 lakh loan.

• Switzerland will be the country partner at the 17th edition of BioAsia 2020 scheduled to be held from February 17-19, 2020 with the theme “Today For Tomorrow” in Hyderabad, Telangana.

• Indian match referee GS Lakshmi is set to become the first woman match referee to officiate a men’s ODI match. Earlier in May 2019, she also became the first woman to get appointed onto the ICC International Panel of Match Referees.

• International Day of Neutrality was observed on December 12.

• International Universal Health Coverage Day (UHC Day)is celebrated globally on 12 December. The theme for the 2019 UHC Day is “Keep the promise”.

• Archaeological Survey of India has identified 138 numbers of monuments as Must-See Monuments and information thereof is made available on “Must See”portal of Archaeological Survey of India.

• Indian men’s football team captain Sunil Chhetri has signed a 3-year deal with  The Bengaluru FC skipper is currently the second-highest goal-scorer in international football after Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)has begun preparatory works for setting up a 3rd rocket launchpad in the small coastal hamlet of Kulashekhrapattinam in the Thuthukudi district of Tamil Nadu. At present, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has two launch pads at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Note: ISRO Director: K.Sivan; Headquarters: Bengaluru; Established: 1969.

• The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet approves the P. Disha Bill, 2019(A.P. Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019) paving the way for awarding the death penalty for the offences of rape and gang-rape and expediting the verdict in trials of such cases to 21 days.

• Sweden’s Greta Thunberg has been named as Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019. Greta Thunberg is the Swedish schoolgirl who inspired a global movement to fight climate change and became popular with the “#FridaysForFuture“. She is the youngest person to be chosen by the magazine in a tradition that started in 1927.

• The Gurugram-based startup blue Sky Analytics has created an application called ‘Zuri’that won the Copernicus Masters Award also called Space Oscars, under the Social Entrepreneurship category. The application uses satellite data to provide improved monitoring, supply chain and pricing analysis as well as the allocation of crop waste to be used as raw materials in other industries.

• The Ministry of Shipping (MoS)announced that Mongla and Chattogram(Both in Bangladesh) have been declared as Ports of Call under “Coastal Shipping Agreement” between India & Bangladesh. The Ports of Call in India are Kolkata (West Bengal), Haldia (West Bengal), Pandu, Karimganj (Assam), Silghat (Assam), Dhubri (Assam).

• Chief Minister S. Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated the Virtual Police Station at Andhra University. This is the first such facility in the State of Andhra Pradesh.

• The top tier of Spanish club football“La Liga”has announced cricketer Rohit Sharma as its brand ambassador in India. Rohit Sharma is the first non-footballer in the 90 year-old history of the league to have become a brand ambassador.

• FASTagsor prepaid rechargeable tags for toll collection have become mandatory for all vehicles from 15th December 2019. The FASTags or prepaid rechargeable tags allows automatic payment of toll. With the help of a FASTag, drivers will not have to stop their vehicles at toll plazas to pay tax. A FASTag uses radio frequency identification technology to enable direct toll payments from a moving vehicle.

• Thailand’s famous 2000-year-old massage, Nuad Thai was added to UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) prestigious heritage list.

• Tony-Ann Singh of Jamaica was announced as the winner of the Miss World 2019 beauty pageant held at the ExCeL London. Ophelia Mezino of France and Suman Rao of India were the first and second runners up of the beauty pageant respectively.

• Edelweiss Asset Management Company(AMC), a subsidiary of Edelweiss Capital Limited (ECL) has launched India’s 1st Corporate Bond ETF (exchange trade fund) called the Bharat Bond ETF.

• Viswanathan Anand has launched his autobiography ‘Mind Master’. Anand’s autobiography is co-authored by sports journalist Susan Ninann. It has been published by THG Publishing Private Limited. The book covers wonderful memories of Viswanathan Anand’s journey.

• The nation celebrated 16 December as Vijay Diwas to commemorate India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971 war.

• Haryana police have introduced a unique barcoding software“Trakea” to enable foolproof security of the samples collected in Forensic reports. Haryana became the first state in the country to introduce this unique barcoding system. Note: Governor of Haryana: Satyadeo Narayan Arya.

• Indian peacekeepers have been recognized for their strong contribution to building peace in conflict-affected South Sudan as well as for going above and beyond their duties to support local communities. Almost 850 Indian troops received the United Nations Medal for their dedication and sacrifices. Note: Secretary-General of the United Nations: Mr Antonio Guterres.

• Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been selected for the national award by Union Rural Development Ministry for best performance in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Note: Governor of Jammu and Kashmir: Girish Chandra Murmu.

• Nagaland Governor R N Ravi has been given additional charge of Meghalaya. The decision has been taken by the President of India in the wake of the “absence of leave” of Tathagata Roy, Governor of Meghalaya.

• A joint military training exercise “SURYA KIRAN-XIV”was held in Salijhandi, Rupendehi district of Nepal. The exercise was conducted between the armies of India and Nepal.

• India has slipped four places to rank 112th globally as per the Global Gender Gap Report 2020. The report was released by World Economic Forum (WEF) headquartered at Iceland has topped the report and remains the world’s most gender-neutral country while Yemen was ranked the worst (153rd) in the report.

• UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), has removed the ‘Carnival of Aalst’ of Belgium from its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List. The 2019 carnival featured a parade float that included racist and anti-Semitic representations which mocked the Orthodox Jews.

• The Union government has launched National Broadband Mission to provide Broadband access to all villages by 2022. The mission aims to connect 600,000 villages across India with an investment of 7 lakh crore in the next 4 years from both government and private sector. The mission is a part of the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018.

• In Madhya Pradesh, popular classical music festival ‘Tansen Samaroh’ began with traditional style in Gwalior. The 5-day festival is celebrated every year in the memory of one of the most eminent singers of Indian history, ‘Mian Tansen’.

• The state police of Gujarat were honoured with ‘President’s colours’.The Gujarat police were presented with the President’s colours by Vice President of India  Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It is the highest honour given to a police force in India. The previously awarded states were Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura and Assam. The president’s colours is also known as  ‘Nishaan’  which is an emblem that will be worn by all police officers on the left-hand sleeve of their uniform.

• England cricketer Ben Stokes has been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2019. He has become the first cricketer since Andrew Flintoff in 2005 to win the prize.

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won the historic UK General Election. He was re-elected as Prime Minister of UK.

• Sridhar Patrawas appointed as the chairman-cum-managing director of National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO). Note: NALCO is a Navratna Public Sector Enterprise under ministry of mines.

• State Bank of India (SBI)has signed a loan agreement worth of $277 million (about Rs 1,958 crore) with  Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) German development bank for establishing an energy-efficient housing programme in India.

• The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has waived NEFT, RTGS transfer charges for savings account holders.

• The International Migrants Day was observed on 18th December.

• Chennai Corporation, Tamil Nadu launched India’s first waste exchange platform namely “Madras Waste Exchange”(www.madraswasteexchange.com) to buy and sell municipal solid waste online.

• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched the ‘Jalsathi’ programme to ensure supply of safe drinking water to all households in the state. Note: Governor of Odisha: Ganeshi Lal.

• “Amazon.com Inc”, “Apple Inc” and Alphabet Inc’s“Google”have announced a partnership to lay the  groundwork for better compatibility among their smart home products. Zigbee Alliance, whose members include IKEA and NXP Semiconductors among others, will also contribute to the project, titled ‘Connected Home over IP’.

• HDFC Bank has become the 3rd Indian firm to cross $100 billion mark in market capitalisation. HDFC Bank has joined the league of Reliance Industries Ltd, which has a market cap of $140.74 billion, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that has a market cap of $114.60 billion. Note: Managing Director of HDFC Bank: Aditya Puri; Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• Social Justice and Empowerment Minister launched the Braille version of the book “Exam Warriors” written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

• Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced the setting up of a Gandhi Citizenship Education Prize.

• Donald Trump has become the third US President in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The impeachment will led to setting up a trial in the Senate that will decide whether Trump will remain in office or not. Only two previous presidents have been impeached in the US history. The House in 1998 impeached President Bill Clinton while President Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868.

• The Meghalaya Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Government of India to implement Inner Line Permit in the state under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Inner Line Permit (ILP) is an official travel document issued by the Government of India to allow inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.

• International Human Solidarity Day was observed across the world on 20th December.