Ladakh’s Hanle becomes first dark sky reserve

• The government of the Union Territory of Ladakh has designated a 1,073 square kilometre region in Ladakh's Hanle as India's first dark sky reserve, which will be known as the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve (HDSR). 
• In a gazette notification issued by the UT's Wildlife Department, the UT has identified this region covering a cluster of six hamlets of the Hanle revenue range. 
• Bhok, Khuldo, Shado, Punguk, Naga, and Tibetan Refugee habitations are among these hamlets.

USA announced historic Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

• Scientists in the United States have unveiled the long-awaited revolution in nuclear fusion technology. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm claimed a "significant scientific advance" in nuclear fusion energy development on December 13, 2022. 
• Nuclear fusion differs from nuclear fission, the energy employed in the production of atomic weapons. 
• Nuclear fusion energy powers heavenly entities such as the sun and stars and has previously been considered an unattainable kind of energy by humanity.

8th India international science festival 2022 to be held in Bhopal

• The India International Science Festival (IISF)-2022 will take place in Bhopal in January 2023, and it is one of the key events to take place after India assumed the G-20 presidency. 
• The IISF is a project of the Government of India's Ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Science, in collaboration with Vijnana Bharati, a science movement with a swadeshi ethos headed by notable scientists from throughout the nation. 
• Research and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh stated at a news conference in New Delhi that the festival will allow people and the scientific community in the nation and overseas to come together, work together, and feel the joy of conducting science for the benefit of India and mankind.

Dr. Jeremy Farrar to be next Chief Scientist of WHO

• Dr. Jeremy Farrar has been named as WHO's next Chief Scientist. 
• Dr. Farrar, the current Director of the Wellcome Trust, will join WHO in the second quarter of 2023. 
• Dr. Amelia Latu Afuhaamango Tuipulotu will succeed Dr. Margaret Chan as WHO's Chief Nursing Officer. Dr. Tuipulotu, who was previously the Minister for Health of the Kingdom of Tonga and Tonga's Chief Nursing Officer, will join WHO in the first quarter of 2023.

Iran ousted from U.N. women's group after U.S. campaign

• Iran has been ousted from U.N. women’s group after the U.S. campaign. 
• India has voted against removing Iran from the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the main global intergovernmental organization committed to promoting gender equality and women's empowerment.
• "The commission is the leading UN organization for promoting gender equality and women's empowerment," said Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. 
• She also said that"It cannot accomplish its crucial task if it's being undercut from the inside. The commission's legitimacy is currently tarnished by Iran's membership."