News in Short

• Europe's most active volcano, Mt. Etna has been steadily erupting since last week, belching smoke, ash, and fountains of red-hot lava.
• Mount Etna, on the Italian island of Sicily, has been largely dormant for the past two years. Authorities have reported no danger to the nearby towns and there has been no disruption to air traffic. Its last major eruption was in 1992.
• Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

• Yusuf Pathan has announced his retirement from all formats of the game on Friday. He played 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is for India between 2007 and 2012.
• He was part of the 2007 T20 World Cup as well as the 2011 ODI World Cup, both of which were won by the Indian team.
• Pathan played for Baroda in domestic cricket throughout his career. In the IPL, he had some highly successful seasons with Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. He has played 174 matches in the IPL. He was the first cricketer to win three IPL trophies.
• Yusuf Pathan’s 37-ball century in the IPL 2010 season against Mumbai Indians is still the second-fastest in the history of the tournament and the fastest among Indians.
• He last played in the Indian T20 extravaganza in 2019 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad but was released ahead of the 2020 season.

• Former Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment and ex-BJP MP, Vijay Sampla,  took charge as chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).
• Sampla is the former MP from Hoshiarpur in Punjab and MoS from 2014-2019. He said the Commission would engage with the government when it came to planning socio-economic development schemes for SCs and prevention of atrocities against them.
• The post had been vacant since BJP MP Ram Shankar Katheria’s term ended in May 2020. The delay in filling the vacancy of the chairman’s post as well as vice-chairman and members had been taken up by an NGO that moved the Supreme Court.

• Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved an operation to kill or capture a U.S.-based journalist inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report.
• The central conclusion of the report was widely expected given that intelligence officials were said to have reached it soon after the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s authoritarian consolidation of power.
• Khashoggi had visited the Saudi consulate in Turkey planning to pick up documents needed for his wedding. Once inside, he died at the hands of more than a dozen Saudi security and intelligence officials and others who had assembled ahead of his arrival.

• Guru Ravidas Jayanti is celebrated on Magh Purnima, which means the full moon day during Magh. This year happens to be the 639th Birth Anniversary of the guru. This year, Guru Ravidas Jayanti is being marked on February 27.
• Saint Ravidas wrote many devotional songs which became popular during the bhakti movement. It is also believed that Guru Ravidas is the founder of 21st-century Ravidassia religion.
• Guru Ravidas had written some devotional songs which found place in the holy Guru Granth Sahib. The saint-poet worked religiously towards reforming the people from social evils such as caste system.
• Around 40 of the poems accredited to Ravidas were included in the AdiGranth, the sacred scripture of Sikhism. It is generally believed that Ravidas met Guru Nanak, the first Guru, and founder of the Sikh tradition.