News in Short

• Researchers have developed a new way to spot melanoma skin cancer cells circulating in the blood that could provide a new avenue for cancer diagnosis and therapies.
• Until now melanoma circulating tumour cells have proved to be incredibly elusive, with detection rates wildly varying from 40 to 87 per cent. With the new approach, the researchers raised detection rates to 72 per cent which is higher than using one test.
• Cancer spreads around the body when circulating tumour cells (CTCs) shed from the primary tumour and travel through the blood to form secondary tumours (metastases) in other organs.

• Scientists have recently discovered a species of virus whose genome has reportedly never been documented in viral research before.
• The virus is called the Yaravirus and was recovered from LakePampulha, an artificial lake in the Brazilian city of BeloHorizonte.
• The virus is named after Yara or Iara,  a water-queen figure in Brazilian mythology that is usually depicted as a water nymph.
• Scientists are yet to conclude the nature or category of the Yaravirus but expect it to be a distant kind of giant virus that may somehow have evolved into a reduced form.

• The results of the Delhi Assembly election was announced where incumbent Aam Aadmi party (AAP) has emerged victorious with 62 seats.
• The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came in second with 8 seat whereas the INC failed to open its account for the second consecutive term.
• With this result, incumbent Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to occupy the position for the 3rd consecutive time.

• U.S. President Donald Trump will visit India on February 24 and 25, as per an official announcement from the White House. Mr. Trump and the First Lady Melania Trump will visit Ahmedabad and New Delhi.
• The Indian and the U.S. sides are trying to put together a limited trade deal which Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump will sign on to during the visit.
• A defence deal is also reportedly on the cards. India is preparing to approve a $2.6 billion deal for 24 MH-60 Seahawk helicopters from Lockheed Martin.

• The four Indian pilots chosen as candidate-astronauts began their 12-month training at the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in Moscow.
• The full programme includes basic or generic astronaut training followed by activities specific to the first Indian human space mission, Gaganyaan.
• In June 2019, the Human Space Flight Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Russian government-owned Glavkosmos signed a contract for the training, which includes Russian support in the selection of candidates, their medical examination, and space training.