News in Short

• Iran said that the misalignment of an air defence unit’s radar system was the key “human error” that led to the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January.
• Flight 752, a Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s main airport on January 8, at a time of heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions.
• The Islamic republic admitted several days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kiev-bound plane.
• The report also noted that the first of the two missiles launched at the aircraft was fired by a defence unit operator who had acted without receiving any response from the Coordination Center on which he depended.

• The Centre has completed an integration process between the electronic toll system and the vehicle registration portal to ensure FASTags don't become redundant.
• While FASTags now come pre-fitted on new cars, often owners fail to update their FASTag id after receiving the registration number of their new vehicles.
• This would result in the RFID device used for the collection of tolls getting blacklisted and becoming redundant. As a result, in the beginning, there were 50%-60% FASTags which were blacklisted which would slow down the entire system of online toll collection.

• The Russian Health Ministry has informed that the human trials of the Coronavirus vaccine has been completed and will soon be launched after analysis.
• The vaccine is being developed and produced by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology along with the Russian defence ministry. The trials are being conducted in the Sechenov University.
• While over 7 million virus-infected people have recovered so far, scientists and other healthcare systems worldwide are trying to upgrade the production and development of a potential Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible.

• US-based Qualcomm Inc will invest ? 730 crore in Jio Platforms for a 0.15 percent stake, joining other big-name investors in the digital unit of Reliance.
• Qualcomm is the third strategic investor after Facebook Inc and US semiconductor company Intel in Jio Platforms, which comprises telecom company Jio Infocomm and movie, news and music apps.
• The deal with Qualcomm means Reliance has sold 25.24 percent in Jio. RIL has now raised Rs 118,318.45 crore in total from some of the world’s leading tech investors.

• West Bengal MLA Debendra Nath Ray was found dead under mysterious circumstances near his home in North Dinajpur district.
• Ray had won the Hemtabad (reserved) seat on a CPI-M ticket in 2016 but later joined the BJP. He had, however, not quit his assembly seat.
• The BJP has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the lawmaker’s unnatural death.