News in Short

• Asian employees account for nearly 29%in Twitter workforce, according to a company report titled ‘Inclusion & Diversity Q4 2020’.
• It also revealed that nearly 43% of its workforce is women, and that the microblogging site is committed to expanding the number of women employees to 50% of it entire workforce by 2025.
• Earlier, Twitter set the goal of having at least 25% of the overall U.S. workforce be under-represented minorities by 2025, of which at least 10% will be Black.
• At present, the representation of Black employees stands at 6.5% of the total U.S. workforce.
• The Latino community represent less than 6% of the employee base. Multi-racial employees account for less than 4%.
• While Black employees account for 6.5% of all leadership roles, they represent less than 6% in technical roles, according to the report.

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed senior UN official Siddharth Chatterjee of India as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China.
• Resident Coordinators are the UN Secretary-General’s representatives for development at the country level. They lead UN teams supporting countries to recover better from the COVID-19 pandemic through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Mr. Chatterjee has more than 25 years of experience in international cooperation, sustainable development, humanitarian coordination, and peace and security.
• Most recently, Mr. Chatterjee served as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kenya, after holding other leadership positions across the organisation.

• The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) of China is about to open its doors for foreign astronomers to use, hoping to attract the world’s top scientific talent.
• The world’s second-largest radio telescope, at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, was destroyed recently when its suspended 900-tonne receiver platform came loose and plunged 140 metres (450 feet) onto the radio dish below.
• The Chinese installation in Guizhou province, is up to three times more sensitive than the U.S.-owned one, and is surrounded by a five-kilometre “radio silence” zone where mobile phones and computers are not allowed.

• India celebrates Vijay Diwas on 16^th December to mark the decisive victory over Pakistan in 1971, which resulted in the liberation of East Pakistan and the creation of the new country of Bangladesh.
• On this day in 1971, the Chief of the Pakistani Forces, General Niazi along with 93,000 of his soldiers surrendered to Indian forces.
• Vijay Diwas or Victory Day is celebrated in India every year on December 16. The day is also observed in Bangladesh as 'Bijoy Dibos' or Bangladesh Liberation Day, that marks its formal independence from Pakistan.

• A scientific expedition high in the Bolivian Andes revealed 20 species new to science, including “lilliputian frog” plus four rediscovered species including the “devil-eyed frog” previously thought to be extinct.
• The lilliputian frog measures only about 10 millimeters in length, making it one of the smallest amphibians in the world.
• Four new butterfly species were also discovered, including two species of “metalmark butterflies”, which feed on flower nectar in open areas and forest clearings.
• The “devil-eyed frog, which was previously known only from a single individual observed more than 20 years ago, was found to be relatively abundant in the cloud forest.
• Also rediscovered was the “Alzatea verticillata,” a small flowering tree that was previously known only from a single record in Bolivia and was found on this expedition after 127 years.