News in Short

• The Pentagon released three declassified videos that show US navy pilots encountering what appear to be unidentified flying objects.
• The three videos show what the pilots saw during training flights in 2004 and 2015. Two of the videos were published by the New York Times in 2017.
• The release of the videos by the Pentagon adds to the legitimacy of the videos and will spur more speculation that humans have recently interacted with extra-terrestrials.

• Chinese scientists say the novel coronavirus will not be eradicated, adding to a growing consensus around the world that the pathogen will likely return in waves like the flu.
• Some public health experts are calling for the virus to be allowed to spread in a controlled way through younger populations like India’s, while countries like Sweden have opted out of strict lockdowns.
• While some, including U.S. President Donald Trump, have expressed hope that the virus’s spread will slow as the temperature in northern hemisphere countries rises in the summer, Chinese experts said that they found no evidence for this.

• The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has downgraded India to the lowest ranking, “countries of particular concern” (CPC) in its 2020 report.
• The report, released in Washington by the federal government commission that functions as an advisory body, placed India alongside countries, including China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
• India was categorised as a “Tier 2 country” in last year’s listing. This is the first time since 2004 that India has been placed in this category.

• Bollywood and Hollywood actor Irrfan Khan has passed away at the age of 54, after a long battle with cancer. He was admitted to the ICU following an infection.
• The actor had been unwell ever since he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018, and was under treatment for the same.
• Irrfan Khan is known for a range of successful films and his performances in them, such as Paan Singh Tomar, The Lunchbox, Haider, Piku, Hindi Medium, among others.
• He was also part of Hollywood outings such as Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire, Inferno, Jurassic World, The Amazing Spider-Man, etc.

• For the first time since 2004, a tropical cyclone over the north Indian ocean would have a Tamil name, Murasu, meaning an ancient musical instrument, a type of drum.
• It is one of the names listed for tropical cyclones over the north Indian ocean prepared by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) panel.
• With the first list of names suggested for tropical cyclones being used, except for Amphan suggested by Thailand, a fresh list of names has been prepared by the WMO panel for identifying cyclones developing over the north Indian ocean, including in Arabian Sea.
• The new list has names suggested by five new member countries — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen and the U.A.E.