ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

• 1967 Stalin's daughter defects to the West
• 1987 193 people die when a ferry capsizes in the North Sea
• 1899 The painkiller Asprin is registered as a trademark

NATIONAL

• Indira Gandhi, Amrit Kaur named by TIME among '100 Women of the Year'. They have been named by the TIME magazine among world's 100 powerful women who defined the last century in a new project that "spotlights influential women who were often overshadowed.
• RBI Deputy Governor Vishwanathan to quit by Mar 31 over health issues. While the Reserve Bank has accepted his request to be relieved by March 31, the same has to be accepted by the Cabinet as well, which is likely to happen any day given his health condition
• Coronavirus does not spread through chicken, mutton, seafood: FSSAI chief GSG Ayyangar. Ayyangar also said that it is a matter of time that vaccine for coronavirus will be developed as India has a good track of handling viruses.
• Maharaja Ranjit Singh named greatest world leader in BBC Poll. The 19th-century ruler of the Sikh Empire in India has beaten competition from around the world to be named the "Greatest Leader of All Time" in a poll. Singh was praised for creating a new tolerant empire.

INTERNATIONAL

• Former UN chief Javier Perez de Cuellar dies at 100. Lauded by his countrymen as one of the most illustrious Peruvians of his era, Perez de Cuellar served as UN secretary-general from 1981 to 1991, when he was often described as a "pacifist by vocation and nature."
• International Monetary Fund makes available $50 bn to help low income and emerging market countries combat Coronavirus. Of this, 10 billion dollars is available at zero interest for the poorest members through the rapid credit facility.
• US House of Representatives passes $8.3 bn emergency funding bill to combat coronavirus. The bill includes $3 billion to develop vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for coronavirus; $2.2 billion for public health response efforts; $1 billion for medical supplies and other health care preparedness efforts.

------------------------------------------------