1 February

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

• 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on its way back to Earth
• 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 years in exile
• 1884 The first fascicle of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published

NATIONAL

• India Jumps up 79 positions in World Bank Doing Business Rankings. The Goods and Service Tax and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code top the list of reforms that have propelled India’s rise in rankings.
• Neemuchwala resigns after 4 years as Wipro CEO. His term had another year, but Neemuchwala has cited “family commitments” for wanting to leave.

INTERNATIONAL

• Coronavirus: WHO declares global emergency. Foreign governments have been flying home their citizens from Hubei and holding them in quarantine, while airlines including Air France, American Airlines and British Airways have stopped flying to mainland China
• Greta Thunberg nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Swedish MPs. Thunberg, was mentioned as a possible Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2019, when the honour ultimately went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his efforts to resolve a long-running conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.

ENVIRONMENT

• Australia wildfire: First state of emergency declared in Canberra. The fire danger is forecast to escalate across the southeast in the Australian Capital Territory and the states of New South Wales and Victoria as summer temperatures rise over the weekend.