• An Artificial Intelligence-based police officer called “Ella” has made its place in the New Zealand Police force.
• Ella is a virtual assistant with a face. Basically, it is like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa but with a human like Face.

• The government of India has announced all medical devices sold in the country would be treated as “drugs” with effect from 1 April 2020.
• All devices will be regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940. Currently, 23 medical devices have been classified as drugs.

• Indian Railways has launched its first ‘Restaurant on Wheels’ at Asansol Railway station for the use of Railway passengers as well as general public of Asansol, West Bengal.

• Molecules of oxygen have been tracked for the first time to a strange and distant galaxy - Markarian 231, millions of light-years away.
• This is only the third time trails of oxygen molecules have been detected beyond the solar system. Earlier, in the span of the last 20 years, the molecules were found only in the Orion Nebula and the Rho Ophiuchi, both part of our milky way galaxy.
• Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the Universe, behind hydrogen (naturally) and helium. So its chemistry and abundance in interstellar clouds are important for understanding the role of molecular gas in galaxies.

• Britain’s Prince Charles has unveiled a new children’s protection fund for India as part of British Asian Trust, the charity founded by him in 2007 to fight poverty in South Asia.
• Popular American singer Katy Perry has been named as the ambassador of the new fund, which will be focused on reducing the exploitation of children by 50 per cent in India over 10 years.

• It is a thematic exhibition on handicrafts to promote Geographical Indication (GI) crafts and heritage of India.
• The Ministry of Textiles is organising Kala Kumbh and it is being sponsored by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).
• The exhibitions are planned in various major cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
• The GI tag is used on handicrafts which correspond to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country).
• As on August 2019, 178 GI handicraft products were registered from all over India.

• Curt Bergfors Foundation of Sweden has created two USD 1 million prizes - Food Planet Prize - for solutions to feed billions of people, as climate change threatens the world’s food supply and a growing population requires sustainable food systems.
• Two Food Planet Prizes will be awarded annually, one to “an existing scalable solution for sustainable foods”, the second for “innovative initiatives that could transform the global food sector”.

Oscar 2020

• The 92nd Academy Awards (Oscars)  ceremony took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California on 9 February 2020. Oscar Awards are given by the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
• The first non-English language film ‘Parasite’ directed by Bong Joon Ho, won the best picture award.

Major Awards/Winners

• Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix – Joker
• Best Actress: Renée Zellweger – Judy
• Best Director: Bong Joon ho – Parasite
• Best Picture: Parasite
• Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
• Best Animated Short: Hair Love
• Best Original Screenplay: Parasite
• Best Documentary: American Factory
• Best Cinematography: 1917
• Best International Feature Film: Parasite

• The Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal was conferred Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee Award 2020, instituted by India Foundation, an independent research centre focussed on the issues, challenges and opportunities of the Indian polity.

• Five-time grand slam winner Maria Sharapova of Russia has announced her retirement from tennis.
• She won five Grand Slam (Women Singles) titles — two at the French Open and one each at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

• The first Khelo India University Games was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Panjab University, Chandigarh took home the champions trophy-winning 46 medals (17 gold, 19 silver, and 10 bronze).
• Savitribai Phule Pune University, Maharashtra claimed the second position with 37 medals (17 gold, 11 silver, and 9 bronze) and Punjabi University, Patiala secured the 3rd position with 33 medals (13 gold, 6 silver, and 14 bronze).