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• A coalition of 16 US states led by California has sued President Donald Trump's administration over his decision to declare a national emergency.


• Trump invoked emergency powers to bypass Congress and obtain funds for building a wall along the US-Mexico border. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said they are taking Trump to court "to block his misuse of presidential power".

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• China's government accused the United States of trying to block its industrial development by alleging that Chinese telecom gear is a cybersecurity threat.


• And in a potential blow to the US claims, British media reported that the country's intelligence agencies have found it is possible to limit the risks of using Chinese-made networks.


• The US says that Beijing might use Chinese tech companies to gather intelligence about foreign countries.


• The US has been putting pressure on allies to shun networks supplied by Huawei Technologies, threatening the company's access to global markets for next-generation wireless gear.

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• Poland's prime minister cancelled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem after the acting Israeli foreign minister said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk."


• The developments mark a new low in a bitter conflict over how to remember and characterize Polish actions toward Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II.

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• Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir lashed out at Iran, calling it the “world’s chief sponsor of terrorism” and accusing it of sponsoring terrorism for decades while blaming others for terrorist activities on its soil.


• The minister, who was part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visiting delegation, delivered an angry diatribe against Iran, his country’s historical religio-political rival state in the region, in Islamabad while addressing a joint press conference with Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

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• Revenue Department of Telangana has issued a notification stating about the creation of 2 new districts in Telangana– Mulugu and Narayanpet.


• With the creation of 2 districts, total number of districts in Telangana has augmented to 33.


• District Naraynpet and Mulugi has been carved out of the District Mahabubnagar and Bhupalapally districts respectively.

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• 40th International Annual Desert Festival kicked off in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. It will exhibit rich cultural heritage of the state and attract thousands of tourists from all over the world to the Golden City.


• The festival is held amidst the beautiful dunes of the Thar Desert in the Sam dunes. It commences with a procession from the Jaisalmer Fort to the Shahid Poonam Singh Stadium.


• On the opening day, the Border Security Force presented a camel tattoo show. The festival is organised by the Rajasthan tourism and district administration of Rajasthan.

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• Foundation stone for the Patna Metro Rail Project was laid down by PM Narendra Modi, which is worth more than Rs 13,000 crore (estimated cost Rs 13,365.77crore) and will be completed in the next 5 years. The project will benefit about 27 lakh people of the state.


• PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the River Front Development at Patna and the Patna City Gas Distribution Project(CGD).


• The PM inaugurated the newly constructed building at the Women’s Engineering College in Ramgarh The prime minister laid the foundation stone for 2,718 Piped Water Supply schemes for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups and a Tribal Studies Centre at the Hazaribagh-based Acharya Vinoba Bhave University.

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• India pacer Mohammad Shami donated ₹5 lakh to the CRPF families' welfare fund to support the families of 40 CRPF jawans, who were martyred in the Pulwama attack.


• Shami said "This is a very tough time for their families and he would like to request everyone to come together in support of our brothers in the armed forces".

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• Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, urged the Centre to ensure the safety and security of the Kashmiris everywhere.


• They jointly appealed for maintaining communal harmony across the country following reports of attacks on Kashmiris. They added that it doesn't augur well for a democratic country like India to hound its own people.

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• Sikkim’s Chief Minister, Pawan Kumar Chamling, who holds charge of the Finance Department, presented the interim Budget for Financial Year (FY) 2019-20 of Rs 3,566.29 crore in the State Legislative Assembly on the inaugural day of the two-day session.


• It comprises of Revenue Expenditure of Rs 2,713.88 crore and Capital Expenditure of Rs 852.41 crore for half of the duration of the FY 2019-20.


• It will be discussed and voted on by the House on 20th February 2019, the last day of the 9th Legislative Assembly.


• 2 bills will also be put to vote on 20th February 2019. they are The Sikkim Regulation of Transfer of Land (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to ensure protection of land belonging to Limboo community introduced by Pawan Kumar Chamling, who also holds charge of Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department.


• The Sikkim Prohibition of Beggary (Amendment) Bill, 2019, introduced by the Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department Minister Tulshi Devi Rai which proposes to amend Section 25 of The Sikkim Prohibition of Beggary Act, 2004, which casts stigma on persons suffering from leprosy and also create a disability for them as per the direction given by the Supreme Court in 2018.

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• State-owned State Bank of India (SBI) has announced that it will waive off all loans taken by CRPF soldiers martyred in Pulwama attack.


• The country's largest bank also announced to expedite the payment of insurance money of ₹30 lakh as under the Defence Salary Package. SBI has also created a UPI payment gateway to facilitate donation to martyrs' families.

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• Finance minister Arun Jaitley called for further consolidation of India’s banking industry, saying the country needs fewer, stronger mega lenders to exploit economies of scale. He also dismissed fiscal concerns over welfare programmes announced in the February 1 budget.


• All such schemes have a cost but there has been reasonably high growth in revenue in the last five years as well, he told reporters after the finance minister’s customary post-budget address to the board of the central bank.

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• The 83rd Yonex Sunrise Senior Badminton Nationals were held at Guwahati, Assam.


• Saina Nehwal retained her women’s singles crown after defeating PV Sindhu.


• Sorabh Verma defeated Lakshya Sen to win the men’s singles crown for the third time (after 2011 and 2017).


• The team of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Chirag Shetty claimed the men’s doubles title after beating Arjun MR and Shlok Ramachandran.

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• Elise Merten, world number 21 from Belgium beat world number 3, Simona Halep to win the Qatar Open held in Doha, Qatar. This is said to be the biggest title of her career.


• She won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, braving an eight-minute medical timeout for back pain in the second set which made her lose 18 points in a row at one stage.


• This victory was her third over a top ten player in Doha in the current week and second over Grand Slam Championship. Her splendid current record includes defeating Angelique Kerber and Kiki Bertens despite being knocked out of the tournament in the first-round last year.


• This is her first WTA Premier-level crown and fifth title of her overall career.

• First Mallakhamb World Championship was held in Mumbai in which India became the winner.


• This sport involves athletes performing various yogic and gymnastic poses while hanging from a rope or on a pole.


• 15 countries participated in the event- Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, USA, Iran, Norway, England, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Bahrain, and India.


• An audio-visual presentation about the workshops and practice of the ancient Indian sport held in Germany was given by Ruth Anzenberger, German team coach.

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• A 22-year old men’s indoor world record in 1,500 metres was broken by Samuel Tefera, an Ethiopian teenager.


• He broke the record at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix by finishing the race in 3 minutes, 31.04 seconds He achieved this by defeating Yomif Kejelchain final bend by 0.54 seconds and 200m.

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• Mallakhamb coach, Uday Deshpande and bats woman, Smriti Mandhana, were awarded the Maharashtra State Government’s Shiv Chhatrapati Award by the State’s Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao at an event held at the Gateway of India, Mumbai.


• Uday Deshpande was awarded with the Shiv Chhatrapati life-time achievement award for dedicating his life to the traditional sport, Mallakhamb.


• Shiv Chhatrapati award for players among several others was presented to Smriti Mandhana, opening batswoman of the Indian Women’s Cricket team.

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• A Jharkhand based NGO Yuwa won the Laureus Sports for Good Award. Yuwa works for girl empowerment and became the third Indian entry to receive this honour.


• Yuwa prepares girls to break the cycle of poverty permanently. The program has used team sports and education to build character, confidence and courage among girls.


• Yuwa was founded in 2009 by Americans Franz Gastler and Rose Thomson. It runs a football program in rural Jharkhand with 450 girls. In 2004, Indian Cricket team and Pakistan counterpart shared Laureus Award for the first time and recently by Magic Bus in 2014.


• Legendary footballer and coach Arsene Charles Ernest Wenger kicked football with the young Indian girls of Yuwa before the announcement. Missy Franklin who is a five time Olympic Champion too was inspired by the story of young Indian girls.

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• President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Rabindranath Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony for the year 2014, 2015 and 2016 at the Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi.


• The awardees were Shri Rajkumar Singhajit Singh for the year 2014, Chhayanaut (a cultural organization of Bangladesh) for the year 2015, Shri Ram Sutar Vanji for the year for 2016.


• The Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony was instituted by the Government of India for promoting values of Cultural Harmony from 2012 and it is awarded annually and carries an amount of Rs 1 crore.


• Pandit Ravi Shankar was the first to receive the award in 2012 followed by Maestro Zubin Mehta in 2013, who was the second.

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• Bureaucrat Dhanya Sanal K became the first woman to climb Agasthyarkoodam peak in Kerala. There was an unofficial ban for women to trek the peak which was swept aside by Kerala High Court.


• Agasthyarkoodam peak is a 1868 metre high mountain peak within Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. It lies on Kerala and Tamil Nadu border.


• It is a pilgrimage centre as of Hindu Puranas for the devotees of Agasthya. Agasthya is considered as the father of Tamil language and Malayalam language is said to be born from him.

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• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) appointed 2 senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers, Sandeep Mohan Bhatnagar and Ashok Kumar Pandey as its members.


• Ashok Kumar Pandey is a 1983-batch Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) officer and Sandeep Mohan Bhatnagar is a 1984-batch IRS officer.

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• German sports and lifestyle brand PUMA has appointed the 6 time world champion woman M C Mary Kom as its new brand ambassador of the company.


• Mary Kom is now PUMA India’s new ambassador for their women’s training category and will be representing the brand in marketing campaigns.


• Mary Kom will steer brand’s advertising campaign #DoYou that aims to motivate women across the nation to be strong and accomplish their goals.


• The association was facilitated by IOS sports and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. which primarily entitles Mary Kom.

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• Indian-origin global negotiator, Professor Faizel Ismail, was appointed as the director of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance.


• He is a professor at the University of Cape Town (UCT)’s School of Economics and has served as an Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation and a Senior Advisor to the Minister of Trade and Industry in the past. He has also chaired the International Trade and Administration Commission from 2015 to 2018, and was reappointed for a five-year term till 2023.


• He is known for his role in negotiating major agreements for South Africa, including the Southern African Customs Union and Trade& Development Agreement with the European Union.


• Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance was established in 2011 and has trained 1,400 students from across Africa in leadership and academic programmes.

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• Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma inaugurated India’s very first ‘Fulldome 3D Digital Theatre’ at the Science City in Kolkata, West Bengal.


• It has a 23-metre tilted dome to offer a fully immersive experience to the visitors and is capable of screening high resolution, full dome, and digital 2D/3D content by utilising 6 high-end projectors in a 23-meter diameter dome using Ulteria Seam technology.


• It is fully funded by the Ministry of Culture at a cost of Rs 20 crore.

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• A climate scientist Wallace Smith Broecker who popularized the term "global warming" has died. Wallace Smith Broecker was 87.


• Columbia University said the longtime professor and researcher died at a New York City hospital.

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