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• China confirmed that humans can be infected by other humans with the new, fast-spreading virus that has triggered alarm bells across the world, including in India where officials have now begun a sweeping identification of people who are or may be flying in from any Chinese city.


• According to officials in Beijing, 14 medical staff have been infected by the previously unseen coronavirus, the number of patients has more than trebled, and new infections have been reported from more Chinese cities – confirming fears that the virus is highly contagious.

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• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was defeated in parliament for the first time since a December election, with the upper chamber voting in favour of a move to protect the rights of EU citizens in Britain after Brexit.


• Johnson’s Conservatives won a large majority in the lower chamber, the House of Commons, at the December 12 vote and lawmakers there quickly approved the legislation needed to ratify his exit deal with Brussels earlier this month.

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• Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump will meet this week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the Foreign Office announced.


• Khan would attend the WEF in Davos, Switzerland, from January 21 to 23 at the invitation of Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF.

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• Hundreds of protesters calling on global leaders to take swifter action on climate change will face up to 5,000 military personnel and police from across Switzerland as they march to the ski resort of Davos for a planned demonstration.


• Greta Thunberg, the 17-year-old Swedish activist, is due to address the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering of global business and political leaders, where U.S. President Donald Trump is the headline speaker.


• The 50th edition of the meeting sees the return of Trump after he pulled out in 2019.

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• Here are today’s top news, analysis and opinion curated for you at 9 AM. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.


• Out of 36 Union ministers, who are currently on Jammu and Kashmir visit, only five will travel to three districts of Kashmir from as part of the Centre’s outreach program after the nullification of Article 370, according to officials.

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• A scholar of law, economics, sociology and political science, BR Ambedkar was born in 1891 in the Central Provinces at a time when people from oppressed castes faced formidable barriers in education and jobs.


• Nevertheless, Ambedkar earned doctorates from Columbia University and the London School of Economics before plunging into Indian politics and organising the lower castes.


• Often called the Father of the Constitution, Ambedkar was the head of the drafting committee and India’s first law minister.

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• The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one of its oldest allies, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), will not be fighting the Delhi assembly elections together, the latter said, citing differences over the amendment to India’s citizenship law.


• The BJP said its allies, the Janata Dal United (JD-U) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) would contest two seats and one seat respectively, but did not name any for the Akalis, which whom it had an alliance in the 2015 election.

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• The Indian Railways organizes summer internship, starting from 2015, to familiarize students pursuing graduation, post graduation in engineering and MBA with the working of railways.


• The duration of the internship is two months and candidates get to study logistics, financial management, HR, materials management, project management and other technical matters related to the railways. Zonal railways, production units and PSUs of Indian railways conduct the internship.

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• West Central Railway has announced jobs for candidates who have passed class 10 and have ITI trade certificate.


• A total of 1273 vacancies have been announced by the railways for apprenticeship, selection to which will be through merit. There will be no written test or interview for selection to apprenticeship.

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• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released minutes of its central board meeting held in Chandigarh on October 11. This comes as the first step towards increasing transparency in its workings.


• “In future, the minutes will be placed on the RBI website within two weeks from the date of its confirmation in the next meeting of the Central Board and on being signed by the chairman in the same meeting,” the regulator said in January 20.

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• International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist Gita Gopinath, said India is the biggest contributor to the downward revision in growth projections for emerging market and developing economies.


• In a blog post on the IMF's website, she said that while there are signs of stabilization, the global growth outlook remains sluggish and there are no clear signs of a turning point.

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• India's top ranked tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran missed out on a chance to play against world no.2 Novak Djokovic as he crashed out in the men's singles opening round of the Australian Open.


• World no.122 Prajnesh, who entered the main draw as a lucky loser in the qualifiers, lost in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 against Japanese wild card Tatsuma Ito, ranked 22 places below the Indian, in a rescheduled first round tie that lasted for two hours and one minute.

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• Maria Sharapova's faltering career hit a fresh low when the five-time Grand Slam champion was turfed out in the first round of the Australian Open in straight sets.


• The 32-year-old former world number one carried a haunted look at times in a 3-6, 4-6 defeat to Croatia's 19th-seeded Donna Vekic.


• There were flashes of the form that helped make Sharapova one of the most marketable women in sport, the 145th-ranked Russian coming back from 5-1 down in the first set.

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• Hailed time and again for being bold enough to share her tryst with depression, out in public, Chhapaak star Deepika Padukone was awarded for her leadership in raising mental health awareness at the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos.


• Landing with the Crystal Award for her tireless efforts in dissing the taboo around mental health, Deepika shared her own struggle with it.

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• The government appointed heads of three large public sector banks - Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Canara bank for a period of three years.


• Sanjiv Chadha has been appointed as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bank of Baroda (BoB) by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). He succeeds P S Jayakumar, whose term ended in October last year.


• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) appointed Lingam Venkat Prabhakar as MD & CEO of Canara Bank and Atanu Kumar Das as MD & CEO of Bank of India. Prabhakar was the executive director of Punjab National Bank and he will be replacing RA Sankara Narayanan who will retire end of this month.


• Atanu Kumar Das has been appointed as the MD and CEO in Bank of India. He will head the bank for three years from date of assuming office. He is at present working as the Executive Director in the same bank.

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• The ISRO said it has successfully completed the three orbit-raising manoeuvres of communication satellite GSAT-30, which was launched on January 17 onboard Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.


• The space agency said the cumulative duration of operation of the propulsion system for these manoeuvres was two hours and 29 minutes.


• Due to these maneuvers, the ISRO succeeded in placing the satellite in an orbit close to its operational orbit.