Source: Click Here

• Burundi's parliament has voted to pay $530,000 (£400,000) to President Pierre Nkurunziza and provide him with a luxury villa when he leaves office.


• The draft law, which has been presented to the cabinet for approval, also awards him a lifetime salary.


• It also proposes that Mr. Nkurunziza be elevated to the title of "supreme leader" when he steps down in May.


• Burundi was plunged into a constitutional crisis in 2015 when he successfully ran for a third term.

Source: Click Here

• Bushfires near the Australian capital Canberra forced the city's airport to close, as passenger flights were halted to make way for aircraft working to extinguish the blazes, authorities said.


• High temperatures and strong winds fuelled an outbreak of new blazes across several areas in eastern Australia, ending a period of respite following several days of rains and cooler weather.

Source: Click Here

• US President Donald Trump said he plans to attend the March for Life rally this week and become the first president ever to address in-person America's biggest gathering of anti-abortion activists.


• "See you on Friday... Big Crowd!" Trump, who is seeking re-election in November, tweeted about the procession in Washington.

Source: Click Here

• President Donald Trump and his Iraqi counterpart Barham Saleh agreed on the need for a continued US military role in the country, the White House said.


• In Davos, Switzerland, the two presidents held their first meeting since the United States killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, sparking an Iraqi parliament call for the expulsion of US troops.

Source: Click Here

• The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Haryana will now be under the charge of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar after state Home Minister Anil Vij was divested of the charge of the crucial department.


• "Governor of Haryana, on the advice of the chief minister, has allocated some new portfolios to the chief minister and to two ministers.

Source: Click Here

• US President Donald Trump complained that his country has not been "treated fairly" by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), stating that the United States is not considered a "developing nation" while China and India are, by the global trade body.


• "But the World Trade Organisation as you know, I've had a dispute running with them for quite a while, because our country hasn't been treated fairly.


• China is viewed as a developing nation. India is viewed as a developing nation. We've not viewed a developing nation," the US President said while speaking at a press conference, according to a transcript by the White House.

Source: Click Here

• Barring a few incidents, polling for 120 municipalities and nine corporations in Telangana went off peacefully with 70.26 per cent voter turnout, officials said.


• The polling began at 7 am and ended at 5 pm. The officials said those who stood in queues were allowed to cast their votes even after the scheduled time of closure.

Source: Click Here

• What do a piece of Blue Pottery from Jaipur, a mural of the 2nd century BC Ajanta Caves, and a fresco on the wall of the Martyr’s Memorial Auditorium in the sleepy town of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh have in common with the Preamble of the Indian Constitution


• In December 1946, as a newly-formed Constituent Assembly began its task of deliberating over the shape the Constitution must take, in West Bengal’s famous Viswa Bharati school at Santiniketan, a group of artists led by Nandalal Bose and which included his protégé, Rammanohar Sinha as well as Kripal Singh Shekhawat, was giving shape to another kind of vision.

Source: Click Here

• The Union Public service commission has released the personality test schedule for civil services main examination 2019 January 22, 2020. Candidates who have been shortlisted for the interview round can check the schedule online at upsc.gov.in.


• UPSC will be conducting the personality test for the civil services main examination 2019 from February 17 to April 3, 2020. The Civil Service preliminary examination was held on June 2, 2019. The result for which was declared on July 12, 2019.

Source: Click Here

• Central Board of secondary education has released the examination dates for the Central Teacher’s eligibility test. According to the press release, CBSE will be conducting the CTET on July 5, 2020, at various examination centres spread across the country.


• The detailed notification and the registration process will begin on January 24, 2020. Interested and eligible candidates can apply for the exam online at ctet.nic.in from January 24 onwards. As per the notice, the last date to apply for the exam is February 24, 2020. However, the application fee can be paid until February 27, 2020, until 3: 30 pm.

Source: Click Here

• Rising inflation is expected to keep the Reserve Bank of India from cutting rates again until late this year, while an expansionary federal budget due next month attempts to put a floor under rapidly-slowing growth, a Reuters poll found.


• Last month a rate cut at the February 4-6 meeting was a close call but with the latest inflation print showing a sharp increase - accelerating to its highest in more than five years and above the upper band of the RBI's target range - the central bank will be forced to stay on the sidelines.

Source: Click Here

• The rupee depreciated by 3 paise to 71.22 against the US dollar in early trade amid rising demand for the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies overseas, even as crude oil prices eased.


• Besides, foreign fund outflows also weighed on the rupee, forex dealers said. However, a positive opening in the domestic equity market supported the rupee and restricted the fall, they added.

Source: Click Here

• The Indian wrestling team has clinched 7 medals (4 gold, 2 silver and a bronze) in the 1st edition of UWW (United World Wrestling) Rome Ranking Series 2020 held from January 15 – 18,2020 in the Italian Capital, Rome.


• The 4-day tournament, organized by UWW, has featured all the 3 disciplines – freestyle, Greco Roman and women’s wrestling.

Source: Click Here

• Carolyn Malsawmtluangi, aged just 11, this little girl from Mizoram has become an epitome of courage and quick presence of mind by saving a minor from being abducted.


• A student of class four in Muana Primary School, Carolyn not only mustered the courage to rescue a child from the clutches of her kidnapper but also reunited her with her family after four days.

Source: Click Here

• Athens, Greece (CNN)High court judge and human rights advocate Katerina Sakellaropoulou has been elected Greece's first female president by parliament.


• Sakellaropoulou was nominated by the ruling conservative New Democracy party, but also managed to secure the backing of the main opposition party Syriza and the center-left Movement for Change.

Source: Click Here

• In its second attempt to soft-land on the Moon, India began working on its third lunar mission -- Chandrayaan-3 which is scheduled for launch in early 2021, a top space official said.


• On January 1, Sivan told the media in Bengaluru that the government had approved the ambitious mission for soft-landing of a spacecraft and a rover near the Moon's south pole in the later part of 2020 or early 2021.

Source: Click Here

• Terry Jones, a founding member of the anarchic Monty Python troupe who was hailed by a colleague as “the complete Renaissance comedian,” has died after a battle with dementia.


• Mr. Jones’s family said the 77-year-old died Tuesday evening at his home in London. In a statement, his family said he died “after a long, extremely brave but always good-humored battle with a rare form of dementia, FTD.”