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• President of United States of America (USA), Donald J. Trump signed the “Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA)” into law. The act establishes a multifaceted U.S. strategy to increase U.S. security, economic interests, and values in the Indo-Pacific region.


• The ARIA will authorize $1.5 billion over a five year period to enhance economic, diplomatic and security cooperation with strategic regional allies.


• The ARIA Act was introduced into the Senate in April by Senator Cory Gardner, and was co-sponsored by Senators Edward Markey, Marco Rubio, and Ben Cardin.


• ARIA was passed by the Senate on December 04 2018, and approved by the House on December 12 2018.


• ARIA draws attention to U.S. relations with China, India, the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Northeast Asian allies Japan and South Korea.

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• The White House meeting between President Donald Trump and top Congressional leaders on resolving the ongoing partial government shutdown ended in a stalemate, with Republicans and Democrats sticking to their respective positions over the presidential demand for a US-Mexico border wall.


• The President is seeking USD 5.2 billion in funding for the wall which according to him is a must to prevent flow of illegal immigrants into the US.

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• The US has urged its citizens travelling to China to exercise "increased caution" due to "arbitrary enforcement of local laws" and special restrictions on dual US-Chinese nationals, days after the detention of two Canadians by Chinese authorities.


• In an updated travel advisory, the US State Department said Chinese authorities have asserted broad authority to prohibit US citizens from leaving China by using "exit bans", sometimes keeping US citizens in China for years.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 5-day long ‘Indian Science Congress (ISC)-2019’ that will conclude on January 7, 2018, in Jalandhar, Punjab.


• It will be organized by Lovely Professional University, Punjab.


• The theme of 106th edition of ISC-2019, is: ‘Future India: Science and Technology’.


• The 5 day congress will include participation of 30,000 delegates including many Nobel Laureates, Union Cabinet Ministers of India, science policymakers, administrators, etc.


• 100 plus conferences and events of scientific and technology with participation of eminent personalities from DRDO, ISRO, DST, AIIMS, UGC, AICTE.


• Children’s Science Congress on 4th January 2019, two-day Science Communicators’ Meet- 2019 on January 5th, 2019, ‘Women’s Science Congress’ on 5th January, ‘Pride of India’ Expo with major exhibitors including CSIR, ISRO, DAE, ICMR, DST, DRDO, ICAR and more.


• The Nobel Laureates who will be participating include German-American biochemist Prof. Thomas Sudoph, who has been awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on vesicle trafficking.


• Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist and Nobel laureate in Chemistry Prof.Avram Hershko; and, a British born physicist Frederick Duncan Michael Haldane who has been awarded 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics.


• PM called for the invention of new low-cost technologies for the help of farmers.

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• Information, Public Relations and Tourism Division of Andaman and Nicobar Administration announced that the Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair will be an authorized Immigration Check post.


• Superintendent of Police (CID), Andaman and Nicobar Police has been appointed as the ‘Civil Authority’ for the purpose of the immigration check post.


• This would work as an entry into/exit point from India with valid travel documents for all classes of passengers.


• This opened up the Port Blair Airport for direct international flight and immigration facilities.

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• The Union Cabinet took several key decisions including setting up of a high-level committee (HLC) to implement Clause 6 of Assam Accord to hold discussions with all stakeholders on the quantum of reservation of seats in Assam Legislative Assembly and local bodies for Assamese people among other decisions.


• Union Cabinet has approved the setting up a high-level committee for implementation of clause 6 of the Assam Accord and measures envisaged in the Memorandum of Settlement, 2003 and other issues related to Bodo community.

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• The West Bengal government announced two welfare initiatives for farmers. Both initiatives, which are part of the ‘Krishi Krishak Bondhu’ scheme, will come into effect from 1st January 2019.


• The first of the two initiatives will provide Rs 2 lakh to the family of a deceased farmer. Under the second initiative, farmers would get Rs 2,500 twice a year for growing a single crop on one acre of land.

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• The UIDAI has issued a total of 122.90 crore Aadhaar cards as on November 30, 2018. Out of these, 6.71 crore Aadhaar cards were issued to children aged below five years while over 29 crore were given to those aged between 5-18 years.


• Union Minister Hansraj Ahir said the number of children born within last one year of the 2011 census is 2,08,98,228.

• The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, along with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), will organise the 4th International Conference on Pharmaceutical & Medical Device sector on February 18-19, 2019 in Bengaluru.


• The theme for India Pharma 2019 is ‘Enabling Quality Affordable Healthcare’ and that of India Medical Device 2019 is ‘Med-Tech India: Gearing up for Ayushman Bharat’.


• Over 150 CEOs of the global pharma and medical device industry are expected to participate.


• International Drug Regulators from 15 countries have been invited to the event for interaction with Indian Drug Regulators and Industry Regulatory Officers.


• Ambassadors and Commercial Counsellors of more than 50 countries have been invited for close interaction with India and participating Industry.

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• Punjab Cabinet approved the modalities for the distribution of smartphones, with graduating students of government schools, colleges and technical institutions to be covered in the first phase of the scheme.


• Students would be required to submit a Self-certification, stating that they do not already possess a smartphone.


• The scheme will give a further impetus to the state government’s digital empowerment agenda.


• In addition, one-time bundled 12 GB data and 600 local minutes talk time (voice) valid for one year would also be provided under the scheme.

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• Private sector insurer Bharti AXA Life Insurance started delivering policies and renewal premium receipt to customers via instant messaging platform WhatsApp as a part of its alternative service option to the policy holders.


• Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and French Insurance major AXA is one of the first few insurers to provide the option of policy contract, renewal premium receipts and claim intimation through whatsapp.


• The Policy contract will be available for download shortly after its issuance.


• Ishita Mukherjee is Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Vikas Seth is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of said.

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• Syndicate Bank and SBI Life Insurance signed a bancassurance pact aiming to offer a comprehensive financial planning solution to its customers.


• This was signed between Syndicate Bank MD & CEO, Mrutyunjay Mahapatraand MD and CEO of SBI Life, Sanjeev Nautiyal.


• Through the pact, Syndicate Bank will provide penetration in the market with its 3,000 branches and SBI Life’s diverse range of protection, wealth creation and savings insurance products will be brought to the table to the customers.

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• As per the latest data of Association of Mutual funds in India (AMFI), HDFC Mutual Fund has surpassed ICICI Prudential MF to become the country’s largest asset management company (AMC) after a gap of over two years.


• As per the data, as of December 2018, HDFC MF managed assets worth Rs 3.35 lakh crore, while those of ICICI Prudential MF stood at Rs 3.08 lakh crore.


• And consequently, the assets under management (AUM) of HDFC MF have grown over 9 per cent in October-December quarter from the last quarter.


• Whereas, ICICI Prudential MF’s AUM reduced by 0.6 per cent.


• Among other firms, SBI MF stood at the third slot with AUM of Rs 2.64 lakh crore, followed by Aditya Birla Sun Life MF (Rs 2.42 lakh crore) and Reliance MF (Rs 2.36 lakh crore).


• Overall, asset base of the country’s mutual fund industry was at Rs 23.61 lakh crore at the end of December quarter.

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• 30 years old Indian cricket team captain, Virat Kohli beats Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar’s to become the fastest batsman to score 19000 international runs on the 1st day of 4th Test Match in Sydney against Australia.
  
• Virat Kohli crossed 19000 runs mark in 399 innings whereas Sachin Tendulkar took 432 innings to score 19000 runs.


• West Indies’ Brain Lara and Australia’s Ricky Pointing took 433 and 444 innings respectively to score 19000 international runs.

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• England captain Mike Denness left himself out of the team for an Ashes Test that started on January 4, 1975, after scoring 65 runs in previous six innings.


• John Edrich replaced Denness as captain and broke his ribs after getting hit by the first ball he faced in the second innings. Australia went on to win by 171 runs.

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• Rishabh Pant scored an unbeaten 159 off 189 balls in the first innings of the fourth Test against Australia in Sydney on Friday to record the highest ever score by an Indian wicketkeeper in an away Test.


• The 21-year-old overtook former India captain MS Dhoni, who had slammed 148 runs off 153 balls against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 2006.

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• Pentagon comptroller David Norquist was named acting deputy defence secretary.


• He has been the department’s chief financial officer and comptroller since May 2017.


• In addition to that, Deputy Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan was appointed to serve as the acting secretary of defence.

• Saurabh Kumar has been appointed as the Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). Kumar, a 1982-batch Indian Ordnance Factory Service officer, is an M-Tech in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.


• An expert in the manufacture of ordnance, Kumar was on deputation to the Ministry of Defence as the director of planning and coordination from 2002 to 2009.

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• Scientists have developed a device named WAND which stands for “Wireless artifact-free neuromodulation device” that works like a “Pacemaker for the brain” to monitor the brain’s electrical activity and potentially deliver fine-tuned treatments to patients suffering from diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson’s.


• The most important feature of the device is that it is both wireless and autonomous, which means when it learns to recognize the signs of tremor or seizures then it can adjust the stimulation parameters on its own to prevent the unwanted movements.


• The device has custom integrated circuits to record the full signal from both the subtle brain wave and the strong electrical pulses.

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• Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati have developed a simple paper kit that can test freshness of milk and tell how well it has been pasteurized.


• The kit is sided with smart phone app to ensure that milk is consumed before it turns too sour.


• The team has prepared a kit by attaching probe discs onto a 2 cm square transparent cellulose acetate film. The probe is then covered with another cellulose acetate film


• Colour reaction takes place when milk is injected through a tiny hole in the cover and a smart phone can be used to get the results. It takes just about 15 minutes to detect raw milk from pasteurized one.

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• On January 3rd, 2019, renowned Bengali writer and Sahitya Akademi awardee Dibyendu Palit passed away at 79.


• Palit was conferred the Sahitya Akademi for his novel ‘Anubhab’ in 1998.


• His first short story ‘Chhandopatan’ was published in 1955 and his first novel ‘Sindhu Baroan’ published in 1959.


• He was awarded the ‘Bankim Purashkar’ for ‘Dheu’ in 1990 and ‘Ananda Purashkar’ in 1984 for ‘Sahojoddha’.

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• On January 3rd, 2019, 1990 Dronacharya awardee cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar, who coached Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar passed away at 86.


• OBesides Tendulkar, he also coached other prominent players like Vinod Kambli, Pravin Amre, Sameer Dighe and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.


• OBecause of his contribution to the sport, he was honoured with Padma Shri in 2010.


• OThe Kamath Memorial Cricket Club in Dadar was founded by him.