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• Egypt’s president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi inaugurated a new cathedral for the Coptic Orthodox Church and one of the region’s largest mosques in a highly symbolic gesture at a time when Islamic militants are increasingly targeting the country’s minority Christians.


• Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a general-turned-president, has made sectarian harmony a cornerstone of his rule, fighting Islamic militancy while advocating equality between the overwhelming Muslim majority and Christians, who account for 10 percent of Egypt’s 100 million people.

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• Former Vice President Joe Biden is in the final stages of deciding whether to run for president and has told allies he is skeptical the other Democrats eyeing the White House can defeat President Donald Trump, an assessment that foreshadows a clash between the veteran Washington insider and the more liberal and fresh-faced contenders for the party’s 2020 nomination.


• Many Democratic voters, and nearly all major Democratic donors, are keenly interested in Biden’s plans because of their consuming focus on finding a candidate who can beat a president they believe represents a threat to American democracy. But there is also a rising demand in the party for a more progressive standard-bearer who reflects the increasingly diverse Democratic coalition.

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• China has sounded a positive note ahead of trade talks this week with Washington, but the two sides face potentially lengthy wrangling over technology and the future of their economic relationship.


• Both sides have expressed an interest in settling their tariff fight over Beijing’s technology ambitions. Yet neither has indicated its stance has changed since a Dec. 1 agreement by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to postpone further increases.

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• Iranian council known as the Expediency Council approved an anti-money laundering bill to ease trade.


• This bill will be in line with the standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

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• Airport Authority of India (AAI) signed MoU with Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) for joint research programs in the field of Communication Navigation and Surveillance (CNS).


• The MOU is under government of India’s ‘Make in India’ concept to indigenously design and develop CNS systems.


• SAMEER is an autonomous research and development (R and D) institute under Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (MeitY).

Source: Cick Here

• The nine-day long international kite festival which marks the Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti, the day when winter season starts changing to summer and farmers welcome the approaching harvest season, kicked off at Sabarmati River Front in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.


• This year’s Kite festival in which Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Ahmedabad Mayor Bijal Patel and State Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel also took part was inaugurated by Gujarat Governor O P Kohli.


• This year is the 30th edition of kite festival in which about 500 kite fliers from 19 cities of Gujarat and 13 different states of the country are participating. Besides more than 150 kite fliers from 45 different countries are also taking part in the festival.


• This year, the Gujarat government has also decided to organise a kite festival at Kevadia, the site of the Statue of Unity, a memorial to Sardar Patel and the also the world’s tallest statue.

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• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced interest-free loans of up to Rs.3 lakh for six lakh women self-help groups (WSHGs) benefitting about 70 lakh women in Odisha.


• This was announced at the ‘Mission Shakti’ convention attended by about 50,000 women.


• In the convention He distributed financial assistance of Rs. 3,000 each to six lakh WSHGs to digitally empower women.


• Launched a scheme to distribute Rs. 15,000 seed money per group to three lakh new self-help groups.


• He also handed over revolving fund of Rs. 25 lakh to 338 block federations.


• Also announced incentives of Rs. 500 per month for anganwadi workers and Rs.200 for helpers.


• Also the Odisha government decided to build ‘Mission Shakti Home’ in each gram panchayat across the state, as a part of ‘Mission Shakti’ initiative.

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• Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has notified a High-level committee of nine members under the chairmanship of Shri M.P. Bezbarauah for implementation of Clause VI of the Assam Accord.


• The Clause VI of Assam Accord envisaged that appropriate constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards should be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the people of Assam.


• The Committee will submit its report within 6 months from the date of notification.


• The 9 member Committee headed by retired IAS M.P. Bezbarauah includes eminent Assamese persons from different fields.


• The State Government of Assam will provide necessary administrative and logistics support to the committee.


• The effectiveness of actions since 1985 will be examined to implement clause 6 of the Assam Accord.


• The Committee will assess the required quantum of reservation of seats in the state Assembly and local bodies for the people of the state.


• The Committee is also tasked to assess the requirement of measures that needs to be taken to protect Assamese and other indigenous languages of Assam.

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• The Centre launched the second auction of 14 blocks for prospecting of oil and gas in an attempt to raise domestic output to cut imports. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) bid round-II, with 14 blocks measuring 29,333 square kilometre in an aggregate area on offer.


• In July 2017 India allowed companies to carve out blocks of their choice with a view to bring about 2.8 million sq km of unexplored area in the country under exploration.

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• Nepal asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to declare newly circulated Indian currency notes of denominations higher than Rs.100 legal tender in the country.


• After the demonetisation of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 Indian currency notes, circulation of new banknotes of denominations Rs.200, Rs.500 and Rs.2,000 was started by the Indian government.


• Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has written a letter to RBI, asking it to make Indian bank bills Rs.200, Rs.500 and Rs.2,000 legal tender in Nepal Nepal had to ban higher denomination Indian notes since RBI did not allow their circulation after note ban The RBI has only allowed the circulation of Indian currency notes of Rs.100 and less in Nepal.

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• Two people with direct knowledge of the development said Bandhan Bank Ltd is set to acquire mortgage lender Gruh Finance Ltd via a share swap, a move aimed at cutting the bank’s promoter holding and expanding its housing finance portfolio.


• The people said Shareholders of Gruh Finance, which is 57.83% owned by Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC) Ltd, will receive three shares of Bandhan Bank for every five shares held in the home financier. The swap is based on the six-month weighted average price of the shares of the two companies, they said, requesting anonymity.

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• The value of announced merger and acquisition (M&A) deals involving Indian companies more than doubled to reach $129.4 billion in 2018, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters. The previous highest was $67.4 billion in 2007.


• The number of announced deals also grew 17.2% from a year ago. Average M&A deal size for transactions with disclosed values increased to $127.8 million in 2018 compared to $82.8 million in the previous year.

Source: Cick Here

• Indian football’s goal machine Sunil Chhetri struck a brace to help the country stunningly outplay Thailand 4-1 and record its first victory in the Asian Cup since 1964 on a historic night in Abu Dhabi.


• Playing in his second Asian Cup and 105th match, Chhetri scored in the 27th (penalty) and 46th minutes for his 66th and 67th international goals. Midfielder Anirudha Thapa and second half substitute Jeje Lalpekhlua then struck in the 68th and 80th minutes to completely outclass Thailand at the Al Nahyan Stadium in front of a sizeable Indian supporters.

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• India won the four-match Test series against Australia 2-1 as the Sydney Test ended in a draw after the fifth day's play was washed out due to rain.


• This is the first time ever that India have won a Test series in Australia. Before this, India had played 11 Test series in Australia since 1947, losing eight and drawing three.

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• Veteran journalist Dinu Randive was conferred with the lifetime achievement award for his lifelong contributions in journalism, who started his journalistic career in 1956.


• He also participated in the freedom struggle, the Sanyukta Maharashtra movement and the Goa liberation movement.


• The award was given by the Mantralaya and Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh which is an association of journalists covering Maharashtra legislature and secretariat.


• Award winners in other categories included Vishwas Waghmode, Mahesh Tiwari and Prajakta Pol.

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• The Ministry of Women & Child Development announced that the Union Minister, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi would confer National Awards to 97 Anganwadi Workers(AWWs) for Exceptional Achievements for the year 2017-18, under Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) on the 07th of January 2018, in New Delhi.


• National Level awards to AWWs are given to the awardees nominated by States/UTs out of the State/UT Level awardees.


• The nominations received from the States/UTs are screened and recommended by a Screening Committee headed by Secretary, MWCD.


• The selection of awardees is made by the Selection Committee headed by Hon’ble Minister for Women & Child Development.

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• The Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh entered the Guinness Book of World by pouring 32,100 cubic metres of concrete in 24 hours. The concrete work to make the spillway began at 8 am on Sunday and concluded at 8 am this morning. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is expected to visit this project later in the day.


• The project beat the existing record of 21,580 cubic metres which was achieved by Abdul Wahed Bin Shabib, RALS Contracting LLC and Alfa Eng. Consultant (all UAE), in Dubai between May 18 and 20 in 2017.

Source: Cick Here

• Kevin Sweeney, the chief of staff of the US Department of Defence, resigned from his position.


• Kevin Sweeney retired as a Rear Admiral from the US Navy in 2014.

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• Malaysia's 49-year-old Sultan Muhammad V stepped down as the 15th king marking the first time a king has abdicated in the country since it gained independence from Britain in 1957.


• His decision comes amid rumours that he has married 25-year-old former Miss Moscow Oksana Voevodina in Russia. However, the palace did not give any reason for his move.

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• Lunar rover Yutu-2 or Jade Rabbit-2 of the Chang’e-4 spacecraft made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon.


• Images were sent back to the Earth via the relay satellite ‘Queqiao’.


• In Chinese folklore, Yutu is the white pet rabbit of Chang’e, the moon goddess who lent her name to the Chinese lunar mission.


• China’s lunar probe is a part of its ‘Made in China 2025’ project.


• It follows a homegron Chinese Global Positioning System named BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

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• Vice-Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Harivansh Narayan Singh launched Manohar Manoj’s book “A Crusade against corruption”.


• Manoj has written this book after massive research and deep observations on the subject during the last 15 years and claimed that this is a kind of “Encyclopedic Snapshots on Corruption in India”.