Qatar appointed a new Prime Minister replacing Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdelaziz Al Thani has been named as the new Prime Minister. The new PM had been the head of the Amiri Diwan, the emir's office.
Qatar Capital-Doha, Currency-Riyal.
UK government has launched about Rs 37 Cr fund in India to support collaborative research into emerging technologies. Fund will encourage industry & academia to collaborate & develop tech solutions for social, economic & environmental challenges in India.
Focus is on AI in Karnataka & future mobility in Maharashtra.
Britain unveiled a new 50 pence coin minted to mark the country’s departure from the European Union, which bears the inscription “Peace, prosperity & friendship with all nations” and the Brexit date of 31 January 2020. Britain Finance Minister-Sajid Javid.
Britain Capital-London, Currency- Pound Sterling.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been appointed as India's Ambassador to US, External Affairs ministry said. He is a 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service officer & is currently posted as High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka. He replaces Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Shringla has been named as India's next foreign secretary.
Letter of Engagement of NTPC as PMC for development about 300 MW Solar Power Projects by Togo was handed over. Tongo has been requesting assistance of ISA for enhancing Solar capacity in the Country, to achieve goal of universal electricity access by 2030.
ISA-International Solar Alliance.
Indian Navy Ship Airavat has been diverted to Madagascar to undertake Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief mission as part of 'Operation Vanilla' which has been launched to provide assistance to the Cyclone Diane affected population of Madagascar.
Ship is geared to set up medical camp & supply relief material.
The visit of the Royal Australian Navy ship at Mumbai & the professional interactions of IN personnel with RAN crew will serve to further strengthen the good relations between India and Australia and underscore the shared interests in the maritime domain.
Australia Capital-Canberra, Currency-Australian Dollar.
In a major recognition towards India’s effort towards conservation, restoration & rejuvenation of its wetlands, Ramsar has declared 10 more wetland sites from India as sites of international importance. The Ramsar Convention was signed on February 2, 1971.
Maharashtra gets its first, Punjab adds 3 and UP 6 to its list.
Union Minister of State for PMO Dr Jitendra Singh launched the Bhuvan Panchayat V3 web Portal in the ISRO headquarters, that will enhance network application of gram panchayats. It will function with the help of satellite technology developed by ISRO.
ISRO Chairman Dr K. Sivan, ISRO Headquarters -Bengaluru.
Beating the Retreat ceremony, marking the culmination of 4-day long Republic Day celebrations, will be held at the historic Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on 29 January. It marks a centuries old military tradition, when the troops withdrew from the battlefield.
The ceremony traces its origins to the early 1950s.
The oldest international event for non-feature films in South Asia-Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short Fiction & Animation Films to start on 29 January. Dr. V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on Dr. S. Krishnaswamy.
He is awarded for the contribution to non-fiction filmmaking.
The studies on the microorganism archaea from the Sambhar lake in Rajasthan helped scientists at the National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, to discover a novel archael species called ‘Natrialba swarupiae’. They named the species after Dr. Renu Swarup.
He is the Secretary of Dept of Biotechnology.
Odisha Government has launched a virtual police station where people can lodge complaints from their respective districts regarding theft of their vehicles without visiting Police Station. It will function from State Crime Records Bureau in Bhubaneswar.
Road accident case documents module was also launched.
In Maharashtra, CM Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated 18.5-km-long stretch of Nagpur Metro Aqua line of Maha Metro Rail Network. The newly created Nagpur Metro Aqua line passing over the Ambazari lake in city will connect the east and west parts of the city.
Nagpur Metro takes 65% of its power needs from Solar Energy.
The Indian Green Building Council & Mangalore Smart City Ltd have signed a MoU for sustainable development in Mangalore. The MoU envisages a joint assessment study to evaluate the green criteria of Mangalore as per the IGBC Green Cities rating system.
MSCL is the 1st smart city in India to sign an MoU with IGBC.
In Cycling, India's Esow Alben has bagged a gold in the men's Keirin individual event of the 6 Day Berlin Tournament. He finished on top of the podium, earning 20 classification points. Tomas Babek is at the 2nd rank & Maximilian Lev is at the 3rd spot.
The event is a six-day track cycling race.
Two times champion Mizoram defeated Sikkim by a solitary goal to emerge as the champion of the Northeast Dr. T Ao Football Trophy 2020 at Indira Gandhi Stadium, Kohima. While the champion team received a cash prize of 10 lakhs, the runners up got 6 lakhs.
Rhitsho Mero received the golden boot for his 10 goals.
The Reserve Bank of India has appointed Janak Raj, chief advisor to the financial policy division, as executive director. He succeeds Michael Patra. Now RBI will possess 12 EDs, its entire strength. Raj would be a part of MPC as an inner RBI member.
Patra will be a part of this 6-member monetary policy committee.
Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated the first Capacity Building Programme on General Financial Rules-2017, e-Procurement & Government e-Marketplace at Jammu. The conference was to take forward the commitment to apply all the central laws to the UT of Jammu.
He is in charge of the Ministry of Development of NE Region.