TODAY ON January 25, 2023
GK News Highlights & Headlines

Highlights:

1. India said to likely peg FY24 nominal GDP growth at about 11% in Budget
2. Oscars 2023: 'The Elephant Whisperers' nominated under Documentary Short category
3. Oscars 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ gets 11 nominations.
4. Indian Army’s  Exercise Parvat Prahar in eastern Ladakh.
5. Oscars 2023: Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’ nominated for best documentary feature
6. BBC documentary on PM Modi screened at University of Hyderabad campus
7. Public screenings of censored BBC documentary on Modi cause political temperatures to rise in Kerala
8. Maruti Suzuki Q3 net jumps over:: twofold to ₹2,351 crore
9. Oscars 2023: ‘RRR’ creates history, gets nod for Best Original Song
10. IISc and TalentSprint to offer PG in Nanoelectronics
11. Delhi Police file 6,600-page chargesheet in Mehrauli murder case
12. Netaji birth anniversary marked with tributes, exhibition in U.K.
13. IMF confirms receipt of India’s financing assurances for Sri Lanka 
14. Renowned architect and Padma Bhushan awardee Balkrishna Doshi passes way
15. Government buildings are being painted in white and yellow with the G20 symbol on the walls ahead of the summit
16. Senior Ukrainian officials depart amid corruption crackdown
17. Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma among notable gainers in women's T20I rankings
18. Earthquake hits Nepal; tremors felt in Delhi, Rajasthan
19. 'Fukrey 3' to release on September 7
20. Apple released iOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura 13.2 with advanced data protection.
21. Reliance Jio announces launch of ‘True 5G’ services across 50 cities
22. ‘Read more and more,’ PM Modi urges youth
23. Dharmendra Pradhan tests indigenously developed 'BharOS'
24. Mary Kom-led panel to probe wrestlers’ charges
25. Methane, a greenhouse gas, is produced by livestock as their stomachs break down tough materials like grass for digestion
26. Bill Gates invests in startup that seeks to control methane emission from cow burps
27. Power restored incrementally across Pakistan after nationwide outage
28. Women’s T20I Tri-Series | Mandhana, Harmanpreet score half-centuries as India wins against West Indies
29. Apple in talks with Disney, others on virtual reality content for new headset
30. U.S. Justice Department poised to sue Google over digital ad market dominance

Headlines:

Youth outfits defy ‘ban’ to hold public screenings of BBC documentary on PM Modi

Youth organisations affiliated to the Opposition parties and student outfits on Tuesday screened the first episode of BBC’s India: The Modi Question across Kerala to lodge protest against the Centre’s recent move to ban it on social media. A similar attempt at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was prevented by the authorities, leading to group viewings on personal devices.

Delhi mayoral polls | MCD House adjourned without electing Mayor, Deputy Mayor: official

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House was adjourned on January 24 without electing Mayor and Deputy Mayor amid a ruckus by some councillors. Presiding Officer Satya Sharma adjourned the MCD House meeting indefinitely, due to yet another ruckus between the AAP and the BJP Councillors. No elections was held for the Office of the Mayor today.

U.S. sues Google on ad tech business, joined by eight States

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday over allegations that the company abused its dominance of the digital advertising business, according to a court document. “Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the government said in its antitrust complaint.

Urination incident | Air India says action against pilot ‘excessive’

In a rare move for any airline, Air India in a public statement called the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) decision “excessive” for suspending its pilot-in-command for three months for the urination incident on a New York-Delhi flight of November 2022, and announced that it will be helping him appeal against the order.

Classified documents found at Mike Pence’s home too, his lawyer says

Documents with classified markings were discovered in former Vice-President Mike Pence's Indiana home last week, his lawyer told the National Archives in a letter — the latest in a string of discoveries of confidential information in private residences. The records "appear to be a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently boxed and transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration," Mr. Pence's lawyer, Greg Jacob, wrote in the letter shared with The Associated Press.

In President Sisi visit, India and Egypt look to rekindle non-aligned era ties

Egyptian President Abdel Fateh el-Sisi arrived here on Tuesday on a four-day state visit. Mr. Sisi is the first Egyptian leader to be invited as the chief guest for the Republic Day Parade. During the visit, officials said, both sides will sign several MoUs and discuss taking ties forward on strategic issues, defence, trade, agriculture and renewable energy.

Turkey condemns Quran protest in the Netherlands

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on January 24 it summoned the Dutch ambassador following a demonstration targeting Islam’s holy book, days after a similar protest in Sweden tensed relations. Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands, on January 22 tore pages out of a copy of the Quran near the Dutch parliament and stomped on the pages. Police looked on but did not intervene. “It is about freedom of expression and I think that should be possible in the Netherlands,” Mr. Wagensveld said in a video posted on the site of Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

Indonesia Masters: Priyanshu enters main draw, Praneeth's struggle continues

Priyanshu Rajawat progressed to the main draw with two fine victories but the rest of the Indians, including B. Sai Praneeth, in the men's singles competition faltered in the qualifying round of the Indonesia Masters Super 500 tournament here on Tuesday

Making IB, RAW reports public a matter of grave concern: Kiren Rijiju on Supreme Court Collegium resolutions

The Law Minister said intelligence agency officials work in a secret manner for the nation, and they would "think twice" in future if their reports are made public. “It will have an implication,” he said. He was responding to questions on some recent Supreme Court Collegium resolutions, which contained potions of IB and RAW reports on certain names recommended by the top court for appointment as High Court judges, being made public last week.

Delhi Police file 6,600-page chargesheet in Mehrauli murder case

Police said the victim had gone to meet another friend which the accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala didn’t like and he became violent. “On the day of the incident, Walkar had gone to meet one of her friends which Poonawala did not like. After which he became violent and the incident happened,” Joint Commissioner of Police (South) Meenu Chaudhary said.

India has lost access to 26 out of 65 Patrolling Points in eastern Ladakh, says research paper

India has lost access to 26 out of 65 Patrolling Points in eastern Ladakh, according to one of the research papers submitted at last week’s annual police meet in Delhi, accessed by  The Hindu. The Hindu reported on December 22, 2022 that there are at least 30 PPs in eastern Ladakh along Line of Actual Control (LAC) are not being patrolled any more by Indian troops.

BBC documentary on PM Modi screened at University of Hyderabad campus

The screening of the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question at the University of Hyderabad campus by some student organisations has led to controversy with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) lodging a complaint with the Vice Chancellor seeking action against those involved.

Delhi mayoral polls | Municipal House adjourns without electing Mayor, Deputy Mayor

The new 250-member Municipal House of Delhi reconvened on January 24 to elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the National Capital, weeks after the first session was adjourned following a ruckus between the AAP and the BJP.

Earthquake hits Nepal; tremors felt in Delhi, Rajasthan

A 35-year-old woman was killed in Nepal’s Gaumul Rural Municipality-2 when a falling rock hit her while she was cutting grass in the nearby forest, police said.

Air India fined ₹10 lakh for not reporting two incidents on Paris-Delhi flight by DGCA

This is the second time in less than a week that the watchdog has taken enforcement action against the airline in connection with unruly passenger behaviour.

Drop amendments to IT Rules: Indian Newspaper Society

The INS has also asked the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to initiate consultations with stakeholders to create a mechanism that would ensure factual accuracy of reports about government business on media sites and meet highest standards of fairness and due process.

Delhi High Court prohibits unauthorised recording, sharing, live streaming of court proceedings

The High Court has defined live streaming as a live television link, webcast, audio-video transmission via electronic means or other arrangements whereby any person can view the proceedings as permitted under the rules. The court shall have the exclusive copyright over the recording and archival data, it said.

Senior Ukrainian officials depart amid corruption crackdown

Deputy Defence Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, local media reported, alleging his departure was linked to a scandal involving the purchase of food for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Growing numbers of people in Asia lack enough to eat as food insecurity rises with higher prices: FAO report

Nearly a half-billion people, more than eight in 10 of them in South Asia, were undernourished in 2021 and more than one billion faced moderate to severe food insecurity, the report said. For the world, the prevalence of food insecurity rose to more than 29% in 2021 from 21% in 2014.

IMF confirms receipt of India’s financing assurances for Sri Lanka

On January 16, India became the island nation’s first official creditor — China, Japan, and India are Sri Lanka’s three largest bilateral creditors — to send written financing assurances to the IMF, “strongly supporting” Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring plan. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who was in Colombo last week, said India chose to do “what was right” rather than “wait for others” [creditors].

Bill Gates invests in startup that seeks to control methane emission from cow burps

The Australian startup Rumin8 is developing a dietary supplement that inhibits the production of the gas using red seaweed as a source of synthetic material. The company declared in a press release that it had secured $12 million (£9.7 million) in capital from a round of finance spearheaded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which Mr. Gates established in 2015.

Total toll collection through FASTag rose 46% to ₹50,855 crore in 2022: NHAI

The average daily toll collection through FASTag on NH fee plazas in December 2022 was ₹134.44 crore, and the single day highest collection touched ₹144.19 crore on December 24, 2022, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said in a statement.

Two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka enters semifinals

Azarenka’s semifinal opponent will be No. 22 seed Elena Rybakina, the reigning Wimbledon champion, who defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-4.

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