Daily Current Affairs

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US & Japan plan to boost military app_20201213
& security cooperation as top national security officials hold talks.

The United States and Japan plan to boost military and security cooperation as their top national
security officials held talks. Weeks after unveiling plans to ramp up defence spending, Japan sent its
defence and foreign ministers to Washington for talks on updating the decades old alliance. The
officials unveiled plans to strengthen the alliance to help counter threats from North Korea and China,
which they called the greatest challenge in the region.

The two nations tried to deepen cooperation across all realms including space, Cybersecurity, and
emerging technologies. The top officials also agreed to adjust the American troop presence on the
island of Okinawa.

WHO urges countries to recommend all travellers to wear masks as new Covid variant spreads

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to recommend all those travelling to wear
masks in view of the rapid spread of the new Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5 across the world. WHO's
senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood said, Passengers should be advised to wear
masks in high-risk settings such as long-haul flights. The highly transmissible Omicron variant XBB.1.5
has accounted for 27.6 percent of the Covid-19 in the United States so far till Sunday. The WHO
officials said, subvariant has been detected in Europe as well in small but growing numbers.
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in orbit
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Russia to launch rescue vessel to app_20201213
International Space Station to bring home 3 crew members stuck

Russia will launch a rescue vessel to the International Space Station next month, February, to bring
home three crew members who are in effect stuck in orbit after their original capsule was hit by a
meteoroid. The docked Soyuz MS-22 sprang a major leak last month, spraying radiator coolant into
space and prompting a pair of cosmonauts to abort a planned spacewalk. The Russian space agency,
Roscosmos said that the strike caused no immediate threat to the crew of the space station.

The Roscosmos has decided to bring forward a planned March launch of the Soyuz MS-23 to 20
February so it can be used to transport the Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin
and the US astronaut Francisco Rubio back to Earth.

Bangladesh registers more than 75 percent decline in under-5 child mortality rate

Bangladesh has registered a sharp decline of over 75 percent in the under-5 child mortality rate since
1990, says the just released report prepared at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on behalf
of the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). This decline
outpaces the global decline of 59 percent recorded over the same period.

In 1990, the under-5 child mortality rate was 146 per thousand live births which declined to 86 in 2000
and 27 in 2021 which works out to be 5.4 percent annual decline in the under-5 child mortality rate
consistently over 3 decades. The infant mortality rate also declined from 101 deaths per thousand live
births in 1990 to 23 deaths per thousand live births in 2021.
 Daily Current Affairs
2023 Golden Globes: Banshees for app_20201213
of Inisherin and Fablemans receive big win.

The 80th edition of the Golden Globes were held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Hosted by Jerrod Carmichael, the ceremony was attended by several Hollywood A-listers.The
Fabelmans and The Banshees of Inisherin took top honours on the film side and Abbott Elementary,
House of the Dragon and The White Lotus among the big TV winners.

2023 Golden Globes Winners

Best film, drama: The Fabelmans

Best film, musical or comedy: The Banshees of Inisherin

Best director: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Best actor, drama: Austin Butler, Elvis

Best actress, drama: Cate Blanchett, LydiaTar

Best actor, musical or comedy: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best actress, musical or comedy: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All

Best supporting actor: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best supporting actress: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best screenplay: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best music, original score: Justin Hurwitz

Best music, original song: Naatu Naatu from RRR

Best non-English language film: Argentina, 1985

Best animated feature: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Best drama series: House of the Dragon

Best drama actor: Kevin Costner, Yellowstone Best drama

Best drama actress: Zendaya, Euphoria

Best musical or comedy series: Abbott Elementary

 Daily Current Affairs
for Allen
Best musical or comedy actor: Jeremy app_20201213
White, The Bear

Best musical or comedy actress: Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary

Best supporting actor, television: Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary

Best supporting actress, television: Julia Garner, Ozark

Best limited series or TV movie: The White Lotus

Best limited series or TV movie actor: Evan Peters, Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Best limited series or TV movie actress: Amand Seyfried, The Dropout

Best limited series supporting actor: Paul Walter Hauser, Black Bird

Best limited series supporting actress: Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

RRR wins Golden Globe award for Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu

Indian film RRR's super hit song Natu Natu has won the prestigious Golden Globe award for Best
Original Song. The history creating track from the director SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster movie is
composed by MM Keeravani. The singers are Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj. “Naatu Naatu,” which
became an anthem of sorts for the Rajamouli fans is a dance number featuring Jr NTR and Ram Charan.
It created ripples for its elaborate choreography and musical storytelling.
 Daily Current Affairs
for app_20201213
Global event in Jaipur to mark International Year of Millets

A major international event, titled ‘Magic Millets-2023’, has been planned for September this year in
Jaipur to mark the International Year of Millets, designated by the United Nations General Assembly,
to promote the consumption of coarse grains. Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan
virtually launched a campaign to promote millet consumption by releasing a poster of the
international conference at a programme in New York.

Magic Millets’ secretary-general Kalyan Singh Kothari said that the global conference would help the
efforts being made by the Union and the State governments as well as the UN bodies to bring millets
back to people’s lives.

Indian High Commission Signs MoU to establish Hindi Chair at Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka

Closely after the Vishwa Hindi Diwas, the Indian High Commission signed a memorandum of
understanding to establish a Hindi Chair at Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka.The Hindi chair will
help in familiarizing students with India, its history, and culture as well as pave way for popularising
Hindi by deputing Indian faculties.
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for app_20201213
Collegium sends out recommendations for appointment to 5 HCs

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended names for appointment as judges in Bombay,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gauhati and Manipur High Courts. These Collegium resolutions have
come within days of Attorney-General R. Venkataramani informing the Supreme Court that the
government would adhere to timelines fixed by the court to process recommendations for judicial
appointments in High Courts.

3 multi-State societies to be formed to procure seeds.

The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of three national-level multi-State cooperative
societies to act as an apex body for procurement, processing, marketing and distribution of seeds. The
societies would help the protection of indigenous natural seeds which are becoming extinct. The
Cooperation Ministry said production of quality seeds would reduce the dependence on imported
seeds. The societies would ensure the role of farmers in quality seed cultivation.
 Daily Current Affairs
Ministry of Road Transport andfor app_20201213
Highways to observe Road Safety Week across country

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will observe Road Safety Week across the country from
January 11-17. The aim of the programme is to propagate the cause of safer roads for all under the
Swachhata Pakhwada. During the week, various activities will be organised including various
awareness campaigns related to the causes of road accidents and measures to prevent them. Nukkad
Nataks and Sensitization Campaigns will be conducted at various locations in the National Capital.

India growth to slow to 6.6% in FY24: World Bank

India’s economic growth will slow to 6.6% in the next fiscal year from an expected 6.9% in the current
year, the World Bank said in its latest economic update. The slowdown in the global economy and
rising uncertainty will weigh on export and investment growth, the Bank said. Increased infrastructure
spending and business facilitation measures will, however, crowd-in private investment and support
the expansion of manufacturing capacity, it added.
 Daily Current Affairs
Indian start-ups received $24 bnfor app_20201213
funding in 2022: PwC

Start-ups in India received funding of $24 billion in calendar year 2022, a 33% decline in comparison
with CY21, but still more than twice the funds raised in CY20 and CY19 each, according to PwC India.
PwC’s Startup Deals Tracker for 2022 found that early-stage funding grew by 12% compared with
CY21, indicating that despite the global slowdown, investors were still optimistic about the Indian
start-up ecosystem. Early-stage deals accounted for 60–62% of the total funding in CY22 in volume
terms.

₹2,600-cr. incentive to boost digital payments

The Union Cabinet approved an outlay of ₹2,600 crore to promote payments using RuPay cards and
the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav announced. Banks will be
provided this incentive money to promote such digital payments. The fund will be paid to banks in
view of the lack of a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) — a commission on digital transactions — for UPI
and RuPay transactions.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier committed continued financial support for
digital payments systems, and the Cabinet said that this new scheme is in line with that commitment.
 Daily Current Affairs
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Govt. nets 87% of direct tax goal, app_20201213
receipts hit ₹12 lakh cr.

India’s net direct tax collections stood at ₹12.31 lakh crore, accounting for almost 87% of the target
for 2022-23 and reflecting a 19.6% growth over the year-earlier period, the Finance Ministry said. Net
Personal Income Tax revenue grew faster than net corporate taxes, rising 21.6% by January 10,
compared with corporate tax inflows which grew 18.3%. Combined with the Securities Transaction
Tax, Personal Income Tax collections climbed 21%.

Conway scores century as New Zealand beats Pakistan

New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 79 runs in the second ODI in Karachi. Conway scored 101 and
captain Kane Williamson made 85 before a collapse which saw New Zealand lose nine wickets for 78
runs and restricted them to 261 all out in 49.5 overs. Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals and
despite a fighting 79 from skipper Babar Azam, the home team were dismissed for 182 to leave the
three-match series tied at 1-1.
 Daily Current Affairs
Table Tennis: Swastika qualifiesfor app_20201213
for World championship.

Swastika Ghosh became the fourth Indian to qualify for the World Table Tennis Championship after
beating Chinese Taipei’s Liu Hsing-Yin to be among the 28 women singles qualifiers from the Asian
Continental Stage of 2023 WTTC Finals in Doha. Ranked a distant 243, Swastika punched way above
her weight to bring down 70th-ranked Liu 4-11, 11-7, 2-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 in the playoff for 17
to 24 places.

Swastika joins Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal who made it by finishing among the top-
16 from the continent.