1)New U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma arrives in Delhi.
- The new U.S. Ambassador, Richard Rahul Verma, arrived in Delhi. He is the first ever Indian-American to be appointed the U.S. envoy to India.
- He explained U.S. look forward to meeting the Indian people and working together with the Indian government on our shared goals of security, development and prosperity.
2) Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Visits Hindon Air Base.
- Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the Hindon Air Force station along with Chief of Air Force Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha.
- Mr. Parrikar had a long discussion with Air Force officials and got a briefing about the operations carried out by the C-17 Globe master III and the C-130J Super Hercules aircrafts.
3) Jiji Thomson resigns as Director General of SAI.
- Jiji Thomson on 2 January 2015 resigned as Director General of Sports Authority of India (SAI).
- Jiji Thomson will now take over as Chief Secretary of Kerala on 31 January 2015.
About SAI:
- The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is a body set up by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.
- It was created in 1984 to help promote sport throughout the country, with its headquarters at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex, New Delhi.
- It has seven regional centers at Bangalore, Bhopal, Gandhinagar, Kolkata, Sonepat, Delhi, Mumbai and Imphal and two sub-centers at Guwahati and Aurangabad.
3) Australia PM Tony Abbott visits Iraq.
- Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has reportedly made a surprise visit to Baghdad for talks on helping Iraq in its fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
- Mr. Abbott met his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi to discuss Australian involvement in the fight against the militant outfit.
- Mr. Abbott explained that it is a struggle not just for the people of Iraq, and not just for the people of this region, but for the whole world because the Daesh death cult, the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) death cult, has declared war against the world.
About ISIL:
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a Sunni Islamist rebel group that controls territory in Iraq and Syria and also operates in eastern Libya, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.
- The United Nations has held ISIL responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International has reported ethnic cleansing by the group on a historic scale.
- Capital of Australia: Canberra.
- Currency of Australia: Australian Dollar.
- Capital of Iraq: Bagdad.
- Currency of Iraq: Iraqi Dinar.
4) Ex-Punjab CM Beant Singh’s assassin arrested in Thailand.
- Thai police have arrested a fugitive Sikh terrorist who was involved in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and several others in 1995.
- A team of Chon Buri Provincial police and soldiers raided a house on Soi Mabyailia in tambon Nong Phreu in Bang Lamung district and arrested Gurmeet Singh.
5) Nilesh Shah resigns Axis Capital.
- Nilesh Shah, managing director and chief executive officer of Axis Capital resigned to his position.
- Shah joined Axis Bank as President, Strategic Initiatives Corporate Banking in March 2011.
- He took over as MD & CEO of Axis Capital in November 2013.
6) Amitabh Bachchan to be brand ambassador for health sector in Andhra Pradesh.
- Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas announced Mr. Amitabh Bachchan gave his consent to promote health awareness and help build health sector and would offer his services free of cost.
7) NIA chief visits Assam.
- National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief Sharad Kumar reached Assam to take stock of the central agency’s probe into the recent violence in Assam that left 81 people dead and over two lakh homeless.
- The NIA Director-General held discussions here with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Director General of Police Khagen Sarma, Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla.
- The NIA has registered four cases regarding the violence perpetrated by the anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
8) Kailash Sathyathi’s Nobel Prize to be put up for display at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
- Visitors to Rashtapati Bhavan will now be able to get a glimpse of the Nobel Peace Prize received by child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.
- He dedicated the honour to the nation by presenting his medal to President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi.
- Mr. Satyarthi’s NGO ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ claims to have rescued over 83,000 children from bonded labor and slavery since its inception in 1980.