1. Punit Goenka named new BARC India chairman

• Punit Goenka, managing director and CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd has been elected the new chairman of TV viewership measurement company, BARC India.
• Goenka will take over from Nakul Chopra who has completed his year-long tenure as chairman of the joint industry body.
• Goenka was the founder chairman of BARC India and is known to have played an important role in setting up the TV monitoring agency and providing the industry with accurate data and insights.

2. New campus of National Museum Institute inaugurated at Noida

• The new Campus of the National Museum Institute was inaugurated by Shri Prakash Javadekar
• Speaking at the inauguration, the Chief Guest Shri Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Human Resource Development said that that there is a huge scope for the courses offered by the Institute like history of arts, conservation, museology among others.
• He also proposed that Ministry of Culture should consider setting up a national museum of educational history so that the future generations could understand the evolution of education.

3. Africa Center for Climate and Sustainable Development inaugurated in Rome

• The Africa Centre for Climate and Sustainable Development was inaugurated by the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at Rome.
• He also emphasized that global hunger rates are rising in various parts of Africa.."If we don't step up our actions in the Sahel we will not achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda and the Zero Hunger goal by 2030.
• It will facilitate much-needed exchange of information and coordination to increase efficiencies and build synergies across Africa, develop and scale-up innovative solutions for sustainable development and implement the goals of the 2030 Agenda and Paris Climate Agreement.

4. Nagaland CM inaugurates state’s first Astro Turf Football Pitch

• Nagaland  got its first Astro Turf Football Pitch at Indira Gandhi Stadium in Kohima on the occasion of 100th Birth Anniversary of the legendary footballer, Dr. T. Ao .
• Inaugurating the Astro Turf Football Pitch today, Nagaland Chief Minister Mr. Neiphiu Rio said it is a landmark occasion for the state to have its first Astro Turf Pitch and a dream come true.
• The Chief Minister expressed hope that the installation of the first Astro turf stadium will begin the process of sports development in regard to football in Nagaland.

5. Pakistan Appoints its first Ever Female hindu civil judge

• Suman Kumari has become the first Hindu woman in Pakistan to be appointed as a civil judge
• Suman, who hails from Qambar-Shahdadkot, will serve in her native district.
• The first judge from the Hindu community was Justice Rana Bhagwandas, who served as the acting chief justice for brief periods between 2005 and 2007.

6. Piyush Goyal to Receive Carnot Prize for Power Reforms, Rural Electrification

• Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will receive the Carnot prize for his contribution towards sustainable energy solutions, with a team from University of Pennsylvania coming here to felicitate him on January 30.
• The award recognises Goyal's tenure as minister of power in which he is credited to have "reformed" the electricity sector and extended access to electricity to 18,000 villages, as documented by the International Energy Agency.
• Last year This award was skipped before being entitled to the former power minister ,because of the Amritsar tragedy in which over 60 people died after being moved down by a train.

7. Anti-dumping duty imposed on Chinese chemical import

• The government has imposed an anti-dumping duty on a chemical from China, used in photography and manufacturing of dyes, for five years to protect domestic producers of the chemical intermediate from cheap shipments.
• The anti-dumping duty on Meta Phenylenediamine (MPDA) imported from China will be in the range USD 573.92-USD 1,015.44 a tonne
• It is for the second time in a row that anti-dumping duty has been imposed on the import of the chemical from China. The duty was to expire in March 2019.

8. UAE, Saudi Arabian central banks launch common digital currency called 'Aber'

• The central banks of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have launched a common digital currency called ‘Aber’, which will be used in financial settlements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies.
• The UAE central bank said in a statement that it will establish an additional means for the central financial transfer systems of the two countries and enable banks to directly deal with each other in conducting financial remittances.
• The UAE’s central bank and SAMA hope that their pilot projects will benefit everyone locally and internationally.