Three British museums have embarked on an exercise to confront the colonial legacy of their artefacts by being more transparent about the items' provenance. British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum are reviewing the labels on thousands of objects, particularly those plundered during colonial times.
In 2017, Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) appointed its first provenance curator to coordinate V&A's provenance and spoliation research.
Troubled IL&FS group said the board of Spain's Elsamex has unanimously agreed for initiation of voluntary insolvency proceedings in Spain, in view of lack of liquidity. IL&FS' arm IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL) had acquired Elsamex, a road maintenance, operation and management company.
The board of Elsamex, a subsidiary, has conducted a detailed analysis of the evolution of the company, the financial risks, the lack of liquidity to meet the due dates and the latest court resolutions.
Four Firms Together Add Rs. 54,456 Cr in M-Cap
Four of the top-10 most-valued firms together added Rs. 54,456.69 crore in market capitalisation (m-cap), with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) taking the lead as its valuation surged the most.
While RIL, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the gainers, HDFC Bank, ITC, HDFC, Infosys, SBI and ICICI Bank suffered losses in their valuation for the week.
In the ranking of top 10 firms, RIL was at number one place followed by Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, HUL, ITC, HDFC, Infosys, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank.
Over the last week, the BSE Sensex fell by 361.07 points to end at 36,025.54.
PhonePe Set to Enter Fin Services
PhonePe, the payments arm of Flipkart, is set to enter financial services, starting with the sales of mutual funds through its app. The move comes at a time when the fintech space is seeing heightened action with multiple startups raising capital. PhonePe aims to tap the growing base of millennials looking to manage their wealth.
PhonePe, which was acquired by Flipkart three years ago, has become one of the critical standalone businesses for the latter, with over 30 million monthly transacting consumers. The entry into financial services pits the Bengaluru-based company once again against arch-rival Paytm.
The ease of making investments or buying insurance on an app is drawing interest. Most recently, Groww, an earlystage startup for such investments, raised over $6 million from a bunch of investors.
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is working on upgrading its heavylifter GSLV Mk III where the upper stage of the rocket will have highly refined form of kerosene as fuel in order to increase its payload capability.
To increase the payload capability of GSLV Mk III from 4 tonnes to 6 tonnes, ISRO is in the process of making some improvements in rocket stages. First, working on enhancing the cryogenic stage fuel loading from 25 tonnes to 30 tonnes. Second, working on changing the core stage L110 — which has 110 tonnes of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4).
This is to replace L110 stage with semi-cryogenic engine that will carry liquefied oxygen and highly refined kerosene called kerolox (aka RP-1) instead of liquefied hydrogen.
Gsat-31 to Replace Dying Sat
Isro will get its communication satellite Gsat-31 launched from French Guiana. Arianespace will launch Gsat-31 on February 6. The satellite will replace Insat-4CR, whose life is expected to end soon.
Though Gsat-31 is not a heavy satellite (2,600kg), the services of Arianespace are being used as it is an emergency launch to replace the dying Insat satellite so that communication services are not affected.
Gsat-31 satellite can only be launched with GSLV Mk III. But MK III rockets are already booked for Chandrayaan-2 and other important missions.
Arianespace will also launch Gsat-30 in June. This satellite will replace dying satellite Insat-4A.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic beat Spaniard Rafael Nadal in straight sets to clinch a record seventh Australian Open title, the Serb's third Slam win in a row.
Djokovic has won most Australian Open men's titles, surpassing Roger Federer and Roy Emerson, who have won six times each.
Since undergoing surgery, Djokovic has won the last three Slams in a row, winning the Wimbledon and US Open titles last year. Federer has also reached the final seven times, but won six times.
Saina Claims First BWF Title
Saina Nehwal claimed her first BWF title in two years after Olympic and world champion Carolina Marin limped off the Indonesia Masters final after an injury she suffered on the court.
The London Olympics bronze medallist, who last won a BWF title in 2017 in Malaysia, was trailing 4-10 in the opening game when Marin decided to withdraw from the contest as she struggled to continue after the injury.
Marin was favourite to win the title. She beat Saina at the Malaysia Masters semifinal in Kuala Lumpur.
India beat Indonesia in Football Friendly
A second-half hat-trick by Ratanbala Devi helped the Indian women's team beat Indonesia 3-0 in the first of their two friendly matches.
India are preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers and will face Indonesia again on January 30.
India's fastest train, Train 18, will be known as Vande Bharat Express.
The 16-coach train will run between Delhi and Varanasi at a maximum speed of 160 kmph and will be flagged off by PM Narendra Modi.
The train was manufactured in 18 months at a cost of Rs 97 crore by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. The train received all statutory clearances for commercial operations.
The fully air-conditioned train will stop at Kanpur and Allahabad and will have two executive chair cars and and 14 non-executive chair cars. The train fare is likely to be higher than what is charged in Shatabdi trains, which will include food as well.
M Justin Trudeau fired Canada's ambassador to China after the envoy said it would be "great" if the US dropped its extradition request for a Chinese tech executive arrested in Canada. John McCallum made the remark, a day after he issued a statement saying he misspoke about the case earlier in the week and regretted saying Meng Wanzhou has a strong case against extradition.
The arrest of the daughter of the founder of Huawei Technologies Ltd at Vancouver's airport December 1 severely damaged relations between China and Canada.
Brookfield Asset Management Hires Aditya Joshi
Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management is hiring Apax Partners' senior executive Aditya Joshi, as it looks to grow its India business. Joshi currently serves as a principal in Apax's healthcare team and has been involved in a number of key deals, including Healthium MedTech, Zensar Technologies, Chola, GlobalLogic and iGATE Patni
Joshi has been with Apax since 2010, prior to which, he worked as an analyst with private equity firm Blackstone Group, and as an associate with investment bank Morgan Stanley. A chartered accountant by profession, he holds an MBA from University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Joshi will look after the private equity practice of the Canadian investor.
Nepal's Paudel breaks Sachin, Afridi's records
Nepal batsman Rohit Paudel became the youngest male cricketer to score an international fifty on Saturday at the age of 16 years and 146 days, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's previous mark scored in a Test against Pakistan.
He also became the youngest man to score an ODI half-century, beating Shahid Afridi, who smashed a 37-ball century in an incredible first innings against Sri Lanka aged 16 and 217 days. Indian legend Tendulkar scored his maiden Test fifty when 16 years and 213 days old in the Faisalabad Test in 1989.
Paudel stroked a 58-ball 55 as Nepal, a cricket minnow, thrashed the United Arab Emirates by 145 runs in the second ODI. Fellow teenager, the 18-year-old Sandeep Lamichhane, claimed 4-24.
A four-day cultural festival by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) will celebrate 35 years of heritage conservation by the organisation.
Scheduled to take place from January 28-31, the 'INTACH Utsav' will showcase glimpses of its work and create awareness amongst the people for their heritage.
The Utsav will feature a variety of classical and folk music, dances, lectures, workshops, heritage walks and food stalls. A craft bazaar will simultaneously display the craft and textile heritage of the country.
Author Gita Mehta, named in the honours list for a Padma Shri, declined to accept India's fourth highest civilian award, saying the "timing of the award might be misconstrued" ahead of this year's Lok Sabha elections.
Mehta, who is Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik's sister, was announced as an awardee for her work in literature and education.
Pak, Lanka & Maldives bag China's 'BRI Awards'
China has bestowed special awards on the envoys of Pakistan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka for their contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of which the controversial China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a flagship project.
The ambassadors of Pakistan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Malta, and Bosnia-Herzegovina in China were conferred with Silk Road Super Ambassador Awards in Beijing.
The BRI, which aims to build infrastructure projects with Chinese investments around the world, is modelled on the ancient silk route.
Three major problems confronting the world — climate change, obesity and malnutrition — are connected with each other and together form a "global syndemic" that poses the greatest threat to human and planetary health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries including India, according to a new report by The Lancet.
A syndemic, or a combination of pandemics, is defined as "the presence of two or more disease states that adversely interact with each other".
The report — The Global Syndemic of Obesity,Under-nutrition and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission Report — which discusses how the issues are interrelated and often exacerbate the prevalence of each, was prepared by 43 health and climate experts from 14 countries was released by the Lancet Commission on Obesity.
The main and common drivers for the "global syndemic", according to the authors, are food and agriculture policies, transportation, urban design, and land use systems in general, and policies that incentivise large food corporations and the fossil fuel industry in particular.
The fossil fuel and food industries that are responsible for driving the Global Syndemic receive more than $5 trillion in annual subsidies from governments.
UK to Start 2-year Degree Courses
Indian and other students will have wider choice from the academic year beginning September, when universities will be allowed to offer degree courses spread over two years instead of three, which means more intensive study but costing 20% less.
Legislation to this effect was passed in the House of Commons. It will be rolled out after the House of Lords clears it. The department of education confirmed that the two-year degree courses would be available to Indian and other non-EU students like any other course.
In addition to saving on tuition fees, students will also benefit from a year without paying maintenance costs, and would allow them to seek employment earlier. The number of Indian students in the UK grew in 2017-18 after a major fall since 2010.
The accelerated degrees will offer the same qualifications with the same quality assurance as a standard degree, but delivered over a shorter, more intensive time-span. A two year degree will condense threeyear degrees with 30 weeks teaching into two years with 45 weeks teaching.
Sex Ratio at Birth Plunges in Southern States
The data for 2007 to 2016 on sex ratio at birth, an indication of which way the sex ratio will move in the coming years, shows that southern states, barring Kerala, have witnessed some of the most dramatic drops.
Data collated by the office of the Registrar General of India from the civil registration system (CRS) showed that in 2016, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan had the worst sex ratio at birth (SRB) of 806. Tamil Nadu was sixth from the bottom with its ratio falling from 935 in 2007 to 840, compared to the all-India figure of 877.
In Karnataka, it fell from 1,004 to 896. Telangana saw a drop from 954 in 2013, when the state was formed, to 881.
Since most of these states have achieved near 100% registration of births, the low ratios cannot be because large numbers of female births aren't getting registered.
In the case of Andhra, the drop to 806 in 2016 from 971 the previous year does seem abnormal.
Marriott International, the world's largest lodging company, is considering buying a significant minority stake in Chandru L Raheja's hotels business.
Marriott plans to acquire at least 10% in Chalet Hotels, which owns high-end properties in India — including the JW Marriott Mumbai and the Bengaluru Marriott — for about Rs 574 crore. Besides Chalet Hotels, Raheja owns Shoppers Stop, in which Jeff Bezos's Amazon has an investment, and Inorbit Mall.
Marriott's move to buy a slice of Chalet Hotels indicates the Nasdaq-listed, $22-billion chain's big bet on the Indian market where it operates 100 properties.
After the US and China, India is the third country where Marriott has a hospitality portfolio running into three digits.
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