India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Jan 19 reviewed India's joint projects with the Maldives and reaffirmed the strong development partnership between the two countries.

Jaishankar, who is in Male, as part of a three-day visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, said the synergies between India’s neighbourhood first and Maldives' India first policies have made both nations good neighbours and strong partners.

A number of significant Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) were signed between India and Maldives in Noonu Manadhoo which included an academic collaboration between Cochin University and Maldives National University, India providing two sea ambulances to Maldives Defence Ministry, community development projects and also distribution of books in a pre-school.

India has given additional grant assistance of 100 million Maldivian Rufiyaa for a high-impact community development scheme. A number of socio-economic development projects are planned to be implemented throughout Maldives under this funding.

The Church of England said  that it will allow blessings for same-sex, civil marriages for the first time but same-sex couples still will not be allowed to marry in its churches.

The decision followed five years of debate and consultation on the church's position on sexuality.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in England and Wales since 2013, but the church did not change its teaching when the law changed.

A French nun who was believed to be the world's oldest person has died a few weeks before her 119th birthday, the spokesperson for her nursing home in southern France said.

Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on Feb. 11, 1904. She was also one of the world's oldest survivors of COVID-19.

A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb  on Jan 18 killed 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and three children.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych were among those killed, according to Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s National Police. Monastyrskyi is the most senior Ukrainian official to have died since the start of the war with Russia almost 11 months ago.

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki on  Jan 18 said it is recalling 17,362 units of its six models, Alto K10, S-Presso, Eeco, Brezza, Baleno and Grand Vitara, to rectify a possible defect in airbag controller according to a regulatory filing by the company.

The affected vehicles are manufactured between 8 December 2022 and 12 January 2023. The carmaker said that the recall is being undertaken to inspect and replace Airbag Controller (“affected part”), free of cost if required in these vehicles.

The government had earlier mandated that all passenger cars are required to have a minimum of six airbags from October 1, 2023.

Tech giant Microsoft on  Jan 18  announced that it would lay off 10,000 employees, almost 5% of its workforce globally through Q3FY23- March 31, starting January 18.

It is not yet clear how many Indian employees will be impacted by this reduction. Microsoft, which set up its India operations in 1990, employs over 20,000 people across 11 cities. These employees in India are engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support.

In recent weeks, Amazon, Alphabet, and Salesforce among other major tech companies, announced that they will be lowering headcounts. Microsoft said that customers are now optimising their digital spending to do more with less and that the company will align cost structure with revenue and where it sees customer demand.

Microsoft also announced that it will continue to invest in strategic areas. It will allocate capital and talent to areas of secular growth while divesting in other areas.

The company also said that benefits for employees outside the US will align with the employment laws in each country.

Shubman Gill settled the debate for the opener's slot with a coming-of-age doubled hundred before India survived Michael Bracewell's blitzkrieg to pull off a nervy 12-run win over New Zealand in the first ODI of the three-match series  in Hyderabad  on  Jan 18 .

Brief Scores:

India: 349 for 8 in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 208; Daryl Mitchell 2/30).

New Zealand: 337; 49.2 overs (Michael Bracewell 140; Mohammed Siraj 4/46)

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) became the latest governing body to agree on equal pay deals for men's and women's internationals on Jan 18.The deal comes into place immediately and covers the period up to and including the 2026 men's World Cup and 2027 women's World Cup.

World champions the United States, and European champions England, Spain and Norway are among nations who have introduced equal pay for male and female players for representing their countries.