Two properties belonging to the family members of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim were sold off at an auction organised by the competent authority under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act.

A total of four properties, located at Mumbke village in Khed tehsil of coastal Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra, were available at the auction, but no bids were received for two of them.

The other two properties received four and three bidders, respectively, and a single person emerged as a successful bidder for both of them.

After travelling for more than 126 days, the Aditya-L1 satellite, India’s first observatory to study the Sun, will be finally placed in its designated orbit around 6pm on Jan 6. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists will be performing the crucial manoeuvre of placing the satellite in the halo orbit at Lagrange Point 1 (L1) for the first time.

The spacecraft was launched on September 2, 2023, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The mission has been in the works for about three years, and in discussion since 2008. Aditya-L1 has been developed indigenously by ISRO and is expected to have a life of five years, however, scientists added that it can go beyond that.

The satellite will be placed in a halo orbit of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth, and Aditya-L1 would have covered only one per cent of the distance to the Sun. Scientists said that Aditya-L1 is healthy and performing well. Placing the satellite in a halo orbit around the L1 point will have the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses.

This mission will observe the solar atmosphere, mainly the chromosphere and corona, the outermost layers of the Sun, and use several payloads to record the local environment at L1.

The Prime Minister also underscored the Cabinet’s approval of the ‘PRITHvi VIgyan’ scheme, aimed at providing flexibility in research and fund allocation across five sub-schemes related to earth sciences over five years.

The Cabinet also approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Mauritius to jointly develop a satellite, scheduled for launch by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  in early 2025.

This MoU signed during the visit of Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan to Port Louis on November 1, 2023, aims to establish cooperation between the ISRO and Mauritius Research and Innovation Council in developing the satellite and using Mauritius’s ground station. Additionally, the Cabinet approved MoUs signed between India and Guyana on cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector.

In a first, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will support the Indian Railways (IR) in achieving the goal of Mission Net Zero carbon emissions by 2023.

The Government of India approved an MoU, signed between the Indian Railways and the USAID at the cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The MoU signed on June 12 2023 aims at providing a platform for Indian Railways to interact and exchange the latest developments and expertise in the railway sector while the USAID as per the MoU will provide technical assistance to the railways.

The CII participating with IR since 2016 has signed the third MoU after it signed the first in 2016 and the second in 2019.

As a result of various green initiatives with CII, 210 lakh Kwh energy had so far been saved since 2016 resulting in a big saving of Rs 16 crores reduction of around 18000 tons of CO2. The IR with CII has implemented energy efficiency green imitative as GreenGo rating in 75 railway workshops.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Jan 7 secured a record fifth term (fourth consecutive term) as her Awami League party won two-thirds of the seats in the general elections marred by sporadic violence and a boycott by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.

The final results are expected to be announced on Jan 8 . Hasina won the Gopalganj-3 seat for the eighth time since 1986.

She bagged 2,49,965 votes while her nearest rival M Nizam Uddin Lashkar from the Bangladesh Supreme Party secured just 469 votes. Of the 264 seats of the total 300 announced, Hasina’s Awami League had won 204 and her allied Jatiya Party nine more. Among the victors was Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh cricket team captain, who won his seat for Hasina’s party be a landslide.

Anowara Islam Rani, a young transgender from Bangladesh's northern region has emerged as the first candidate of her gender to enter electoral politics, a symbol of resilience and change in the country.

The participation of Rani, who is running for office from the Rangpur-3 constituency in the country's northern region, is being seen as a strong stride towards inclusivity.

An armed alliance of ethnic minority groups in Myanmar claimed to have captured a northern town notorious for online scam operations in another blow to the embattled junta.

The military is facing its biggest threat since seizing power in a 2021 coup after three armed ethnic groups -- known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance -- launched a sweeping October offensive in northern Shan state.

Since November people have been fleeing Laukkai town, located in a district bordering China that is run by a Myanmar military-aligned militia and notorious for gambling, prostitution and online scams run out of compounds staffed by thousands of people, many trafficked.

The alliance -- made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) -- said the town was now under their control.

Laukkai is the latest town to fall to the alliance alongside vital border hubs, damaging trade between China and Myanmar's cash-strapped junta.

In less than a year since his port to power conglomerate lost more than $150 billion in market capitalisation following the Hindenburg Research stinging report, Gautam Adani, Chairperson of the Adani Group, has overtaken Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani on the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index (BBI), to become India’s and Asia’s wealthiest man.

With a net worth of $97.6 billion, the Adani Group founder is now the world’s 12th richest person. RIL’s Ambani is now at 13th spot in the global rich list with a wealth of $97 billion. In January 2023, Hindenburg Research, a US-based short seller, accused the Adani Group of prolonged stock manipulation and accounting irregularities.

These claims were refuted by the Adani Group.Gautam Adani’s personal wealth, which fell as much as $69 billion last year, has seen a sharp surge in the last few months as his firms continue to raise funds from reputed investors. Back to back favourable observations by the Supreme Court also lifted investors’ sentiment and pushed Adani Stocks upward.

Other notable Indians on the billionaire list include Shapoor Mistry at the 38th spot with wealth of $34.6 billion and Shiv Nadar at the 45th spot with $33 billion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to top the index with a net worth of $220 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon at $169 billion.