• Retired IPS officer Aftab Ahmed Khan, credited with establishing the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the Mumbai police three decades ago - the first such elite force in the country - died.

• The celebrated police officer was also involved in numerous operations against gangsters in Mumbai and terrorists during his decades-long career.

• Khan, a 1963-batch IPS officer, had resigned from the Maharashtra police in 1997 when he was serving as an Inspector General of Police.

• Ousted Uttarakhand cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat  has  joined the Congress along with his daughter-in-law Anukriti Guasain.

• The Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM) and Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority's Vice Chairman Vinod Sharma have been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2022 for their excellent work in disaster management.

• A Union Home Ministry statement said while the GIDM has been selected in the Institutional category, Sharma was named in the individual category.

• The central government has instituted the annual award -- Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar -- to recognise and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by individuals and organisations in India in the field of disaster management.

• The award is announced every year on January 23, the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

• It carries a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh and a certificate in the case of an institution and Rs 5 lakh and a certificate in the case of an individual.

• Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was conferred with the Netaji Award 2022 by Netaji Research Bureau on  Jan 23 .

• Consul General of Japan in Kolkata Nakamura Yutaka received the honour on behalf of Abe at a function at the Elgin Road residence of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary.

• Japanese Ambassador to India Satoshi Suzuki addressed the programme virtually from New Delhi.

• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has  blocked 35 YouTube channels, 2 Twitter accounts, 2 Instagram Accounts, 2 websites and a Facebook, stated Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary (P&A), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for spreading misinformation.

• Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Jan 22  gave his approval to the elevation of Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha Malik as the country's first-ever woman judge of the Supreme Court, a watershed moment in the judicial history of the conservative Muslim country.

• Born in 1966, Malik completed her basic education from schools in Paris, New York, and Karachi.

• She studied law at Pakistan College of Law, Lahore and did her LLM from Harvard Law School.

• Meat Loaf, the heavyweight rock superstar loved by millions for his “Bat Out of Hell” album and for such theatrical, dark-hearted anthems as “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” and “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” has died. He was 74.

• The president of the General Assembly appealed to the U.N.’s 193 member nations to take “concrete actions” to promote peace during next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.

• Abdulla Shahid, President of the United Nations General Assembly, called on all warring parties in conflicts around the world “to boldly agree to true mutual cease-fires” during the Olympic truce called for by the General Assembly.

• The assembly took note of Shahid’s “solemn appeal” with a bang of his gavel.

• On December 2, the assembly adopted a resolution by consensus recalling the ancient Greek tradition of ekecheiria, calling for an “Olympic Truce,” to encourage a peaceful environment and ensure safe passage and participation of athletes in the games, “thereby mobilizing the youth of the world to the cause of peace.”

The resolution urged member state “to observe the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively” from the week before the start of the 24th winter Olympic games in Beijing until the week after the Paralympics. The Olympics run from Feb. 4-20 followed by the Paralympics from March 4-13.