• Uttar Pradesh assembly's Deputy Speaker Nitin Agarwal, a Samajwadi Party MLA who had been elected to the House's post on the BJP's support, formally quit the SP's membership.

• The SP MLA from Hardoi Sadar assembly seat said he has also quit as the MLA and deputy speaker of the House.

• Besides Agarwal, SP MLA Sharadveer Singh from Jalalabad assembly segment in Shahjahanpur district too resigned from the party, saying the SP has deviated from its ideology and he will now work for the victory of the BJP.

• ·      Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Wilfred D'Sa resigned as a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly as well as from the party, ahead of the saffron party announcing its first list of candidates for the next month's state elections.

• ·      D'Sa claimed that he would fight the February 14 Assembly polls an an independent.

Pained over the denial of ticket for the upcoming Assembly polls, senior BJP leader S K Sharma resigned from the primary membership of the party and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)

Noted criminal lawyer Shrikant Shivade, who had handled high-profile cases involving Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Shiney Ahuja, and represented two accused in the 2G spectrum case, died in a private in Maharashtra due to prolonged illness

• Although average global temperatures were temporarily cooled by the 2020-2022 La Niña events, 2021 was still one of the seven warmest years on record, according to six leading international datasets consolidated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.

• Global warming and other long-term climate change trends are expected to continue as a result of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

• Hana Horka , the anti-vax Czech folk singer has died after she deliberately contracted COVID to obtain a health pass that would have allowed her to visit the sauna and theatre. Proof of vaccination or a recent infection is required to access cultural and sports facilities as well as for travel and for visiting bars and restaurants in the EU member state, which is facing a soaring COVID count.

• Leading activist Sarah Gill has become Pakistan's first transgender doctor after clearing the MBBS (Final) examination from Karachi's Jinnah Medical and Dental College.

• Gill, 23, is also associated with an NGO working for the welfare of the transgender community in Pakistan.

• Pakistan in recent years has taken steps to empower its transgender population, including allowing them to get registered as transgender citizens.

• A special act was passed on in 2018 to protect their right and outlaw discrimination against them.

• Last year in July, members of the transgender community attended the first day of school after a special institute was opened for them in Multan, which offers classes from nursery till intermediate.

• Zulkarnaen,  the Islamic militant who eluded capture for 18 years was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Jan 19 after an Indonesian court found him guilty of hiding information about the 2002 Bali bombings from authorities and harboring other suspects.