Russia and Ukraine on Jan 3  exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in the biggest single release of captives since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian authorities said that 230 Ukrainian prisoners of war returned home in the first exchange in almost five months. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 248 Russian servicemen have been freed under the deal sponsored by the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE has maintained close economic ties with Moscow despite Western sanctions and pressure on Russia after it launched its invasion in 2022.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said it was the 49th prisoner exchange during the war.

Japanese rescuers struggled with heavy rain, blocked roads and aftershocks on Jan 3  following a powerful earthquake that killed at least 73 people and left tens of thousands without power or running water.

Throughout the Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu sirens blared as emergency vehicles tried to navigate roads blocked by rocks and fallen trees.

The Noto Peninsula was worst hit by the 7.5-magnitude quake on January 1, with port towns such as Wajima and Suzu resembling war zones with streets of mud, flattened houses and sunken boats.

Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign in the past month following the congressional testimony. Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, announced her departure just months into her tenure in a letter to the Harvard community.

An explosion in Beirut on  Jan 2  killed Saleh Arouri, a top official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and three others, officials with Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone. Israeli officials declined to comment.

If Israel is behind the attack it could mark a major escalation in the Middle East conflict. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon.

The Supreme Court on  Jan 3 while pronouncing its verdict on a batch of petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation against the Adani Group said that the facts of the case did not warrant a transfer of probe to an SIT or another agency.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud refused an SIT probe into the matter remarking that "there was no material to doubt the investigation carried out by the Securities and Exchange Board of India."

The top court said no valid grounds have been raised for this court to direct SEBI to revoke its amendments to the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) and Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) regulations.

The government and SEBI have to consider whether to act on recommendations made by the court-appointed expert panel or not to strengthen the interests of Indian investors, the CJI added.

The apex court also emphasized that its power to enter the regulatory framework of SEBI is limited.

It noted that SEBI has completed 22 out of the 24 investigations into the allegations levelled against the Adani Group.

The top court also rejected the reliance placed by one of the petitioners on the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) report to suggest that SEBI was lackadaisical in conducting the investigation.

It also said the allegation of "conflict of interest" against some members of the court-appointed expert committee is unsubstantiated and is rejected.

Background

The judgement on the PILs, filed by lawyers Vishal Tiwari, M L Sharma, and Congress leaders Jaya Thakur, and Anamika Jaiswal, was reserved on November 24 last year.

The banking regulator has proposed to make more stringent the conditions for banks to be able to declare dividend payments. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Jan 2  released draft guidelines in which it has proposed that a bank should have net non-performing assets (NPAs) of less than 6% in the financial year for which the dividend has been proposed. Earlier, banks with less than 7% net NPA could give dividends to its shareholders.

The RBI has increased the capital adequacy requirement for small finance banks (SFBs) and payment banks. It proposes minimum capital requirement for commercial banks, local area banks and regional rural banks to be at 9%, while for those SFBs and payment banks it is 15%. Apart from the overall capital requirements, banks will have to stick to minimum Tier 1 capital norms. For example, commercial banks must have 7% minimum tier 1 capital to be able to declare dividends.

Meanwhile, the regulator has proposed hiking maximum dividend payout ratio to 50% from existing 40%. A bank with no net NPA can pay 50% dividend to its shareholders, 40% if net NPA is over 0 and less than 1% and 35% for banks with net NPAs more than or equal to 1% but less than 2%. A bank with net NPA of more than or equal to 2% but less than 4% can pay up to 25% dividend and 15% if the net NPA is more than or equal to 4% but less than 6%.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare on  Jan 2  introduced an amendment to the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, allowing female government employees or pensioners to grant family pension to their eligible child/children after their own demise, instead of their spouse.

The amendment addresses situations where marital discord leads to divorce proceedings or cases filed under acts such as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, Dowry Prohibition Act, or the Indian Penal Code.

Previously, family pension was granted to the spouse of a deceased government servant or pensioner, while other family members became eligible only after the spouse's ineligibility or demise. However, the new amendment allows female government servants or pensioners to request the grant of family pension to their eligible child/children after their own demise, instead of their spouse.

In such cases, the female government servant or pensioner must make a written request to the concerned Head of Office, stating that family pension should be granted to her eligible child/children in precedence to her spouse, in the event of her death during the ongoing proceedings. If the female government servant or pensioner passes away during the proceedings, the family pension will be disbursed accordingly.

According to the release, if she is survived by a widower with no eligible child, the family pension will be payable to the widower. However, if the widower is the guardian of a minor child or a child suffering from a mental disorder, the family pension will be payable to the widower, as long as he remains the guardian. Once the child attains majority and remains eligible for family pension, it will be payable directly to the child.

For cases where the deceased female government servant or pensioner is survived by a widower and children who have attained majority but are still eligible for family pension, the family pension will be payable to such children. After all eligible children cease to be eligible for family pension, it will become payable to the widower until his death or remarriage, whichever occurs first. 

The government has hiked the windfall tax on crude oil produced in the country and cut the levy to nil on exports of diesel and ATF.

The tax, levied in the form of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED), on domestically produced crude oil has been raised to Rs 2,300 from Rs 1,300 per tonne, according to an official notification.

The SAED on the export of diesel has been reduced to nil from Rs 0.50 a litre.

The levy on export of jet fuel or ATF has been cut to nil from Rs 1 per litre.

SAED on petrol will continue to be zero.

The new rates are effective from  Jan 3.

India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1 2022, joining a growing number of nations that tax supernormal profits of energy companies.

The tax rates are reviewed every fortnight based on average oil prices in the previous two weeks.