1. Miss Colombia Paulina Vega crowned Miss Universe 2014

i. Miss Colombia Paulina Vega (22) won the Miss
Universe 2014 title.  

ii. The 63rd edition of the Miss Universe finale was held in Miami, US on 25th January 2015.

iii. She is a student of business administration from Barranquilla, Colombia.

iv. She became the second beauty queen from Colombia to win the title.

v. Luz Marina Zuluaga was the first
Colombian to win the crown – she won in 1956.

vi. The crown is valued at 300,000 US dollars and is designed to resemble
the skyline of New York City.

2. India
celebrates its 66th Republic day

i. India celebrated its 66th Republic Day with gaiety and enthusiasm.

ii. President Pranab Mukherjee unfurled the national flag at Rajpath in the
presence of Chief Guest Barack Obama, First lady of US Michelle Obama, Vice
President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

iii. After
unfurling the tricolour, the National Anthem was played and a 21-gun salute was given.

iv. The Republic Day ceremony commenced at Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate
where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in paying homage to the
martyrs by laying a wreath.

v. Before the commencement of the parade, the President conferred the highest peacetime gallantry award, Ashok Chakra, posthumously on Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh and Major Mukund
Varadarajan who laid their life during anti-terrorist operations in Jammu and
Kashmir. The award was received by the wives of the martyrs.

3. Eminent cartoonist R.K. Laxman passes away

i. Eminent cartoonist R.K. Laxman passed away
at the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune . He was 93.

ii. He was suffering from urinary infection
and multi-organ failure.

iii. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the passing away of famous
cartoonist R K Laxman.

About R. K. Laxman

i. Rasipuram Krishnaswami
Laxman was an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist.

ii. He is best known for his
creation, The Common Man, and for his daily cartoon strip,
“You Said It” – which started
in 1951 – in The Times of India.

iii. He was the brother of the late, R. K. Narayan, the
creator of Malgudi Days.

iv. He was rejected by J
J College of Arts, Mumbai and was later invited there as a chief guest.

v. The illustrations that appear in the TV
adaptation of R. K. Narayan’s Malgudi Days were drawn by R. K. Laxman.

vi. R. K. Laxman became the first Indian cartoonist to
exhibit in London

4. Obama announced $4 billion in investment, loans

i. U.S. President Barack Obama assured $4 billion in
investment and loans to India

ii. The U.S. Trade and
Development Agency will commit $2 billion towards India’s renewable energy
efforts, Obama said, while $1 billion each will be pledged to finance
“Made-in-America” exports and Indian rural businesses respectively.

iii. Obama said that
the US EXIM Bank will finance $1 billion in exports of “Made in America”
products to India, another $1 billion will be given in loans by Overseas
Private Investment Corporation to small and medium-sized enterprises in the
country’s under-served rural areas, while the US Trade and Development Agency
will invest $2 billion in India’s renewable energy sector.

5. Divya
Prakash Sinha selected as Security Secretary in the Union Cabinet Secretariat

i. Divya Prakash Sinha was appointed as Secretary
(Security) in the Union Cabinet Secretariat.

ii. Divya Prakash Sinha is a 1979 batch IPS officer of the Manipur-Tripura
cadre. He has served the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for several years, handling
operations in key regions such as the Northeast and New Delhi.

6. YES Bank
signs MoU with OPIC and Wells Fargo to support MSMEs

i. Private sector lender YES Bank has signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) – a development financial institution of the United States –
to increase lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India.

ii. Through this MoU, OPIC along with Wells Fargo
Bank will be participating in a $220 million long tenor funding arrangement to
YES Bank.

iv. The proceeds will be used for on-lending to
SME and MSME with a particular focus on under-served rural and urban markets in
India.