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Luka Modric, who led Croatia to their first-ever FIFA World Cup final, has been named the 2018 Balkan Athlete of the year. Modric won the Champions League for the third time in a row with his club “Real Madrid” in May 2018 before leading Croatia to the 2018 World Cup final, where they lost 4-2 to France. He also won the prestigious Ballon d’Or for the first time earlier in December 2018. While Tennis player Novak Djokovic of Serbia got 2nd position in the Balkan poll, and Romania’s Simona Halep third. The poll was organized by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and included the national news agencies of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.

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The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) was awarded Best Capital City in the Solid Waste Management in the Swachh Survekshan 2018 rankings. The Swachh Survekshan was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). According to a press release, the Swachh Survekashan survey ranks cities on various parameters including sanitation, provision of basic amenities etc.

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The Central Zone of Indian Railways has developed an AI-powered robot, named as ‘USTAAD’, which will scrutinize parts of train coaches in real time and transmit them over a WiFi connection. The acronym ‘USTAAD’ stands for Undergear Surveillance Through Artificial Intelligence Assisted Droid. The robot is developed by the mechanical branch of Central Railway’s Nagpur division. It would click pictures and record videos of the under-gears of trains and send them to engineers for repairs and maintenance. The robot is also capable of zooming into a spot in case of any doubt. It is equipped with LED flood light and able to capture the videos in low light as well as in dark mode. By use of this robot the chances of mistake and any deficiency overlooked by human eye can be eliminated thus reducing chances of human error. With the help of USTAAD, engineers can easily see and examine areas which are hard to see and hard to approach such as cramped or narrow spaces between under-gear parts.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a ‘Survey on Retail Payment Habits of Individuals (SRPHi)’ to capture payment habits of individuals in six cities, including four metropolitan towns. According to RBI release, the survey will cover a sample of 6,000 individuals from various socio-economic backgrounds across six cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Guwahati. The survey seeks qualitative responses from individuals on their payment habits. The findings may provide some idea about awareness and usage habits of digital payment products.

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On December 28, the unique Chapparam (Chariot) festival was celebrated with traditional rituals and festivities in the famous Madurai Meenakshi temple, in Tamil Nadu. The fest symbolizes the importance of preserving all kinds of food and fodder. The festival is also an auspicious occasion when the God and Goddess measure out food for all living beings. In it, both Goddess Meenakshi and her spouse Lord Sundareswarar circumambulate the four main streets around the temple. Cooked rice, which is distributed among devotees, are taken home and preserved because it signifies prosperity for the whole year. Another specialty of the festival is that the chariot of Goddess Meenakshi is pulled by lady devotees alone.