Notes:
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Siyom Bridge in Arunachal Pradesh, constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
It is one among the 28 projects, mostly along the border with China. They include 12 in Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir, five in Arunachal Pradesh, three each in Sikkim, Punjab and Uttarakhand, and two in Rajasthan.

Notes:
Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) is an intergovernmental organisation of 32 member countries of the Asia-Pacific region. It is the only restricted union of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a UN specialised agency.
India will take over the leadership of the Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) from this month, as per the Ministry of Communications.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding the Central Sector Scheme ‘Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development’ (BIND).
The BIND scheme aims to bring modernisation to the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati i.e. All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD). The outlay of the scheme is Rs.2,540 crore for the time period up to 2025-26.

Notes:
The United Kingdom announced that a record 87.6% of power generated into the grid came from zero-carbon sources like wind, nuclear and hydropower.
This was announced by National Grid Plc’s Electricity System Operator. 67% of Britain’s power came from wind, with 19% from nuclear and 9.5% from gas-fired power stations. A wind generation record was also set with almost 21 gigawatts of output.

Notes:
The 16th edition of Auto Expo 2023- Components Show is scheduled from January 12 to 15, in New Delhi and over 800 companies from 15 countries will participate in the Auto Expo.
India’s Component industry witnessed a growth of nearly 35% to Rs 2.65 lakh crore in first-half of the year, due to domestic demand from the passenger vehicles segment. It is jointly organised by Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Notes:
PSG superstar Lionel Messi has been crowned the ‘World’s Best Player’ for 2022 by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
In 51 official games for club and country, Messi scored 35 goals and laid on 30 assists. Messi was also named the winner of the IFFHS World’s Best International Goal Scorer 2022 Award. Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni was voted as the best coach.

Notes:
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Microsoft signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the growth of space-tech startups in India.
The MoU seeks to empower space tech startups across the country with technology tools and platforms, market support and mentorship. The space-tech startups identified by ISRO will be onboarded onto the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub platform.

Notes:
Kevin McCarthy was elected as the House speaker after days of painstaking negotiations and failed votes.
Earlier, the Republicans in the House of Representatives failed to elect the Speaker amid faction of holdouts continued to not vote for Kevin McCarthy. This was the time since 1923 that a nominee of the majority party in the House wasn’t able to win the first vote for the position of Speaker.

Notes:
IIT-Kharagpur has handed over ‘iWeld’ software to Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE).
The new software detects the defects in welding from the radiography images taken of an object, by using artificial intelligence. The software, tested over a large number of samples at GRSE, was found to provide results that were 93.18 per cent accurate

Notes:
Avian flu has been confirmed in many Kerala districts and the Kerala Health Department has directed all districts to be on the alert.
Avian flu was also confirmed in a grama panchayat in the capital city Thiruvananthapuram. The district administration issued orders that all poultry and other pet birds in the affected wards be killed and that all egg, meat, bird fodder, and litter be destroyed.