Current Affairs: Daily GK Update 29th January, 2017

IndiaPost becomes 3rd entity to receive licence to start payment bank operations

i. IndiaPost has become the third entity to receive a final license last week from the Central Bank to start its payment bank operations. Country’s largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel and digital payments firm Paytm are the other two to have received the license while only Airtel has started operations so far.

ii. The government has also appointed AP Singh has interim MD and CEO of the India Post Payment Bank. A 1986 Indian Postal Service Officer he was earlier Joint Secretary in the department of disinvestment, the ministry of Finance and Deputy Director General in charge of financial inclusion and payments systems at Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Singh was one part of the founding team that launched Aadhaar and was stationed at the department of Post prior to UIDAI.

National Immunization Day: 29th January 2017

i. Today (29th January 2017) is National Immunization Day. President Pranab Mukherjee has launched the countrywide programme for 2017 by administering polio drops to children aged below five years at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The programme will cover around 17 crore children aged under five years in an effort to maintain the country's polio-free status.

Denmark to appoint world’s first ‘digital ambassador’

i. Denmark has announced it will appoint a 'digital ambassador' to manage its relationship with technology giants like Google and Apple, becoming the first country to do so. "Such companies have become a type of new nations and we need to confront that," said Denmark's Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen. The companies' market values are large enough to enter G20, he added.

Alibaba’s financial arm acquires MoneyGram

i. Ant Financial, e-commerce giant Alibaba’s financial arm, has reached an agreement to acquire American money-transfer major MoneyGram for $880 million, in a deal that will expand the firm’s business in the US after India and Thailand.

ii. The transaction will connect MoneyGram’s money transfer network of 2.4 billion bank and mobile accounts and 350,000 physical locations with Ant Financial’s users.

2017 Australian Open: Roger Federer wins men's title

i. For the first time since 2010, Roger Federer has won the Australian Open, beating long-time rival Rafael Nadal in the finals in Melbourne, Australia on 29th January 2017. Federer won a closely contested five-set showdown, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

ii. For Federer, it’s his fifth Australian Open title and his 18th Grand Slam singles title in total. At 35 years old, it’s the first Grand Slam title for him since he won Wimbledon in 2012, and getting the win over a rival like Nadal is huge.

Australian Open: Serena beats sister Venus for record 23rd slam title

i. In Australian Open tennis, Serena Williams beat her sister Venus Williams in the final today to win her 23rd Grand Slam singles title. The dominant American swept past her rival 6-4, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena to finally clinch the record for Open-era major titles, nearly 18 years after winning her first.

ii. This is also her a seventh Australian Open win and her 23rd Grand Slam victory since the game turned professional in 1968.