Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, on his 69th death anniversary.

"Tributes to beloved Bapu on his 'Punya Tithi'(death anniversary)," Modi tweeted.

On this day in 1948, Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who fired three bullets into his chest during a prayer meeting at the Birla House here.

Gandhi is admired across the world for his nonviolent philosophy of passive resistance. He was known to his many followers as the Mahatma.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Surat and Dandi in Gujarat today.

During the daylong visit, Prime Minister Modi will lay the Foundation Stone for the extension of Terminal building at Surat Airport and attend the New India Youth Conclave. He will also inaugurate a hospital in Surat.

The Surat Airport Terminal building will be constructed at a cost of Rs.354 Crore in 25,500 square meters area. It will be an eco-friendly sustainable building, using solar energy and LED lighting.

Once completed, it will have a peak handling capacity of over 1800 passengers. Surat airport is the third busiest airport in Gujarat after Ahmedabad and Vadodara in terms of both aircraft movements and passenger traffic.

In Surat, PM will also interact with the youth at the New India Youth conclave. He will also inaugurate Rasilaben Sevantilal Shah Venus Hospital and visit the facilities there.

Later, Prime Minister Modi will visit Dandi in Navsari District on the coast of the Arabian Sea wherein 1930 Mahatma Gandhi had ended his historic Salt March.

He will dedicate the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial in Dandi. The National Salt Satyagraha Memorial to be dedicated to the nation on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary has statues of Mahatma Gandhi and 80 Satyagrahis, who had marched with Mahatma Gandhi during the historic Dandi Salt March.

The memorial also has 24-narrative murals depicting various events and stories from the historic 1930 Salt March. The Prime Minister will also address a public meeting there.

Ambati Rayudu will not be allowed to bowl in international cricket. (AP)

Ambati Rayudu has been suspended from bowling in international cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday (January 28). This was after Rayudu failed to submit to a test of his bowling action within the stipulated period of 14 days.

A statement by ICC said, “The player elected not to submit to a test of his bowling action within the stipulated period of 14 days of being reported for a suspect action, and therefore he has been suspended with immediate effect in accordance with clause 4.2 of the ICC regulations, which can be found here.”

“The suspension will remain in place until he is tested, and can demonstrate he is able to bowl with a legal action,” it added.

Rayudu was reported for suspect action during the first one-day international of India’s series against Australia in Sydney on January 12.

As a part-time bowler, Rayudu had bowled just two overs during the match and gave away 13 runs without picking up a wicket. However, his action drew comparisons with Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan, who himself had been pulled up by match officials for suspect bowling action a number of points in his career.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand had to be content with a joint third place finish following a draw with compatriot Vidit Gujrathi in the 13th and final round of the Tata Steel Masters here.

With three victories, a lone loss against winner Magnus Carlsen of Norway and nine draws, Anand ended the event on 7.5 points and will add six points to his existing rating. He is now sixth in world rankings.

Carlsen expectedly won the event after drawing rather easily with Anish Giri of Holland in the final round.

Leading by a half point over Giri, Carlsen started the day with black pieces and went for his recent pet Sveshnikov Sicilian.

Giri admitted he had not looked so deep and at one point sacrificed an exchange to spice things up.

Carlsen, who scored 9 points, thought if anyone was better it was black but simply chose a safer option to close the event. This was Carlsen's seventh victory in the super tournament. Anand has won this event five times earlier.

The charges against the world's second largest smartphone maker include bank fraud, obstruction of justice and theft of technology.

The case could ratchet up tensions between China and the US, and impact the firm's global expansion efforts.

Both Ms Meng and Huawei deny the allegations.

Ms Meng was arrested in Canada last month at the request of the US for allegedly evading sanctions on Iran.

"For years, Chinese firms have broken our export laws and undermined sanctions, often using US financial systems to facilitate their illegal activities. This will end," said US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

In a statement, Huawei rejected the charges, saying it didn't commit "any of the asserted violations" and that it "is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng".

It said the allegations were already the subject of a settled civil suit, in which a jury found "neither damages nor willful and malicious conduct on the trade secret claim".

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday said that GST on Haj has been reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent and this will significantly lower the air fare thus saving Haj pilgrims’  113 crore rupees this year. 

He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a new conference hall and passport section at the Haj House in Mumbai. 

Mr. Naqvi said this for  the first time since the independence that 2,340 women from India will go on 2019 Haj without Mehram.

Beating the Retreat ceremony, marking the culmination of four day long Republic Day celebrations, will be held at the historic Vijay Chowk in New Delhi today. This year, Indian tunes will be the flavour of ‘Beating the Retreat’ ceremony. 
 
As many as 27 performances on the historic Vijay Chowk will enthrall the spectators with captivating and foot-tapping music of the bands from the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the State Police and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF). Out of the 27 performances, 19 tunes have been composed by Indian musicians, which include Indian Star, Paharon ki Rani, Jai Janam Bhumi, Queen of Satpura, Vijay Bharat, Aakash Ganga, Gangotri, Namaste India, Samudrika, Jai Bharat, Young India, and Veerta Ki Misal. Eight western tunes like Sound Barrie’, Twilight,  Space Flight, Drummers Call will be part of Beating the Retreat.
 
The event will come to a close with the ever-popular tune of Sare Jahan Se Acha. This year, 15 Military Bands, 15 Pipes and Drums Bands from Regimental Centres and Battalions are participating in Beating the Retreat ceremony. Besides one each of Indian Navy and Indian Air Force band will also form part of the event. Another band of the State Police and CAPF comprising Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Delhi Police will also take part.
 
Meanwhile, entry and exit will not be available today at Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan Metro Stations between 2 PM to 6.30 PM due to Beating the Retreat ceremony. According to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the entry and exit will be allowed at Central Secretariat Station from Gate No. 1 only from  2 PM to 4 PM while rest of the gates will remain closed during this period.  Normal services at these stations will be restored at 6.30 PM.

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani called on the Taliban to "enter serious talks" with the government in Kabul on Monday, following unprecedented marathon negotiations between the insurgents and the US in Qatar last week.

"I call on the Taliban to show their Afghan will, and accept Afghans' demand for peace, and enter serious talks with the Afghan government," he said in a nationally televised address from the presidential palace in Kabul.

Afghan authorities have previously complained of being excluded from the discussions in Qatar and warned that any deal between the US and the Taliban would require Kabul's endorsement. However, the Taliban have long refused to speak directly to Ghani's government, branding them "puppets".

Human Resources Development Ministry has issued orders on revision of allowances and special allowances for teachers and equivalent academic cadre, Registrars, Finance Officers and Controller of Examinations in Central Universities and Colleges. This also includes centrally funded Deemed to be Universities. The order has come into force with immediate effect.
 
The revised special allowance per month for Vice Chancellor will be 11,250 rupees, for  Pro-Vice Chancellor it will be 9,000 rupees, for Principal in PG College it will be  6,750 rupees and for Principal in UG College, it will be 4,500 rupees per month.
 
The Ministry in a statement said, this is likely to benefit 30 thousand  teaching and equivalent staff in Central Universities and 5500 in Deemed to be Universities. This will serve as a bench mark for 7 lakh teachers in State Universities.

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has  exhorted state-run banks to step up lending to micro, small and medium enterprises, agriculture and housing sectors. He was talking to media after his first meeting with the heads of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) yesterday. He said the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has helped the PSBs recover over Rs 1 lakh crore in the three quarters of the current fiscal.  
 
Talking about the review meeting, Goyal said banks under Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework were advised to maintain the trend of improvement in performance, with a view to bringing them out of the PCA framework at the earliest. 
 
Citing a number of positives, the finance minister highlighted the need for each and every PSB to ensure that recent gains are sustained and better service delivered to all stakeholders.
He said, Banks also committed to step up their efforts for financing under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana which is aimed at securing Housing for All by 2022.  Earlier, RBI Governor Das highlighted importance of PSBs for the economy at all times and especially at the present juncture in helping meet broader economic goals.