Roger Federer withdraws from Australian Open 2021
•Six-time champion Roger Federer has withdrawn himself from Australian Open 2021. The current world no. 5 had last featured in Australian Open 2020 in January 2020, after which he underwent a knee surgery.
•Federer has reportedly withdrawn himself as he could not get himself ready for the rigours of a Grand Slam in time. The first Grand Slam event of 2021 will take place at Melbourne Park from February 8-21.
•Defending Champion Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named among the entries for the Australian Open on December 24.
Vehicles with caste stickers to be seized in Uttar Pradesh
•Vehicles displaying caste stickers will now invite punitive action and will be seized in Uttar Pradesh, as per an official order dated December 24, 2020.
•The order was sent by Uttar Pradesh Additional Transport Commissioner Mukesh Chandra to all Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) of the state.
•The order has mandated the regional transport offices to seize all vehicles displaying caste identities. The directions aims to bring an end to glorification of caste names by putting them on the number plate and vehicles, as it can lead to law and order situations.
EAM Jaishankar to visit Qatar from December 27-28
•The Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar is scheduled to go on a two-day visit to Qatar from December 27-28, 2020.
•He will be meeting Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.
•This will be Jaishankar's first visit to Qatar as External Affairs Minister of India. India and Qatar have maintained close high-level contacts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
India to test 5 percent of COVID cases for whole genome sequencing
•The central government’s national task force (NTF) informed on December 28, 2020 that five percent of positive cases from all states and union territories will be tested for whole genome sequencing due to the new virus strain detected in the United Kingdom.
•The National Task Force had held a meeting to discuss testing, treatment and surveillance strategies for COVID-19 in view of the new virus strain from the UK.
•The task force said that there is no need to change the existing treatment protocol due to mutation. Around 50 samples of UK returnees are currently under sequencing at the designated laboratories.
MS Dhoni named captain of ICC Men’s T20I and ODI teams of the decade
•The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced ICC Men’s and Women's T20I, ODI and Test teams of the decade on December 27, 2020.
•Former Indian captain MS Dhoni was named the captain of the ICC Men’s T20I and ODI teams of the decade, while Virat Kohli was named captain of the ICC Men’s Test team of the decade.
•The T20 side featured four Indian players including Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma, while ODI side featured Rohit Sharma and Virat besides Dhoni.
•The Test team of the decade featured two Indians including Kohli and Ashwin.
Government extends validity of vehicular documents till March 31
•The central government on December 27, 2020 extended the validity of vehicular documents like Driving Licenses, permits and Registration Certificates till March 31, 2020.
•This means that all vehicular documents, which expired after February 1, 2020 and could not be extended due to COVID-19 related disruption, will be considered valid up to March 31, 2021.
•The validity of these documents was to expire on December 31, 2020. The Union Transport Ministry announced the decision and issued directions to the states and union territories in this regard.
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