Morning Current Affairs: 27 January 2022

PM Modi to host first-ever India-Central Asia Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the first-ever India-Central Asia Summit virtually on January 27, 2022. The virtual event will see participation from Presidents of five central Asian nations- Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. The key focus of the summit is likely to be regional security, Afghanistan issue and trade and connectivity, culture, development partnership and people-to-people ties. This will be the first such high-level engagement between India and the Central Asian countries.

Neeraj Chopra conferred Padma Shri 

Tokyo Olympics Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra was conferred the Padma Shri on January 26, 2022, the fourth-highest civilian award of India. The 24-year-old had created history by becoming the first Indian to win Olympic gold in athletics. He also got the Param Vishisht Seva Medal by the 4 Rajputana Rifles for his distinguished service. Chopra is a Subedar in the Indian Army. 

ICC ODI Rankings: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma retain second, third spot

Indian batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retained their rankings on ICC Men's ODI Player Rankings. South Africa's wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock moved up four places and broke into the top five for the first time and batsman Rassie van der Dussen moved up 10 places to reach his career-best 10th rank after they helped their team achieve a memorable 3-10 whitewash in the ODI series against India. 

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles in latest tests, says South Korea's military

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, it detected the launch of what has been presumed to be two ballistic missiles from around Hamhung, on the east coast of North Korea on January 27, 2022. This would be the sixth round of missile tests this month. The suspected missiles reportedly landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

SpaceX Rocket Junk to crash into Moon in March: Experts

A chunk of a SpaceX rocket, which had blasted off seven years ago and was abandoned in space after completing its mission, is expected to crash into the Moon in March 2022. The rocket was launched in 2015 to put into orbit NASA's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). The second stage of the rocket has been floating in space in a chaotic orbit, according to astronomers.