News in Short

• For the first time in its history, the Joynagar moa is being exported. Moa is a highly popular Bengali sweet that is available only during the winter months
• The first trial shipment reached Bahrain. The moa is a popped-rice ball held together with fresh date-palm jaggery, and since its manufacture is mostly confined to the town of Joynagar (near Kolkata), it has earned the Geographical Indication tag of Joynagar Moa.
• The moa is now among the very few agricultural GI-tagged items, such as basmati rice, Darjeeling tea and Alphonso mango, to be exported.
• The history of moa can be traced back to 1904 and it has always been synonymous with Joynagar even though many other adjoining settlements also specialise in it.

• Italian police have recovered a 500-year-old copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century “Salvator Mundi” painting of Jesus Christ that was stolen from a Naples church during the pandemic.
• The discovery was made when Naples Police working on a bigger operation found the painting hidden in an apartment.
• The painting is a copy of the “Salvator Mundi” (Saviour of the World) by Leonardo that sold for a record $450 million at a Christie’s auction in 2017.
• The unnamed bidder was later identified as a Saudi royal who purportedly purchased it on behalf of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
• The copy, attributed to the Leonardo school and had been housed in a small museum in a side chapel of the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples.

• The BJP government in Gujarat has initiated the process of patenting the name of the variety of dragon fruit grown in Gujarat as ‘kamalam’.
• Earlier, the Gujarat forest department sent a proposal to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) for change in nomenclature of the dragon fruit to kamalam.
• Officials and farmers say the shape and appearance of the fruit has a striking resemblance to the lotus. The fruit is being cultivated in Kutch, Narmada and other districts of the state.

• Joe Biden took oath as the 46th President of the United States of America at a scaled-back ceremony in the US Capitol building in Washington. In his first speech as US president, Mr Biden vowed to defeat political extremism and white supremacy.
• He spoke of unifying the country and pledged that he will be the President for all Americans. He said, America has been tested and they have come out stronger for it.
• Mr Biden, 78 year old, has become the oldest US President in history. His deputy Kamala Harris was also sworn in as 49th Vice-President of the country.
• The daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, Kamala Harris made history as America's first woman and first person with south Asian roots to take the office of the Vice President.

• Veteran Malayalam actor Unnikrishnan Namboothiri  passed away at a private hospital in Kannur. He was 98.
• Unnikrishnan made his acting debut with Desadanam 1996. However, he became a household name among the Malayalam film audience for his performance as a witty grandfather in Kalyanaraman (2002).
• He had also played a pivotal role in Kamal Haasan’s hit comedy-drama, Pammal K Sambandam (2002).
• Unnikrishnan Namboothiri was known for movies like Kaikudunna Nilavu (1998), Kaliyattam (1997), Sadanandante Samayam (2003), Madhuranombarakattu (2000), Rappakal (2005), and Pokkiri Raja (2010).