Source: Click Here

• The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibilty for the terror attack at London Bridge where two people were killed and three others injured.


• The extremist group’s Amaq news agency said the 28-year-old attacker Usman Khan was one of Islamic State’s fighters, reported metro.co.uk.


• Without providing any evidence, Islamic State said that the attack was carried out in response to its calls to target citizens of the countries that have been part of a coalition fighting against the jihadist group.

Source: Click Here

• Russia's MiG-31K interceptor jet carried out a test of the Kinjal (Dagger) hypersonic missile in Russia's part of Arctic earlier this month, TASS new agency reported, citing two military sources.


• The report came a day after Danish intelligence service warned of intensifying geopolitical rivalry in the Earth's freezing North, and said that China's military was increasingly using scientific research in the Arctic as a way into the region.


• "The tests took place in mid-November," TASS quoted one of its sources as saying.

Source: Click Here

• China accused UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet of "inappropriate" interference in the country's affairs after she called for investigations into alleged excessive use of force by police in Hong Kong.


• China's mission to the UN in Geneva said an op-ed written by Bachelet in the South China Morning Post was "erroneous" and "violates the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

Source: Click Here

• The future of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition was thrown into question as her deputy chancellor and finance minister lost the leadership race of his centre-left party SPD.


• The humiliating defeat for Olaf Scholz marks another sign of discontent within the Social Democrats over their partnership with Merkel's center-right party.


• It was also a prelude to expected high drama in the coming week with the party poised to vote on whether to stay in the coalition as delegates meet for their annual congress

Source: Click Here

• The first phase of polling in 13 of 81 seats assembly seats in Jharkhand passed off peacefully on Saturday with 62.87% voting concluded at 3 pm, election officials said.


• Chief electoral officer (CEO), Vinay Kumar Choubey said the polling percentage would increase when final reports would come. “Voters are still in queues in many polling booths of these constituencies,” he said.


• The first phase of the five-phase elections was challenging as most constituencies were spread across six Maoist-affected districts, election officials said.

Source: Click Here

• A day after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government comfortably won a floor test, Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP coalition will face off with the opposition BJP on Sunday for the election of the Assembly Speaker.


• The Congress announced that its MLA Nana Patole will be the coalition’s candidate for the election for Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s post, while the BJP named Kisan Kathore as its nominee.

Source: Click Here

• Home minister Amit Shah met chief ministers and other prominent leaders of three northeastern states on Saturday to discuss the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, aimed at fast-tracking the grant of Indian citizenship to members of religious minorities from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.


• Several northeastern states have flagged their concerns about provisions of the bill, suggesting that it was detrimental to the interests of the indigenous population. For instance, in Assam, the proposed amendment has raised concerns that it would nullify the 1985 Assam Accord, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.

Source: Click Here

• India and Japan described terror networks based in Pakistan as a threat to regional security and called on the country to take “irreversible action” against such groups.


• The two countries also called for a stronger international partnership and enhanced intelligence-sharing to counter-terrorism after the first combined dialogue of their defence and foreign ministers in New Delhi. The dialogue came ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s annual summit with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in mid-December.

Source: Click Here

• Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said the entire world is looking towards India with great interest today and urged universities to reorient their academic strategies to produce “future ready” professionals.


• He said the country has to make the most of its “demographic dividend to grow economically” and the universities can play a great role in this by working in tandem with the governments and equipping students to deal with future challenges.


• “Everything cannot be left to the governments alone. Universities will have to work hand in hand with governments to put the young talent at their disposal to the best use,” Naidu said.

Source: Click Here

• A mistake in the module book prepared for Class 10 students by the Madhya Pradesh Education Department has come to light in which Mahatma Gandhi has been depicted negatively.


• The mistake has appeared on Page 46 of the Test Paper-3 in the question and answers section, prepared for Class X students, where Gandhi has been termed as ‘Kubuddhi’. The module is being used to teach students for the past many months.


• The state education board has prepared the module for helping the students, who are weak in some subjects, and are used in all government schools across the state.

Source: Click Here

• The University Grants Commission (UGC) has prohibited distance education programmes in Hotel Management and Real Estate.


• "In accordance with communication received from various regulatory bodies, programmes in Hotel Management, Culinary Studies and valuation of Real Estate, will not be recognised from academic session 2019-20 and onwards," a recent official order said.


• The order, however, said admissions taken in the recognised Open and Distance Learning (ODL) programme during the recognition period will be recognised till the completion of programme even if the university does not have recognition for further years provided the programme is offered in accordance with UGC norms and territorial jurisdictions.

Source: Click Here

• Here are today’s top news, analysis and opinion at 9 AM. Know all about the latest news and other news updates.


• GST collection in November likely to hit Rs 1 lakh crore


• GST revenue for November is being compiled and preliminary estimates indicate it is likely to touch Rs 1 lakh crore, one person said. A formal announcement of the revenue numbers is expected next week.

Source: Click Here

• India’s premier medical institute AIIMS fell prey to a banking fraud as over Rs 12 crore has been stolen from its two bank accounts with the State Bank of India by allegedly using “cloned cheques” over the past one month, official sources said.


• The money has been siphoned off from the bank accounts the AIIMS has with the State Bank of India (SBI) from its non-home branches in other cities, the sources told PTI.


• Even after the fraud came to light, attempts were made to illegally withdraw over Rs 29 crore allegedly using cloned cheques from SBI’s non-home branches located in Dehradun and Mumbai in the last week.

Source: Click Here

• G Sathiyan crashed out of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Men's World Cup after losing in the pre-quarters.


• After winning the first game, Sathiyan lost the match 1-4 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11, 8-11) to former world number one Timo Boll of Germany. Earlier, world number 30, Sathiyan had defeated world number 24 to reach the pre-quarters.

Source: Click Here

• India have qualified for the Davis Cup 2020 Qualifiers after defeating Pakistan 4-0 in Nur-Sultan.


• While the doubles pair of Leander Paes and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan beat Huzaifa Abdul Rehman and Muhammad Shoaib 6-1, 6-3 in 53 minutes, Sumit Nagal defeated Yousef Kalil 6-1, 6-0 in 32 minutes in reverse singles. Both sides opted not to play the dead fifth rubber.

Source: Click Here

• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), alongside Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and IIM Ahmedabad's CIIE.CO, has launched a $50,000 challenge for startups and individuals to build secure payment solutions for feature phones.


• Unlike smartphones, feature or basic phones retain designs from older generation phones and do not support most UPI apps. The runners-up will also be rewarded.

Source: Click Here

• The Assam government has appointed Babulal Sharma, Secretary of Home and Political Department, as temporary coordinator of the NRC, which has been without an in-charge for weeks now.


• Mr Sharma will take care of the process until Hitesh Dev Sarma, whom the government had appointed as coordinator earlier this month, returns from leave. Mr Sarma replaced Prateek Hajela, who oversaw the exercise before the Supreme Court ordered his transfer in a move that surprised many, including the top government lawyer.