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• After weeks of delay and facing rising pressure to act, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she could "soon" send articles of impeachment to the Senate for President Donald Trump's upcoming trial.


• The top Democrat in Congress reiterated her call for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to lay out the rules for the historic trial so she could "see the arena" in which the impeachment managers essential prosecutors in the Senate trial will operate.

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• US lawmakers concerned about rushing to war with Iran adopted a measure aimed at reining in President Donald Trump's ability to take military action against the Islamic republic.


• The resolution was introduced by Democrats after Trump's order to kill an Iranian commander and retaliatory missile strikes by Tehran dramatically escalated tensions and raised fears of a devastating war between the two foes.

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• President Donald Trump likes to boast that he has a talent for coining nicknames.


• He unveiled what he called a "beautiful" acronym for NATO deployments in the Middle East NATOME.


• "I actually had a name: NATO, right, and then you have ME -- Middle East. NATO. I said, what a beautiful name," Trump told reporters, in extensive comments about the issue.

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• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said multiple intelligence sources indicate that Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner after it took off from Tehran, killing all 176 on board, including 63 Canadians.


• Trudeau’s comments came as video emerged that appeared to show the moment the airliner was hit.


• That and other footage posted on social media increasingly pointed to a catastrophic mistake by Tehran’s air defence batteries in bringing down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.

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• Trials in fast-track courts – set up in several states to allow quick trials in cases of serious crimes such as rape – take longer than those in regular courts, according to data in the Crime in India report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) this week.


• The report gives the duration-wise break-up of criminal and civil cases disposed of by various courts. The data shows that of the more than 28,000 trials completed in India’s fast-track courts in 2018, only 22% took less than a year to complete.

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• The Trump administration’s point person for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, will visit India next week for a series of bilateral meetings and the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi, officials here said.


• Wells will travel to India, from January 15-18, to attend the Raisina Dialogue, the State Department said and added that she will be in Islamabad from January 19-22.


• Before coming to India, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs will be in Sri Lanka capital Colombo from January 13 to January 14.

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• Delhi topped the crime chart over 18 other metropolitan cities, with over two lakh such incidents reported in the national capital in 2018, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).


• A total of 2,25,977 incidents of crime were reported in the national capital in 2018, followed by Mumbai (40,757), Chennai (20,160) and Kolkata (19,682 incidents of crime).


• According to the data, there were over 1,200 rape cases among the 12,445 violent crimes committed in Delhi in 2018.

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• A fight on social media broke out today between Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and AAP leader Sanjay Singh. It began with Mr Tiwari's claim that his party will give five times more benefits to the people if BJP is voted to power in Delhi.


• Responding to Mr. Tiwari's tweet, Sanjay Singh used a popular dialogue from the Bollywood movie 'Gangs of Wasseypur-2' and said: "Tumse Na Ho Paayega".

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• The Rajasthan Eligibility Exam for Teachers, popularly referred to as REET, will be held on August 2. "All aspects are being reviewed and the examination syllabus will be fixed within prescribed limit.


• After completion of the entire process the REET will be held on August 2," translates State Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra's tweet which is originally in Hindi.

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• A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the state government to reserve a minimum 5 per cent of seats in all government medical colleges to students who have studied in Tamil medium and passed the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).


• A division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha issued notice to authorities including the Director of Medical Education and posted the PIL for further hearing to February 20.

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• Hit hard by the exodus of about 15,000 employees in the last nine months, leading private lender Axis Bank has gone on a hiring drive by adding 28,000 employees on a gross basis to support its expansion drive into the Tier-II and III towns.


• According to industry insiders, automation and the need for newer skill sets have accelerated the sector's attrition rate.

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• Serena Williams wore down a tenacious Laura Siegemund to make the WTA Auckland Classic semi-finals, as the 23-time Grand Slam winner chases her first title in two years.


• Siegemund had upset US teen prodigy Coco Gauff to reach the final eight and kept up the pressure until the first set hit 4-4, when Williams moved up a gear to win 6-4, 6-3 in just under 90 minutes.

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• Atletico Madrid sprung a surprise in the Spanish Super Cup by staging a thrilling comeback to beat Barcelona 3-2 and set up a final against Real Madrid.


• Barca looked on course for a Sunday showdown against Real when they led Atletico 2-1 with nine minutes left but instead it will be a Madrid derby in Saudi Arabia to decide who lifts the trophy.

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• The Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced that four airports in the country have managed a transition from level 1 to level 2 with a reduction in the carbon emissions by grading their systems as per the Airports Council International (ACI).


• The airports had adopted the grading system in 2018 and successfully implemented the carbon emission plan.


• "Four AAI airports - Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata; Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar; Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi and Trivandrum International Airport have met all the necessary requirements to upgrade to level 2.

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• Indian born-author Jasbinder Bilan’s (UK resident) debut novel ‘Asha and the Spirit Bird’ focussing on readers of age range 9 years and above,beat the competition and named as the winner of 2019 UK(United Kingdom) children’s book award named Costa Children’s Award.


• Bilan will receive 5,000 pounds for the award, which is open to the authors resident in the UK and Ireland.

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• State-owned Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) has appointed M Nagaraj as company’s Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) for a period of 3 months.


• Ravi Kanth was the former Chairman and Managing Director of HUDCO.