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• There are growing indications that the Islamic State (IS) group is re-organising in Iraq, two years after losing the last of its territory in the country.


• Kurdish and Western intelligence officials have told the BBC that the IS presence in Iraq is a sophisticated insurgency, and IS attacks are increasing.


• The militants are now more skilled and more dangerous than al-Qaeda, according to Lahur Talabani, a top Kurdish counter-terrorism official.


• "They have better techniques, better tactics and a lot more money at their disposal," he said. "They are able to buy vehicles, weapons, food supplies, and equipment.


• Technologically they're savvier. It's more difficult to flush them out. So, they are like al-Qaeda on steroids."

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• The leaders of Japan and South Korea will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, amid heightened concern that North Korea may be about to return to confrontation with Washington.


• South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Xi separately before going to the south-western city of Chengdu for a trilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.


• Though various economic matters will also be on the agenda - as well as tensions between Seoul and Tokyo - North Korea appears likely to dominate the agenda.

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• A US budget official told the Pentagon to “hold off” on military aid to Kiev 90 minutes after a controversial phone call between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, according to an internal email.


• The email was part of a series published by the investigative nonprofit Center for Public Integrity.


• Trump is accused of withholding $400 million in assistance to Ukraine to push Kyiv to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden.

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• President Donald Trump said the United States and China would “very shortly” sign their so-called Phase One trade pact.


• “We just achieved a breakthrough on the trade deal and we will be signing it very shortly,” Trump said at a Turning Point USA event in Florida.


• The Phase One deal was announced earlier this month as part of a bid to end the months-long tit-for-tat trade war between the world’s two largest economies, which has roiled markets and hit global growth.

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• Beijing will lower import tariffs on over 850 products including frozen pork from January next year, the finance ministry said, which may help ease the pressure on the country's depleted pork supply.


• China has been hit by a severe pork shortage after African Swine Fever tore through the country's pig herds.


• More than a million pigs have been culled due to the disease, according to official statistics, and prices of the staple meat have more than doubled.

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• The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress alliance is on way to form government as the party is ahead in 40 seats in Jharkhand, early trends indicate.


• The ruling BJP is ahead in 30 sets in the state. A party needs to get 41 seats to form government in the state. The election was held in five phases between November 30 and December 20.

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• India and Iran today agreed to accelerate work on the strategic Chabahar project as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif on regional and global issues of mutual interest.


• The Chabahar port jointly being developed by India, Iran, and Afghanistan -- is considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade with central Asian nations by the three countries. It is located on the Indian Ocean in the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran.

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• The Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) has suggested the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to simplify tax rates by creating just three slabs, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said.


• The suggestion is to come up with a standard rate of 17%, a lower merit rate for items of common consumption and a higher rate on luxury and sin goods, according to these officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.


• At present, the regime, billed as a game-changer by the government, has four rates (5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%).

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• The tourism industry in Assam and Meghalaya has been adversely affected by protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), tour operators said.


• An official of the Assam tourism department said that the state’s losses could go up to Rs 400 crore for December alone.


• The protests resulted in the cancellations of bookings by tourists.


• The winter months of December and January are the busiest for the tourism industry in both states, with many domestic and foreign tourists arriving to visit popular places such as Kaziranga National Park, Shillong, and Cherrapunji.

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• Uttar Pradesh Subordinate service selection commission has postponed the exam date of Computer operator and junior assistant recruitment exam.


• The official notification regarding this has been uploaded on the official website. Earlier the exam of Junior assistant was scheduled to be conducted on December 24, 2019, whereas, the computer operator exam was to be held on December 26, 2019.


• According to the revised examination schedule, UPSSSC Junior Assistant and computer operator exam are now scheduled to be conducted on January 4 and 10, 2020.

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• For the students of Assam and Meghalaya, who had registered for the CSIR-UGC NET but could not appear for the exam on December 15, the exam will be held on December 27.


• Exam conducting body, National Testing Agency (NTA), had postponed the exam, scheduled on December 15, due to protests in these states against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

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• The Assistant Engineer recruitment exam in Assam that was scheduled to be held on December 22 would now be held on January 12, as per a notice released by the exam conducting body, Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).


• The exam was announced to have been postponed on December 16. The recruitment is under the Public Health Engineering Department, Assam.

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• Federal Bank pays interest rates to the tune of 3.5-6.7 per cent to customers on fixed deposits up to Rs 2 crore.


• These fixed deposits, also known as retail term deposits, are available in 10 maturity options at the private sector bank starting from seven days.


• For example, on fixed deposits up to Rs 2 crore for a maturity (lock-in) period of one year, Federal Bank pays interest at the rate of 6.5 per cent to the general public, according to its website - federalbank.co.in.

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• DFC First Bank pays interest rates to the tune of 4-7.5 per cent to customers on fixed deposits up to Rs 2 crore.


• These fixed deposits, also known as retail term deposits, are available in 11 maturity options ranging from seven days to 10 years at the private sector bank.


• For example, on one-year, fixed deposits up to Rs 2 crore, IDFC First Bank pays interest at the rate of 7.5 percent to the general public, according to its website - idfcfirstbank.com.

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• Virat Kohli finished 2019 on a high, leading India's chase in the series-decider against the West Indies with a fine knock of 85 runs off 81 deliveries.


• In the process, the India captain ensured that he finished as the leading run-getter across all formats in the year with 2,455 runs.


• Rohit Sharma, who also scored a half-century in the third ODI against West Indies, finished a close second with 2,442 runs. Rohit Sharma did, however, end the year as the leading run-scorer in ODIs.

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• Archaeologist R. Nagaswamy was honoured at the Silver Jubilee International Conference of Art in Dhaka by Bangladesh culture minister K.M.Khalid for his contribution to art, archaeology, history and culture.


• Ramachandran Nagaswamy is an Indian historian, archaeologist and epigraphist. He served as the founder-director of Tamilnadu Archaeology Department.

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• Bharat award for bravery was announced. Aditya K. of Ramanattukara, Kozhikode, Kerala became the first child from the State to receive the highest honour award for bravery, the Bharat award.


• He was awarded for saving 20 people from a burning bus on the move. The awards will be presented by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the Republic Day event in New Delhi on January 26,2020.

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• The United States (US) President Donald Trump has chosen Indian-American computer scientist, Sethuraman Panchanathan (58) as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) of America.


• He will succeed in France Anne-Dominic Cordova, who retires in 2020 after completing her 6-year term as director of the institution.

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• Sahitya Akademi award winner G Nanjundan was found dead at his residence in Bengaluru today, the police said.


• The body of the 58-year-old, found in a decomposed state, has been sent for postmortem, they said. As his autopsy report is awaited, the police said the cause of the death is yet to be ascertained.


• He was conferred with the Kendra Sahitya Akademi award in 2012.