Source: Click Here

• North Korea has renewed its verbal attacks on President Trump, after he threatened military action.


• The foreign ministry said if Mr. Trump was confrontational, it "must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard".


• The North first called Mr. Trump a dotard, meaning old and weak, in 2017.


• It is the first time in over a year that Pyongyang has been openly critical of Donald Trump, the BBC's Korea correspondent Laura Bicker said.

Source: Click Here

• Widespread travel disruption is expected to continue in France for a second day as the largest nationwide strike in years continues.


• Workers from a wide range of sectors are protesting against pension reforms.


• More than 800,000 people took to the streets, with violent clashes reported in a number of cities.


• Widespread rail cancellations and disruption to flights are expected with only a fraction of the capital's transport system working.

Source: Click Here

• Angela Merkel will make her first visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial after 14 years as German chancellor, bringing a 60 million euro donation to help conserve the site where the Nazis ran their largest death camp, the museum said.


• Merkel has not shied away from admitting German responsibility for its atrocities in World War Two, but her visit will ensure she follows in the footsteps of former chancellors by seeing the site before her term ends.

Source: Click Here

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Democrats will begin drafting articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, setting up a constitutional clash that Trump now says he embraces and is eager to frame on his terms when it moves to an expected Senate trial next month.


• In a solo appearance at the Capitol, Pelosi argued that the president's conduct when it came to Ukraine left Democrats with "no choice but to act," charging that Trump abused the powers of the presidency and leaving little doubt that the House will hold a vote to impeach him as early as before Christmas.

Source: Click Here

• China's defense budget has grown 850 per cent in the last 20 years from $20 billion to $170 billion in 2018, a top Pentagon official told lawmakers.


• China possesses one of the largest militaries in the world. It continues to add to its capabilities and is increasingly provocative, such as its activities in the South China Sea and in Africa, where China established its first overseas base ever in Djibouti in 2017, said Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John C Rood.

Source: Click Here

• A copy of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, or CAB, which seeks to fast-track the grant of Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, was distributed among members of Parliament on Friday morning for them to study it.


• The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, seeks to give Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from the three neighboring countries if they entered India from the three nearby countries on or before December 31, 2014.

Source: Click Here

• Most of the chief ministers of the Northeast have softened their stands on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), set to be introduced in Parliament soon.


• This is a departure from their earlier stands, when they unequivocally opposed the legislation granting Indian citizenship to undocumented individuals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.


• Home minister Amit Shah has called for wider consultations on the Bill with several stakeholders in Delhi ahead of Bill’s introduction in Parliament.


• Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sharma said as part of the tweaks, the Bill will not be applicable to areas under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system and areas protected under the Sixth Schedule.

Source: Click Here

• All the four accused in the rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor in Telangana last week were killed in an encounter in the early hours, police said.


• An official of the Cyberabad police commissioner, who confirmed the incident, said the encounter took place around 3.30 am under a bridge on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad national highway near Chattanpalli village at Shadnagar.


• This is the same place where the accused had committed the crime on the night of November 27 and the charred body of the victim was found the next morning.

Source: Click Here

• As many as 28 members of Parliament (MPs) are yet to attend a standing committee meeting of the eight committees that come under the purview of the Rajya Sabha, official records have revealed.


• The committees have members from both houses. They also showed that just five out of 31 members attended one of the meetings of the home affairs panel, underlining a sudden dip in the attendance of MPs in these eight panels.

Source: Click Here

• JEE Main 2020 admit card will be released today. National Testing Agency will release the admit card for the January session of the exam.


• JEE Main, since last year, is being conducted twice a year - in January and in April. For the academic year 2020-21, the JEE Main exam will be held from January 6 to January 11, 2020. Students who have registered for the JEE Main January 2020 exam will be able to download their admit card form the student login.

Source: Click Here

• IIT Dharwad, Tirupati, Bhilai, Delhi, Palakkad and Bombay have extended the PhD application process for the students of Jammu and Kashmir who could not apply for the PhD programme within the fixed schedule due to unavailability of internet connectivity.


• The new application submission dates have been notified by the IITs on their respective website.

Source: Click Here

• Domestic stock markets are likely to start Friday's session on a higher note, tracking gains in Asian peers.


• The Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures - an early indicator of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty index in India - rose as much as 37 points to touch 12,081.00 ahead of the opening of Indian markets. At 8:46 am, the SGX Nifty futures were up 20.00 points - or 0.17 per cent - at 12,064.00.

Source: Click Here

• RBL Bank said it has raised Rs 2,025.27 crore from institutional investors through a qualified institutional placement offering (QIP) and will utilise the proceeds to fund business growth.


• In a statement RBL Bank said "it has successfully concluded the QIP of Rs 2,025 crore at an issue price of Rs 351 per share (including premium of Rs 341) pursuant to the allotment of 5.77 crore equity shares."

Source: Click Here

• The celebrated Mary Kom won her bout in a dominating fashion as Punjab Panthers notched up their second successive victory in the Big Bout Indian Boxing League by beating Bombay Bullets 5-2 in Greater Noida.


• Mary Kom won by a unanimous decision against 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Ingrit Lorena Valencia. Manoj Kumar's defeat at the hands of Bombay Bullets' Naveen Boora in the 69kg bout of the night meant that the two captains stepped into the ring with much more than academic interest left in the match.

Source: Click Here

• Caretaker manager Freddie Ljungberg said Arsenal "did not show up" for the first 45 minutes as the Gunners' winless streak reached nine games in a 2-1 home defeat to Brighton.


• Neal Maupay headed in a deserved winner for the Seagulls 10 minutes from time after Alexandre Lacazette had cancelled out Adam Webster's opener for Brighton.


• Defeat leaves Arsenal in 10th place and 10 points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea in the hunt for Champions League qualification next season.

Source: Click Here

• Sajith Premadasa, the United National Party (UNP) leader who lost to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the presidential election, was named as the Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament.


• Following a meeting of the party's parliamentary group held, the party leader and ex-prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to nominate Sajith Premadasa, 52, in his place.