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• President Trump has warned the US is "targeting" 52 Iranian sites and will strike "very fast and very hard" if Tehran attacks Americans or US assets.


• His comments followed the US assassination of Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, in a drone strike.


• Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that Iran "is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets" in response to the general's death.

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• NATO says it has suspended a training mission for soldiers in the Iraqi army in the wake of the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.


• The military alliance said in a statement that even if the Canadian-led mission is to continue in the future, security concerns for its personnel were “paramount”.


• Soleimani was the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and the mastermind of its regional security strategy.

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• The Australian government said on Saturday that up to 3,000 army reservists would be deployed to help communities hit by spreading wildfires and a third navy ship had been readied to support evacuations from coastal towns.


• It is the first time there has been a compulsory call out of reserve brigades in Australia, underlining the scale of the emergency.


• They will help deliver supplies to isolated communities, evacuate people in need, and assist in reopening roads and preparing fire breaks to contain the blazes.

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• Shimla and Manali received the first snowfall of 2020 as cold wave intensified across Himachal Pradesh.


• Keylong and Kufri recorded maximum temperatures below the freezing point, according to the Meteorological Department.


• Manali in Kullu district received snowfall on Saturday morning, whereas state capital Shimla witnessed 6.4 cm snowfall in the afternoon. Light snowfall (0.2 cm) occurred in Kalpa in tribal Kinnaur district.

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• With the first half of the budget session expected to begin in the last week of January, the ministries have started asking officials to gear up for response to the possible questions from Members of Parliament (MPs).


• "As Parliament session is expected to start in the last week of this month, an advisory has been circulated to various sections of the ministry," said an official.

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• Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari approved the government’s list of portfolios for ministers, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said according to PTI. The list of portfolios was sent to the governor.


• Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray expanded his Cabinet on December 30 with the induction of 36 ministers more than a month after the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress formed government in the state. The NCP cornered most of the state’s key cabinet berths.

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• International Association of Young Psychologists (IAYP) will be holding its first annual conference on ‘Emerging trends in Behavioral Sciences’ at OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat on January 15.


• According to the press release issued by the university, more than 1000 scholars, academics and psychologists are expected to participate in the first annual conference of the association.


• More than 50 scholars will be presenting their work on themes like Psycho-social Safety, Parental Role and Child Development, Understanding Identity, Psychological Distress: Coping with Difficult Times, Psychological Competencies among Diverse Professions, Developmental Trajectories of Adolescence, etc.

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• ‘Entrepreneurship’ was just a word for students of Delhi government schools till a few months back but now it has become an interesting class session which the students look forward to.


• Launched for students of Class 9 to 12, it involves connecting knowledge to life outside the school and ensuring that learning is shifted away from rote methods.


• Developed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), the curriculum is building awareness and knowledge of various aspects of entrepreneurship among the students.

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• The Commerce and Industry Ministry has prepared a blueprint to further improve India's ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business index with a focus on six parameters, including enforcing contracts and starting a business, an official said.


• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPI), under the ministry, is also following reform activities in Kolkata and Bengaluru as these two cities are included by the World Bank this year besides Delhi and Mumbai for preparing the ease of doing business report, with a view to providing a holistic picture of business environment in India, the official said.

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• The 19-year-old women’s rugby palyer Sweety Kumari was named as the “international young player of the year” by popular women’s rugby website Scrumqueens.


• Sweety was earlier declared by Asia Rugby as the “continent’s fastest player”, according to Scrumqueens. Sweety, who hails from Nawada village in Barh tehsil of Patna, plays as a winger in the team, and is nicknamed India’s “Scoring Machine” by teammates.

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• A Dubai-based Indian girl, Sucheta Satish (14), who sings in 120 languages,has won the ‘100 Global Child Prodigy Award 2020′ in the category of singing.The award ceremony was held in Ashok Hotel, Delhi.


• Suchetha, a student in Dubai Indian High School, was awarded along with 99 other child prodigies at the awards, which was attended by chief guest Nobel Peace Prize (2014) winner Shri Kailash Satyarthi.

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• North Macedonia Prime Minister (PM) Zoran Zaev submitted his resignation.


• His resignation paves a way to form a new caretaker government under the country’s former interior minister Oliver Spasovski until April 12, 2020 election.