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• At least two airbases housing US troops in Iraq have been hit by more than a dozen ballistic missiles, according to the US Department of Defence.


• Iranian state TV says the attack is retaliation after the country's top commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a drone strike in Baghdad, on the orders of US President Donald Trump.


• The Pentagon says at least two sites were attacked, in Irbil and Al Asad.


• It is unclear if there have been any casualties.

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• US President Donald Trump's advisor and eldest daughter Ivanka Trump has suggested a major overhaul in immigration policy that would be more open to welcome high-skilled workers to join the American workforce.


• In a keynote session at the ongoing CES in Las Vegas, Ivanka Trump said that the government's policies should be revised to allow highly educated non-citizens to live and work in the US learning from the policies being followed in other neighboring countries such as Canada.

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• Private jets, bullet trains and boxes with holes for breathing: Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan, where he was awaiting trial, is worthy of a Hollywood plot.


• A millionaire many times over used to hob-nobbing with the Davos set, Ghosn chafed at what he felt were the tight restrictions imposed as a condition of his bail ahead of an expectedly lengthy trial for financial misconduct.

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• A senior Facebook executive said the world's biggest social network unintentionally helped put Donald Trump in the White House but warned against dramatic rule changes.


• The Trump campaign did effectively use Facebook to rally support for his presidential run, and the social network should be mindful of that without making moves that stifle free political discourse, Andrew Bosworth said in a lengthy post on his personal Facebook page triggered by The New York Times publishing an internal memo he wrote.

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• Hangman Pawan Jallad, who officials say is being considered to carry out the execution of the four Nirbhaya gangrape case convicts, says he is ready for the job which will send out a strong message in the society.


• He said executing those who were involved in the horrific crime will bring "great relief" to him, Nirbhaya's parents and everybody else.

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• A special one-day session of the Maharashtra legislature will be held to ratify the Constitution (126th) Amendment Bill, which proposes to extend quota to SC/STs in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by another 10 years.


• The joint sitting of both Houses will begin with an address by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, the draft of the speech being approved by the state Cabinet.

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• IIT Gandhinagar will conduct the fourth edition of semester elective Introduction to Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), offered by the Humanities and Social Sciences discipline from January to April 2020.


• The theme for this year is 'The Idea of Ancient India', which will offer a wide-ranging introduction to ancient India's intellectual, scientific and artistic knowledge traditions, and early Indian society.

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• IBPS clerk main exam will be held on January 19 for those candidates who have qualified the preliminary exam.


• IBPS released the main exam admit cards yesterday, i.e. on January 7. The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) would capture and verify the biometric data, which is usually right thumb impression, and the photograph of the candidates on the day of the main exam.


• The biometric data will be captured before the IBPS Clerk Main exam begins, at the end of the exam before leaving the exam hall.

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• Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) released the prelim exam result for Specialist Officer recruitment.


• The result is available on the Official IBPS website. Candidates can view and download their result till January 13.


• Candidates who have qualified the IBPS SO prelim exam will have to appear for the IBPS SO Main exam. The IBPS SO Main exam is scheduled for January 25, 2020. The main exam will also be computer-based and objective in nature.

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• With the government waiving MDR charges on Rupay and BHIM-UPI payments, the RBI may have to shell out about Rs 1,800 crore to banks towards free transaction during 2020, a report has said.


• During 2018 and 2019, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) provided required MDR support to banks on debit cards and BHIM-UPI transactions having ticket size within Rs 2000, a report by IIT Bombay professor Ashish Das said.

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• RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the market's response to the central bank's 'Operation Twist', wherein it is buying and selling government bonds simultaneously, is on expected lines.


• The objective of the program announced last month is to moderate high long-term interest rates in the market by changing the yield curve.

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• Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova was handed an Australian Open wildcard as she attempts to resurrect her career after an injury-plagued 2019.


• The 32-year-old, who won the Australian Open tournament in 2008, has slipped down the rankings to 147, outside automatic qualification, and was bounced out of the Brisbane International this week in the first round.


• But the Russian remains a big name and she will line up at Melbourne Park once again after it was announced on the tournament website that she would be a wildcard.

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• Opening batsman Evin Lewis fell agonisingly short of a century as his undefeated 99 helped the West Indies to cruise to a five-wicket win over Ireland in the first one-day international at Kensington Oval.


• The 28-year-old left-hander made his runs off 99 balls with 13 boundaries and two sixes.

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• Pep Guardiola warned Manchester City of Manchester United's powers of recovery after his side outclassed their city rivals 3-1 at Old Trafford to put one foot in the League Cup final.


• The holders were rampant before the break as Bernardo Silva's wonder strike, Riyad Mahrez's cool finish and an own goal from Andreas Pereira put City well on course for a third straight final.


• United's captain for the evening Marcus Rashford restored some pride for the hosts to reduce the deficit 20 minutes from time, but they face a huge task when the sides meet again for the semi-final, second leg on January 29.

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• The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) Shri Prakash Javadekar conferred the 1st edition of the Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Samman (AYDMS) to 30 media organisations in New Delhi.


• The awards were given as an honour to media organisations for contributing to the spread of yoga in the society.


• The chairman of the jury of 6 members was Chandramauli Kumar Prasad who is the current chairman of the Press Council of India(PCI).

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• Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has concurrently accredited Arun Kumar Sahu as the next ambassador of India to the mountainous Caribbean island of Dominica, with residence in Port of Spain.


• He succeeded Madhu Sethi.

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• Akbar Padamsee, one of India's most celebrated artists and pioneer of the progressive-modernist movement, died at 91 in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.


• The 91-year-old artist died of natural causes and the last rites were performed at the Isha Yoga Centre Centre, where he and his wife lived.