·       A Hong Kong court  has  sentenced activist and business tycoon Jimmy Lai to 13 months in jail for urging participation in last year's banned Tiananmen vigil, amid a crackdown by Chinese authorities that has rolled back the semi-autonomous city's civil liberties.

·       The District Court convicted seven others on similar charges and handed out sentences of up to 14 months.

·       Hong Kong's government has banned the candlelight vigil for the past two years on pandemic control grounds, although it is widely believed the ban is intended to be permanent as authorities look to squelch the city's pro-democracy movement.

·       Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has already been jailed for taking part in pro-democracy protests for which he will serve a total of 20 months.

·       In the latest case, he was convicted of inciting others to take part in the unauthorised assembly to memorialise those killed in the army's bloody crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests that centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

·       Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Abu Dhabi's crown prince after becoming the first leader of the Jewish state to visit the United Arab Emirates, a year after the establishment of ties.

·       Bennett met Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan at his private palace, following the premier's arrival in the Emirati capital.

·       His visit comes just over a year after the wealthy Gulf state broke with decades of Arab consensus and forged diplomatic ties under a series of US-brokered deals known as the Abraham Accords.

·       Israel is also making a diplomatic push against renewed international talks with Iran, its arch-foe, over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.

·       Bennett, who was expected to focus on trade links, according to his spokesperson, said his visit reflected a "new reality" for the region.

·       While he is the first Israeli prime minister to visit the UAE, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid made a landmark trip in June, opening an embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate in Dubai.

·    The UAE opened an embassy in Tel Aviv in July.

·       In an unusual move, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has prorogued Parliament for one week and left for Singapore on an unscheduled visit.

·       There was no immediate comment from the government on Rajapaksa's decision to suspend Parliament for a week.

·       Parliament, which ended its sessions on Dec  10 , was originally set to convene on January 11. It will now convene on January 18.

·       Hours after proroguing Parliament, Gotabaya, 72, left for Singapore on an unscheduled visit. Presidential officials said that he was on a private visit, believed to be for medical purposes.

·       Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Dec 14  said India's merchandise export is set to touch an all-time high of USD 400 billion during the current financial year, driven by sharp uptick in shipments.

·       As per a preliminary trade data, India's merchandise exports in April-November 2021 was at USD 262.46 billion, an increase of 50.71 per cent over USD 174.15 billion in the same period of the previous financial year.

·       Speaking at the CII Partnership Summit 2021, he said India's imports too are growing and thus providing opportunities to other countries to expand business and international trade with India.

·       Imports during April-November 2021, grew by 75.39 per cent to USD 384.44 billion.

·       He also invited investments from other countries to India.

·       Goyal suggested focusing on six areas to build a sustainable, inclusive and resilient ecosystem to further promote partnership with other countries.

·       The country's retail inflation rate, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of November rose marginally to 4.91 % as against the inflation figures for the month of October which was recorded at 4.48%

·       The marginal rise in the inflation figures has been attributed to the rise in food prices particularly fruits and vegetables.

·       According to reports, the rate of inflation in November 2020 was 6.93%

·       The data released by National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that food inflation accelerated to 1.87 % in November from 0.85 % in October.

·       The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had kept the key interest rate unchanged in its monetary policy review in December. It focuses mainly on the CPI while deciding its bi-monthly monetary policy.

·       The digital payments major PhonePe has said that the  offline merchant transactions on its platform have shown 200 per cent growth since last year, and it processed over a billion P2M (peer to merchant) transactions in the month of November.

·       The company also said it has digitised 25 million small merchants and kirana stores in the country. PhonePe attributed this growth to the rapid expansion it has seen in offline merchant acceptance across geographies, with a 1.25 lakh strong field force who have been instrumental in driving and supporting the company's merchant acceptance network across Bharat.

·       As many as 41,177 positions or 5 per cent of the total sanctioned posts at public sector banks were vacant as on December 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said .

·       There are more than 8,05,986 sanctioned positions at Public Sector Banks (PSBs). Among the banks, State Bank of India (SBI) had the maximum number of vacant posts at 8,544.

·       To a query in the Lok Sabha on whether the government is aware of the fact that there is a huge shortage of staff in the PSBs due to which they are unable to perform their duties properly, the minister replied in the negative.

·       Citing inputs received from the PSBs, the minister said that as on December 1, this year, 95 per cent staff is in position against the sanctioned staff strength, adding that the small proportion of vacancies is substantially attributable to attrition on account of superannuation and other usual factors.

·       The posts are spread across three categories -- officer, clerk and sub-staff. There are 12 PSBs. While SBI had 8,544 vacant posts, the number for Punjab National Bank was at 6,743.

·       The Central Bank of India had 6,295 vacant positions, followed by Indian Overseas Bank at 5,112 and Bank of India at 4,848. At SBI, there were 3,423 vacant posts for officers and 5,121 vacancies at the clerk level.

·       Sitharaman also said that no post/vacancy has been abolished during the last six years in the PSBs, except one post in Punjab & Sind Bank in 2016.

·    Other PSBs are Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, UCO Bank and Union Bank of India, as per the data.

·       Public sector banks have lost nearly Rs 2.85 lakh crore on account of loan dues of 13 corporates even as the banks are used to bail out ailing financial institutions such as Yes Bank and IL&FS, United Forum of Bank Unions alleged.

·       In press release, UFBU's Convener B Rambabu said the organisation calls for a two-day all India bank strike on December 16 and 17 protesting against Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 and opposing the centre's alleged move to privatise PSBs.

·       According to the statistics given by the UFBU, the 13 corporates' outstanding dues were at Rs 4,86,800 crore and it was resolved at Rs 1,61,820 crore resulting in a loss of Rs 2,84,980 crore. He said the PSBs participate in majority of the government programmes and schemes such as Jan Dhan, MUDRA for unemployed youth, Swadhan for street vendors, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jivan Jyoti Yojana, among others.

·       He said that the UFBU, therefore, is of the view that privatisation of public sector banks will jeopardise the interests of the common people and backward regions of the country.