Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday came out in support of the strike by central trade unions and slammed the Modi government, saying its "anti-people and anti-labour" policies have created catastrophic unemployment in the country.

He alleged that this weakening of PSUs is being done to justify their sale to PM Narendra Modi's crony capitalists friends.

Suzlon, Jaypee Infratech, Hindustan Construction Co (HCC), Reliance Naval and Engineering, Gayatri Projects and many other companies on Tuesday disclosed their defaults in their regulatory filings to stock exchanges.

The disclosures were made after a November 2019 Securities and Exchange Board of India’s directive asking companies to disclose defaults of 30 days and above.

Bank unions have claimed that cheques worth Rs 21,500 crore will not be cleared on Wednesday due to the bank employees’ strike.

Five trade unions from the banking industry including AIBEA, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEF and INBOC, employees of RBI, co-operative banks, RRBs have joined the National General Strike called by the central trade unions - INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC along with various independent federations and unions in different sectors to protest against the alleged continued anti-worker labour policies of the government.

India on Wednesday issued a travel warning asking its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Iraq, hours after Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq.

Iran's attack came in retaliation for a US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a war in the Middle East.

A day after Kolkata Police lathi-charged students of Jadavpur University amidst an agitation while they came face to face with the supporters of BJP, the students took out a rally to protest against the JNU incident on Wednesday.

The students of Jadavpur University started their march from Hazra in South Kolkata and ended at Nizam Palace – which houses the central government offices.

A 24-hour 'Bharat Bandh' (nationwide strike) has been called on January 8, i.e. on Wednesday by as many as ten central trade unions. The strike has been called as a protest against economic policies of the central government that are alienating the working class and demands for labour reforms.

The trade unions who have called the 'Bharat Bandh' include INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, SEWA, UTUC, LPF, AICCTU, TUCC, and other sectoral independent federations.

The Indian rupee tumbled 20 paise to 72.02 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday as Mideast tensions flared up after Iran fired rockets at US military bases in Iraq.

Asian markets dived while oil prices firmed up after Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases with US personnel in retaliation to the killing of its top general Qassem Soleimani.

Facebook has updated its Privacy Checkup tool with four new features to help users improve account security and control how their information is used.

The Privacy Checkup tool has been live since 2014 and the new version is rolling out globally this week.

The Who Can See What You Share feature will help users review who can see their profile information, like phone number and email address, as well as their posts.

Markets view the rally in Brent oil prices, triggered by geopolitical tensions, as a threat to the improvement in India's FY20 current account deficit and forecasts for a balance of payment surplus, according to a report.

Downbeat sentiments saw USD-INR exchange rate test past 72 to two-month high, while the benchmark equity indices witnessed mayhem on Monday, said a report by Singapore's banking group DBS.

Against the backdrop of attack on JNU students, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging that what they wanted was happening, and said such brutal politics was never seen before in the country.

An editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' further alleged that the BJP wanted to see Hindu-Muslim riots over the Citizenship Amendment Act, but that did not happen.

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