News brief: Big stories of the day
US troops
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he backed US counterpartDonald Trump's decision to order troops back home from Syriaafter declaring victory over Islamic State forces.
The Indian rupee — which has been in constant decline this year, it fell over 13% in 2018 — may be a top performer of 2019, analysts have said. Tumbling oil prices have put the rupee on course for the best quarter in nearly two years.
"Never fall in love on Facebook," Hamid Nehal Ansari has said after spending six years in Pakistani jails.Hamid had crossed over into Pakistan from Afghanistan in 2012, reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online. He was caught and subsequently sentenced to three years in prison for travelling on a fake passport.
Questioning the selection process of the Indian women's cricket coach, BCCI acting treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry andCommittee of Administratorsmember Diana Edulji Thursday launched a joint attack on CoA chief Vinod Rai.
Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha who pulled out from the NDA alliance on December 10, joined the mahagathbandhan in Bihar on Thursday. While addressing a press conference,Kushwahasaid one of the reasons why he joined the mahagathbandhan was the "wholeheartedness" of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav.