News in Short

• Former Union minister Babul Supriyo officially resigned as a member of the Lok Sabha after meeting Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
• Supriyo had quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month and joined the Trinamool Congress.
• Supriyo, who began his political career with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, joined West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in September.

• North Korea fired what appeared to be a submarine launched ballistic missile towards the sea off its eastern coast.
• North Korea has a submarine base as well as equipment for test-firing submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) in the area and has previously launched other types of missiles from there.
• North Korea has now carried out at least eight projectile launches this year, and last tested an SLBM in 2019. It is banned from carrying out ballistic missile tests under United Nations’ sanctions.

• Myanmar’s military government has freed hundreds of political prisoners from the notorious Insein prison, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s party spokesman.
• The amnesty followed an announcement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that Myanmar leader would not be invited to their summit for failing to comply with a five-point consensus.
• Under the plan, the military was supposed to end violence against those opposed to its coup and allow a special ASEAN envoy to visit the country and meet all parties. Myanmar has been a member of ASEAN since 1997.

• Nitin Agarwal, a rebel MLA of the Samajwadi Party backed by the ruling BJP, was elected Deputy Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
• With 304 votes, Mr. Agarwal, former Minister of State under the Akhilesh Yadav government and a third-term MLA from Hardoi, defeated Narendra Singh Verma of the SP.
• Mr. Agarwal had quit the SP along with his father Naresh Agarwal, a former Minister, and joined the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
• However, the MLA is technically still regarded as an SP legislator and the party’s petition seeking his disqualification had reportedly been rejected.

• Sri Lanka’s first-ever Test cricket captain Bandula Warnapura died at the age of 68. An opening batsman with a solid technique, Warnapura was also a capable medium-pace bowler.
• Not only did he lead the Sri Lankan side in its maiden Test match in February 1982 against England, he also faced the first ball and scored the first run for the island nation.
• He also achieved the rare record of opening the batting and opening the bowling (second innings) in the same game.