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- Macedonia’s ‘Romany Music Queen’ Esma Redzepova has passed away. She was one of the first singers in the Romany language and was an advocate of Roma women’s rights.
- The European Union and Malian government have signed a deal to enable return of migrants who came to Europe’s shores and whose asylum requests were reduced. The agreement came into being after a summit in the Maltese capital Valletta in November 2015.
- Pakistan has named a new ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Naveed Mukhtar who is now the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence agency after replacing Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar.
- New Zealand’s governing National Party has appointed Bill English as New Zealand PM to succeed John Key after Key’s resignation. Social housing minister Paula Bennett has named as Deputy Prime Minister.
Bill English - 3 Indian origin children in USA have received a scholarship for their innovative research in the 17th annual Siemens Math,Science & Technology Competition. Shriya & Adhya won the competition for their project on Novel Approach to Schizophrenia Diagnosis. Vineet Edupuganti won for developing an ingestible battery.
- Cyclone Vardah has been forecasted to hit Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Coast which will cause landfalls. ‘Vardah’ means red rose and has already started affecting North Tamil Nadu and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.
- Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated Bathinda’s new Airport and a flight for Delhi-Bathinda-Delhi route.
- Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has launched Narmada Seva Yatra at Amarkantak. This yatra is 5 months long and aims at turning Narmada river pollution free.
- Sunil Gavaskar has been given the Golden Jubiless Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sports Journalists’ Association of Mumbai (SJAM) in Mumbai.
- Government is going to amend RBI Act to extinguish the validity of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes printed before November 9, 2016.
- Tata Trusts have collaborated with UP Govt to leverage digital platforms to strengthen the public distribution system (PDS). Tata trusts have installed electronic Point of Sale devices as part of this.
- The Central Govt has scrapped the Wheat import duty from 10% to 0. This was tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
- Iran has signed a $16.6 billion deal for 80 Boeing passenger jets. This will be the biggest package of firm contracts with Western companies since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
- Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro signed an emergency decree for ordering the 100 bolivar bill to be taken out of circulation as it is going to issue new banknotes and coins in values upto 200 times the highest denomination currently available.
- Samsung Electronics announced that a software update for Galaxy Note 7 will be released mid-December in the US preventing them from charging and functioning after the U.S. Transportation Dept & other agencies in October ordered Galaxy Note 7 owners from carrying the devices.
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