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• President Donald Trump has made an unannounced visit to American troops in Afghanistan and said the US and the Taliban have been engaged in talks.


• "The Taliban wants to make a deal," Mr. Trump told troops at Bagram airbase on his first trip to the country, where he also met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.


• The visit for Thanksgiving comes after a prisoner swap with the Taliban aimed at resuming peace negotiations.


• Mr. Trump also said the US was "substantially" reducing troop numbers.

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• French President Emmanuel Macron said that European nations should be involved in any talks to forge a new pact limiting mid-range nuclear missiles held by the US and Russia, after a landmark Cold War-era accord fell apart this year.


• “We cannot just content ourselves with bilateral treaties,” Macron said after talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Paris.


• Washington and Moscow walked away from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty in August after each accused the other of violating the terms of the deal.

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• China slammed the US for signing into law a Hong Kong-related bill that supports the pro-democracy movement in the city, calling it a “severe interference” in the country’s internal affair.


• President Donald Trump has signed into law the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 bill, which mandates Washington to annually check if the city has enough autonomy to justify its special status with the US.


• The new law and Beijing’s repeated recent allegations that the US was among other western countries to support the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong has developed into a new bilateral problem between the two countries, which are in the middle of an ongoing trade war.

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• A world-renowned rock climber, US national Brad Gobright, fell to his death while climbing a sheer rock face in northern Mexico, authorities said.


• Gobright, 31, and fellow American Aidan Jacobson, 26, were climbing a route known as the Shining Path in the northern state of Nuevo Leon when they fell, the state’s emergency response agency said in a statement.


• Witnesses said the men had finished climbing the 900-meter (2,300-foot) summit and were rappelling back down when the accident occurred.

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• Foreign Minister S Jaishankar expressed confidence in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that India would become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) "one day" and said the work in this direction was progressing step by step.


• The minister said it takes a long and patient effort for getting a permanent membership in the council.


• "Well, I will hopefully soon. But I am realistic enough to know that it is a long and patient effort. We are not lacking in patience and not lacking in our perseverance and we are not lacking in our aspirations.

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• The Indian Army has successfully test fired two Spike long-range anti-tank missiles at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh which are expected to further boost its combat prowess, officials said.


• Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat and several commanders witnessed the firing of the newly acquired missiles.


• Spike is a fourth-generation missile that can engage any target with precision at ranges up to 4 km, the officials said.

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• The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance said the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state would waive farmers' loans and ensure 80 per cent quota in jobs to local/domicile youth.


• NCP leaders Jayant Patil and Nawab Malik and Sena leader Eknath Shinde announced the common minimum agenda proposals at a media briefing, ahead of the swearing-in of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government later in the evening.

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• India set the ball rolling for purchasing weapons and systems worth Rs 22,800 crore to enhance the military’s capabilities, a defence ministry spokesperson said.


• The Defence Acquisition Council, the defence ministry’s top procurement body, green-lit the indigenous development and manufacturing of thermal imaging night sights for assault rifles to bolster the Make in India initiative.


• “The sights will be manufactured by the Indian private industry and used by troops deployed on the frontline would enable troops to undertake long-range accurate engagement in dark and all weather conditions thereby enhancing the night fighting capabilities,” a release said.

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• India lambasted Pakistan over its statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Supreme Court’s verdict on Ayodhya land dispute case and asked the country to rather work constructively and positively for education and upliftment of its own minorities instead of spewing lies for a self-serving malicious propaganda.


• Exercising India’s right to reply in response to the statement delivered by Pakistan at the 12th session of Forum of Minority Issues, Indian diplomat Vimarsh Aryan noted that the religious, ethnic, sectarian and linguistic minorities in Pakistan have suffered an immense infringement of their fundamental human rights due to the so-called blasphemy laws.

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• The Uttar Pradesh government has started discussions with the Centre to establish an airport in Ayodhya, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in Parliament.


• “At present, Airports Authority of India (AAI) is in receipt of a proposal from the state government of UP indicating that the state government will develop the existing airstrip through state construction and designed services (UP Jal Board) under regional connectivity scheme (RCS)-UDAN,” Puri said in written reply to a question.

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• Two IITs and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) have joined hands to develop 'Gandhipedia', an online repository of books, letters and speeches written by Mahatma Gandhi, to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary.


• The entire project will be done with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI), an IIT Kharagpur statement said. In the first phase, over 40 books written by Mahatma Gandhi will be digitized and indexed and their portions tweeted, it said.


• "The books will be used to reconstruct the social network of the Mahatma, including those who had influenced him and people whom he had inspired," the statement said.

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• In a third successive notification, the first of which was released on November 14, Haryana Staff Selection Commission has made changes to the Instructor recruitment exam schedule.


• As per the new schedule announced by the Commission, the exam would begin on December 3 and would continue till December 18.


• The exam will be held for selection of candidates for instructor post for Skill Development and Industrial Training Department, Haryana.

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• The Institute of Cost Accountant of India (ICMAI) has changed the exam schedule for Foundation, Intermediate, and Final exam scheduled in December only for students in Jharkhand state.


• The exams have been postponed due to the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand.


• The exam dates have been changed for centres in Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Bokaro, and Dhanbad.


• For exam centres in Ranchi and Hazaribagh, ICMAI has postponed the exam scheduled on December 12, 2019, to January 7, 2020.

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• Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) has invited application from eligible candidates for recruitment as Archaeological Officer under Tamil Nadu General Subordinate Service.


• A total of 18 vacancies have been announced by the Commission for which candidates having Masters degree in Ancient History and Archaeology or in Archaeology are eligible to apply.


• Candidates who have obtained MA in History or Indian History or in Tamil awarded by any of the University recognized by the University Grants Commission and postgraduate diploma in Epigraphy and Archaeology awarded by the Institute of Epigraphy, Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu or postgraduate diploma in Archaeology awarded by the Archaeological Survey of India.

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• Domestic stock markets started Friday's session on a lower note, after benchmark indices S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty ended at record closing highs for two straight days.


• The Sensex index fell as much as 168.58 points to hit 40,961.59 on the downside in early deals, and the broader Nifty benchmark declined to as low as 12,108.15, down 43 points from the previous close.


• Losses in banking and metal stocks pulled the markets lower however gains in pharmaceutical shares provided some support.


• Analysts awaited the release of official data on gross domestic product (GDP) due after market hours.

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• A day after stock exchanges issued framework for the listing of commercial papers (CPs), Aditya Birla Finance (ABFL) on November 28 listed its CPs on the BSE and NSE.


• Both exchanges said ABFL was the first company to list its CPs with them. These will mature on February 7, 2020.

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• Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian said that the government recognised the need to cut the corporate tax to boost investments.


• The cycle of growth for the last few quarters has not been as it was earlier, Mr Subramanian said at an event and added that "corporate tax rate is important for investments".


• India's economy grew at 5 per cent in the first quarter of 2019-20 the slowest pace in more than six years.


• The second-quarter GDP number is scheduled to be announced in the evening.


• The government has undertaken a number of measures to arrest the slowdown in growth. In September, it announced a cut in the corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent.

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• Tom Latham's unbeaten hundred and his century stand with Ross Taylor laid a solid foundation for New Zealand before rain brought an early end to day one of the second Test against England in Hamilton.


• Latham was on 101 when the rain swept in just three deliveries after the resumption of play from the tea break.


• It was the left-handed opener's 11th century and lifted him to equal sixth on the New Zealand century-makers list headed by Kane Williamson with 20.


• Williamson, however, was off his best this innings when he was dismissed for four in a rocky start for New Zealand after Jeet Raval was removed for five.


• But from two for 39, Latham and Taylor put on 116 for the third wicket when Taylor went for 53 to have New Zealand three for 155.

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• Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga was elected today unopposed as the president of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), the Joint Secretary of Media and Publicity of the MNF, Lallenmawia Jongte, said.


• Mr. Jongte said that Deputy Chief Minister Tawnluia was also elected unopposed as senior vice-president of the party.


• Former Lok Sabha member Vanlalzawma and former legislator Lalthlengliana were elected as vice-presidents while the former minister and close confidant of Chief Minister K Vanlalauva, was elected as treasurer.

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• Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Ravi Shanker Jha today administered oath of office to six additional judges in Chandigarh.


• Six judges who have sworn as additional judges include Justice: Ashok Kumar Verma, Justice Sant Parkash, Justice Meenakshi I Mehta, Justice Karamjit Singh, Justice Vivek Puri and Justice Archana Puri.


• Punjab and Haryana High Court judges, lawyers, senior officials of state governments, other senior officials and dignitaries were present on the occasion.

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• Former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), H R Khan has been appointed as the first chairman of the steering committee of the Code for Responsible Lending (CRL) in micro-credit.


• The CRL is a self-regulatory step for the micro-credit industry making diverse entities like banks, NBFC-MFIs and NBFCs adhere to standards of customer protection, a statement by Micro-finance Institutions Network (MFIN) said.