India and the UAE on Tuesday signed two agreements, including one on currency swap, as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held exhaustive discussions with her counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to step up cooperation in areas like trade, security and defence.

Swaraj, who arrived here on Monday on a two-day visit, was received by the Foreign Minister of the UAE ahead of the UAE-India Joint Commission Meeting.

"Advancing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership...EAM @SushmaSwaraj & Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan co-chaired 12th India-UAE #JCM. Held exhaustive discussions on cooperation in energy, security, trade, investments, space, defence & consular, among others," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the constitution of special courts in each district of Bihar and Kerala for the trial of pending criminal cases against present and former MPs and MLAs.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph passed the directions for setting up special courts in every district of the two states and also sought compliance reports from the Patna and Kerala high courts by December 14.

The apex court directed the high courts to send back cases from special courts, which were already constituted, to jurisdictional district courts. The Supreme Court has given the liberty of constituting as many courts as required in the districts of these two states for trial of cases against the legislators.

The apex court also said the special courts would take up life term cases on a priority while hearing pending matters against MPs and MLAs.

National Commission for Women will support Northeast livelihood programmes for women, particularly for those in younger age group, through Skill development and Specialized training.

This was discussed at a meeting between Minister of Development of North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh and the newly appointed member of NCW, Soso Shaiza in New Delhi on Monday.

During the meeting, it was observed that there is a huge scope for raising the levels of education among the women living in remote and rural areas. 

The Minister said that the National Commission for Women can supplement its efforts and resources in carrying forward several of the women-oriented projects which are already undertaken by his Ministry and the North East Council. 

Private sector lender Yes Bank Ltd on Monday appointed former IRDAI chief T.S. Vijayan as an independent director for five years. “Pursuant to approval of board of directors, basis the recommendation of the nomination and remuneration committee (N&RC), Yes Bank…announced the appointment of T.S. Vijayan as an additional director (Independent), with immediate effect,” Yes Bank said in a statement to the stock exchanges.

Vijayan’s appointment would be subject to approval of Yes Bank shareholders at the next general meeting of the bank. He is already a key member of the search and selection committee (S&SC) set up to identify a suitable successor for CEO Rana Kapoor.

“Given that the S&SC has made significant progress and is in advanced stages, the N&RC and the board has decided to seek Vijayan’s larger engagement and involvement, now as an additional board director (independent) with continuation on the four-member S&SC,” the bank said.

Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric won the 2018 Ballon d'Or, becoming the first player other than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to claim the award in more than a decade.

Modric, 33, won his third successive Champions League in May before helping Croatia to a first World Cup final.

Former Brazil and AC Milan forward Kaka, in 2007, was the last player other than Messi or Ronaldo to win it.

Ronaldo, who joined Juventus from Real Madrid in the summer, came second.

Barcelona forward Messi finished fifth, with Atletico Madrid frontman Antoine Griezmann and PSG attacker Kylian Mbappe - both of whom won the World Cup with France - third and fourth respectively.

A N Jha, Secretary, Expenditure, has been appointed as new Finance Secretary, a government order said Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has cleared Jha’s appointment to the post after incumbent Hasmukh Adhia, a 1981-batch Gujarat cadre officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), retired on November 30.

Fifty-nine-year old Ajay Narayan Jha, is a 1982-batch IAS officer of Manipur Tripura cadre.

An alumnus of St Stephens College from where he passed with first class in Graduation and post graduation in History, Jha is a recipient of World Bank scholarship to pursue Masters in Economic Policy Management from McGill University in Canada. He is also an MPhil in public administration from Delhi University.

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) commercial arm, Antrix Corporation, has moved a court in the US to counter attempts by start-up firm Devas Multimedia to confirm a $563-million compensation awarded to it by an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal over cancellation of a satellite agreement by India in 2011.

Antrix Corporation filed a motion in a district court in the western district of Washington November 19 to oppose a petition filed by Devas Multimedia to enforce a September 14, 2015 ICC tribunal order for payment of the compensation. The start-up, in its plea, had accused the Indian government of using retaliatory tactics against it for pursuing the compensation claim.

Pawan Singh has become the first Indian to be elected one of seven member’s of the Judges Committee of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF). Singh also holds the post of the Joint Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and was a former coach of the Indian shooting team.

Civil Aviation Ministry announced Saturday it has started the registration process for drone operators in the country, to be done through a portal called ‘Digital Sky’.The government, in August, had put in place regulations for operations of remotely piloted aircraft, to come into effect from December 1. Under these norms, drone users will be required to do one-time registration of their drones. They will also need to register the pilots of drones as well as their owners.

“Happy to announce that we are launching the Online Registration Portal for #Drone Flying Permission, #DigitalSky from TODAY. The platform is now live,” Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said in a tweet.

For drones of micro size and above categories, operators are required to register on the Digital Sky portal, he said in another tweet.

Nano drones can start flying legally from Saturday, the ministry said in a release later.

It also said the digital platform has begun accepting registrations of users, and payments for Unmanned Aerial Operator’s Permit (UAOP) and Unique Identification Numbers (UIN) will be accepted through the Bharat Kosh portal (bharatkosh.gov.in).

The former Mexico City mayor pledged on Saturday to end corruption and impunity to transform the nation on behalf of the poor and marginalised.

The 65-year-old, popularly known by his initials Amlo, won a landslide victory in July - his third presidential bid.

The political veteran begins his six-year term with approval ratings of 56%.

His predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto leaves office with only 24% - his administration was plagued with corruption scandals and murder rates reaching record-high levels.

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President López Obrador inherits an immediate foreign policy issue - what to do about the thousands of Central American migrants camping on the US-Mexico border.

Foreign dignitaries including US Vice-President Mike Pence, first daughter Ivanka Trump and Bolivian President Evo Morales attended the inauguration in the capital.