·       Sri Lanka's government has withdrawn a ban on imports of agrochemicals that it said was aimed at encouraging organic cultivation.

·       Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage announced, November 24, 2021, the revocation of the ban, which took effect in April. But he said government subsidies, price guarantees for produce and technical support will only be provided to those who use organic fertilizer.

·       The ban, which many analysts said was more an effort to preserve Sri Lanka's scarce foreign reserves, drew months of protests, with farmers saying they were in danger of crop failures and poverty.

·       A centre-left-led alliance of parties on , November 24, 2021, announced a deal to form Germany's new government, with rising coronavirus infections posing an immediate crisis for the post-Angela Merkel cabinet to put out.

·    Two months after the Social Democrats (SPD) beat Merkel's conservative CDU-CSU bloc in a general election, they concluded a roadmap on plans for Germany's next four years with the Greens and liberal Free Democrats that will install Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, 63, as chancellor.

·       A thick cloud of smog that enveloped Pakistan's cultural capital on Nov 24  has earned it the ignominious title of the world's most polluted city, according to a Swiss air quality monitoring company.

·       Platform IQAir said that Lahore now stands at the top of its polluted cities ranking with an air quality index of 203 on the US AQI scale, versus runner-up Dehli, India, with 183.

·    Dhaka, Bangladesh came in third, with an index of 169, and Kolkata, India at fourth, with a reading of 168.

·       Sweden’s Parliament  has  approved Magdalena Andersson as the country’s first female prime minister, tapping the finance minister who recently became the new leader of the Social Democratic party.

·       Andersson was tapped to replace Stefan Lofven as party leader and prime minister, roles he relinquished earlier this year.

·       The development marked a milestone for Sweden, viewed for decades as one of Europe's most progressive countries when it comes to gender relations, but which had yet to have a woman in the top political post. Lofven's government has describes itself as “feminist,” putting equality between women and men at the heart of national and international work.

·       In the 349-seat Riksdag, 117 lawmakers voted yes to Andersson, 174 rejected her while 57 abstained and one lawmaker was absent.

·       In all, the opposition cast 174 votes against Andersson but under the Swedish Constitution, prime ministers can be named and govern as long as a parliamentary majority — a minimum of 175 lawmakers — is not against them.

·       Another 1.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer has been provided to Bangladesh by the US.

·       The US in total has given 16.8 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer to Bangladesh. Additionally, as contributory COVID-19 assistance, the US has donated USD121 million to Bangladesh.

·       Moreover, the US has trained over 6,800 healthcare experts and workers, donated 18 cold-chain freezer trucks along with storing and transport facility

·    The US is donating COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer, to nations worldwide as a part of its pledge to provide 1 billion free Pfizer doses by the end of 2022 to lead the global COVID-19 response.

·       US intelligence agencies found evidence this year of construction work on what they believed was a secret Chinese military facility in the United Arab Emirates, which was stopped after Washington's intervention.

·       Citing Wall Street Journal, Policy Research Group's Strategic Insight reported that satellite imagery of the port of Khalifa had revealed suspicious construction work inside a container terminal built and operated by a Chinese shipping corporation, Cosco.

·The evidence included huge excavations apparently for a multi-story building and the fact that the site was covered in an apparent attempt to evade scrutiny.

·       In continuation, the US administration under Joe Biden held urgent talks with the UAE authorities, who appeared to be unaware of the Chinese military activities, reported Strategic Insight.

·       Further, the United States President Biden had a discussion about the issue with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

·       The report comes four years after the Chinese Navy established a facility in Djibouti, its first overseas base, which was placed within a Chinese-run commercial port, at Doraleh.

·       Earlier, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and the White House Middle East coordinator, Brett McGurk provided intelligence reports to the UAE authorities and the US officials also visited the Khalifa site.

·       It's noted that the UAE and the wider Gulf region come under US Central Command based in Florida.

·       Australia has listed Lebanese Shia party Hezbollah and neo-Nazi organisation The Base as terrorist organizations.

·       The designations make it a criminal offence to be a member of The Base or Hezbollah .

·       Anyone guilty of terrorist organisation offences, including being a member, recruiting, receiving training or acquiring funds for a terrorist organisation can face imprisonment for up to 25 years.

·       Hezbollah is based in Lebanon and functions as a Shia Islamist political party and a militant group, which has formed alliances with Iran and Syria.

·    Until now Australia has only listed the group's External Security Organisation (ESO) on the terrorist list, exempting its military and political wings.

·       A Russian rocket blasted off successfully on  Nov 24  to deliver a new docking module to the International Space Station.

·       The Soyuz rocket lifted off as scheduled at 6:06 p.m. (1306 GMT) from the Russian launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, carrying the Progress cargo ship with the Prichal (Pier) docking module attached to it.

·       The craft successfully entered a designated orbit nine minutes after the launch and is set to dock at the station on Nov 26 , hooking up to the new Russian Nauka (Science) laboratory module that was added to the station in July.

·       The new spherical module with six docking ports will allow potential future expansion of the Russian segment of the station.

·       Earlier this week, Russian crew on the station started training for Prichal’s arrival, simulating the use of manual controls in case the automatic docking system fails.

·       The space outpost is currently operated by NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei; Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency.