·       Israel and Morocco signed a landmark agreement that lays the foundation for security cooperation, intelligence sharing, and future arms sales.

·       The memorandum of understanding is the centerpiece of a visit this week by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to Morocco, which established formal relations with Israel last year as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords.

·       Gantz’s trip is the first official visit by an Israeli defense minister to one of the Arab states that normalized ties under the accords.

·       The agreement was signed during a meeting between Gantz and his Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Loudiyi in Rabat, with military attaches and two Israeli parliament members in attendance. Gantz also met with the Moroccan military chief of staff, and was greeted by a color guard of soldiers clad in red tunics, blue slacks and gleaming gold epaulets.

·       Ahead of his meeting with Loudiyi, Gantz paid his respects at the tomb of Mohamed V, the grandfather of the reigning monarch.

·       Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan signed agreements to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, which were brokered by the Trump administration.

·       Israel and Morocco enjoyed low-level diplomatic relations in the 1990s, but Morocco severed them after a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000. Despite that, the two states have maintained informal relations. Nearly half a million Israelis claim Moroccan heritage — more than 200,000 immigrated to Israel after the founding of the state in 1948 — and thousands visit the country each year.

·       Morocco is still home to a small Jewish community, and Rabat has one remaining synagogue, where Gantz will visit at the close of his two-day trip.

·       In exchange for Morocco normalizing relations with Israel, the Trump administration promised in December 2020 to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed north African territory. The announcement upset decades of U.S. policy and international consensus that Western Sahara’s status should be settled by a U.N. referendum.

·       Security forces in Qatar detained two journalists from Norwegian state television for over 30 hours and deleted footage they gathered at a migrant labor camp as they tried to report on worker issues ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup.

·       Qatar's government later accused NRK journalists Halvor Ekeland and Lokman Ghorbani of “trespassing on private property and filming without a permit” as the two returned early Nov 24  to Norway following their arrest. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere responded by saying their arrest was “unacceptable.”

·       The arrests, a year ahead of the World Cup, show the ongoing sensitivity felt by the autocratic government of Qatar, a small, energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula. Other journalists have faced similar problems and detentions while reporting in Qatar as well ahead of the World Cup.

·       Ekeland, a sports journalist, and Ghorbani, a photographer, had been in Qatar as the country marked one year to go before the World Cup. The two were reportedly detained after reporting on the condition of migrant laborers during a live report.

·       The government is making all efforts to complete the disinvestment process of national carrier Air India by the end of December.

·       Tata group firm Talace Pvt Ltd has emerged as the winning bidder for loss-making Air India.

·       On October 25, the government signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of the airline for Rs 18,000 crore.

·       The amount includes payment of Rs 2,700 crore in cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the carrier's debt.

·       Along with Air India, Tatas will acquire low-cost carrier Air India Express and Air India's 50 per cent stake in equal joint venture AISATS.

·       On  Nov 25 , Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said all efforts are being made to complete the disinvestment process of Air India by the end of December.   Bansal is also the Chairman and Managing Director of the national carrier.

·       Air India has been incurring a monthly loss of more than Rs 600 crore, he noted.

·       The airline has 43 wide-body planes, including 27 Boeing 787s.

·       As of August 31, Air India had a total debt of Rs 61,562 crore.

·       Of the total amount, Talace will take over Rs 15,300 crore, and the remaining Rs 46,262 crore will be transferred to AIAHL.

·       Besides, non-core assets of Air India, including land and building, valued at Rs 14,718 crore, are also being transferred to AIAHL.

·       Further, liabilities of Rs 15,834 crore towards dues to operational creditors, like those for fuel purchases, as of August 31 would be transferred to AIAHL.

·       In 2019, the government set up a special purpose vehicle -- Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL) -- for holding debt and non-core assets of the Air India group.

·       The country's airports sector is expected to see an investment of Rs 90,000 crore in a five-year period, with nearly Rs 68,000 crore coming from the private players.

·       The civil aviation sector, which was battered by the coronavirus pandemic that had also resulted in the suspension of domestic and international flight services, is slowly on the recovery path and the daily domestic air traffic is nearing the pre-COVID level of 4 lakh.

·       Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said investments totalling Rs 90,000 crore will be made for airports over the five-year period, starting 2020-21.

·       Out of the total amount, around Rs 20,000-22,000 crore will be invested by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), while the remaining amount of about Rs 68,000 crore would be from the private sector.

·       The government expects to have 220 operational airports over five years and will include heliports. Currently, there are 136 operational airports in the country, and many aerodromes are in the works.

·       Prime Minister Narendra Modi  has laid  the foundation stone for the new airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh on Nov 25 .

·       Among others, a new airport at Mopa in Goa is expected to be ready next year, and an aerodrome is also coming up at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra.

·       Besides, expansion works have been taken up at Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports.

·       The Reserve Bank of India has imposed penalties on Tata Communications Payment Solutions Limited (TCPSL) and Appnit Technologies Private Limited (ATPL) for deficiencies in regulatory compliance.

·       A penalty of Rs 2 crore has been imposed on TCPSL and Rs 54.93 lakh on ATPL.

·       The RBI had issued notice to these two authorised Payment System Operators (PSOs).

·       After reviewing their written responses and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, the RBI concluded that the charges of non-compliance with certain directions were substantiated and warranted the imposition of monetary penalty.

·       The central bank, however, added that the penalties are based on "deficiencies in regulatory compliance" and are not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the entities with their customers.

·       In another statement, the RBI said a penalty of Rs 20 lakh has been imposed on Mulamoottil Financiers Limited, Kozhencherry, Pathanamthitta District, Kerala for non-adherence with certain provisions of the directions on the classification of non-performing assets and norms related to raising money through private placement by NBFCs-Debentures.

·       In this case also, the RBI said the penalty has been imposed due to deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the company with its customers.

·       Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Central Bank of India (CBI) on Nov 24   denied receiving any communication from the centre government regarding privatisation of these two banks,  as the shares of the two state-owned banks rallied up to 20% amid reports that the two financial institutions might be privatised.

·       The clarification comes a day after Centre’s legislative agenda for Winter Session listed tabling of Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021. “The bill seeks to effect amendments in Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts, 1970 and 1980 and incidental amendments to Banking Regulation Act, 1949 in the context of Union Budget announcement 2021 regarding privatisation of two Public Sector Banks,” it read.

·       France and Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema was given a one-year suspended jail sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros ($84,000)  in a sex-tape case that rocked French soccer.

·       Benzema was found guilty of being involved in an attempt in 2015 to blackmail France teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

·       The Versailles court decision is unlikely to affect Benzema’s immediate sporting future. The forward is regarded as one of the favorites to win the Ballon d’Or award on Nov. 29 in Paris following an impressive season with Madrid. French federation president Noel Le Great has already said Benzema would be allowed to keep playing with France even if found guilty.

·       India opener KL Rahul gained a slot to occupy the fifth spot while middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav galloped 24 places to the 59th position in the ICC men's T20I player rankings released on Nov 24 .

·       Pakistan's wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, too, gained a slot to occupy the fourth position.

·       Rizwan's upward movement is courtesy his 90 runs in the three-match series against Bangladesh that his side won 3-0, while opener Rahul is only six rating points behind after scoring 80 in two matches against New Zealand, a series also won 3-0 by India.

·       New Zealand's Martin Guptill has gained three slots to reach 10th position scoring 152 runs against India while Rohit Sharma is 13th, gaining two places after topping the series with 159 runs.

·       Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman is another one to move up the batters' list, from 40th to 35th.

·       The rankings for bowlers ,  Mitchell Santner gain 10 slots to reach 13th position with four wickets in the series against India and Bhuvneshwar Kumar up five to 19th with three scalps.

·       Deepak Chahar has moved up 19 slots to reach 40th position.

·       Others to progress in the list include Mahedi Hasan (up six places to 12th) and Shoriful Islam (up three places to 40th) of Bangladesh, and the Pakistan pair of Shadab Khan (up two places to 14th) and Hasan Ali (up 16 places to 44th).