·       Five US lawmakers met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen  on Nov 26  morning in a surprise one-day visit intended to reaffirm the United States' 'rock solid' support for the self-governing island.

·       The bi-partisan group of lawmakers from the US House of Representatives arrived in Taiwan on Nov 25 night and were planning to meet with senior leaders including Tsai, said the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy.

·       No further details were provided about their itinerary.

·       The visit comes as tensions between Taiwan and China have risen to their highest level in decades.

·       Taiwan has been self-ruled since the two sides split during a civil war in 1949, but China considers the island part of its own territory.

·       Representatives Mark Takano, D-Calif., Colin Allred, D-Texas., Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Nancy Mace, R-S. C., are also part of the visiting delegation.

·       The visit is the third by US lawmakers to Taiwan this year and comes just a few weeks after a group of six Republican members of Congress visited the island.

·       Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a USD 300 million loan to strengthen and improve access to comprehensive primary healthcare in urban areas of 13 states benefiting over 256 million urban dwellers, including 51 million from slum areas.

·       The programme supports Government of India's key health initiatives by expanding availability and access to quality primary healthcare services particularly for vulnerable populations in urban areas .

·       It supports initiatives like Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) and Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PM-ASBY), which has been renamed Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).

·       The Ayushman Bharat programme, launched in 2018, aims to improve access to comprehensive primary healthcare as a key strategy to achieve universal health coverage in India.

·       With the spread of coronavirus pandemic, which put additional pressure on the country's health system, the government launched PM-ASBY in October 2021 to adopt a long-term approach to system strengthening to prepare for future pandemics and other emergencies.

·       In order to bring transparency in the investor grievance redressal mechanism, Sebi has directed stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations to disclose on their websites the data on complaints received against them and redressal thereof.

·       They will have to make the disclosure latest by 7th of the succeeding month, Sebi said in a circular.

·       In addition, the regulator has also prescribed a format for disclosing data of complaints on their websites.

·       Under the disclosure, these entities will have to disclose about complaints received during the month, those carried forward from previous month, complaints pending for more than three months and average time taken in resolution of a complaint, among others.

·       India's Lakshya Sen is set to become the youngest shuttler from the country to qualify for the season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals which will be held in Bali, Indonesia from December 1.

·       The 20-year-old from Almora has enjoyed an impressive run on the BWF world tour and is currently ranked fifth in the World Tour rankings.

·       He will join Kidambi Srikanth (ranked 3rd) in the men's singles competition, two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu (4th) in women's singles and women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy (6th) at the event, which was shifted from Guangzhou to Bali due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

·       Srikanth, Sameer Verma, Sindhu and London bronze- medallist Saina Nehwal have competed in the year-ending tournament in the past.

·       While Sindhu is the only Indian to win the BWF World Tour Finals in 2018, Saina had reached the summit clash of the BWF Superseries Finals in 2011.

·       Srikanth and Sameer have reached the knockout stage but couldn't enter the finals.

Former India Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj will continue to be the president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association for another three years from 2021 to 2024. He was elected unanimously at the 95th AGM.

·       Indian Railways has set a target of becoming a 'net-zero' emitter by 2030 by completing electrification of all railway tracks.

·       As on April 2021, nearly 48,881 km of tracks had been electrified and solar panels on the roofs of more than a thousand railway stations have been installed for renewable energy reducing carbon emission. In the freight segment, railways runs nearly 8,479 trains daily. Around 2,93,077 freight wagons are used in transporting goods by the railways.

·       The railway has adopted a multi-pronged approach to go green in its entire services, right from replacing conventional lights to LED and installing solar energy panels to meet the energy requirement for non-track works also.

·       Opposition Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP)  has  announced a 10-day state-wide programme to revive the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protest, which had been marked by violence two years ago.

·       The 10-day protest by AJP will begin with observing Martyrs Day on December 10 at Chhaygaon followed by 'Black Day' across Assam the next day.

·       The NIA filed a charge sheet before a special court against a Canada-based terrorist for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to carry out attacks in India after arranging arms and ammunition from Pakistan