Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today 

President Droupadi Murmu will confer national awards for outstanding work towards empowerment of per

President Droupadi Murmu will confer national awards for outstanding work towards empowerment of persons with disabilities on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Saturday. In a statement, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said the awards will be handed over to individuals, institutions, organisations and state/district, etc., for their outstanding achievements and work towards the empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

Top Congress leaders will hold deliberations on Saturday on the party’s strategy to corner the government during the Winter session of Parliament starting December 7. Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, chief whip of the party in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh and party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha K Suresh will meet at the residence of former party chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday evening to evolve the strategy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed over 31 rallies and led three big road shows in Gujarat wrapping up on Friday his campaign for the BJP in the assembly polls as the party looks to maintain its uninterrupted winning streak there since 1995 in a triangular contest involving the Congress and the AAP. Campaign for the second phase of polling ends on December 3.

Further easing of COVID-19 testing requirements and quarantine rules in some Chinese cities was met with a mix of relief and worry on Friday, as hundreds of millions await an expected shift in national virus policies after widespread social unrest.

RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Shankar will address 18th Banking Technology Conference on Saturday. The event will be organised by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) on the theme ‘Future of Digital and Analytics in Banking’.

The coal Ministry said it plans to hold a series of investors’ conclave at several locations across the country. The Ministry has already organised such conclaves at Indore and Mumbai which saw very good participation from the prospective bidders which shows the enthusiasm among bidders with regard to the ongoing commercial coal mines auction.

Malaysia’s newly appointed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that he would also serve as the country’s finance minister, retaking a cabinet role he first held 30 years ago. He named Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Fadillah Yusof - two coalition partners - as co-deputy prime ministers.