2008 Review: November

RIA Novosti looks back at the main events of the outgoing year; below the month-by-month review of 2008 continues, with November:

November 4

* Democratic candidate Barack Obama wins an historic election to become the first African American president of the United States

November 5

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposes the extension of presidential and parliamentary terms from the current four years to six and five years, respectively, in his first state of the nation address to parliament

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledges to deploy short-range Iskander missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad next to Poland in response to U.S. missile plans for Europe

November 8

* At least 20 people are killed and another 21 injured in an accident on the Russian Pacific Fleet nuclear submarine Nerpa, which was undergoing routine tests

November 12

* Rosoboronexport signs deals to sell six Su-30 Flanker-C jet fighters and 18 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles to Indonesia

November 13

* Russia and Belarus sign an agreement to grant Minsk a $2 billion loan, and agreed to switch to rubles when trading in oil and gas

November 14

* The European Union and Russia agree to restart talks on a new partnership and cooperation agreement, the president of the European Commission said after an EU-Russia summit in Nice

November 15

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposes the reorganization of the global financial system, including the establishment of an international regulatory commission at the G20 summit in Washington

November 18

* The Sirius Star, a Saudi oil tanker is seized by pirates in the Indian Ocean off the Kenyan coast, the largest vessel ever to be hijacked in the region

November 20

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev orders energy giant Gazprom to recover $2.4 billion in debts from Ukraine for natural gas supplies

November 21

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev begins a seven-day tour of Portugal and four Latin American countries (Peru, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba)

November 23

* Leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries pledge measures to reform international financial institutions and liberalize trade in a bid to fight the ongoing global financial crisis

November 24

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs off on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance treaties with Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Kremlin press service said

* President Hugo Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) triumphes in the majority of states in nationwide polls to elect mayors and governors, election officials said

November 26

* Russia successfully test launches a new-generation RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile bearing multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads

November 27

* Talks in Caracas between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez yield a host of bilateral agreements

November 29

* Indian commandos kill the last terrorists holed up in the landmark Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai on the third day of battles with militants across India's commercial capital

* Georgia severes diplomatic ties with Nicaragua which recognized the Caucasus country's two breakaway regions as independent states following Russia's suit

November 30

* Israel approves the early release of some 250 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas