Britain will be the first country in the West to roll out a Covid-19 vaccine, beating the United States and Europe in a race to control the pandemic that has left close to 1.5 million dead globally. UK’s drug authority—Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)--on Wednesday granted an emergency licence to the antidote developed by American pharma major Pfizer along with Germany’s BioNTech, inspiring confidence in people and economies around the world after a year of extreme pain and losses.

Gold price today jumped to Rs 51,610 from Rs 51,320 per 10 gm, while silver was trending at Rs 62,400 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making changes.

The chief advisor of the US Covid-19 vaccine development programme is confident that at least 100 million people would have got coronavirus shots by the end of February 2021 and this operation would have covered the entire at risk population comprising the elderly, frontline workers and those with comorbidities.

Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui said he hopes to have emergency use authorization for at least one vaccine by December 10 or 11.

The Centre is scheduled to meet the representatives of protesting farmers on December 3 for a crucial round of talks over the agricultural laws passed earlier this year. A similar meeting that took place on December 1 failed to make any progress.

Farmers, particularly from Punjab and Haryana, have been agitating over these laws since they were passed. They headed towards New Delhi last week to register their protest and demand their repeal from the central government.

The UN World Health Organization has warned people to maintain social distancing and other norms to restrict the spread of Covid-19, as it believes that there will not be enough quantities of coronavirus vaccines in the next three to six months to prevent a surge of infections.

'We are not going to have sufficient vaccinations in place to prevent a surge in cases for three to six months,' WHO top emergency expert Mike Ryan told a social media event.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said the board examinations of 2021 will be conducted in the conventional written mode, adding there was no proposal to conduct the exams online, news agency IANS reported.

The board examinations of 2021 will be in the regular written manner and not online, the CBSE stated.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on Wednesday said more than 100,000 people had already been vaccinated against COVID-19, as Moscow presented its Sputnik V vaccine to the United Nations over video link.

President Vladimir Putin earlier ordered authorities to begin mass voluntary vaccinations next week. Russia will have produced two million vaccine doses within the next few days, Putin said.

The Gujarat Police on Wednesday registered a case against some employees of a cash collection agency for allegedly siphoning off Rs.5.24 crore generated from the sale of tickets of the Statue of Unity in Narmada district of the state.

The Statue of Unity, has been a major tourist attraction in Gujarat since it was inaugurated in October 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the period from November 2018 to March 2020, the money generated from the sale of tickets by the Statue of Unity management was handed over to the cash collection agency, hired by a private bank in Vadodara.

The United States on Wednesday claimed a United Nations meeting of world leaders on the COVID-19 pandemic was being designed to allow Beijing to spread "propaganda," stoking months of bickering at the world body between the superpowers.

The two-day meeting of the UN General Assembly begins Thursday with some 53 heads of state, 39 heads of government and 38 ministers due to make pre-recorded video statements, including US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Today on the 36th anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy, we remember the fateful intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 when the world witnessed the worst industrial disaster.

Over 15,000 people were killed after methyl isocyanate leaked from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in the city of Bhopal. More than five lakh people were affected due to the toxic leak.

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