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.

Shares of Tata Motors rose 4 per cent to 10-month high of Rs 186.75 on the BSE on Wednesday after the company reported 26 per cent year on year (YoY) growth in total domestic sales at 47,859 units in the month of November 2020. It had sold total 38,057 units in domestic market.

The stock of commercial vehicles company was trading at its highest level since January 31, 2020. In past one month, Tata Motors has outperformed the market by surging 40 per cent, against 12 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

India’s Tata Group is in advanced talks to buy as much as 80% of BigBasket in a deal that is likely to value the local online grocer backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. at about $1.6 billion, a person familiar with the matter said.

The conglomerate is now negotiating how much stake it would purchase in Innovative Retail Concepts Pvt., which is commonly known as BigBasket.com, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing details of private talks.

A top US congress mandated panel has said the Chinese government had planned the June Galwan incident even as Beijing ramped up a coercion campaign against its neighbors. The Galwan incident saw aggressive action by Chinese soldiers in Galwan valley in Eastern Ladakh, resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers.

The just-released annual report of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) said, Some evidence suggested the Chinese government had planned the incident, potentially including the possibility for fatalities.

Delhi's pollution woes are going to continue this week as the air quality remained in a very poor category on December 2. The air quality index (AQI) in the national capital was recorded at 381 in the morning.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the AQI on December 1 was 367 and it was 318 on November 30. The AQI is measured on a scale of 0 to 500 and any value between 300 and 400 is considered very poor. If it goes above 400, it is considered severe.

Virat Kohli had created history in the Canberra ODI against Australia on Wednesday as he became the fastest batsman in the world to score 12000 runs, taking just 242 innings. Virat Kohli broke the earlier record of Sachin Tendulkar who had taken 300 innings to reach the landmark. Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team skipper, looked good and was aiming to rebuild the innings for India after the dismissals of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul cheaply to Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa. Virat Kohli notched up his 60th ODI fifty and looked to get India towards a big score.

Yes Bank on Tuesday said the loan repayments performance by its retail and small business borrowers has been better than expected, and only Rs 300 crore of the Rs 60,000-crore book has applied for the COVID-19-related loan restructuring scheme.

The collection efficiencies at about 95-96 per cent right now are back to the pre-COVID-19 levels of 97 per cent, its Global Head for Retail Business Rajesh Pental told PTI.

US Covid-19 deaths has surpassed 270,000, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

With the national caseload topping 13.6 million, the death toll across the US rose to 270,003, according to the CSSE data, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (VI) has taken a lead in hiking tariffs by 6 to 8 per cent as it struggles to retain customers and clear its pending dues. However, the company has moved cautiously by raising the tariff only in limited circles such as Uttar Pradesh. While the hike comes into immediate effect, there has been no announcement.

In the post-earnings call in October, Vodafone Idea managing director Ravinder Takkar had said the company would not shy away from taking the first step in raising tariffs.

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