Breaking News December 12 | Highlights

US President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday vowed to rejoin the Paris climate agreement on the first day of his presidency, as the world marked the 5th anniversary of the historic pact aimed at curbing global warming.

The US on November 4 this year formally withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, a decision originally announced by President Donald Trump in 2017.

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca says it is buying U.S. drug developer Alexion in a deal worth $39 billion. Cambridge, England-based AstraZeneca PLC, which is involved in one of the efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, said on Saturday it’s using a combination of cash and shares for the acquisition of Boston-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Armenian officials on Saturday accused Azerbaijan of breaching a peace deal that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh. Separatist officials in Nagorno-Karabakh said the Azerbaijani military launched an attack late Friday that left three local ethnic Armenian servicemen wounded.

"India is not only on track to achieve its Paris Agreement targets but to exceed them beyond expectations," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Climate Ambition Summit 2020.

The Uttar Pradesh government has delegated its power to grant licenses to run liquor bars to divisional commissioners, an official statement said on Saturday.

The Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri is likely to throw open its gates to devotees before New Year after being closed for nine months due to COVID-19, the temple administration said on Saturday.

The Reserve Bank has appointed R Subramanian, RS Ratho and Rohit Jain as executive directors. In the new role, Subramanian will look after foreign exchange department, financial markets regulation department, internal debt management and international department, a statement from RBI said.

Prior to being promoted as executive director, he was Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Enforcement Department.

RBI said Ratho will look after financial markets operations department, department of external investments and operations, legal department and secretary's department.

Before this promotion, Ratho was Chief General Manager, Financial Markets Operations Department.

Jain will look after Department of Supervision (Risk, Analytics and Vulnerability Assessment). Earlier, he was Chief General Manager-in-Charge of the supervision department.

US President Donald Trump has signed a one-week stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government open through December 18, providing more time for lawmakers to negotiate a much-awaited coronavirus relief package.

The President signed the bill, known as a continuing resolution, on Friday night after the Senate passed it earlier in the day by a voice vote just a few hours before the government funding was set to expire, Xinhua news agency.

The Pakistan army violated ceasefire by resorting to unprovoked firing with small arms and mortar shelling on forward posts and villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, a defence spokesperson said.

The firing from across the LoC in Balakote sector began around 6 pm, drawing a befitting retaliation from the Indian Army, he said.

The spokesperson said the exchange of fire between the two sides was still underway when the reports last came in.

So far, there have been no reports of any casualties on the Indian side, he said.

United Airlines inaugurated on Saturday a daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Chicago, according to a company statement.

The airline will operate a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft between the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and its hometown hub at the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, Startups are going to be the backbone of new India. The ecosystem of startups is encouraging innovation, promoting and strengthening new young entrepreneurs, businesses with new ideas, new ways of doing business.

PM Narendra Modi will be addressing the Climate Ambition Summit 2020 tonight, on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. UN, UK and France co-hosting the summit in partnership with Chile and Italy. UN Secretary-General, UK PM and French President to also address the Summit.

Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, Dushyant Chautala meets Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi extended wishes to NCP chief Sharad Pawar on his birthday. He tweeted, "Best wishes to Shri Sharad Pawar on his birthday."

Rising recoveries have also improved recovery rate to 94.89% today. 74.46% of new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states/UTs. Kerala has reported maximum number of single day recoveries with 4,748 newly recovered cases.

442 case fatalities reported in past 24 hours. 10 states/UTs account for 78.05% of new deaths. Maharashtra saw maximum casualties (87). Delhi and West Bengal follow with 60 and 50 daily deaths, respectively. For last 7 days, daily deaths have been below 500 mark. 

First Trilateral Working Group Meeting between India, Iran and Uzbekistan on joint use of Chabahar port will be held virtually on December 14. India welcomes the interest of Uzbekistan to use the Chabahar port as a transit port.

Chabahar port would open up economic opportunities for traders and business community of region. Besides Uzbekistan, other Central Asian countries have also shown interest in using the port. India seeks to cooperate closely with regional countries on this issue.

Uttarakhand Minister Rekha Arya tested positive for COVID-19. She is asymptomatic and has isolated herself.

Two naxals killed in an encounter with Police in Kirnapur area of Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the 93rd annual general meeting of FICCI, via video conferencing. Here are the highlights of his speech:

• In the match of 20-20 we saw a lot of things changing rapidly. But 2020 baffled everyone. The nation and entire world saw a lot of ups and downs. When we'll think of Corona period a few yrs later, perhaps we won't be able to believe it. It's good that things are improving swiftly.
• When the pandemic began in February-March, we were fighting against an unknown enemy. There were a lot of uncertainties - be it production, logistics, revival of economy - there were multiple issues. The question was, how long will this go on? How will things improve?
• By December, the situation has changed. We have answers as well as a roadmap. The economic indicators today are encouraging. The things learnt by the nation at the time of crisis have further strengthened the resolutions of future.
• The faith that the world placed on India in the last 6 years, has further strengthened in the past few months. Be it FDI or FPI - foreign investors have made record investments in India and are continuing to do that.
• Policies of past promoted inefficiency in many sectors and stopped new experiments. Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan promotes efficiency in every sector. Emphasis is being laid to re-energise technology-based industries in sectors in which India has long term competitive advantage. 
• The cold storage infrastructure will be modernised. This will result in more investments in the agriculture sector. Farmers will be benefitted the most out of it.
• We'd seen walls between agriculture sector and other areas associated with it - be it agriculture infrastructure, food processing, storage or cold chain. All walls and obstacles are being removed now. After reforms, farmers will get new markets, options and more benefits of technology.
• The cold storage infrastructure will be modernised. This will result in more investments in the agriculture sector. Farmers will be benefitted the most out of it.

With 30,005 new COVID-19 infections, India's total cases rise to 98,26,775. While with 442 new deaths, toll mounts to 1,42,628. Total active cases at 3,59,819. Total discharged cases at 93,24,328 with 33,494 new discharges in the last 24 hours.

Mizoram reported 16 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, as per the state government. 

• Total cases: 4,024
• Active cases: 197
• Discharges: 3,820
• Deaths: 7

Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is blocked due to snow accumulation at the Jawahar Tunnel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Rajinikanth as actor-turned politician turned 70 on Saturday. He tweeted, "Dear Rajinikanth ji, wishing you a Happy Birthday! May you lead a long and healthy life."

US Food and Drug Administration authorizes Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.