Here are the top stories this Monday morning: 

Serum Institute seeks EUA for COVID vaccine in India

The Serum Institute of India on Sunday became the first indigenous company to apply to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The vaccine manufacturer cited unmet medical needs due to the pandemic and the interest of the public at large, news agency PTI quoted official sources as saying. A day earlier, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer became the first to seek a similar approval from India's drug regulator for its own COVID-19 vaccine in the country, after securing such clearance in the UK and Bahrain.

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Delhi CM meets protesting farmers at Singhu border 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the Singhu border on Monday, where thousands of farmers are protesting against the Centre's new farm laws. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had on Sunday extended its support to the 'Bharat Bandh' called by farmers' organisations on December 8.

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Saudi Arabia, Gulf states must be consulted by US for entering JCPOA: FM 

US President-elect Joe Biden must consult Gulf nations if the United States decides to re-enter the nuclear accord with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat asserted on December 6, warning, that dialogue was the ‘only path for a sustainable agreement’. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud insisted that Biden must involve Iran's US-allied Arab neighbours in the process of rejoining the US Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), indirectly resonating concerns about Iran backed Houthis’ militarily aggression targeted at Yemen. Biden had stated that his incoming government can hold potential negotiations with Iran to reinstate the nuclear deal scrapped by the Trump administration to pressurize Iran into giving up nukes stockpile by slapping sanctions. 

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Pakistan Senators vow to expose agency NAB’s atrocities 

Pakistan Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla and other members of the civil society held a press conference on Sunday to express their grievances against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and vowed to 'expose its atrocities’. "Now the senators will hold the NAB accountable. We will approach every foreign ambassador in Pakistan and will expose NAB's atrocities," he said. Mandviwalla alleged that many people had died in the custody of the bureau and the NAB had committed many atrocities in the past, including the use of intimidation tactics and filing fake arrests. 

"This is not a battle between Saleem Mandviwalla and the NAB but this is a battle between NAB and the Senate of Pakistan. Every senator in this country, whether he is from the opposition or from the government, has agreed that NAB should be exposed," he claimed.

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Naidu demands probe into Eluru's mysterious illness

The mysterious illness that began spreading in Eluru city in Andhra Pradesh claimed one life on Sunday even as about 292 residents fell sick. Reacting to this, TDP National President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed deep shock over the outbreak. Taking to Twitter, he demanded an impartial, full-fledged inquiry into the incident. 

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