| Welcome to The Morning Filter, your guide to the busy news day ahead. We hope you are staying safe. Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today: 1. Nitish Kumar to take oath as Bihar CM for fourth term Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met Governor Phagu Chauhan, after being unanimously elected as the leader of the NDA, and staked claim for the formation of the new government in the State. Tarkishore Prasad or Renu Devi of BJP could be Deputy CMs. 2. Last date for filing nominations for second phase of J&K DDC polls The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on Sunday finalised its seat-sharing formula for the second phase of the District Development Council polls, allocating eight seats each out of total 27 to the National Conference and the PDP. 3. Slain Army jawan’s body reaches Nagpur Last rites of 28-year-old Bhushan Satai, who was killed during shelling by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir, will be performed with full state honours at Katol village near Nagpur at 10 a.m. on Monday. 4. SpaceX, NASA begin first operational astronaut mission to space  SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on the first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private company. The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and one Japanese, the second crew to be launched by SpaceX. 5. Lord Ayyappa temple opens, devotees to be allowed from Monday The hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala, Kerala, opened on Sunday evening for the annual two-month long Mandala-Makaravillakku season, adhering to strict COVID-19 protocol. Devotees would be allowed inside the temple only from Monday morning, temple sources said. 6. Religious places in Maharashtra set to reopen, Siddhivinayak temple to allow 1,000 devotees beginning Monday Religious places in Maharashtra, which have been shut since a COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in March, are set to reopen from Monday. Only 1,000 devotees will be allowed inside famous Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai every day beginning Monday in staggered time slots. 7. BPCL privatisation: Bid closes on Monday, all eyes on Reliance Initial bids for privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) will close on Monday. The government, which is selling its entire 52.98% stake in India’s second largest oil refining and marketing company, had on four occasions extended the date of putting in the preliminary expression of interest. Reliance has so far remained tight-lipped about its intentions for BPCL. 8. Japan PM Yoshihide Suga to meet IOC chief to discuss Olympic preparations  International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach is set to meet with organisers of the Tokyo Olympics on Monday as part of a two-day visit to Japan to demonstrate his commitment to holding the Games, despite the global pandemic. On Monday Bach is scheduled to meet with Japan's new premier Yoshihide Suga and Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike. 9. U.S. tops 11 million coronavirus cases More than 11 million cases of the coronavirus have now been reported in the United States, with the most recent million coming in less than a week. Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker reached 11 million on Sunday. It had topped 10 million cases on Nov. 9. 10. Coronavirus | Latest numbers and developments The number of positive coronavirus cases reported from India now stands at 88,44,552 at the time of publishing this newsletter. The death toll from the disease stands at 1,30,131. Morning Filter will return tomorrow. Follow up on the day’s biggest stories and get concise analysis by The Hindu with the Evening Wrap newsletter. Click here to get it in your inbox. | 
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