Breaking News December 22 | Highlights

Indian Railways will allow the general public to travel by the suburban train services in Chennai during non-peak hours from December 23, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal informed on Tuesday. READ MORE

Over 4,000 employees under the Samagra Shiksha mission will get their salaries before Christmas, Mizoram Education minister Lalchhandama Ralte said on Tuesday.

The employees have not got their salaries since August.

Sri Lanka is on alert amid concerns that a new variant of the coronavirus is spreading much faster in parts of England, than the first-identified virus strain, Sri Lankan Army Commander Shavendra Silva said on Tuesday. Silva, who is also the island nation's Head of COVID-19 prevention, said a study will be conducted by the Director General Health Services and other senior health officials, based on which a new action plan will be devised.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced that the country would continue to remain in a tough lockdown amid reports of the new virus strain and it spiking the number of COVID-19 cases.

Sri Lanka has also suspended all flights from the UK. The decision comes amid plans to reopen international air travel from 26 December.

The foreign ministry and the National Operation Center for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) will continue to arrange flights for migrant workers, students, patients, short term visa holders, government and military officials.

These persons will be quarantined at government centres free of cost.

Dual citizens of Sri Lankan origin will be allowed to travel on any commercial airline subject to availability of seats.

So far the coronavirus has claimed 181 lives with 37,891 confirmed infection in the island nation, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The Srinagar-Leh highway which remained closed for over a week due to heavy snowfall and slippery road surface at high-altitude Zojila top was reopened for vehicular traffic on Tuesday, officials said.

"The traffic movement was allowed from Srinagar towards Ladakh today," a Border Roads Organisation official said.

A large number of vehicles carrying civilians and security personnel were allowed to cross the snow-bound Zojila top at 11,500-feet in the afternoon, he said.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which is looking after the road, said the vehicles carrying essential supplies to Ladakh crossed the Zojila top in the day time.

"All the assistance is being extended by the Border Roads at the Zojila top by deputing men and machinery during any emergency to help out the vehicles," BRO commander Mukesh Kumar said.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday named his long-time associate Indian-American Vinay Reddy as his speechwriter and another community member Gautam Raghavan, who previously served in the White House, as Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel.

Delhi's air quality turned "severe" on Tuesday with slow wind speed and low temperature allowing accumulation of pollutants, according to weather department officials.

The air quality is likely to remain "severe" on Wednesday too. No major improvement is predicted till December 26, Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the India Meteorological Department's regional forecasting centre, said.
 
The city's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 418, which falls in the severe category. It was 332 on Monday, 321 on Sunday and 290 on Saturday.

Air pollution in the neighbouring cities of Faridabad (407), Ghaziabad (468), Greater Noida (458) and Noida (450) also entered the "severe" zone.

The government on Tuesday removed export curbs on medical goggles and gloves, which were in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to boost outbound shipments of these products. The export restrictions were imposed on account of the spread of COVID-19.

"The export policy of medical goggles and Nitrile/NBR gloves is amended from restricted to free category making all types of medical goggles and Nitrile/NBR gloves freely exportable," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

In a separate notification, DGFT said import of copra is allowed through government-run trading firm MMTC, while import of coconut oil is permitted through STEs (state trading enterprises) except STC (State Trading Corporation).

Job will be given to a family member of civic volunteers who died due to coronavirus: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

As many as five people out of 266 passengers and crew members of a flight have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The flight arrived at the Delhi airport from London on Monday night. Speaking to news agency ANI, Nodal officer for Covid-19 said that their samples have been sent to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for research and they have been sent to a care centre. READ MORE 

Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 300 points in early trade on Tuesday, tracking losses in index majors Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance and ITC amid weak cues from global markets as concerns over the new coronavirus strain continued to spook investors. The 30-share BSE index rallied over 384 points in the opening session but soon pared the gains to trade 307.60 points or 0.68 per cent lower at 45,246.36.

Pakistan violates ceasefire along Line of Control (LoC) in Mankote sector in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir

The results of the Jammu and Kashmir District Development Council (DDC) elections 2020 will be announced today. As many as 2,178 people contested the elections for 280 DDC seats. This is the first elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the Centre scrapped Article 370 and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. READ MORE