Air pollution woes have quadrupled for Delhi, as the state suffered the highest per-capita economic loss due to air pollution last year, a study in the peer-reviewed medical journal Lancet suggests.

For years, northern India -- especially New Delhi -- has been battling critical levels of air pollution, which have remained consistently in the hazardous mark, for many days at a stretch, during winters.

In a tragic news, at least two people have died while 15 fell ill due to gas leakage at Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) plant at Phoolpur fell

The employees who fell ill have been admitted to the hospital.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to not sign an $892 billion coronavirus relief bill that includes desperately needed money for individual Americans, saying it should be amended to increase the amount in the stimulus checks.

US government operations are being funded on a temporary basis through Dec. 28, waiting for the $1.4 trillion in federal spending for fiscal 2021 that is also part of the bill.

Starting from next year in the country, the price of LPG Cylinder may be changed every week. Currently, these prices are fixed on a monthly basis but in view of the daily fluctuations in the prices of petroleum products, oil companies are now planning to change the prices on a weekly basis.

It may be noted that the prices of petrol and diesel are fixed every day due to which, petroleum companies easily adjust any change in global crude prices.

As the ongoing farmers protest on the borders of National Capital Region of Delhi enter their 28th day, the farmer unions on Tuesday (December 22) decided that they will take a call on Central government’s letter on Wednesday (December 23).

32 farmer unions from Punjab held a meeting and discussed the next course of action. A meeting of farmer leaders from across India would be held on Wednesday where a decision on the government’s offer will be taken, said farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu said during a media briefing at Delhi’s Singhu Border.

The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi has plunged into the severe category with a count of 404 in the early hours of Wednesday. Noida is even worse with the PM 10 count at 582 and PM 2.5 count of 511, much higher than Delhi.

The PM 10 count is at 435 in the severe category and is only expected to deteriorate in the coming days of the week. It will cross the 500-mark during the day and worsen in the following couple of days, going up to the 522-mark.

Bhutan will go in lockdown for seven days starting from Wednesday amid rising case of Covid-19 cases, announced Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering.

In a statement, Tshering announced that a nationwide lockdown will be enforced for seven days, starting December 23, adding that the lockdown will enable the government to control the spread of the disease and also discern the extent of transmission in the communities.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc told Reuters on Tuesday its COVID-19 vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant, adding that studies were under way to fully probe the impact of the mutation.

AZD1222 (AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate) contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein, and the changes to the genetic code seen in this new viral strain do not appear to change the structure of the spike protein, an AstraZeneca representative said in an email.

A new variant of Sars-Cov-2 has been found in the United Kingdom and is reportedly "out of control", an announcement that set off alarm bells around Europe and elsewhere. Many members of the European Union suspended travel to and from Britain and imposed harsher quarantine rules.

The new variant is likely to cause 60 to 70 per cent more infections than the original strain. With abundant precaution India has temporarily suspended flights to and from UK till the end of the year. The Union government is closely following the development and advised people not to panic.

Shares of SpiceJet slipped 10 per cent to hit an intra-day low of Rs 82.35 on the BSE in the early morning trade on Tuesday, falling 19 per cent in the past two trading days, after India suspended flights to and from the UK.

India has suspended all flights from the UK from Tuesday midnight (December 22) till December 31 to prevent the new aggressive strain of the novel coronavirus from entering the country. This may lead to lower traffic recovery.

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