The first two special flights that will operate from Thursday to evacuate Indians stranded in the UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic will begin with applicants from Kerala, who formed the majority of the expatriates who have registered to be repatriated from here, Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor has said.

 Congratulatory messages have been pouring in for three photojournalists from Jammu and Kashmir who have won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography for their work during the shutdown in the region following abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.

The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to entertain a plea seeking direction to the Centre to ensure compliance with the MHA order directing landlords to neither ask students and labourers to vacate the premises nor to seek rent for a month during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Engineering entrance examination JEE will be held from July 18-23, while medical entrance exam NEET will be conducted on July 26, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced on Tuesday.

The Central government is likely to operate 64 flights from May 7 to 13 to bring home around 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad because of the coronavirus lockdown, said senior government officials on Tuesday.

A floor of the Shastri Bhavan, a government building that houses several ministries, was on Tuesday partially sealed after a law ministry official tested positive for coronavirus.

Petrol price in the national capital was hiked by Rs 1.67 a litre on Tuesday and diesel by a steep Rs 7.10 per litre after the Delhi government raised local sales tax or value-added tax (VAT) on the two fuels.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,568 and the number of cases climbed to 46,433 in the country on Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry said.