LIVE news updates: IB issues alert to UP police after IED blast in Gadchiroli

Hearing-impaired student Lavanya Balakrishnan is the CBSE Class 12 topper in the persons with disabilities category.

With 97.3 per cent marks, the Gurgaon girl wants to pursue a career in designing.

A student of the Heritage School here, Balakrishnan has scored a perfect 100 in political science.

"I love the subject but I want to pursue a career in designing. I always made it a point to not study beyond six hours a day but I adopted the policy throughout the year rather than just struggling before the exams," she said.

WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange on Thursday began his legal fight against being extradited to the US from the UK to face charges of allegedly leaking American government secrets.

The 47-year-old, who appeared by video link at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London a day after he was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching bail conditions, told Judge Michael Snow he did not consent to being extradited to the US.

"I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people," he said.

Nepal health authorities on Thursday confirmed the first death related to avian flu in the country.

A 21-year-old man died due to H5N1 influenza at Kavre district, situated 75 km east of Kathmandu, Health Ministry spokesperson Mahendra Shrestha said. The man, who was admitted to a hospital for treatment of influenza, died on March 29, he said.

After doctors in Nepal failed to confirm the type of his influenza virus, samples were sent to a laboratory in Japan.

"Tests from the Japanese laboratory confirmed that the person was infected with (avian) influenza A (H5N1)," Shrestha said.

Intelligence Bureau (IB) has issued an alert for Chandauli, Mirzapur & Sonbhadra areas of UP, after the IED blast attack by Naxals in Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), on Wednesday. The alert has been issued to UP police.

The Meghalaya government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the families of the victims, who were trapped inside a coal mine in December and are untraced till now, have consented to call off search operations, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said on Thursday.

On the morning of December 13, a group of 16 miners went missing after water from Lytein river gushed into an illegal rat-hole coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills district in the state.

Only two bodies have been retrieved so far in the five-month-long search operation by teams of various agencies, including the NDRF, the Indian Navy and the Army.

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Thursday carried out raids at premises linked to an islamic outfit in Tamil Nadu and neigbouring Karaikal in connection with the murder of a PMK functionary in Thanjavur district in February, police said.

V Ramalingam was allegedly killed after he questioned some people about religious conversion in the area.

The NIA team also conducted inquiries with members of the outfit here as part of the investigation into the murder of the PMK activist by a gang near Kumbakonam.

Wreath laying ceremony of the security personnel who lost their lives in the IED blast attack by Naxals in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, on Wednesday

A Naxal commander, carrying a cash reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, police said.

The face-off took place in the forest under Kirandul police station area when a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and District Force (DF) was out on a search operation in the morning, Director General (Anti-Naxal Operations) Girdhari Nayak said.

A day after 15 policemen and a civilian were killed in a Naxal attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, the major markets and commercial establishments in that district remained shut on Thursday to pay tributes to the martyrs and to express solidarity with their families.

The policemen were killed on Wednesday after Naxals blew up their vehicle in Gadchiroli district. The IED blast, whose impact left a large crater on the road, had come hours after the ultras torched 27 vehicles belonging to a road construction company.

Shootout at Central Force base in Howrah. Jawans fire at each other in Howrah. 1 jawan dead, 2 others injured in the shootout. The accused jawan fired 13 rounds.

The change of guard ceremony on the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan will be temporarily discontinued on Sundays due to extreme weather conditions, according to an official statement issued on Thursday.

The ceremony, however, will continue on every Saturday at its original timings from 10 am to 10.40 am (November 15 to March 14) and from 8 am to 8.40 am (March 15 to November 14), it said.

Hansika Shukla says 'She stayed away from social media; aspires to join IFS'

CBSE: Top performing region is Trivandrum with pass percentage of 98.2%, in Chennai region the pass percentage is 92.93% and in Delhi region the pass percentage is 91.87%

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced Class 12 results on Thursday, a senior official said.

The Class 12 exam began on February 16, earlier than previous years. The results, which is usually announced by the third week of May, is also being announced earlier than scheduled.

Around 13 lakh students appeared for the Class 12 examination conducted by the CBSE

Railways cancel 81 trains and diverted two more in view of Cyclone Fani, which is likely to affect 19 districts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal

Airport Authority of India has issued an alert to all coastal airports to ensured that all precautions and SOPs are put in place immediately, in the view of Cyclone Fani.

A massive operation was launched in Odisha on Thursday to evacuate over eight lakh people from low-lying coastal areas as the extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Fani' moved closer to the eastern coast, officials said.

As per the latest bulletin of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Fani lay centred over West Central Bay of Bengal about 430 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha, 225 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 650 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal.

It is likely to move north-northeastwards and cross the Odisha coast near Puri on May 3 evening with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph and gusting up to 200 kmph, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said.

Two more special trains will start from Puri at 3 pm & 6 pm today for Howrah. Stoppages- Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendujhar road, Bhadrak, Balasore & Kharagpur.

Pakistan violates ceasefire in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir by firing heavy mortars on Indian positions, Indian Army retaliating.

Rain lashes Podugupadu village in coastal district of Srikakulam. It is one of the four districts in the state (other three are East, Godavari, Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram) expected to be affected by Cyclone Fani.

Extremely Severe Fani Cyclone about 450 km south-southwest of Puri at 0530 hrs IST of 02nd May 2019. It is expected to cross Odisha coast around Puri by afternoon of 3rd May.

The benchmark BSE Sensex started on a weak note Thursday tracking negative cues from global equities after the US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged.

After falling over 100 points in early trade, the 30-share index recovered lost ground and was trading marginally lower at 39,006.33. The NSE Nifty too was trading 14.65 points down at 11,733.50.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE bourse closed with 0.09 per cent or 35.78 points loss at 39,031.55, while the NSE Nifty ended 0.06 per cent or 6.50 points lower at 11,748.15.

Tourists advised to leave coastal Odisha towns by Thursday. Indian Railways to run a special train at 12 pm

The rupee appreciated by 9 paise to 69.47 against the US dollar in early trade Thursday driven by weakening of the greenback in overseas markets and sustained foreign fund inflows.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a weak note at 69.60, but gathered momentum and rose to a high of 69.47 against the US dollar, showing 9 paise gain over its previous closing.

The local unit, however, pared some gains and was quoted at 69.54 against the American currency at 0951 hrs.

The rupee had settled at 69.56 against the US dollar on Tuesday.

The designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia, the White House has said.

The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda on Wednesday announced the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda.

The JeM has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers and led to a spike in military tensions between India and Pakistan.

A government school teacher, who was missing since Monday, has been found dead in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said.

The deceased, Aslam, who was a teacher in a government primary school in Ghaziabad district, had gone to pay Rs 2 lakh to an agency for buying a tractor, according to a complaint by his family.

Police suspect that Aslam was kidnapped by miscreants and, after looting the cash, he was killed and the body dumped on the Ganga Canal road near Buwarada village in Khatauli area, a police officer said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is saying right things and trying to make some changes in the country, but his military leadership too needs to take right decisions and right steps, the Trump Administration said Wednesday hours after the UN Security Council designated Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

A portion of one of the pillars of the historic monument Charminar in Hyderabad, got damaged yesterday. No injuries reported.

Clashes broke out between opposition supporters and Venezuela's armed forces in the capital Caracas on Wednesday during May Day protests with opposition leader Juan Guaido attempting to rally demonstrators against President Nicolas Maduro.

National Guard troops fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters attempting to block a highway close to the air base in eastern Caracas where Guaido had tried on Tuesday to spark a military uprising against Maduro.

A second day of confrontations between opposition supporters and Maduro's security services came as the United States said it was prepared to take military action, if necessary, to stem the crisis in the South American nation.

“Restriction on civilian movement between Srinagar and Baramulla on NH-44 will be completely lifted from Thursday. The restrictions would continue between Srinagar and Udhampur on NH-44 as earlier. A complete review of restrictions on the NH would be done subsequently,” said Jammu and Kashmir government

Naxals torch four vehicles engaged in road construction work in Barachatti, Gaya in Bihar.