LIVE news updates: Axe all videos on Pollachi horror from Internet: HC 

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday told the Central government to remove all the videos related to the Pollachi serial sexual assaults from the Internet.

On a PIL filed by an Ilamuhil from Trichy, Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar also directed the Tamil Nadu government to issue a fresh government order transferring the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The earlier order had revealed the name of the victim

Armed police in New Zealand swarmed central Christchurch on Friday amid a shooting at a mosque in the South Island city.

"A serious and evolving situation is occurring in Christchurch with an active shooter," police said in a statement.

"Police are responding with its full capability to manage the situation, but the risk environment remains extremely high." Local media said there were multiple casualties at one mosque and said another had been evacuated, and there were reports that members of the Bangladesh cricket team were also present at one site.

Police commissioner Mike Bush said all schools in the city had been placed in lockdown in response to "a serious ongoing firearms incident".

"Police urge anyone in central Christchurch to stay off the streets and report any suspicious behaviour," he said in a statement.

Bangladesh's cricket team escaped unscathed after a shooting at a mosque in central Christchurch, an official told AFP on Friday.

Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Jalal Yunus said most of the team were bussed to the mosque and were about to go inside when the incident happened.

"They are safe. But they are mentally shocked. We have asked the team to stay confined in the hotel," he told AFP.

Player Tamim Iqbal tweeted that it was a "frightening experience" and that there were "active shooters".

"Entire team got saved from active shooters!!!" tweeted Tamim Iqbal. "Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers." Local media said there were multiple casualties at one mosque and that another had been evacuated

Multiple people were killed and several injured on Friday when a gunman opened fire at a crowded mosque during afternoon prayers in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand media reported.

Local media reported up to six people were dead, and the South Island city was placed in lockdown as police hunted for an "active shooter".

"A serious and evolving situation is occurring in Christchurch with an active shooter," police said in a statement.

Several people were reported dead when a gunman opened fire at a crowded mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, during afternoon prayers on Friday.

Local media reported up to six people were dead and the South Island city was placed in lockdown as police hunted for an "active shooter." "A serious and evolving situation is occurring in Christchurch with an active shooter," police said in a statement.

Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand addressed the media on the shooting. She said that this is one of the darkest days for the country. It was an unprecedented act of violence. Police has apprehended a person, but I don't have further details of him yet. They have chosen to make New Zealand their home and it is their home. They are us. The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not.

There are reports of a second shooting in another mosque in the city, according to the New Zealand media, The Associated Press reported.

One suspect is in custody but police warned they are still tracing an active shooter. Police commissioner Mike Bush said: “Close your doors until you hear from us again,” reported The Guardian.

Police have warned people to avoid mosques anywhere in New Zealand following two shootings with multiple fatalities at two mosques in Christchurch.

Test match between Bangladesh and New Zealand at Hagley Oval scheduled to begin tomorrow has been cancelled after shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand

The police commissioner Mike Bush addressed the media, saying that the police has arrested four people, including a woman.

Bush also said that there were explosives attached to the vehicles that the police stopped to apprehend the four people. He further said that people should not consider the threat to be over yet, there were a number of IEDs attached to vehicles that we stopped.

The New Zealand police, soon after the commissioner’s briefing, said that the lockdown on schools has been lifted throughout Christchurch. It said that there is a large number of police present in the city.

New Zealand police on Friday lifted a lockdown put in place after deadly armed assaults on two Christchurch mosques, allowing frantic parents to pick up their children.

"Police can now confirm the lock down of schools throughout Christchurch has been lifted," New Zealand Police said in a statement.

New Zealand police warned against sharing footage relating to a deadly shooting in Christchurch Friday, after a video online showed a gunman filming himself firing at worshippers inside a mosque.

"Police are aware there is extremely distressing footage relating to the incident in Christchurch circulating online," New Zealand police said in a Twitter post.

"We would strongly urge that the link not be shared. We are working to have any footage removed." AFP analysed a copy of a Facebook Live video that shows a clean-shaven, Caucasian man with short hair driving to a mosque, then shooting as he enters the building.

Twitter has taken down the account of the suspect involved with the shooting, Bloomberg reported.

The gunman who killed numerous worshippers in a New Zealand mosque on Friday was a right-wing extremist with Australian citizenship, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Morrison said the shooting in Christchurch was carried out by "an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist" who was an Australian-born citizen.

He declined to provide further details, saying the investigation was being led by New Zealand authorities.

Forty people were killed and 20 more were seriously injured in armed assaults on two Christchurch mosques Friday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

"It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack," she said. "From what we know, it does appear to have been well planned." "Two explosive devices attached to suspect vehicles have now been found and they have been disarmed," she added.

The Supreme on Friday sought the CBI's response on a plea of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav seeking bail in three cases related to the multi-crore fodder scam.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respond in two weeks on Yadav's plea challenging the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court rejecting bail to him in these cases.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush will speak to media at 9pm (1:30 pm IST) on Friday to provide an update on the serious firearms incident in Christchurch. Media are asked to gather at the Royal Society, Turnbull Street, Thorndon, Wellington.

Aviation regulators worldwide laid down a stark challenge for Boeing to prove that its grounded 737 Max jets are safe to fly amid suspicions that faulty software might have contributed to two crashes that killed 346 people in less than six months.

In a key step toward unearthing the cause of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, flight recorders from the shattered plane arrived on Thursday in France for analysis, although the agency in charge of the review said it was unclear whether the data could be retrieved.

ED moves Delhi’s Patiala High Court to quiz separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Shah, others in Tihar in terror-funding case.

The plan was to offer the Friday namaaz and then head for practice. But the Bangladesh players ended up praying for their own lives as they narrowly escaped a terror attack inside a mosque close to the Hagley Oval ground in New Zealand's Christchurch.

The team bus was barely metres away from the scene of the carnage when the players first heard gunshots. Moments later they saw a woman collapse. Some of the players wanted to help the distressed woman, but just then they saw a horde of petrified worshippers pouring out of the mosque, some of them covered in blood.

Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan blamed the increasing terror attacks on Islamophobia post the 9/11 where Islam and 1.3 bn Muslims have collectively been blamed for any act of terror by a Muslim in a tweet. He offered his prayers to the victims and their families.

One person, a male in his late 20s, has been charged with murder. He will appear in the Christchurch Court on Saturday morning, New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush told media.

We have recovered a number of firearms from both of the scenes, Linwood Avenue and Deans Avenue, he added.

With an Australia-born man emerging as the prime suspect in one of the two terror attacks in New Zealand, Australian Prime Minister on Friday said he cannot understand how anyone who would engage in such hate and violence can be called a "human".

At least 49 worshippers were killed in attacks on the Al Noor Mosque in central Christchurch and the Linwood Mosque in the city's outer suburb, in what appeared to be the worst attack against Muslims in a western country.

Witnesses said victims being shot at close range, with women and children believed to be among those killed. The gunman at one mosque was an Australian-born citizen, Morrison said in Sydney, describing him as "an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist".

National carrier Air New Zealand has canceled at least 17 flights in and out of Christchurch, saying it couldn't screen customers and their baggage following deadly shootings at two mosques.

The airline said some smaller planes travelling on regional routes were canceled while larger jet planes would continue landing and taking off due to security screening processes already in place.

One unnamed survivor who had blood on his clothes said he saw the gunman shoot a man in the chest at the Al Noor Mosque. The witness said that the shooting there lasted for 20 minutes.

"I was thinking he must run out of bullets... What I did was basically waiting and praying, God please, let this guy run out of bullets," the witness told broadcaster TVNZ.

Ramzan Ali, from Christchurch, told the New Zealand Herald that fellow Muslims were gunned down next to him as he dived out of the window of the Al Noor Mosque.

"I saw people running for all the doors. To get 300 people out of the doorways was not easy, out of two doorways, because he (the gunman) entered through the main door and there were two more doors on the sides."

Ali said he dived behind a bench, although his legs were visible. "He (the gunman) just started shooting 'Bang, bang, bang'."

Ali then managed to dive through an already-broken window and then into Hagley Park. "I was the last person to get out of the mosque alive," he said. "I could say I was blessed. I was lucky. Allah was looking out for me."

However, his brother Ashraf wasn't lucky enough as he was left behind in the mosque and was missing.

Mohan Ibrahim was also with around 400 people who were praying inside Al Noor Mosque when the shooting began.

"I didn't get a glimpse of the gunman as I was in the next room, but all of a sudden we heard the shots being fired and people just started running for their lives. I'm still in shock.

"A lot of people have been killed and many are injured. I saw a girl dead in the middle of the road," Ibrahim said through tears.

Sophie Nears, 19, told the Herald her friend had called her screaming that he had been shot in the leg and he was hysterical.

"He just hung up and I haven't been able to get back in contact with him. He was screaming that heaps of people were dead and then the line just cut out."

A 14-year-old high school student in Christchurch said that his uncle was one of the people who got shot. After seeing people falling down, he just ran as fast as he could, all the way to the nearby Hagley Park.

"The gunshots sounded like pop, pop, pop ... I heard over 50," the boy said. About 110 rounds of shots were fired reports said.

Another man who survived by hiding said people broke through windows to escape.

At the second mosque, Linwood Masjid, survivors said they saw a gunman in a black motorcycle helmet open fire on around 100 people praying inside.

Witness Syed Ahmed told stuff.co.nz the man had been "shouting something" during the shooting.

Pakistan has "surreptitiously usurped" lands belonging to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in the name of developing a corridor for the convenience of pilgrims and objected to most of the Indian proposals for the project, reflecting its "double-speak", officials said on Friday.

The Indian delegation, which attended the first India-Pakistan meeting on Thursday to finalise the modalities for the proposed corridor linking Gurdaspur in Punjab with the Sikh shrine in Pakistan's Kartarpur, strongly protested against the "rampant encroachment" on the lands belonging to the holy Sikh shrine in utter disregard to the sentiments of devotees of Guru Nanak Dev in India.

A final notice has been issued by church authorities to the nun who took part in a protest against rape accused Franco Mullakal, former Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese, asking her to leave her congregation.

In its final notice, the Franciscan Clarist Congregation accused Sister Lucy Kalapura, belonging to its St Mary's province at Mananthavady, of leading a life which was against the "principles of religious life" and the rule of the congregation.

Kalapura told media persons on Friday that the church authorities have given the notice asking her either to leave the congregation or to face ouster.

At least three Bangladeshis were killed and seven others injured in New Zealand's worst terror attacks on Friday that claimed 49 lives, Bangladeshi media reported.

At least 49 worshippers were killed and 20 others injured in attacks on the Al Noor Mosque in central Christchurch and the Linwood Mosque in the city's outer suburb. The gunman at one mosque was an Australian-born citizen and has been described as an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist.

It was not immediately clear how many attackers were involved, but New Zealand police said three men had been taken into custody.

The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold a Meghalaya High Court order holding the Editor of The Shillong Times, Patricia Mukhim, and publisher Shobha Chaudhuri guilty of contempt and fining them ₹2 lakh each.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice on their plea challenging the High Court order.

The High Court had said that in the event of failure to pay the fine, the two would undergo simple imprisonment of six months and the publication of the newspaper would be banned.

Khurshid Jahangir, brother of Ahmed Jahangir who was injured in New Zealand Shooting said, “My brother was injured and is now recovering in a hospital. He is currently undergoing surgery. We have seen in the video he has been shot in the chest. We're trying to reach the Embassy.”

Indian High Commision in New Zealand put out helpline numbers that any Indians needing assistance could use to get in touch with them.

“We are shocked to hear about the shooting in Christchurch Any Indians needing assistance should contact us at 021803899 or 021850033.”

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, MP Sanjay Singh and several Aam Aadmi Party MLAs protested outside the office of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to denounce "atrocities" by Delhi Police.

The sit-in came hours after an AAP delegation led by Sisodia and Sanjay Singh met CEC Sunil Arora alleging that the police were harassing employees of a call centre hired by the party.

Sisodia later returned to the site after police allegedly continued its raid against the call centre and tweeted that he would remain standing outside Arora's office until the latter again met him.

Expressing his disappointment over Pakistan's response to various issues raised by India during the first meeting on the Kartarpur Corridor project, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday urged Islamabad to be more "amenable and responsive" to India's demands keeping in view the interests of devotees seeking to visit the historic Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara across the border.

In a statement issued, the Chief Minister said: "Islamabad's response to India's demands was totally inadequate and the neighbouring country needed to reconsider its stand if the Corridor is to serve its true purpose, in the spirit in which it was decided to be opened."

The State Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (SDRI) of Rajasthan has detected tax evasion of around Rs 3.25 crore in the sale of complimentary Indian Premier League match tickets worth Rs 11.62 crore, an official said.

He said the SDRI has recommended the Commercial Tax Department to recover Rs 7 crore, including taxes evaded, penalty and interest in the case.

The auction of Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket players also come under the purview of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a detailed investigation has been recommended to recover the taxes, the official said.

Shatrughan Sinha Friday hinted he would not be working under Narendra Modi anymore, tweeting an Urdu verse that implied the Prime Minister may not have dearth of admirers but the dissident BJP leader would not be one of them.

Sinha has on multiple occasions expressed his unhappiness with the Prime Minister and the BJP leadership and his Friday tweet made it clear he might soon quit the party he has been associated with nearly two decades now.

Though he did not mention Prime Minister Modi in his tweets, the wordings made it clear who he was referring too. In his tweets, Sinha often refers to the Prime Minister as "sir".

A day after a portion of the footbridge outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus crashed down, a preliminary inquiry has blamed the structural consultants of negligence and recommended police action against them, here on Friday, according to officials.

"There is a prima facie reason to believe that the structural audit has been conducted in an irresponsible and negligent manner. This tragedy could have been avoided if the structural audit had been done diligently," said the probe report, naming Prof. D. D. Desai's Associated Engineering Consultants & Analysts Pvt. Ltd

China and UN Environment will jointly hold the World Environment Day on air pollution, it was announced on Friday.

Head of the Chinese delegation Zhao Yingmin, who is the Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment, and UN Environment acting head Joyce Msuya announced here that China would host the World Environment Day on June 5 with air pollution as its theme.

Scotland Yard on Friday said that officers will be undertaking extra patrols around mosques in the UK in the wake of the terror attacks on New Zealand mosques in which 49 people have been killed.

The Metropolitan Police is monitoring the situation since the mass shootings at Christchurch and remained on stand-by to offer support to its counterparts in New Zealand, Scotland Yard's Indian-origin National Policing Lead for Counter-Terrorism Neil Basu said