Breaking News, May 5 | LIVE UPDATES

Odisha recorded 18 more coronavirus cases on Thursday, while there was no new fatality for the third consecutive day, the health department said. There are 99 active COVID-19 cases now and 11 more patients have recuperated from the disease, according to a bulletin.

The daily positivity rate was 0.11 per cent and four children were among the newly infected, it said, adding that 15,933 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.

The state had logged 10 infections and zero death on Wednesday.

India and Australia underlined their commitment to counter-terrorism cooperation while condemning terrorism in all its forms, besides stressing the importance of bolstering international collaboration to combat terror.

During the 13th meeting of the India-Australia Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism on Wednesday that was held in-person in Canberra, Australia, both sides strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

They emphasized the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner. Both sides also condemned the use of terror proxies for cross-border terrorism.

A 22-year-old worker sustained burn injuries after sparks from a power line fell on him in Maharashtra's Thane city on Thursday, an official said.
The incident took place around 11.13 am at Chandanwadi locality, where work was underway to lay a gas pipeline, said Avinash Sawant, the chief of the regional disaster management cell.

Vinaykumar, a contract worker, was using a concrete breaker when a powerline got cut, causing sparks, he said.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday allowed extradited gangster Abu Salem, who is serving life imprisonment for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, to withdraw his petition seeking to declare his detention in India illegal. A bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul ordered that the petition, which also sought his repatriation to Portugal, is “dismissed as withdrawn”.

Salem's counsel said the issue is now pending before the Supreme Court and thus sought permission to withdraw the petition before the high court.

“Advocate (appearing for the petitioner) seeks leave to withdraw the writ petition in view of subsequent developments. Writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn,” said the bench also comprising Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, on Thursday flagged off a boat ambulance at a floating border outpost (BOP) at Haridaspur in the state.

After inaugurating the floating BOPs, Shah will also lay the foundation stone of the Maitri Sangrahalaya (museum) located at BOP Haridaspur.
The number of floating BOPs has been increased to enhance the surveillance in the inaccessible areas of Sunderbans of West Bengal.

Apart from this, the services of boat ambulance are also being commenced to provide medical assistance in this inaccessible area of Sundarbans from Saheb Khali (West Bengal) to Shamsher Nagar (Bihar).

Ace poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Thursday put paid to speculations of him floating a new political platform stating that he is set to embark on a 3000 km 'padyatra' that will start from Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in Bihar's Champaran on October 2.

He said he will launch a 'Jan Surraj' (Good Governance) campaign in the next three to four months into which he will rope in eminent personalities of Bihar who want to bring about a positive change in the state.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has informed the Delhi High Court that core biometric information collected by the authority under the Aadhaar Act shall not be shared with anyone for any reason whatsoever. UIDAI further said that it does not collect biometric information based on technology, stands, or procedure suitable for forensic purposes.

UIDAI, in its affidavit filed in Delhi HC, stated that core biometric information has been defined in Section 2(J) of the Aadhaar Act to mean fingerprint, iris scan, or such other biological attribute of an individual as may be specified by Regulations. 

"Therefore, there is a clear prohibition under the law against sharing or using core biometrics for any reason whatsoever."

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has reiterated that Uttar Pradesh has turned into a state which tops in "ease of committing crime and not business".

In a statement on Thursday, he again attacked the ruling BJP over what he described as a spurt in cases of sensational crime.

Listing a number of incidents of crime that have been taking place, the SP president said: "Criminals are having a free run in the state while the police are looking the other way."

A meeting regarding OBC reservation is underway at Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray's official residence in Mumbai.  

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, state ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Vijay Wadettiwar and other officials also present at the meeting.

If, during your travels in the Holy Land, you decide to take the next step with your Palestinian sweetheart, you should notify the Israeli military within 30 days. That's what it says on page 30 of a new 97-page policy released by COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank. The policy, set to take effect later this year, specifies that the "start of the relationship" is the engagement, the wedding or when you move in together.

The wide-ranging policy imposes new restrictions on foreigners who marry Palestinians or who come to the West Bank to work, volunteer, study or teach, further extending Israel's nearly 55-year military rule into nearly every corner of Palestinian life. 

Mobile internet services were suspended for 24 hours in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district on Thursday after unidentified masked men thrashed two people and set a bike on fire, an official said. The incident happened in the Karbala road area of Sanganer on Wednesday night, police said.

Two people were having their food when the unidentified masked men attacked them and also set a bike on fire, they said.

Based on a report submitted by Bhilwara District Collector Ashish Modi, the Ajmer divisional commissioner ordered the suspension of mobile Internet services from 4 am on Thursday till 4 am on Friday to maintain law and order. 

As a listed company, LIC will face more demanding disclosure requirements, resulting in increased transparency over its operations, and encouraging it to prioritize profitable underwriting and risk management, Moody's Investor Service said.

It will, in turn, boost its capacity to generate and grow capital internally.

"We see the arrival of external shareholders with experience of the insurance industry as a further key benefit of the IPO. We believe the presence of foreign stakeholders will bring particular benefits in the areas of capital adequacy, financial flexibility and governance standards, enhancing LIC's credit profile," Moody's said.

German luxury carmaker Audi on Thursday said it has commenced bookings for its flagship sedan, the new Audi A8 L in India.

With a combination of the 3-litre petrol powertrain, 48V mild-hybrid system and quattro all-wheel drive, the new Audi A8 L delivers exhilarating driving dynamics, the automaker said in a statement.

The Audi A8 L can be booked with an initial booking amount of Rs 10 lakh, it added.

A 70-year-old mentally challenged woman was allegedly abducted and raped in a village in Mirzapur area following which the accused was arrested, police said on Thursday. She was abducted and taken to a secluded place by a man on Tuesday where he allegedly raped her, Additional Superintendent of Police (rural) Sanjiv Bajpai said.

According to the police, the woman was found lying unconscious and bleeding in a field by her family members on Wednesday.

Five people were killed and four others injured when an auto-rickshaw and a mini truck collided head-on in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district on Thursday, police said. The deceased included a teenage girl, and two of the injured were in a serious condition, they said.

The accident took place around 3 am near Tedia bridge under Umraoganj police station limits, located 22 km from the district headquarters, Additional Superintendent of Police Amrit Meena told PTI.

The auto-rickshaw was heading towards the state capital Bhopal from Raisen when it collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction, he said.

Four occupants of the auto-rickshaw and a minor girl travelling in the truck died, the official said.

Pakistan has witnessed a 24 per cent increase in the number of militant attacks in April as compared to March 2022, according to data released by a think-tank. Militants carried out 34 attacks in April, killing 55 people, including 34 security forces personnel. Thirteen civilians and eight militants were also killed in these attacks, while 25 people -- 11 security personnel and 14 civilians -- were injured, Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said in a press release on Wednesday.

Militants carried out 26 attacks across Pakistan in March 2022 in which 115 people were killed and 288 others injured.

Four minors, including one boy and three girls, drowned in the Machagora Dam in Chhindwara district. According to police, the deceased were residents of the Punarvas colony and had gone to the dam to bathe.

A newlywed couple riding a bike was attacked with an iron rod on Wednesday resulting in the man being killed on the spot in Hyderabad, in what seems to be a case of honour killing, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place at LB Nagar in the city.

According to police, the deceased Billapuram Nagaraju and Syed Ashrin Sultana were collegemates and had got married in January this year. Sultana changed her name to Pallavi after marriage.

Four members of a family were killed after their car fell into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district, a senior state disaster management official said on Thursday. 

The four were returning to their home after attending a wedding function when the accident took place at 11.30 pm on Wednesday, state disaster management director Sudesh Mokhta said. 

Thirty five passengers of a bus had a narrow escape after the vehicle caught fire in Maharashtra's Nagpur city on Thursday, a fire official said.
The incident took place near the Reserve Bank square around 9.20 am when the bus, run by the city civic body, was going from Mor Bhawan to Khaparkheda area, Nagpur Municipal Corporation's chief fire officer Rajendra Uchake said.

The blaze started from the engine side, following which all the passengers quickly got down from the bus, he said. Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was doused, he said.

"No casualty was reported," the official said.

Automobile retail sales in India increased by 37 per cent in April on a low base of COVID-hit April last year, automobile dealers' body FADA said on Thursday.

Total sales across categories rose to 16,27,975 units in April, as compared to 11,87,771 units in the year-ago period.

On a year-on-year basis, all vehicle categories including passenger vehicles and two-wheelers were up as compared with April last year.

PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Delhi today from his visit to 3 European nations & immediately attend office. Later, he'll hold 7-8 meetings during the day & also chair an important review meeting for the preparedness of the monsoon season and heatwave: GoI Sources

Two people were killed and another injured after a shooting incident near a private university in California, local media reported citing police.

Investigators said the incident took place at around 2.15 a.m. on Wednesday In Riverside city's the 11000 block of Pierce Street near the La Sierra University, reports Xinhua news agency citing the local KABC-TV as saying.

At the site, police officers found two people with gunshot wounds, KABC-TV said.

Private companies in the US added 247,000 jobs in April, indicating a slower growth in a tight labour market, payroll data company Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported.

Earlier data from the Labor Department showed that US unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 per cent in March as the Omicron-fuelled Covid-19 surge faded, which was slightly above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5 per cent, Xinhua news agency quoted the ADP report as saying on Wednesday.

A total of 85 tombs, dating back to the period from the Old Kingdom of Egypt some 4,500 years ago until the Ptolemaic dynasty spanning from 305 BC to 30 BC, were unearthed in the southern province of Sohag, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said.

An Egyptian archaeological mission in the Gabal El Haridi region, located about 350 km south of the capital Cairo, found beside the mummies 30 death certificates showing the dead person's name, job and age and their parents' names, written in old Greek letters and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying in a statement.

Prominent political strategist, Prashant Kishor (PK) is to disclose his future plan and agenda on Thursday.

After rejecting the Congress offer to join the party, Kishor on Monday had announced to start 'Jan Suraaj' from Bihar. However, he has not disclosed the actual strategy that he wants to execute in his native state.

His 'Jan Suraaj' announcement has forced political pandits to analyse his future planning. Many of them believe that he wants to start a new party from Bihar. His 'Jan Suraaj' announcement has made the political pandits to analyse his future planning and many believe that he wants to start a political party from his home state, Bihar.

Police have arrested three persons and seized fake notes with a face value of Rs 25,000 from them in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said on Thursday. While some personnel from Mahatma Fule Chowk (MFC) police station in Kalyan town were patrolling on Tuesday night, they got a tip-off that some persons would come near a bus stand there to hand over the counterfeit currency notes to someone, a police spokesperson said in a release.

The police laid a trap and caught three people who came to the spot and seized from them fake notes with a face value of Rs 25,000 which were in the denominations of Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 200, he said.

Supply chain company Delhivery on Thursday fixed a price band of Rs 462-487 a share for its Rs 5,235-crore initial public offering (IPO), which will open for subscription on May 11. The three-day initial share will conclude on May 13 and the bidding for anchor investors will open on May 10, according to the company.

The size of the IPO has been cut to Rs 5,235 crore from Rs 7,460 crore planner earlier.

The public issue now comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 4,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) component of Rs 1,235 crore by existing shareholders.

Under the OFS, investors Carlyle Group  and SoftBank as well as Delhivery's co-founders will divest their shareholding in the logistics company.
CA Swift Investments, an entity of Carlyle Group, will sell shares to the tune of Rs 454 crore while SVF Doorbell (Cayman) Ltd, an arm of Softbank Group, will offload  shares worth Rs 365 crore.

The body of an app-cab driver with grave injury marks was recovered from the city’s Park Circus area in the early hours of Thursday, police said.
Two persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, they said.

The deceased has been identified as Shehenbaz Farhid, a resident of Ballygunge area under Karaya Police Station limits.

A patrolling team of Beniapukur Police Station found the man lying with serious injuries inside a vehicle parked outside the Park Circus Maidan, a senior police officer said.

It was a pleasant morning in Delhi on Thursday as the minimum temperature was recorded at 22.4 degrees Celsius, two notches below the average, on the back of hailstorms and rains in parts of the city the previous evening.

The weather office said between 8.30 am on Wednesday and 8.30 am on Thursday the Safdarjung observatory -- the city's base station -- recorded 1 mm rainfall. 

"There will be a partly cloudy sky on Thursday with a possibility of thunder and lightning. The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 39 degrees Celsius," an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. 

Relative humidity at 8.30 am on Thursday was 67 per cent, the weather office said. 

A shop selling electronic sound systems was gutted in a fire here in Maharashtra, but there was no report of any casualty, a fire official said. The blaze erupted around 8.40 pm on Wednesday in the shop located in Nagpur's Cotton Market, he said.

No one was injured, but the sound systems kept in the shop were destroyed in the blaze, the official said.

The rupee appreciated 29 paise to 76.11 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday amid weakening of the American currency in the overseas market. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 76.17 against the American dollar, then gained further ground to quote at 76.11, registering a rise of 29 paise from the last close.

On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 76.40 against the American currency.

France reiterated its commitment to support India’s bid for permanent membership in a reformed UN Security Council and New Delhi's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, according to a joint statement issued by the two countries after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.

India has been at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.

At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Russia moved to obstruct the flow of Western weapons to Ukraine by bombarding rail stations and other supply-line targets across the country while the European Union weighed whether to further punish Moscow with a ban on oil imports.

Heavy fighting also raged Wednesday at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol that represented the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined southern port city, according to the mayor. A Russian official denied that Moscow's troops were storming the plant, but the commander of the main Ukrainian military unit inside said Russian soldiers had pushed into the mill's territory.

Equity benchmarks bounced back in early trade on Thursday after falling sharply in the previous trade, with the Sensex rallying 651 points, following significant jump in US markets and buying in index major Infosys. The 30-share BSE benchmark was trading 650.9 points higher at 56,319.93. The NSE Nifty also jumped 185.65 points to 16,863.25.

From the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Infosys, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and M&M were the major gainers in early trade.

In contrast, Nestle and Titan were the laggards. Markets in Hong Kong were quoting higher.

A retired income tax officer and his wife were found dead in Ludhiana's posh Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar area with the police on Thursday suspecting it to be a case of murder. The alleged incident occurred on Wednesday night, they said.

The deceased were identified as Sukhdev Singh Lotey (67) and his wife Gurmeet Kaur (64). They were alone in the house when they were killed by an unidentified man with some sharp edged weapon, police said.

A neighbour saw a man scaling the wall of the victim's house. He then raised an alarm.

Mizoram reported 45 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising the tally to 2,27,645, a health department official said. The death toll remained at 697 as no new fatality was reported in the past 24 hours, he said. It had logged 44 fresh infections on Wednesday.

The state’s daily positivity rate stood at seven per cent.

Mizoram now has 408 active cases, while 2,26,540 people have recovered from the disease so far, the official said. The state has thus far tested more than 19.23 lakh samples for COVID-19.

Hong Kong on Thursday reopened beaches and pools in a relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, while China's capital Beijing began easing quarantine rules for arrivals from overseas.

Hong Kong had closed water sports venues amid an outbreak of the highly transmissible omicron variant but has been tailing off restrictions as new case numbers fall. Deaths from COVID-19 have fallen from a high of almost 300 per day in March to zero in recent days.

Restaurants are also allowed to seat up to eight customers to a table and masks will not be required during outdoor exercise.

Taking forward the "great" tradition of over 60 years of technical and scientific space cooperation, India and France have agreed on setting up a bilateral strategic dialogue to address the contemporary challenges that have arisen in space, in particular, maintaining its secure access.

"India and France have agreed on setting up a bilateral strategic dialogue on space issues," read a joint statement by the Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday after the talks between the two countries during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.

India has logged 3,275 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Thursday. With this, the active cases in the country now stand at 19,719, constituting 0.05 per cent of India's total COVID positive cases.

The Ministry, in a press release, informed that the weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.78 per cent, while the daily positivity rate is at 0.77 per cent.

As many as 55 deaths from the virus were also reported in the last 24 hours.

Lakhimpur Kheri will once again become the hotbed of controversy on Thursday when representatives of 25 farmer unions from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, along with Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, hold a key meeting in the district to discuss their "next move".

Farmers union members are also expected to meet local authorities seeking a speedy trial in the case.

Five labourers were rescued from a factory in Delhi's Narela Industrial area where fire was reported on Thursday, police said.

The national capital witnessed two fire incidents in separate places in the early hours.

According to the fire department the first incident was reported from the Badli area of North-West Delhi where a fire broke out in a factory.

Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy has compared India of today to a plane moving in reverse and claimed that it was "headed for a crash".
She was speaking on Wednesday at the launch of the book "Why do you fear my way so much?", a selection of poems and letters by jailed human rights activist G N Saibaba.

Roy said that from spearheading "truly revolutionary movements" in the 1960s for redistribution of wealth and land, the country's leaders were now seeking votes and winning elections by distributing "5 kg rice and 1 kg salt".

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai will chair a review meeting with departments and agencies concerned over the redevelopment of around 17,000 parks in the city.

Under a scheme, the government will provide Rs 2.55 lakh per acre to resident welfare associations and NGOs for the creation and maintenance of parks and gardens and decentralised sewage treatment plants.

"A survey is underway to identify unmaintained parks. Around 12,000 parks have been surveyed so far," an official said.

At least 20 people were detained following a clash between two communities in North East Delhi's Welcome area, police said on Thursday.

A senior police official said that extra force had to be deployed in the area to avoid any additional untoward incidents.

Under the ongoing drive against drugs, Haryana Police on Wednesday arrested two accused and seized over three quintals of 'ganja' hidden inside a well in district Nuh. The arrested accused have been identified as Ansar, a resident of village Golpuri, district Nuh and Mormal, a native of village Khilluka district Bharatpur (Rajasthan). A container vehicle was also seized from the accused, police said.

The police team got secret information that the arrested accused were engaged in the illegal trade of supplying ganja in a Rajasthan registration number container, they said.

Amid a spike in cases of COVID-19 in Delhi, north corporation has taken a slew of measures to contain the spread of infection, including setting up separate registration counters for suspected coronavirus patients at its health facilities, officials said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) also said it is "all set to provide one month's advance medicines to patients suffering from chronic diseases".

In view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the city, the corporation has stepped up its preparedness to control the spread of the virus.

Airbus said Wednesday that earnings in the first three months of 2022 rose to 1.22 billion euros (USD 1.28 billion), helped by an increase in aircraft deliveries as airlines recover from the worst of the pandemic.

Revenue rose 15% from a year earlier, to 12 billion euros (USD 12.645 billion). Airbus said it plans to speed up production of its A320 family of planes that compete with Boeing 737s to 75 per month by 2025.

California, which would have the world's fifth-largest economy if it was a country, on Wednesday became the first US state to formally begin examining how to broadly adapt to cryptocurrency and related innovations, following a path laid out by President Joe Biden in March.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order for state agencies to move in tandem with the federal government to craft regulations for digital currencies. It also calls for officials to explore incorporating broader blockchain computer coding into the government operations of the state where much of the world's technological innovation is born.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met French President Emmanuel Macron here and the two leaders discussed at length about bilateral as well as global issues and agreed on an ambitious agenda for the next phase of the India-France Strategic Partnership.

Modi, who arrived here from Denmark on the final leg of his three-nation European tour, on Wednesday night held extensive talks with Macron, who was re-elected to the top post over a week back.

Complaining that the West is "stuffing Ukraine with weapons," Russia bombarded railroad stations and other supply-line targets across the country, as the European Union moved to further punish Moscow for the war on Wednesday by proposing a ban on oil imports.

Heavy fighting also raged at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol that represented the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined southern port city, according to the mayor. But a Russian official denied Moscow's troops were storming the plant, as Ukrainian commanders claimed a day earlier.

US President Joe Biden has announced his intent to appoint Indian-American Richard Verma as a member of his Intelligence Advisory Board, the White House said. The President's Intelligence Advisory Board is an independent element within his Executive Office.

Verma is currently the general counsel and head of Global Public Policy for Mastercard. In this role, he oversees the company's law and policy functions in the United States and around the world.

"He previously served as the US Ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest US diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral ties," the White House said on Wednesday.

The US Embassy in Havana has resumed processing visas for Cubans, though on a limited basis, more than four years after stopping consular services on the island amid a hardening of relations. The resumption comes as the number of Cubans trying to emigrate illegally to United States surges.

A State Department official on Wednesday told The Associated Press that for the time being US officials in Havana will only process visa requests from Cubans who are the parents of US citizens, under a category known as IR-5, and that the Biden administration in the future will evaluate expanding the services to others.

Transportation officials in Mexico said they will effectively force airlines to use a new, more distant airport that was one of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's pet projects. López Obrador inaugurated the new Felipe Angeles airport, 27 miles (43 kilometres) north of Mexico City, in March.

But rail and road links to the new terminal have yet to be completed, and airlines have been loath to change flights from the still-operating inner city airport. Currently, only about a half-dozen flights per day use the new terminal.

But Transportation and Infrastructure Secretary Rogelio Jimenez Pons told local media on Wednesday that the government has decided to reduce the number of flights allowed to land at the old airport by 20 per cent.

Two Indian-American technocrats, Krishna Kumar Edathil from Texas and Nikhil Deshpande from Georgia, have made it to the coveted StateScoop Top 50 2022 list.

The StateScoop 50 Awards annually honour the best and brightest who make state government more efficient and effective.

While Edathil has been named State IT Leader of the Year, Deshpande has been declared the State Leadership of the Year, according to an announcement made this week.

Firefighters slowed the advance of the largest wildfire in the US as heavy winds relented, while President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to remote stretches of northern New Mexico devastated by the blaze.

US Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez announced the presidential disaster declaration during an evening briefing by the US Forest Service on Wednesday about efforts to contain the fire, which has fanned out across 250 square miles (647 square kilometres) of high alpine forest and grasslands at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains.

Rescuers in central China have pulled a woman alive from the rubble of a building that partially collapsed almost six days earlier, state media reported Thursday. The unidentified woman is the 10th survivor of the disaster in the city of Changsha, in which at least five people have died and an unknown number, possibly dozens, are still missing.

She was rescued shortly after midnight on Thursday, about 132 hours after the rear of the six-storey building suddenly caved in on April 29, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

In a major civil administration reshuffle, the Jammu and Kashmir government ordered transfers and postings of 33 bureaucrats, including 20 IAS officers, officials said.

According to the order issued late on Wednesday night, the divisional commissioner of Jammu and six deputy commissioners (DCs) are among those transferred with immediate effect.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's two-day visit to West Bengal from Thursday will start off with a stop by at the South Bengal Frontier of the Border Security Force (BSF). According to officials, he will inaugurate six modern floating Border Out-Posts and a boat ambulance stationed in the Sunderban waters.

After inaugurating the floating BOPs, Union Cooperation Minister Shah will also lay the foundation stone of the Maitri Sangrahalaya (Museum) located at BOP Haridaspur.

The number of floating BOPs has been increased to enhance the surveillance in the inaccessible areas of Sunderbans of West Bengal.

A total of 150 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Party workers were arrested in Nashik district of Maharashtra for creating "communal tension" in the district, informed local police officials.

The arrests are part of 'Preventive actions' undertaken by the state police to maintain a law and order situation amid MNS chief Raj Thackeray's appeal to play Hanuman Chalisa on a loudspeaker outside mosques.

The curfew that was imposed in Rajasthan's Jodhpur following incidents of violence in the district has been extended till May 6, as per an order issued by the District Police Commissioner.

"The curfew imposed in Jodhpur Commissionerate area on May 3 has been extended till May 6...Raikabagh Palace Bus Stand and Raikabagh Railway Station have been excluded from the curfew," read the order.

The students and teachers appearing for the examination have been exempted from the curfew. Also, personnel engaged in medical services, bank officials, Judicial officers and media personnel are exempted from the curfew.

"Newspaper hawkers will also be allowed to distribute the newspapers," the order added.

Secretary of State Antony J Blinken tested positive for COVID-19. The Secretary has not seen President Biden in person for several days & the President is not considered a close contact according to guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Concluding his three-day jam-packed visit to Europe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (local time), departed for India after his short stay in Paris during which he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.

In France, the Prime Minister held talks with the newly re-elected French President Emmanuel Macron, discussing a range of bilateral issues including defence, space, civil nuclear cooperation and people-to-people linkages, as well as regional and global issues.

"My visit to France was brief but a very fruitful one. President @EmmanuelMacron and I got the opportunity to discuss various subjects. I thank him and the French Government for the warm hospitality," the Prime Minister tweeted before his departure.

Emphasizing the strong strategic and defence partnership between India and France, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Wednesday (local time) said that the defence cooperation between the two countries is in line with "our own domestic policy of Atmanirbharta (self-reliance)".

The Foreign Secretary made the remarks while addressing a press briefing at the conclusion of the bilateral and delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.