Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stones for the redevelopment of five Railway stations In Tamil Nadu including Chennai Egmore, Rameswaram, Madurai, Katpadi, and Kanyakumari on Thursday, in a step towards boosting infrastructure development, enhancing connectivity and giving an impetus to ease of living in the region. PM Modi will dedicate to the nation and lay the foundation stone of total 11 projects worth over Rs 31,500 crore in Chennai.

A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced separatist leader and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in the 2017 terror funding case. Special Judge Praveen Singh pronounced the verdict under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which will be concurrent and run till life. Malik has been accused of the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir, killing of Indian Air Force officers, promoting terrorism and insurgency in the Valley. Among those who reacted to Malik's sentencing was 'The Kashmir Files' director Vivek Agnihotri. Calling it a great judgement, Agnihotri said Malik's arrest is 'a major milestone in our campaign for #RightOfJustice.'

Yasin Malik terror funding case: Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik on Wednesday was sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2017 terror funding case by the NIA court. Reacting to Yasin Malik's sentencing, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it a black day for Indian democracy and its justice system. 

BJP leader Jitin Prasada took a dig at former Congress leader Kapil Sibal for quitting the party and filing his nomination for a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh as an independent, backed by the Samajwadi Party. In an apparent payback, Prasad tweeted, 'How's the 'prasad'!'. 

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Yasin Malik terror funding case: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has demanded the death penalty against Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik before a Delhi court. The leader of the banned militant separatist organisation -- Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) -- had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), in a terror funding case, court sources said.

Rahul Gandhi UK visit: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did not take permission from the foreign ministry before his visit to the UK, claimed sources. According to the rules, MPs are required to take political approval from the Ministry of External Affairs before travelling abroad. The approval has to be obtained by putting the information on the website at least three weeks before the trip.

Akhilesh Yadav-Keshav Prasad Maurya spat: Commotion ensued in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Wednesday after deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav got into an argument. A ruckus was caused thereafter, which led UP CM Yogi Adityanath to intervene and slam Yadav for the kind of language he used in the assembly. 

Bihar Caste-based Census: Amid reports of disquiet in ruling alliance partners in Bihar over the caste-based Census, sources have indicated that the two major ruling constituents of the NDA -- BJP and JD(U) have reached a consensus for the exercise that has become a focal point in the state's politics. 

Chinese visa scam news updates: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and others in the alleged scam pertaining to the issuance of visa to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister, officials said on Wednesday (May 25).

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that he has resigned from the party. Speaking to reporters in Lucknow after filing his nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, Sibal said that he is in the fray for Upper House as an independent candidate and that he enjoys the support of the Samajwadi Party.

Three Pakistani terrorists were killed by security forces in an encounter in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. One Jammu and Kashmir Police cop was also martyred in the gunbattle. 

A new petition has been filed in a Varanasi court seeking a ban on the entry of Muslims to the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. The petition, filed by the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh, was admitted by the court of civil judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar. The matter is likely to be taken up today. 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent interviews in the UK are once again being used by the BJP to mock the former Congress president. Senior leader and party's IT cell chief Amit Malviya has tweeted a clip from Rahul Gandhi's interview to say that the Congress scion should do proper homework before talking to the press.

SpiceJet said it faced a ransomware attack on Tuesday (May 24) night causing a delay in departure of its flights on Wednesday (May 25) morning.

A Delhi court is likely to pronounce on Wednesday its judgment on the quantum of punishment for convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), in a terror funding case.

In an unusual incident, 'sorry' was found written on the streets surrounding a school in Karnataka. Officials said the incident was reported from Bengaluru's Sunkadakatte. 

In yet another incident of finding diamonds in the fields, a woman from a Madhya Pradesh village has found a 2.08-carat diamond in a shallow mine. Officials on Wednesday said the diamond was found in the Panna district of the state. 

The government on Tuesday scrapped customs duty and agriculture infrastructure development cess on the import of crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil for 20 lakh metric tonnes each per year to ease local prices.

COVID-19 India News Updates: India recorded 2,124 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 17 deaths due to the infection in the past 24 hours. According to the data shared by the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday (May 25), the country saw a total of 1,977 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery rate at around 98.75 per cent and total recoveries data reached to 4,26,02,714.

Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra (SRJBTK) has said that the construction of the Ram Mandir, which began on August 5, 2020, in Ayodhya, is in full swing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the grand Hindu temple in Ayodhya. 

SBI Personal Loan: State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has announced the 'digital avatar' of its flagship personal loan product Xpress Credit on YONO. The public sector bank said that the new product -- Real Time Xpress Credit (RTXC) will allow salaried customers to avail personal loans up to Rs 35 lakhs without any paperwork. 

Assam flood news updates: The situation in Assam, where the pre-monsoon floods have affected large parts of the state for the past few days, continue to improve but the situation is still grim in Nagaon, Cachar and Morigaon districts. The water level in most parts of the state is receding and the number of flood-affected districts has also come down on Tuesday (May 24).

Eighty per cent of non-Muslims in Pakistan are employed with less salary, while around half of the posts reserved for the minorities in government departments are still vacant, a report has revealed. The data was seen in the report 'Unequal Citizens: Ending Systemic Discrimination against Minorities,' compiled by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) with support from the European Union (EU), Dawn reported.

Rajasthan is likely to plunge into a severe power crisis, the state's Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited CMD RK Sharma said on Tuesday. Sharma said he had met the state officials of Surguja in Chhattisgarh and had urged them to kick start the production of coal from Parsa East Kente basin phase 2 coal mine.

Caste-based census in Bihar: The Bihar government has decided to hold an all-party meeting on the issue of caste-based census on June 1 (Wednesday) in Patna.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi early on Wednesday arrived at the Air Force Station, Palam, Delhi after participating in the Quad Leaders' Summit as part of his two-day tour in Japan.

The government on Tuesday imposed restrictions on sugar exports from June 1, a move aimed at increasing the availability of the commodity in the domestic market and curbing price rise.

One person was shot dead near the historic Emar Mutt in front of Puri Jagannath temple on Tuesday (May 24) night.

As many as 19 children were killed after a gunman opened fire at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday. According to an official, the death toll also included three adults. The 18-year-old gunman was also reported killed following the attack. The attack comes 10 days after a gunman killed 10 shoppers and workers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in what authorities said was a racist attack.

Dozens of people including police personnel were injured as violence broke out in Andhra Pradesh's Amalapuram town on Tuesday during the protest by a group against the government's move to rename Konaseema district as Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district.

After finding water in an astronaut's helmet, NASA has suspended all, except the most urgent spacewalks, the agency officials have announced.

Petrol-Diesel price cut: Even as petrol and diesel prices were slashed by Rs 8.69 a litre and diesel by Rs 7.05 per litre following the government cutting excise duty on auto fuels to give relief to consumers battered by high fuel prices that has also pushed inflation to record high, the Congress on Sunday said that the step was a political gimmick and not relief to people, as it was like 'three steps forward and two steps back'.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers on Sunday began enforcing an order requiring all-female TV news anchors in the country to cover their faces while on-air. The move is part of a hard-line shift drawing condemnation from rights activists.

After Kerala and Rajasthan, Maharashtra has now reduced VAT on petrol by Rs 2.08 and diesel by Rs 1.44 per litre. This comes a day after Centre reduced excise duty on fuel. 

Excise Cut: India Inc, traders and exporters have welcomed the Centre's move to slash excise duty on auto fuels and urged states to follow suit to provide more relief to consumers. They said the price cut would lower inflation on account of lower cost of transportation. “CII welcomes the government's move to cut excise duty on fuel, which will help bring down inflation levels. The government's swift action shows its intent to bring down the burden on the common man, in addition to bringing down input cost for many sectors," CII President Sanjiv Bajaj stated.

BJP West Bengal vice-president and MP Arjun Singh on Sunday joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the presence of party's general secretary and Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his Delhi counterpart paid tributes to the martyrs of the Galwan Valley clash against the Chinese troops and the farmers who died during the anti-farm law stir last year, in Chandigarh on Sunday. 

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in Noida for creating nuisance after a video showing him standing on two moving SUVs on a city road went viral, police officials said on Sunday.

Having realised the 'power of Hindu vote' in elections in India after 2014, the Gyanvapi mosque controversy has put the opposition parties in a Catch 22 situation.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR against five members of an advisory panel of the West Bengal School Service Commission in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in recruitment to Group C posts in state government-aided schools, an official said on Sunday.

A portion of the newly constructed Meghalaya Legislative Assembly building collapsed but there was no reported injury, officials said on Sunday. The 70-tonne dome of the Rs 177.7 crore building constructed by a UP-based UPNRNNL collapsed at around 12:30 am last night, they said.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday claimed that political developments around his proposed Ayodhya visit were a ploy to "trap" his party workers into legal tangles and hence, he decided to defer his trip to the Uttar Pradesh city.

At least 1,000 live bombs were neutralised by the disposal squad which were found in the Hogla forest area of Bakcha in Purba Medinipur in West Bengal.

Azam Khan and Shivpal Yadav on Sunday skipped the party MLAs meeting called by party Chief Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the assembly session. Khan, who was recently released from Sitapur Jail, is in Rampur and could not attend the meeting due to health reasons, SP leaders said.

Ramban tunnel collapse news updates: The Centre has constituted a committee of 3 independent experts to investigate the reasons for recent collapse of a part of under-construction tunnel in Ramban on Jammu-Srinagar highway and suggest remedial measures.

With the Centre slashing the excise duty on petrol and diesel, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday (May 22) said it was the duty of not only Uttar Pradesh but also of other states to immediately announce a cut in Value-added tax (VAT) on fuel.

Amit Shah in Arunachal Pradesh: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as he said the Wayanad MP must take off his Italian glasses and look at the development work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pema Khandu in Arunachal Pradesh.

A day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut on excise duty on fuel prices, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram questioned the move and took a dig at the Centre. He wondered whether the states can afford to give up revenue from VAT on petrol and diesel unless the Centre devolves more funds or gives them more grants, likening their situation to being between “the devil and the deep sea”.