LIVE updates: 16 killed, 36 injured in fire in Tamil Nadu cracker factory

Fire in the factory broke out when some chemicals were being mixed to produce firecrackers. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

11:57 PM

No reports of damage in Punjab due to earthquake: CM

11:56 PM

Strong tremors felt in Punjab following 6.3 magnitude quake in Tajikistan

11:03 PM

Earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the Richter scale hits Tajikistan

An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the Richter scale hit Tajikistan at 10:31pm today: National Centre for Seismology, according to ANI

10:50 PM

Earthquake of magnitude 6.1 jolts Amritsar

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale hit Amritsar, Punjab at 10:34pm today: National Centre for Seismology, according to ANI

10:40 PM

Earthquake tremors felt in Delhi and Jammu

10:39 PM

Uttarakhand disaster: 'Temporary lake' triggers concern, rescue workers battle odds

Experts were trying Friday to determine if a temporary lake formed upstream by an avalanche could breach its banks and threaten the rescue work at the sludge-choked Tapovan tunnel, where 25-30 people are feared trapped, according to PTI.

The confirmed death toll in Sunday's flash flood in the Alaknanda river system in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district climbed to 38 after the recovery of two more bodies and 166 people still remain missing.

10:29 PM

Tamil Nadu fire: Death toll rises to 16, 33 people hospitalised

Death toll rises to 16 in the fire at a firecracker factory in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu. 33 people admitted at the hospital, according to ANI.

10:00 PM

Punjab's people should give AAP chance to implement Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal model: Sisodia

Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday urged the people of Punjab to give his party a chance to form the next government in the state for implementation of welfare schemes like that in Delhi, according to a PTI copy. Arvind Kejriwal's government in Delhi has done such welfare works for the people which the Congress and the BJP never imagined, he told reporters here.

Sisosia said the people in Delhi have been provided better health facilities in government hospitals and better education in government schools compared to private facilities. Free electricity and water have been provided round the clock in Delhi, he said. The Delhi deputy chief minister appealed to the people of Punjab to give a chance to the Aam Aadmi Party once so that the Delhi model would be implemented in the state. As per PTI, Sisodia said "Two types of politics are going on. One is of the Congress, BJP and the Akalis which are running their businesses and filling their coffers with the tax money paid by the people.

"On the other hand, there is the politics of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is spending tax money paid by people for the development of the people. An example of this can be seen in Delhi where hospitals and schools were built with new technologies and facilities, with the tax money of the people," he said.

9:15 PM

Protesters won't return home till agreement is reached: Rakesh Tikait

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Friday revealed plans by farmer leaders to hold meetings in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat and said protesters in Delhi will not return home until the Centre reaches an agreement with them, according to PTI. It was not immediately clear if the remark made at a "mahapanchayat" here was a climb down from Tikait's earlier assertion that there will be no ghar wapsi unless the laws are withdrawn. The government has been telling farmer unions to consider an option other than the complete repeal of the laws.

As per PTI, he said the government will have to talk with the farmer unions' committee spearheading the agitation against the laws. This agitation will continue until the Government of India talks to the committee and arrives at an agreement. Till that time, farmers will not return home, he said addressing a mahapanchayat organised by the Dalal Khap 84 near the Tikri border. He also claimed the agitation is spread across the country and not limited to Punjab, Haryana or Uttar Pradesh as being projected by some.

More mahapanchayats will be held in coming days, he said, adding that they will go to Gujarat as well. Tikait alleged that farmers from Gujarat were being pressured not to lend support to the agitation.

8:57 PM

Tourist bus fell off a hill in Visakhapatnam, four feared dead

Andhra Pradesh: At least four people feared dead after a tourist bus fell off a hill in Ananthagiri, Visakhapatnam. The tourists were coming from Hyderabad, Telangana. Rescue operations underway: ANI

8:46 PM

Control room has been set up at Uttarakhand Police Headquarters

8:25 PM

UK economy shrinks 9.9% amid pandemic, biggest annual decline on record

Britain's economy suffered its biggest decline on record last year as the coronavirus pandemic closed shops and restaurants and and devastated the travel industry.

 

But even as the Office for National Statistics said Friday that gross domestic product shrank 9.9 per cent in 2020, there were signs of a rebound. The economy expanded 1 per cent in the fourth quarter, a second consecutive quarter of growth.

 

Andy Haldane, chief economist for the Bank of England, said the rapid vaccination of people across the UK would ease COVID-19 restrictions and unleash an economic recovery. READ ON...

7:56 PM

Tamil Nadu fire: CM announces 300,000 each for kin of deceased, 100,000 each to injured

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday announced ex-gratia amounts of Rs 3 lakhs each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh each to the critically injured in the fire in a firecracker's factory in Virudhunagar.

 

"I'm deeply in grief after hearing that 11 persons working in a firework industry died after a mishap and 36 injured. I deeply extend my condolences to the next of kin," Palaniswami said.

 

He added, "I allocate financial assistance of 3 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and 1 lakh to the severely injured." The CM further instructed the district authorities and the medical experts to give the best treatment to the injured and asked the local administration to ensure that families of the deceased and the injured are informed.

7:41 PM

Uttarakhand flood: Lake formed due to blocking of stream joining Rishi Ganga, says report

The debris brought by the avalanche in Uttarakhand earlier this week has blocked a stream that joins the Rishi Ganga river forming a temporary lake which if breached can cause further damage in the valley, said a report by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology. According to its director Kalachand Sain, a team of scientists from the institute conducted an aerial survey of the upper reaches of the Rishi Ganga just a day after the Sunday avalanche and spotted the new glacial lake there.

 

The team took some photographs of the lake taken from a helicopter. It seems that the recent avalanche has led to its formation in the higher stretches of the Rishi Ganga's catchment area, he said.

 

"Our scientists are examining the size of the lake, its periphery and the volume of water it contains to ascertain how big and immediate the danger from it is," Sain told PTI.

7:25 PM

Uttarakhand flood: NTPC sets up medical team at Tapovan site

State-run power giant NTPC on Friday said it has set up a medical team of doctors and para-medical staff and started medical camps for general public at Tapovan which was ravaged by a flash flood last Sunday.

 

"NTPC Tapovan team has brought in an experienced team of doctors, para-medical staff and has started medical camps for the general public at Tapovan. "Medical consultations along with medicines for the needy has proved to be of great help for the people of the surrounding areas devastated by the disaster," an NTPC statement said.

 

This initiative in the backdrop of all odds culminating out of the disaster that struck Tapovan in Uttarakhand on Sunday has found many takers amongst the affected lot, it added.