An air ambulance carrying seven people on board crash-landed in a field in Kair village, Najafgarh near Delhi on Tuesday.

According to reports, the Alchemist Airlines Air Ambulance had taken off from Patna and was on its to Delhi when it crashed at around 2:45 pm.
News18 reported that the crash took place minutes before the plane would have landed at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, which is situated six nautical miles from the crash site.

Both the engines for the Alchemist Airways' C-90 Beechking aircraft failed one after the other, which forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in a field, reported NDTV.

Among the seven people on board, five were reported to have been injured and were being rushed to the hospital.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party declared victory on Thursday in the northeastern state of Assam, an election boost that will help his right-wing nationalist government rebuild some momentum after poll losses last year.

Grabbing power in Assam, one of five states electing new assemblies, would be a first for the Bharatiya Janata Party in India's volatile northeast, a sign its political influence is expanding beyond its traditional northern and western belt.

The BJP led in the races for 81 of the 126 seats in Assam where clear trends had been set, unofficial tallies compiled by television broadcasters showed.

The opposition Congress Party, which has ruled the state assembly since 2001, trailed with 26 seats.

Modi called the Assam victory an "exceptional win" on Twitter and congratulated his party leaders.

Elsewhere, tallies by television channels showed popular regional parties heading for victory in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the eastern state of West Bengal, where the BJP has a small presence and was not expected to win.

Modi called the chief ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu to congratulate them, he said on Twitter.

"The BJP had nothing to lose in these elections, only something to gain," said Manoj Joshi, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation. "And they have gained. It shows the momentum is still with them."

Counting of votes from the five states began at 0230 GMT and complete results are expected later on Thursday.

POLARISING CAMPAIGN

The BJP waged a polarising campaign in Assam, an underdeveloped state rife with ethnic and religious tension, and vowed to disenfranchise millions of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants, to curry favour among discontented Hindus.

Modi took a less prominent role in elections this year after a bad loss in a November poll in the eastern state of Bihar that turned into a referendum on his personal leadership. His party also lost in the capital New Delhi early last year.

"The people of Assam have accepted our winning combination. This is going to be a great victory," BJP chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal told Indian television, as supporters gathered in the state capital, Guwahati.

Victory in Assam, while symbolic, will have little impact on Modi's ability to control the upper house of parliament, where his party lacks a majority and the opposition has stymied key economic reforms.

But the prospect of Congress weakened further by the state vote will raise his party's hopes for its bitter foe to be less resistant to the legislation.

Unofficial counts showed a Congress-led coalition was headed for defeat at the hands of leftist parties in Kerala.

(Additional reporting by Biswajyoti Das in GUWAHATI and Sujoy Dhar in KOLKATA; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)

The latest cancer data, released on Wednesday, shows that Aizawl in Mizoram has the highest incidence of cancer in men, while Papumpare in Arunachal Pradesh accounted for maximum cases in women. While north-eastern States have traditionally reported high incidence of cancer compared to the rest of the country, the latest data reveals that the cancer burden in the north-east is among the highest in the world.

Tobacco problem

“The enormity of the tobacco problem in the north-east is reflected in the cancer registry. North-eastern States now have among the highest cancer burned in the world. In the case of stomach cancer, Chennai had the highest incidence before we set up a registry in Aizawl. Now, we have data showing Aizawl to have 10 times the incidence of Chennai,” said Dr G.K. Rath, chief of the National Cancer Institute.

In terms of sites, lung cancer is the leading cause among men while breast cancer is the leading cause among women. The total estimated burden of cancer for 2016 is 14.5 lakh new cases, going up to 17.3 lakh cases by 2020. The number of deaths due to cancer for 2016 is estimated to be around 7.36 lakh, going up to 8.8 lakh by 2020.

The data was released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), collected by its Population-Based Cancer Registry (PBCR) programme.

“This data is important to help us plan and prioritise health care services for patients. The north-eastern States have a peculiar burden of cancer and we need to address it with a State-specific intervention,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General, ICMR.

Among men, the top five sites of cancer were lung — which accounted for 10 per cent of the cases; stomach with 7.6 per cent cases; prostate with 7 per cent cases and oesophagus with 6 per cent cases and brain with 5 per cent cases. For women, breast had 27.5 per cent cases; cervix uteri with 12.3 per cent cases; ovary with 5.3 per cent cases; thyroid with 4 per cent cases and mouth with 3.9 per cent cases.

Lung cancer in women

The radical increase in colon cancer for men and cervix uteri for women was noticed. “There is no significant increase in breast and lung cancer but we see a sharp increase in lung cancer among women, clearly a result of more women taking up smoking,” added Dr. Rath.

 4002 Runs for Virat Kohli in his IPL career. In his innings of 113 against Kings XI Punjab, he became the first batsman to complete 4000 runs in the IPL, going past Suresh Raina's tally of 3985. Before the start of the season, Kohli was fourth on the list.

4 Centuries for Kohli in this IPL - most by a player in a single T20 tournament. Michael Klinger had scored three centuries in the Natwest Blast T20 in 2015. Only one batsman has scored more centuries than Kohli in all IPLs - five by Chris Gayle. Incidentally, Kohli had not scored any centuries in his first 180 T20 innings before making four centuries in nine innings.

14.06 Royal Challengers' run rate in this match - 211 runs from 15 overs - the highest for a team's innings of six or more overs in IPL. Their run rate when they scored 263, the highest total in T20s, against Pune Warriors was 13.15. On Thursday, they did not score more than six runs in any of the first three overs. But they scored at least 10 runs in each of the last 12 overs of the innings; 18 or more runs in eight of those.

11 Scores of 75 or more for Kohli in T20s this year - most by a batsman in a calendar year. Gayle had 10 such scores in two years - 2011 and 2015. Kohli has converted 11 of his 16 50-plus scores into scores of 75 or more this year in just 25 innings.
2042 Runs scored by Kohli in T20s at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. He became the first batsman to aggregate 2000 or more runs at a single venue in T20s.

47 Balls in which Kohli got to his hundred, which is his fastest among his four centuries. His first century came off 63 balls against Gujarat Lions, second in 56 balls against Rising Pune Supergiants and third in 53 balls against Lions.

13.36 Run rate of the 147-run opening stand between Gayle and Kohli - second-highest in a century stand for first wicket in IPL. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith had scored 109 runs at 14.86 for Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2015. Gayle and Kohli also completed 2500 runs as a pair in T20s. They also have the most century stands - eight.

4 Opening partnerships of 50 or more runs for Royal Challengers in their last six matches, including this match. In their first seven matches, they did not have even one such stand.

226 Kohli's strike rate in this innings of 113 off 50 balls, his highest in a T20 innings of 20 or more balls. This is the first time he has had a strike rate of more than 200 in a T20 innings batting 20 or more balls.

Counting of votes in the high-stakes Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry begins this morning at 8 am and the first trends are expected to be available after an hour — at about 9 am. By 12 noon, a clear picture could well emerge of who the winners are.

According to various exit polls shown on TV channels on May 16, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala appeared to have voted for change giving BJP its first government in the northeastern state dislodging Congress which may also lose Kerala. DMK has been tipped to regain power trouncing AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

Follow our live blog on the election results below to get the latest updates and analysis of what is 2016’s biggest election date.

7.20 am: In Tamil Nadu, supporters have already started arriving outside CM Jaya’s house at Poes Garden. Will she be able to retain the southern state? Follow our Tamil Nadu live here.

7.00 am: An hour to go before counting of votes begin. We’re tracking developments as they happen.

How Jaya and Karunanidhi campaigned in the Assembly polls in TN (Click here to read)

Only West Bengal seems to have bucked the trend in exit polls by re-electing Trinamool Congress led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who managed to hold on to power by defeating the Left-Congress alliance convincingly for a second consecutive term.

The Congress could take solace from its projected victory in the tiny Union Territory of Puducherry where it is likely to get power in alliance with the DMK.

In West Bengal assembly polls it’s do or die for all parties (Click here to read)

The counting of votes will decide the fate of approximately 8,300 candidates including chief minister Tarun Gogoi in Assam and CM contender BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswas, chief minister Jayalalithaa and Karunandhi in Tamil Nadu, chief minister Oommen Chandy, CPI(M) leaders V S Achutanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) Suryakanta Mishra in West Bengal and chief Minister M Rangaswamy in Puducherry.

In Kerala, it’s high-stake battle for scandal-hit Oommen Chandy (Click here to read)

According to Election Commission guidelines, half-an-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the EVMs begins.

The ‘ballot unit’ is switched on in the presence of senior poll officials and counting agents of candidates and the result command keyed in to get results per machine.

Where a paper trail audit or ‘voter-verified paper audit trail’ (VVPAT) has been used, the counting agent can call for a count of the paper slips in the drop box attached to the voting machine, but a final count is taken by the returning officer.

N Rangasamy, longest-serving Puducherry CM, battles strong anti-incumbency (Click here to read)

Once the results are declared, the names of the winning candidates will find mention in the gazette. The gazette notification will initiate the process to form the next legislative assemblies in the states.

The findings revealed that nocturnal sleep duration full moon compared to new moon reported an average decrease of five minutes.
To establish if lunar phases somehow do affect humans, an international group of researchers studied children to see if their sleeping patterns changed or if there were any differences in their daily activities.
 To establish if lunar phases somehow do affect humans, an international group of researchers studied children to see if their sleeping patterns changed or if there were any differences in their daily activities.

While the full moon cannot turn people into werewolves, some people do accuse it of causing a bad night’s sleep or creating physical and mental alterations. But is there any science behind these myths?

To establish if lunar phases somehow do affect humans, an international group of researchers studied children to see if their sleeping patterns changed or if there were any differences in their daily activities. The results were published in Frontiers in Pediatrics.

“We considered that performing this research on children would be particularly more relevant because they are more amenable to behaviour changes than adults and their sleep needs are greater than adults,” said Dr Jean-Philippe Chaput, from the Eastern Ontario Research Institute.

The study was completed on a total of 5,812 children from five continents. The children came from a wide range of economic and sociocultural levels, and variables such as age, sex, highest parental education, day of measurement, body mass index score, nocturnal sleep duration, level of physical activity and total sedentary time were considered.

The findings obtained in the study revealed that in general, nocturnal sleep duration around full moon compared to new moon reported an average decrease of five minutes (or a one per cent variant). No other activity behaviours were substantially modified.

“Our study provides compelling evidence that the moon does not seem to influence people’s behaviour. The only significant finding was the one per cent sleep alteration in full moon, and this is largely explained by our large sample size that maximises statistical power,” said Chaput.

 The clinical implication of sleeping five minutes less during full moon does not represent a considerable threat to health. “Overall, I think we should not be worried about the full moon. Our behaviours are largely influenced by many other factors like genes, education, income and psychosocial aspects rather than by gravitational forces,” he added.

Rocky Yadav, the son of a JDU leader who allegedly shot dead a teenager for overtaking his SUV in Bihar's Gaya on Saturday, has been arrested, police said.

Confirming the arrest, Gaya's Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Mallick said, " We have been carrying out regular raids and based on our interrogation of various people we have made the arrest. I cannot give you more details right now."

The arrest happened a day after Rocky's mother Manorama Devi, member of leglislative council, was  interrogated. Sources said Rocky was picked up from a factory located on the road to Bodh Gaya, in which Bindi Yadav, Rocky's father, has business interests.

Aditya Sachdeva, 19, was driving home with friends in his Maruti Swift when he overtook the politician's son Range Rover.


Rocky Yadav, 30, son of a JD(U) leader allegedly shot dead the teenager.
His friends claim that Rocky then fired a warning shot from the SUV, forcing Mr Sachdeva to stop, after which he was beaten up and then shot at. He died on the spot.

"I would like to fold my hands and ask Nitish Kumar to please get this boy justice," Mr Sachdeva's cousin Rishi Sachdeva appealed to the Bihar Chief Minister .


The Range Rover belonging to JD(U) leader Manorama Devi's family and the Swift in which the teenager who was killed was travelling.
Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, has rebuked the media and political opponents for what he describes as "focusing not on what but who". That clumsy comment rankles, though the Chief Minister has stressed that the suspect's bodyguard has been arrested along with his father for helping organize his escape.

His mother, Manorama Devi had told NDTV,  "We don't know where he is, he will surrender. We didn't play a role in his escape."

The Chief Minister has denied that this is the latest in a snaking line of crimes that expose the "jungle raj" or return of lawlessness to Bihar, as alleged by the main opposition party, the BJP

Here are some important reports from the biggest newspapers of India.

1. BSF troops seize fake currency, 900 cattle on Indo-Bangla border
Here are some important reports from the biggest newspapers of India.

Troops of the Border Security Force (BSF) deployed along the India-Bangladesh border under the Guwahati sector on Saturday night seized fake Indian currency notes worth Rs 1.5 lakhs, but not before a mob on the international boundary in Dhubri district attacked them and freed the main culprit, reported the Indian Express daily.

While a joint operation team of the BSF and Assam Police was carrying out an operation based on specific intelligence inputs in a house in Jordanga village under Mankachar police station in Dhubri district located close to the international boundary, the villagers comprising women and children too encircled the troops, assaulted them and would have killed them, had more reinforcements not reached the spot on time.

2. MCD bypolls: BJP releases names of candidates

The BJP Sunday announced its list of 13 candidates who will contest for the post of councillors in the MCD bypolls in May.
The BJP gave tickets to three of its former MLAs and family members of a few party workers, reported the Indian Express daily.

The three former MLAs are Mahendra Nagpal, who will contest from Wazirabad ward, Krishan Gehlot, who will contest from Nawada, and Jitender Singh Shunty who will contest from Jhilmil.

3. Under RTE: Government definition of 'orphans' unclear, puts them at disadvantage

Three years after the Right to Education (RTE) Act came into force, an NGO approached the Delhi High Court with a plea to include the city's orphans under "disadvantaged categories" for admission under the RTE. The HC allowed orphans to be added to the category, reported the Indian Express daily.

When the Directorate of Education (DoE) announced guidelines for nursery admission for the 2013-14 academic year, for the first time, it stated that "orphans" be included "within the meaning of children belonging to disadvantaged groups".

4. Private schools need Delhi government's nod to fire teachers, rules SC

A driver who was sacked by a private school in 2003 has secured a judgment from the Supreme Court forbidding recognised schools in Delhi from dismissing any employee, including teachers, without "prior approval" of the director of education.

In its judgment on April 13, SC upheld a provision in the Delhi School Education Act 1973 that requires all recognised schools to obtain the government's approval before sacking an employee. The section -8(2) of the DSEA 1973 -had been struck down by the Delhi high court in July 2005, reported the Times of India daily.

5. Government mulls sops to attract doctors to rural postings

A severe shortage of doctors in rural areas has forced the health ministry to dust off an earlier proposal to post MBBS students in the hinterland. However, this time, it may not make a rural stint mandatory.

Instead, the plan is to incentivise students and doctors by making their access to postgraduate courses easier or by offering them better pay .

"The ministry has deliberated on the plan and it has in principle approval from the health minister. A formal proposal with details of incentives has to be drawn up before we take it to the next level in the government for approval," a senior official told the Times of India daily.

Dipa Karmakar on Sunday created history by becoming the first ever Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Karmakar produced a strong show, finishing ninth in the first of the four subdivisions of the women's artistic category, at the Final Qualifier and Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro.

She garnered a total score of 52.698 points. Her final rankings will be known only after completion of the event with competition in three other subdivisions going on currently.

Her first vault, the much difficult Produnova, gave Karmakar 15.066 points, the highest among the 14 competitors. But a poor show in the uneven bars took her points down as she collected 11.700, the second worse among the 14 participants.

The Tripura girl secured 13.366 and 12.566 points in the beam and floor exercises.

Gymnastic officials said that her Rio Games berth is more or less assured after the strong show.
"Dipa is 100 per cent assured of an Olympic berth with this 52.698 score. There are three subdivisions to go but she has already beaten gymnasts from three countries. So she has qualified," international referee Deepak Kagra told PTI.

"This Test event has participants from 33 countries and since her score is above the participants of at least three countries, she will finish in the top 30 country-wise. That is enough for her to qualify for Rio Olympics," he added.

The 22-year-old could not clinch an Olympic berth in the World Championships in November last as she finished outside the podium, in fifth place.

She was earlier put as second reserve for the ongoing Olympic Test event in Rio but was informed last month that she had sneaked into the shortlist of participants.

Karmakar had created history by becoming the first woman gymnast to win a medal -- a bronze -- in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. He then became the first Indian woman gymnast to feature in the finals of World Championships in November last.

Quinton de Kock anchored the Delhi Daredevils' chase of RCB's 191 with an innings full of flair and strokeplay.

We felt the Royal Challengers Bangalore were 20-odd runs short of what they would have needed on this wicket and the momentum they maintained for the most part of their innings. In the end, the Delhi batting line-up was not tested much, partly due to RCB's underperformance at the death and due to Quinton de Kock's scintillating shotmaking.

Watson was a breath of fresh air, featuring in every department: bat, ball and in the field. On which note, do yourself a favour and watch this Christlike miracle one more time:

But that moment of brilliance wasn't enough to thwart the Daredevils, who bowled some excellent overs at the death of RCB's innings (courtesy Chris Morris and Mohammad Shami), then maintained scoring momemtum really well despite the early wicket (courtesy Wiese-Watson), and then... de Kock happened.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli says this loss is tough to swallow. Underscores how important it is for bowlers to believe they can get a wicket every ball, and that batsmen can sense hesitation on the bowler's part. An interesting insight every time Kohli speaks.

Delhi Daredevils captain Zaheer Khan says his bad over helped him realise that his bowlers must bowl back of length. Hm, great example of self-effacing captaincy. He gives credit to Shami and Morris, but also questions the wisdom of having removed Gayle from the middle with such haste.

Man of the Match Quinton de Kock says it was a good wicket where looking to hit good cricket shots and running the twos got them through. Most of these were done by him, just saying.

DD 192/3 after 19.1 overs (JP Duminy 7 off 5 | K Nayar 54 off 42 || win by 7 wickets)

Some comedy there at the very end with just the one to get. JP Duminy plays it back to the bowler Chahal, who flicks it back to the non-striker's stumps, misses, and the batsmen run the overthrow.

DD 191/3 after 19 overs (JP Duminy 6 off 4 | K Nayar 54 off 42 || need 1 from 6 balls)

De Kock (108 from 51) can't, sadly, stay to bring it home for his team after all the work. Watson has him caught behind off a riser. Duminy comes in and takes up from where his Saffer teammate left off, drilling a short wide one through the Covers for four. A leg bye and a two later, the over ends and DD are left with just 1 to get.

DD 183/2 after 18 overs (de Kock 108 off 50 | K Nayar 53 off 41 || need 9 from 12 balls)

De Kock, de Kock, de Kock! Centurion off 48 balls. Yet again with a sliced square-cut. Applause is sadly very limited for the away batsman despite a genuinely great innings. The crowd goes even quieter when he thick-edges a Wiese slower one through Third-man for four. And then a scorcher that scrapes the floor the whole time through the Covers.

DD 171/2 after 17 overs (de Kock 99 off 47 | K Nayar 51 off 38 || need 21 from 18 balls)

Nayar does get to his milestone first. A classy straight loft for six takes him closer, and he completes the formality with a single. Didn't think he was getting any runs, Nayar. Slowly and silently built his score. Meanwhile, de Kock reaches 99 with a four off the final ball of Harshal's over.

DD 158/2 after 16 overs (de Kock 94 off 45 | K Nayar 43 off 44 || need 34 from 24 balls)

Nayar nudges a four past the keeper to take the partnership past 100 runs. De Kock slashes the same bowler through Extra Cover for four to move into the 90s. Nayar closing in on his fifty. Who will get to their milestone first? Meanwhile, Daredevils looking comfortable to get this total, by all conservative estimates.

DD 146/2 after 15 overs (de Kock 88 off 42 | K Nayar 37 off 31 || need 46 from 30 balls)

Watson comes back in for his third over. Decidedly bowling into the body of the right-hander, towards middle and leg. Still gets struck on the up by the left-hander de Kock down the ground for four.