A number of people have been killed as as a result of the assault on a hotel in the coastal city Grand-Bassam, it is reported.

Dramatic footage showed people running away from the beach near the Etoil du Sud hotel to sound of gunfire in the background.Graphic images of dead bodies have also been shared on social media.

More details are awaited.

Jehangir was evacuated to hospital for treatment. The police has rushed to the spot.

The liquor baron on Sunday issued a statement refuting all media reports.

Here's the full text of the statement:

The past few few days have witnessed a near hysterical campaign in the media directed against me.

Recognising that the media was indulging in sensationalism, I thought it was best to let the drama play out '" never spoil a sensational story with the truth.However I feel that the time has come to clarify my position in order to avoid this relentless attack on my reputation.

Kingfisher was launched on the basis of a viable business plan vetted by SBI Capital Markets and renowned International aviation consultants, but despite every effort, it was an unfortunate commercial failure caused by macro economic factors and then government policies.

The truth about Kingfisher Airlines and its financial stress due to external factors has been reported by State Bank of India to the Reserve Bank of India in their letter dated 31st January 2012.A consortium of Banks loaned funds to Kingfisher Airlines, a public Company, but these loans were secured by blue chip securities.After the closure of the Airline, since April, 2013, the Banks and their assignees have recovered, in cash, an aggregate of Rs. 1,244 crores from sale of pledged shares. In addition an aggregate of Rs. 600 crores is lying deposited in the Karnataka High Court [since July, 2013] and a further sum of Rs. 650 crores belonging to United Breweries Holdings has been deposited in the Karnataka high court since early 2014, being sums realised from the sale proceeds received by United Breweries Holdings from the sale of shares in United Spirits to Diageo Plc in July, 2013.

Thus, the aggregate cash recovery/security available is Rs 2,494 crores.Legal proceedings apart, I have been making efforts to reach a one-time settlement with the Banks, and to that end I have had three meetings and follow up calls in the recent past and my efforts will continue '" this settlement would be based on additional payments to the Banks.

Personally I am not a borrower or a judgement defaulter.Despite pledging blue chip securities and depositing significant amounts in Court, a successful disinformation campaign has ensured my becoming the poster boy of all Bank NPA's.In fact, Banks have NPA's of Rs. 11 lakh crores and have borrowers who owe much more than the amount allegedly owed by Kingfisher Airlines to the Banks '" a fact never alluded to or widely reported by the media as in my case.

None of these large borrowers [whose debt is significantly more than the KFA debt] have been declared wilful defaulters, but unfortunately, United Breweries Holdings and I have been declared wilful defaulters by certain Banks on technical grounds. I have legally challenged these declarations.All the enquiries conducted have failed to find any evidence of misappropriation of funds by Kingfisher Airlines or myself '" for the simple reason that the allegations and the innuendo to this effect is plainly false. My Group directly invested over Rs 4000 crores into Kingfisher Airlines itself which investment stands fully impaired '" it is not as though it is only the bank debt that has suffered. The banks will recover a substantial part of their debt '" my groups loss is permanent.Absent any fraud, the concept of corporate limited liability cannot be ignored.I have been most pained as being painted as an absconder '"

I have neither the intention nor any reason to abscond. I have been a non resident for almost 28 years and the Reserve Bank of India has acknowledged this in writing.Over the years, I have built successful businesses in India and abroad. I am also honoured to be a member of the Rajya Sabha.I have been summoned before various investigative agencies and have duly attended and cooperated with each of them, and I will continue to do so.My statement as to my personal future after quitting Diageo/USL - that I want to spend more time in England closer to my children - has been grossly distorted and misportrayed.

I wish to reduce my business commitments gradually and devote more time to my family, and that my resignation from United Spirits was a step in this direction.The payments from Diageo Plc to myself are towards my personal non-compete obligations globally except in the UK. In effect, I have given up my interests in the spirits business globally at considerable cost.

I have always lived an honourable life and the calumny notwithstanding shall continue to do so. As to the allegations in the media, all I can say is I hope some sobriety and sense will prevail and truth not held a hostage to TRPs.

Azad has insulted Muslims "by questioning their patriotism", VHP Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain said. "...Do they think Muslims in the country sympathise with ISIS. 

They have insulted Muslims of the country with their statement. Congress President Sonia Gandhi should apologise to the nation and try to save her party from imminent decline by throwing Azad out of the Congress," Jain said.  

The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Azad, kicked up a row yesterday after he sought to draw a parallel between RSS and terrorist outfit ISIS, evoking sharp responses from the Hindutva outfit and BJP.

Power and Renewable Energy Ministry Secretary Suren Batagoda said the cause of the island-wide power failure could be due to the tripping of a substation in Biyagama, Daily Mirror reported. He said that engineers from the Ceylon Electricity Board were trying to find out the exact cause behind the blackout.

Water distribution from the Ambatale water distribution tank was disrupted owing to the power failure, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board said.

The nationwide electricity failure comes just weeks after a similar outage took place on February 25, prompting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to appoint a five-member committee to investigate the matter. In September last year, a similar power blackout was reported due to technical problem.

These fishermen had been apprehended by the Pakistan Marine Security Agency for allegedly violating International Maritime Boundary Line between the two countries and had been languishing in Karachi's Landhi jail for around a year. Pakistan had earlier announced that it would release 86 fishermen in addition to 87 others, who were released on March 7. 

"Another group of 86 Indian fishermen jailed in Karachi's Landhi jail will be released on March 21," Assistant Superintendent, Gujarat Fisheries Department in Veraval, Vimal Pandya told PTI. 

"The fishermen to be released on March 21 had been arrested by the PMSA around a year back after their boats drifted into Pakistan waters crossing the maritime border between India and Pakistan in the Arabian Sea," he said.

These fishermen would reach the Wagah border on March 22, but would take another couple of days to reach their homes in Gujarat, Pandya said.

Trump's signature line of men's suits, dress shirts and ties are made in China and the bulk of his eldest daughter Ivanka Trump's fashion line is also manufactured overseas. 

Harvard professor and trade expert Robert Lawrence told CNN that it's not just Trump's products but over 800 items in the Ivanka's fashion line, including shoes, dresses, purses and scarves were also all "imported." "In a recent debate Marco Rubio mentioned ties.

But the ties made in China are just the tip of the iceberg," said Lawrence, who served on President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers. He said none of Ivanka's clothing line appears to be made exclusively in the US and 354 items are listed as made in China.

The attendance data showed that during his second term as a Rajya Sabha MP, Mallya attended the House for only 121 days out the total 424 sittings. Mallya entered the Rajya Sabha as an independent member onJuly 1, 2010 and his term ends on June 30 this year.

This is the last regular session of his six-year term. His first term as a MP was from April 10, 2002 to April 2008. His attendance was highest in 2010, but saw a sharp decline in last two years.

The epicentre of the quake was located at latitude 26.5 degree North and longitude 92.3 degree East in the region of Darrang in Assam. The tremor occurred at a depth of 10 km, the MET office added. No report of injury or damage to property has been reported so far, a police officer said.

Around 50 more Maoist sympathisers had surrendered before the Malkangiri superintendent of police on March 7. Earlier on March 5, 158 Maoists supporters, including a few militia commanders of the CPI (Maoists), had surrendered before the police in Malkangiri district.

"The face-off between ultras and a composite squad of District Reserve Group and Special Task Force took place in the forest axis of Misiguda and Bendre villages in Jagargunda police station area," Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police, Santosh Singh, told PTI. 

 A miffed Mallya, who is reportedly in the UK and has been only tweeting for the past couple of days, did not disclose his exact location. "I am being hunted down by media in UK. Sadly they did not look in the obvious place. I will not speak to media so don't waste your efforts," he said in a tweet.

Mallya, who is said to have left India for London on March 2, is facing legal proceedings for recovery of over Rs 9,000 crore, including interest, from his group companies. 

Besides a few personal tweets, Mallya has also been re-tweeting various news reports including those about the problems in the aviation sector and about his sport and beverage ventures. He also retweeted a tweet by his son Siddharth Mallya, who had said, "People don't understand that I have nothing to do with it!" in reply to a message whether he was fed up with the Twitter backlash.

The advisory was issued by the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment, part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation. 'Medium danger' warning was issued for avalanche prone areas in Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipore, Kargil, Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam, Rajouri, Doda and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, the advisory said. For Himachal Pradesh, it said 'medium danger' avalanche warning exists in areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu, Chamba and Kinnaur districts. 

Similar warning was issued for areas of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh districts in Uttarakhand. Pharkian, Z-Gali, Kanzalwan, Banihal Top, Gulmarg, Haddan Taj and Neelam areas of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed fresh snowfall of 39 cm, 8 cm, 5 cm, 10 cm, 10 cm, 38 cm, 33cm and 7 cm respectively during the last 24 hours.

Backing Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's statement that cricket matches with Pakistan should not be allowed to continue while bombs are being hurled at the security forces at the border, BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy on Sunday said that it was a big mistake on the part of the Indian Government to allow the Shahid Afridi-led team to participate in the ICC World Twenty20.

"I agree with Uddhav. It was a mistake to allow them here. We should have that cricket match in Sri Lanka, Dhaka or Maldives or somewhere else. But in India, the problem is when Pakistan cricket team comes then all kinds of ISI people also come in the name of spectators," Swamy told ANI.

Gandhi, who was on his way to interact with farmers in Chhajlet, had made a brief halt at Peeli Kothi Chowk on the Moradabad-Haridwar Highway, where local MP Sarvesh Kumar had organised a welcome ceremony. 

Ashmid Ashraf, 20, Muhammad Shifam, 20 and Mohammad Shounoub, 21 were returning to Dubai after a short holiday at a friend's house when they met with the accident. All the three students were from Kerala, Gulf News reported. The driver of the youths' car is said to have tried to take a U-turn from an unauthorised area on the road, when another speeding car crashed into their vehicle.

The three students were killed on the spot. The driver of the other vehicle, a 25-year-old Yemeni, sustained minor injuries. Colonel Haran Mubark Al Jazai, acting police director of Eastern Region, said the vehicle carrying the students caused the accident.

He said the student's vehicle entered the road from a prohibited area and collided with another vehicle which was travelling on its path.

The Counter Terrorism Department killed the militants in a raid at a house in Shahkot area in Nankana Sahib district, some 70 kilometres from here, early today. A source in the CTD said that the militants were members of the Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan  and they also had close association with the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

"The terrorists were planing to target offices of the law enforcement agencies in Lahore," he said. A CTD official earlier said that a team raided the house following intelligence that eight militants were hiding there.

"When the personnel surrounded the house and asked the suspects to surrender they opened fire on them. The personnel returned the fire killing five terrorists on the spot," the official said, adding the other suspects managed to flee. A huge quantity of explosives and weapons and banned literature were recovered from the house.

The Counter Terrorism Department killed the militants in a raid at a house in Shahkot area in Nankana Sahib district, some 70 kilometres from here, early today. A source in the CTD said that the militants were members of the Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan  and they also had close association with the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

"The terrorists were planing to target offices of the law enforcement agencies in Lahore," he said. A CTD official earlier said that a team raided the house following intelligence that eight militants were hiding there.

"When the personnel surrounded the house and asked the suspects to surrender they opened fire on them. The personnel returned the fire killing five terrorists on the spot," the official said, adding the other suspects managed to flee. A huge quantity of explosives and weapons and banned literature were recovered from the house.

The comedy film, directed by Veerendra Shetty Kavoor and produced by Prakash Pandeshwar under the banner of Jaya Kirana films, is still running at the PVR cinema. 

Speaking to reporters last evening, Pandeshwar said the film had earlier completed 75 days in five theatres and 100 days in three theatres. The celebration of 500th day in a theatre for a regional film is a record, he said. Tulu actor Devdas Kapikad, who was also present, said the film had created magic in the Tulu film industry by enthusing the audience with entertaining elements.

PVR Cinema in-charge Deepak Gangadhar said "Chaali Polilu" was getting good response even on the 500th day with around 55 per cent occupancy. No other film had run for 500 days in Karnataka so far.

According to Home Ministry statistics, 18 people were killed following the directives of 'kangaroo courts' or 'Jan Adalats' in 2015 for being alleged police informers or "for not believing in Maoist ideology".

During 2015, 41 'Jan Adalats' were held by Naxal cadres in five Left Wing Extremism affected states -- Andhra Pradesh (1), Bihar (6), Chhattisgarh (14), Jharkhand (14) and Odisha (6). Altogether 15 people were executed in 2014 following orders of 54 'Jan Adalats' and 20 people were killed in 2013  under the directives of 63 'Jan Adalats'

The judgement was delivered by Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, who observed that death of a convict does not discharge him from the liability of paying fine and compensation imposed by court, and this amount can be recovered from the properties left behind by the deceased.

The judge recently dismissed a petition filed by Shamim Sarkhot, a resident of Srivardhan in Raigad district of Maharashtra, praying that she cannot be compelled to pay the fine and compensation imposed by a court on her husband as she was merely a legal heir of a dead convict. Shamim's husband, Saifuddin, was convicted by a magistrate in Srivardhan for not honouring a cheque issued by him to a local businessman in 2006. 

The trial court had ordered him to pay Rs 25,000 fine to the state government and Rs 2.85 lakh to the victim. Saifuddin challenged the order in a higher court and during pendency of the appeal, he passed away.

The missing people, including one guide and seven trekkers, went missing in the Manali Chandrakhani trekking route and the ITBP has launched three teams from Patnikhal, Bijli Mahadev and Malana village to search for them.

The trekkers, who are final year BTech students of Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology in Longowal, were on a private trip when the disaster struck.However, the rescue operations are facing severe hurdles due to the bad weather being caused by heavy rain in the region.

The incident that took place yesterday in Dayton city of Ohio came a day after Trump cancelled his campaign rally in Chicago citing security concerns after hundreds of people gathered at the arena to protest against his "politics of hatred" and scuffled with his supporters in the largest-ever demonstration against the real estate tycoon.

"He (the protester) should be in jail. This guy is probably an Islamic State (ISIS) supporter. They (the court) let him go. Our court has to get tougher and smarter," Trump told his supporters in the Kansas City of Missouri last night.

Trump was referring to the incident in the morning when an individual tried to jump on to the stage and probably rush towards him to harm, before a battery of secret service agents got hold of him and cordoned off Trump.

"We have decided to replace khaki shorts with brown-colored full pants," confirmed general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi.

India currently has 34 satellites in space but this number falls short of the country's need to generate information, both on earth observation and communication fronts, said Kumar, who is also Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission. "We have already reached seven launches in a year. We intend to increase it to almost 12 launches a year... immediately (subsequently) following to reach up to 18 launches a year," he said, delivering a lecture at the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Hyderabad branch, last evening, but did not give time-frame to achieve the objective.  

"We need to build capacity and this capacity-building is going to happen with attempts by bringing in industry to use the launch vehicles (rockets of ISRO). We are looking at the industry performing total launch at Sriharikota (ISRO's spaceport) using mechanisms. So, we are working on these mechanisms," he said.

 The 30-year-old from Haryana put up another dominating show to knock out Hungary's Alexander Horvath in under three rounds last night in what was to be a six-round contest. "I dedicate this win to the martyrs of Indian Armed Forces during Jammu and Pathankot attacks," said Vijender after the bout.

The bout against Horvath was Vijender's first of the year after three successive knockout wins last year.

 "I'm thrilled to get my fourth professional victory and excited for what the future holds for me. I'm happy to get another knockout win and really want to push on from here with some big performances is 2016. I was better prepared for my fight this time because this fight was postponed for almost a month," he said.

The decision in this regard was pronounced by 14th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate GS Ramesh Kumar.

The warrants were issued on March 10 after GMR Hyderabad International Airport filed a petition seeking Mallya's prosecution for defaulting on payments and cheating the company by issuing cheques that bounced.

Mallya, who is currently in the United Kingdom and is being sought out in India over charges of money laundering, claimed in an e-mail interview with the Sunday Guardian that the banks gave him loans after evaluating all aspects, adding he is not trying to evade the law enforcement agencies but is on a personal visit.

A Syrian Islamist rebel group on today shot down a regime warplane over a village in central Hama province, a monitoring group said.

A pro-government Facebook acknowledged that a MiG-21 warplane went down over Kafr Nabuda but said it was due to "technical difficulties", denying it had been shot down.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Ahrar al-Sham fired two heat-seeking missiles at the military aircraft flying over Kafr Nabuda.

On the eve of regional elections set to show her Christian Democrats losing support, Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that refugees had a "duty" to integrate themselves into German society.

"We expect refugees to accept these offers (of integration). It is a duty and not just a possibility," said Merkel, who has been under increasing pressure after throwing open Germany's doors to newcomers, with 1.1 million refugees -- many of them Syrians -- seeking asylum in Europe's biggest economy last year alone.

She was speaking in the southern town of Haigerloch on the final day of campaigning, with her comments reported by German news agency DPA.