News brief: Big stories of the day

Three people have died as Cyclone Fani battered Odisha on Friday, news agency PTI reported quoting officials. India's Meteorological Department(IMD) in Hyderabad tracking cyclone Fani said winds have been blowing at a maximum speed of 240-245 km per hour with very heavy rains in Puri and is now likely moving towards West Bengal coast.

New Evidence was provided to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)1267 committee after China had put a hold on March 13 on the listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

While Sri Lanka Easter suicide attacks mastermindZahran Hashimused social media to publicly call for the death of non-Muslims, he worked for months in private chatrooms to persuade six youngmen to sacrifice themselves, Muslim community leaders say.

United Nations human rights experts voiced concern on Friday at what they called the "disproportionate sentence" of 50 weeks in prison imposed on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for skipping bail in Britain.

Cyclone Fani which made a landfall in Odisha earlier during the day is likely to hit West Bengal by today evening. Fani hit Odisha's Puri district in eastern India at around 8 am on Friday.