"Can I call you Appa for one last time my leader," DMK leader M.K. Stalin penned an emotional letter to his departed father and party leader M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday.

Chief Minister for five times and leader of DMK party for 50 years, the 94-year-old Karunanidhi breathed his last here owing to age related ailments in a private hospital here.

Two girls schools have been set ablaze in Pakistan's Balochistan province, police said on Wednesday. No casualty was reported.

The schools located in Pishin district were set on fire late on Tuesday when the institutes were closed as they were both day schools.

Tens of thousands of emotionally charged people from all over Tamil Nadu on Wednesday paid homage to DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi even as his party battled legally with the state government for a burial place at the Marina Beach here.

Led by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, DMK members, leaders and people from all walks of life -- VIPs and others --file past the mortal remains of Karunanidhi at the Rajaji Hall in the heart of Chennai.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday morning would decide on the DMK's plea against Tamil Nadu's government's decision to deny burial of the party President M. Karunanidhi's body at Marina Beach.

Hearing the plea late Tuesday night, the court directed the state government and the Chennai Corporation to file their replies and adjourned the case to Wednesday morning 8 a.m.

US President Donald Trump's son has said his 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer was about "essentially nothing" relevant to claims of collusion.

Donald Trump Jr called the media uproar over the meeting "the ultimate distraction" from his father's success, BBC reported on Tuesday.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that resurgence of "nativism and protectionism in the West is a disturbing trend" and the "old and tried approaches may not suffice".

"Building goodwill and peace among nations is of paramount importance," he said after releasing a book, "Ten Ideologies - The Great Asymmetry between Agrarianism and Industrialism", authored by his former Cabinet colleague S. Jaipal Reddy.

Private bus operators have decided to stop their services to and from Chennai till Wednesday evening as large number of passengers have cancelled their tickets and also as a precautionary measure, said an office-bearer of All Omni Bus Operators Association.

"About 75-85 per cent of the passengers decided to cancel their tickets on Wednesday. As a result, the bus operators have decided to cancel the services to and from Chennai till 6 p.m tomorrow (Thursday)," A. Anbalagan, general secretary, All Omni Bus Operators Association told IANS.

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam paid their last respects to DMK President M. Karunanidhi here on Wednesday.

People from different walks of life -- leaders, actors, industrialists and others -- also paid homage to their departed leader, whose mortal remains have been kept at the Rajaji Hall.