Tension prevailed Wednesday morning in Kerala's Nilackal, the main gateway to Sabarimala, after the police used force to disperse devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the hill shrine.

Three militants and a policeman were killed during an encounter between ultras and security forces in the city on Wednesday, prompting authorities to close down schools and snap internet services, officials said.

Two persons were injured and several vehicles were vandalised when supporters of former JNUSU chief Kanhaiya Kumar and local residents came to blows, police said Tuesday.

As the number of people infected with the Zika virus rose to 80 in Rajasthan, the Union Health Ministry Tuesday directed the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to monitor the cases on a daily basis, while urging the people not to panic.

Hundreds of women devotees of Lord Ayyappa on Tuesday checked vehicles for girls and women of menstrual age at Nilackal, the main gateway to Sabarimala in Kerala, and stopped them from proceeding to the hill shrine, as tension mounted in the area ahead of the opening of the temple gates tomorrow.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said he would desist from opposing Narendra Modi the day the prime minister stopped "dividing" the country and started helping the poor.

As the #MeToo movement gains ground, 17 women journalists who have worked with 'The Asian Age' newspaper, came out in support of their colleague Priya Ramani who has accused Union minister M J Akbar of sexual harassment, said a joint statement issued by them.

Maoists blew up railway tracks in Jharkhand's Giridih district, paralysing movement of trains for over five hours, a railway official said on Tuesday.