XINING, April 12 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,000 domestic and foreign companies are attending a tourism festival, which opened Friday in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

The Qinghai culture and tourism festival will last from April to July. The Northwest China Tourism Marketing Conference, lasting from Friday to Sunday, is a major part of the festival.

With an exhibition hall covering 28,000 square meters, the conference has attracted participation of 1,268 companies in cultural and tourism sectors from across China and nearly 30 countries and regions.

Dehradun, Apr 11 (PTI) Over 57 per cent of the electorate in Uttarakhand cast their vote Thursday to seal the fate of 52 candidates as polling was held in the first phase of the general elections to its five Lok Sabha seats.

The turnout recorded at 5 pm across the five seats was 57.85 per cent, Chief Electoral Officer Soujanya said.

Pithoragarh, Apr 11 (PTI) Over 828 voters of Bacham, the village adopted by Rajya Sabha MP and Congress candidate from Almora parliamentary constituency Pradeep Tamta, boycotted polling as the seat along with four others went to polls in the first phase of the general elections on Thursday.

The village in Kapkot Assembly constituency of Bageswar district boycotted the election, citing neglect in development schemes by the state government.

New Delhi, April 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on April 15 a plea challenging the Election Commission's ban on the release of biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A bench headed by Chief Justice said it will hear the plea filed by producers of the biopic.

The poll panel had on Wednesday banned the screening of the biopic during poll period, saying any such film that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media.

Mumbai, Apr 11 (PTI) A 38-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment by a POCSO court here for sexually assaulting his two minor step-daughters multiple times in the absence of their mother.

Judge C A Nathani found the man guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and IPC sections 376 (rape) and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) of IPC

Jammu, Apr 12 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district remained under curfew for the fourth consecutive day Friday amid strict vigilance by the Army, officials said.

Authorities are planning to relax the curfew for one hour from 4 pm Friday, they said.

A senior RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma and his security guard were killed on Tuesday when a militant opened fire inside a health centre in Kishtwar town, prompting authorities to impose curfew and call the Army to maintain law and order in the communally sensitive region.

Patna, Apr 11 (PTI) An estimated 53.06 per cent voter turnout was recorded in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar which went to the polls in the first phase on Thursday, a top election official said.

Altogether 70.52 lakh voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in the four Lok Sabha seats which had 44 candidates in the fray.

Mumbai, Apr 12 (PTI) The Shiv Sena Friday advised its ally BJP to "speak less" on the Rafale deal, in which the Congress has alleged corruption, cautioning that unwanted statements may increase troubles for the national party.

The Sena also said the ban on NaMo TV could have been avoided had the BJP been satisfied with the coverage being given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign rallies on electronic channels.

BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- With the consumer prices rebounding solidly in March and producer prices notching its first acceleration in nine months, market fear over deflation risks of the Chinese economy has been largely abated.

As there is no worry about high inflation risk, analysts said China's monetary policy will remain unchanged, and there is still much room for the country's central bank to manoeuver its monetary tools.

CONSUMER PRICES

Mumbai, Apr 11 (PTI) Bracing for a possible shuttering, Jet Airways Thursday grounded services across the Eastern and Northeastern markers and also suspended its international operations for a day, while 1o more planes were forced out of the fleet.

In related developments, its board met in Mumbai and discussed "operational" issues, while airlines' strategic partner Etihad Airways submitted initial bids for higher stake in the crippled carrier.

Ahmedabad, Apr 11 (PTI) The Gujarat High Court has quashed three notifications of the state government aimed at stopping export of livestock from Tuna Port, terming it "colourable exercise of powers" to do something which cannot be done directly.

A division bench of justices Harsha Devani and Bhargav Karia passed the judgment last week.

Raipur, Apr 11 (PTI) A Naxal was killed and a Special Task Force (STF) jawan suffered injuries in a gun-battle in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh on the day of polling for the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday, police said.

The encounter took place at around 4:20 pm when the ultras attacked a team of security forces out on an area domination-cum-search operation in a forest near a helipad in the Orchha area, Deputy Inspector General (Anti-Naxal Operation) Sundarraj P told PTI.