New Delhi, Jan 31; PTI: Supreme Court Judge Justice N V Ramana Thursday recused himself from hearing a plea challenging the Centre's decision to appoint M Nageswara Rao as interim CBI Director.

Justice Ramana became the third judge of the apex court to recuse himself from hearing the matter as Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and the second senior-most judge in the court Justice A K Sikri had earlier recused themselves from adjudicating the case.

31 Jan 2019; DW: European aircraft maker Airbus on Thursday said it is "in discussions" with Dubai-based airline Emirates about a make-or-break deal for the future of the superjumbo Airbus A380.

Secured last year, the Emirates deal was hailed as a lifeline for the iconic double-decker aircraft and the program's roughly 3,000 workers.

How the deal fell through:

Gadchiroli (Maha), Jan 31 (PTI) Naxals allegedly torched six vehicles, including tractors brought for construction work, in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Thursday, a police official said.

The incident took place in the morning in Korchi tehsil near Dongargaon police outpost, he said.

A group of around 12 Maoists set on fire four tractors and two JCB machines which were brought for construction work in the area, the official said.

31 Jan 2019; AFP: Growth in the eurozone slowed sharply to 1.8 percent in 2018, data showed Thursday, as a recovery ran out of steam on worries over the US-China trade war and Brexit.

The economy expanded by a comparatively booming 2.4 percent in 2017.

The dampened outlook is a huge disappointment to policy-makers as growth in the eurozone had until recently been regarded as one of the strongest engines of the global economy.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the fiscal deficit will be at 3.4 per cent of GDP this year.

Presenting the Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, Goyal also said that current account deficit is likely to be 2.5 per cent of GDP this year.

He further said India attracted USD 239 billion in FDI (foreign direct investment) in the last five years.

Jaipur, Jan 31 (PTI) Congress candidate Shafia Zubair won the Ramgarh assembly poll in Rajasthan by defeating her nearest BJP rival Sukhwant Singh by a margin of 12,228 votes, officials said.

With this, Congress's tally has increased to 100 in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly. Its ally - RLD- has one seat thus the government is in comfortable position.

Zubair got 44.77 per cent votes by securing 83,311 votes while Singh secured 71,083 votes, the officials of the Rajasthan election department said.

Srinagar, Jan 31 (PTI) Separatists have called for a shutdown in the valley on Sunday to protest the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jammu and Kashmir.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik -- under the banner of joint resistance leadership -- Thursday appealed to people to observe a shutdown in Kashmir on Sunday when the prime minister is scheduled to arrive in the state.

Ahmednagar, Feb 1 (PTI) Social activist Anna Hazare's hunger strike Friday entered the third day with his doctor stating that the 81-year-old's blood pressure and blood sugar levels had "significantly" increased.

Hazare has been on a hunger strike since Wednesday in Ralegan Siddhi village in the state's Ahmednagar district demanding appointment of anti-corruption watchdogs at the Centre and in Maharashtra and resolution of farmers' issue.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Friday announced cash handouts for small farmers, a pension scheme for informal workers and a doubling of tax relief for the lower middle class in an interim budget designed to shore up its popularity ahead of national elections due before May.

Srinagar, Feb 1 (PTI) Two Jaish-e-Mohammad separatists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Friday, police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Drabgam area of Pulwama following information about presence of separatists in the area, a police official said.

Bengaluru, Feb 1 (PTI): A Mirage 2000 aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed at the HAL Airport here Friday killing a pilot on the spot and leaving another critically injured, police said.

"The body of one of the pilots is completely charred while the second pilot is in a serious condition," a police officer at the HAL Airport police station said.

The HAL, in a statement, said the incident occurred at 10.30 am during a sortie.

Srinagar, Jan 31 (PTI) National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah said Thursday the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA), under which a person can be detained without trial for six months, would be revoked if his party was voted to power in Jammu and Kashmir.

Making the announcement at militancy-hotbed Pulwama district in south Kashmir, Omar Abdullah said: "I do not wish to see the youth of the state behind bars without trial for months together. The parents crying for their children picked under the act."