New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unexpectedly left for the US for a medical check-up following a kidney transplant last year, sources said.

Jaitley, 66, who had a kidney transplant operation and follow-up check-ups at AIIMS last year, left for the US on Sunday night for a "regular medical check-up", sources said, adding that he would be back by this weekend.

This is Jaitley's first overseas visit since his kidney ailment was confirmed in April last year.

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Rescuers have pulled the fifth body from the rubble of a house in South Russia’s city of Shakhty, a spokesperson for the Russian Emergencies Ministry told TASS on Wednesday.

"Rescuers have found and retrieved the body of the fifth and last victim. The search operation is over," the source said.

Balrampur (UP), Jan 16 (PTI) A 60-year-old woman died and another was injured Tuesday as they fell from a terrace after being attacked by monkeys in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district, police said.

The incident took place in the district's Mathura Bazar area, they said.

Savitri Devi was sitting on the terrace with her daughter-in-law Renu when monkeys attacked them, police said.

As they rushed to save themselves, both fell from the terrace, they said.

Savitri Devi died on the spot while Renu suffered serious injuries and was rushed to a hospital.

Mumbai, Jan 15 (PTI) The country is going to add 1,000 aircraft over the next 7-8 years, a top government official said Tuesday.

India is the fastest growing domestic aviation market and has been registering double-digit growth for more than 50 consecutive weeks.

Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said the country is an aviation locomotive for the world and provides humongous opportunities for players across the globe to grow.

New Delhi, Jan 16(PTI) Rajiv Bhawan, the office of the state Congress, wore a festive look Wednesday as Sheila Dikshit took charge as the party's Delhi chief in presence of a large gathering of workers and senior leaders.

However, the celebrations were marred as controversy erupted over the presence of Jagdish Tytler, an accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, at the event.

Three new working presidents -- Devender Yadav, Haroon Yusuf and Rajesh Lilothia -- also took charge along with Dikshit.

Jammu, Jan 15 (PTI) A BSF officer was killed on Tuesday in sniper fire from across the border in the Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officials of the border guarding force said.

They said Assistant Commandant Vinay Prasad was hit by a sniper shot at about 10:50 am when he and his patrol party were out for "carrying out border domination" along the IB.

New Delhi, January 15; GANASHAKTI: The Centre of Indian Trade Unions extends full support and solidarity to the three days’ strike on 23-25 January 2019 in all defence-production units and service centres by all the three employees’ federations representing employees working in the defence production units and service centres and workshops spread throughout the country.

Kolkata, Jan 15 (PTI) The West Bengal unit of the BJP on Tuesday said it did not take the Supreme Court verdict, putting on hold the party's proposed "rath yatra" programme in the state, as a setback, adding that it would decide on the future course of action after discussions with the party's central leadership.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Defense announced a decision Monday to extend the deployment of active duty troops at the border with Mexico to Sept. 30.

Earlier in the day, the Pentagon also confirmed in a statement it would send a fresh contingent of active duty troops to the southern border at the request of officials from the Department of Homeland Security.

Lucknow, Jan 15 (PTI) Buoyed by the new SP-BSP alliance for the coming Lok Sabha elections, at least one Bahujan Samaj Party leader has gone on social media projecting party chief Mayawati as the next prime minister.

Senior BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria shared a poster expressing the wish on his certified Twitter handle while congratulating Mayawati Tuesday on her 63rd birthday, celebrated as `Jan Kalyankari Diwas' or Public Welfare Day.

Bhadoria tweeted that it was his dream to see the BSP chief become prime minister.

Mumbai, Jan 15 (PTI) The BEST bus strike in Mumbai continued for the eighth day on Tuesday as the agitating workers and the management of the civic-run transport undertaking failed to reach an agreement.

Over 32,000 employees of the various workers' unions of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) have been on strike since Tuesday last week and 3200-odd buses in its fleet are off the roads.

Bhopal, Jan 15 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath Tuesday launched his government's Rs 50,000-crore farm debt-waiver scheme named 'Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana'.

Hailing the scheme as a milestone, Nath said here it would benefit 55 lakh small and marginal farmers.

He also slammed the opposition parties for alleging that the scheme was being implemented without any budgetary provisions.