South

Kerala floods: Sixty-seven people are dead, 25 in just the last 24 hours in Kerala as the rain fury continues. A red alert on Kerala weather was issued across the state in what has turned out to be the state's worst monsoon in almost a century. The Kerala rain has also forced the administration to shut down the Kochi airport, the state's busiest, as it braces for more rain.

Southern Naval Command deployed 21 rescue and diving teams with Gemini boats in flood-hit Kerala.

The Chennai Airport today introduced humanoid robots to perform a variety of actions, including greeting passengers and responding to queries, "deciphering variances in accent."

Embroiled in a succession war with his estranged brother MK Alagiri, DMK working president MK Stalin today said he would "not be cowed down" by any flutter and vowed to overcome any challenges emanating from within or outside the party.

After heavy rain for the last one week triggered floods and landslides in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday sent an SOS to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his Tamil Nadu counterpart E Palaniswami on the rising water level in the Mullaperiyar Dam.

Late DMK President M Karunanidhi was responsible for state Chief Ministers unfurling the national flag on the occasion of Independence Day.

The number of deaths in rain-related incidents in Kerala has risen to 67, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said, as a red alert has been issued across the state in what has turned out to be the state's worst monsoon in almost a century. The airport at Kochi, the busiest in Kerala, will remain closed till Saturday "due to heavy rains and resultant flooding". The runway and the parking area at the Kochi airport are flooded. Train services have also been affected due to Kerala rain, with many being delayed and cancelled. The torrential rain - which forced the state to release excess water from reservoirs, causing floods downstream - was expected to stop. But the weather office has said it is likely to continue till Saturday.

Rain-hit Idduki district in Kerala is bracing for surplussing of Mullaperiyar Dam as officials issued an alert for people living on the Periyar River banks with the water level in the reservoir crossing the 137 feet mark against its maximum of 142 feet today.

A 13-year-old school boy drowned while participating in a swimming competition organised at a temple pond at Thalassery in Kannur district.

Superstar Rajinikanth has launched an unusual broadside against Chief Minister E Palaniswami and his ministers for skipping DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi's funeral last week, provoking a stinging comeback from the has provoked a sharp comeback from the ruling AIADMK.

Torrential rains, overflowing rivers and a series of landslides ravaged Kerala, where 39 lives had been lost so far.

Opening up on the subject publicly for the first time, DMK leader MK Stalin said today that he had pleaded with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami to allot space at the Marina beach to bury party President and his father M Karunanidhi. He added that had he not gotten permission to bury his father at the Marina beach, he too would have died.

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday turned down accused Malayalam actor Dileep's demand for a copy of the video of the abduction of an actress and her harassment at the hands of the perpetrators who took her around in a vehicle in Kochi for two hours in February 2017.

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on August 17 the plea of Tamil Nadu government challenging an order of the National Green Tribunal allowing mining major Vedanta access to the administrative unit inside its closed Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin in the state.

The first meeting of the DMK after the death of party patriarch M Karunanidhi was expected to look to the future by formally anointing his son, MK Stalin as the party chief. Instead, the gathering of nearly 300 party leaders from across the state mourned the departed leader and anticipated having his son in the driving seat.