A man holds a fishing line in the Periyar river amid monsoon rain, in Kochi. (PTI Photo)The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday morning issued a red alert for seven districts in Kerala. Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Kannur and Kasaragod are forecasting rainfall exceeding 15 mm per hour accompanied by gusts of up to 50 kmph over the next three hours. Schools and universities are shut in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod. Floodwaters are gradually receding in parts of Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha, though the Upper Kuttanad and Kuttanad regions remain inundated. INCOIS has warned of the “Kallakkadal” swell wave phenomenon, with waves of up to 1.5 metres threatening sea incursion along the coasts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha until 11.30 am.If you are just joining us, this is The Indian Express Realtime breaking news blog – where we bring you the latest news updates of the day in real time. Scan the top headlines of the day here, or keep scrolling to see the latest updates stream in.Did Jharkhand student leader Devendra Nath Mahto end his hunger strike?After a video call between climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and Jharkhand protesters led by student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, reports appeared suggesting that Mahto had ended his indefinite hunger strike over exam irregularities. But Wangchuk dismissed those claims in a video post on X, clarifying that the reports were incorrect. “Some media houses had mistakenly reported yesterday that Devendra Nath Mahato ji had broken his hunger strike after my video call. This is to clarify that he only agreed to take water and salt after my call. His hunger strike continues as before with no food for the fifth day,” Wangchuk said.Story continues below this adExclusive: Government’s Rs 1-lakh-crore tech fund went to firms linked to its own selection panelAn Indian Express investigation has found that 15 of the 22 firms chosen to receive funding from the government’s Rs 1-lakh-crore deep-tech fund have links to seven members of the panel that selected them. Panel members say they disclosed their interests and recused themselves from relevant decisions, but an MP who flagged the issue says public money of this scale requires stronger guardrails. An explainer on who gets the fund and how lays out the full architecture of the scheme.NEET paper leak: Experts relied on chits and memory, CBI findsCBI investigators have found that the experts who leaked the NEET question paper did so by memorising questions and writing them down on chits — a low-tech method that evaded the sophisticated surveillance measures around the printing and distribution process, and that raises pointed questions about the human element in India’s exam security chain.New IT rules: Social media firms get 2-hour deadline for sensitive contentThe government has notified new IT rules giving social media platforms a two-hour window to remove content flagged as sensitive — a significantly compressed timeframe that platforms say is technically difficult to comply with at scale, and that press freedom groups say could be used to suppress legitimate speech in fast-moving news situations.Prashant Kishor, fresh off Bihar win, stirs Mumbai waters with NCP meetDays after his Bankipur victory, Prashant Kishor has met with Sunetra and Parth Pawar of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in Mumbai — a meeting that has set off speculation about whether Kishor is building a wider political network beyond Bihar, or positioning himself as a broker between NDA-aligned and independent political forces.Wayanad to get advanced weather radar, two years after deadly landslideTwo years after the Wayanad landslide that killed 298 people, the district is finally set to receive an advanced X-band weather radar — a piece of infrastructure whose absence was widely cited as a failure that cost lives, and whose installation now represents the most concrete institutional response to the disaster.Live UpdatesAug 7, 2026 09:44 AM ISTStudents step up Jharkhand exam protest amid deadlock with governmentThe protest against irregularities in Jharkhand recruitment examinations entered its 14th day on Friday, with six protesters continuing an indefinite hunger strike. Student unions announced a march to the state Assembly amid the ongoing session. The protesters, led by the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch, alleged that the state government has not formally invited them for talks despite Chief Minister Hemant Soren's assurance that his government is open to dialogue.The protesters are demanding the cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) Civil Services Examination, an independent probe by the CBI or a panel of retired High Court judges from outside the state, and comprehensive reforms in the JPSC and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:breaking news