Newswallah: Bharat Edition

Jammu and Kashmir: Assailants suspected of being terrorists killed an 18-year-old boy in the Sopore district on Tuesday night, IBNLive reported. Initial investigations have pointed to the involvement of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The attack came on the heels of a suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force camp in Bemina last week. The police have arrested four people, including a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, in connection with that attack, according to NDTV.

Assam: The state government issued a notice to private schools to reserve at least 25 percent of their enrollments for students belonging to the “disadvantaged group and weaker sections” and to educate them without charge, Business Standard reported. The notification issued under the provisions of the Right to Education Act 2009, which promises free and compulsory education to children between the ages of 6 and 14, will go into effect beginning with the 2013-14 academic year, the report said.

Northeast: The first expedition to Mount Everest by a team of mountaineers from the northeastern states was seen off by President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Wednesday, a Sangai Express report on the E-Pao Web site said. The 14-member team, which includes both men and women, is scheduled to embark on the expedition from Lukla in Nepal on Tuesday.

Rajasthan: A 35-year-old man was abducted Monday by five people and beaten to death in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan, according to a PTI report in the Hindustan Times. The police are investigating.

Goa: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Wednesday that the state government would investigate the orders that were passed to revive 42 expired mining leases about 17 years ago, India Today reported. Mr. Parrikar said that a government committee scrutinizing illegal mining activities in the state would identify government officials and others “aiding and abetting the offenses.”

Tamil Nadu: Nearly 1,000 students demonstrated against the government of Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes against the island nation’s ethnic Tamils and burned effigies of its president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, chanting that he needed to be tried at the International Criminal Court, the New Indian Express reported. The demonstration took place on Marina Beach in the capital, Chennai.