Following are the top foreign stories at 2030 hours

FGN28: BANGLA-CYCLONE Dhaka: The Bangladesh government on Thursday issued mass evacuation orders in 19 coastal districts to prevent casualties as meteorologists predicted cyclonic storm 'Fani' to make landfall on Friday after hitting Indian coastlines. By Anisur Rahman

FGN16: US-LD PAK

Washington: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is saying the "right things", but his military leadership too needs to take the "right decisions", the Trump administration has said, hours after the UN Security Council designated JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. By Lalit K Jha

FGN26: UK-LD ASSANGE London: WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange on Thursday began his legal fight against being extradited to the US from the UK to face charges of allegedly leaking American government secrets. By Aditi Khanna

FGN15: AZHAR-UNSC-LD INDONESIA United Nations: With the blacklisting of JeM chief Masood Azhar, the "sanctity and credibility" of the UN Security Council's sanctions committee have been preserved, according to Indonesia's envoy to the UN and Chair of the committee Dian Triansyah Djani. By Yoshita Singh

FGN18: LANKA-CARDINAL-CHURCHES

Colombo: Sri Lanka's Catholic church announced Thursday that it has cancelled all Sunday mass in churches across the island nation until further notice after warning of more possible attacks, days after it was announced that public mass would resume from May 5.

FGN17: PAK-LD MUSHARRAF Islamabad: Pakistan's former military dictator Pervez Musharraf did not turn up for the treason trial against him on Thursday citing deteriorating health and a special court accepted his plea to postpone the hearing until after Ramazan, according to a media report.

FGN14: AZHAR-UNSC-GUTERRES

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that all member states will abide by the decision of the sanctions committee of the world body which imposed an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar. By Yoshita Singh

FGN10: AZHAR-US-REAX Washington: The designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia, the White House has said. By Lalit K Jha

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