Breaking News March 28

The Congress on Monday demanded the immediate sacking of the BJP government in Karnataka over charges of corruption and said an independent probe by the high court should be ordered into the charges.

Rajasthan Police have yet to make an arrest in the gang-rape case of a minor in which five persons including Congress MLA's son are accused.

The Gujarat High Court on Monday extended its interim stay on a Surat court's proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case filed over his alleged "Modi" surname remarks.

Andhra Pradesh's opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Monday demanded financial emergency in the state in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's observation of a Rs 48,000 crore financial irregularity.

“All G7 ministers agreed completely that this (would be) a one-sided and clear breach of the existing contracts,” Robert Habeck said.

Sweden’s prime minister says her country will help refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine but won’t take in the kind of share it did during the influx of 2015.

Magdalena Andersson told reporters in Berlin on Monday that “we will do our part in helping Ukrainian refugees, but we cannot come back to the situation we had in 2015 when Sweden took a disproportionate part of the asylum seekers.”

Andersson, a member of the Social Democratic Party, said Sweden accepted about 12% of the total number of refugees coming to the European Union in 2015, despite having only 2% of the bloc’s population.

“We cannot come back to that kind of solution, but of course we will do our part and we are right now , of course, also welcoming Ukrainians that are coming to Sweden today, yesterday and during the last weeks,” she said after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Since the war began on Feb. 24, more than 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations' refugee agency.

After a warning from the government, the paper is shutting down until the end of the war in Ukraine – which Novaya Gazeta, complying with the government demands, calls "special operation." (The Kyiv Independent)

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has praised Serbia for refusing to impose sanctions against Moscow over its aggression in Ukraine, saying the Balkan ally has made “a smart choice.”

“We deeply respect the Serbian people, Serbian culture, Serbian history and commitment to traditional friends,” Lavrov told a group of Serbian journalists in a video conference. “We are sure that they will continue to make smart choices in this situation.”

Although Serbia voted in favor of a UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion, Belgrade has refused to join the United States and the European Union in imposing wide ranging sanctions against Moscow.

Lavrov said the sanctions are “an attempt by the United States to impose its hegemony” in the Balkans and added that the West “is trying to isolate Russia” in the region that has seen a devastating war in the 1990s.

Although formally seeking EU membership, Serbia has been forging close political, economic and military ties to Russia.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday requested Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to call an all-party meeting with the objective of unitedly approaching the Centre to stop its efforts to make Chandigarh a permanent union territory in violation of the Punjab Reorganization Act.

 Ukraine could declare neutrality, potentially accept a compromise on contested areas in the country’s east, and offer security guarantees to Russia to secure peace "without delay,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of another planned round of talks. But he said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia's leader could end the war.

While hinting at possible concessions, Zelenskyy also stressed that Ukraine's priority is ensuring its sovereignty and its “territorial integrity” — preventing Russia from carving up the country, something Ukraine and the West say could now be Moscow's goal.

“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state — we are ready to go for it,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with independent Russian media outlets.

The Ukrainian leader has suggested as much before, but rarely so forcefully, and the latest remarks could create momentum for talks set to resume Tuesday.

Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining the western NATO alliance, which Moscow sees as a threat.

Zelenskyy has also repeatedly stressed that Ukraine needs security guarantees of its own as part of any deal.

“We must come to an agreement with the president of the Russian Federation, and in order to reach an agreement, he needs to get out of there on his own feet ... and come to meet me," he said in an interview that Russia barred its media from publishing.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the two presidents could meet, but only after the key elements of a potential deal are negotiated.

“The meeting is necessary once we have clarity regarding solutions on all key issues,” Lavrov said in an interview with Serbian media. He accused Ukraine of only wanting to “imitate talks,” but said Russia needed concrete results.

Kerala on Monday recorded 346 new Covid cases while the test positivity rate stood at 2.90 per cent, said a statement from Health Minister Veena George.

A CBI court on Monday extended the judicial custody of National Stock Exchange's former MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, arrested by the probe agency in early 

Almost 8 years after the country's financial capital got its first east-west Mumbai Metro One corridor, two new lines are set to be partially open soon for the people, a top official said on Monday.

A complaint was lodged against former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) here on Monday for allegedly allotting 116.16 acres of government land to an education institution at a throwaway price for setting up a private university denting the state exchequer.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and reportedly apprised him about the ground situation in the state.

Children in the government schools in Barabanki district will now attend 'Digital Shalas' where they will get the digital learning opportunities.

The body of an unidentified man was found in an orchard in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, police said.

Pakistan National Assembly (NA) is set to meet on Monday after a two-day recess, with an opposition-moved no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan set to be tabled, Dawn reported.

West Bengal: 5 BJP MLAs including Suvendu Adhikari suspended from the Assembly, until further notice, following a clash between TMC & BJP MLAs on the floor of the House over Birbhum violence.

Thousands of American and Filipino forces began on Monday one of their largest combat exercises in years that will include live-fire maneuvers, aircraft assaults, urban warfare and beach landings in a showcase of U.S. firepower in the northern Philippines near the sea border with Taiwan.

The annual exercises, called Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — will run up to April 8 with nearly 9,000 troops, navy, marines, air force and army troops, including 5,100 American military personnel, to strengthen the longtime treaty allies' “capabilities and readiness for real-world challenges,” U.S. and Philippine military officials said.

Uttar Pradesh | The swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected members for the 18th Assembly session will start today onwards. I congratulate them & extend my good wishes: CM Yogi Adityanath, in Lucknow

The South Central Railway (SCR) has completed electrification of railway lines to a length of 163 route kilometres on various sections in Andhra Pradesh, giving a boost to the 'Mission Electrification of Indian Railways.'

The electrified sections are Kadiri–Tummanamgutta (53.30 route km), Pakala–Kalikiri (55.80 km) and Dhone–Kurnool City (54.20 km).

"This is a major rail infrastructure enhancement and paves the way for introduction of electric traction in the interior sections of Chittoor, Anantapuramu and Kurnool districts in the Rayalaseema region," SCR Chief Public Relations Officer Ch Rakesh said here in a release.

India registers 1,270 new COVID19 cases in the last 24 hours; Active cases stand at 15,859

CPI(M) MP Bikashranjan Bhattacharyya moves the motion for suspension of business in Rajya Sabha under Rule 267 to discuss the issue of the 2-day nationwide strike

Former BSP MLA and jailed mafia don Mukhtar Ansari is being shifted to the Lucknow jail, a year after he was brought back from Ropar in Punjab and lodged in the Banda jail.

Mukhtar was taken out of Banda jail early Monday morning in an ambulance and is being brought to Lucknow by road amidst tight security.

His son and newly-elected MLA, Abbas Bin Mukhtar Ansari told IANS that he feared that his father may be harmed in transit.

Two persons died while four others have been critically injured after a Scorpio ran over them in Sidhauli police circle in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district.

After the incident, the SUV overturned into a ditch and the driver fled from the site.

The incident took place early Monday morning and the SUV belongs to the Sakaran block pramukh.

According to reports, the vehicle was going towards Biswan from Lucknow when it first hit a cycle rider Sarvesh Kumar who died on the spot.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress on Sunday elected Aradhana Shukla Mona as its legislature party leader. Mona is the daughter of Congress leader Pramod Tiwari.

Mona was appointed CLP leader by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, according to a letter sent to the Rampur Khas MLA by party national general secretary K C Venugopal.

The Congress won only two seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly in the recent elections.

North Korea said on Monday leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to develop more powerful means of attack, days after the country's first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years.

The statement suggests North Korea might perform additional launches or even test a nuclear device soon as it pushes to modernise its arsenal and increase pressure on the Biden administration while nuclear diplomacy remains stalled.

Last Thursday, the North performed its 12th round of weapons tests this year, launching the newly developed, long-range Hwasong-17, which analysts say was designed to reach anywhere in the US mainland.

Two labourers died due to suffocation while cleaning a water tank at a residential colony in Naupada, two others were admitted to hospital in serious condition; Police have registered ADR, investigation underway: Thane Municipal Corporation

Union Home Minister Amit Shah to introduce the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 in Lok Sabha today

The average US price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline dropped 6 cents over the past two weeks to USD 4.37 per gallon.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said on Sunday that the decrease comes after nine straight weeks of price hikes totaling 98 cents.

The price at the pump is USD 1.42 higher than it was a year ago.

Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas is in Los Angeles, at USD 5.99 per gallon. The lowest average is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at USD 3.70 per gallon.

According to the survey, the average price of diesel is USD 5.16 a gallon, down 4 cents over two weeks.

China began locking down most of its largest city of Shanghai on Monday as part of its strict COVID-19 strategy, amid questions over the policy's economic toll on the country. Shanghai's Pudong financial district and nearby areas will be locked down from early Monday to Friday as citywide mass testing gets underway, the local government said.

In the second phase of the lockdown, the vast downtown area west of the Huangpu River that divides the city will then start its own five-day lockdown Friday.

Residents will be required to stay home and deliveries will be left at checkpoints to ensure there is no contact with the outside world.

Offices and all businesses not considered essential will be closed and public transport suspended.

Already, many communities within the city of 26 million have been locked down, with their residents required to submit to multiple tests for COVID-19.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said she tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday after returning from Europe with President Joe Biden, in the latest infiltration of the coronavirus into the West Wing's protective bubble around Biden.

Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy press secretary, said she last saw Biden “during a socially distanced meeting” on Saturday.
Biden, because he is fully vaccinated, is not considered a “close contact" under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Jean-Pierre traveled to Belgium and Poland with Biden after press secretary Jen Psaki tested positive for the virus last week.

A case under the Gangsters Act has been registered against Mukhtar Ansari and 12 others in connection with the ambulance case. Further investigation underway: Aatish Kumar, CO, City Barabanki 

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday said that around 17 lakh people visited the Indian Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020.

The information and broadcasting minister is in Dubai to participate in the Indian Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020.

"People have gathered in huge numbers to witness India Pavilion at Dubai Expo. People are excited to watch Indian exhibitions including Yoga, Ayurveda, tourism, textile, cosmic world, and cinema world.

Delhi - Petrol at Rs 99.41, diesel at Rs 90.77 

Mumbai - Petrol at Rs 114.19, diesel at Rs 98.50 

Chennai - Petrol at Rs 105.18, diesel at Rs 95.33 

Kolkata - Petrol at Rs 108.85, diesel at Rs 93.92 

BJP's Pramod Sawant to take oath as Goa CM for the second consecutive term today. 

PM Modi, Union ministers and other dignitaries will also attend the swearing-in ceremony.

'Encanto' wins the award for Best Animated Feature Film

63 fresh infections reported in Mizoram; Active cases stand at 1,219

Positivity rate at 14.13%