27 Mar 2019; DW: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that his country's forces had shot down a low-orbit satellite as part of a test exercise.

Modi said he was proud of his scientists and congratulated those behind the mission. He said the exercise proved India had become a "space superpower," bringing it in line with the US, Russia and China.

New Delhi, Mar 26; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Nirmohi Akhara, one of the original litigants in the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, has requested the Supreme Court to consider moving the mediation panel proceedings from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh to New Delhi or some other "neutral place" due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

It has also said that an amicable resolution would be possible only through "direct dialogue" between the UP Sunni Wakf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara.

Kolkata, Mar 26 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday described LK Advani as one of the pillars of the BJP and said leaving him out of its candidates list is an insult to the veteran leader.

Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said political parties should not ignore their senior leaders.

Coimbatore, Mar 26; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Tamil Nadu CPI-M secretary K Balakrishnan Tuesday accused the Election Commission of India of being a puppet in the hands of BJP.

Cases were booked against opposition parties for violating code of conduct even if a candidate garlanded a statue, Balakrishnan told reporters here.

The party would soon submit a memorandum to the chief electoral officer on the need to change the election officers working for long in the same post and appoint news ones for free and fair functioning, he said.

Itanagar, Mar 26 (PTI) BJP candidate from Aalo East assembly constituency, Kento Jini, is set to be elected unopposed, after nomination papers of his lone rival Minkir Lollen of the Congress was found invalid on Tuesday.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kanki Darang said the official announcement would be made after March 28, the last date of withdrawal of candidature.

Altogether 198 candidates remained in fray for 60 assembly constituencies, after scrutiny of papers on Tuesday.

New Delhi, Mar 26; PTI/GANASHAKTI: A delegation of the CPI and the CPI(M) has met Election Commission officials and demanded that release of the film based on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi be deferred, claiming it to be a "propaganda material".

CPI's D Raja and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Nilotpal Basu met the poll panel officials on Monday and also pointed out serious law and order situations in Tripura and West Bengal.

26 Mar 2019; DW: The European Parliament on Tuesday voted with a large majority to end daylight savings time in the EU by 2021. 

Under the proposals, each member state would decide whether to continue with twice-a-year clock changes or stick permanently to summer or winter time.

Clock ticking

Chennai, Mar 27 (PTI) The Congress party's minimum income guarantee scheme will be rolled out in phases and the five crore beneficiary families will be covered in phases, senior leader P Chidambaram said Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Finance Minister said 'enough' economists and experts in the subject had been consulted and they broadly agreed that India has the capacity to implement the scheme.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the implementation of the scheme is possible, Chidambaram added.

GABORONE, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Tuesday that reducing extreme poverty is his government's priority and he is working to lure foreign investors into the southern African nation to create the much needed employment opportunities.

Masisi was addressing members of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in Francistown, Botswana's second largest city ahead of the party's elective congress, which will be held from April 5 to 7 in Kang, a village in the southwestern part of the country.

Lucknow, Mar 26 (PTI) The BJP has so far given Lok Sabha tickets to three Uttar Pradesh cabinet ministers, a move seen as the party's recognition of the work done by these leaders.

Names of two state cabinet ministers -- Rita Bhauguna Joshi (Allahabad) and Satyadev Pachauri (Kanpur) -- were announced by the party in its 10th list of candidates on Wednesday. The saffron party had in its first list named another state cabinet minister, S P Singh Baghel, as it candidate from Agra (SC).

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) Cracking the whip, the Election Commission Tuesday ordered the transfer of the Andhra Pradesh director general (intelligence) and two district superintendents of police, following complaints against them, the EC sources said.

The state Chief Secretary has been asked to transfer DG (Intelligence) A B Venkateswara Rao, and SPs of Srikakulam and Kadapa districts Venkata Raman and Rahul Dev Sharma respectively with immediate effect, the sources said.

Lucknow, Mar 26 (PTI) Nomination papers of 49 candidates for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on the state's eight seats were rejected Tuesday after they were found invalid during scrutiny, election officials said.

In a statement issued here, an official said that out of the total 146 candidates who filed nominations for the first phase on April 11, 97 remain in the fray after scrutiny.