Etawah, Mar 21 (PTI) Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav Thursday alleged that the Pulwama terror attack was a "conspiracy" to garner votes, drawing sharp reaction from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Yadav, a general secretary in the Samajwadi Party (SP), also said once there is a change at the Centre, investigations will be conducted into the incident and claimed that prominent people will come under the scanner of the probe.

TEHRAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that his country will defeat the United States in the latter's anti-Iran "economic war."

"The enemy has waged economic war on us. We must defeat the enemy in this war," said Khamenei in Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad.

He made the remarks, broadcast live on the state IRIB TV, on the first day of the Iranian New Year.

"We must establish economic deterrence so that it (the United States) cannot use economic loopholes to harm the country," he added.

New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) Several parliamentary constituencies are set to witness high-profile contest this election with the BJP announcing its first list of candidates and fielding Union minister Smriti Irani against Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.

Irani had lost to Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but was seen to have put up a spirited fight.

The Congress has earlier announced the candidature of Gandhi from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

In 2014, Gandhi (4,08,651 votes) defeated Irani (3,00,748) by 1,07,903 votes.

22 Mar 2019; DW: Around 45 percent of migrants taking part in language and integration courses in Germany do not pass, according to media reports citing the response to a request for information by the far-right AfD party.

Of the roughly 202,000 people taking a course in 2018, 93,500 failed, according to government data cited in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung daily. One in four failed even after doing additional classes.

Madurai, Mar 21 (PTI) The Madras High Court Thursday convicted nine people to life imprisonment in a case related to the attack on the office of Tamil daily 'Dinakaran' here in 2007 in which three men were killed.

Gopinath, Vinoth and Muthuramalingam were killed in the attack on May 5, 2007.

On December 9, 2009, all the 17 people arrested in the case were acquitted of murder charges by a CBI special court.

Later, the CBI, which investigated the case, and Vinoth's mother filed an appeal.

Mumbai, Mar 21 (PTI) Days after a school teacher was killed by the Naxals in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, the rebels have issued a letter calling it a mistake, the police claimed Thursday.

Yogendra Meshram was killed because he was suspected to be a policeman but he was "innocent", the purported letter said.

Meshram, teacher at a municipal school at Korchi, was shot dead by Naxals at Kombda Bajar on March 12.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday sanctioned two Chinese shipping companies suspected of helping North Korea evade sanctions — the first targeted actions taken against Pyongyang since its nuclear negotiations with the U.S. in Hanoi last month ended without agreement.

“The maritime industry must do more to stop North Korea’s illicit shipping practices,” Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton tweeted. “Everyone should take notice and review their own activities to ensure they are not involved in North Korea’s sanctions evasion.”

BUENOS AIRES, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's gross domestic product (GDP) fell 2.5 percent in 2018, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) said Thursday.

During the last quarter of 2018, Argentina had a reduction of 1.2 percent in GDP compared with the previous quarter, which marks the second largest economic contraction, preceded by the 3.8-percent decline in the second quarter in which the U.S. dollar appreciated against the peso and the economy began reporting negative numbers.

BEIJING, March 21. /TASS/. China and Russia stand for resolving the situation in Syria as soon as possible, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said at a briefing, commenting on Wednesday’s talks between China’s Special Envoy for Syria Xie Xiaoyan and Russian Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov.

Lucknow, Mar 21 (PTI) The BJP on Thursday denied tickets to its six sitting MPs from Uttar Pradesh, including Union minister Krishna Raj and National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman Ram Shankar Katheria.

The BJP Thursday announced its first list of 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow.

New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) The government Friday decided to boycott the Pakistan National Day event to be held at its high commission here as Kashmiri separatist leaders were also invited, an official said.

Indian government officials will stay away from the reception scheduled on the eve of Pakistan National Day, which is celebrated on March 23, the official said.

Aizawl, Mar 21 (PTI) Mizoram assembly has passed a bill to bring back total prohibition of liquor in the northeastern state after four years.

The state government decided to prohibit manufacture, import, sale and consumption of liquor for the common people for their general health and help in law enforcement, Excise and Narcotics Minister Dr K Beichhua said while introducing the bill.

Cutting across party lines, all the legislators supported the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Bill, 2019 and it was passed Wednesday.