Kolkata, Dec 23; GANASHAKTI:  CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri on Sunday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was resorting to manipulation of statistics to paint a rosy picture of his government's achievements.

Yechuri claimed Modi's announcement that 99 per cent goods will now attract 18 per cent or lower GST as a "post truth", since 97 per cent of merchandise or services already attract 18 per cent or less GST.

"The method adopted by Modi surpasses Goebells," he said, drawing a parallel with Hitler's Propaganda Minister during the Nazi rule in Germany.

Balasore (Odisha), Dec 23; PTI: India on Sunday   successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of 4,000 km, as part of a user trial by the Army.

The strategic surface-to-surface missile was flight tested from launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Dr Abdul Kalam Island, earlier known as Wheeler Island, at about 8.35 am, defence sources said.

BUJUMBURA, Burundi, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- China provides selfless assistance to help with Burundi's development and its people's livelihood, the Burundian foreign minister said Saturday.

The establishment of the diplomatic ties 55 years ago launched the sincere cooperation between the two countries, Burundian Foreign Minister Ezechiel Nibigira said at a reception celebrating the 55th anniversary of bilateral ties.

OSLO, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- New figures from Norway's statistics bureau showed strong increase of Norwegian population's wealth due to a long-term stock market upturn and housing price growth, online newspaper E24 reported Saturday.

Total gross wealth in 2017 was 9,975 billion kroner (1,145 billion U.S. dollars), which is an increase of 9.1 percent from the year before, according to the Statistics Norway (SSB).

New Delhi, Dec 22; PTI: In a relief to the common man, the GST Council Saturday cut rates on 23 commonly used goods and services, including TV screens, movie tickets and power banks.

The annual revenue implication of the rate cuts would be Rs 5,500 crore, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

The council rationalised the 28 per cent slab by bringing down the tax rate on seven items in the highest tax bracket, thereby leaving only 28 items in the slab.

KANPUR: As many as five candidates appearing at examinations of village development officer run away with their answer sheets from the centres here on Saturday. The centre in-charge lodged first information report against them at the police station. Besides, two candidates were also caught for copying.  

JERUSALEM, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday played down Israeli concerns over the U.S. pullout from Syria, saying his country will continue to act against Iranian forces in Syria.

"I would like to reassure those who are concerned," he said at the weekly cabinet meeting. "Our cooperation with the United States will continue in full and finds expression in many areas."

This cooperation includes joint operations, intelligence information, and "many other security spheres," he added.

KANPUR:  A dead body of married woman was found on a sleeper coach of Lokmanya Tilak Express. Taking corpse into possession the railway police sent the dead body for the post-mortem. Injury marks were found on her body. On complaints of the relatives, the police arrested the husband.

ROME (AP) — After a raucous session, the Italian Senate has approved a national budget law that was tweaked in a bid to satisfy European Union concerns.

Much of the Italian government’s planned spending in 2019, which won passage in Parliament’s upper chamber about 3 a.m. Sunday, satisfies the expensive campaign promises by Italy’s populist coalition. Those including rolling back pension changes and guaranteeing income for the jobless or underemployed.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, December 22. /TASS/. Servicemen from the 49th general army have participated in large-scale military drills to practice deactivation of contaminated objects after a massive nuclear attack, the press service of Russia's Southern Military District said on Saturday.

"On the territory of the Stavropol and Kuban regions, over 3,000 servicemen took part in drills on conducting radiation, chemical and bacteriological reconnaisance; as well as on deactivating contamination from nuclear weapons of terrain, weapons and military equipment," the press service said.

ANKARA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Friday welcomed a decision of United States for pullout of all its troops from Syria and declared that it postponed an already announced operation into the east of Euphrates River in the war-torn country.

Moreover, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a recent deal with his U.S. counterpart for eliminating residues of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria by the Turkish army.

22 Dec 2018; DW: Hours after a Security Council vote, a UN team has landed in Yemen to observe the departure of fighters from Hodeida. The port city serves as the entry point for the majority of imports to the war-ravaged country.

A United Nations monitoring team posted to Yemen's port city of Hodeida has arrived in the country, a UN source said on Saturday.