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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) — Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday he does not fear being put on trial, one day after a police investigation revealed the far-right politician tried to co-op the country's military chiefs in a coup plan to overturn his 2022 election defeat.

ALSO READ: IPL 2024: BCCI might shift second half of the series to another country, says report Hours after the announcement of the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Shah dismissed the speculation of staging the second half of IPL 2024 abroad. He said, as quoted by news agency PTI, “The entire IPL will be held in India. We will be formulating the remaining schedule very soon and announce it." Earlier in the day, A Times of India quoted a BCCI official as saying that they may consider scheduling the second half of the IPL series in UAE, as the Election Commission of India was to announce the election schedule on Saturday at 3 pm.

Trinamool Congress on Saturday said the Election Commission did not take into account the West Bengal government's views as seven-phase Lok Sabha polls were announced for the 42 seats in the state. TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray claimed that this was a disregard for the federal structure of the country. «State government's views were not taken into account. This is a disregard for the federal structure. We fail to understand the reasons for holding such a long election. This is quite surprising,» he said. The 42 seats of West Bengal will be voting in all seven phases, beginning on April 19.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday accused the BJP-led government of conducting a "surgical strike" on his party by freezing its bank accounts ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, saying it was rendered «economically handicapped» through "tax terror". Addressing a press conference here as part of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, he also alleged that the ruling party was illegally collecting funds through electoral bonds. The Congress' main bank accounts were frozen last month over an income tax demand of Rs 210 crore. «BJP has done a surgical strike on Congress by freezing its bank accounts ahead of the general elections. We have no money to fight polls or prepare our election campaign. Even the money collected through crowd funding cannot be used. Congress has been made economically handicapped through tax terror,» Ramesh alleged.

polls for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be held soon after the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are over. This announcement came days after a high-level committee's report on 'One Nation One Elections' backed simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls.

2024 Lok Sabha elections for 543 Parliamentary seats will be held in seven phases from April 19, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar announced on Saturday. The counting will be held on June 4.

Over 28 crore Indian citizens want to buy a house, among the 40-crore population that is yet to own a house in the country. CREDAI also projects that there will be a 7-crore additional housing demand by 2030. “Due to its strong multiplier effect coupled with robust real estate demand – for both housing and commercial – the sector is bound to play a critical role in multiplying GDP value and increasing revenues, per capita incomes that will aid further growth as a part of a self-sustaining cycle due to ever increasing consumption,” said CREDAI president Boman R Irani.

UDF's candidate from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency Shashi Tharoor on Saturday released a 68-page booklet detailing his contributions to the constituency as an MP for the last 15 years. While addressing a gathering here, Tharoor said that he had been subjected to baseless allegations whenever he contested and this time the charge is that he has not done anything for the constituency for the last 15 years. «They are saying that I have not done anything for the past 15 years. So I am releasing a 68-page development report,» Tharoor said. He also ridiculed the phrase, 'Modiyude guarantee' (Modi's guarantee) saying that the BJP's only guarantee is that they will not deliver on their promises.

Lok Sabha polls 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday penned a letter to the nation, appealing to the people for their backing to construct a ‘Viksit Bharat’ or a developed India, and said that beauty of democracy lies in ‘Janbhagidari’ (public participation). In his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the citizens as “dear family members," emphasizing that their partnership is on the brink of reaching a decade.

oil markets have been largely quiescent. In fact, however, a new phase is beginning—one in which oil demand, not supply, will be the primary influence on energy markets. This shift will bring with it profound geopolitical consequences.

chargeMOD', has announced its expansion plans and said it will deploy 1,200 more EV chargers across India and 600 more in Kerala. The company, in an announcement made earlier this week, said it was planning to set up an additional 1,000 slow chargers and 200 fast chargers across various states in India and to establish an additional 500 slow chargers and 100 fast chargers in Kerala. It said this was excluding the existing 1,500 charging stations in Kerala and 2,000 stations across India. 'chargeMOD' is set to introduce Ultra Fast Chargers with capacities ranging from 120 kW to 340 kW, further enhancing charging speeds and convenience for EV users across the country, the company said in a release.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that over 1 crore households have already registered for the solar rooftop scheme PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. «Outstanding news! In about a month since it was launched, over 1 crore households have already registered themselves for the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. Registrations have been pouring in from all parts of the nation,» PM Modi posted on X. The Prime Minister further said that Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have seen over 5 lakh regulations.

electoral bonds scheme have exposed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which routinely accuses the Congress of looting the country, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray has said. The BJP got Rs 8,000 crore in electoral bonds and if one compares it with the amount received by the Congress, it would be clear who has been carrying out loot, Thackeray claimed at a gathering of party workers in Colaba area of south Mumbai on Friday. «Disclosures linked to the electoral bonds scheme have exposed the BJP, which routinely accuses the Congress of looting the country. Will you give this country in the hands of looters? The BJP wants another five-year term (at the Centre) to loot the country while showing you (citizens) dreams of 'Viksit Bharat' (developed India)...,» he said. Just as leaders of his party were being pressured by probe agencies, like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), corporates were also threatened into making large donations to the BJP, the former chief minister of Maharashtra alleged.

Kim Jong Un used a Russian luxury limousine gifted by President Vladimir Putin recently, Kim's sister said Saturday, praising the car's «special function» and the two countries' deepening bilateral ties. In February, Putin sent Kim a high-end Aurus Senat limousine, which he had shown to the North Korean leader when they met for a summit in Russia in September. Observers said the shipment violated a United Nations resolution aimed at pressuring the North to give up its nuclear weapons program by banning the supply of luxury items to North Korea.

Telangana on Saturday, the BJP said in an official statement. The BJP is formulating strategies to win more seats in the Lok Sabha elections in the state this time. The party's top leaders have already focused on Telangana.

Vladimir Putin electronically submitted his vote in the presidential elections on the first day of Presidential elections, the state media TASS said. The Kremlin released video footage depicting Putin walking to a computer in his office, voting, and subsequently smiling and waving at the camera. A message displayed on the computer screen confirmed the successful casting of his vote.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) — Facebook-parent Meta on Friday won a Brazilian court order overturning a previous ruling that barred it from using the name in the South American country, due to confusion with another company.

TOKYO (Reuters) — The Bank of Japan is expected to end its negative interest rate policy on Tuesday on substantial wage hikes by big firms in this year's wage negotiations, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday.

By Luc Cohen

Tesla, including a drastic cut in customs duty, as an incentive to set up manufacturing facilities in the country. The contours of the Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India are in line with a persistent demand from the Elon Musk-led company to lower India’s 70% import duty on cars if it was to establish a plant in India. The policy allows a sharply reduced rate of 15% customs duty for up to 8,000 EVs annually imported by a company that commits to Make in India. According to the policy document, carryover of any unutilised annual import limits will be permitted. The finance ministry notified the lower duty rate on Friday. “Companies setting up manufacturing facilities for EVs will be allowed a limited import of cars at lower custom duties,” said heavy industries minister Mahendra Nath Pandey.

Signals that Ottawa wants more domestic investment from Canadian public pension funds are being amplified by some members of the business community who argue there’s more these large pools of capital can do to boost Canada’s economy.