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There is a rising chorus of voices, mostly from the Global South, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the urgent provision of aid to a population that is facing imminent famine. Is anybody listening? Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan is the latest to intervene, telling Israel that it had “gone too far" in its war against Hamas in Gaza. “I have communicated that both to the prime minister, to the foreign minister, and to the other Israelis whom we have met," he said last week on Wednesday.

QUITO (Reuters) — Ecuador's youngest mayor, Brigitte Garcia, and an advisor were found shot dead in a car early on Sunday, said police in the South American country, which is in the grips of a wave of violence that authorities blame on drug trafficking

Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party has fielded Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a stronghold of Congress. The party has released the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. BJP has fielded K Surendran, its Kerala unit president from Wayanad, from where Rahul Gandhi is sitting MP.

K Surendran its Kerala unit president from Wayanad, from where Rahul Gandhi is a sitting MP. The party released the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, BJP fielded Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, a stronghold of Congress.

Harish Rawat on Sunday threw his weight behind Congress candidate from Haridwar Lok Sabha seat Virender Rawat saying he got the ticket not because he is his son but in recognition of his track record as a dedicated party worker. The party high command gathered a lot of information about Virender Rawat as a party worker before finalising his candidature, the Congress veteran who had himself won the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat in 2009 said. «Virender Rawat has worked continuously as a Congress worker in Uttarakhand since 1998 and has been active in Haridwar since 2009, standing with people in every village of the area through thick and thin,» Harish Rawat said in a post on X. He has been the president of Dayal Singh Degree College students' union in 1996, general secretary of Delhi NSUI, vice president of Youth Congress in Uttarakhand, and is now vice president of Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, Harish Rawat said about his son in the post.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday accused the BJP government at the Centre of «misusing» federal probe agencies and said the public will give a befitting reply to it in the Lok Sabha polls. After holding a meeting with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs here, he said everyone in the party's Punjab unit has been standing like a rock with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last Thursday in connection with an excise policy-linked money-laundering case. At the meeting with the legislators, Mann, who is also the AAP's Punjab unit chief, discussed a host of issues including Kejriwal's arrest, strategy for the Lok Sabha polls and the INDIA bloc's 'maha' rally on March 31. The meeting was also attended by the AAP's state unit working president Budh Ram, Punjab Assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and deputy speaker Jai Kishan Singh.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said giving tickets to the children and relatives of ministers was not dynastic politics but acknowledging the recommendation of voters. In its second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on March 21 announced fielding its national president M Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law and children of five ministers in Karnataka. «Yes, we have given. We gave tickets to those whom the people of the constituency recommended. This is not dynastic politics but acknowledging people's opinion,» Siddaramaiah told reporters. He was replying to a query about 10 family members and relatives of Karnataka ministers getting tickets to contest the Lok Sabha polls on behalf of Congress.

BRS fielded former minister and legislator Theegulla Padma Rao Goud from the Secunderabad seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Telangana. The decision came after the party's legislators, and other people's representatives unanimously approved Padma Rao Goud as the candidate after a meeting. In a post on X, the BRS stated, «As a senior leader of the party, Padma Rao Goud, who has been loyal to the party since the time of the movement till today, has gained recognition as a man of all».

Tamil Nadu BJP on Sunday alleged that state Fisheries Minister and DMK leader Anitha R Radhakrishnan publicly uttered an expletive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said it would approach the police and Election Commission seeking action. K Annamalai, the BJP's state unit president posted on X that DMK leaders have reached a new low in their «uncouth behaviour» by passing «vile comments and an unpardonable public discourse» against PM Modi. «When they have nothing to criticise, this is the level DMK leaders have stooped. DMK MP Smt Kanimozhi was on the stage and did not bother to stop her colleague,» Annamalai said in his post. The BJP leader said his party would take up this matter with the Election Commission and the Director General of Police (DGP) on March 24 seeking the «strictest and immediate action» against Anita Radhakrishnan.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday charged the lithium reserves in Jammu and Kashmir will be gifted to companies that will later donate a part of the "illicit proceeds" to the ruling party at the Centre. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister was reacting to a news report which said the government will again auction the lithium blocks in Jammu and Kashmir «Now J&Ks lithium reserves too are being plundered & gifted to dubious companies who will then donate a part of these illicit proceeds to the ruling party as 'party fund',» she charged in a post on X. The former chief minister also said that the «nexus between BJP and crony capitalists» explained why the Centre was not taking note of legitimate demands of Ladakhi people for inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Pushkar Singh Dhami said that a committee has been formed to examine all aspects of the Uniform Civil Code, and it will be implemented at the earliest in the state. Speaking to ANI, more than a week after President Droupadi Murmu approved the bill, CM Dhami said, «We had promised the Uniform Civil Code to the people of Uttarakhand. When we went to the people during the 2022 election, we promised that we would implement the UCC soon after the new government was formed. We have kept that promise.» «The President has also given her assent. The process is underway. A committee has also been formed at the departmental level. It is examining all aspects. We will implement it at the earliest,» CM Dhami said.

BJP on Sunday criticised the Left government in Kerala for its move to approach the Supreme Court against President Droupadi Murmu saying that it reflected the Marxist party's discrimination towards women and tribal communities. The CPI(M) has always adopted an «anti-woman» stand and they had even opposed when Murmu had been nominated to the supreme post of the country, senior party leader and Union Minister V Muraleedharan alleged.

Russia lowered flags to half-mast on Sunday for a day of mourning after scores of people were gunned down with automatic weapons at a rock concert outside Moscow in the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades. President Vladimir Putin declared a national day of mourning after pledging to track down and punish all those behind the attack, which left 133 people dead, including three children, and more than 150 were injured.

Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said the TMC government will not complete its full term till 2026 if the saffron party gets even one more seat than the Mamata Banerjee-led party. Claiming that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is an ideological issue for Bengal BJP akin to the Ram Mandir issue for the central unit, Majumdar said the Act will help the party sweep the elections in the state. In an interview with PTI, Majumdar said the people of the state have decided to defeat the corrupt and anarchic TMC in the LS polls. «We have set a target of winning 35 seats from Bengal. We are confident about it. If we get even one more seat than that of the TMC, which we will get, the Mamata Banerjee government will not complete its full term till 2026. Its government would collapse,» he said.

Congress has nominated JNU professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam and former MLA Alfred Kanngam Arthur for the Inner and Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seats respectively in the upcoming polls, an official statement said. The statement, issued by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K Venugopal, said that the decision was taken by the Central Election Committee of the grand old party. Akoijam gained popularity for his academic insights into the ethnic violence that broke out in the state last year. Arthur, a former party MLA, hails from Tangkhul Naga-dominated Ukhrul district.

Paytm, has in an exchange filing on March 24 announced that Praveen Sharma, Senior Vice President - Business, formally resigned from his position on Saturday. Sharma is pursuing "other opportunities" in the next phase of his professional journey. Before his tenure at Paytm, Sharma held leadership roles at Google for nine years, focusing on India and the APAC region, as per an ANI report.

Vladimir Putin pledged to seek justice against those responsible for the “barbaric terrorist attack" at a Moscow concert hall that claimed over 130 lives. Here are the top events today: Russia is grieving the deadliest terrorist attack in Moscow in over twenty years, with authorities confirming the death toll has risen to 133 while rescue teams persist in their search for victims. In a televised address on Saturday, President Vladimir Putin informed the nation that security forces had apprehended four suspects attempting to escape to Ukraine.

Kim Jong Un sent a message of sympathy to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the massacre at a Moscow concert hall and said nothing can justify «heinous terrorism» against human lives, KCNA state news agency said on Sunday. Kim «expressed deep condolences and sympathy» to Putin and to the Russian people, the victims and their families on the news of heavy casualties caused by «a large-scale terrorist attack in (the) Moscow region,» KCNA said.

Putin did not mention IS and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault to stoke fervor for Russia's war in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year. 3. During his speech, he also added that the incident left over 100 individuals injured and 11 people have been detained in total.

KYIV (Reuters) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was seeking ways to divert blame for a massacre at a concert hall near Moscow on Friday.

Lok Sabha polls. Danish Ali was suspended from Mayawati-led BSP citing ‘anti-party activities’. Ali later joined Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra when it was passing through Amroha.