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India has close and longstanding relations with Mauritius, an island nation in the Western Indian Ocean, anchored in shared history, demography, culture and strategic partnership. A key reason for the special ties is the fact that Indian origin people comprise nearly 70% of the island’s population of 1.2 million. The relationship has been characterized by a high level of trust and mutual understanding at the leadership level and continued high-level political engagement. These special ties have resulted in uniquely close cooperation in maritime security, development partnership, capacity-building, cooperation in international fora, technical assistance through deputation of Indian experts to GOM, vibrant cultural exchanges and close people-to-people ties, officials explained. In this backdrop President Droupadi Murmu, will undertake a State Visit to Mauritius from 11th to 13th March, to attend the National Day celebrations of Mauritius on 12th March as the Chief Guest. A contingent of the Indian Navy will participate in the celebrations along with two Ships of the Indian Navy's First Training Squadron — INS Tir and CGS Sarathi.

Joe Biden said Benjamin Netanyahu's approach to the war in Gaza was «hurting Israel more than helping Israel» in an interview aired Saturday, as the US leader's impatience with his Israeli counterpart grows increasingly visible. With Gaza's humanitarian crisis growing more dire and Biden's left flank in uproar, the US president made contradictory remarks as to the question of a «red line» over Israel's threatened offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza.

Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections drew criticism about the Modi-led government and has raised questions about the transparency of 'free and fair' elections. His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year. Also Read: Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE Updates According to a report by NDTV citing sources, the announcement of Lok Sabha election dates, expected next week, is uncertain due to Goel's resignation.

Antony Blinken, spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto on Saturday to discuss the ongoing political and security crisis in Haiti. During their conversation, both leaders reiterated their commitment to ensuring free and fair elections in the region. «Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto to discuss the ongoing political and security crisis in Haiti. They underscored unwavering commitment to the deployment of a Multinational Security Support mission to support the Haitian National Police in creating the security conditions necessary to conduct free and fair elections,» US Department of State official spokesperson, Matthew Miller said in an official statement.

Arun Goel before the Lok Sabha elections, emphasizing the widespread concern across the nation regarding the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal also slammed the Centre and said that the government is uninterested in ensuring a transparent and impartial electoral process. Also Read: Lok Sabha polls LIVE The resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel was announced on Saturday and subsequently accepted by the President.

that blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon two months ago. “We have looked extensively and have not found any such documentation," Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief government lobbyist, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday.

Amit Shah and TDP president Chandra Babu Naidu has resulted in finalisation of the seat deal between the two parties. BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday announced the alliance between BJP, TDP and Jana Sena for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections. TDP was in NDA till March 2018 and was also part of the Modi cabinet. However, it quit the NDA on the demand of special status to Andhra Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, a day after resigning from the post of state Congress President, on Saturday said that he would continue to discharge his responsibilities in that post. According to him the party high command yet to accept his resignation letter. Tuki, also Congress MLA from the Sagalee assembly constituency, said that he had offered to resign from the post of PCC President on Friday because he is unable to assist those who intend to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and campaign for them as he would also be contesting the polls.

farmers' protest, Uniform Civil Code and a policy on checking the rise in population are some of the topics likely to come up for discussion in the three-day meeting of the Rashtriya Swayanmsewak Sangh's (RSS) top decision-making body starting from March 15 in Nagpur, sources said. The Gyanvyapi mosque and Mathura Eidgah issues are the two topics which the Sangh might refrain from taking up at the meeting. Resolving the disputes between two communities (Meitei-Kuki) in Manipur and addressing the issues of protesting farmers over their demand of a Minimum Support Price for their produce from the government are the two areas on which the Sangh affiliates will make a presentation at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) meeting.

Lok Sabha elections, Election Commissioner Arun Goel has suddenly resigned, leaving the poll body with only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar at the helm, unless the Centre appoints two new election commissioners this week. Goel's resignation that has come three years before his term was to complete in 2027, is a significant development that also puts the poll panel's internal dynamics in the spotlight ahead of yet another general election, just like in 2019. More so, given that Goel was actively participating in all the poll-related meetings right until Saturday, touring states and holding briefings with ECI officials. Goel was also present at the March 8 high-level discussion held with the home ministry on deployment of forces for polls. He was also scheduled to visit J&K along with the CEC on March 12.

charge as Election Commissioner on November 21, 2022. He is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1985 batch, Punjab cadre. Arun Goel served as a secretary at the Ministry of Heavy Industry, Government of India, after more than 37 years of service.

BJP on Saturday released a list of seven candidates for the coming biennial elections to the Uttar Pradesh legislative council, repeating three candidates, including senior leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak, whose term is coming to an end in May. Vijay Bahadur Pathak is vice president of the state unit of the BJP. The list released by national general secretary Arun Singh includes the names of former ministers Mahendra Kumar Singh and Ashok Katariya who will also seek re-election. The four new faces are state vice president Santosh Singh, president of the western region of the party Mohit Beniwal, former mayor of Jhansi Ram Tirath Singhal and co-media incharge of UP Dharmendra Singh.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday that the state is the engine of the country's economy and it has garnered more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) than Gujarat, Karnataka or Uttar Pradesh. He was addressing a 'Viksit Bharat' (developed India) event at Pune's Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Though late president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam envisaged the 'Viksit Bharat' concept, no work was done on it between 2000 and 2014, alleged Fadnavis. «The actual work started in 2014 and last year we made our mark in the world's top five economies. In the past many years, we witnessed corrupt practices and many scandals. Earlier, FDI inflow was low due to policy paralysis.

seat-sharing formula for principal ally the Congress, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Saturday allotted 10 seats in the state and neighbouring Puducherry to the national party for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Dravidian party gave Congress nine seats in Tamil Nadu, besides the lone Puducherry segment.

January's unexpectedly high core inflation altered market expectations, shifting from anticipating policy rate reductions as early as March to doubting any cuts will happen this year.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Michele Kambas

Andhra Pradesh and its people, and the seat-sharing modalities would be deliberated in a day or two, the three parties said in a joint statement on Saturday. «We hope that the alliance will come up to the expectation of the people of Andhra Pradesh with their wholehearted support,» BJP president J P Nadda, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party's (JSP) Pawan Kalyan said in the joint statement. They said that under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the three parties have decided to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh assembly elections together as they are committed to the progress of the country and the upliftment of the state and its people. The statement said that Prime Minister Modi has been working tirelessly for the development and progress of the nation for the last 10 years and the coming together of the BJP with the TDP and the JSP will help achieve the aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh.

By Daniel Wiessner

Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja on Saturday said a leader of Rahul Gandhi's stature should contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from a seat where he can directly challenge the ruling BJP, even as he said it is a political party's prerogative to decide who would it field from a seat. The remarks came a day after the Congress announced that Gandhi will contest the parliamentary polls, likely to be held in April-May, from Wayanad in Kerala, the seat he currently represents in the Lok Sabha. CPI's Annie Raja, wife of D Raja, has been fielded as the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from Wayanad. Asked about the Congress's decision to field Gandhi from Wayanad, Raja said, «Within the LDF, the CPI has got four seats to contest and Wayanad is one of those, so we have announced our candidate. Secondly, it is the prerogative of any political party to choose its candidate from a constituency. In this case, it is the prerogative of the Congress.»

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will return to the board of the company which is behind popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. The development comes after a boardroom drama that saw Altman being fired in November last year. Altman will join the board with three new directors – Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, former president of Sony Entertainment; and Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has resigned as the president of the state Congress, ahead of the Lok Sabha and the assembly elections, a party leader said on Saturday. Tuki sent his resignation to the All India Congress Committee on Friday, following the defection of three party MLAs to BJP, he said. «The former chief minister resigned on moral grounds as he could not prevent the MLAs from defecting to other political parties,» APCC general secretary Gyamar Tana said. Tuki represents the Sagalee assembly constituency in the state.