Over 900 artistes and people from the field of literature on Wednesday appealed to fellow voters to vote without pressure and prejudice, and elect a "mazboot sarkar" (strong government), not a "majboor sarkar" (helpess government), in the wake of challenges like terrorism.


900 artistes, writers vouch for 'mazboot sarkar'


IANS Automatic

Claire Grady, acting Deputy Secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, has become the latest official to resign after the agency's Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced she was leaving her post.


Another top US Homeland Security official quits


Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expressed regret over the worst bloodbath committed by the British Army during the colonial period, terming it as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history.


UK PM expresses regret over Jallianwala Bagh massacre


The Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment, on Wednesday rejected tge preliminary objections raised by the Central government and as a result, will hear the Rafale review petitions on merits. The court will also look into the published documents.


Rafale: SC rejects Centre's privilege plea, to hear review (3rd Lead)


Authorities in Andhra Pradesh have seized over Rs 116 crore unaccounted cash across the state since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force, officials said on Wednesday.


Rs 116 crore cash seized so far in Andhra Pradesh


A woman in southwest China has been detained by the police after she posted a video online showing her catching fish while wearing a red scarf associated with the Young Pioneers of China, a Communist Party organization.


Chinese woman held for 'disrespecting' Communist scarf


Yesteryears' actress and Trinamool Congress MP from Bankura, Moon Moon Sen, who is now contesting the Lok Sabha polls from West Bengal's Asansol seat, has declared that her movable assets have soared over four times to Rs 4.68 crore during the last five years.


Trinamool MP Moon Moon's assets up fourfold in 5 years


The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday stopped the release of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic and ordered a ban on NaMo TV till the Lok Sabha elections conclude, saying that any material which disturbs a level playing field should not be displayed.


Modi biopic release, NaMo TV telecast after polls: EC (3rd Lead)


A Delhi-based Facebook user, visited by a company representative to verify if he is the one who had written a post with political content, on Wednesday said he would take Facebook to the cyber crime cell at the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).


Harassed for political post, FB user to move CERT-In


The Election Commission, which opposed the anonymous electoral bonds in an affidavit in 2017, on Wednesday, told the Supreme Court that it is not against the bonds themselves, and, instead, opposes the principle of anonymity of the bond donor and redeemer.


EC opposes anonymity involved in electoral bonds


As many as 83 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) along with adequate number of state police personnel, mobile patrolling units and Quick Response Teams are being deployed in West Bengal's two Lok Sabha seats, which will vote in the first phase of 2019 polls on Thursday, a top police official said.


83 companies of central forces in Bengal polls first phase


The Taliban on Wednesday rejected the Afghan government's invitation for the April 29 Loya Jirga on peace, calling it a "conspiracy by the government of President Ashraf Ghani to prolong its stay in power".


Taliban reject invitation to Afghan peace assembly


The "secular world" is now "very different" from what it used to be and the nationalism witnessed in the country now is not what existed in the pre-Independence era, according to artist-curator Bose Krishnamachari, who is the president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF).


'Today's nationalism different from Independence era'


New Zealand's Parliament on Wednesday passed the gun reform bill, banning all types of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles, less than a month after the Christchurch carnage in which 50 people died.


New Zealand gun law reform passes final hurdle


The Union Home Ministry on Wednesday said some individuals were "deliberately" spreading "mischievous disinformation" about recently imposed traffic curbs on the national highway in J&K, claiming the highway has been closed for civilians.


J&K national highway not closed for civilians: MHA


The Election Commission (EC) has stopped Bollywood biopic "PM Narendra Modi" from releasing on April 11, when the Lok Sabha election begins, but a web series on the Prime Minister -- released just over a week ahead of the polls -- has been playing on.


EC stops film on Modi, but web series plays on


Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to resolve the Kashmir issue and that the two nuclear-armed neighbours could only settle their differences with dialogue, the BBC reported on Wednesday.


Kashmir issue has to be settled: Imran Khan


India has been under an undeclared Emergency and it is different from the one imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 as she never called the then opposition leaders "anti-national" or "unpatriotic" and did not kill minorities, Dalits and even journalists, says Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad in his memoir.


India is under undeclared Emergency: Lalu Prasad


The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Wednesday said the pass percentage of Class 11 students in Delhi government schools has touched 80 per cent, the highest in the last eight years.


Class 11 pass percentage in Delhi highest in 8 years


Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that the only way for Islamabad and New Delhi to move forward was through dialogue.


Talks only way forward for India, Pakistan: Qureshi


The Election Commission on Wednesday stopped the release of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic till the Lok Sabha elections conclude, saying that any material which disturbs a level playing field should not be displayed.

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