A Russian missile strike on Odesa in southern Ukraine on Friday killed at least 14 people and injured 46 others, local officials said. A first missile struck houses and when emergency crews arrived at the scene a second missile landed, authorities said. Among those killed were a paramedic and an emergency service worker. The attack occurred as Russians voted in a presidential election that is all but certain to extend Vladimir Putin’s rule by another six years after he crushed dissent and as the war in Ukraine stretches into its third year. At least 10 houses in Odesa and some emergency service equipment were damaged in the attack, which started a blaze, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service and regional Gov. Oleh Kiper.

Mauritian Financial Services and Good Governance Minister Soomilduth Bholah told news agency PTI that Mauritius is looking for investments from India.

McDonald’s today stated that a technology outage had disrupted operations at many of its outlets worldwide, including Japan and Australia, but ruled out the possibility of a cybersecurity incident. Many McDonald’s stores in Japan stopped taking in-person and mobile customer orders because of the system disruption, a spokesperson at McDonald’s Holdings Company Japan said,

Congress chief M Mallikarjun Kharge today asked for a special investigation into the electoral bonds scheme and said the BJP’s bank accounts must be frozen till its completion. He also raised the issue of several companies purchasing electoral bonds soon after they faced raids by central agencies such as Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department. The BJP encashed Rs 6,060 crore over five years through the Electoral Bonds Scheme.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson today termed the U. State Department’s statement on the country’s implementation of a contentious, religion-based citizenship law “misplaced, misinformed, and unwarranted”. Washington, in a statement earlier this week, had said it was “concerned” about the notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act and defined “respect for religious freedom and equal treatment” as fundamental democratic principles.

 “Like it was done in 2G case, where an SIT was made, in this case also an SIT should be constituted to probe the matter. We have to see how the law will see it now…It should also be found out who donated to the PM-CARES. It’s a matter of investigation which party got how many funds,”  Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP )Kapil Sibal said.

The Government on Friday approved the e-vehicle policy today. The minimum investment required to start production is Rs 4,150 crore. Firms have to start commercial production of e-vehicles within 3 years for setting up manufacturing facilities in India.

The top court has adjourned the hearing on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha’s plea against ED summons in connection with Delhi excise policy case till March 19.

The Supreme Court has listed the pleas challenging the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, for hearing on March 21. The Chief Justice of India was dropped from the selection panel for the appointment of  election commissioners after the enactment of the act.

“INDI Alliance can never make Tamil Nadu developed. These people have a history of scams. The basis of these people’s politics is to come to power to loot the people. On one hand there are welfare schemes of BJP, on the other hand there are scams worth crores,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a rally in Kanyakumari.