Indian Sub-continent

Lucknow, Mar 15 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday made 'The Kashmir Files' movie tax-free in the state.

"#TheKashmirFiles film has been made tax-free in Uttar Pradesh," Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in a tweet in Hindi.

Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, the film depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in the 1990s.

It stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others.

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) The Congress will review on Tuesday its poor performance in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls to understand its shortcomings and chalk out future plans for the politically-crucial state.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will chair the review meeting which will be attended by party's top state leaders.

The meeting comes two days after Vadra presented her report regarding the party's drubbing in the polls.

NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian court Tuesday upheld a ban on wearing hijab in class in the southern state of Karnataka, saying the Muslim headscarf is not an essential religious practice of Islam in a ruling that is likely to further deepen religious tensions in the country.

ISLAMABAD, Mar 14 (APP): The Muslim world would observe the International Day to Combat Islamophobia on Tuesday to denounce rise in intolerance and discrimination against Muslims and other minorities in the West, India and other parts of the world.

Pakistan would also join the Muslim world to observe the Day as the country had emerged as one of the leading actors to raise its voices against Islamophobia.

KARACHI, Mar 14 (APP): Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on CPEC Affairs, Khalid Mansoor highlighted the execution of infrastructure and energy projects under phase-I of CPEC, and was satisfied over the progress of its second phase, which had been stamped as the period of expansion of development. From 2025-30, the period would be of CPEC maturity.

KABUL, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Film, the state-run film producing company, has screened two recently-made documentaries at its headquarters on Sunday, a local news agency reported on Monday.

The two films were said to be the first batch of works produced by Afghan Film since the Taliban took over the power of the country last year, according to Bakhtar News Agency (BNA).

NEW DELHI (AP) — India is exploring ways to avoid a major disruption in its supply of Russian-made weaponry amid U.S. sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tightrope walk could become more difficult due to a continuing border standoff with China.

Bhopal, Mar 13 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh government on Sunday decided to exempt the recently-released film 'The Kashmir Files' from paying entertainment tax in the state, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.

Movie #TheKashmirFiles is a heart-wrenching narration of the pain, suffering, struggle, and trauma faced by Kashmiri Hindus in the 90s, Chouhan wrote on his Twitter handle.

This needs to be watched by maximum people, hence we have decided to make it tax-free in the state of Madhya Pradesh, he stated.

Jaipur Mar 13 (PTI) A 22-year-old married woman was allegedly gangraped by five people who recorded the act to blackmail her in Ajmer district, police said on Sunday.

A case has been registered against the five following a complaint lodged by the woman at Nasirabad Sadar Police Station.

Nasirabad Circle Officer Poonam Bhargad said the woman, a resident of Nizampura, has named three of the five accused in her complaint lodged on Thursday. She has accused them of gangrape and blackmail.

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) Days after its election debacle in five states, the Congress' top decision-making body on Sunday brainstormed over the way forward amid calls for large-scale reforms to revive the party's dwindling electoral fortunes.