Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan on Wednesday formally invited MNF president Zoramthanga to form the government in the state. He will be sworn-in as the chief minister at the governor house at 12 noon on Saturday, the local administration informed. It is not clear if his council of ministers will take oath with him.

Two-time Chief Minister Zoramthanga's party stunned the ruling Congress as it bagged 26 seats in the 40-member assembly.  

The MNF is back in power after 10 years and its victory is being considered an early Christmas by party workers.

"I had predicted over 29 seats for MNF and less than 10 for Congress. My prediction has come true. Voters were fed up of the mismanagement of the Congress. The liquor issue also turned the church and civil society against them. Mizoram is a Christian state and we are a compact society so there is no space for BJP ideology," MNF chief Zoramthanga told NDTV on Tuesday.

Zoramthanga had served as the chief minister from December 1998 to December 2008.

TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao  would be sworn in as the Chief Minister of the State for a second term at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Thursday  at 1.33 pm. Rao was unanimously elected leader of the TRS Legislature Party on Wednesday by the newly-elected MLAs.  In all likelihood, Rao  may alone take the oath or with two other colleagues and the ministry can be expanded later.  Rao preferred ‘Dhanista’  star on Thursday for taking oath.  

Born in Aslesha birth star, Dhanista is Rao’s “Sadhana Tara”, that is why he preferred Thursday,  party sources said adding  the muhurtam is also good. 

Meanwhile, Rao on Wednesday sent his resignation for the post of CM, paving way for the formation of the new Assembly and the new government. The Governor accepted the resignations by the Council of Ministers. 

Speaking to reporters later, Rao dropped enough hints about the composition of the new State Cabinet. “I will hold Information and Public Relations Department with me,” Rao declared, while announcing several sops like house sites and others to scribes.

Kevadiya, a small town with a population of 6,788 people and just 3.5 km from the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, is all set to get its own railway station, sources involved in the planning told PTI.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are slated to lay the foundation stone for the same on December 15, they said.

The Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is located in Gujarat’s Narmada district and to reach it, one has to reach Kevadiya first.

“During the first 11 days of its opening, the monument has already been visited by around 1.3 lakh tourists. This is great news for tourism in the state. However, this area is plagued by connectivity issues and we needed to address that. This will be a modern railway station and will see huge footfall. Other than a boost in tourism, the project will lead to development in the area, create employment among other things,” a source said.

Even as the Congress is forced to choose between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan, sources have told CNN-News18 that in Madhya Pradesh it will be Kamal Nath, and not Jyotiraditya Scindia, who will be sworn in as the new chief minister of the state. 

Sources say that Kamal Nath will take oath on December 14 along with dozen other ministers. 

Sajjan Siingh Verma, Tulsi Silawat, KP Singh, Bala Bachchan, Jitu Patwari, Arif Akeel, Vijay Laxmi Sadho, Govind Rajput, Laxman Singh, Tarun Bhanot, Sachin Yadav, Kamleshwar Patel, Hina Kavre, NP Prajapati, Deepak Saxena, Sanjay Sharma are some of the MLAs who will take oath along with Nath on December 14, according to sources. 

The Agriculture Ministry launched online portal Ensure to connect with direct benefit transfer and provide simple, useful and transparent system to the beneficiary.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh launched the portal ENSURE- National Livestock Mission- EDEG developed by NABARD and operated under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries.

“National Livestock Mission has been conceived by Modi government for the sustainable development of the livestock sector. Under the Mission’s component called Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation (EDEG), subsidy payment for activities related to poultry, small ruminants, pigs etc. through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) goes directly to the beneficiary’s account,”  Singh said.

Veteran Congress leader and former Kerala minister C N Balakrishnan died at a private hospital here, party sources said Tuesday.He was 84.

Balakrishnan, a former Cooperation minister, undergoing treatment for pneumonia at a private hospital here and the end came late Monday night, the sources said. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala were among those who condoled his death.
(Get detailed and live results of each and every seat of the state Assemblies in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram to know which candidate/party is leading or trailing and to know who has won and who has lost and by what margin. Our one-of-its-kind Election Analytics Centre lets you put on the psephologist's hat. Know interesting facts and trivia about the elections. Elections = News18)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the fourth Partners’ Forum in New Delhi today. The objective of the conference is to improve knowledge, alignment and accountability to accelerate action on women's, children's and adolescents health. 

Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal Upendra Yadav, First Lady of Belize Kim Simplis Barrow, President of Inter-Parliamentary Union Ms Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Chairperson of Global She Decides Movement Tikhala Itaye, Union Health Minister J P Nadda addressed the inaugural session.   

The Partners’ Forum is a global health partnership launched in September 2005 to accelerate efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality, improve adolescent, child, newborn and maternal health. 

Ministry of Health in association with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, PMNCH is hosting the two-day international conference. 1500 participants from across 85 countries will participate in the conference to improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents. 

This is the second time India is hosting the Partners’ Forum. The programme has been framed around the objectives of the Global Strategy of Survive - Thrive - Transform. The programme will include four high-level plenaries that will focus on political leadership, multi-sectoral action, accountability and power of partnership. 

The Reserve Bank of India Tuesday said it has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Indian Bank for violating cyber security norms.

The RBI has imposed, by an order dated November 30, 2018, a monetary penalty of Rs 10 million on Indian Bank for contravention of Circular on Cyber Security Framework in banks, the central bank said in a release.

The contravention is with regard to RBI's directions on Frauds- Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks.

"This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of...the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 taking into account the failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid guidelines and directions issued by RBI," it said.

This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers, the release added.

Five missing Marines have been declared dead by the US military, nearly a week after two aircraft collided and crashed into the sea off Japan.

A massive search and rescue operation was mounted after the 6 December incident, involving a F/A-18 fighter and a KC-130 refuelling tanker carrying seven crew in total.

One crew member survived, and Tuesday's announcement brings the final death toll to six

The exact cause remains unclear.

The crash is said to have occurred during a refuelling exercise but the US military has not confirmed this.

"Every possible effort was made to recover our crew and I hope the families of these selfless Americans will find comfort in the incredible efforts made by US, Japanese, and Australian forces during the search," said US Marine Corps Lt Gen Eric Smith.

The identities of the five Marines declared dead have not yet been released.

The incident occurred in the early hours of 6 December about 200 miles (320km) off the coast of south-western Japan.

The US planes had taken off from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni near Hiroshima and "were conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred", the III Marine Expeditionary Force said.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October at his country's Istanbul consulate, has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" alongside several other journalists.

The magazine has also honoured Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo -- currently imprisoned in Myanmar among others.