Top news of the day: Kharge, Tharoor, Tripathi file nominations for Congress president poll; Putin declares annexation of four Ukrainian regions, and more

The major news headlines of the day and more.

Congress president polls | Shashi Tharoor, K.N. Tripathi, and Mallikarjun Kharge file nomination

Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor filed his nomination for the post of Congress president at the office of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Friday in New Delhi. Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge also threw his hat into the ring for the Congress president post and said, “I am going to file my nomination,“ as he left for the AICC headquarters. He filed his nomination in the presence of Ashok Gehlot, Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan among others. Mr. Sharma and Mr. Chavan are members of the ginger group or G-23 that had written to Sonia Gandhi for internal reforms. Mr. Tharoor was also signatory to the letter. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Congress leader K.N. Tripathi also filed his nomination for the party’s topmost position and said that “the decision of party leaders is respected”.

Putin declares annexation of four Ukrainian regions in Kremlin ceremony

“This is the will of millions of people,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech before hundreds of dignitaries in the St George’s Hall of the Kremlin, presiding over a ceremony to annex four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by his forces. The ceremony took place three days after the completion of hastily staged referendums in which Moscow’s proxies in the occupied regions claimed majorities of up to 99% in favour of joining Russia.

U.S. imposes sanction against Indian petrochemical company for ‘clandestine’ Iran oil purchases

The company, Mumbai based Tibalaji in particular that was accused purchasing shipments that were then sent to China, is the first Indian entity to face the U.S.’s designation under unilateral sanctions passed in 2018-19, after the U.S. Trump administration’s decision to walk out of the nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. While India has officially refused to endorse the US’s “unilateral sanctions”, the Modi government agreed to end all oil imports from Iran in 2019, that made up about 11% of India’s intake, rather than face the sanctions.

Supreme Court junks plea that said ‘ferocious, aggressive’ lions atop new Parliament building is a violation of State Emblem Act