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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that the Centre is making the lives of rural poor miserable by pushing them into a circle of online activities. "The Union government wants to introduce a total online system in the lives of rural people. But how can the marginalised communities get accustomed to it? So, their lives are becoming miserable," the chief minister said while addressing an administrative review meeting in West Midnapore district. She claimed that the Centre has made mandatory linking of AADHAR cards with bank accounts for payment of money for the 100-day job scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). "But is the Union government aware that there is not a single bank branch in several rural blocks in the state? What will the people staying there do?" the chief minister questioned.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hindu Aikya Vedi and other Hindu organisations today held a protest in front of Nemom Police Station in Thiruvananthapuram over restriction on Major Vellayani Devi Temple from using only saffron-coloured decorations and flags as part of Kaliyoottu festival. The district administration's ban has sparked a controversy and the issued was taken to the Kerala High Court.

The Kerala High Court today ruled that the District Administration or the Police cannot insist that only politically neutral-coloured decorative materials are used for temple festivals. The judgements come while the Police restrained the temple authorities of Major Vellayani Bhadrakali Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram from using only saffron-coloured decorative materials as part of the Kaliyoottu festival.

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake jolted the province of Idlib in northwestern Syria on Thursday night, the Syrian National Earthquake Center reported. The earthquake, which struck at 10:47 p.m. local time, has a depth of 18.8 km. Its epicenter was 61 km from the city of Idlib, the capital of the namesake province.

The earthquake could be felt in the Syrian capital Damascus and the northern province of Aleppo, Xinhua news agency reported.

Another magnitude 3.4 earthquake hit the northwestern coastal province of Latakia at 11:17 p.m. local time. With a depth of 46 km, the second quake`s epicenter is 50 km from Latakia, the capital of the namesake province.

Tripura is voting today in the high-voltage assembly election where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is facing off with the Left-Cong alliance and the Tipra Motha. Voting began under tight security 7 am and will conclude at 4 pm across 3,337 polling stations, out of which 1,100 have been identified as sensitive and 28 as critical. Votes will be counted on March 2.

Apart from BJP-IPFT combine, CPI(M)-Congress alliance, a regional party formed by the scion of the northeastern state’s former royal family – Tipra Motha – is also among the main contestants of the Tripura assembly election.

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck near the New Zealand capital Wellington on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage. It occurred at 19:38 local time (0638 GMT), striking 50 km northwest of Paraparaumu, a town in the southwestern North Island of New Zealand, 55 km north of the nation`s capital city, Wellington, at a depth of 57.4 km, said the GNS Science, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Wellington is on the southern end of the more populous North Island, which is responding to a cyclone this week that has left four people dead and is the South Pacific nation's most destructive weather event in decades.