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The United States is set to begin a pilot programme for domestic renewal of certain categories of H-1B visas in December, a step that will benefit a significantly large number of Indian technology professionals, a US official has said.

This comes months after the White House announced the plan during the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June.

In an interview to PTI, Julie Stufft, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services, said, "In India, the demand (for US visas) is still very high. The wait time of six, eight and 12 months is not what we need and (it is) not indicative of how we view India." "We want to make sure that Indian travellers can get appointments as quickly as possible. One way we are doing that is through the domestic visa renewal programme, which is focused very much on India. We are piloting that," she said.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, at an event on Monday, November 27, drew parallels between Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, describing Mahatma Gandhi as the ‘mahapurush' of the last century and termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the ‘yugpurush' of this century.

Addressing an event dedicated to Jain mystic and philosopher Shrimad Rajchandraji, Jagdeep Dhankhar said, "I would like to tell you one thing, The mahapurush of last century was Mahatma Gandhi. Narendra Modi is the yugpurush of this century."

BJP on Monday said the Congress government in Karnataka has been putting out advertisements in the Telangana media with an eye on the assembly polls in the state, and urged the Election Commission to take action against the party.

A BJP delegation, including Union minister Bhupender Yadav, former minister Prakash Javadekar and party leaders Sudhanshu Trivedi and Om Pathak, submitted a complaint to the EC, saying Congress has violated the Representation of the People Act and the Model Code of Conduct.

As the truce between Israel and Hamas was extended for another two days, Arab states and the European Union agreed on the need for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict during a meeting in Spain on Monday (local time). The two-state solution calls for establishing an independent nation of Palestine alongside that of Israel.

At the Union for the Mediterranean summit in Spain's Barcelona, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell stressed that the Palestinian Authority should rule Gaza, asserting that it was the only "viable solution", news agency Reuters reported.

Predicting electoral victory for the BJP in the just-concluded polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Sunday that the INDIA bloc would be wiped out and Congress completely uprooted.

To counter the Congress allegations of a tacit understanding between the BJP and BRS have, Modi “guaranteed” that the guilty leaders of the AAP and the BRS (read Kalvakuntla Kavitha, who has so far evaded arrest by Supreme Court’s directive) who were allegedly involved in the Delhi liquor scam, will be sent to jail.

Addressing two election rallies in the state, the first at Toopran in Gajwel constituency, the home turf of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, and then at Nirmal in North Telangana, Modi launched a scalding attack on the BRS supremo.