The world famous court of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi is shining with colorful lights. Colorful flowers have been specially brought from different states of the country and abroad for decoration. Exotic flowers including orchids, lilies, roses and marigolds have made the entire complex fragrant. Devotees are mesmerized by the view and are capturing the scenes on cameras to make the journey memorable.

A huge Durga pandal has been set up at Sridhar Chowk of the main bus stand. Along with Maa Durga, the Pindis of Maa Mahakali, Maa Saraswati and Maa Vaishno Devi will be decorated in the pandal of the Durga Puja Committee formed by the local youth. There will be Bhagwati Jagran along with Aarti in the morning and evening, in which famous bhajan singers will perform. According to members Deepak, Paroch, Shankar Singh and Vinay Hira, the committee has been continuously decorating the pandal for 21 years.

Expectation of record breaking number of devotees
If we look at the figures for the year 2026, approximately 16 lakh devotees have visited in the first three months. The administration hopes that 3 to 4 lakh additional devotees will come to pay obeisance during Navratri, due to which the figure of the first three months may cross 20 lakh. Every citizen and businessman of Katra is engaged in service to make the spiritual festival successful.

30 percent special discount in hotels
Business organizations have also made preparations to promote tourism and facilitate the devotees coming from far away places. Hotel and Restaurant Association President Rakesh Wazir has announced that special discounts of up to 30 percent will be given on hotel stays during Navratri. Besides, special arrangements have been made for pure fruits and traditional Dogri dishes for the devotees observing fast. Rajkumar Pada, head of the Chamber of Tourism, Trade and Industry, said that the 30 to 35 percent discount being given by the traders is an effort to invite more and more devotees coming from India and abroad.

Security cordon tightened and 24-hour cleanliness campaign
To ensure the safety of the devotees, Katra administration has adopted a policy of zero tolerance. Additional CRPF contingents along with Jammu and Kashmir Police have been deployed at every nook and corner. Quick Response Team (QRT) and dog squad are continuously monitoring. On the cleanliness front, special teams of the municipality are active 24 hours so that the dignity of Dharmanagari is maintained.

Rituals will start with the worship of Maa Shailputri
Udhampur. Special preparations have been completed in the temples and homes of the district. According to Pandit Satyamurthy Sharma of Ramnagar, the auspicious time for setting up the Kalash on the first Navratri is Thursday between 11:15 am to 12:30 pm. Devotees will worship Goddess Shailputri by planting barley (sakh) in their homes. Will pledge for nine-day puja. Mother Shailputri will be worshiped on the first day. According to beliefs, worshiping Mother Shailputri brings stability, strength and desired results in life. Also, there remains happiness, peace and love in the family. The period of bhajan kirtan started in the temples on Wednesday evening itself.

Pandit Sharma told that devotees should fill water in the Kalash and put sandalwood, betel nut and coin. Place seven or nine mango leaves along with it. Fill a bowl of rice, place it on top of the Kalash, decorate the coconut with red chunri and install it. Make Swastika symbol on the Kalash and worship it with lamp, incense, Akshat and flowers. Also fill a vessel with soil and plant barley. Offer Panchamrit (milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar) and worship with mantras.

With the world’s largest gas field being set ablaze by Israeli strikes, the cost of the war with Iran is set to climb higher still.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported that gas tanks and parts ​of a refinery have been hit at the South Pars gas field.

The biggest known gas field in the world, it covers some 9,700 square kilometres in the Persian Gulf.

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It’s estimated to hold about 51 trillion cubic metres of gas, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Oil prices have already spiked following news of the strikes, with the cost of Brent crude rising more than 5% to over $110 a barrel.

Natural gas costs have risen too, with UK wholesale costs up 6% on Wednesday, 60% in the month to date.

The South Pars field is split between Iran and Qatar, with the larger Qatari side being discovered first, in 1971.

It’s thought to make up two-thirds or more of Iran’s gas supply, according to state media.

The attack on the field marks the first reported attack on Iranian energy infrastructure.

And the action will increase the cost to Iran of staying in the fight, according to Sky News’ international correspondent Alex Rossi.

He said: “What they’re trying to do is increase the cost – it’s a stream of revenue for the Iranians – and try to make it more difficult for them to prosecute the war.

“Now, that might happen in the long term, but immediately it’s going to be ordinary civilians inside Iran who are going to bear the brunt of this in terms of the cost of living, which is already terribly high and getting worse as a result of wartime.”

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Middle East commentator Tara Kangarlou told Sky News the Iranian output of the gas field was “mainly used domestically”.

Nonetheless, Iranian gas flows to Iraq have also halted, a senior Iraqi official told Reuters.

And Qatar, which shares the field, has reacted angrily to the strikes, calling them a “dangerous and irresponsible” escalation that put global energy security at risk.

Iran itself has promised retaliation, warning it will respond by targeting energy installations in other Middle Eastern nations.

Mr Rossi said: “We are seeing that those states are responding by evacuating facilities now for fear that they too will be targeted.

“And this is already having a very real net effect – the price of oil has already leapt by 5%.

“So what we are seeing really as a result of this is not a war that is getting any better – it is widening tonight and intensifying.”

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Wednesday replaced a longtime loyalist military official, as she continues to make changes to her cabinet amid relations with the Trump administration. 

General Gustavo Gonzalez ‌Lopez, 65, will replace General Vladimir Padrino as defense minister, who held the position for more than a decade, Reuters reported. 

In a Telegram post, Rodriguez thanked Padrino for ​his service and said he would be given new responsibilities.

MADURO’S SON GIVES ‘UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT’ TO NEWLY SWORN IN INTERIM VENEZUELA PRESIDENT

Lopez was appointed by Rodriguez in January as the head of the presidential guard and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM).

Lopez, who is among several officials sanctioned by the United States and European Union for human rights violations and corruption, was appointed in January the new head of the ⁠presidential guard and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence.

TRUMP ISSUES DIRECT WARNING TO VENEZUELA’S NEW LEADER DELCY RODRÍGUEZ FOLLOWING MADURO CAPTURE

He previously worked with Rodriguez as head of strategic affairs at PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, which ​she previously oversaw as energy minister.

Padrino had also been sanctioned by the U.S. ​over alleged drug trafficking and his support for ousted President Nicolas Maduro.

Despite the U.S. intervention, Venezuela’s repressive apparatus remains intact, the United Nations said last week. The government has repeatedly denied allegations of human rights and political oppression. 

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The United States recently restored diplomatic relations with the South American nation following years of heightened tensions between the two states.  

Two Iranian nationals have been charged with spying on locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community for Iran.

The Crown Prosecution Service said two men had been charged with a National Security Act offence.

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “We have decided to prosecute two men for an offence under the National Security Act.

“Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, and Alireza Farasati, 22, have each been charged with engaging in conduct that is likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between 9 July 2025 and 15 August 2025, contrary to section 3 (2) of the National Security Act 2023.

“The charge relates to carrying out activities in the UK such as gathering information and undertaking reconnaissance of targets. The country to which the charge relates is Iran.

“We have worked closely with the Counter Terrorism Command at the Metropolitan Police as they have carried out their investigation.

“We remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against these defendants are active and that they have the right to a fair trial.

“It is vital that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

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House Republicans are hauling in two top Fairfax County law enforcement officials, including a Soros-backed prosecutor, after violent crimes involving illegal immigrants released from custody intensified federal scrutiny of the county’s sanctuary-style policies.

Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid and Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steven Descano are invited to voluntarily testify at an upcoming Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement Subcommittee hearing entitled “Fairfax County Virginia – The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary City Policies.”

Both are elected Democrats, and Descano’s campaigns have received more than $700,000 in funds from organizations backed by far-left Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a pro-police group.

Descano and Kincaid received near-identical letters signed by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, R-Calif., which were also obtained by Fox News Digital.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RELEASED UNDER BIDEN CHARGED WITH GROPING FEMALE STUDENTS AT VIRGINIA HIGH SCHOOL

“The hearing will examine how state and local policies that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities hurt public safety,” Jordan and McClintock wrote.

“Your testimony will assist the Committee and Subcommittee in developing legislative reforms to address sanctuary jurisdictions.”

The Fairfax officials have until Monday to confirm their presence at the April 15 hearing to be held at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.

Descano has a record of dropping charges against illegal immigrants who often have prior criminal records, including Salvadoran national Marvin Morales-Ortez, who was accused of the murder of a Virginia man ambushed on a walking trail.

Jordan and McClintock previously wrote to Descano about their concerns in that case, saying his policies “prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens and threaten public safety.”

DHS BLASTS SPANBERGER ON POTENTIAL RELEASE OF ILLEGAL MIGRANT WITH 30+ ARRESTS CURRENTLY CHARGED WITH MURDER

They said Kincaid released Morales-Ortez on December 16 despite his potential MS-13 ties after Descano’s office declined to further pursue prosecution in a malicious wounding case from September 12.

“Despite an ICE detainer on Morales-Ortez, your office refused to briefly detain him until ICE could arrest him and failed to even notify ICE about his imminent release,” the lawmakers wrote to Kincaid at the time.

“One day later, Morales-Ortez allegedly murdered a man in Reston, Virginia, and has now been charged with second-degree murder. Even now, however, you continue to defend your failed sanctuary policies and refuse to take accountability for their consequences,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, first reported by Washington’s ABC affiliate.

The outlet further reported that Fairfax County’s board, led by Chairman Jeffrey McKay, D-Franconia, also prohibits the Fairfax County Police Department from cooperating with ICE.

Nick Minock, a reporter for the outlet, later obtained a transcript of Morales-Ortez’s preliminary hearing in which Descano’s office posited that Morales-Ortez was present when Jose Guillen Mejia was murdered and had ambushed the man on the trail.

A short time after he was released, Morales-Ortez allegedly went to a home on Fan Shell Court in Reston, Va. — near John F. Dulles International Airport — and allegedly shot a man inside.

POLICE WARNED PROSECUTORS 3 TIMES ABOUT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BEFORE HE ALLEGEDLY KILLED VIRGINIA MOTHER

That chain of events enraged the Trump administration, with then-Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin saying that “Fairfax County politicians [who] pushed policies that released this illegal alien from jail” have “blood on their hands.”

More recently, the family of Stephanie Minter, a 41-year-old mother stabbed to death at a Fairfax bus stop by an illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet, called for Descano’s ouster.

Abdul Jalloh, a Sierra Leone national, was charged with second-degree murder, and Descano released him despite being warned of his 30 prior arrests. Jalloh had been served an order of removal during the Biden administration but was never deported.

A police official in Mount Vernon emailed concerns to Descano’s office about Jalloh being released again, according to Fox & Friends.

Given the heavy Democratic bent of Fairfax, Virginia’s largest county by population and one state officials are trying to include in at least five newly drawn congressional districts, Descano and Kincaid have been strongly supported by voters in each election.

Republicans did not mount opponents against either candidate in 2023, while Descano’s only challenge came from fellow Democrat Ed Nuttall, whose primary bid was reportedly boosted by victims’ rights advocates.

ICE NABS IRANIAN NATIONAL WITH RAPE, SODOMY CONVICTIONS AFTER VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS MOVE TO CURB COOPERATION

Nuttall also mounted a write-in challenge in the general election that year but lost. Kincaid was first elected in 2013.

Fairfax Democrats removed Nuttall from their party amid that write-in bid after he attended a Brain Foundation fundraiser with Fairfax’s lone Republican board member, Pat Herrity of Springfield, and a Republican board candidate from Sully named Keith Elliott, according to FairfaxNow.

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Herrity is the son of the late Chairman Jack Herrity, a Republican known as “Mr. Fairfax” in the 1980s when the county was much more conservative.

Fox News Digital reached out to Descano’s and Kincaid’s offices for comment.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he will remain at the central bank while the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation continues.

“I have no intention of leaving the Board until the investigation is fully resolved with transparency and finality,” Powell said, referring to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, commonly known as the Fed Board.

With the probe complicating efforts to confirm his successor, Powell said that if no replacement is in place by the end of his term as chair, he would continue serving as chair pro tempore until one is confirmed.

“That is what the law calls for,” he said. “That’s what we’ve done on several occasions, including in my own case, and it’s what we’re going to do in this situation.”

DOJ’S CRIMINAL PROBE OF FED CHAIR POWELL SPARKS RARE GOP REVOLT ON CAPITOL HILL

The federal investigation centers on Powell’s June 2025 testimony to lawmakers about the Federal Reserve’s renovation of its two historic main buildings on the National Mall, a project that has drawn scrutiny from Republicans and the Trump administration.

On Jan. 11, Powell disclosed that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation tied to that testimony, an unusual development for a sitting Fed chair.

In a rare video statement, Powell called the probe “unprecedented” and described it as another salvo in what he said was President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on the central bank to cut rates. The unusually public response followed days of private consultations with advisers and stood out for a Fed chair known for his measured approach.

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The video statement echoed Powell’s earlier testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, where he forcefully disputed claims about lavish features in the renovation project.

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said: “There’s no new marble. There are no special elevators. They’re old elevators that have been there. There are no new water features. There are no beehives, and there’s no roof garden terraces.”

Powell added that no one “wants to do a major renovation of a historic building during their term in office,” and said cost overruns were driven in part by unexpected construction challenges and inflation.

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The renovation is estimated to cost $2.5 billion and is being funded by the central bank itself, not by taxpayers.

The Fed is self-financing and does not rely on congressional appropriations to cover its operating expenses, which include employee salaries, facilities maintenance and the current renovation. 

Its primary income comes from interest earned on government securities and fees charged to financial institutions.

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Powell, a Trump nominee first tapped to lead the Fed in 2017, is expected to finish his term at the end of May.

Trump has picked former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to replace Powell, but the nomination is effectively stuck after Sen. Thom Tillis vowed to block any Fed nominees while the DOJ probe remains open.