• Former Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga has joined Rajasthan Royals as their fast-bowling coach for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, which starts on March 26. Rajasthan Royals also announced that Paddy Upton has joined the squad as a 'Team Catalyst'.

• As the counting of votes polled in 2022 Assembly elections to five states nears its end, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been declared winner in Punjab with 92 seats. The BJP is looking at a 260-plus tally in Uttar Pradesh with Yogi Adityanath all set to become the first UP CM to rule for two consecutive terms in the state. The party is also eyeing a win in Goa, where it has already won  20 out of 40 seats. The saffron party has won 32 seats and is leading in 15 in Uttarakhand even as CM Pushkar Singh Dhami lost from Khatima seat. In the northern state of Manipur, the party clinched 20 seats and is ahead in 11 more, with its incumbent CM N Biren Singh winning from Heingang.

• The elections to the five states — Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur — had kicked off on February 10, with Punjab and Manipur going to the polls at a later date. While the seven-phase UP polls ended on March 7, the Manipur elections were held in two phases — on February 28 and March 5. Punjab went to the polls on February 20, whereas the election in Uttarakhand and Goa were conducted on February 14.

• Germany has rejected a complete ban on Russian gas and oil imports over Russia invading Ukraine, but voices are growing louder for Berlin to ditch its economic imperative to take a moral stand.

• After the United States and Britain imposed a ban on Russian oil, pressure has mounted on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government and other G7 members to follow suit.

• A group of climate activists, academics, authors and scientists published an open letter to the German government on March 9  demanding a complete ban on Russian energy, reasoning that "we are all financing this war".

• So far, Scholz's government has remained unmoved, reasoning that sanctions should not risk destabilising the countries imposing them.

• Since Germany imports more than half its gas and coal and about a third of its oil from Russia, experts say a transition period would be needed to avoid the lights going out.

• Experts say a complete embargo would be painful, but not impossible.

• In a study published this week, nine economists argued that oil and coal from Russia could easily be replaced by imports from other countries, though this could be a little trickier for gas.

• Twitter has launched a privacy-protected version of its site to bypass surveillance and censorship after Russia restricted access to its service in the country.

• Russia has blocked access to Facebook and has limited Twitter in an attempt to try to restrict the flow of information about its war in Ukraine. Both companies have said they are working on restoring access to people inside Russia even as they restrict the country's state media from their services.

• Known as an “onion” service, users can access this version of Twitter if they download the Tor browser, which allows people to access sites on what is also referred to as the “dark web.” Instead of .com, onion sites have a .onion suffix. Regular websites, including Twitter.com, are also accessible on Tor, but the .onion versions are made specifically for Tor and prevent the site from being spoofed by malicious actors.

• While the term "dark web" connotes illegal sites such as the now-defunct Silk Road drug market, it is also often used by people seeking to remain anonymous for their safety and also to access sites censored by repressive governments.

• Facebook and other sites such as the BBC also have versions accessible on Tor. Twitter's version has been in the works for some time, since before the Russian invasion, the company confirmed.

• Software engineer and internet security expert Alec Muffett, who has worked with other companies to set up onion sites, announced Twitter's new service on his own Twitter account.

• Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain urged the government to suspend visa requirements for Ukrainians fleeing the war, after the U.K. acknowledged that fewer than 1,000 visas have been handed out so far.

• Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko told lawmakers that “if you can vote for some temporary releasing of us from these rules, to allow people to get here, we will take care of (them).”

• Britain’s Conservative government says it is prepared to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine. As of March 9 , there had been 22,000 visa applications. But the number of visas granted was just below 1,000, with the rest of the applications still being processed.

• In contrast, 2,500 Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in Ireland, whose population is a tenth of the U.K.

• European Union nations are allowing Ukrainians to live and work for up to three years without having to go through a formal asylum-seeking process. 

• The first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig has died, two months after the groundbreaking experiment, the Maryland hospital that performed the surgery announced on March 9 .

• David Bennett, 57, died  at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

• Doctors didn't give an exact cause of death, saying only that his condition had begun deteriorating several days earlier.

• Google has signed an agreement to acquire cybersecuity company Mandiant, based in Virginia, in an all-cash transaction valued at $5.4 billion. Upon the close of the acquisition, Mandiant will join Google Cloud. Mandiant has over 600 consultants currently. With an idea to tap the Indian market, the company last year appointed Balaji Rao as the company’s country manager, India and SAARC markets.

• Tech giant Apple has launched its most affordable 5G iPhone. The new iPhone - SE 5G - comes as a big upgrade of its 2020 launched second generation iPhone SE.

• The new iPhone from the stable of the world’s most valuable company is available in three storage options. For the base 64GB model, the new SE is priced at $429 (roughly Rs 33,200). It also comes in 128GB and 256GB storage options.

In India, the retail prices of the base SE 5G will be around Rs 10,000 more than US prices at Rs 43,900. The ‘budget’ smartphone will go on sale in the domestic market from March 18. Analysts feel that the new phone will help Apple to increase its share in the Indian smartphone market.