Actress Ruby Rose says she has quit smoking. The “Pitch Perfect 3” shared the news on her Twitter account on Friday, reports dailymail.co.uk.

“On the plus side guess who had to quit smoking! Yay, I am done. I’m finally done… That filthy, smelly, dirty, slowly killing you while you pay for it to suffocate you, is finally out of my life. I quit yesterday. And for my back (and mother ) I’ll never start again,” tweeted Rose. This comes after the 31-year-old was spotted smoking on Monday.

Earlier, the MTV VJ had revealed she had back surgery and is being forced to use a cane and wheelchair during her recovery.

The US State Department has approved a sale of 34 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take-off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft to Belgium, the Pentagon said.

According to a statement on Friday, published by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency under the US Department of Defense, the agency notified Congress of the sale for an estimated $6.53 billion, Xinhua news agency reported.

The sale would also include 38 Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines — 34 installed ones and four spares — as well as other equipment for the radar-evading high-tech fighter.

The sale will “improve the security of an ally and partner nation which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political and economic stability in Western Europe,” the statement read.

The sale of F-35s is expected to provide Belgium with “a credible defence capability to deter aggression in the region and ensure interoperability with US forces,” said the agency.

The governments of Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and others are also potential customers of the jet.

Pakistan Rangers on Saturday again resorted to indiscriminate shelling and firing on Indian security and civilian facilities in two sectors on the international border in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan Rangers have started indiscriminate heavy shelling and firing on the international border in Samba and Kathua districts, police said.

Also read: Army soldier, BSF trooper among 4 killed in cross-border firing

“Around 100 outposts of the Border Security Force (BSF) are retaliating effectively to Pakistan firing on the international border.

“Heavy firing exchanges are presently going on between the two sides. So far, there is no report of any casualty or damage on our side.”

Brazilian football legend Pele is resting at home according to his spokesperson, who dismissed reports he had been taken to hospital with exhaustion.

The 77-year-old was due to travel to London this weekend for a dinner held in his honour by the Football Writers Association (FWA).

Pele — the only player to win three World Cups — withdrew and the FWA said he was being monitored by doctors.

But his spokesperson called reports of his hospitalisation “fake news”, BBC reported on Friday.

“He just didn’t want to make a long and stressful trip to London, in and out of who knows how many planes and airports,” said Jose Fornos Rodrigues. “That’s all.”

Pele has been taken to hospital for kidney and prostate problems in recent years.

Widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, he scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 appearances during his 21-year career, including 77 goals in 91 appearances for Brazil.

He helped his country win the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups and was named Fifa’s Player of the Century.

Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to suggestions for his first Mann Ki Baat radio address of 2018, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked him to come out with plans to create jobs and push the Chinese out of Doklam.

“Dear Narendra Modi… tell us about how you plan to get our youth jobs, get the Chinese out of Dhoka-Lam and stop the rapes in Haryana,” Gandhi tweeted.

Dear @narendramodi, since you’ve requested some ideas for your #MannKiBaat monologue, tell us about how you plan to:

1. Get our youth JOBS
2. Get the Chinese out of DHOKA-LAM
3. Stop the RAPES in Haryana. pic.x.com/pwexqxKrTQ

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 19, 2018

Earlier, Modi had posted on his Twitter handle, inviting suggestions for the first edition of this year’s Mann Ki Baat to be aired on January 28.

Actress Zareen Khan says Veer, featuring superstar Salman Khan, was a dream debut for her.

“Salman is somebody who will always be very dear, special and very close to my heart because if not for him, I had never thought of becoming a part of this industry. I would have never been a part of this industry because this was not my plan and now I am here. The debut I got was a dream debut for me,” Zareen said.

The actress, 30, worked with the Dabangg star in Ready too. She remains grateful to him.

“I know a lot of people who grow up with a dream of becoming an actor and leave their homes and come to Bombay (Mumbai) with this dream of fulfilling this passion. But unfortunately, this dream of theirs is never fulfilled… Salman is somebody whom I always respect. I am very thankful to him… He has already done a lot for me,” she added.

Zareen’s latest film is 1921, and she will be seen in the role of a police officer in .

Prernaa Arora, the co-producer of Bollywood movie Pad Man, has hailed Akshay Kumar’s decision to defer the film’s release.

On Friday evening, Akshay Kumar, together with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, announced the postponement of Pad Man, so that Bhansali’s Padmaavat can get a solo release.

“Akshay’s entire team is with him on this decision,” his co-producer Prernaa Arora of Kriarj Films said.

“What Akshay Sir did on Friday evening is unheard of. Just a week before our film’s release, without any prior intimation, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, a legend in his own right, came to Akshay requesting that we postpone ‘Pad Man’,” she said.

“It takes a lot of humility for a man of Bhansali’s stature to come forward with such a request. It takes an equally great artiste to agree to such a startling request,” Arora said.

“It was a very unusual request considering we were days away from release. But Akshay agreed immediately. It says a lot about his generous heart,” she added.

Prernaa also scoffs at filmmakers and producers who deliberately pitch their films against one another.

“They should learn from this experience. By moving ahead by two weeks at the last minute, Akshay Sir has shown there can be solidarity in the film fraternity. His gesture will be remembered for a very long time,” she said.

The entire Pad Man team is with Akshay on this issue.

“We are all in agreement on Akshay Sir’s decision. There are so many big stars who deliberately look for box office clashes by pitching their films against other big films. Akshay Sir has shown the way to a peaceful co-existence in the film industry.”

The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the plea for an independent probe into the circumstances leading to the death of Special CBI court judge BH Loya, who was hearing the case of staged shootout of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

The order passed by the court on Friday said it would be listed on Monday for hearing by an “appropriate bench”. The matter was mentioned in the morning before the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.

As per media reports, a new three-judge bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra will hear the Judge Loya case.

The allocation of Judge Loya’s matter to a relatively junior bench was one of the bone of contention raised by four rebel judges in their unprecedented press conference on January 12.

The bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra on January 17 recused from hearing the matter after the bench directed that all the documents furnished by Maharashtra government to the court pertaining to the death of judge Loya be shared with the petitioners seeking independent probe.

The case came into limelight as BJP president Amit Shah was one of the accused in the case. Shah was later discharged by the Special CBI court trying Sohrabuddin Sheikh case.

An Indian Army soldier was killed on Friday in a ceasefire violation along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, on a day when a BSF trooper and two Indian civilians were killed in firing along the international border.

Defence Ministry sources said an army soldier was killed in Pakistan Army’s ceasefire violation on the LoC in Rajouri district as Pakistan initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing.

“Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing using small arms and automatics to target Indian positions in Sunderbani sector of the LoC at 1.30 p.m., which the Indian Army retaliated ‘strongly and effectively’,” the Indian Army said in a statement.

In the exchange of fire, Lance Naik Sam Abraham was grievously injured and later succumbed to his injuries.

The 34-year-old soldier hailed from Poonakam of Allepey in Kerala and is survived by his wife Anu Mathew and a 22-month-old daughter.

“Lance Naik Sam Abraham was a brave and sincere soldier. The nationa will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty,” the army statement said.

Earlier in the day, a BSF trooper and two civilians were killed and three others injured in indiscriminate firing and shelling by Pakistan Rangers on the international border.

Police said BSF Head Constable Jagpal Singh, injured in Samba district, succumbed to his injuries.

Two civilians were killed and three others were injured in Pakistani shelling on civilian facilities in Arnia sub-sector of R.S. Pura in Jammu district.

The injured civilians were shifted to a hospital.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the LoC is guarded by the army, while the international border is guarded by the BSF.

Likewise, the Pakistan Army guards the LoC in Pakistan-administered Kashmir while Pakistan Rangers guard the international border.

Hours after news of the Election Commission of India (ECI) recommending disqualification of 20 AAP legislators for holding “office of profit” broke out, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that “hurdles naturally come when one walks on the path of truth”.

“Hurdles do come when one walks on the path of truth and honesty. This is natural. But all the visible and invisible powers of the universe help you. God supports you, because you don’t work for yourself but for the nation and the society,” Kejriwal posted on Twitter.

“History is witness that it is truth that wins in the end,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Convenor added.

Also read: AAP MLAs’ disqualification: Delhi HC refuses interim relief; next hearing on Jan 22

Kejriwal followed his tweet with retweets of a few posts by NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar.

Ravish pointed out in his tweets that many states first appointed people on certain posts and then made laws retrospectively to keep those posts out of the purview of office of profit, and the court accepted this.

“Similar bills were passed by Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Then why was not the law (regarding parliamentary secretaries) passed by Arvind Kejriwal government accepted?” Ravish said.

“Is AAP being discriminated against? In March 2015, Delhi government appoints 21 Parliamentary Secretaries. After two months Chhattisgarh’s Raman Singh government appoints 11 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries. ECI has decided Delhi’s case but not of Chhattisgarh as yet,” he added.

“Since ‘office of profit’ is a case of constitutional morality, so why is this morality different in case of different states?” Ravish Kumar wrote on Twitter.

Around 40 people from a Gujarat village, including women and children, have started a fast unto death in Detroj of Ahmedabad district against alleged atrocities, discrimination and harassment by upper castes.

The Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, headed by Jignesh Mevani — now an MLA from Vadgam constituency, has alleged that despite much hype created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the country about the Vibrant Gujarat model and good governance, the Gitapur Dalit villagers did not have either houses to live in or drinking water facility.

“These Dalits are facing a social boycott from the upper caste communities of the villages and they can’t buy essentials like milk or grain or other commodities owing to their caste.

“They had been complaining against this and unavailability of housing, water and electricity to former Chief Minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the present Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, but all their pleas have gone unheeded,” said Mevani.

It was for this reason that 16 men, 17 women and eight children were forced to sit on an indefinite fast-unto-death protest, he said.

“The Gitapur village panchayat does not allow them access to water, forcing them to travel one-and-a-half kilometers to get water. In 2013, in 2016 and in 2017 also they sat on fast-unto-death but failed to elicit any response from the authorities,” added Mevani.

The Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch is demanding prompt action from the authorities against the discriminators and against the authorities helping them and turning a blind eye to Dalits’ plight, immediate police protection to all the victim families, dropping of all false charges against them, and provision of housing, electricity and drinking water facilities for them.

With an view to supporting the farmers cultivating millets in dry areas of the country, and also for their nutritional value, millets must be included as part of our daily diet, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Friday.

“Karnataka is a dry state and over the past 17 years, we have been drought-free only for three years. It is important to raise awareness on millets as part of daily diets due to their nutritional value and ease of cultivation,” the CM said addressing the “International Trade Fair on Organics and Millets” here.

The three-day trade fair, which started on January 19 at the sprawling Palace Grounds in the City Centre, expects to host at least two lakh people, including farmers, retailers and consumers.

Being organised by the state’s Department of Agriculture, the fair showcases organic and sustainable crops and products from states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Chhattisgarh.

“The food we eat has an impact on the farmers and the environment. Through this conference, we hope to bring a change in dietary habits and promote a more sustainable future,” said state Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on the occasion.

Millets are the grain crops that are used as fodder and for human consumption. The crop is capable of giving high productivity, with a short growing season that can grow even in severely dry regions.

Hailed as a miracle crop, millets were once a large part of Indian farms and diets.

The central government had been urged to identify the year 2018 as the “Year of Millets” to promote the crop in the country, Gowda said.

“The United Nations has also been asked to declare 2018 as the International Year of Millets to popularise the healthy crop globally,” he reiterated.

With a large population of our country dependant on agriculture, governments must look at increasing their incomes, the Chief Minister stated.

“India as a country has a large population dependant on agriculture. We must all look at improving our farmers’ earnings through innovations and make agriculture lucrative for them,” Siddaramaiah asserted.

Organic farming in the state had been rising, with the area under it increasing by about one lakh hectare, Siddaramaiah mentioned.

The fest is also hosting a farmers’ workshop to share information on organic cultivation with the attending farming communities.

Several stalls were also set up at the exhibition by companies in agri-business like MTR Foods, Mother India Agro Foods, Big Basket and Nature-Bio Foods, among others, to showcase their products.

S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record high while investors assessed the possibility of a government shutdown.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday added 53.91 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 26,071.72. The S&P 500 increased 12.27 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 2,810.30, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 40.33 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 7,336.38.

The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, but whether the bill could pass the Senate remains uncertain.

Historically, a government shutdown has led to a short-term pullback in the stock market.

Earnings season kicked into full gear this week, with most results surpassing expectations.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and American Express are among the companies that reported better-than-expected results this week.

Fourth quarter earnings are expected to increase 12.4 per cent from the last quarter of 2016. Of the 53 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date for the fourth quarter of 2017, 79.2 per cent have reported earnings above analyst expectations.

On the economic front, US consumer sentiment in January slipped to 94.4, after falling to 95.9 in December, according to a survey released by the University of Michigan on Friday, lower than economists’ expectations of 97.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said competition between great powers, not terrorism, is now the main focus of America’s national security.

The US faced “growing threats from revisionist powers as different as China and Russia”, he said, unveiling the national defence strategy, BBC reported on Friday.

In an apparent reference to Russia, he warned against “threaten(ing) America’s experiment in democracy”.

“If you challenge us, it will be your longest and worst day,” he warned.

The US has been gripped by ongoing investigations into alleged collusion between the Trump 2016 election campaign and Russia.

Speaking in Washington, Mattis also appealed to Congress to fund the military adequately and refrain from “indiscriminate and automatic cuts” to the US federal budget.

US President Donald Trump is seeking to boost defence spending by 10 per cent, or $54 billion, in his proposed budget plan for this year, and hopes to recoup that sum through deep cuts elsewhere, including to foreign aid.

Former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, suspended from the Congress for his controversial remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday expressed confidence that he will be re-inducted.

He said he was hopeful that the party would do so anytime.

“It (revocation of suspension) may happen either in the next six hours, or in the next six days, or in the next six weeks or in the next six years,” Aiyar said.

“I would know that one day, I think they (will) take me back. Because however much they might feel that they have alienated me from the Congress, I am a Congressman and I shall remain absolutely loyal to the party,” he said at the “India Today Conclave South 2018” here.

Aiyar was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress on December 7 amid speculation that his remarks against Modi had undone the gains made by party president Rahul Gandhi during campaigning in the Gujarat elections.

Modi had used Aiyar’s remark that he (the prime minister) was a vile sort of person to the hilt at the hustings to whip up a sense of Gujarati pride. The Congress had also issued him a show cause notice over the remarks.

Explaining the sequence of events that led to his suspension from the party, Aiyar said he was reacting to the PM’s reference to B R Ambedkar and said “neech kism ka aadmi”.

He asserted that he never spoke of “neech jaati” or low caste.

Aiyar said he regrets missing Rahul Gandhi’s election as Congress president as he was with the Gandhi scion during the filing of nominations for the post.

To a query on Tamil film superstar Rajinikanth’s political debut, he said, “Cinema would never translate into politics, but politicians have leveraged their film background for politics.

The Congress on Friday raised concerns over the “directionless policy” on national security of the Narendra Modi government which it said has led to a “disquiet border” on the eastern and western frontiers.

“National Security is being endangered by the political actions of the Narendra Modi government. National security strategy cannot be centred on the Prime Minister’s personal propaganda machinery,” Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement.

“Instead it should be centred around our Armed forces and national sciences,” he said.

He said that our brave and valiant Armed forces should be applauded and we are extremely proud of their valour.

Attacking Prime Minister Modi, Surjewala said, “Lack of political direction, strategy and policy on part of the Modi government is harming India’s interests.

“The disquiet at both ends of our borders can be gauged by a series of instances which is a serious cause of concern,” he said.

Training his guns at the Ministry of External Affairs, the Congress leader said “The MEA’s vacuous statement yesterday, does not say a word about the alleged construction of military infrastructures by Chinese Army as depicted in satellite imagery produced in recent media reports.”

Surjewala was referring to reports in a section of the media, citing satellite images, suggested there has been a fresh build-up of Chinese troops in Doklam region.

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday dismissed media reports about fresh Chinese troop build-up in Doklam region on the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction as “inaccurate and mischievous”.

The Congress leader said that the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s reported justification of the construction of infrastructure and the reported reaction by the MEA that “India is maintaining constant vigil and using established mechanisms” is only adding to the confusion.

“Modi government cannot have multiple stands on the Chinese misadventure. It will only harm India’s interests,” he said.

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, Surjewala said, “The Congress government had approved raising of the Mountain Strike Corps along the China border with 90,274 additional soldiers at a cost of Rs 64,678 crore.”

“But under Modi government it still lies in the lurch,” he said.

He demanded that the Prime Minister take the nation into confidence and disclose the measures it has taken as well as its policies for the future.

Slamming the government over the rise in the ceasefire violations, the Congress leader said, “Since May 26, 2014 nearly 304 personnel of the security forces have died and over 194 civilians have lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir alone”.

He said that ceasefire violations from across the border in the past 44 months of the Modi government has increased by an alarming 500 per cent, as compared to the last 44 months of the Congress led-UPA II government.

The Congress leader also raised question over the fall in the squadron of the Indian Air Force and shortage of officials in the Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Air Force.

Indian Navy sailboat INS Tarini with an all-women crew rounded Cape Horn on Friday morning, completing one of the most difficult legs of its global circumnavigation tour.

Team leader Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi described the experience as one of “contentment”, adding that the last few days before reaching Cape Horn were “some of the roughest days”.

“Finally we are at the place where we were meant to be, where each one of the six of us dreamt to be before we signed up for this project. What we felt on sailing past Cape Horn may sound weird to the rest of the world, We were not sad or happy, what we felt was perhaps contentment of just being there at that moment,” Lt. Commander Joshi said in a message.

“We saw some of the roughest days and sleepless nights to have reached till this point and as we sailed past the Cape with the national flag flying behind us, what I could see there in each of us was the utmost tranquility,” she said.

“I am filled with pride for us, Team Tarini and a huge respect for the sea and seafarers of our nation,” she added.

Indian Navy Spokesperson Captain D.K. Sharma said the team rounded the Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America at around 6 a.m. on Friday, and hoisted a tri-colour onboard the sailing vessel as a mark of the achievement.

The feat was achieved despite strong winds reaching 70 km per hour.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a tweet from his personal account, congratulated the team.

Wonderful news! Delighted that INSV Tarini has rounded Cape Horn in the last few hours. We are extremely proud of their accomplishments. pic.x.com/edmCvfecDN

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 19, 2018

“Wonderful news! Delighted that INSV Tarini has rounded Cape Horn in the last few hours. We are extremely proud of their accomplishments,” Modi said.

The team, led by Lt. Commander Joshi and comprising Lt. Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and P. Swathi and Lieutenants S. Vijaya Devi, B. Aishwarya and Payal Gupta, had sailed out from Goa in September 2017.