Actor Prakash Raj said on Thursday that he was not anti-Hindu as alleged by critics but only anti-Modi.

“They say I am anti-Hindu but I say I am anti-Modi, anti-Amit Shah and anti-Hegde,” the actor said at the India Today South conclave here.

He was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and BJP leader-cum-central minister Anant Kumar Hegde.

The actor went on to say that those who support “killers” cannot be called Hindus.

He said the Prime Minister remained silent when he appealed to him to speak out when some Modi supporters celebrated the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

“A true Hindu cannot support such activity,” said Prakash Raj, a friend of the slain woman journalist.

The actor’s remarks evoked protest from the BJP spokesman in Telangana, Krishna Sagar Rao, who was in the audience.

The actor defended his stance. “When you can call me anti-Hindu, I have every right to say you are not Hindu,” he said.

The official notification for Tamil Nadu State Eligibility Test (TNSET) 2018 has been released by the Mother Teresa Women’s University Kodaikanal, the nodal agency for the test.

The notification has been issued on the official website tnsetexam2018mtwu.in, the link to which is available on the University’s official website.

The examination will be held on 4 March 2018 at 11 exam centres across Tamil Nadu. There are 26 subjects in the exam.

Registrations for the State Eligibility Test (SET) have started. Registration for the examination can be done through the link provided on the homepage of the official website.

Mother Teresa Women’s University Kodaikanal is a State University of Government of Tamil Nadu which conducts the TNSET annually.

Candidates who clear the examinations are eligible for the post of assistant professors in universities and colleges across Tamil Nadu.

Key dates:

Submission of Online Application Form – 18.12.2017

Last Date for Applying Online – 09.02.2018

Date of Examination – 04.03.2018

Website:

tnsetexam2018mtwu.in

Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal dropped 39.3 per cent, the company said on Thursday.

The company posted net profit of Rs 306 crore for the third quarter of 2017-18 compared to Rs 504 crore posted during the corresponding period in 2016-17, the company said in a statement.

The total revenue of the company stood at Rs 20,319 crore for the third quarter of 2017-18 compared to Rs 23,336 crore posted during the third quarter of 2016-17. It was a drop of 12.9 per cent.

“Regulatory fiat in the form of a cut in domestic IUC (interconnection usage charges) rates has exacerbated the industry ARPU (average revenue per user) decline in Q3’18. The recent announcement of reduction in International termination rates will further accentuate this decline and benefit foreign operators with no commensurate benefit to customers,” the statement cited Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, as saying.

“Continued investments in data capacities, strategic partnerships with content and handset providers and focus on customer friendly innovations like data rollover has led to healthy customer additions of 8.1 million during the quarter,” he added.

The company’s India revenues for Q3’18 at Rs 15,294 crore have declined by 11.3 per cent year-on-year (15.1 per cent on reported) on an underlying basis, adjusted for the impact in reduction of domestic termination rates. Year-on-year de-growth primarily impacted by mobile drop of 17.6 per cent.

During the quarter, Bharti Airtel divested Ghana country operation in Africa. Effective current quarter, financials and operational parameters have been shown for balance 14 countries, the company statement said.

“Airtel has witnessed a revenue growth of 5.3 per cent year-on-year with a higher net revenue growth of 8.8 per cent year-on-year. During the quarter our sustained focus on Data and Airtel Money led to 95.3 per cent increase in data traffic and 37.9 per cent increase in Money transactions,” said Raghunath Mandava, MD and CEO, Africa.

Three Senior Kashmiri separatist leaders on Thursday accused Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat of deliberately trying to dub Kashmiris engaged in “freedom struggle” as terrorists.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik jointly addressed the media at the former’s residence.

“The Indian Army chief is deliberately trying to paint the genuine freedom struggle of Kashmiri people as terrorism to justify the massacre of Kashmiris. If he wants us to be killed by his men, we will feel proud,” Malik said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader added that howsoever mighty the Indian pressure might be, the people of Kashmir won’t give up their fight.

The leaders of the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of separatist leaders headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer and Malik were reacting to Gen Rawat’s comments that the people of Kashmir had realized they won’t be able to achieve what they desired.

Addressing the press conference on phone, Geelani said: “Kashmir is a dispute accepted by the world community. Self-determination is the birthright of Kashmiris which nobody can deny.”

He said “threats” by the Indian Army chief won’t work. “Our struggle will continue on all fronts. Ours is a peaceful movement and connecting us with the terrorism is a ploy to defame our struggle.”

Actor Maniesh Paul, who has made his singing debut with the song Harjai along with Romanian TV presenter Iulia Vantur, says superstar Salman Khan has been very supportive of whatever he does.

“Salman sir has been really supportive every time in whatever I have done. Yes, I had a song (in mind) and generally spoke to him and he said, ‘Yes, you should sing professionally. Why not’ … He’s bhaijaan and he is always there in whatever I do. He is very supportive.

“I do share a lot of things with him and he is always there for me,” Maniesh said.

Harjai, presented by T-Series, is composed and penned by Sachin Gupta.

Talking about his equation with Iulia, he said: “Singing with Iulia was amazing. I think Iulia is a great singer. The notes she can touch goes really high. It’s amazing.”

Maniesh says recording a song with Iulia, who is rumoured to be in a relationship with the Dabangg star, was a “lot of fun”.

How did he come up with an idea to come out with a single?

“I used to like singing. I used to sing for my school and college. I won a lot of competitions there… I never thought taking it up professionally, but yes, I thought why not give it a try. Everybody has been saying that I should sing. So I was like ‘Okay, here I am’. I am not a trained singer. I sing passionately,” he added.

A 45-year-old woman, said to be “mentally unstable”, was on Thursday arrested after admitting that she had killed her 15-year-old son for allegedly teasing her, police said.

Jayamol, a housewife who was detained for questioning on Wednesday, on Thursday said she had killed her son Jeethu Job by first pushing him down in the kitchen and then strangulating him with a shawl, said police. She then tried to conceal her crime by setting the body on fire.

The woman had, three days back, approached the local police stating that her son was missing but it was only on Wednesday that police located Jeethu’s half-burned body near their house in a rubber estate.

Later, police found that Jayamol had burns on her hand, and after further questioning, she admitted to having done the crime.

Her husband Job V. John told the media that she was mentally unstable and she did the extreme step after she was teased by the boy.

The last rite of the boy was conducted on Thursday evening at their local church after the autopsy was conducted.

Later when Jayamol was brought to the house as part of the investigation, she was booed by the local residents.

Police, however, said that they are looking into all possible angles to see if there is more to than what she has said.

Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, World No.10, on Thursday prevailed over Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (0-7), 6-4 securing a place in the Australian Open third round for the first time since 2013.

The 2009 US Open champion needed three hours and 45 minutes to take down Khachanov, 21, in his first participation in the tournament since 2014 after recovering from physical issues that held him back from competing in Melbourne, reports Efe.

“I am so happy to be here after so many years. I had pains everywhere, but I am still standing up,” Del Potro said.

Del Potro fired 73 winners compared to Khachanov’s 60, proving that the 29 year old was getting back on track.

“These young guys are so strong and I feel like I am getting older, for sure. They are so strong. He hit harder than me the service and the forehand and I had to run a lot, but I think I took my chances to win the match,” he said.

The 12th seed Del Potro is set to play world No. 20 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 3-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

The 19th seeded Berdych took two hours and 31 minutes to overcome World No.71 Garcia-Lopez.

Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) President Lobsang Sangay on Thursday said Tibetans expect India and other Asian nations to find an early solution to the Tibetan issue.

Sangay underlined that an independent or autonomous Tibet was in the interest of both India and China as it provided a buffer between the two big nations that have mutual “mistrust and suspicion” due to their long border.

“We are thankful for all the support we got here in India. Perhaps we cannot ask for more as guests but we can hope for more, such as India putting Tibet issue on table and discussing it. Indian security also depends on Tibet. When Tibet was independent, there were no incursions,” Sangay said.

He said ‘Doklam’ was a Tibetan language word meaning difficult mountain and it showed that the region was part of Tibet, not China.

“When Tibet was occupied by China in 1959, the then Indian leadership including Vallabhbhai Patel could foresee that this will not stop here and they (Chinese) will come for more.

“Chinese incursions into India have doubled since 2011 and today we saw in the news that they are making permanent settlements in Doklam,” he said.

He said that with Brahamputra and a number of rivers flowing from Tibet, the region was important for India and other Asian countries because it was the “water tower of Asia”.

“The Chinese are facing water scarcity. It’s worse for India, for Pakistan and Bangladesh. At least for the sake of water security of 1.4 billion people of Asia, all Asian countries should come together and seek resolution of Tibet issue,” he said.

Sangay officially launched the ‘Thank you India’ campaign as 2018 marks 60 years of the Dalai Lama’s self-imposed exile here. The Dalai Lama crossed over to India on March 31, 1959 following the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) has released the admit card 2017 for the candidates applied for ECIL GET 2017 examination on the official website ecil.co.in.

Candidates trying to download ECIL admit card 2017 have to visit the official website and fill the blank space with the required information including roll number, registration number, date of birth and other required information.

ECIL’s Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) 2017 Recruitment examination has been scheduled for January 21, 2018 across the examination centers at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Trivandrum, Warangal, Karimnagar, Vijayawada, Vizag, Tirupathi, Nagpur, Tiruchy, Cochin, Jabalpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Jammu and Belagavi.

Candidates are advised to take a print out of the ECIL admit card 2017 and carry it at the time of examination.

A 20-year-old married woman was allegedly raped by two men at a village in Fatehabad district of Haryana, which has seen a spurt in rape cases.

The woman alleged in her police complaint that she was raped by her neighbour and another person yesterday.

She alleged that the two accused barged into her house when she was alone. The victim was threatened with dire consequences if she reported the matter to anyone.

“The woman had got married six months back,” police said.

“We have registered a case of rape against her neighbour and other co-accused. The accused have also been booked under other relevant provisions of the law. They will be arrested soon,” Fatehabad’s SP Deepak Saharan said over phone today.

Haryana has recently witnessed many cases of rape.

On Tuesday (16 January), a 14-year-old boy had allegedly raped a 3-year-old girl in a colony in Hisar.

A 15-year-old girl’s half-naked body was found on Saturday (13 January) from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday (9 January) from her village in Kurukshetra district.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, police said.

In a separate incident, an 11-year-old girl was raped and killed in Panipat last week.

Alleging complete breakdown of law and order machinery, the opposition Congress has sought dismissal of the Khattar government and imposition of President’s Rule in the state.

State-run Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) is all set to launch its proposed Kerala Blockchain Academy, the first of its kind in the country, here.

The academy is a joint initiative of IIITM-K and the Blockchain Education Network (BEN), a global network of blockchain communities, and will come up at the Technopark campus, said an IIITM-K statement on Thursday.

As the first step, Michael Gord, founder and CEO, MLG Blockchain Consulting, will launch the website on Friday. Gord is also an Advisory Board Member of BEN.

Saji Gopinath, Director, IIITM-K, said the academy plans to explore the possibilities of leveraging blockchain technology for public good, capacity building initiatives and promoting disruptive innovations and entrepreneurship with blockchain technology.

“Setting up the academy will be definitely a leap forward in Kerala’s efforts in becoming a national leader in the education, adoption and entrepreneurship promotional activities in the new age technological domains,” said Gopinath.

Chinese technology giant Huawei’s brand Honor on Thursday announced the roll-out of a software update that will bring ‘Face Unlock’ feature to its “View 10” smartphones. The OTA update roll out has started from January 17 and will be rolled out to everyone by January 24.

To enable face recognition, you need to enroll your face by accusing Face recognition feature in phone settings menu. You can enroll your face by simply looking at the camera. By detecting your face, Honor View 10 detects the positioning between you and the phone and adjusts the direction accordingly. For example, when you lie down in bed, the screen will rotate automatically so that you can comfortably read any messages.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology not only unlocks the device when sensors recognise your face but also turn off the screen when it senses that the users are no longer reading. It also detects users’ position and adjusts the direction accordingly. The update will also enable closed-eye face-unlock prevention and intelligent screen-on.

Honor says that it gets intelligent lock screen notifications, which means when you get a new message and you pick up the phone, Honor View 10 recognizes your face and lets you read the message without unlocking the phone and opening an app.

Honor View 10 has octa-core Kirin 970 chipset, 6GB RAM, 128GB on-board memory and EMUI 8.0.

(Written with inputs from IANS)

The Supreme Court on Thursday paved way for the all India release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period drama film ‘Padmaavat’ as it stayed the ban imposed on the movie in four states but the controversy has clearly refused to die down.

According to media reports, protesters (allegedly Karni Sena workers) vandalized a cinema hall in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur in the wake of apex court’s decision of striking down the ban on Padmavat.

The fringe group Karni Sena has, reportedly, refused to back down from protesting against the release of the movie.

Lokendra Singh, Karni Sena leader, urged the social organisations in India to ensure the movie is not released anywhere.

“I appeal to social organisations in the entire country: Padmavati nahi chalni chahiye. Film hall par janata curfew laga de (The movie should not run. Public should enforce a curfew at cinema halls),” NDTV quoted Mr Singh as saying.

Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor’s film is slated to release on January 25.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan government hassaid it would study the Supreme Court s order and then only a “decision on revision can be taken”.

Actor Arjun Kapoor has wrapped up shooting for his 10th film titled “Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar”. He says working with filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee has been amazing.

Arjun on Thursday shared a photograph of himself along with Banerjee and his co-star Parineeti Chopra from the film’s set, on Instagram.

“So, I just wrapped my 10th film with my first ever co-star Parineeti Chopra! We’ve come a long way… It’s been amazing working with Dibakar Banerjee and his team who have madness, energy, zest and clarity. Hope you guys like what we come up with on August 3 because ‘Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar’ hone wale hai,” Arjun captioned the image.

The film will see Arjun and Parineeti teaming up for the second time after the 2012 film “Ishaqzaade”.

This will be the first time Arjun will be seen playing a Haryanvi police offer. Previously, he was seen essaying a boy from Bihar in “Half Girlfriend”.

A gunfight between police and criminals in a village in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh claimed the life of an eight-year-old boy on Wednesday evening.

The boy, identified as Madhav, was killed when a bullet hit him in the head during the crossfire. The incident happened in Mohanpura village.

Reports say that the police team arrived in the village to nab suspects of a robbery. The criminals were asked to surrender but they opened fire.

According to Hindustan Times, the villagers claim that it was the police which first opened fire.

The boy’s grandfather said that the police initially agreed to accompany the boy to the hospital. However, the police told the family to take the boy themselves because they had to get more force for the encounter.

NDTV reports that the family of the boy has filed a complaint against the police. Extending support to the family, SSP Mathura Swapnil Mamgain said that the matter will be probed and action taken accordingly.

It is not clear whose bullet killed the boy.

Principal Secretary, Home, Arvind Kumar said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken cognizance of the “unfortunate incident” and ordered a probe by the Inspector General of Police, Agra.

Adityanath has also sanctioned a financial aid of Rs 5 lakh to the bereaved family from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

US President Donald Trump has announced the winners of his so-called “Fake News Awards” for 2017 in a gimmick to escalate his attacks on major media outlets, with the top prize going to a New York Times article.

The article by renowned economist Paul Krugman, which won two awards, about the adverse fall outs of Trump’s win in the US presidential election topped the controversial list.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted, “And the FAKE NEWS winners are…”, along with a link to the Republican National Convention website with a list of ten winners.

“2017 was a year of unrelenting bias, unfair news coverage and even downright fake news. Studies have shown that over 90 per cent of the media’s coverage of President Trump is negative,” said the GOP-hosted website.

The awards link was unavailable immediately following their announcement by Trump due to a traffic overload. “The site is temporarily offline,” it read for nearly an hour after Trump sent out a tweet to the site.

The second winner on the list was ABC, for a news piece — that it later retracted — in which it claimed that the controversial former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was asked by the President to establish contact with Kremlin.

The third winner was CNN news — which received four of the 10 awards — for a news article where it claimed Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., had exclusive access to hacked documents from Wikileaks.

The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, Newsweek and ABC news also got an award each.

The list mentioned the Post for reporting that “the President’s massive sold-out rally in Pensacola, Florida, was empty”. Other entries included TIME’s mistaken report about Martin Luther King Jr.’s bust being removed from the Oval Office.

The awards blamed Newsweek for reporting that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake the US President’s hand. A video that appeared to capture the missed handshake went viral on social media at the time.

Finally, the “Fake News Awards” noted that “Russian collusion was perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”

Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake harshly criticised Trump for the awards.

“No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions,” said Flake.

Earlier in the month, several experts had also warned that the announcement of these awards could violate federal standards of government ethics and would embarrass officials, who collaborated with Trump, although not the President himself.

Trump had proposed in late November, the idea of granting a “fake news trophy” to the television network that was “the most dishonest or corrupt in its political coverage” of his presidency.

The page also listed several accomplishments of the President.