Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor says he would have worked more with Nasir Hussain but it was the guilt that kept him away from working with the filmmaker.

Rishi worked with Hussain in films like Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.

“I worked with Nasir sahab in two movies. I would have worked with him in four movies but guilt kept me away. I somehow felt that Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai did not perform as well as Hum Kisise Kum Naheen, that’s why I felt that I must have hurt Nasir sahab’s feelings and hence shouldn’t work with him,” Rishi told Zee Classic as a part of the ongoing Nasir Hussain Film Festival on the channel, read a statement.

The actor said Hussain would still call him and ask him to meet in his office.

“And I would always make some excuse like I am busy or I am working. Pancham (R.D. Burman) would also call me asking me to meet Nasir sahab but because of my guilt, I felt he should work with other actors. Pancham da, Majrooh Sultanpuri uncle, Nasir sahab and I were a fabulous team,” he added.

The actor, who has also worked in films like Bobby, Kabhie Kabhie, Prem Rog and Bol Radha Bol, also revealed that Rs 90,000 was spent on his costume for the song Bachna ae haseeno from the film Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.

“The entire dress was made of plastic shells because that would reflect on the camera and look different when exposed to different kinds of lighting,” Rishi said, adding that it took two months of hard work to make the ensemble for the song.

“I had suggested that dress to Nasir sahab and informed him that it might be a little expensive but he least expected it to be that expensive. Rs 90,000 was a lot of money, especially in 1975. The red heart that I had worn with that outfit was borrowed from Neetu’s (Neetu Singh) friend who had purchased it in London. I told her that I wanted to wear it for that song,” he added.

Rishi said Hussain worked as hard on his music as he worked on his scripts.

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who has shot a film titled God, Sex, and Truth with American porn star Mia Malkova, says a woman’s body is beautiful and monumental to capture.

“I truly believe that there’s no location on earth which is more beautiful and more monumental than a woman’s body,” Varma on Tuesday tweeted alongside a snapshot from God, Sex, and Truth, focussing on Malkova’s bare abdomen.

The film was shot with Malkova in Europe. Its trailer was launched on Tuesday, and the full film will be launched on Republic Day, January 26.

The filmmaker says the video is about a “revolutionary sexual philosophy” as professed by Malkova and encapsulated by him.

“It’s about telling the truth behind sex as intended by God,” he added.

In a detailed note issued on Tuesday, Varma said: “It will have explicit nude imagery which will showcase each and every part of Mia Malkova’s beautiful naked body in a never before seen magnifique.

“The camera will literally worship not only every square inch of her extraordinary body but it also captures her every thought in the process of projecting it in almost a spiritual context within her deeply felt and also inbuilt sexual emotions.

“She also speaks graphically and shockingly hard sexual words and that’s because the whole point of this endeavor is to enhance and elevate whatever people conventionally look down upon.”

The US is not present in South Asia for peace and stability but to create chaos in the region, Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said.

“As George Friedman states in his book ‘The Next 100 Years’, the US is present there to create chaos in the region so that Russia, China, Iran and other regional countries can be contained,” Khar told CNN in an interview.

While discussing the New Year tweet of US President Donald Trump, Khar said that if she was in Foreign Office, she would have “ignored the tweet” and be “more concerned about tweeter than the tweet”.

Pakistan is still reeling from the after-effects of Trump’s first tweet of 2018 in which he announced cutting all further aid to Islamabad on charges of harbouring terrorists.

In the tweet, Trump said “the US had foolishly given Pakistan over $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years” and accused Pakistan of thinking “US leaders to be fools”.

“They give safe havens to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” he said.

Asked what was her reaction after the aid cut announcement, Khar said: “The US is currently the superpower, but if you’re going to tweet away your foreign policy, then clearly frankly if I was in the Foreign Office of Pakistan, I would totally ignore this tweet.”

“This person is a habitual tweeter who tweets rather flippantly, almost like which side of the bed you woke up on. After all the other tweets, I think we should be more concerned about the tweeter than the tweet,” she said.

Khar said that Trump’s belief about Pakistan’s dependence on US aid was “exaggerated”, the Nation daily reported citing CNN.

“I don’t think we’re dependent on it at all. As someone who managed Pakistan’s portfolios for almost five years, I can tell you that our reliance on them is vastly exaggerated.”

Taking a jibe at Trump, Khar said one doesn’t need to be a “stable genius” to do some basic mathematics.

“He talked about a $33 billion that Pakistan received from the US. The fact is since 2001 Pakistan has received somewhere around $4.8 billion under the head of security assistance, and $5.3 billion in the realm of civilian assistance.”

The former Foreign Minister claimed that “Pakistan has been happily scapegoated for the immense failure in Afghanistan for which Islamabad is an equal victim to Kabul”.

“We can’t afford to be flippant about the realities on the ground in Afghanistan. Warlord-ism all over the place in Afghanistan, where Taliban have taken over,” Khar said.

Talking about Pakistan’s ties with China, she said: “China is a regional strategic partner, perhaps the only real strategic partner we’ve had… not from today or the past five years but for the last four decades. With them (China), we have complete alignment of interests.”

Taiwanese electronics company BenQ on Wednesday launched two 4K UHD HDR projectors for the theatre-like experience at home.

The compact-sized CineHome W1700 projector W1700 is equipped with true 8.3 million megapixels and projection-optimised HDR for better image quality. The BenQ W1700 projector is available for Rs 2.25 lakh.

Similar to W1700, the CinePro Series W11000H comes with true 8.3 million pixel for 4K UHD performance and is priced at Rs. 4.5 lakh. The projector is distinguished by prestigious THX Certification and guarantees the precise experience of attending a commercial digital cinema, says company. The move comes in its ongoing project to release an entire lineup to revolutionize and popularize the 4K Home Cinema projectors as an integral part of everyone’s home cinema viewing experience.

“Seeing how the mass demand for 4k streaming is booming in India especially amongst the millennials, we bring BenQ’s W11000H and W1700 4K HDR home cinema projector which provides the perfect medium to stream content in HDR for the movie enthusiasts. These products goes ahead and prove our leadership in digital cinema technology and is a step towards transforming home viewing experience with our 4K UHD technology,” Rajeev Singh, Managing Director of BenQ India, said in a statement.

The projectors are equipped with the “BenQ CinematicColor” technology and “RGBRGB” colour wheel to deliver authentic colour reproduction.

The W1700 projector can be connected through an HDMI dongle such as Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick to instantly stream content.

(Written with inputs from IANS)

Title contenders Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina survived big scares at the Australian Open today, as a new teen star was born at the first major of the year.

World number two Wozniacki produced a great escape against little-known Croat Jana Fett, saving two match points and rallying from 5-1 down in an epic third set to keep her dream of a first Grand Slam title alive.

She looked out for the count, and was struggling afterwards to work out how she survived 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 against a player ranked 119.

“That was crazy, I don’t how I got back the in the match, She really took her shots, she had nothing to lose,” said Wozniacki, adding that “experience was crucial”.

Fourth seed Svitolina also came from a set down to overcome spirited Czech Katerina Siniakova 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The Ukrainian is now on a seven-match win streak after winning the lead-up Brisbane International.

She picked up five WTA Tour titles last year, more than any other woman, making her a serious Grand Slam contender.

Her next task is tackling 15-year-old sensation Marta Kostyuk, who became the youngest woman to reach the third round since Martina Hingis got to the quarter-finals in 1996.

Also Ukrainian, she beat local wildcard Olivia Rogowska 6-3, 7-5.

Her win streak at Melbourne Park is now 11 straight matches after claiming the Australian Open girls’ title in 2017 and coming through qualifying this year.

“I heard a lot of times that I’m talented, and I know that,” said the confident teen. “But I know that only talent will not help me to play well. So I’m working pretty hard.”

Svitolina said she knew little about the youngster and was preparing for a no-holds-barred fight.

“She has nothing to lose, so that’s why I know she goes just for everything. You know, a little bit like a headless chicken,” she said.

– More seeds fall –

===================

On a hot Melbourne day, Croatia’s sixth seed Marin Cilic also advanced to the third round, with last year’s Wimbledon finalist easily beating Joao Sousa.

US Open semi-finalist and 10th seed Pablo Carreno-Busta also went through after French veteran Gilles Simon retired injured when trailing 6-2, 3-0.

But Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a quarter-finalist last year, became the latest seed to slump out in the women’s draw, which has been shorn of leading names over the first two rounds.

Seeded 15, she lost to Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko.

Venus Williams’ conqueror Belinda Bencic also ran out of steam, having no answers against Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum, slumping out 6-1, 6-3.

– Dream on –

============

Rafael Nadal resumes his march towards a 17th Grand Slam later on Rod Laver Arena, after dispelling any lingering injury concerns in his opening match.

The world number one faces Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, who has never gone beyond the second round at seven previous attempts at Melbourne Park.

Last year’s finalist Nadal has said his body was feeling “good” and he had “no problems” with his troublesome knee.

Surprisingly, he is not the prime time men’s night match on centre court, with that honour going to third seed Grigor Dimitrov, who takes on American Mackenzie McDonald.

The stylish Bulgarian admits he dreams about winning a Grand Slam, but so far has never got beyond a semi-final.

“I’m going to deal with it. That’s all I’m really focusing on,” he said about his drive to break his Grand Slam duck.

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko is also in action later, along with Australian Nick Kyrgios who was slapped with a 3,000 fine Wednesday for swearing in his first round match.

Film: The Darkest Hour

Director: Joe Wright

Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James

Rating: **1/2

The true measure of a masterly performance is in its proclivity to hide the craft that goes behind the process of creating a character. In playing the blustering, bullying, opinionated, pigheaded, unorthodox, raunchy but finally effective British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who took on the might of Hitler, Oldman pulls out all the stops. He isn’t afraid to let his impressive skills shine through the astonishing prosthetics. It is a performance designed to win awards.

And therein lies the main problem with this not-unimpressive biopic.

Oldman’s portrayal of the blustering old man is spot-on but designed to win the Oscar. The rest of the components in this Joe Wright-directed film pale into insignificance. The film wears a strangely glum and dingy look, as though the parliament sessions and the Prime Minister’s home at the time of Hitler’s invasion were infected by a deep melancholy and a dismaying absence of sunshine. The last time I saw a film looking so glum was in Shekhar Kapur’s “Elizabeth”.

The Darkest Hour revels in shadowy whispers and silhouetted innuendos. The parliamentary sessions are shown in the film never rise above the level of staged drama and the famous Churchill speeches delivered through swigs of the trademark cigar, do not transcend the mood of doctored dogma. Interestingly, cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel had earlier collaborated with director Tim Burton on “Dark Shadows”.

Nonetheless, the lengthy film has passages of excellence popping up like a clown at a very dull birthday party. One noteworthy portion of the film has Churchill jumping out of his car at a traffic signal and taking a ride on the subway train with British working class passengers.

“What’s the matter? You’ve never seen a Prime Minister ride the subway before?” he asks the open-mouthed commuters cheekily.

As played by Oldman, Churchill is a bit of a defiant brat. His limited understanding of British politics is perpetually overridden by his determination to do what is right for the country.

While the sequences where he brokers peacetime preconditions with his cabinet members are done with a self-important clumsiness, Churchill’s personal relationships with the King (Ben Mendelsohn), with his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) and especially with his personal secretary (Lily James) come across with rigorous sinewiness.

In a moment of unguarded emotional honesty, the secretary tells Churchill that the war has taken away her brother. When she catches the Prime Minister staring at her, he tells her with disarming disingenuousness, “I just want to look at you.”

Wish we could feel the same wave of empathy for the narrative which runs the gamut of manufactured emotions from political rhetoric to wartime sarcasm.

The Darkest Hour never quite expels the feeling of being a vehicle for Oldman’s virtuosity. Yes, he was born to play Churchill. But was Churchill born so that an actor as skilled as Oldman could one day play him?

Actor Rahul Kapoor, who featured in television show Suryaputra Karn and Veera, is joining the Bollywood brigade with his first feature film Vodka Diaries. He says patience is key to survival in showbiz.

On his struggle in the world of showbiz, Rahul said: “I belong to Patiala, Punjab, so it is very difficult to reach at this level without anyone’s support. Therefore, I think being patient is the key to survive in the film industry.

“There are statistics that everyday, there are 10,000 people who come to Mumbai to become an actor and around 20,000 people return to their city. So if you don’t have patience, you shouldn’t make a decision to enter in this industry.

“I am an engineer by profession but I left my job because of my passion for acting and I knew that I will get an opportunity to show my skills”.

Rahul became a familiar face with commercial advertisements for TV and music videos.

On his character in Vodka Diaries, he said: “I have earlier worked in D-Day, in which I played a small role. But in ‘Vodka Diaries’, I have a very strong role that is indispensable to the story and leads the film to the climax. I am playing character of Nikhil who is flirty and stylish.

“I want to thank Kushal Srivastava who gave me an opportunity to work in his movie. I have tried my best to do justice to my character.”

The film also features acclaimed actor Kay Kay Menon.

For Rahul, “the whole shooting was like a dream to me (as I was) working alongside Kay Kay Menon who is one of my favourite actors”.

“I was nervous while working with him. He helped and encouraged me while shooting of the film. I was observing his actions and tried to follow that. I really got inspired by his performance,” he said.

Vodka Diaries also stars Raima Sen, Mandira Bedi, and Sharib Hashmi. The movie is a contemporary murder mystery releasing on January 19.

Central Secretariat, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bengaluru Hockey Association won their respective matches to qualify for the semifinals of the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2018 (B Division), here on Wednesday.

In the first quarterfinal, Pool A toppers Central Secretariat squared up against Pool H winners Hockey Coorg in a highly even contest. It was Central Secretariat who utilised their chances to effect as they scored three goals from penalty corners within the first two quarters to take a promising 3-0 lead in the match. But Hockey Coorg did not let the match slip away as they came back in the third quarter to convert two penalty corners in eight minutes to cut short Central Secretariat’s lead to 3-2.

However, it was Central Secretariat who kept their nerves and added a fourth goal in the 53rd minute to snatch a 4-2 win and make their way to the Semifinal. Thimmanna S Puliyanda’s hat-trick (7′, 20′, 25′) and Shankar Patil’s goal (53′) contributed to Central Secretariat’s four goals while Rahul R Lokhande (37′, 45′) scored a brace for Hockey Coorg.

The second quarterfinal of the competition saw Canara Bank defeat Delhi Hockey with a scoreline of 4-1. The victors showed a strong attacking display from the start and were rewarded for it when they scored in the 19th minute through Nikkin Thimmaiah who converted a penalty corner. Thimmaiah found the back of the net again in the 25th minute as he finished off a field goal. Canara Bank continued to dominate even after the half-time break as they scored two quick-fire goals in the 32nd and 34th minutes to take a huge 4-0 lead with Rathan Muthanna Vokkaliga and Moses Pullanthara being the respective scorers. Delhi Hockey tried to put up a fight and were rewarded with a consolation goal in the 48th minute through Amit.

Punjab National Bank scored an impressive 6-2 victory over Food Corporation of India in the third quarterfinal of the tournament. It was a very balanced first quarter between the two teams, and the pattern continued in the second quarter but it was Punjab National Bank who popped up with a goal at the stroke of the half-time whistle when they converted a penalty corner through Gagandeep Singh to take a 1-0 lead. However, Food Corporation of India looked for the equalizer after the restart and scored just six minutes into the third quarter when Harmandeep Singh scored for his team to make it 1-1. But Punjab National Bank struck five more goals in the last two quarters to wrap up an impressive 6-2 win. Goals for Punjab National Bank were scored by Gagandeep Singh (30′, 38′, 43′, 58′), Sanjay (51′) and captain Gagandeep Singh Sr (58′) while Harmandeep Singh (36′) and Munish Rana (53′) scored for Food Corporation of India.

In the last quarterfinal, it was Bengaluru Hockey Association who came from a goal down to beat Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 2-1. It was a match of two halves as Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu dominated the first two quarters which saw them score a goal in the 24th minute when G Saravanakumar found the back of the net to give his side an important 1-0 lead. However, after no goal was scored by either team in the third quarter, Bengaluru Hockey Association pulled up their socks in the last quarter to score two goals in two minutes to clinch the victory after having trailed in majority of the match. The two goals for Bengaluru Hockey Association were scored by HT Ramesh and Manikanth Bejawad in the 48th and 49th minutes respectively.

Semifinal line-up of the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2018 (B Division):

SF 1: 19th January, 2018 0730hrs – Central Secretariat vs Canara Bank

SF 2: 19th January, 2018 1500hrs – Punjab National Bank vs Bengaluru Hockey Association

Everyone must be aware of the controversy going around the film Padmaavat.  The producers had to change the name, actors got death threats, women threatened to commit ‘jaauhar’ and what not.After all the chaos, the film is finally going to release on 25 January. At last, the film will be on the screen with a full-page disclaimer. Although this is not the first time that a Bollywood film has offended people. Here is a list of seven such films that made headlines even before their release.

Mohalla Assi

Sunny Doel and Sakshi Tanwar starrer film is based on the present days of Varanasi. Mohalla Assi faced backlash for hurting the sentiments of people on religious grounds. The film hasn’t been issued a certificate yet.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

The film that created a lot of buzz due to its star cast. The Uri attack was the reason behind people opposing the film as Pakistani actor Fawad Khan was part of the cast. Since the relationships between Indian and Pakistan were strained, people did not want a Pakistani actor as a part of Karan Johar’s film.

Raees

Shah Rukh Khan starrer Raees also couldn’t dodge the controversy. The film was asked to be banned as it seemed that it was based on the life story of gangster Abdul Latif. Later, the Uri attack also affected this film. Mahira Khan, a Pakistani actor was featured in the film and the producer was asked to pay a penalty of 5 crores.

PK

Aamir Khan starrer PK got into trouble on religious grounds, as it was based on the superstitions believed by people practicing different religions. It went on to become a hit at the Box Office.

Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram-Leela

Before the Padmaavat row, Ranveer and Deepika starrer film Ram-Leela also faced the music. Since the title of the film had the name of Lord Ram in it, people burnt posters to protest.

The Dirty Picture

The film is based on the life of South Indian actress Silk Smitha. Her career was already controversial enough to offend people. What got the film in trouble was a notice from Silk’s brothers over the movie poster.

Nishabd

Amitabh Bachchan’s film Nishabdh was inspired by the classic novel Lolita. The story of a sixty-year-old falling in love with his daughter’s friend was not acceptable according to Indian values. The film had to be banned in Allahabad.

The lawyer for Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov slammed the International Olympic Committee today, accusing the powerful sports body of preparing to lift sanctions at the end of next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Jim Walden had initially praised the IOC following its decision in early December to suspend Russia from the February 9-25 Winter Olympics for a vast state-supported doping program, hailing the move as a “strong message.”

Since then however, with individual Russian athletes being allowed to compete in South Korea on a case-by-case basis as “Olympic athletes from Russia”, Walden has grown sceptical about the IOC’s commitment to punishment.

Walden said he believed IOC President Thomas Bach had already brokered a secret deal with Russia to allow them to compete in the Olympics.

“Immediately after the IOC decision, I had said I was happy, but that was before we saw the fine print, and also before Russia reacted to the decisions,” Walden told AFP, referring to “aggressive denials” by Russian officials, threats to Rodchenkov and the release of IOC and World Anti- Doping Agency emails believed to have been obtained by Russian hackers.

“It is shocking to me that given everything that Russia has done since the IOC decision, it’s clear that Thomas Bach is going to let them back in the Olympics,” Walden said.

“If there was ever a circumstance when to continue the suspension, this is it — but mark my words: Bach is going to let them back in at the closing ceremony,” he added.

“Every fan, every clean athlete, every corporate sponsor, should be outraged.”

Walden was also critical of world football’s governing body FIFA for the pace at which they have addressed allegations of doping in Russian football, with this year’s World Cup finals in Russia due to kick off in June.

“FIFA is considering hiring an independent investigator to follow the facts, I understand that the process is in the works, many of these proceedings have not been timely,” Walden said.

“It is hard to imagine that if there was a finding of doping at this stage, that FIFA could do much about it.”

Walden meanwhile confirmed that Rodchenkov, who is living in hiding in the United States, would give evidence by telephone or video link at two upcoming hearings being held by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

Walden said Rodchenkov remained fearful for his life and added that it was “very difficult and almost impossible” for him to have any “meaningful contact” with his family members in Russia.

Andhra Pradesh BJP president Kambhampati Hari Babu has demanded the appointment of a Governor exclusively for the state at the earliest, saying this was necessary for a smooth functioning of the administration.

Babu has made the demand in a letter written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

E S L Narasimhan is currently the Governor of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. His appointment was made under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, which paved the way for the creation of Telangana.

The Section 7 of the Act reads: “On and from the appointed day, the Governor of the existing state of Andhra Pradesh shall be the Governor for both the successor states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for such period as may be determined by the President.

In his letter to Singh, Babu has requested him to take necessary steps to appoint a Governor for Andhra Pradesh at the earliest.

The BJP is part of the TDP-led government in the state.

“There are a strong feeling and desire in the minds of the people of AP to have a Governor exclusively for the newly- formed state which will enable smooth functioning of the administration,” said Babu, also the MP from Visakhapatnam.

He pointed out that the state administration has already shifted base from Hyderabad the joint capital of both the states to AP’s new capital Amaravati.

Another BJP leader, P Vishnu Kumar Raju, has accused Narasimhan of being “biased against AP”.

“He has only been a visiting guest of the state. He hardly spent ten days in AP in the last three-and-a-half years. Above all, the Governor is totally biased against AP,” said Raju, the BJP floor leader in the Assembly.

“The MPs (from AP) should take up the issue with the powers in New Delhi and get an exclusive Governor appointed for the state,” Raju said.

Raju was upset that the Governor did not give his assent to the AP Agricultural Land (Conversion for Non- agricultural Purposes) Act amendment Bill for more than 40 days despite the state legislature passing it.

“He cleared a similar Bill of Telangana in no time but held the AP Bill up,” he maintained.

The recent incidents of brutal rape and murder in Haryana have put a question mark on the safety of women in the state despite Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s promise to make the state “safe and secure”.

According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Haryana was ranked third in crime. In 2015, the NCRB recorded highest number of gang rape cases in Haryana.

In 2016, Haryana reported 1,090 murders, 1189 rapes, 191 gang rapes, and 4019 kidnappings and abductions. This translates to around three murders, three rapes, and 11 kidnappings and abductions per day.

Sarvesh Tiwari, General Secretary, Nibhaya Jyoti Trust, said, “The news of three rapes in Haryana at the beginning of the year has come as a rude shock and revived memories of the brutal Nirbhaya gang rape case. It is alarming that even after six years the nation is yet to learn a lesson from the infamous gang rape case.”

He said the government recently highlighted the improvement of sex ratio in the state but this cannot be regarded as a success unless the issue of women’s safety is addressed.

“The incidents point to grave lapses in law and order and deeply ingrained parochial mindset. Perpetrators of crime should be brought to book immediately. Unless we change our mindset and check rising crimes against women, we cannot call ourselves a truly progressive nation,” said Tiwari.

In May and December 2016, the state witnessed two brutal cases of rape and murder, one involving a 23-year-old woman from Sonipat and the other a six-year-old girl from Uklana in Hisar.

The year 2018 has just begun and the state has already witnessed four brutal rape cases. In Jind a Dalit girl was found semi naked. A medical report said she was gang-raped and an object was thrust into her body that ruptured her liver.

In Faridabad a young woman returning from work was abducted and raped in a moving car on Saturday. In Panipat an 11-year-old Dalit girl was strangled with her own shawl by two men who later had sex with her corpse, according to the police.

The recent spate of crimes has alarmed the people of Haryana who have started questioning the BJP government on the issue of women’s safety.

“The Chief Minister has opened a 24-hour women’s helpline number and women’s police squad but where are they?” asked Seema Chillar, a resident of Jind.

“Can transferring police officials after incidents stop the crimes? The government just wants to allay public feelings,” said Chillar.

“The fact that such brazen incidents are recurring only indicates that our system is sleeping. BJP voiced their opinion formidably in the Nirbhaya case when they were in the Opposition. What has happened to their tall talk now and why is the number of rapes increasing with each passing day? What measures have been adopted by the state to ensure that women feel secure in public places?” asked Shafeeq of Empower People, an NGO.

The UN relief agency for Palestinians said on Wednesday that it has launched an international crowdfunding campaign after the US cut aid to the agency by over 50 per cent.

The US has decided to decrease its contribution to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to $60 million in 2018, which is much less than $364 million in 2017, said agency spokesperson Sami Mshasha.

“This decision is shocking and affects 525,000 students and millions of Palestinian refugees,” Mshasha said, adding that “it could also affect regional stability”, Xinhua news agency reported.

Washington will withhold $65 million out of its scheduled $125 million payment to the agency, which provides humanitarian aid, education, social services and medical care to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

The spokesperson also said the UNRWA services will not stop despite the US aid cut, saying “we will do our best to maintain the vital services”.

“We are already in huge deficit and we’ve contacted all donors from the international community to help us provide services and protection for the refugees,” he said.