Singer Camila Cabello says leaving the band Fifth Harmony helped her “come alive”.

Cabello released her full debut album “Camila” on Monday.

She believes the decision to leave the band helped her start expressing herself and her vision more freely, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“I had been writing songs since I was 16, and at first I wanted to write for other people. But I had these songs that were so personal… and I couldn’t imagine me giving it to somebody and somebody else singing them because it was too close to me,” Cabello told NPR magazine.

“I went a long time writing songs thinking that, ‘Nobody will ever hear this for another 10 years because I’ll still be in the group’,” she added.

Cabello said she is now in a “great place” because she has taken complete ownership of her public appearances.

“I’m all for girls wearing what they want to wear. I think it is great for girls who want to express their sexuality and if they want to wear booty shorts or eyelashes or whatever to feel great, then that’s amazing,” she said.

“The only thing wrong is when somebody is pushing you to do it before it’s your time and before you are comfortable – or if that’s not really you. I think both of those are okay; whether you want to go for that or you are not comfortable with that,” she added.

Migratory birds are now attracted by other wetlands in Ganjam district and this could be the main reason for the drop in the number of winged guests in the Chilika lake in 2018, experts and officials said.

The bird census conducted by forest officials this month in all major water bodies of the district show that Tampara lake, Baghua dam and other water bodies hosted many migratory birds, besides the Chilika.

“The waterfowls might have landed on water bodies and some other areas on their way to Chilika due to the availability of food. It may be one of the reasons for fewer birds at the lake this year,” said retired Chief Conservator of Forest and a noted ornithologist, Sudhakar Mohapatra.

Divisional Forest Officer, Chilika, Bikash Ranjan Das seconded Mahapatra’s view.

The annual bird census, undertaken in the brackish water lagoon of Chilika on January 3, put the count to 8,93,390 birds, which is 53,000 less compared to last year’s figure.

Forest officials said 1,391 birds were sighed at the Tampara lake, and 1,214 at Baghua dam.

However, the DFO said, there could be at least two other reasons for the fewer number of birds being sighted in the Chilika this year.

A 16-year-old girl committed suicide by setting herself on fire after she was allegedly raped by two men in her home in Majhgawa area here, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Sunday in Katha village, where the girl was allegedly raped by two men, who are brothers, belonging to the same village, Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar P said.

The girl’s father, an employee of a private company, was at work while her mother had gone to a relative’s house to celebrate ‘Makar Sankranti’ when the incident occurred, he said.

“Agonised by the trauma of the incident, the girl sprinkled kerosene on herself and set herself afire, after which she died,” the SP said.

One of the accused brothers was arrested, while the other one was absconding, he added.

Meanwhile, the father of the deceased girl in his police complaint has alleged that when her daughter was setting herself on fire, his son tried to intervene and save her, but the accused injured him as well, the SP said.

The parents reported the case to the police yesterday and an FIR was subsequently registered, the police said.

A case has been registered against the accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act, for committing rape, and prompting to commit suicide, they said.

Domestic handset maker Karbonn Mobiles on Monday launched its “Titanium Frames S7” budget Android smartphone in India for Rs. 6,999.

Available on e-commerce platform Shopclues, the Karbonn Titanium Frames S7 runs Android 7.0 Nougat Operating System (OS) and is powered by a 1.45 Ghz quad-core processor coupled with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, which can be expanded up to 128 GB.

The Titanium Frames S7 smartphone comes with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based personal assistant named “Niki.AI” which gives users the option to use services like payments, recharges, movie ticketing, health and home services through its channel partners, the company said.

It sports a 5.5-inche HD display with 2.5D curved glass.  Powered by a 3,000mAh battery, the smartphone is designed to last all day long on a single charge, the company claimed.

“We are delighted to partner with Shopclues for our latest offering Titanium Frames S7. We, at Karbonn, believe in constantly reinventing ourselves to strive for better, richer and enhanced smartphone experience for our consumers. Our latest offering is targeted towards the millennials who like to have a smartphone which is not just a high performance device but a one stop solution for their daily needs. Titanium Frames S7 is a smart device power packed with unique value added services, launch offers benefits and pricing like never before.,” Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles, said in a statement.

Karbonn Titanium Frames S7 full specifications

• 4G VoLTE dual-SIM, Android 7.0 Nougat, Fingerprint sensor
• 5.5-inch full-HD (1080 x 1920 pixels) 2.5D curved glass display
• 1.45GHz quad-core processor (Unspecified processor manufacturer)
• 3GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
• 13MP auto focus camera with LED Flash
• 13MP front-facing camera with LED Flash
• 3000mAh battery

The Karbonn Titanium Frames S7 comes in Black, Champagne and Red colour options. It is priced at Rs. 6999 and will only be available from ShopClues.

Karbonn has also partnered with Airtel for the Rs. 2,ooo cashback offer. In this, if users make 36 continuous monthly recharges of Rs. 199 on Airtel then after 18 months they will receive a cash refund of Rs. 500 and after after 36 months you get Rs. 1,500.

(Written with inputs from IANS)

A father-son duo was arrested on Tuesday in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkarnagar in an honour killing case of a 17-year-old girl who had fled from home four months ago.

Infuriated by the girl’s attempt to elope with her lover, the father-son duo shot her dead in their home on Monday and buried her body, police said.

The family had restricted her movements and also prevented her from going to school, police said.

The body has been exhumed and sent for post-mortem. The weapon used in the crime has also been recovered.

The police said it worked out the case in 24 hours and have sent the accused to jail.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrived in Agra on Tuesday to visit the Taj Mahal and were welcomed by welcomed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

He was accorded a traditional welcome by Braj folk artists on his arrival at the airport, the chief minister’s office said on Twitter.

Grand traditional welcome of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu by Braj folk artists on his arrival at Agra Airport, Uttar Pradesh. pic.x.com/YyOcw8TxDa

— CM Office, GoUP (@CMOfficeUP) January 16, 2018

After their arrival, the Netanyahu couple and the delegation accompanying them drove to the Amar Vilas hotel in the Taj city. Later, Netanyahu and his wife then drove to the Taj Mahal where they are to spend more than an hour, according to media reports.

Tight security arrangements have been made for the VVIP visit and the Taj, the iconic Mughal mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna, will be closed for common visitors till the Israeli Prime Minister leaves.

No car or person was allowed to be in a periphery of 500 metres around the Taj since morning.

Guides of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) are to take the Netanyahu couple around the Taj Mahal and apprise them about the architecture and the love story of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

The Israeli prime minister is scheduled to inaugurate the third edition of the geo-political conference, ‘Raisina Dialogue’, in Delhi later today.

Earlier, nine agreements were signed between the two countries after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu held delegation talks.

Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to India, which marks 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, comes six months after Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Jewish state in July last year.

In a sign of growing importance to the ties with Israel, the government on Sunday renamed Delhi’s Teen Murti Chowk as Teen Murti-Haifa Chowk after the Israeli city.

Netanyahu’s entourage includes the largest-ever delegation of Israeli business people of some 130.

This is the first visit to India by an Israeli Prime Minister since Ariel Sharon came in 2003.

(With agency inputs)

Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh started shooting for their forthcoming Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, recently and were spotted shooting for the film at a suburban slum pocket in Mumbai.

Ranveer and Alia were snapped on the sets and their looks were shared by their fans on social media platforms.

Their Looks Are Totally Different #RanveerSingh and #AliaBhatt’s Pics FromTheir Upcoming Movie #GullyBoy

A post shared by ranveerians fc official™ (@ranveerians_fc) on Jan 15, 2018 at 10:15pm PST

In pictures, Alia is seen wearing a simple blue kurta with churidar and hijaab, while Ranveer is dressed casually in a grey-blue shirt and faded jeans with messy hair.

Here is #RanveerSingh’s and #AliaBhatt first look from #GullyBoy as he was snapped on the sets today.  @vmusicmum

A post shared by V Music (@vmusicmum) on Jan 15, 2018 at 11:46pm PST

The movie bankrolled by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment is about the lives of street rappers of Mumbai chawls.

Gully Boy is inspired by the lives of two rappers Vivian Fernandes aka Divine and Naved Shaikh aka Naezy.

This is the first movie of both actors together. Ranveer Singh has already worked with Zoya Akhtar in Dil Dhadakne Do.

Apart from this, Alia Bhatt upcoming projects, include Raazi and Shuddhi, while Ranveer Singh’s most talked about film Padmavat is releasing on 25th January.

Senior BJP leader and former MLC Prof Narayan Sadashiv Pharande passed away in a private hospital here this morning after suffering a cardiac arrest, an official said.

He was 78.

Pharande was admitted to the city-based MJM Hospital about a fortnight ago after he suffered from intra-cranial bleeding (cerebral hemorrhage) which caused paralysis, the official at the hospital said.

He died after suffering a cardiac arrest this morning, he said.

The leader is survived by a wife and two daughters.

Pharande had served as the chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1998 to 2004 and also as the BJP state president from 1991 to 1995.

The leader, popularly known as Na Sa Pharande, was elected thrice as the Member of the Legislative Council.

“Besides being an ace politician, he was a fine speaker and a scholar of Sant literature,” BJP city president Yogesh Gogawale said.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to give all documents pertaining to the death of Justice B H Loya to petitioners seeking an independent probe into the circumstances of the death of the CBI special judge.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M M Shantanagoudar passed the direction after the Maharashtra government submitted before the court documents, including Loya’s postmortem report, in a sealed cover.

The judge was presiding over the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

The bench, which was hearing two PILs seeking an independent probe into the death of Loya, adjourned the hearing for after a week without specifying any dates.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Maharashtra, told the bench that documents contained certain confidential material which cannot be shared in public and they cannot be given to petitioners — a journalist and a Congress leader.

The counsel for the petitioners told the bench that they needed to look into these documents to argue the matter.

“It is a matter where they (petitioners) should know everything,” the bench observed.

Salve later told the court that the documents could be shown to the petitioners’ counsel but they should not make it public and they would mark the confidential documents.

The bench directed that all the documents be given to the petitioners within a week.

The petitioners’ counsel also assured the court that they would not make any of the documents public.

Judge Loya had allegedly died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.

Software major BlackBerry has unveiled a new cyber security tool called “BlackBerry Jarvis” for automakers that will scan in real-time all software components in an autonomous vehicle to predict and fix vulnerabilities.

Jarvis aims to help automakers with safety backups as they develop software required for self-driving cars.

In a keynote address at the North American International Automotive Show (NAIAS) Detroit auto show on Monday, BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen said “Jarvis” scans and delivers deep actionable insights in minutes, what would otherwise involve manually scanning that will take large numbers of experts and an impractical amount of time.

BlackBerry has already begun trialing “Jarvis” with some of the world’s largest automakers.

“Jaguar Land Rover and BlackBerry share a common objective in bringing the most intelligent vehicles to reality” said Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover.

“In our independent study, Jarvis delivered excellent efficiencies in time-to-market, significantly reducing the time to security assess code from 30 days to seven minutes,” he added.

Jarvis is customised for the unique needs of each OEM and their entire software supply chain. Once initiated, automakers will have online access to Jarvis and can scan any number of binary files at every stage of software development. This includes the capability to evaluate new software under consideration as well as the ability to assess existing software already in production.

Once scanned, development teams have immediate access to the results via user-friendly dashboards with specific cautions and advisories. (Check the ‘BlackBerry Jarvis’ introduction video below)

“Connected and autonomous vehicles require some of the most complex software ever developed, creating a significant challenge for automakers who must ensure the code complies with industry and manufacturer-specific standards while simultaneously battle-hardening a very large and tempting attack surface for cybercriminals,” Chen said in a statement.

Jarvis is also applicable to other industry segments like healthcare, industrial automation, aerospace and defence.

“Jarvis is a game-changer for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) because for the first time, they have a complete, consistent, and near real-time view into the security posture of a vehicle’s entire code base,” Chen said.

The search team has recovered a torso, assumed to be that of the missing pilot of the Pawan Hans helicopter that crashed into the sea off the Mumbai coast on Saturday, an official said on Tuesday.

The torso was found last night. But, there would be clarity on it after DNA analysis, the official at the Cooper Municipal General Hospital told PTI.

“We have taken blood samples of a relative of the missing crew member and sent them to a state-run forensic laboratory in Mumbai,” he said.

He said the DNA analysis is a tedious process and its result is expected by Saturday.

The brother of the missing pilot has flown from Kerala to Mumbai and given his blood samples.

The Coast Coast yesterday said another body was recovered by an ONGC vessel.

With this, the remains of six of the seven persons, who were aboard the helicopter, have been recovered, it said.

The ONGC vessel had also managed to retrieve parts of the aircraft, including rotor blades, main gearbox, tail gearbox, both the engines and the emergency locator transmitter (ELT), the Coast Guard earlier said.

A high-level delegation from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Pawan Hans visited the Coast Guard’s western region headquarters yesterday to assess the situation and formulate the further strategy for an early recovery of the debris and body parts, if any, it said.

The helicopter with seven people on-board, including five officers of the ONGC and two pilots, crashed off the Mumbai coast minutes after it took off for the state-owned company’s oil installation in the Arabian sea on Saturday.

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned another son-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Rahul Yadav, in connection with its money laundering probe against his MP daughter Misa Bharti and others.

In what comes as fresh trouble for the Lalu Prasad family, the agency has allegedly detected some funds being transferred by Rahul Yadav to his mother-in-law Rabri Devi, the wife of Lalu Prasad.

Agency sources said Rahul Yadav, husband of Lalu Prasad’s fourth daughter Ragini, has now been issued summons to depose before the investigating officer of the case later this week and explain this transfer of about Rs 1 crore.

The agency has already questioned Shailesh Kumar, Lalu Prasad’s other son-in-law and husband of his daughter Misa Bharti, in this case many times in the past.

The case pertains to alleged money laundering of funds by a firm– Ms Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd– and is said to be linked to Misa and Shailesh.

The ED is probing the case under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)

Aiyaary actor Sidharth Malhotra, who is the heartthrob of many women, turned 32 today (16 January). The actor with his amazing talent, acting skills, smile and killing attitude rocked the Indian cinema with films like Student of the Year, Kapoor & Sons, Baar Baar Dekho, A Gentleman and many more. Now, he is all set to impress us with his upcoming film Aiyaary.

On his birthday, let’s have a look at some interesting facts about the actor you must know:

He made his TV Debut in Prithviraj Chauhan

Many of us don’t know that the hot and chocolaty boy of the tinsel town made his debut in TV serial Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Prithviraj Chauhan which aired on Star Plus along with Rajat Tokas and not in the film Student of the Year. He played the role of Jaichand, while Rajat Tokas played up as Prithviraj Chauhan.

He was offered Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion

Sidharth Malhotra was supposed to make his Bollywood debut opposite to Priyanka Chopra in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion, which was much ahead of Karan Johar’s Student of the Year. However, due to his contract with Gladrags, he couldn’t take up the project.

His favorite game is Rugby

The Delhi boy loves to play any sports but is totally into the game of Rugby. He even goes on a run with this pet dog ‘Oscar’. He takes fitness very seriously.

He is an artist too

Brother’s actor is also gifted with many other interest and skills apart from acting. In his spare time, the dashing actor loves sketching. He is often seen sketching and doodling cartoons.

Punjabi by heart-All time Foodie

Well being a fitness freak from being a foodie by heart. He likes Ghar ka khana, sushi, Italian cuisine, biryani, and jalebis.

Gadget Freak

The Baar Baar Dekho actor is also a gadget freak. He loves mobile phones, music players, laptops. He owns lots of gadgets. In his spare time or traveling, he loves listening to music.

His talent was recognized at the age 16

Sidharth was only 16 when he was approached by a casting agent in a café. In 2007, he became second runners-up at the Gladrags mega—model and Manhunt pageant. He also got the subtitle of ‘Mr. Internet Popularity’ and also with the title of ‘Mr. Photogenic’.

US auto giant Ford will massively increase investments in electric vehicles and roll out 40 hybrid and electric models by 2022, Executive Chairman Bill Ford said at the Detroit auto show.

The Detroit-based company previously said that it would invest $4.5 billion in electric products by 2020, and on Sunday it said that this number would rise to $11 billion because it includes the costs of developing dedicated electric vehicle architectures.

Ford’s engineering, research and development expenses for 2016, the last full year available, were $7.3 billion, up from $6.7 billion in 2015, reports CNBC.

“The 11 billion you’re seeing means we’re all-in now,” Xinhua quoted Bill Ford as saying. He added that the only question is whether the customers will be there with them. Ford believed that the answer would be positive. According to Ford executives, the company plans to add 16 electric and 24 hybrid vehicles to its global line-up by 2022.

At the 2018 North American International Auto Show here, Ford also announced that by 2020 it would build a hybrid F-150 pickup, its bestselling vehicle.

“We want to show that the company is electrifying all iconic vehicles,” said Jim Farley, President Global Markets for Ford.

(Written with inputs from IANS)

SSC results 2017: The results for Paper 1 examination of the Multi Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff have been declared by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) on Monday. Candidates will be able to view their results on the official website of the SSC – ssc.nic.in.

The website was down at the time of writing.

The exams were held from 16 September to 31 October 2017. Those who have qualified the Paper 1 examination are now eligible to appear for Paper 2, which is a descriptive paper consisting of a Short Essay/Letter in English or any language listed under the 8th schedule of the Constitution.

The 30-minute duration paper will be of 50 marks and test the elementary knowledge of the candidates.

In May 2017, the SSC had cancelled the MTS (Non-Technical) examinations 2016 held in a particular shift due to a question paper leak. The paper had been released on social media forcing the Commission to cancel the afternoon shift.

Around 19 million candidates appeared in the SSC MTS Examination 2016 of which around 1.5 lakh have qualified.

The results have been released region wise. The Commission said that the cut-offs and qualifying marks for Paper 1 and 2, respectively, may be different for vacancies in each State/UT.

The post has been re-categorised as Group-C.

Four youth drowned while taking bath in the sea off Vedaranyam in the district on Tuesday.

The youth were taking a holy dip in the sea on the occasion of ‘Thai Amavasai’ and were caught in high tides, police said.

District Superintendent of Police, Deshmukh Shekar Sanjay said a group of youth were caught in the tides.

“The rescue teams saved a total of 10 persons and all of them were rushed to Vedaranyam government hospital.. Four persons were declared brought dead,” he said.

While three are receiving treatment at Vedaranyam government hospital, two others have been referred to Tiruvarur Medical College Hospital, said the senior police official adding the search operations were on.

Every year, thousands of devotees throng Vedaranyeshwarar Temple in Vedaranyam for taking a dip in the “Siddhar Ghat” area in the Bay of Bengal.

The budget session of the bicameral state legislature in Bihar is likely to commence on February 26 and the state budget would be presented the next day, an official has said.

Cabinet Secretariat Department Special Secretary Upendra Nath Pandey said the state budget for the financial year 2018-19 is likely to be presented on February 27.

The session will come to a close on April 4, he said.

These are tentative dates approved at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar here on Monday.

Other decisions taken at the cabinet meeting include state guarantee for a Rs 500 crore loan to be taken by Bihar State Co-operative Bank Ltd from NABARD and other government agencies for the kharif marketing season 2017-18, Pandey said.

The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 782.56 crore for water supply schemes under the centrally-sponsored AMRUT programme which would cover towns such as Hajipur, Bagaha, Motihari, Siwan, Ara, Begusarai, Kishanganj, Katihar, Buxar, Sasaram, Chhapra and Biharsharif, he said.

A sum of Rs 48.95 crore was also sanctioned for the Patna Storm Water Drainage Scheme.

Besides, Rs 145.14 crore was allocated for the proposed construction of a cultural centre at Bodh Gaya, as part of the Union Tourism Ministry’s Swadesh Darshan scheme, Pandey said.