Pakistan on Sunday freed 147 Indian fishermen who were imprisoned in Karachi’s Malir Jail for allegedly fishing in its territorial waters, according to a media report.

The fishermen were taken to Lahore through Allama Iqbal Express from where they will go to Wagah Border to enter India, Pakistan Today reported.

Their release follows a December announcement by Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal that nearly 300 Indian fishermen would be freed in two phases till January 8.

On December 28, Pakistan had released the first batch of 145 Indian fishermen, who were held there on similar charges.

Fishermen from Pakistan and India are frequently detained for illegally fishing in each other’s territorial waters since the Arabian Sea does not have a clearly defined marine border and the wooden fishing boats lack the technology to guide them away from the neighbouring country’s claimed territorial waters.

Two people were on Sunday arrested here for possessing demonetised currency worth Rs 50 lakh by Jammu and Kashmir Police.

According to the police, They both were identified as Nazir Ahmad Rather, a resident of Baramulla district, and Akeel Ahmad Khan, a resident of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

They both were arrested during a routine check in Srinagar.

Police Officials in a Statement said, “Demonetised currency notes worth Rs 50 lakh were recovered from their possession. They have been booked under the relevant sections of law and would be presented in the court,” a police statement said.

(with input from agencies)

The Member of Parliament (MP) from Kangra, Shanta Kumar on Sunday called for constructive politics in Himachal Pradesh and said a welcome change was ushered into the state politics after recent Assembly polls.

Shanta Kumar said the top leadership in both the major political parties of the state is occupied by young faces and it should lead to positive change in Himachal’s polity.

“While the BJP has given reigns to experienced and energetic youth, Jai Ram Thakur to lead the state as Chief Minister, the Congress has appointed young leader, Mukesh Agnihotri as the legislative party leader,” he said, while terming it as the ‘call of present times’.

He said Thakur’s selection as Chief Minister of the state has not only fulfilled the demand of the people of Mandi district of appointing CM from the district for the first time in the history of the state.

But it was also the attempt of the party to thank the people of the district who had voted Congress out of power, as nine out of the total 10 seats were won by BJP, while one seat was won by independent candidate.

“The lack of development in the state during the last five years was also the result of conflicting politics between the two parties and there was the general trend of opposing each and other on every issue,” he said.

Shanta urged the leaders of both the parties to indulge in constructive politics during the Assembly session, scheduled to begin from 9 January and said it would lead to all round developmenof the state.

Actor-producer Anil Kapoor says he was awestruck by Rajesh Khanna’s performance in “Anand”, and that the late veteran actor will always remain an icon.

On Sunday, Anil tweeted a short video from the 1971 film.

“Remember watching ‘Anand’ for the first time in a preview theatre and I was absolutely awestruck by Rajesh Khanna’s performance and the film. This has always been one of my favourite films. He will always remain an icon,” Anil wrote alongside the video.

Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, “Anand” is about a cancer patient who lives his life to the fullest. He fills everyone’s life with happiness, which inspires his doctor, Bhaskar, to write a book on his life.

The film also stars Amitabh Bachchan and Sumita Sanyal.

On the work front, Anil is currently busy with “Fanne Khan”. The film also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Rajkummar Rao.

Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha is here to shoot for the final schedule of “Happy Bhag Jayegi Returns”.

Sonakshi on Sunday took to Twitter, where she shared a photograph of a man holding a placard with her name spelt as “Sunakshi Sonja”. “Swadeekha (Welcome). In Bangkok for the final schedule of ‘Happy Bhag Jayegi Returns’! Looking forward to a whole month of work and play,” Sonakshi captioned the image.

Swaaaadeeeeekhaaaaaa 🙏🏼 😂😂😂 in Bangkok for the final sched of #HappyBhagJayegiReturns!!! Looking forward to a whole month of work and play! pic.x.com/v7avEWfZHV

— Sonakshi Sinha (@sonakshisinha) January 7, 2018

“Happy Bhag Jayegi Returns” is the second instalment of the film “Happy Bhag Jayegi”, which released in 2016. The sequel is being directed by Mudassar Aziz and also features Diana Penty, Abhay Deol, Jimmy Shergill and Ali Fazal.

North Korea’s official news agency has urged practical action in order to improve ties between the two Koreas in an editorial on Sunday, ahead of the first meeting between the two countries in more than two years.

The article was published to mark the high-level meeting to be held on January 9 between representatives of North and South Korea, who have technically been at war for more than 65 years, Efe news agency reported.

The respective delegations are expected to discuss North Korean participation in the Winter Olympics — to be held in February in the South Korean county of PyeongChang — and other ways to improve bilateral ties.

“The entire process of past North-South relations shows that efforts to improve bilateral ties can come to fruition only when the two sides work together based upon cooperation among Korean people,” said the article published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“The will to enhance North-South relations must be backed up not by words, but by practical actions to foster inter-Korean reconciliation and unity, and reunification,” it said.

The article added that any move to block inter-Korean contact through “pretexts” and legal and institutional tools is only a “deceptive” gambit to misguide public opinion on both sides of the border.

This is an apparent reference to increased criticism by the conservative South Korean opposition, which argues that financing the North’s athletes in PyeongChang could violate international sanctions imposed on the Kim Jong-un regime for its weapons programme.

The two sides are expected to discuss who will pay for the stay and other costs of the North’s participation at the Olympics; the International Olympics Committee has shown a willingness to pay the expenses.

The meeting will also decide on the atheltes’ mode of transport to travel to the South – a land crossing would require a military agreement – and could discuss the possibility of the contingents of both the countries participating in the opening and closing ceremonies under a united flag.

The decision to hold the bilateral meeting came after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, expressed in his New Year’s message a desire for rapprochement with the South and to send a North Korean delegation to participate at the PyeongChang games, which led Seoul and Washington to postpone their annual joint military drill – seen by the North as a rehearsal for invasion – until after the Games.

North Korea’s participation in PyeongChang and a rapprochement between the two Koreas could contribute to easing the peninsular tensions that were raised throughout 2017 by Pyongyang’s regular ballistic weapons tests and US President Donald Trump’s belligerent rhetoric.

Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor says he will always remain indebted to music directors with whom he worked on various films. A fan of Rishi tweeted that he would be performing songs from the films that the veteran actor has featured in.

“Good luck! Hope the audience remembers the songs. Always indebted to my music directors for a major contribution towards my career,” Rishi tweeted on Saturday. The 65-year-old actor has worked with music directors like R.D. Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

Rishi made his debut in Bollywood as a child artiste in his father Raj Kapoor’s 1970 film “Mera Naam Joker” and received the National Film Award. He bagged his first lead role as an adult in the 1973 film “Bobby”. He was last seen on the big screen in “Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi”. He currently has two films in his kitty — “102 Not Out” and “Mulq”.

James Ward-Prowse’s first-half goal helped Southampton beat Fulham 1-0 in the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday.

Happy with the win, Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino believes his side can use the 1-0 victory as a platform to build on. Pleased with the spirit of his players, he said, “It was important because we needed a performance like this to show to the others that we are really strong as a team.”

“I think we defended well and we showed spirit from the beginning until the end of the game. It was a difficult game, because Fulham are a good team who play good football and manage the ball well. But I think we looked dangerous on the counter-attack and could’ve scored the second goal,” he said to the official website of Southampton.

“We have to use this as a base to improve and learn that we are capable of being solid. This performance can help us to be better next week,” he was quoted by southamptonfc.com.

Malaysia’s veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad was named as the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate today as a bruising election battle looms against scandal-plagued premier Najib Razak and his long-ruling coalition.

The decision means the 92-year-old, a hugely divisive figure criticised for ruling with an iron fist during his long reign, could return as premier 15 years after stepping down.

But he also agreed to make way for jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim — his former nemesis turned political ally — to become prime minister on his release from prison if Anwar is granted a royal pardon.

Mahathir’s ascent to opposition prime ministerial candidate is the latest sign of how dramatically Malaysia’s political landscape has been shaken up by a massive financial scandal that has rocked Najib’s government.

Mahathir came out of retirement to take on Najib as anger mounted at allegations billions of dollars were looted from a state investment fund, 1MDB, founded by the current premier.

Both Najib, whose United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has led the country in a coalition since independence in 1957, and the fund deny any wrongdoing.

The elections must be called by August but speculation is mounting they will be held in the next few months.

The decision to pick Mahathir as candidate for premier was endorsed by senior leaders of four-party coalition Pact of Hope at their convention in Shah Alam, just outside Kuala Lumpur, to rousing cheers by hundreds of supporters.

“Our great focus is to save our beloved country,” Mahathir, who ruled the country for 22 years at the head of the UMNO, said in a speech.

“It wasn’t easy for the parties that were my enemies before to accept me — but they are aware of the importance of bringing down the current government.”

People’s Justice Party president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar’s wife, was named as deputy prime minister candidate.

The coalition will be hoping that Mahathir, who has set up his own party to take on Najib, will be able to attract votes of from Muslim Malays, who make up about 60 per cent of the population.

But most analysts think that the ruling coalition will win as the system is greatly stacked in their favour, the economy has performed well recently and the opposition has often appeared disunited.

Anwar, jailed after being convicted of sodomy, will be released on June 8, reports said today, but he will be barred from politics for five years unless granted a royal pardon.

Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt says in a world where money is made out of “selling love and friendship”, he is a “B-grade fear seller”.

“I am a fear seller. In a world where money is made out of selling love, friendship, laughter, hope and even tears, I sell fear. I do this unapologetically and at the cost of being called not aesthetic, crass and B-grade. Hang on, correction; I am a B-grade fear seller,” Vikram wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday.

The filmmaker says it’s relieving not to be great or even attempt to be one. Bhatt is gearing up for the release of his next horror film “1921”.

The film, shot in London, revolves around the lead characters, played by Zareen Khan and Karan Kundra. They deal with their dark pasts and secrets to secure their present and future. It is about a struggle between life and death.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that most political parties are “fairly satisfied” with the present system of political funding and would not like to move on to a transparent system such as electoral bonds.

“India has not been able to evolve a transparent political funding system…Most political groups seem fairly satisfied with the present arrangement and would not mind this status quo to continue. The effort, therefore, is to run down any alternative system which is devised to cleanse up the political funding mechanism,” Jaitley said in a write-up.

The Finance Minister, who had announced the concept of electoral bonds in his Budget speech for the year 2017-18 and introduced the same in the Lok Sabha on January 2, said that a number of reforms made over the years have resulted in “only a small fraction of the donations” coming through cheques.

“In order to carry forward this reform process, I had announced in my 2017-18 Budget speech that… donations of clean money could be made to political parties in several ways. A donor could enjoy a tax deduction by donating in cheques. Donors were also free to donate money online to political parties.

“In addition, a scheme of electoral bonds was announced to enable clean money and substantial transparency being brought into the system of political funding,” he said, adding the scheme “envisages total clean money and substantial transparency” coming into the system of political funding.

A donor can purchase electoral bonds from a specified bank only by a banking instrument. He would have to disclose in his accounts the number of political bonds that he has purchased. The life of the bond would be 15 days only.

A bond can only be encased in a pre-declared account of a political party. Every political party in its returns will have to disclose the number of donations it has received through electoral bonds to the Election Commission.

“In fact, the choice has now to be consciously made between the existing system of substantial cash donations which involves total unclean money and is non-transparent and the new scheme which gives the option to the donors to donate through entirely a transparent method of the cheque, online transaction or through electoral bonds,” Jaitley said.

Although the Finance Minister said that the amount of money given by a donor to a political party would be known “only to the donor”, the opposition has taken exception to this claim.

The Congress has said that hiding the donor names of electoral bonds is a regressive step and expressed concern that the move may stifle ‘transparency’ and give “unlimited access to ruling party to misuse information and state machinery to coerce the donors”.

The Finance Minister said that the government is “willing to consider all suggestions to further strengthen the cleansing of political funding” but “impractical suggestions” will not help.

Jeremy Renner, the sure shot archer from avengers, made a good name for himself playing the role of Hawkeye in the Marvel Avengers franchise. But the actor has made a name for himself doing other marvelous films as well, giving the viewers and his fans a lot more to offer than just one superhero role. It’s often forgotten that he started out as more of a character actor, with intense performances in smaller films, often playing unstable characters.

Here are a five of Jeremy Renner’s non-Marvel movies that proves that it’s not just Marvel that showcases him as a great actor:

Dahmer (2002)

Making his breakthrough into the industry, Jeremy Renner plays a role in the movie where he portrays Jeffery Dahmer, the notorious serial killer. Renner had a convincing, glassy eyed portrayal in David Jacobson’s psychological crime horror that earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

His work paid off big time as this was the performance that convinced Kathryn Bigelow to cast him in the ‘The Hurt Locker’

Neo Ned (2005)

In this film, Jeremy Renner is given the role of a white supremacist who falls in love after meeting a young black woman in a psychiatric hospital. The woman in the movie, however, believes the fact that she is the reincarnation of Hitler himself.

Though it might have sounded absurd, the film was a complete success and Renner won the Palm Beach international film festival’s Best Actor award for his captivating performance for enabling audiences to sympathise with an easily dislikable and difficult character.

North Country (2005)

North Country is based around the first successful sexual harassment case in the United States. Renner played the important role of Bobby Sharp in the entire film. His character was that of a mine worker who targets female staff members and people whom he considers as a person having a kind despicable character.

Also in this film Jeremy Renner gets a chance to showcase his singing talent as well.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

This was the film that was given to him after the successful run of Dahmer. Here Renner is best known for his leading role as Sgt. William James in Bigelow’s Iraq war drama. Even though this wasn’t the first time he was doing a military role since he had already played such a role in his movie ‘28 Weeks Later’, but the intensity of the role was certainly miles apart.

For his efforts, Renner received the best actor nomination from the Academy awards, Bafta awards, the Independent Spirit awards and from the Screen Actors Guild as well.

The Town (2010)

This film was one of those film that the actor went to lengths to make ends meet and create and understand the perfect persona for the character in the film.

Renner plays as a troubled criminal in this crime drama that was directed and starred by Ben Affleck. Renner tried to get inside the mind of a tough guy again for his roles so that it makes him relatable during the film.

He prepared for the role by visiting prisons and drinking beer with ex-cons and picked up another Oscar nomination for the trouble.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday announced the upgradation of the Community Health Centre in his constituency located in the interiors of Mandi district.

He announced the upgradation of the Community Health Centre Bag said to a Civil Hospital on his first visit there after taking charge in the state.

Accompanied by his wife and his cabinet colleague Mahinder Singh, Thakur was given a rousing reception on visiting his home constituency Seraj.

Donning traditional attire and playing and dancing to the tunes of traditional folk music, locals welcomed their leader.

Addressing public meetings en route, Thakur said the people of Mandi were demanding for long that the Chief Minister should belong to this district. It was after a long wait that their dream had been realised.

Thakur is the first Chief Minister from Mandi, the second biggest district in Himachal after Kangra. In the last assembly elections, the BJP won nine out of the 10 assembly seats in Mandi.

Earlier Chief Ministers of Himachal have hailed from Shimla, Kangra and Sirmaur districts.

The Chief Minister said he used to travel nine km from his Tandi village to Bagsaid for education.

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday urged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to review the state government’s decision of not becoming part of the Centre’s backward district development initiative.

I request Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to review the decision. The Centre has not forced any decision on the state.

The state has all rights to bring in changes in the proposal.

Besides, the whole process will be carried out under the Chief Secretary,” Pradhan told reporters two days after the Odisha government boycotted a meeting of Niti Aayog addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pradhan said only two states — Odisha and West Bengal — did not send district collectors to the meeting.

Pradhan clarified that the Niti Aayog s proposal should not be seen as an interference of the Centre into the business of the state.

Pradhan said Odisha s Chief Secretary A P Padhi was approached by the Niti Aayog several times to cooperate with the initiative so that eight districts of the state would get special attention.

“Odisha Chief Secretary is an intelligent person. I do not know who pressurised him to write that Odisha was not taken into confidence while appointing the Prabhari officers by the Centre, the minister said.

Opposing the Centre s action of appointing IAS officers as Prabhari (in-charge) officers in eight most backward districts of Odisha Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput, Dhenkanal and Bolangir to address specific developmental needs, the state government had decided to give the event a miss, he said.

While requesting Patnaik ro reconsider the state’s decision in regard to the backward area development, Pradhan said: “The chief minister should prove that he is the best administrator through actions and not just words.”

Meanwhile, ruling BJD spokesperson P K Deb said the state government has already appointed senior IAS officers for monitoring the developmental works in all the districts and there was no need to appoint more officers for the same job.

The objective of the Centre’s initiative is to transform 115 backward districts across the country of which 35 are affected by Left Wing violence.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt says actor Sanjay Dutt had a really hard time dealing with his addiction to heroin.

“Sanjay Dutt had a really hard time dealing with his addiction. It went to a point where his first thought in the morning was about heroin. Hear me and Pooja Bhatt (daughter and actress-filmmaker) talk about substance abuse only on ‘Bhatt Naturally’ (radio show),” Mahesh tweeted on Sunday.  Sanjay has worked with Vishesh Films, which is co-owned by Mahesh, for films like “Kabzaa”, “Sadak” and “Dushman”.

Last year, Pooja said “Sadak 2”, the sequel of her 1991 hit film “Sadak”, is in the works.  “We are making ‘Sadak 2’ in which we are showing Sanjay Dutt in his true and present time, so we are dealing with issue of depression in that film but we are making a commercial film,” she had said.