The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church today scored a historic victory with the inauguration of the Shamshabad Diocese here with pan-India jurisdiction, excluding the existing 30 dioceses, something they lost in 1886 to the Latin Church.

With over 5 million followers, the Kerala-based church is the second largest Christian grouping in India.

Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, formally dedicated the diocese to the Vatican with the installation of Raphael Thattil as its first bishop.

The enthronement ceremony was attended by two cardinals – including Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, the president of the Catholics Bishops Conference of India – senior Vatican representative Archbishop Cyril Vasil and Hyderabad Archbishop Thumma Bala, along with over a dozen archbishops and more than 40 bishops from across the country.

The Diocese of Shamshabad in Hyderabad is the 31st for the Kerala-based church and also the largest in the country with administrative control across 24 states, including the entire Eastern and Northeastern regions, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, four Union Territories and all those areas which are not governed by the 14 dioceses outside Kerala.

This Kerala church, which traces its origins to 52 AD and is believed to be founded directly by St Thomas the Apostle, is also the third largest under the Vatican, after the Latin Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Churches.

Its members are a financially, politically and numerically a powerful community in Kerala. This church also has four dioceses outside India in Australia, Britain, Canada and the US – and 14 other dioceses in the country.

The Vatican, the global headquarters of the Catholic Church and the seat of Pope Francis, had announced the creation of the Shamshabad diocese on October 9 last year.

The new bishop Thattil will serve 1,30,000 faithful spread across 100 cities in the country and has 11 functional churches and seven under construction with around 90 priests and a few hundred nuns.

The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the oldest churches in the world, in fact, much older than those in the Western Hemisphere, and traces its origins to the Apostle Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus, who arrived in Kerala in 52 AD at Kodungallur in the central part of the present-day Kerala.

The name Syro-Malabar Church is coined from the words `Syriac’, referring to the East Syriac liturgy, and `Malabar’, the historical name of Kerala.

The Syro-Malabar Catholics, also known as St Thomas Christians, lost their administrative powers to the Latin Church after the Portuguese missionaries wrested control over them in 1886 and were limited to just two territories — Thrissur and Kottayam — in the present-day Kerala.

Till then, Kodungallur was the headquarters of these Christians. In 1955, the Vatican extended the territory of this church to the whole of Kerala and a few districts of neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

More than 70 girls were found staying in a Rajasthan ashram run by self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit, the accused in the Rohini-ashram case, the police said today.

On December 24, 47 women and six minor girls were rescued from different centres of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh run by Dixit, with the CBI probing charges of rape and illegal confinement of girls and women at the centres against him.

The search at Abu Road in Sirohi district of Rajasthan was conducted yesterday following directions from senior officers.

The 72 girls claimed that they were staying in the ashram for spiritual activities and living there willingly. They asserted that they are allowed to meet their guardians, said Mithu Lal, Station House Officer (SHO) of Abu Road police station.

The caretaker of the ashram has been told to provide documents of the girls. However, no suspicious activity was noticed in the ashram as of now, the SHO said.

“We are verifying the credentials of the girls and other staffers,” he said.

Last month, the Delhi Commission for Women along with a police contingent raided two centres of Dixit in Rohini and Dwarka and rescued over 40 girls who were allegedly confined there.

The matter had come to light after a PIL was filed by an NGO, Foundation for Social Empowerment, in the Delhi High Court. The NGO had informed the court that several girls and women were allegedly being illegally confined there.

A 32-year-old man named from Mahishadal in East Midnapore district of West Bengal has been held for allegedly stalking cricket great Sachin Tendulkar’s daughter Sara.

As per reports, the stalker, Debkumar Maity, had made lewd comment about Sachin’s daughter and made 20 calls at Tendulkar’s residence. The stalker, who is reportedly mentally unstable, had even threatened to kidnap Sachin’s daughter.

As per reports in TOI, Debkumar Maity told police that, “I saw her on TV sitting at the pavilion during a match and fell in love…I want to marry her. I fetched the landline number of Tendulkar and have called on it some 20 times…Have never seen her in person.”

Debkumar is likely going to stand before the Haldia court and after that he will be taken to Mumbai on transit remand.

Maity is a college dropout and currently unemployed. His family is claiming that he is not mentally stable.

“We had no idea how he got embroiled in this case. Even at home he used to torture his parents. He lost his father recently. He has been undergoing medical treatment for his condition for last eight years,” said the stalker’s relatives.

The relative of the accused has claim that Debkumar is a very good painter. A diary has also been recovered from his house in which he has described Sachin’s daughter as his wife.

However, how the accused managed to get Tendulkar’s landline number is a mystery to police and it is being investigated. The medical investigation is also going to take place to examine whether the accused is mentally unstable or not.

Earlier, Sara had filed a complaint against the stalker at the Bandra police station.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has done a look test for his next film, which he describes as an entertaining high-octane drama.

Amitabh on Sunday took to Instagram to share a black and white collage of himself with 12 different facial expressions.

“Prepping and doing look tests for my next film. It’s a multi-starrer. Err sorry, it’s a multi-faced entertaining high-octane drama extended by hilarious comedic interludes that ride the most bizarre riddles of music,” he captioned the image.

Prepping and doing Look tests for my next film .. it’s a multi starrer .. err .. sorry .. it’s a multi faced entertaining high octane drama extended by hilarious comedic interludes that ride the most bizarre riddles of music !! Ya .. !!

A post shared by Amitabh Bachchan (@amitabhbachchan) on Jan 6, 2018 at 7:07pm PST

The details about the film have not been revealed.

Amitabh currently has three films in his kitty — “102 Not Out”, “Thugs Of Hindostan” and “Brahmastra”.

Actress Yami Gautam says she is excited to start working on her next film, “Batti Gul Meter Chalu”, which will also star Shahid Kapoor.

“Batti Gul Meter Chalu” will be directed by Shree Narayan Singh, who previously helmed “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha”. The project will be co-produced by T-Series and KriArj Entertainment.

“Super happy to commence this special journey with KriArj Entertainment on ‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’. Really excited for this one Prernaa, Shree Narayan Singh, Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor,” Yami, who is “basking in the lap of nature”, tweeted on Saturday night. Shahid feels “great” to have her on board.

Singer Britney Spears’ former house in Calabasas, California, was sold for $8.1 million — the most expensive sold in the exclusive enclave in 2017.

The pop star never actually owned the property, instead leasing the estate, which boasts 10,000 square feet of living space, a two-storey library and a glass-bottom swimming pool, reports people.com.

The seller was producer David Broome, who purchased the estate in 2013 for about $5.4 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Isadora and Tomer Fridman — who also work with several of the Calabasas-based Kardashian-Jenner family members — co-listed the property with several other Compass agents and Hilton & Hyland.

The second most expensive home in the enclave also has celebrity ties. The 15,000-square-foot-spread belongs to 20-year-old YouTuber Jake Paul. He purchased the estate for $6.9 million in October.

Actor Vatsal Sheth says the set for his show Haasil was not affected by the fire that raged across Cinevista Studios here on Saturday.

Cinevista Studios is owned by former actor Prem Kishen and his filmmaker-son Siddharth P Malhotra, who said on Sunday that the fire is fully under control and that there are no casualties.

Vatsal feels lucky as he wasn’t there.

“I was shooting at Madh Island. And the set for our serial Haasil was not affected by the fire. But the adjoining set where another serial Beypanhaa was being shot was completely gutted,” he said.

“My heart reaches out to the cast and crew though luckily I hear there were no casualties. I feel really sorry for the channel Colors which telecasts the serial. This is indeed a setback for the whole team.”

“I shot for Cinevista’s Ek Hasina Thi in 2015 on the same set that got destroyed. So lots of fond memories of shared work-related activities on the gutted set,” he added.

Having said this, Vatsal, who has been doing cinema and television for several years now feels it is time to follow safety measures during shooting.

“We don’t take the dangers seriously or maybe we are just not aware of the risk factors, especially the fire hazards,” he said.

“I remember when I was shooting on an international cruiser with actor Ajay Devgn Sir — I was an assistant on his directorial venture U Me Aur Hum. The laws regarding fire safety were so strict and inviolable, there was just no way a mishap like the one we saw at the pub in Mumbai could happen,” he added.

Vatsal is concerned about the long hours and confined spaces where television serials are shot.

“We keep shooting without caring about the work conditions. We all need to get more serious about safety precautions at our work place before another catastrophe happens,” he said.

Actor Kay Kay Menon says content-driven cinema is good for people’s mental as well as emotional health.

He is currently busy promoting his forthcoming film “Vodka Diaries”, which is set in Manali. In the film, ACP Ashwini Dixit (Kay Kay) is in quest to solve a series of mysterious murders happening over a single night which seem to be connected to a night club, Vodka Diaries. Talking about the film content, Kay Kay said on Saturday: “When you watch other kind of films and don’t get bored, then I feel that if you see a content-driven film then it will be good for your mental and emotional health.

The most important thing for him while working in a movie is the “maturity of script”. “The film’s script should be such that it should inspire you to work in that film.” “I don’t analyse much before selecting a movie. I feel if you have an attraction towards a script, then you go with the flow with the script,” he added.

“Vodka Diaries” was shot in Himachal Pradesh. On his shooting experience, he said: “Working in cold conditions was tough because we didn’t have the luxury to wear those kind of clothes (winter wear).” The Kushal Srivastava directorial, scheduled to release on January 19, also stars Mandira Bedi, Raima Sen and Sharib Hashmi.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today praised Tamil Nadu for giving priority to education, particularly to the girl child, and the manner in which the sector has evolved over the years in the state.

Delivering the convocation address at Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Sitharaman said it was noteworthy how the education sector has evolved, especially through philanthropy, in Tamil Nadu.

The Union minister said the University Grants Commission (UGC) should ensure that “no capitation fee” becomes the norm.

She asked UGC Joint Secretary and Chief Vigilance Officer Dr Arcana Thakur, who was present at the convocation, to use her good offices to convey the message for the benefit of the institute, which does not want to take capitation fee.

“Capitation fee cannot be a subject of exception. It should be a norm. No capitation fee should be the norm,” she told Thakur.

Higher regulatory institutions should be worried about the quality of education imparted and it can exempt the capitation fee if an institution comes forward, she said.

Importantly, if UGC comes up with rules and set of norms in the broader interest of promoting education, it should also adopt certain flexibilities with regard to some exceptional institutions and universities, she said.

Sitharaman was conferred with the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at the convocation.

A yogic symbol made popular by Rajinikanth may well be seen by the superstar’s fans as his calling card, but has got a young startup all worked up.

The hand position that the actor-and-would-be politician is known for is often likened to “apana mudra”, a yoga finger and palm posture.

And now, Mumbai’s Voxweb, an 18-month-old social networking app, says that it is similar to its logo.

“If another company or brand has a similar logo, it will not matter much. But social media and political parties have quite a few similar traits – they have mass adoption, they are really close to their user base and so on. This creates a conflict,” Voxweb founder Yash Mishra said.

The mudra is seen by Rajinikanth’s legion of followers as his trademark gesture, ever since he raised two fingers and folded two in his 2002 film ‘Baba’. The actor holds the two middle fingers down with his thumb and raises the little and index fingers in a broad vee.

The symbol figured prominently on the stage at a series of meetings addressed by the mega star recently. Fans also carried placards with the hand symbol.

Voxweb, Mishra said, has a similar brand logo, but with the thumb left free.

“Social media platforms are being accused of favouring political parties during elections and using their algorithms to promote that kind of content. People are already asking us if we are favouring Rajnikanth’s outfit or if we have any common investors,” Mishra told PTI.

The startup has written to the actor over the issue, but is yet to hear from him. There was no response to messages sent by PTI to the star’s publicity team.

Asked what measures he planned to take to save his logo from the Rajini juggernaut, Mishra said his moves would depend on the new political outfit’s reactions.

“We are open to suggestions and would ask them to make some alterations. All that we have to say is there is absolutely no relationship between the company and the party or its ideology,” he said.

Rajinikanth had said last month that he would soon launch a political party in Tamil Nadu.

Actor Johnny Galecki says everybody’s very comfortable with The Big Bang Theory concluding after 12 seasons.

During an appearance at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, California on Saturday, Galecki told reporters that the popular sitcom was most likely going to end in season 12.

“The only manner in which the cast has discussed wrapping (‘The Big Bang Theory’) has been that we are all going to be very sad when that day comes,” said Galecki.

“But I think at this point everyone’s very comfortable with 12 seasons being a good time to go home and see our families,” he added.

The show, which is currently in the middle of it’s 11th season, also stars Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco and Mayim Bialik.

West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew expressed his happiness over his team’s 2-0 win over Exter City in Saturday’s FA Cup third round match and felt that the win difference could have been more.

“Some things that we’ve worked on came to fruition today, especially in the last third,” he said. “We looked a lot more threatening, could have – and should have – been 3-0 up really. We could have been 4-0 up we had so many chances! But a really professional job,” Pardew was quoted by the official website of West Bromwich.

“The environment wasn’t easy; it was a horrible pitch, no stands down two sides. It would have been easy not to be focused but we were very focused. We got the goal at a good time – first half we were outstanding I thought,” he said, according to www.wba.co.uk.

Happy with the way the fans backed his team in the knockout clash, he encouraged more of the same when Brighton visit The Hawthorns next weekend.

“The fans were brilliant. I’m glad we’ve given them something to go home with that made them feel a little bit warmer heading into the Brighton game because we need that stadium really rocking. We know how important that is,” he said.

Meanwhile, forward Jay Rodriguez was pleased to see Albion execute their gameplan. He said: “It’s obviously nice to get the victory given the run that we have been on. It’s important to get the win and it’s a nice feeling. “It’s a difficult place to come and we knew what we had to do. We were after a quick goal and we got one thankfully which took the pressure off us a little bit.”

Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh says his production house, NNM Films, will soon start filming for their maiden production venture.

Neil on Sunday took to Instagram to share a photograph of a book, which had NNM Films written on it.

Finally completed… NNMfilms Production No. 1… Starting Soon

A post shared by Neil Nitin Mukesh (@neilnitinmukesh) on Jan 6, 2018 at 11:48pm PST

“Finally completed. NNM Films Production number one. Starting soon,” Neil captioned the image.

On the acting front, Neil has two films in his kitty — Saaho and Firrkie.

Neil will be seen making his debut in Telugu films with Saaho, also starring Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor. He will be seen playing a negative character.

The Congress on Sunday condemned the lodging of an FIR against The Tribune daily and its reporter Rachna Khaira over Aadhaar data breach story.

After a January 3 news report by Punjab-based newspaper, The Tribune, over breach in Aadhaar data with a headline “Rs 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details”, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR against the newspaper and reporter Rachna Khaira.

The FIR was lodged with the Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch by  UIDAI under IPC sections 419 (cheating under impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (using a forged document) and also under sections of the IT Act and the Aadhar Act.

The FIR also names Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Raj (all of whom were contacted by the Tribune reporter as part of the story), according to media reports.

The Congress party said it was Narendra Modi government’s “arrogance of power” at its worst and their intention on privacy was thoroughly exposed.

“Intent and Intentions of Modi government on privacy were thoroughly exposed when it had proclaimed that no citizen can have an absolute right over his/her body,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Twitter.

“In Supreme Court, Modi government had accepted Aadhaar data leak! Now instead of investigating, an evasive Modiji shoots the messenger!” he added.

Earlier, he tweeted: “Shoot the messenger, Ignore the message! This typifies the culture and character of BJP government.

“FIR against The Tribune reporter is arrogance of power at its worst,” said Surjewala.

He also said: “Every Indian must condemn this mindless act of Modi government and UIDAI.”

A case of ‘misreporting’

Earlier, in a statement, UIDAI had responded to the news report as a “case of misreporting”.

“The reported case appears to be instance of misuse of the grievance redressal search facility. As UIDAI maintains complete log and traceability of the facility, the legal action including lodging of FIR against the persons involved in the instant case is being done,” said the authority.

The Aadhaar database “remains fully safe and secure with highest encryption at UIDAI and mere display of demographic information cannot be misused without biometrics”, said UIDAI.

“Claims of bypassing or duping the Aadhaar enrolment system are totally unfounded. The UIDAI Data Centres are infrastructure of critical importance and is protected accordingly with high technology conforming to the best standards of security and also by legal provisions.”

The data breach report 

The Tribune report, which was widely shared on social media sites, claimed that it took just Rs 500 and 10 minutes for the newspaper to get an access through an “agent” to every detail of any individual submitted to the UIDAI, including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.

The newspaper said it paid another Rs 300, for which the “agent” provided “software” to facilitate the printing of the Aadhaar card after entering the Aadhaar number of any individual.

The Tribune also claimed to have found in its investigation that the racket may have started around six months ago when some anonymous groups were created on WhatsApp.

These groups targeted over three lakh village-level enterprise operators hired by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (ME&IT) under the Common Service Centres Scheme (CSCS) across India, offering them access to UIDAI data.

CSCS operators were initially entrusted with the task of making Aadhaar cards across the country but were withdrawn later. The service was restricted to post offices and designated banks to avoid any security breach in November last year.

(with agency inputs)

Former Miss World and actress Sushmita Sen is a talented and gorgeous woman. The Bengali beauty has bewildered the fans with her performance in Bollywood and now she is planning to return to Bengali cinema. She will enter Tollywood with an upcoming movie, titled ‘Nirbaak’. She will be starring beside Jisshu Sengupta and Ritwick Chakrabarty who will be playing the male lead.

The film involves four parts narrating four different love stories. According to reports, the actress has said, “I don’t think “Nirbaak” can be remade in Hindi or any other language. The film’s essence is pretty Bengali. Moreover, it is not even needed to be presented in any other language because the film’s name is “Nirbaak” which means speechless,” she said, adding, “There are very few dialogues in the film. So, anybody not only from the country but from the world can understand the film.”

The film is been directed by Srijit Mukherjee a National award-winning director. The film has already been premiered for Sushmita Sen’s friends from the Bollywood.

The Congress on Saturday appointed young leader Paresh Dhanani as the Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly. Dhanani, who is a strong Patidar leader, won from Amreli constituency in Saurashtra for the third time and was a front-runner for the post.

Dhanani was the working president of the Pradesh Congress for some time. PAAS leader Hardik Patel, too, had supported him for the post.

Bharat Solanki, President of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, tweeted, “A young and dynamic leader has been chosen by the party high command as the Leader of Opposition. He will take all Congress MLAs along and make the party stronger in the Assembly.”

https://x.com/BharatSolankee/status/949657931649236992

Dhanani has also served as President of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), which Congress’ student wing. He will replace tribal leader Mohansinh Rathwa, who won Assembly election for the 10 time last month.

The Congress fought hard in this Assembly elections but lost to the BJP. Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) won 99 seats out of 182 and came into power for a consecutively sixth time in Gujarat. Congress managed to win 77 seats.

Actor-producer Brad Pitt offered to pay $120,000 to watch an episode of Game of Thrones with Emilia Clarke, but he was outbid.

Pitt bid six figures on Saturday night during a silent auction at Sean Penn’s annual gala for Haiti, held at Milk Studios in Los Angeles.

During the charity gala, the auctioneer announced the opportunity to watch an episode with Clarke, who was in attendance at the event, along with her Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington.

The auction to watch the episode with Clarke started at $20,000. Pitt bid $80,000. Then he outbid himself to $90,000. Later, Pitt raised his own bid to $120,000.

In the end, Pitt was outbid by a gala-goer who ended the auction at $160,000.

Also in attendance were Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Segel and Leonardo DiCaprio, who was honoured for his work in combating climate change.

Later during the auction, DiCaprio bid $80,000 on a painting by artist Josh Smith, but was outbid by Clarke for $90,000. There was a second Smith painting available, so in the end, both DiCaprio and Clarke ended up walking away with artwork.