With Assembly elections in Meghalaya likely to be announced this week, Union Tourism Minister K.J. Alphons on Sunday announced a tourism package of Rs 70 crore to develop religious and spiritual circuits in the state.

Denying that the announcement was aimed at wooing voters, especially the Christian community, he accused the Congress government of obstructing the Central government from implementing an inclusive project to bring about religious harmony in the state.

The ninth Meghalaya Assembly comprising 60 members was constituted on March 1, 2013 and its term expires on March 6.

“The government does not come to a standstill if elections are around the corner as it is a continuous process,” Alphons told journalists, adding that various components of projects were proposed by the state government along with the recommendation of the programme division of the Tourism Ministry.

The Ministry had sanctioned Rs 61.38 crore for illumination, landscaping, construction of parking lots and toilets amongst other infrastructure in 37 churches.

Another Rs 8.61 crore will be given out for similar projects for 11 other religious groups including temples, mosques and important sites of the indigenous believers of the Khasi Jaintia and Garo.

Prominent places of worship selected include Catholic’s Cathedral church at Laitumkhrah, Jaiaw Presbyterian Church here, Balupada Baptist convention centre, Laban glass mosque and Gurudwara Sahib, Nartiang Durga temple and Nartiang monoliths.

Expressing surprise at the government refusing to send its officers to a meeting held in New Delhi on Friday to discuss how to create infrastructure for religious tourism, Alphons said: “We have no answers why the state government is against this project?

“Perhaps the Chief Minister has instructed the officers not to turn up. Is it that they do not want the project because they may not be able to swallow the money since a Central agency would do the project?

“Such is the mindset of the Congress government in Meghalaya. However, we are going ahead with the project and we have already sanctioned it. We cannot wait for Chief Minister Mukul Sangma,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

Stressing that the Central government wanted to develop religious tourism by creating infrastructure at different places of worship, Alphons said about 1.6 billion trips have been made to various religious places within the country by Indians in 2017.

Asked if the tourism package could change the hearts of the Christian community as the BJP had as been labelled “anti-minority”, Alphons denied this.

“Before 2014 it was said that churches would be burnt once the BJP comes to power, but there has not been a single incident in the last three years,” he said.

Mark Hughes has been fired as manager of English Premier League side Stoke City, just hours after the club’s shock defeat 1-2 to League Two Coventry City in their FA Cup third-round match.

The club said in a statement on Saturday: “Stoke city can confirm that the contract of manager Mark Hughes has been terminated with immediate effect.”

Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying: “We would like to thank Mark for all he has achieved for the club over the last four and a half years, notably in guiding us to three successive ninth place finishes in the Premier League.”

Stoke City, who have suffered five defeats in seven Premier League games and are third bottom on the table, will “appoint a new manager as soon as possible”.

Hughes, 54, a former Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, Fulham and QPR boss, succeeded Tony Pulis at Stoke in May 2013 and was the fourth longest-serving manager at a Premier League club.

Sporting Lisbon announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder Wendel on a six-year deal worth 10 million euros ($12 million).

The Portuguese outfit reportedly beat off interest from a host of European clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and CSKA Moscow, reports Xinhua news agency.

“I’m very grateful to the club for fighting to get me here,” Wendel said in a statement on Sporting’s official website on Saturday. “I’m fulfilling a dream by coming here and I hope to help bring success for the fans.”

Wendel played 58 matches and scored seven goals for Rio de Janeiro side Fluminense in 2017 after being promoted from the club’s youth ranks.

Sporting are currently second in Portugal’s first division standings, two points behind leaders Porto.

Four Kashmiri boys were arrested on Sunday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district for lining up as Pakistan’s national anthem was played before the start of a cricket match.

After a video went viral showing the players’ conduct in Arin village before the start of the match, police arrested the four.

Police said they were looking for the organisers of the match who arranged the shooting of the video.

In 2016 also, a video went viral showing local cricketers line up to “salute” Pakistan’s national anthem before the start of a match in Ganderbal district.

Police had arrested some of the boys then but they were let off after assurances from the parents.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the move to shift the proposed Coast Guard Academy in Kannur district to Mangaluru in Karnataka.

The Centre should drop such a “unjustified move”, which was against Kerala’s interests, Vijayan said in a letter to Modi, the Chief Minister’s office said in a statement.

The state government had already transferred 164 acres of land for the Academy besides spending about Rs 65.56 crore for providing infrastructure facilities, he said.

Pointing out that the area in Irinive in Kannur district was a rich storehouse of mangrove cultivation, the Union Environment and Forest Ministry had declined permission for construction activities.

However, about 50 acres of land, where there was no mangrove cultivation, was available for construction activities, the Chief Minister said.

In this circumstances, the Prime Minister should send a special team from the Ministry to visit the area and take necessary steps to give clearance for the project, he said.

Play on the third day of the first cricket Test here between South Africa and India was on Sunday called off due to persistent rain.

The ground was almost covered with water due to the pouring rain, with no play possible at Newlands.

“It’s official. Play has been called off! Play to resume at usual time tomorrow. Overs to be bowled on Day 4 & 5 – 98. That’s all we have from here on Day 3 #SAvIND,” BCCI wrote on Twitter.

At the end of the second day’s play on Saturday, South Africa reached 65 for two in their second innings after bowling India out for 209 in their first innings. The hosts have taken a lead of 142 runs.

South African overnight batsmen Hashim Amla (4 batting) and night-watchman Kagiso Rabada (2 batting) kept waiting to go out to resume their innings but the rain refused to relent.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad, sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail in a fodder scam case, is likely to seek parole to attend the last rites of his only sister, Gangotri Devi, who died here on Sunday.

Tejashwi Yadav, Prasad’s son, said the family had tried to communicate the news of Gangotri Devi’s death to Prasad through the prison authorities in Ranchi.

He, however, expressed apprehension that his father might not be able to get parole in time, due to the legal procedure involved and today being a Sunday.

“As of now, we are making arrangements to take the body to her village home, where the last rites will be performed,” Yadav, who had accompanied his mother Rabri Devi and elder brother Tej Pratap to his deceased aunt’s house, said.

Rabri Devi, a former Bihar chief minister, told reporters at the residence of Gangotri Devi that the latter was about four years elder to the RJD chief and that she had not been keeping well for some time.

“Yesterday, she spent the entire day praying for the release of her brother. When she learnt that he was sentenced to jail for a long period, she was shattered,” Rabri Devi said.

Prasad was yesterday sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined Rs 10 lakh by a special CBI court in a fodder scam case, related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.

Nathan Lyon was hailed as Australia’s “key” bowler as the team closes in on an emphatic victory in the final Ashes Test after beleaguered England unravelled on a torrid day in Sydney on Sunday.

The Australians amassed a massive 303-run innings lead in blistering heat and then reduced the battle-weary tourists to 93 for four at the close with a day to play.

Compounding England’s woes was a finger injury for skipper Joe Root, his team’s last major hope of staving off a 4-0 series rout on Monday’s final day of the Test.

Root was unbeaten on 42 at the close with Jonny Bairstow not out 17.

Lyon captured the important wickets of Alastair Cook and Dawid Malan to have two for 31 off 19 overs at stumps.

“I think Gaz (Lyon) is the key tomorrow. The wicket is definitely suiting his conditions, especially with the left handers, he’ll come into play,” Australian centurion Shaun Marsh said.

“I thought he bowled really well today and showed his class and hopefully he can come out tomorrow and get a few early breakthroughs for us.”

Australia called a halt to their epic first innings at 649 for seven, and soon had England in trouble after the tourists had been cooked in the field for more than two draining days.

Mark Stoneman was leg before wicket to Mitchell Starc for a duck and lost a review in the process, and next ball Cook was put down at first slip by Marsh off Josh Hazlewood for five.

But Cook’s reprieve did not last long and he was bowled for 10 when a sharp Lyon turner hit the top of off-stump in the off-spinner’s first over.

Cook, who became during his innings only the sixth batsman to score 12,000 Test runs, finished the series with 376 runs at 47.

James Vince survived a caught behind off Lyon on review on 15, but three runs later edged Pat Cummins to Steve Smith at slip.

Dawid Malan followed when Lyon trapped him leg before wicket for five.

Ton-up brothers

“In many ways the last few days have summed up our trip,” said England assistant coach Paul Farbrace.

“It’s been exceptionally tough, we’ve come up against a team that’s playing very good cricket but the one thing that we’ve been talking about is making sure we keep on fighting and battling.”

Shaun and Mitchell Marsh earlier became the third set of brothers to score centuries in the same innings for Australia.

The Marsh boys joined Greg and Ian Chappell and Steve and Mark Waugh to score brotherly centuries for Australia, while it was the eighth time overall it had happened in Test cricket.

The Chappells were the first Australian brothers to notch centuries in the same innings at The Oval in 1972 with the Waughs the last to do it against England, also at The Oval, in 2001.

Mitchell Marsh almost spoiled his century in all the excitement as he embraced his brother mid-pitch before he had completed the second run scrambling back to his crease to avoid being run out.

Mitchell Marsh was bowled next ball by Tom Curran for 101 off 141 balls with 15 fours and two sixes. The century came after his 181 in the third Test in Perth.

He was the third centurion of the massive Australian first innings total, following Usman Khawaja’s 171 on Saturday.

Shaun Marsh was eventually dismissed after lunch, run out for 156 by Stoneman’s direct throw from the covers.

He batted for 403 minutes and faced 291 balls for his second century of the series and his sixth in 28 Tests.

Starc slogged Moeen Ali for six and was out the next ball finding Vince at long on for 11.

Tim Paine (38) and Pat Cummins (24) were at the crease when Steve Smith called them in about an hour before tea.

Big-hearted paceman James Anderson bowled with great economy in the stifling conditions as temperatures hit 42 Celsius (108 Farenheit), taking one for 56 off 34 overs.

Spinners Ali and debutant Mason Crane conceded a combined 363 runs in taking three wickets between them.

A 35-year-old woman died and two others were injured when a car rammed into their two- wheeler here in the wee hours on Sunday, police said.

The woman suffered serious injuries in the mishap at Jubilee Hills and died while undergoing treatment in a private hospital, they said.

The other two, riding pillion and said to be the friends of the deceased woman, were also injured and currently undergoing treatment, the police said.

He does not have either a powerful serve or flashy ground strokes to intimidate his rivals, yet Gilles Simon scripted the fall of big guys on the Tour Marin Cilic and Kevin Anderson to lift his first title in almost three years.

Ranked a humble 89, Simon landed on his visit to India without his coach and other support staff but was ready for the grind and scalped the two Grand Slam finalists in 2017 at the Tata Open Maharashtra.

The 33-year-old parted ways with his coach Jan de Witt mental coach Ronax Lafaix and physical trainer Milos Jelisavic.

His rivals admitted that Simon played smart and the affable French man, who became a crowd favourite, too endorsed their view.

“This is something I always did. I never hired a coach to help me with strategy. The previous coach I had was a massive mind in the game and knows a lot about the tactics. The strategy was always a strong part for me,” said Simon after winning his 13th ATP singles title.

“To understand what is happening on the court is always my strength. As long as I stay calm and cool and which I did all the week and that s why I could perform on that level.”

Someone who has beaten greats of the game, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Simon controlled the match with his incredible retrieving skills and mixed up the pace in serve to surprise his rival.

A point noted by Anderson, to whom he had lost in all three previous contests.

Asked if he changed anything in his game to get the better of the tall South African, Simon nodded but did not elaborate.

“Yes, I changed a few things but I won t tell you because he does not have to know. I made small adjustments. His serve is like his that I have to find a magic trick to return every time, so you just try to jump on the board and try.

“My serve was great. Yes, I was changing and mixing the pace on my serve and it was pretty effective. I wish I could serve like him and hit it every corner but that s what I can t do, so I try find a way to start the point well in a different way, he said.

Simon agreed when asked if playing against another big- serving player in Marin Cilic, prepared him well for the final.

“Yes I must say. It was helping a lot because they have some similarities to their game. Kevin is even serving better than Marin. It s terrible to return but it was more so about the rallies from the baseline, they like to hit a lot, they play at a high pace, so yes playing Marin before Kevin was helping a lot,” Simon said.

Simon said he did not expect to reach both the singles and doubles final in the first tournament of the season.

“I was really surprised and it feels good. And I played good. I played a good match against Roberto, the defending champion. I played a few good shots during the match.

“So something happened during the week. I felt like home.

“I was hoping to play one in final, in singles. I have never won two doubles matches in a row, it never happened. So it was a great surprise.”

Talking a about the 39-shot rally on the set point in the tie-break, Simon said, “My heart rate was like 260. I was happy he could not move on the last forehand. It was very important. It was a point when there was lot of pressure,” he added.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats are starting talks on forming a new government, attempting to break an impasse more than three months after the country’s election.

Merkel’s conservative Union bloc and the Social Democrats have run Germany together for the past four years. But the Social Democrats vowed to go into opposition after a disastrous election result September 24, and only reluctantly reconsidered after Merkel’s attempt to build a coalition with two smaller parties collapsed in November.

The effort to form a government has already become post- World War II Germany’s longest. Leaders aim to decide by Friday whether there’s enough common ground to move on to formal coalition negotiations, which would require approval by a Social Democrat congress. (AP)

B-Town celebrities including Abhishek Bachchan and Karan Singh Grover, who is also her husband, wished the “dearest” and “best girl” Bipasha Basu on her 39th birthday on Sunday.

The actress made her film debut with a supporting role in the 2001 thriller movie “Ajnabee”. The next year, she was cast as the leading actress in the horror film “Raaz”.

She was lauded for playing a bold role in the erotic thriller “Jism”, and also featured in comedy films like “No Entry” and “All The Best”.

READ MORE: From ‘kissing’ Kareena to ‘Ronaldo scandal’: Here are Bipasha Basu’s 5 famous controversies

ALSO READ: Video: Bipasha Basu gets awwdorable birthday wish from Karan Singh Grover

Here’s what some of the celebrities tweeted:

Karan Singh Grover: Wish you a very happy birthday my sweet precious princess! Today is the most joyous day for all of us. Wish you all the happiness, joy, success and love! Thank you for being born and filling my life and all the lives you touch with happiness and abundance! You are truly the best kinda girl there is!

Wish you a very very very happy birthday my sweet precious princess! Today is the most joyous… https://t.co/w9Bd6hFzIy

— Karan Singh Grover (@Iamksgofficial) January 6, 2018

Dino Morea: Dearest Bips wish you a super happy birthday, loads of love and happiness always. From the Moreas.

Dearest Bips @bipsluvurself wish you a super happy birthday, loads of love & happiness always. From the Morea’s. Found this old pic of us. pic.x.com/NoCkehBXnP

— Dino Morea (@DinoMorea9) January 7, 2018

Abhishek Bachchan: Happy birthday Bippy I am sure you’re having a blast. Much love.

Happy birthday Bippy @bipsluvurself am sure you’re having a blast. Much love.

— Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) January 7, 2018

Riteish Deshmukh: Dearest Bipasha Basu happy birthday and have a stupendous year ahead. You inspire people to be fit. More power to you.

Dearest @bipsluvurself happy birthday & have a stupendous year ahead. You inspire people to be fit-more power to you pic.x.com/nFvNMYLuBQ

— Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) January 7, 2018

Farah Khan Ali: Happy happy birthday gorgeous. May you have the most amazing year. One that’s filled with health, wealth, happiness, prosperity and more. Love you Bipasha.

Happy happy birthday Gorgeous. May you have the most amazing year one that’s filled with health wealth happiness prosperity and more. Love u @bipsluvurself ❤️❤️❤️

— Farah Khan (@FarahKhanAli) January 7, 2018

Shekhar Ravjiani: Happy birthday! Bipasha. Have a super one! Party Kothai? (Where’s the party?)

Happy Birthday! @bipsluvurself Have a super one! Party Kothai?

— Shekhar Ravjiani (@ShekharRavjiani) January 7, 2018

Neil Nitin Mukesh: Bipasha happy birthday. Have an awesome year and a lovely day. Loads of love and happiness to you always.

Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) will be investing about Rs 10,000 crore during the next five years on expansion programmes with a target to achieve Rs 34,000-crore revenues by then, said a top official.

N Sridhar, Chairman and Managing Director of SCCL, said the investment involves expansion of new mines, adding 800 mw to the existing 1,200 mw power plant and setting up 500 mw solar power project.

The government-owned coal mining company is poised to clock Rs 24,000-crore income this year from both selling coal and power and aims to take this figure to Rs 34,000 crore in five years.

“We are expanding the existing power plant (of 1,200 mw) by adding 800 mw. We expect the work to start next year.

We are also in the process of setting up a 500 mw solar power project.

“We are opening 12 new mines (six underground and as many opencast) which will have capacity of 21 million tonnes per annum. The total investment for all the programmes would be Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years,” Sridhar told PTI in an exclusive interview.

“Broadly, we see capex of Rs 2,000 core per annum from the next year for five years,” he added.

Currently, the miner has 47 coal mines spread across the northern part of Telangana with about 10 billion tonne reserves. Under Sridhar, who took charge three years ago, SCCL has been showing growth in both production and dispatches.

“This year we expect 62.5 MT production by the end of the current (fiscal) year. We added about 10 MT growth during the past three years. Similarly, we may touch 65 MT this year against 52 MT three years ago,” he said.

According to him, revenues may touch nearly Rs 24,000 crore, which includes income from power, in FY18 from Rs 19,274 crore in FY17, up over 23 per cent.

“We are expecting Rs 1,100 crore profit this year (FY18) as against Rs 400 crore last year. On the back of new mines, SCCL aims to take the production to 85 MT in the next five years.

“So we expect Rs 34,000-crore turnover, which will include income from both coal and power, in five years,” he said.

The average price of coal the SCCL sells currently is about Rs 2,500 per tonne with different rate structure for power producers and others.

“To encourage clean energy, we are going to set up solar power projects with combined capacity of 500 mw. We have identified lands also for setting up the solar projects. The total power production capacity would be 2,500 mw (both solar and thermal) by 2022,” Sridhar explained.

SCCL is a debt-free company with about Rs 6000 crore cash reserves. However, it planned to raise sole debt for the proposed 800 mw thermal power project.

Replying to a query, he said the company has sought allocation of some more coal mines for extraction from the Centre and is awaiting a reply in this regard.

The PSU earlier had called for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from global players for acquiring mines abroad.

However, slackening coal prices dampened the company’s interest to acquire overseas assets.

The body of a 20-year-old man was recovered on Sunday from the rubble at the Cine Vista film studio, where a fire broke out last evening, the police said.

The fire at the studio in suburban Kanjurmarg broke out around 8 pm yesterday. By 10 pm, it was brought under control.

The deceased, identified as Gopi Verma, used to work for a television serial production unit, senior inspector, Park Site police station, Vilas Jadhav, said.

Verma was reported to be missing by his family members after the fire broke out at the studio, where the shooting for two TV serials was on at the time of the incident.

His body was found in the rubble this morning, Jadhav said, adding that it was sent for a post-mortem.

Over 100 TV crew members were evacuated from the studio after the blaze.

The blaze had started from the electric wires in the studio and spread to the other areas, fire brigade officials said.

This was the third major fire incident in the city in the last 10 days.

Fourteen persons were killed in a fire at an upscale pub in the Kamala Mills compound on December 29. Besides, four persons, including two children, had died and five were seriously injured after an upper floor of a residential building in suburban Marol caught fire on January 4.