NorthEast United notched only their second win of the Hero Indian Super League’s fourth season after goals from Marcinho and Seminlen Doungel helped them down FC Goa 2-1 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here on Saturday.

The victory means technical advisor Avram Grant starts his stint in the Hero ISL with a big upset, and keeps them in ninth position, though just one point behind Kerala Blasters.

Doungel scored the winner after Cesario’s lovely through ball found him clear on goal. Goa goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani steamed off his line in what seemed a rash decision and Doungel clipped it over him expertly.

Marcinho had opened the scoring with a delightfully taken goal in the 20th minute. Cesario’s cross was behind him, but the Brazilian reached out to bring it down with some fine control, and set himself up for the side’s first goal at home. A deflection helped him but he had earned his luck.

The home side’s joy didn’t last too long though. The flag stayed down when Pronay Halder found space on the left wing and his lofted cross was turned in by Manuel Arana, after what looked like a clear handball from Jose Goncalves. In the end though, it was NorthEast who had the last laugh.

The teams were locked 1-1 at the breather.

The second half took right off from where the first half had ended – when Doungel found space down the right channel but was confused between pulling it back for Cesario or taking a shot. He chose the latter but it went straight at Kattimani.

It was at the hour mark when the drama really began. A back-pass resulted in an indirect free-kick for NorthEast from the edge of the six yard box but the shot was blocked. Cesario had the next chance, but his attempt to place the shot in the far corner was wide.

Ten minutes later, Lanzarote delivered a sumptuous cross from the left but this time Arana could not tap it in. The frustration got worse for the visitors when Manvir Singh missed from a couple of yards out when his shot struck the post with the keeper nowhere near the goal line.

In the 88th minute, NorthEast’s defence made two off-the-line clearances and it was in that moment that they seemed unbeatable on the night.

In the first half, NorthEast dominated the first 25 odd minutes. Apart from Marcinho’s goal, they had a couple of chances to increase their lead. Cesario was through on goal but tried to lob Kattimani and couldn’t pull it off.

This was after his shot from a tight angle was parried away. Marcinho almost turned provider in the 33rd minute when his freekick found Martin Diaz, but the glancing header was straight at the goalkeeper.

But FC Goa, like they so often do, grew into the game. Before the equaliser, they had a brilliant chance when Manuel Arana found Corominas in the box, only to see his kneed shot brilliantly saved by T.P. Rehenesh.

The Goans could have come from behind and go in the lead at the stroke of the first half but Brandon Fernandes’ left-footer was palmed over by Rehenesh at the near post.

World No. 1 Simona Halep won her first title of the new tennis season after defeating Katerina Siniakova in the final of Shenzhen Open here on Saturday.

Heavy rain forced the match to be played at an indoor court, but that was no trouble for Halep to have a good start, who easily won the first set 6-1 without a single break point, reports Xinhua.

Siniakova fought back and managed to break Halep three times to take the second set 6-2. But the World No. 1 was back on her rhythm to sweep the Czech without conceding one game in the third set.

“We had a great match today. I tried everything to win.” Halep said.

“I just try to enjoy the moment even if it’s a little bit different indoors. It’s not easy but we did our job and I’m happy that I could win the first title of the year,” she added.

TV personality Scott Disick got “jealous” with his girlfriend Sofia Richie when she ran into her former boyfriend Lewis Hamilton at a party in Aspen, Colorado. Disick and his crew had been “party hopping” over New Year and didn’t realise that Hamilton was at the same party last week, reports pagesix.com.

A source shared that Hamilton was playing a billiards game when Disick saw him talking to Richie. “Sofia started talking to Lewis during the (pool) game. When Scott saw them talking, he went ballistic, crazy. He was very jealous. He insisted they leave the party immediately,” the source said.

Another source said: “Scott got frustrated that they ran into Lewis over the weekend, and that it was unexpected. He doesn’t like surprises and reacts aggressively in situations like that. This isn’t the first time that Scott has lost it for a minute.”

Four national-level weight-lifters were killed and two others, including a world champion, were seriously injured when the car that they were travelling met with an accident near the Delhi-Haryana border on Sunday, police said.

The accident took place at around 4 a.m., near Alipur village of Delhi, close to the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana.

The victims were travelling on the Delhi-Panipat National Highway-1 in a Swift Dezire car.

While four weight-lifters were killed in the accident, Saksham Yadav, who won a gold medal in the 2017 weight-lifting championship for the country, was seriously injured along with another weightlifter, a police official said.

Yadav and the other injured weight-lifter were rushed to the Max Hospital in New Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh for treatment.

The car, according to the official, first hit a divider and then crashed into an electricity pole.

Due to severe impact, the car’s roof was blown away.

The official said that the driver was speeding despite dense fog in the area.

The weight-lifters were travelling from Panipat towards Delhi.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has decided that presidents of all state units will continue in their posts after its organisational polls unless a decision is taken to replace them, a party release said.

Gandhi, who was elected party chief last month at the culmination of organisational elections, took the decision among speculation that there could be changes at the top in states.

“Congress President Rahul Gandhi has taken a decision that the presidents of all Pradesh Congress Committees, Regional Congress Committees and Territorial Congress Committees will continue in their posts after the organisational election also unless some decision is taken to replace them,” the release said.

In another decision, Gandhi gave approval for formation of several committees including election campaign panel in Chhattisgarh in view of assembly polls in the state next year.

State party chief Bhupesh Baghel will be assisted by Ram Dayal Uike and Shiv Kumar Dhahariya as working presidents.

Congress Legislature Party leader T. S. Singdeo will head the Election Manifesto Committee while Charandas Mahant will head Election Campaign Committee, Ravindra Choube will has been made chief of the Planning and Strategy Committee and Ramgopal Agrawal of the Election Publicity Committee.

The party also constituted disciplinary committee and communication department.

The appointments, made almost a year before the assembly polls, are geared at the party making an early start in its election preparations.

Congress has lost successive elections in Chhattisgarh.

South African veteran pacer Dale Steyn may not take further part in the ongoing first Test against India due to a left heel injury which might force him to miss the next two matches of the series.

Steyn landed awkwardly during his run-up in India’s first innings in the post-lunch session. According to espncricinfo, he may not bowl again in this Test.

The report also states that Steyn could be even out for 4-6 weeks, and possibly out of series.

Steyn, 34, had not played in a first-class match since suffering a fractured shoulder in a Test in Australia in November 2016.

Atletico Madrid on Saturday won 2-0 at home against Getafe in the 18th round of Spain’s La Liga, putting pressure on league leaders Barcelona.

Angel Correa opened the scoring for Atletico just 18 minutes into the match. Atletico forward Diego Costa found the back of the net in his return to La Liga, after having left English Premier League defending champions Chelsea, where he played from 2013 to 2017, reports Efe.

Costa scored the second goal for Atletico in the 68th minute, his first goal in La Liga this season.

However, he was sent off after being shown a second yellow card following his exuberant celebration of the goal with fans.

Following this win, Atletico hold the second position in La Liga with 39 points, six points behind Barcelona, who are set to host Levante on Sunday.

Atletico continue to chase Barcelona after their first victory in 2018, while Getafe, having suffered seventh defeat this season, remain in the eighth position with 23 points.

Singers Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, who have rekindled their relationship, are behaving like “two lovesick school kids”. Bieber and Gomez got back together in December 2017, weeks after she split from her boyfriend The Weeknd.

Their common friends say they are more in love than ever, reports femalefirst.co.uk. “They are like two lovesick school kids who can’t get enough of each other,” a source told The Blast. The couple is seeking guidance from their Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz about their relationship.

“They don’t want to repeat the same patterns as before. They’ve clearly had issues in the past, so they’re receiving some guidance from Carl. They love each other (and) truly do want the best for each other,” the source said.

US tourism to Cuba grew nearly threefold in 2017 over the previous year, mainly due to relaxation of the travel ban.

Cuba registered a total of 1,173,428 US arrivals last year, a 191-percent increase over 2016, Josefina Vidal, general director of the US division of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The figure includes both US citizens, whose arrival saw a 217.4-percent increase, and Cubans residing in America, which grew 137.8-percent year-over-year, reports Xinhua news agency.

Vidal helped negotiate the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two former Cold War foes in July 2015, which led to a relaxation in travel restrictions barring US citizens from access to Cuba.

Analysts note that while American tourism picked up considerably following the thaw in bilateral ties under former US President Barack Obama, the trend may not hold as the administration of Donald Trump works to scale back the rapprochement and re-impose travel restrictions.

Tourism is Cuba’s second-biggest source of foreign revenue.

Total international tourism to Cuba exceeded 4.7 million people in 2017, according to the country’s Ministry of Tourism.

Chennai Smashers rode P.V. Sindhu’s brilliance to pip Ahmedabad Smash Masters 2-1 in a Premier Badminton League (PBL) clash at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.

Ahmedabad took a 1-0 lead as the men’s doubles pair of Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Kidambi Nandagopal registered a 15-13,15-12 victory over Chris Adcock and Lee Yang.

Home team superstar and Olympic 2016 silver medallist Sindhu defeated world No.1 women’s singles player Tai Tzu Ying 15-11, 10-15, 15-12 to pull Chennai level 1-1.

“It was a great win and I feel I did extremely well to beat Tai Tzu. She played very well and I am really happy to have won the match. The crowd was extremely motivating and their support helped me a lot in getting this win,” Sindhu said after the match.

In the first men’s singles match, Sourabh Verma edged past Brice Leverdez 12-15, 15-14, 15-12 in Chennai’s “Trump Match’ to give Ahmedabad a 2-0 lead. Leverdez’s defeat meant Chennai lost a point.

In the second men’s singles match, home team’s Tanongsak Saemsomboonsuk defeated H.S Prannoy 15-10, 12-15, 15-14 in Ahmedabad’s ‘Trump Match’ to keep Chennai alive as they equalised 1-1.

In the deciding mixed doubles match, Sindhu and B.Sumeeth Reddy overcame Reginald and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 15-14, 15-13 to win the tie for Chennai.

In a huge setback to the RJD, its supremo Lalu Prasad was on Saturday sentenced to three-and-a-half-years jail in a fodder scam case.

After three days of arguments on the quantum of punishment, special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the order through video conferencing.

As the CBI judge was delivering the sentence, Lalu Prasad, who is at present lodged in the Central Jail here, was standing with folded hands.

The court also slapped two fines of Rs 5 lakh each on the former Bihar Chief Minister. If the fine is not deposited, he will have to stay in jail for another six months.

The court convicted Lalu Prasad and 15 others on December 23 in the case relating to the multi-million-rupee scam.

Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment on offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy under the the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

He was also sentenced to the same period under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Both punishment will go simultaneously.

The sentences range from three-and-a-half-years to seven years imprisonment. The maximum fine imposed was Rs 10 lakh, slapped on three convicts including Jagdish Sharma, former Public Accounts Committee chairman, while they and three others got the seven years in jail too. Thre remaining nine were also sentenced to three and half years in jail.

The arguments on quantum of sentence had been going on since Thursday when those of five convicts were heard and another five, including Lalu Prasad, was heard on Friday.

While hearing arguments of quantum of sentence, the judge observed that the convicts “should be kept in open jail as they have experience in looking after cows”.

The CBI court had acquitted another former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case, relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar district treasury between 1990 and 1994 in then undivided Bihar.

Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister of the undivided state from 1990 to 1997.

Convicted in another fodder scam case in 2013, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and is on bail.

He was facing a total five cases in the fodder scam and the judgment in two more cases are likely to be pronounced within one month.

The multi-million-fodder scam surfaced in 1996 and at directive of Patna High Court, the investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). When Lalu Prasad moved the Supreme Court against high court order, the SC ordered the Patna High Court to monitor the investigation.

Lalu Prasad had to step down as Chief Minister post in 1997 following his arrest in the scam.

A total of 62 cases were filed by the CBI and majority of them were transferred Ranchi after Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar in 2000. The special CBI court has delivered judgment in 48 cases and several politicians, bureaucrats and others have been convicted.

Model Kendall Jenner’s boyfriend Blake Griffin has filed papers in court for the custody battle of his two children, who he has with former girlfriend Brynn Cameron.

Griffin formally requested equal parenting rights with Cameron, in October, but court papers only surfaced this week, reports radaronline.com. Documents at the Los Angeles Superior Court reveal that Griffin is demanding joint physical and legal custody of son Ford Wilson and daughter Finley Elaine.

Cameron has already been hit with a restraining order since the couples’ split in July 2017. The formal order prohibits her from leaving California with their children until a final decision about parental access has been agreed.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will reshuffle her cabinet on Monday, with junior ministerial jobs being reassigned on Tuesday, a media report said.

The reshuffle comes after two resignations and one sacking from the Prime Minister’s cabinet in the last two months, reports the BBC.

Michael Fallon was the first to resign from his post of Defence Secretary in November 2017 amid allegations around his conduct.

One week later, Priti Patel quit her job as International Development Secretary, after a row over unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials.

First Secretary of State Damian Green – one of May’s closest allies – was then fired from his position in December after making “misleading statements” to the press about pornography found on his office computer in 2008.

The Congress on Saturday attacked the Narendra Modi government over a blast in Kashmir in which four policemen were killed, saying that it had failed to contain the terror incidents despite its “boastful statements”.

“We have been losing regularly officers of the Indian Army, officers of the Border Security Forces and jawans of the paramilitary forces, CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir Police,” Congress leader Anand Sharma at a press conference here.

“Even today, it is sad that four of the police personnel have been killed in Sopore,” Sharma said referring to the bomb blast in north Kashmir’s Sopore town in which four policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector, were killed and two others injured.

“It is high time that the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and his government stop making tall claims.

“Accountability has to be established of this government as to why it has failed despite the boastful statements of the Prime Minister himself and of his Ministers about action across the border,” he said.

Raising concern over the frequent attacks on the army and paramilitary forces in the state, Sharma said, “The question which legitimately has to be asked and must be asked that why the attacks are escalating on our defence personnel and defence establishments.”

Targetting the government over the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s recent talks with his Pakistani counterpart, he said, “We are completely in dark as to what has been discussed between the two NSA’s – Doval and Pakistan’s NSA General Janjua.”

He said that two NSAs have been meeting in the past too but “what has been the outcome?”, adding that “outcome has only been more attacks, more deaths, and more killings of the defence personnel”.

“The government should not continue with its habit of making claims about some strike and remaining silent when actual strikes that takes place against our defence establishments and against our personnel,” Sharma dded.

The scrutiny of nomination of AAP Rajya Sabha candidate N. D. Gupta was put on hold till Monday by the Returning Officer over Congress allegations concerning his holding office of profit.

The nomination of Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) two other candidates – Sanjay Singh and Sushil Gupta – for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha were approved, party leaders said.

The scrutiny of nomination of N.D. Gupta was deferred following Congress complaint with the Returning Officer Nidhi Srivastava – its second complaint of the day – saying that Gupta had not resigned as chairman of the Audit Committee of the National Pension Scheme Trust.

Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken said Gupta’s nomination paper has not been cleared on Saturday. He said the Congress was called for hearing on party’s complaint on Saturday evening.

“I think he (Gupta) has been issued a fresh notice. We have been asked to submit our written submissions by tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon. There could be discussion on Monday morning. Our main complaint is that it comes in the domain of office of profit as he is chairman of the audit committee (of NPS). As chairman of audit committee, there is no protection (under office of profit),” he said.

AAP took strong exception to the scrutiny of party nominee being deferred till Monday, saying it was unprecedented.

“The law prescribes only the candidates or its election agents to raise objections at the stage of scrutiny of nominations. However here, Maken’s objections are not only considered but were invited at the time of scrutiny. This is unprecedented in the history of election nominations,” party leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said.

“Further, due to lack of knowledge or under pressure, the RO invited Maken to lead evidence before the RO. This is evidence hunting and is defying all laid down principles,” he added.

Bhardwaj said the law is very clear about who can file objections at time of nomination. “Now, if one lakh people file objections, will the ROs give individual hearing to all such people. Will one lakh people lead evidence and arguments. Will this become an unending civil suit?

“Instead of deciding the nomination, the RO has reserved the order making it further susceptible to external influence,” he said.

Maken said Gupta has attended meetings of audit committee of NPS.

In a letter to the Returning Officer, he noted that Narayan Dass Gupta is also the chairman of Audit Committee of National Pension Scheme Trust and he has been appointed as a chairman from September 8, 2015 and it is “pertinent to mention that Gupta has not resigned from the Chairmanship of Audit Committee of NPS Trust till date”.

The Congress had earlier alleged that Gupta had been appointed as trustee of the NPS on March 30, 2015. Following the complaint, the Returning Officer had written a letter to Gupta. In his detailed reply, Gupta referred to various exemptions under the office of profit and also said that he had resigned from the trust on December 29, 2017.

AAP leader Raghav Chadha also defended Gupta, saying that he had resigned from the post of Trustee of the NPS and the Congress was only raising frivolous objections to gain cheap publicity.

Maken also said that it was also contented that N.D. Gupta has not mentioned about the legal requirement of 30 days notice for resigning as trustee in a reply submitted before the Returning Officer.

“It was also submitted before the RO that N.D. Gupta has not given any proof to the effect that his resignation was accepted by the NPS Trust,” he added.

Three Rajya Sabha vacancies had arisen in Delhi due to end of tenure of Congress members later this month.

AAP is set to win the three seats due to its vast majority in the Delhi assembly. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is January 8.

TV tsarina Ekta Kapoor, daughter of veteran actor Jeetendra, says when she started her career on television as a producer, no channel owners were ready to meet her and work with her.

“Life was good, but I had no plan B. I had no option. Sometimes your greatest curse turns out to be your best blessing. I decided I was starting a TV serial business. My dad invested in me,” Ekta said on TV show “TED Talks India Nayi Soch”.

She added: “Now comes the twist in the plot. Your biggest twist happens when you are at ground zero. The lowest point in your life — when you fall lower from a low. For me it was when lots of my pilots got rejected.

“Honestly, no channel wanted to meet me. How many chances will we give Jeetendra’s daughter? Some media professionals saw those pilots with my father and one of them asked, ‘Are you putting your money into your daughter’s hobby?”

Under her Balaji Telefilms Limited banner, Ekta has produced popular shows like “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi…”, “Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii”, “Kasautii Zindagii Kay”, “Kaahin Kissii Roz”, “Pavitra Rishta”, “Bade Achhe Lagte Hain” and “Kumkum Bhagya”.

The episode of “TED Talks India Nayi Soch” featuring Ekta Kapoor will be aired on Star Plus on Sunday.

The government on Saturday said that capping of air fares could “raise prices for the 98-99 per cent of the passengers”.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, in a statement, defended the domestic airline industry against the observations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport which pointed to airline staff’s misbehaviour and over-pricing of air tickets.

“Pricing deregulation has allowed competition to bring down prices dramatically in India, making it one of the lowest-fare markets in the world. Indian airlines follow globally accepted dynamic pricing practices.

“… only between 1 per cent and 2 per cent of tickets are transacted at the highest fare basket. A capping of fares could raise prices for the 98-99 per cent of the passengers,” the ministry statement said.

“The government is cognisant of emergencies or natural calamities, which cause a sudden surge in aviation demand. In such cases, the Ministry works with airlines to create more supply by re-routing aircraft to the affected areas and ensuring stable prices,” it added.

The central government had dispensed with its right to approve tariff post the repeal of Air Corporation Act in March 1994.

According to the ministry, it has partnered with all key stakeholders to establish the innovative AirSewa platform and other modes of offering assistance to passengers.

“It is heartening to note that of the around 12 crore passengers that have flown domestically in calendar year 2017, we have received less than 10,000 complaints overall,” the statement said.

“The Ministry also proposes to issue an explicit and easy-to- understand Air Passenger Bill of Rights. We will be undertaking extensive public consultations to finalise the same.”

The Parliamentary Standing Committee had suggested to the Union government to fix limits for airline tickets and cancellation charges.

The recommendations were made in the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s 256th report on “Issues related to improving consumers’ satisfaction of airlines” tabled on January 4.

It noted that even after a 50 per cent reduction of the aviation turbine fuel prices, the airlines had not passed on the benefit to the consumers.

“The Committee notes that around festivals and for bookings made closer to the date of travel, some airlines are charging more than 10 times of the advance booking fare. The Committee observes that this is arbitrary. A deregulatory environment does not mean unlimited freedom of exploitation,” the report said.

“Economic viability cannot be the only criteria for decision-making. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, though aware of the rampant exploitation, is not showing any proactive role in regulating the air fares. The Committee, therefore, recommends to the the Ministry of Civil Aviation to consider fixing an upper limit of the air tickets for every sector.”

Further, the committee said cancellation charges levied by private airlines were arbitrarily set.