English football champions Chelsea have signed midfielder Ross Barkley from Everton for a reported fee of around $20 million.

“The 24-year-old has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract and will wear the number 8 shirt,” Chelsea said in a statement on Friday.

Upon signing for Chelsea, Barkley told Chelsea’s website: ‘I’m overwhelmed, I’m looking forward to it and I’m really excited to get started.

“To be given a fresh start at a new club like Chelsea, it’s unbelievable for me. I’m looking forward to continuing where I left off at the end of last season and hoping to improve and add more goals to my game.”

A hamstring injury at the beginning of the current campaign has kept him out since August, which means he is eligible to play for Chelsea in all four competitions.

“I’m looking forward to getting started, putting the injury behind me and trying to be successful at Chelsea. I’m back in training, I’m doing everything as normal and I’m very close to being ready to play games. I’ve been training for a few weeks now and I’m feeling great,” he said.

Club director Marina Granovskaia said: “Ross is a player we have long admired and are certain he will prove to be an important player for Chelsea.

“He possesses outstanding technical and physical attributes, matched with good experience of the Premier League and a strong desire to succeed at the highest level. We welcome him to the club and look forward to seeing him in action.”

Barkley arrives with a wealth of experience for a player so young, having already made 150 Premier League appearances for Everton, as well as being named in England squads for both the World Cup and European Championships.

His versatility ensures he can play just behind the striker, in a deeper midfield role or in an advanced wide position, with his ability to get on the ball and create chances one of the player’s biggest strengths.

Chennai Super Kings are back in the Indian Premier League after two years’ suspension due to spot fixing. And after making sure that they have their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, along with Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, back in the fold during the IPL Players’ Retention event 2018, the two times IPL title winners on Saturday named Aussie Michael Hussey as their batting coach.

Hussey, who earlier played for the Chennai Super Kings, is the third highest run-getter for CSK after Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni in Indian Premier League.

In a media release issued by the Chennai-based IPL team, Hussey said, “I am really excited about returning to the Chennai Super Kings in a coaching capacity and working with the players to help them get the best out of themselves and also help to bring success to this great franchise.”

 “I have so many great memories as a player and have made many wonderful friends in Chennai and now I am excited about giving back to the franchise in trying to help the next generation of CSK players,” he added.

“It is exciting to have CSK back in the competition and I am sure the fans are very happy to have their team back on the field,” Hussey added.

The number of students enrolling for higher education in India saw a marginal 0.7 per cent increase in 2016-17, an indication that the government’s ambitious target to enrol 30 per cent of youth between 18-23 by 2020 may be difficult to achieve.

According to the latest All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) report released on Friday, the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education has gone up 25.2 per cent in 2016-17 from 24.5 per cent in 2015-16.

The increase is lesser than previous four years’ average, during which the GER — calculated for youth between 18-23 years of age — increased by 0.75 per cent.

The government has set a target of enrolling 30 per cent of youth between 18-23 by 2020. But an average of 0.75 per cent in the last five years including this year, the GER after two years is likely to miss the target.

As per the report, the GER for the country during previous four years was: 21.5, 23.0, 24.3, and 24.5 per cent.

But Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said the target was still achievable.

“In GER, we have seen a growth of approximately 2.25 per cent in the last three years. This is a major growth. Therefore, I have full confidence that… we will achieve 30 per cent GER, which is also a goal set by Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and his dream,” Javadekar said at the launch of the annual report.

According to the survey, the number of universities in the country rose to 864 last year as compared to 799 in 2015-16.

Tamil Nadu had the highest GER in the country at 46.9 per cent. Bihar is at the bottom with 14.9 per cent of its youth in the age group of 18 to 23 enrolling for higher education.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe remained below the national average at 21.1 per cent and 15.4 per cent, respectively.

Responding to a query, the minister said the government was trying to bring the marginalised section at par with the rest and that the ministry was “planning to introduce more programmes” in this direction, which will be launched from the next academic session.

Rapper Travis Scott (II) has addressed the pregnancy rumors surrounding his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, saying that they are “just guesses”. In an interview with Billboard magazine on Friday, Scott neither confirmed nor denied that his reality TV star girlfriend is pregnant.

Asked whether he has spoken to his father about becoming a father himself, Scott said: “Uh… for what?” Later, he said: “I don’t want to talk about that. They’re just guesses. Let them keep fishing.” Scott is not the only one who dodged the pregnancy questions.

Previously, Kylie’s half-sister Khloe Kardashian got awkward when she was asked about her pregnancy by TV host Ellen DeGeneres.  On “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, Khloe was talking about cravings when DeGeneres suddenly asked, “Is Kylie craving anything yet?” Khloe replied: “What do you mean? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Junglee pictures’ upcoming next titled ‘Junglee’ wrapped its first shooting schedule in Thailand.

Vidyut Jammwal was shooting in Thailand’s Chiang Mai Elephant Reserve and Jungle Sanctuary for a month along with the entire cast.

The makers of Junglee took to Twitter sharing a group picture captioning, “It’s a wrap 🎬! Thailand schedule for the team #Junglee comes to an end, here’s an EXCLUSIVE picture. @VidyutJammwal @JungleeMovie”.

Junglee is an action-thriller about a unique relationship between a man and elephants.

Vidyut essays the role of a vet who, on his homecoming to his elephant reserve, encounters and fights an international poachers racket.

After the sleeper hit Bareilly Ki Barfi, Junglee Pictures is all set to captivate the audience with ‘Junglee’.

The film is directed by Hollywood Filmmaker Chuck Russel and co-produced by Priti Shahani under the banner of Junglee Pictures, the film is set to release on 19th October, 2018

 Mad Men actor Kiernan Shipka has been roped in to play the lead in Netflix’s untitled adaptation of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic.

The project imagines the origin and adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult, and, of course, witchcraft, reported Entertainment Weekly.

Described as an empowered young woman, Sabrina Spellman is just beginning her dark education as a sorceress, even as she tries to maintain a normal life as a sophomore at Baxter High.

Intelligent, compassionate, and brave to the point of recklessness, Sabrina is all that stands between “us and the forces of darkness that threaten our world”.

“We’re all such huge fans of Kiernan’s work that when we started talking about who this new incarnation of Sabrina could be, her name was on everyone’s wish list.

“This is a darker, more macabre version of Sabrina, and we’re incredibly excited for people to see Kiernan make this iconic character her own,” executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa says.

Actress Meghan Markle half-brother Thomas Markle’s fiancee Darlene Blount has been arrested for assaulting her partner.

Blount was arrested in Oregon on December 31 after a “booze-fueled altercation”, the police said, reports tmz.com.
Blount was booked for fourth-degree assault about four hours into 2018.

Meghan, who is set to marry Prince Harry in May, and Thomas have the same father but are not close to each other anymore. Thomas said he has not seen Meghan since 2011 when she moved to take her role in “Suits”.

South African pacer Dale Steyn grabbed his first Test wicket after returning to international cricket. On the first day of the opening Test match, Steyn sent Shikhar Dhawan (16) back to the pavilion. By taking Dhawan’s wicket, Steyn took his career tally to 418 wickets.

Steyn, who was absent from international cricket for a long time due to career-threatening shoulder injury, bowled out Indian wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha on the second day for a duck, taking his tally to 419 wickets. Now, he is just two behind Proteas record-holder Shaun Pollock. If Steyn manages to take two more wickets in the opening Test, he would equal the record of Pollock.

While talking about Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander said, “Having him back after such a long time is special to a lot of us. He has been the spearhead of this attack for such a long time. We wanted to get close to 300, which I think is a lot of runs on this wicket,” he added.

Earlier, after winning the toss, South Africa chose to bat and scored 286 runs. Following the target, visitors lost three early wickets, including that of Indian opener Murali Vijay (1), Shikhar Dhawan (16) and Virat Kohli (5) as the day ended.

On the second day of first Test match, India started from 28 for three but soon Rohit Sharma (11) gifted his wicket to Kagiso Rabada. After Rohit, Cheteshwar Pujara lost his wicket for 26 runs and soon Ravichandran Ashwin (12) and Wriddhiman Saha (0) followed his steps.

Currently, Hardika Pandya (55) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1) is at the crease.

The indefinite strike by some transport unions in Tamil Nadu over wage-related issues, entered the third day today, even as the state government said “many” staff were returning to work and expressed confidence that normal operations would resume from Sunday

State transport Minister M R Vijayabaskar told a Tamil TV channel that despite the stir, 80 per cent buses were running.

“Many are getting back to work considering the wage revision offered by us, besides respecting the High Court directive in this regard yesterday,” he said.

The minister exuded confidence that more employees will return to work by tomorrow and “we believe full services could be operational from tomorrow” across Tamil Nadu.

The opposition DMK again urged the government to hold talks with the trade unions and bring an end to the impasse.

ALSO READ: Transport strike hits life in Tamil Nadu

DMK Working President and Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly M K Stalin spoke to Chief Minister K Palaniswami over the phone and urged the government to hold talks to end the stalemate.

Meanwhile, buses were being operated in some parts of the state with temporary drivers and conductors.

In Coimbatore, Tirupur, Nilgiris and Salem districts, a majority of the buses stayed off roads. Some government buses that were operated by staff affiliated to the ruling AIADMK were operational.

A similar situation prevailed in Erode district, where authorities appointed temporary drivers and operated some buses. The transport department had earlier invited those with valid driving license to approach the local depots for this purpose.

A majority of the people continued to rely on trains, autorickshaws and private buses for their daily commute.

Meanwhile, the Southern Railway, in an official release, said, “It is decided to operate weekday services instead of weekend reduced services in Chennai Beach-Tambaram and MRTS suburban sector to accommodate extra rush in view of the strike.”

Tomorrow, the frequency of local trains will be every 10 minutes on Chennai Beach-Tambaram section, instead of every 20 minutes, and a train every 15 minutes on MRTS section instead of every 20 minutes, it said.

Suburban services will also operate normally on Chennai Central (Moore Market Complex)-Gummidipundi/Sullurupetta, Chennai-Beach-Tambaram/Chengalpattu sections and Chennai Beach-Velachery MRTS, today and tomorrow, the release said.

As many as 17 trade unions had launched an indefinite strike since Thursday night, with scores of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) joining the protest.

The striking unions want the ‘factor’ for wage revision to be fixed at 2.57 times while government insisted it be 2.44.

Yesterday, the Madras High Court had issued an interim order restraining the employees from striking work. Later, the government also issued an ultimatum, asking the workers to return to work, else it will not hesitate to take action as per law.

The trade unions had, however, said their agitation would continue till their demands on wage revision were met by the state government.

The unions, including DMK-affiliated LPF and CITU, rejected the state government’s ultimatum to return to work or face ‘consequences’ and also claimed they had not received the court order

Bryan Singer has been removed from FX network’s Legion.

Showrunner Noah Hawley told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in Pasadena, California, that the producer-director requested his name be removed from the credits of the X-Men-inspired drama to not be a “distraction” moving forward, reported.

“I don’t really know anything more about it other than he asked to have his name removed from the show. I don’t really know any of the behind the scenes of why he asked or when he asked or anything,” Hawley said.

FX also confirmed Singer’s name was removed from the list of executive producers.

The X-Men director has been accused of sexual misconduct, including a lawsuit alleging sexual assault.

Representatives for Singer previously “categorically denies these allegations and will vehemently defend this lawsuit to the very end.

Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey and Manoj Bajpayee have worked together on 6 projects till now including their upcoming film ‘Aiyaary’.

Apart from Aiyaary, both have collaborated on projects like Naam Shabana ( 2017), Ouch ( short film), Missing (To be released), Saat Uchakkey( 2016 ), Special 26 (2013).

Their association dates back from the times of Special 26 which released in 2013.

Both of them have a very good rapport and share a great amount of respect for each other.

Manoj Bajpayee who has worked with Neeraj on several projects feels that he brings the best in him as an actor.

The National award-winning actor shared,” Through the making and promotion of Special 26, I discovered in Neeraj not only a director who could bring out the best in me as an actor but also a straightforward, no-nonsense man of few words whose “good” meant “fantastic”. It took us a while to open up to each other through conversations about cinema and more, but eventually, we realized how much in-sync we were.”

Manoj Bajpayee will be seen in Neeraj’s next Aiyaary playing the role of Abhay Singh a strong-minded army officer.

Aiyaary is a thriller film revolving around the relationship between a mentor and a protégé played by Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra respectively and is helmed by Neeraj Pandey.

Aiyaary stars an ensemble cast of Sidharth Malhotra, Manoj Bajpayee, Pooja Chopra, Rakulpreet, Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah.

With Aiyaary, Neeraj Pandey is coming back with a Republic day release, a film that has a power-packed star cast and intriguing storyline.

Neeraj Pandey will return to direction two years after his last directorial ‘M.S. Dhoni’ which not only won accolades from the audience and critics but also emerged victorious at the box office.

The ace filmmaker won the hearts of the audience with his appealing films that have a realistic touch like ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Special 26′, M.S. Dhoni’ etc. The audience is keen on witnessing yet another mind-bending film by the filmmaker.

Plan C and Jayantilal Gada (Pen) presents ‘Aiyaary’ A Neeraj Pandey Film. Produced by Shital Bhatia, Dhaval Jayantilal Gada, Motion Picture Capital is slated to release on 26th January 2018.

The Congress party in the state demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on moral grounds for failing to prevent the violence that occurred at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune on January 1.

“The state government failed to prevent this incident.

We discussed the chain of events leading to the violence and how the government had failed to take precautionary steps,” Congress’ state chief Ashok Chavan said on Saturday.

Demanding Fadnavis’ resignation, Chavan added that all leaders of the Congress in the state were unanimous that the violence was a failure of the state machinery.

Chavan alleged that attempts to stoke caste tensions in the state have been going on for the past three years in connivance with the government. He claimed that the government was not taking action against those involved.

Informing about the party’s plan to have district-wise shibirs (camps), Chavan said that the party wanted newly-elected chief Rahul Gandhi to address meetings in the state. He added that Gandhi might visit Western Maharashtra soon.

Chavan also accused the government of “going soft” on investigations in the Kamala mill compound fire which claimed 14 lives.

Oscar winning filmmaker Paul Haggis has been accused of sexual misconduct by four women, including two allegations of rape. Haggis was originally the subject of a lawsuit in December 2017 from a publicist who claimed he raped her. Now, three other women have come forward with accusations, reports tmz.com.

The director, 64, denied his publicist Haleigh Breest’s allegations and counter-sued her. Haggis had previously said that he was used to defending himself against “false allegations” because he was a notable critic of Scientology.

Haggis is yet to reply to the three new accusations. His name has joined the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey among various others, who have been accused of sexual misconduct in Hollywood.

Megastars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan were spotted together at the Natchathira Vizha’s charity event in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

The chairty event is for raising funds for the construction of a new building for the Nadigar Sangam, officially known as the South Indian Film Artistes Association.

The two-day event beginning today will start with a curtain-raiser featuring several shows followed by other events like a star-cricket match.

Organised by the South Indian Artistes Association, in collaboration with Malik Streams Corp and MyEvents International, the event will also includes performances by comedians, singers and actors as well a friendly sporting matches — cricket and football — between the Indian and Malaysian-Indian artistes.

The legends #Rajinikanth & #KamalHaasan at the #NatchathiraVizha2018!! #SuperStarRajinikanth #Ulaganayagan #Legend #NatchathiraVizha2018Malaysia

A post shared by Raaga.com (@raagacom) on Jan 6, 2018 at 1:52am PST

Joining Rajinikanth and Haasan at the event will be actors Vijay, Surya, Arya, Vishal, Dhanush, Vikram, Vijaysethupathy, Jayam Ravi, Siva Karthikeyan, Samantha, Amala Paul and Kushboo among others.

According to Datuk Abdul Malik Dasthigeer, CEO, Malik Streams Corp, Natchatira Vizha 2018 will see the attendance of around 250 artistes, reported The Star.

“About 200 experienced security personnel have been appointed to look into the matter including transporting the artistes, to ensure everyone arrives safely where they need to be. They have a tight schedule as it’s a full-day event,” Dasthigeer said.

The event will take place at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday (January 6).