Intense cold conditions continue to disrupt normal life across Bihar on Saturday. Timings of all schools here have been changed. No respite is likely in the next few days, the Met said.

“Icy winds, fog and a weak Sun shining only for one or two hours have forced people to huddle indoor. It is extremely cold even during the day,” said Soumendu Sengupta, Patna Meteorological centre director.

Sengupta said the cold spell would continue in the state till Sunday. He did not even rule out the possibility of the cold and fog and cold conditions aggravating in coming days.

A Disaster Management Department official said the state has been reeling under intense cold for the past ten days and low temperatures would continue for another two days quoting the Met forecast.

Demand for woods, cow-dung cakes, room-heaters and blowers has shot up in the state. Thousands of people, particularly the elderly and children were falling ill.

According to officials at the Patna airport, dense fog and poor visibility has grounded several flights while a dozens were delayed in the last one week.

Dense fog has also led to late running of several long-distance trains and several trains cancelled in last ten days.

Patna recorded a minimum of 4.7 degree Celsius on Friday and Gaya 3.8 degree Celsius.

Expectations were high from Indian skipper Virat Kohli when he came on to bat on the first day of first Test match of the three-match series at Newlands Cape Town on January 5. But Virat Kohli failed to impress his fans as few Twitter users started trolling the captain after he was sent back to pavilion at the personal score of five runs.

When Virat Kohli had come out to bat, India were suffering the early loss of explosive Indian openers Murali Vijay (1) and Shikhar Dhawan (16). Last year being prolific for him, there were high expectations from the Indian skipper. In the recently concluded three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, Virat had scored two double centuries and therefore the Indians fans expected the captain to bail India out of the dire straits.

However, it’s wasn’t Kohli’s day, as he failed to read Morne Morkel ball and handed over his wicket to the South African on his very first delivery. At the end of the first day India were struggling at 28 for three.

Expections:- Kohli can score in every condition….

Reality:- On batting pitch score more than 200, On green top less than 20.

And still some people compare him with steve smith😂😂#INDvSA #SAvIND #Viratkohli

— Being Msdian (@BeingMsdian25) January 5, 2018

Expections:- Kohli can score in every condition….

Reality:- On batting pitch score more than 200, On green top less than 20.

And still some people compare him with steve smith😂😂#INDvSA #SAvIND #Viratkohli

— Being Msdian (@BeingMsdian25) January 5, 2018

Virat Kohli right now : #INDvSA pic.x.com/OKBUufJ6AO

— Akshay Jain (@AkshayKatariyaa) January 5, 2018

Coach : why are you struggling in South Africa?

Virat Kohli : even the great Mahatma Gandhi struggled here, mai kya cheez hun. #INDvSA

— Pakchikpak Raja Babu (@HaramiParindey) January 5, 2018

Virat Kohli is an extremely good batsman. He is nowhere near the same class as Tendulkar or Lara nor is he a flat track bully. Ridiculous hysteria as always. Expecting Smith to be labelled a FTB too when he struggles against this attack.

— Shankster (@TenniceFan) January 5, 2018

Virat Kohli is going to have his heart in his mouth during first half hour of play tomorrow. With the pitch having quickened and the pacers being relentless, if Rohit nicks off for a single digit score tomorrow, ViKo will come under heavy criticism for dropping Rahane. #INDvSA

— Srini Mama 💲 (@SriniMama16) January 5, 2018

#SAvIND there is a reason steve smith @stevesmith49 is best batsman he can play in any conditions virat kohli needs subcontinent conditions and a lot of hype lol

— chit (@chitranshuOz) January 5, 2018

It would take atleast 10-15 innings for Virat Kohli to come out of Honeymoon hangover and play his natural game.

— Bhaad me Jaa.. (@iAbhishek_J) January 5, 2018

@imVkohli

Shadi ke baad first inning me fail.

— Pharmacist (@vikaas_guj) January 5, 2018

Modiji should give tips to kohli and co. before every overseas tour. #INDvSA

— Vishal (@Vishal15067) January 5, 2018

Earlier, some Twitter users were also angry with the selection of Indian playing eleven, as Virat had dropped Test specialist and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane from the opening match.

Himachal Pradesh tourist destinations Shimla and Manali on Saturday saw the season’s lowest temperature. The minimum temperatures across the state remained two-three degrees below average.

At many places in the state the temperatures remained below freezing point, an official of the meteorological office here told IANS, adding there was no chance of rain and snow across the state for a week more.

“No significant western disturbance is expected for a week. The weather will largely remain dry and the minimum temperatures will remain two-three degrees below the season’s average for the next two days,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological department, told IANS.

Keylong, headquarter town of Lahaul and Spiti district, was the coldest at a minimum of minus 11.3 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district recorded a low of minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, while the temperature was five degrees in Dharamsala and 0.7 degree in Dalhousie.

The state capital saw a low of 1.4 degree Celsius, while it was minus 5.4 degrees in Manali.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday met new ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi here ahead of the Fifth Round Table of Asean-India Network of Think Tanks.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in tweet that in “taking Asean-India relationship in the commemorative year”,

Taking ASEAN-India relationship in the commemorative year! EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General, ASEAN and Ms. Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia. #ActEastPolicy. pic.x.com/CRDqfe3zcF

— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 6, 2018

Sushma Swaraj met Lim, with Indonesian Foreign Minster Retno Marsudi also in attendance.

The meeting comes amid India’s increasing engagements with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc under New Delhi’s Act East Policy.

New Delhi will host a commemorative summit on January 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dialogue Partnership between India and the Asean in which all the leaders of the Asean nations are expected to participate.

Lim, a seasoned diplomat from Brunei, took over as the Secretary General of Asean in January after the five-year term of Le Luong Minh of Vietnam ended in 2017.

Lim was named for the post in the Asean Summit in the Philippines in November 2017. The Asean Seretary General is appointed for a non-renewable term of five years, selected from among the Asean member states based on alphabetical rotation.

The Asean comprises of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Sushma Swaraj arrived here from Thailand on Friday on the second leg of her three-nation tour of Southeast Asia that will also see her visiting Singapore.

Elections for Nepal’s National Assembly, also known as the Upper House of the Federal Parliament, will take place on February 8, authorities announced on Saturday.

An emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers presided over by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba made the decision as per the recommendation of the Election Commission, Commerce Minister Min Bishwakarma told the media.

The decision has come nearly a week after President Bidya Devi Bhandari approved the National Assembly Act to pave the way for holding the elections, reports Xinhua news agency.

The National Assembly will have a total of 59 members.

Of them, 56 will be elected by an electoral college comprising assembly members of the seven provinces and chiefs and deputy chiefs of municipalities and rural municipalities.

Three will be nominated by the President as per the recommendation of the government.

The decision to hold the National Assembly elections comes after Nepal concluded elections to the House of Representatives, the lower house, and Provincial Assembly simultaneously in two phases on November 26 and December 7, 2017.

Sounding the poll bugle in Meghalaya, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday landed in the hill state to address a public meeting and meet office bearers of the party in the state.

Shah will address the public rally Tikrikilla in Garo hills, the stronghold of chief minister Mukul Sangma. He will then inaugurate a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state office in Shillong.

In the evening, he will meet the core group and the office bearers of the BJP in the state.

The BJP is aiming to wrest power from the Congress in the state and Shah’s visit comes at a time when the ruling Congress is finding it tough to keep its flock together.

On January 4, five Congress MLAs resigned from the Meghalaya Assembly and joined BJP ally the National People’s Party.

From Shillong, Shah will head to another poll-bound state Tripura on a two-day tour during which he will address two rallies in Ambassa and Udaipur and attend party meetings on Sunday and Monday.

BJP is going all out oust the ruling CPI (M) which has been in power in Tripura for the last 25 years and has emerged as a formidable opponent in alliance with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT).

Both Tripura and Meghalaya assemblies have 60 seats each and are likely to go to polls in February

Skip the chokers, and go for small diamond studs and big rings to give a fashionable twist to the look in winter, say experts.

Saurabh Maheshwari and Ritika Bhasin Gupta, Jewellery Designer, list down some things to keep in mind while picking accessories.

* In winter, one should avoid wearing chokers as girls prefer having scarves or fur collars to protect themselves from the chilly weather.

* Women can opt for small diamond studs as these look really pretty and elegant when it comes to winter wear.

* If it is an occasion apart from weddings, then ladies should keep it as simple as possible.

* Big dazzling rings, be it funky or diamonds, look amazing in winter and can add some glam quotient to the look.

* Usually in winter, women skip wearing anything more than a watch on their wrists. Wearing a bangle or a bracelet in winter will not be of any use as they will get tangled in full sleeve uppers and pullovers.

* In winter, women like to keep their hair open to keep their ears warm and keeping this in consideration, girls should go for pretty hair pins, bands or studs that can complement winter outfits.

In a strong attack on the Maharashtra government, Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar on Friday said if it does not act against those guilty of the Pune violence, “no one will be able to stop Hafiz Saeeds from being born among the Hindus”.

“If you want to stop this, then act against those guilty of the violence,” he said at a rally of opposition parties called by the Akhil Bharatiya Mahatma Phule Samta Parishad here.

Ambedkar, who is the grandson of Indian Constitution’s architect B.R. Ambedkar and had called Wednesday’s Maharashtra shutdown against caste violence on January 1, accused the Maharashtra Police of tormenting the victims instead of acting against the perpetrators of the violence.

He alleged this was being done at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s behest. Calling for a social democracy, he asked all deprived and backward sections to unite for securing their rights.

Expelled Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav, who also attended the rally, said the condition of the country was alarming and urged the low caste to unitedly take on the fundamentalists.

“The question is aren’t low castes Hindu too? Why should Hindu fundamentalists attack them,” he asked, adding that when the regime supports the guilty, who can hold them accountable.

“That is why I say the situation in the country is alarming.”

Many other opposition leaders, including Congress state President Arun Yadav, were at the rally.

On January 1, violence erupted between two groups in Bhima-Koregaon of Pune during the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Anglo-Maratha War of 1818. A youth was killed in the riots.

Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman feels actor Rajinikanth means “only good” by advocating “spiritual politics”.

Announcing his political debut on December 31, the Tamil superstar had promised his fans “spiritual politics, which is free from caste and creed”.

On Tuesday, Thalaiva clarified that spiritual politics meant “honest and secular politics”.

“He has spoken about spiritual politics of a secular character. I feel Rajinikanth meant only good,” Rahman told reporters in Chennai on Thursday.

Responding to a query on actors entering politics, he said: “They must have felt there is a need for a good leadership.”

The music maestro said anybody who joins politics should work for fulfilling the needs of the people.

Improving infrastructure, making farmers’ lives better were among the things that needed attention, he said.

A Catholic diocese in Northern Ireland has suspended the “sign of peace” handshake in its masses due to the risk of infection from a strain of the flu first discovered in Australia, a media report said on Saturday.

At least 170,000 cases were confirmed at the end of the Australian winter, more than twice as many as in 2016. According to health officials, there 72 flu-related deaths, the Guardian report said.

The H3N2 virus, which is also referred to as “Australian flu” or “Aussie flu”, has spread across the UK and Ireland.

A statement form the office of Bishop Noel Treanor said: “Having received medical advice concerning the increasing risk and impact of Australian flu, the diocese of Down and Connor has decided to reactivate precautionary measures originally established by the diocese in response to the swine flu epidemic in 2009.

“The customary sign of peace handshake exchanged during mass is suspended until the risk of infection is significantly reduced… Other provisions will be made for those who suffer from a coeliac condition, such as separate chalices.”

The diocese’s statement also paid tribute to those working within the medical field, acknowledging that “hospitals across Northern Ireland are currently experiencing high numbers of patient admissions of those suffering from respiratory illnesses directly linked to the flu virus”, reports the Guardian.

UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the H3N2 virus is straining resources at the National Health Services (NHS).

“It’s too early to say whether we are going to experience what they experienced in Australia. But that has undoubtedly created extra pressures on the system.”

Besides woollens, winter is all about delicious hot delicacies. They are not only scrumptious but healthy too. The cold weather offers a gigantic assortment of nutrient loaded colourful vegetables and fruits. These veggies and fruits are the key ingredients of many yum recipes and are prodigious immune booster. That’s much needed to stay well in the cold weather.

Have a dose of these winter delicacies to help you stay warm and healthy with finger licking taste.

Gajar Ka Halwa: This lip smacking dessert is one of the most popular traditional Indian sweet dishes. It is made up of large amount of carrots and milk. This royal dish is very rich in vitamin A and calcium. You can store it in refrigerator to soak yourself in its sweetness for a week.

Badam Halwa: Almonds are rich source of energy and health benefiting nutrients like protein, calcium, vitamins, folic acid, minerals and dietary fibre. Badam halwa is indispensable to celebrate cold months. Once tasted, you can’t skip it. It can be stored for a week in fridge to have few bites every day.

Paneer Mal Pua: This delicious sweet Indian item can surprise you with its sweet syrupy palate and health. These soft fluffy pancakes with crisp edges are packed with goodness of protein rich paneer and antioxidants rich saffron threads.

Moong Dal Halwa: It is a perfect mouth-watering dessert best to be eaten in winters. Loaded with lots of protein and calcium, it is a good combo of taste, aroma and nutritional value.

Dates: Dates are packed with various vitamins and minerals. They are very healthy to eat in winters. Delicious and rich in fibre, they bring a fabulous amount of health benefits to your body.

Sarson ka Saag And Makai Ki Roti: ‘Sarson ka saag’ is a host to dietary fibre, vitamin K, calcium and potassium. Rich in antioxidants, this green vegetable is good for overall health. This winter specialty of North India is best enjoyed with ‘Makai ki roti’ and fresh white butter.

Methi Matar Malai: The combination of methi and matar along with cream makes a super hit curry vegetable. It is one of the most popular North Indian dishes of winter menu. With contrasting flavours of the two veggies, this yummy curry is amazingly healthy.

Mix Veg Pakodas: Crisp from outside and soft from inside onion, fenugreek and cauliflower pakodas are a favourite steamy dish in winters. This quick munch snack is full with nutritious benefits of cauliflower, fenugreek and onions.

Stuffed Cauliflower Paratha: Cauliflower contains powerful antioxidants and phytonutrients. It boosts the immune system to fight winter ills. With the fibrous nature of whole wheat and nutritional value of cauliflower these hot crispy parathas can be a tasty and healthy treat with white butter on a cold day.

Vegetable Pulao: Veg pulao is a healthy dish having lots of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. With assorted colourful winter vegetables it can be the eye candy with all goodness of fibre and nutrients. Add paneer and soya chunks to make it a protein rich meal.

Food, taste and health go hand in hand. The obsession with winter food is quite obvious with such a menu at hand. All these dishes make a satiating meal treating our taste buds.

Important: Portion control is very necessary since most of the dishes are loaded with high calories.

Ladakh region remained in a deep freeze as Jammu and Kashmir shivered on Saturday with night temperatures dropping several degrees below the freezing point, the Met said.

Leh at minus 15.6 was the coldest town in the state as a bitter cold wave continued to sweep through the valley.

Srinagar city recorded minus 1.2, Pahalgam and Gulmarg were minus 8.4 and minus 9.4, respectively, a Met official said.

The Kashmir Valley is passing through the 40-day long period of harsh winter condition known as the “Chillai Kalan”, which started on December 21 and will end on January 30.

Heavy snowfall during the Chillai Kalan replenishes all the perennial water reservoirs in the higher reaches. It is these that sustain the valley’s lakes, rivers, springs and streams during the hot summer months.

In the Jammu region, Bhaderwah was the coldest town at minus 1.8, followed by Bannihal at minus 0.2.

Jammu city recorded 5.1, Katra town 5.6 and Batote 0.3 as their minimum temperatures.

At least four police personnel have died and several others were injured in a bomb blast in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore town, officials said on Saturday.

According to initial reports, the powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED), planted beneath a shop rocked the Gol Market area in the north Kashmir town and was immediately cordoned off.

The injured have been rushed to nearby hospitals while three shops were also damaged in the blast.

An investigation has been launched in the terror attack and a search operation is underway to hunt for the militants.

Separatists had called for a protest shutdown and a march in the town on Saturday. Heavy deployment of security forces was already in place to maintain law and order situation.

(With inputs from agencies)

Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi of Rajasthan on Thursday issued a death threat to Salman Khan, saying the Bollywood actor will be killed in Jodhpur.

“Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur… Then he will come to know about our real identity,” Bishnoi told media persons while being taken to a Jodhpur court in police security. Bishnoi was being produced in the court following his arrest on charges of terrorising traders and extorting them.

The gangster claimed that he had been framed in false cases and that to date, not even a single witness had deposed in the court to prove the charges. “Now, if police want me to do some major crime, I shall kill Salman Khan and that too in Jodhpur,” he added.

Bishnoi’s death threat to Salman is being linked with the black buck killing case of 1998, in which Salman and his co-actors are accused. It was the Bishnoi community which had brought up the black buck hunting case, and ever since the community considers the Bollywood actor a “villain”. However, some onlookers felt that the gangster talked of killing Salman just to create a sensation.

On Thursday, the actor appeared in the Jodhpur’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Rural Court in connection with the hearing in the black buck poaching case. Bishoi is a notious gangster and has been charged in over 20 cases of attempt to murder, carjacking, extortion, snatching and under the Arms Act in Punjab-Haryana belt.

Sidestepping once again whether Donald Trump’s tweets violates its terms of service, the micro-blogging platform has clarified that it will not block the US President’s tweets because he is a world leader.

In a blog post called “World Leaders on Twitter”, the company said on Friday that there has been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on the platform.

“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” the company said.

“It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.”

Twitter was not blocking Trump for his “nuclear button” tweet that stormed the social media, and many thought raised prospect of nuclear war with North Korea.

Trump declared that his nuclear button was “much bigger” and “more powerful” than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s after the latter threatened the US about Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities.

A number of users reported to the tweet, TechCrunch reported, with the expectation that threatening a war one is capable of starting should violate Twitter’s revised “Terms of Service”, given the company’s recent crackdown on violent threats.

In December, Twitter began enforcing new rules around violent and hateful content posted to its platform to reduce the amount of online abuse, hate speech, violent threats and harassment associated with its service.

“You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people,” as per Twitter’s rule about violent threats.

In response to Trump’s threat on Twitter, the company earlier said that it had reviewed the case and “found that there was no violation of the Twitter rules against abusive behaviour”.

Moreover, the rules do not apply to whatever Trump posts because of who he is and the “newsworthiness” of his statements, Twitter added.

In the latest blog post, the company said it reviews tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce its rules accordingly.

“No one person’s account drives Twitter’s growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has asked Congress for $33 billion to secure the US-Mexico border of which $18 billion will be spent on the border wall, the media reported.

According to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) document that was sent to lawmakers on Friday night, the remaining $15 billion would cover technology, personnel and readiness, reports CNN.

Titled “Critical CBP Requirements to Improve Border Security”, the document says the agency has identified what a 2,026-mile border wall system would entail — about 864 miles of new wall and about 1,163 miles of replacement or secondary wall.

It said the $18 billion investment will cover 722 miles of border wall — about 316 new miles of primary structure and about 407 miles of replacement and secondary wall.

The administration does not envision the investment happening all at once, laying out the investment costs over 10 years, breaking down the totals desired per year.

The fiscal year 2018 request would have 60 miles of primary wall and 14 miles of secondary wall to the tune of $1.6 billion.

Congress is yet to agree to appropriate any of the administration’s requested funds for a border wall, reports CNN.

The fiscal year 2017 omnibus budget package passed by Congress last year required a comprehensive plan from CBP on securing the border, which was due in August but had not been delivered before Thursday.

Members of Congress, including Senate Republican Whip and Texan John Cornyn, have called on the administration to present a coherent border strategy as opposed to individual yearly requests for border funds.

An administration official told CNN that the budget estimate “only covers one aspect — the border security needs — of the President’s previously stated immigration policy priorities and was delivered to the Hill to meet a specific request from negotiating team members.

“The border wall needs to be fully funded by Congress but the other priorities, such as improved immigration enforcement measures and a merit-based immigration system, must also be part of the larger immigration reform package.”

Actor Mark Wahlberg says he is a big fan of filmmaker Ridley Scott and always wanted to work with him.

The actor added that working with Scott on All the Money in the World was a “win-win” situation as he got to learn so much from him.

“I was always fascinated by the story (of the film) itself but the real draw was Ridley Scott. I’ve always wanted to work with him; we’ve been friendly over probably the past 20 years,” Wahlberg said in a statement.

“I’ve always been a huge fan and I was in the middle of shooting another movie. I had five days in between two films. I checked with my wife just to let her know what a unique opportunity it was to play this particular part, and also to work with a guy that I admire so much,” he added.

The actor continued: “And when I read the part, I was even more eager because it’s not the kind of role I usually get to play. Ridley said, you know, no guns, no teddy bears, and I didn’t beat anybody up. It was nice to play a well-educated guy who does a lot of interesting things for Mr. Getty.”

All The Money In The World revolves around oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. It follows Getty’s grandson John Paul Getty III, who was kidnapped by an organised crime regime, and his mother Gail’s (Michelle Williams) attempts to convince his wealthy grandfather to pay the ransom. Wahlberg is seen as Getty’s lawyer.

The film, brought to India by PVR Pictures, was released on Friday.

Talking about working with Scott, Wahlberg said: “To see a guy and to be a guy who is always aspired to make films, both in front and behind the camera and get to learn from him, it was a win-win for me. I work with him but I also get to learn from him and observe him.”