Female college professors are more likely to get requests from students for an increase of marks or extended assignment deadlines than their male counterparts, a study has found.

Researchers from Eastern Washington University in the US found that women in academia more often face added work demand.

They analysed data from a survey of 88 US professors and found that students make more standard work demands and requests for special favours to their female rather than male professors.

However, female professors also reported more acts of friendship from their students.

Although these can be positive experiences, the findings indicate that such friendly behaviour may be emotionally taxing in the same way that special favour requests seem to increase the emotional burdens of female professors.

Another study involved 121 college students, and set out to find out if a certain type of student is more likely to ask favours from female professors.

Researchers found that a student’s view about women in authority or sexism did not play a role.

Instead, students who believed that they were deserving of academic success, irrespective of their actual performance or the effort they put in, were particularly likely to ask a female professor for extra favours, and react negatively if those favours were denied.

These effects were driven by entitled students’ greater expectations of getting special favours granted by a female professor than a male professor.

“Our research provides more information about how students treat female professors, how they react to them when the professors stand their ground, and what kinds of students are particularly likely to treat female professors differently from male professors,” said Amani El-Alayli, lead author of the study published in the journal Sex Roles.

“Students with high academic entitlement were more inclined to be irritated or disappointed when a female professor denied their requests, and more likely to then persist in asking for favours after being denied,” said El- Alayli.

“They were also more likely to conclude, if the professor was female, that a request denial meant that the professor disliked them,” he said.

The gendered expectations that men are more respected and authoritative make even entitled students unlikely to oppose their male professors’ decisions.

They might even believe that it would be fruitless to oppose male professors and to keep on nagging, because they are not easily swayed. Thus, these students’ entitlement may only manifest when interacting with female professors.

“Aside from contributing to burnout and taking time away from career-enhancing activities, greater demands and special requests from students may affect female professors’ career advancement by causing them to get less favourable course evaluations or even more complaints filed against them,” said El-Alayli.

“Students may perceive female professors as less fair than their male counterparts if female professors are expected to expend exceptional effort to help out their students in unrealistic ways, thus resulting in worse evaluations,” she added.

Tiger Shroff starrer Baaghi 2 is scheduled to hit the screens on March 30.

Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala under the banner Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and presented by Fox Star Studios, the film was earlier scheduled to release on April 27.

Baaghi 2 is set to release on March 30, Tiger, who also starred in Baaghi, tweeted on Thursday. Tiger will turn almost bald in Baaghi 2.

Actress Disha Patani, who will be paired opposite Tiger in the film, wrote: “Rebels for love are all set to meet you!”

Rebels For Love are all set to meet you! #SajidNadiadwala’s Baaghi2 to release on March 30 2018. @iTigerShroff @Khan_ahmedasas @NGEMovies @FoxStarHindi #Baaghi2onMarch30 pic.x.com/AsvLBEfgPU

— Disha Patani (@DishPatani) January 4, 2018

India’s hopes in the singles competition of the Tata Open Maharashtra tennis tournament took another blow on Wednesday as Yuki Bhambri lost to France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 3-6, 4-6 in the second round here.

In what was the toughest test for Bhambri so far in the tournament, the World no.118 failed to capitalise on his start where he won the first set 6-4 against one of the best players at this year’s tournament in Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Bhambri looked confident from the start but after winning the first set comfortably, the 25-year-old Indian seemed to have lost his touch as Herbert fought back into the match at the Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium.

With a total of 13 aces in the match, Herbert did well in making the most of his serving, but it was Bhambri who had the momentum going into the second set as the crowd was also cheering him on.

Only 20 per cent of Bhambri’s total points in the second set came off the returns and it looked like he had lost his rhythm as well.

However, credit went to the eighth-seed Herbert who produced some great serves to fight back and win the second and the third sets and make his way through to the quarterfinals.

The win for world No.81 Herbert means that the Frenchman might end up facing top-seed Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals but the former will be hoping that India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan can produce an upset in his second round clash against Cilic, which would make it an easier tie for Herbert.

In the other men’s singles second round matches, it was fourth-seed Benoit Paire who defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in a very close encounter which lasted more than three hours, to make it through to the quarter-finals.

Fifth-seed Robin Haase also had to graft in his second round encounter against Nicolas Jarry after the latter won the first set 6-3.

World No.42 Haase revived his game in the second set and came from behind to continue his fine form as he won the match in three sets 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye is to be charged with accepting millions of dollars worth of bribes from the state spy agency, news reports said today.

Park allegedly received between 50 and 200 million won (now USD 47,000 to USD 188,000) from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) every month from soon after her swearing-in in early 2013 until mid-2016, prosecutors told South Korean media.

The cash — said to total 3.8 billion won — was reportedly delivered by NIS agents to Park’s aides in uncrowded parking lots or in back alleys near the presidential Blue House.

The money came from the spy agency’s “blind budget” — millions of dollars of special funds that can be spent without receipts for anti-espionage activities — Yonhap news agency said.

It remains unclear how Park spent the funds but news reports said she used them for personal purposes or to bankroll supporter groups.

Park is already on trial on 18 charges including bribery, coercion and abuse of power for offering governmental favours to tycoons, and prosecutors will add a 19th count to the indictment regarding the payments, reports said.

South Korea’s first female president was impeached by parliament after months of mass protests over a sprawling graft scandal, and the constitutional court upheld the decision in March last year, dismissing her from office.
She has been in custody since March 31.

Her trial began in May but she has refused to attend since October, infuriated by a court decision to extend her detention by six months, when her legal team also quit, accusing the judges of bias.

Park has since refused to cooperate with a team of state-sponsored defence lawyers appointed by the court.
Prosecutors sought to question Park in prison twice over the fresh allegations, but she has refused to cooperate.
Two former NIS chiefs have been indicted over the bribery charges.

CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury on Thursday questioned the government’s silence on the violence in Maharashtra, alleging that Dalits may have been excluded from the ruling BJP’s definition of who is Indian.

“Does the BJP government consider Dalits to be a part of India or not? Or are they excluded from being Indian in its definition? Only that view explains its silence on what is happening in Maharashtra,” Yechury said in a series of tweets.

He said “Sangh ideology is opposed to” the idea of equality of B.R. Ambedkar, one of the architects of the Indian Constitution.

“As Ambedkar said, one person is equal to one vote and one vote equal to one value. But until each citizen does not equal the same value, in socio-economic terms, the struggle must continue.”

He said the attempts to blame the “historically oppressed sections of our society for speaking up reflect the core beliefs of the BJP-RSS, of asserting an old and oppressive social order”.

Yechury’s tweets came in reaction to clashes during the bicentenary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle on Sunday and the subsequent violence that spread across Maharashtra.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the ‘Captain Cool’ of India and former Indian skipper, may no longer be among the elite cricketers of the country.

According to a report published in the Times of India, the proposed new contract structure of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is divided into four categories- A+, A, B, C. Among the four categories, players who play in all the formats — Test, T20I, ODIs– will be included in the top A+ category.

Well, since MS Dhoni took retirement from the Test cricket in the 2014, may have to miss the top contract offered by the BCCI.

Currently, Dhoni is in the Top ‘A’ category offered by the BCCI along with seven other cricketers. The players from ‘A’ category are paid Rs 2 crore per annum. The players from ‘B’ categories are paid Rs 1 crore per annum and those who are in ‘C’ category got paid Rs 50 lakh per annum.

The new structure has been proposed by the BCCI’s committee after Indian skipper Virat Kohli, along with MS Dhoni and head coach of India Ravi Shastri, met the Vinod Rai-led panel in November to request pay hike for the players.

Meanwhile, there is some good news for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as the player may be placed into A+ category.

However, none of this is finialised yet.

Seth Meyers, who will host the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards this Sunday, plans to address the sexual harassment scandals that have rocked Hollywood in recent months.

Meyers, 44, told People magazine that his focus would be more on the film industry than Trump, who has been a favourite subject of Hollywood comedians so far.

“With the monologue, as far as talking about anything in the news right now, it seems like this year more than ever Hollywood has its own internal politics that obviously deserve to be talked about,” he said.

“Going into it our focus is far more on the worlds that make these films and less on anything that’s happening in Washington.”

But Trump is also going to get the mention even though Meyers admits “there are times where I wish we were talking about other things”.

“He holds the keys to us not talking about him, which would to be to just behave differently. But while he continues on this path, we’ll continue on ours.”

The 2018 Golden Globes are set to air Sunday, January 7.

Amidst lush greenery and sal trees reaching out to the heavens, an annual theatre festival with an eco-friendly agenda does away with microphones, acoustics, control systems, drapery or any fancy stage equipment.

“It is a meditation of theatre expressions,” the organisers say.

Conceived in 2008 to provide a unique platform to develop a trajectory of eco-theatre, the 10th edition of “Under The Sal Tree” that was held at Baddungduppa Kalakendra in Rampur village here explored the performative dimension of ethnic cultures by bringing together theatre artists from across the country.

It was organised by the Baddungduppa, the only theatre group of Assam’s Rabha tribe.

“The festival is yet to mark its presence in the world cartography. We are committed to decipher the strings which once bound man and nature in an organic unity and which in the face of the intrusion of materialistic tendencies now, remains relegated to a forgotten sphere,” Festival Director Sukracharjya Rabha told IANS.

He said the festival is an untiring effort towards developing new aesthetics of theatre and performing arts.

There were three performances on each day of the three-day festival, followed by discussions moderated by journalists and noted theatre artists.

What stood apart was certainly the natural atmosphere created, with audiences sitting on environment-friendly benches made of betel nut trees and bamboo, and trees all around the venue. There was live music during performances.

Rabha said no trees were cut to make space for the shows. “The space is given to us by nature.”

The festival kicked off with a performance by the Baddungduppa group. The play was conceptualised and directed by the festival director himself.

He presented an adaptation of “Rather Rashi”, in which Rabindranath Tagore foretold that only Dalits could lead the polity and the Ratha (chariot) will move ahead only when the reins are in the hands of untouchables.

Been presented in Assamese and Bengali, it was certainly not comprehensible to all, but the direction and the thematic development of the plot impressed everyone.

It was one of the best productions of the festival.

The last play on the first day was another performance to look forward to. An alumnus of the National School of Drama, Savita Rani, involved the audience in her solo act — an impressive critique of the patriarchal, sexist society that expects women to behave in a certain way.

A part of her recital touched upon the right-wing Hindu nationalists’ campaign of saffronisation. “I am against injustice of any kind; that is why I thought of addressing multiple issues through my act,” Rani told IANS.

She deliberately took up an Italian accent as she presented the play in English. “My English is not that fluent. So, I thought I would take up a different accent so my language doesn’t come between me and my audience,” she explained.

Another play that stood out was an adaptation of American playwright David Henry Hwang’s “The Dance and the Railroad”.

Staged by the Manipuri Inter-Cultural Theatre Company, the play, through a stylised form of martial arts, depicts a strike in a railroad labour camp in the mid-19th century.

The fans of Harry Potter can get to binge watch the exploits of the Boy Who Lived on HBO’s NOW for free.

The streaming service will screen all the eight movies for a month without any charge to the new subscribers, Entertainment Weekly reported.

The development comes after the basic cable rights to exhibit the movies were earned by NBC Universal (from Disney) last August. This was to be followed up with plans to screen the movies on Syfy and USA later this year.

HBO and Warner Bros, the studio behind the franchise, are both owned by Time Warner Cable.

The franchise based on J K Rowling’s bestseller eight- part book series on the boy wizard, the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone released in 2001.

The success of the films launched the careers of lead actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

It also led to a spin-off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which released last year, with its sequel, starring Johnny Depp, Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law, to be released on November 16.

South Korean tech giant Samsung is set to refresh its popular “A” series in India with the launch of 2018 edition device in the second week of January.

Industry sources told IANS that the new device will be unveiled on January 10 and will be the first in the “A” series to be available only on an online platform.

“Galaxy A8” (2018) and “Galaxy A8+” (2018) with flagship-like features made a global debut last month. However, only one variant will be introduced in India on Amazon.in, the sources added.

The device will come with “Infinity Display” which was exclusive to the company’s flagship smartphones including Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8.

“With the release of the Galaxy A8(2018) and A8+(2018), we’re bringing features from our flagship smartphones, such as the ‘Infinity Display’ and our first dual front camera with ‘Live Focus’,” Junho Park, Vice President of Global Product Planning, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

Other features will include support for “Samsung Pay” – a mobile payment and digital wallet service (with MST), IP68 water-proofing, dust resistance and fast-charging with USB Type-C.

Film: All The Money In The World

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Timothy Hutton, Charlie Plummer, Charlie Shotwell, Andrew Buchan, Marco Leonardi, Giuseppe Bonifati, Nicolas Vaporidis

Rating: ****

In the backdrop of a kidnap drama, All The Money In The World is an interesting portrait of J Paul Getty, “the richest man in the history of the world during his time”.

Based on the 1995 book titled “Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty” by John Pearson, the film dramatises the 1973 abduction of John Paul Getty III, the grandson of J. Paul Getty.

Without much ado the opening scene, in black-and-white frames, plunges into the abduction of the boyish, long-haired young Getty, who is out on the streets of Rome sparring good-naturedly with some wanton ladies.

After the abduction, we are regularly reminded about the young boy’s rich grandfather and at the same time are provided with insights into the old man’s eccentricities and his relationships with others in the family and society. His miserly attitude — and he has his reasons for every action of his — sharply chisels his character making him interesting as well as despicable.

He famously states: “If you can count your money then you are not a billionaire.” But after the boy’s mother, Abigail Harris, who is estranged from her husband, gets the ransom call demanding $17 billion for his release, Getty Sr. refuses to pay. He cites that paying the ransom would risk the lives of his other 14 grandchildren too.

Instead he appoints Fletcher Chase, a former CIA agent and his chief of security to negotiate.

As the clock ticks, how the haplessly penniless mother and Chase negotiate not only with the kidnappers to reduce the ransom but with Getty, too, to pay the amount, forms the crux of the tale.

Taking a few liberties with the historical records, scriptwriter David Scarpa blends the narrative of the kidnapping thriller into a character-driven plot astutely. He keeps you glued to the screen throughout its two hours twenty minutes run-time. Every character is well-etched and the actors deliver efficiently.

While the kidnapping and the escape scenes are straightforward, the plot delves on the characters of Getty Sr and Abigail Harris and they are naturally the stars of the show. Christopher Plummer essays the role of Getty Sr. and Michelle Williams plays Abigail Harris. Slipping into the skin of their characters, they both enrapture you with their fascinating performances.

Mark Wahlberg does not leave an impression. As Getty’s smooth-talking fixer Fletcher Chase he is serviceable. He underplays his role and probably that’s why the others shine.

Charlie Plummer, as the kidnapped Paul, is perfunctorily amiable. You do feel sorry for him, when he can’t understand as to why it is taking his family so long to get him released and especially after his ear is sliced and sent to the local daily’s office. Romain Duris, as the Italian ruffian named Cinquanta, has his moments of onscreen glory.

On the production front, director Ridley Scott deploys a few borrowed flourishes to make this film look interesting. The black and white scenes remind you of Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”, and in the later scenes where the lonesome Getty in his ornate mansion is seen distressed, brings to mind Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.

The locations, the production designs by Arthur Max, the costumes by designer Janty Yates reflect the era perfectly and this is dexterously captured by Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography. His frames along with Daniel Pemberton’s fine score are seamlessly layered by editor Claire Simpson.

Overall, the film is an ingeniously crafted, tension filled, kidnapping drama that won’t disappoint you.

Police on Thursday denied permission to a summit scheduled to be addressed by Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and JNU student leader Umar Khalid and detained students gathered outside a hall here for the event.

A police official said the number of students and activists detained outside the Bhaidas Hall in suburban Vile Parle was not yet available.

The action came after police denied permission for the ‘All India Students Summit 2018’, which was scheduled to be held today, in which Mevani and Khalid were invited.

The police denied permission in the wake of protests and bandh in the state yesterday following violence on the anniversary of a battle fought 200 years ago at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, a senior police official said.

The police have not given permission for the programme, Datta Daghe, the president of Chhatra Bharati, the organiser of the event, told PTI.

“Despite this, we plan to go ahead with the programme.

Mevani, Khalid and other invitees are coming after 11 am,” he said.

Daghe said there was a huge police presence at the hall and the students were not being allowed to go inside.

Pune Police had earlier said that they had received a complaint against Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Mevani and Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) student leader Khalid for their “provocative” speeches at an event in Pune on December 31.

Mevani and Khalid had attended the “Elgar Parishad”, an event organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon, at Shaniwar Wada in Pune.

Violence erupted in Pune district when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the forces of the British East India Company defeated the Peshwa’s Army.

The drive to be perfect in body, mind and career among today’s college students has increased by more than a third over the past three decades, says a new study.

The researchers suggest that perfectionism entails “an irrational desire to achieve along with being overly critical of oneself and others.”

The study, published in the journal Psychological Bulletin, suggests that rise in perfectionism among young adults is being driven by a number of factors.

For example, the data suggest that social media use pressures young adults to perfect themselves in comparison to others, which makes them dissatisfied with their bodies and increases social isolation.

The drive to earn money, pressure to get a good education and setting lofty career goals are other areas in which today’s young people exhibit perfectionism, the study said.

The researchers also pointed to a rise in meritocracy among millennials, in which universities encourage competition among students to move up the social and economic ladder.

“Meritocracy places a strong need for young people to strive, perform and achieve in modern life,” said lead author Thomas Curran of University of Bath in Britain.

“Young people are responding by reporting increasingly unrealistic educational and professional expectations for themselves. As a result, perfectionism is rising among millennials,” Curran said.

For the study, the researchers analysed data from 41,641 American, Canadian and British college students from the late 1980s to 2016.

They measured three types of perfectionism — self-oriented, or an irrational desire to be perfect; socially prescribed, or perceiving excessive expectations from others; and other-oriented, or placing unrealistic standards on others.

Specifically, between 1989 and 2016, the self-oriented perfectionism score increased by 10 per cent, socially prescribed increased by 33 per cent and other-oriented increased by 16 per cent, the study said.

The increase in perfectionism may in part be affecting the psychological health of students, said study co-author Andrew Hill of York St John University in England.

Singer-actor Harry Styles has reportedly introduced his rumoured girlfriend and model Camille Rowe to his family.

The musician, 23, is thought to have been seeing the model, who has posed for the likes of Victoria’s Secret, since the summer; and has now taken things to the next stage.

Styles brought Rowe, 27, home to meet his parents and sister Gemma during the festive season, reports dailymail.co.uk.

“Camille’s come along at exactly the right point in Harry’s life. He’s had plenty of fun but seems to be content hanging out with her. They get on great. She’s laid back and cool, plus she’s been really supportive of his career. The relationship is still fairly relaxed, he’s hardly at the stage where they see each other every day,” a source told The Sun newspaper.

“But Camille has also bonded with his sister Gemma and best pal Lou Teasdale, which is hugely important to Harry,” the source added.

Actress Amanda Barrie, 82, says she decided to be a part of the reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother to take her mind off death.

“What keeps me working? I think it’s occupational therapy to stop me thinking about death, really,” Barrie told mirror.co.uk.

She shared that the fee for the show will help her pay for her “care home bills”.

“I had no intention of doing it, but then I thought it could pay for my care home. It would be nice to have that independence,” she said.

“Though I did have this moment when my partner, Hilary (Bonner), put me in the car with two suitcases where I thought, ‘Are you sure you are going to ‘Big Brother’ or has she sent you packing to a care home now?’

“I think ‘Big Brother’ will be good training for the care home, anyway. I may as well have a go at it now,” she added.

Actor-producer Brad Pitt prefers to use his given name for flirting.

Pitt flirted with a woman and introduced himself as “William” on a caffeine run at Coffee Commissary here.

“He arrived by motorcycle, wearing sunglasses, jeans and a leather jacket,” a source told pagesix.com.

The source added: “Pitt struck up a conversation with a blonde in line. She was acting overly bubbly and looked a little like Kate Bosworth, but it wasn’t her.

“When the woman said, ‘I’m Lydia’, Pitt put out his hand and said, ‘Hi, I’m William’. She replied, ‘Oh, you look like a Bradley’. And he responded, ‘Well, that’s my middle name’ and smiled and winked at her.”