Liam Neesons The Commuter will release in India on January 19.

PVR Pictures will be bringing the action-thriller to India, read a statement.

After the worldwide success of Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night, director Jaume Collet-Serra and Neeson have reunited again for The Commuter.

The movie also stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Sam Neill. The project revolves around a man’s quest to prevent disaster on a packed commuter train.

Film celebrities like Rahul Dholakia, Anubhav Sinha and Vishal Dadlani have condemned the Maharashtra shutdown called by some Dalit parties.

Angry Dalits staged rail, road blockades and took out processions here and in different parts of Maharashtra on Tuesday to protest against violence in Pune a day before which left one youth dead. They called for a state-wide shutdown on Wednesday.

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit tweeted: “Film and TV shootings have come to a halt at Film City, Madh and other locations as the unit members couldn’t reach the sets and due to fear of violence. Sad.”

Two film-related events were also cancelled — one for “My Birthday Song” and another for “Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety”.

Here’s what other celebrities have tweeted:

Rahul Dholakia: Caste Politics, Hindu-Muslim politics — and class politics — will eventually destroy India. The power to rule is dangerous! Cinema doesn’t kill, politics does.

Caste Politics, Hindu-Muslim politics- and Class politics – will eventually Destroy India. The Power to rule is dangerous!! CINEMA doesn’t Kill Politics Does !

— rahul dholakia (@rahuldholakia) January 2, 2018

Anubhav Sinha: I don’t know how to explain to younger ones what happened in Maharashtra today. What should I tell them so they understand. They want to know.

I don’t know how to explain to younger ones what happened in #Maharashtra today. What should I tell them so they understand? They want to know.

— Anubhav Sinha (@anubhavsinha) January 2, 2018

Pulkit Samrat: And now the mortals of same faith fight over caste! We can find a reason. Always! Sigh! Maharashtra Bandh.

And now the mortals of same faith fight over caste! We can find a reason. Always! Sigh….!! #MaharashtraBandh

— Pulkit Samrat (@PulkitSamrat) January 3, 2018

Akshara Haasan: People in eastern suburbs and eastern Mumbai please be inside your homes. Please be safe, smart and careful. Avoid Chembur naka. Dadar, Kurla and many other stations affected. Mulund is shut down.

People In eastern suburbs and eastern Mumbai please be inside your homes.Please be safe,smart & careful.avoid Chembur naKa. Dadar,Kurla & many other stations affected. Mulund is shut down.

— Kutty Haasan (@aksharahaasan1) January 2, 2018

Vishal Dadlani: Caste and religion are truly the most despicable, most “anti-national” divisions among people. May all those who seek to divide humanity along these stupid and outdated lines, suffer untold miseries in both life and death.

Caste & Religion are truly the most despicable, most “anti-national” divisions among people. May all those who seek to divide humanity along these stupid and outdated lines, suffer untold miseries in both life and death.

— VISHAL DADLANI (@VishalDadlani) January 2, 2018

Farah Khan Ali: The New Year begins with riots in Pune and now Mumbai. Why are people always pointing out to differences in each other. Why can’t one celebrate uniqueness in each other. Why should one caste be above anyone? Why can’t all be equal? Get a life people. Don’t take a life.

The new Year begins with riots in Pune & now Mumbai. Why are ppl always pointing out to differences in each other. Why can’t one celebrate uniqueness in each other. Why should one caste be above anyone? Why can’t all be equal? Get a life people. Don’t take a life🙏

— Farah Khan (@FarahKhanAli) January 2, 2018

The opposition stalled the Triple Talaq Bill  — Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill — amid pandemonium in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. There were heated arguments as Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the Bill in the  Upper House.

Later, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the Congress for its “duplicity”, referring to supporting the Bill in the Lok Sabha and then stalling it in the Rajya Sabha.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prasad introduced the contentious bill criminalising Triple Talaq in the Rajya Sabha amidst massive uproar as the opposition demanded that the bill be sent to a Parliamentary Standing Committee.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which makes instant triple illegal with up to three years in jail for the husband was tabled at around 3.15 pm by the Union Minister as a heated debated ensued between the opposition and ruling BJP.

The bill was earlier scheduled to be tabled on Tuesday but was delayed to Wednesday as the Centre tried hard to build a consensus to ensure its smooth passage in the upper house where it does not enjoy brute majority.

The opposition parties including the Congress, Left, AIADMK and the DMK are in favour of sending the bill to the Standing Committee but the government rejected the demand.

The amendments to the bill moved by the opposition too were rejected.

But the biggest bone of contention between the BJP and the opposition is the on the three-year jail term clause for the erring husband. The opposition has said that the clause can be misused by women to harass their husbands.

Industry body Assocham on Wednesday recommended a weighted tax deduction of 150-200 per cent on actual cost of specified components for the consumer electronics sector in the upcoming Union Budget.

The deduction is required as costs pertaining to finance, energy and logistics/transportation constitute a major portion of consumer electronics sector, the chamber said in a release.

“Further, these costs are auditable and duly included in the financial statements of a company,” the release said quoting the recommendations on direct tax made by the body to the centre.

With a view to revive private investments in the electronics sector, Assocham has suggested that venture capital pool may be introduced in the sector and coordinated by a bank/special purpose vehicle or under public-private partnership mode, according to the release.

“In order to boost the availability of capital funds to India’s $100 billion worth electronics industry, it is imperative that a venture capital pool be created and allied tax incentive provided to enable genuine private players to use funds of such pool through a stringent mechanism,” said D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham.

Contributors may be offered tax incentives on the dividend, while manufacturers may be provided with tax exemptions, it said.

To make the business more competitive in the electronics sector, Assocham has recommended the government to link the India BPO Promotion Scheme with direct tax benefit.

The PDP-BJP ruling coalition was embarrassed on Wednesday when a BJP MLA Sukhnandan Choudhary stormed into the Well of the Assembly, accusing the government of “biased approach” against his constituency in the Jammu division.

Sukhnandan walked into the Well twice accusing his own government of acquiring farmers’ lands for a pittance to construct the Ring Road and later walked out of the House after he did not get a satisfactory reply from the minister.

The House witnessed pandemonium for the second consecutive day as the opposition members belonging to Congress, National Conference (NC) and Independents trooped into the Well and raised slogans against the government after the Speaker Kavinder Gupta disallowed discussion on civilian killings and rise in terrorism-related incidents in Kashmir and ruled that the issue could be discussed during the Zero hour.

The opposition members were on their feet and created noisy scenes as the adjournment motion on the issue moved by the Congress, NC and Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami of CPM were rejected by the Speaker. The opposition members later walked out of the house.

The opposition members said there was a rise in incidents of terrorism after the PDP-BJP government came to power. About 400 persons, including security personnel and terrorists, were killed during 2017. Several security force personnel and civilians also lost their lives due to the increased number of incidents of shelling civilian areas by Pakistan troops. There were more than 515 incidents of firing and shelling on Indian villages in 2017 against 228 incidents in 2016.

The opposition members disrupted proceedings of the house during the question hour and demanded that the adjournment motion should be accepted for discussion on the alarming situation.

Goals from Raheem Sterling, Christian Kabasele and Sergio Aguero helped leaders Manchester City got back on track with a 3-1 win against Watford in an English Premier League (EPL) match on Tuesday night.

Now, unbeaten City are 15 points clear of second-placed Manchester United as they continue to turn the title race into a lengthy coronation party.

Reacting to the win, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said that his team could have scored more goals. “It was the first time we dropped points in 18 games and the reaction you saw, except 15 minutes in the first half when we were not good enough. We lose simple balls. They create two or three chances. In the second half, when we could be tired, it was completely the opposite. We could have scored more,” said Guardiola, according to the official website of Manchester City.

Praising Kevin De Bruyne, who started for City just two days after being stretchered off with a leg injury against Crystal Palace, Guardiola said, “De Bruyne went out in the afternoon. He said ‘I want to play’. He was in pain because it was a kick [against Palace] but if he wants to play I want him to play. Nothing will change my opinion about his quality, everyone knows about his quality. Kevin wanted to play. Everyone will try to follow his desire.”

Meanwhile, the manager wasn’t happy with the workload placed on players over the festive period.

“What I saw in the last weeks, how many injuries the players have. We are going to kill them. The federation needs to reflect. I know the show must go on but this is not normal. They make a lot of control anti-dopings and control us – but we don’t protect the players,” Guardiola was quoted by www.mancity.com.

“The people come here to watch the players and enjoy their performances. Not the managers in the press conferences or journalists. In England, you don’t protect the players. You can’t play every two days. “The tradition is the tradition, we have to think about it a little bit. The players are artists and they are the reason we are here,” said Guardiola.

A day after the Trump administration confirmed suspending $255 million of military aid to Pakistan for “harbouring terrorists”, US Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Islamabad should do more to fight terrorism.

Addressing the press at the White House on Tuesday, Sanders said the actions being taken against Islamabad were a follow-up to Trump’s South Asia policy announced last year.

“The President outlined a new strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia in August. At that time, he laid out (a policy) and said Pakistan is not fulfilling its obligations,” she said.

“The President is simply following through on a commitment that he made (…) we know Pakistan can do more to fight terrorism and we want them to step up and do that.”

Asked if there was any particular incident that prompted the US President’s Monday tweet, Sanders said: “This is something that the President has been following and has talked about back during August when he laid out his Afghanistan and South Asia strategy.

“And this is something the administration continues to watch on a daily basis,” she said.

Sanders said that further action against Pakistan — and other countries that did not side with the US on Jerusalem at the UN — would be announced in the next 24-48 hours.

The White House’s move to suspend military aid has been seen as the first step to implementing Trump’s pledge to tighten economic restrictions on Pakistan.

Military aid to Islamabad was cut after Trump, in a tweet, accused Pakistan of being a “liar”.

“The US had foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.

“They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” he tweeted.

The tweet had come in the aftermath of an increasingly terse back-and-forth between Washington and Islamabad.

The most loved couple of India, Bollywood star Anushka Sharma and Indian captain Virat Kohli, has been making news in media for quite some years now. But the fans of the duo recently had a meltdown when the news about their hush-hush marriage had come out in the media. Virat and Anushka had tied the knot with each-other on 11 December in Italy. After their marriage, the duo had two receptions in Delhi and Mumbai.

Taking a short break from her busy life ‘Rab ne bna di jodi’ star Anushka Sharma is accompanying her hubby Virat Kohli in South Africa. And it seems Virat is quite good in balancing his personal life and work in Cape Town.

Virat Kohli has shared a new selfie with his ‘one and only’ on photo-sharing website Instagram and wrote, “Cape Town is such a beautiful place anyways, and even more beautiful with my one and only.”

Cape Town is such a beautiful place anyways, and even more beautiful with my one and only! 👌❤

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on Jan 2, 2018 at 10:11pm PST

In the photograph shared by Virat, Anushka looks radiant and the post has almost 11 lakh likes till the time story has been written.

Earlier, in the photo shared by Virat Kohli Anushka Sharma fan club, the duo was spotted with the Indian superhero Pad man aka Akshay Kumar.

#virushka with Akshay Kumar… ————————————— #marriage #virushka #viratkohli #viratanushka #virushkawedding #viratwedsanushka #anushkasharma #reception #delhi follow @virushka_lov for more updates

A post shared by Virat ❤️ Anushka (@virushka_lov) on Jan 2, 2018 at 6:31pm PST

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday issued a consultation paper seeking stakeholders’ view to formulate the National Telecom Policy 2018.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), through its letter dated August 21, 2017 requested the TRAI to suggest its policy inputs for formulation of National Telecom Policy – 2018.

The DoT, on its web-site, has stated that the new telecom policy will be governed by the key guiding principle of alignment with the national vision. Its major themes will be regulatory and licensing frameworks impacting the telecom sector, connectivity-for-all, quality of services, ease of doing business, and absorption of new technologies including 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

The policy has, “common Strategies to leapfrog India amongst top-50 nations in international rankings in terms of network readiness, communications systems and services, to attract an investment of USD 100 billion in telecommunication sector, and to attain average speed of 20 Mbps for wireless and 50 Mbps for wireline internet connectivity.”

The government through the new telecom policy seeks to spur the socioeconomic development up to the bottom of the pyramid by ensuring voice, video and data connectivity for all, provide reliable and secured connectivity with assured quality of service.

Stakeholders are requested to furnish their written comments by January 19, 2018.

The Indian telecom sector is the second largest in the world by number of telephone subscribers with 1.2 billion subscribers as on October 31, 2017. India also has the world’s second-largest internet subscriber base with 340 million internet subscribers as on October 31, 2017. It has one of the lowest tariffs for telecommunication services in the world.

The mission of the policy is to fulfil the communication needs of the people, enterprises, and industries at affordable prices. Also to develop state-of-the-art secured communication infrastructure for delivering high-quality quality services to man and machines in urban as well as rural area.

“To establish India as global hub for internet and data communication systems and services in a net-neutral environment. To aim for self sufficiency in telecom equipment manufacturing ,” the consultation paper said.

It has the objective to increase rural tele-density to 100 per cent. “To leapfrog India amongst top-50 nations in international rankings in terms of network readiness, communications systems, and services.”

The Iranian government has clamped a nationwide block on the country’s most popular encrypted messaging platform Telegram after days of anti-government unrest.

“The Iranian government also requested suspension for a number of other channels that had not violated the policy on violence. When Telegram refused, the government placed a nationwide block on the app,” Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, was quoted as saying by The Verge.

Iran state TV announced that Telegram was suspended to “preserve the peace and security of citizens”, according to BuzzFeed.

Internet access has been sporadically cut off to several cities where anti-government protests have taken place, and access to other social media platforms like Facebook-owned Instagram has also been intermittent.

Meanwhile, officials say that over 20 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in Iran since the protests broke out on Thursday in the northeastern city of Mashhad and spread to the capital Tehran and several other provinces.

The unrest was ignited by frustration at Iran’s sluggish economy but has widened to include open defiance of Iran’s ruling clergy.

Even before the protests began, Iran’s government blocked popular social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and any VPN services that might be used to circumvent the block.

In the history of cricket, Indian team have never won a Test series in the rainbow nation. But if the cricket experts and cricket Pandits are to be believed then Virat Kohli’s boys can create history by winning their maiden Test series in South Africa. The year 2017 was a very beautiful and exceptionally good year for skipper Kohli.

In 2017, Kohli was in prolific form and the skipper has shattered many international records, including Don Bradman’s maximum number of double centuries in Test cricket as a captain. But the year 2018 brings a new challenge for Virat and Co. The Indian squad will face Proteas in three-match Test series starting from Jan 5. The first Test match of three-match series will be played at Newlands stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. Both, India and South Africa, will try their best to win the first match so that they can dominate the series.

Even though the Indian squad did not have a warm-up match, yet cricket great Sachin Tendulkar believes that Kohli-led side is “very well prepared”.

When Tendulkar was asked whether 2018 is going to be the “toughest phase” for Virat Kohli’s boys, Sachin agreed.

“Yes. It will be a good challenge to play in seaming conditions in South Africa and England. It’s about the Indian team and not about any individual. As a team India is very well prepared,” Tendulkar said while talking to “Hindustan Times”.

“Virat Kohli will succeed if the team succeeds. Virat should just play his normal game and stick to the basics. The team should rally around him. India can only succeed if they can put up good totals. Runs will matter and not only Virat, but the entire team has to contribute. So, it’s not only about Virat Kohli,” Tendulkar added.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday issued a consultation paper seeking stakeholders’ view to formulate the National Telecom Policy 2018.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), through its letter dated August 21, 2017 requested the TRAI to suggest its policy inputs for formulation of National Telecom Policy – 2018.

The DoT, on its web-site, has stated that the new telecom policy will be governed by the key guiding principle of alignment with the national vision. Its major themes will be regulatory and licensing frameworks impacting the telecom sector, connectivity-for-all, quality of services, ease of doing business, and absorption of new technologies including 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

The policy has, “common Strategies to leapfrog India amongst top-50 nations in international rankings in terms of network readiness, communications systems and services, to attract an investment of USD 100 billion in telecommunication sector, and to attain average speed of 20 Mbps for wireless and 50 Mbps for wireline internet connectivity.”

The government through the new telecom policy seeks to spur the socioeconomic development up to the bottom of the pyramid by ensuring voice, video and data connectivity for all, provide reliable and secured connectivity with assured quality of service.

Stakeholders are requested to furnish their written comments by January 19, 2018.

The Indian telecom sector is the second largest in the world by number of telephone subscribers with 1.2 billion subscribers as on October 31, 2017. India also has the world’s second-largest internet subscriber base with 340 million internet subscribers as on October 31, 2017. It has one of the lowest tariffs for telecommunication services in the world.

The mission of the policy is to fulfil the communication needs of the people, enterprises, and industries at affordable prices. Also to develop state-of-the-art secured communication infrastructure for delivering high-quality quality services to man and machines in urban as well as rural area.

“To establish India as global hub for internet and data communication systems and services in a net-neutral environment. To aim for self sufficiency in telecom equipment manufacturing ,” the consultation paper said.

It has the objective to increase rural tele-density to 100 per cent. “To leapfrog India amongst top-50 nations in international rankings in terms of network readiness, communications systems, and services.”

A Delhi court has acquitted a man of the charge of raping a woman after intoxicating her, saying they were in a live-in relationship and the physical relation between them was consensual.

Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar II absolved the man, who was accused of raping the woman on the false promise of marriage, noting that she was married already so there was no question of being misled by the accused.

“As per the prosecutrix (woman) she had not taken divorce from her husband and her marriage with him was still persistent, hence, there is no question of her being misled by accused on false promise of marriage. More so from her testimony it is crystal clear that prosecutrix and accused were in a live-in relationship,” the judge said.

According to the prosecution, an FIR was lodged on January 1, 2015 under sections 328 and 376 of the IPC against accused Sita Ram Sharma on the complaint of a woman alleging that on the night of December 31, 2014 he made her consume a sedative laced coffee after which she became unconscious and then taking advantage of her condition, he raped her.

The accused, through his counsel Prashant Diwan, denied the allegations and contended that he had arranged a rented accommodation for the woman and they were living in together but she wanted extort money from him so implicated him in the false rape case.

The court accepted the contention of the accused and said the woman’s story was untruthful.“Circumstances emanating from the evidence adduced by prosecution, story put by prosecutrix gets belied and the case which comes out from the evidence is that prosecutrix has been live-in relation with the accused, who established physical relation with her with her free will,” it said.

While allowing the accused to walk free, the court said, “The circumstances emerging from the evidence clearly establish that it was the case of consensual relation. Hence this court is of the view that prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused. Accordingly he is acquitted.”

A criminal carrying a bounty of Rs 1 lakh was shot dead while an Inspector and a Constable were injured during a gun battle in Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana district early on Wednesday, police said.

Sabir was killed while Constable Ankit was critically wounded with bullet injuries to his chest and head. Inspector Bhagwat Singh was also injured.

Sabir, who had escaped from police custody in Barabanki 10 months ago, belonged to the Mukeem Lala gang, a police officer said. The police had been looking for him ever since.

After a tip, the Special Operations Group (SOG) and police officers from various police stations surrounded Sabir’s house around Tuesday midnight.

Sabir was with his wife then. Sabir allegedly opened fire in which the two policemen were injured.

He then tried to escape by jumping off the roof but the police team shot him dead with automatic weapons.

Sabir was wanted in many cases of murder, extortion and kidnappings in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The injured Constable was rushed to a private hospital in Meerut. As his condition deteriorated, he was referred to Fortis Hospital in Noida where he was said to be in critical condition.

North Korea on Wednesday opened its hotline to South Korea for the first time in almost two years, a major diplomatic breakthrough that could pave the way for future talks following a year of escalating hostility.

The North opened the dialogue channel at the shared border village of Panmunjom at 3 p.m., reports CNN

“By upholding a decision by the leadership, we will make close contact with South Korea in a sincere and faithful manner,” Yonhap News Agency quoted Ri Son-gwon, the head of North Korea’s agency handling inter-Korean affairs, as saying.

“We will discuss working-level issues over our potential dispatch of the delegation.”

The announcement comes a day after Seoul proposed high-level inter-Korean talks on January 9 to discuss North Korea’s possible participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics slated to be held from February 9 to 25, and ways to improve ties.

But Ri did not specify whether the country would accept Seoul’s offer for the talks.

On New Year’s Day, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that Pyongyang was willing to send a delegation to the Olympics in South Korea and is open to inter-Korean talks over the matter.

The North cut off two inter-Korean communication channels — a hotline installed at the liaison office at the truce village and a military channel — in February 2016 in protest of Seoul’s shutdown of a joint industrial complex.

According to Ri, Kim “highly appreciated and welcomed” President Moon Jae-in’s support of his peace offer.

“The leader stressed that whether inter-Korean ties can be improved totally depends on North and South Korea,” the official said.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry welcomed the North’s restoration of the cross-border channel.

“We will consult with North Korea over working-level issues in connection to our dialogue offer through the hotline,” the ministry added.

Drinking formula made from cow’s milk may not put babies at higher risk of developing Type 1 diabetes, the first large international trial showed.

Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin.

Previous studies have reported that early exposure to complex foreign proteins, such as cow’s milk proteins, may increase the risk of Type 1 diabetes in young children with genetic risk for the condition.

For the new study, the team led by University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre, examined 2,159 infants from 15 countries with genetic risk for Type 1 diabetes to find out whether delaying the exposure to complex foreign proteins such as cow’s milk proteins would decrease the risk of diabetes.

After breastfeeding, infants were either weaned to a special formula (extensively hydrolysed casein formula), with the cow’s milk proteins split into small peptides (small pieces of the protein), or a regular cow’s milk-based formula with intact cow’s milk proteins.

Infants were fed the study formula for at least two months until the age of six to eight months and at the same time were given no cow’s milk proteins from any other food sources and were followed for over 10 years.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, revealed that no association was found between children fed formula with whole-milk proteins or those with the proteins broken down.

“The study puts to rest the controversy regarding the potential role of cow’s milk formula in the development of Type 1 diabetes,” said Dorothy Becker, Professor at the varsity.

The study also showed that “there is no evidence to revise the current dietary recommendations for infants at high risk for Type 1 diabetes,” Becker noted.