Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe branded North Korea a "grave threat" during his visit to London, after a failed missile test resulted in the shut down of a Tokyo subway, the media reported.

Abe on Saturday called the failed test "absolutely unacceptable" and a "grave threat to our country", as he spoke at the end of his three-day visit to Russia and Britain, the Daily Mail reported.

One of Tokyo's major subways systems shut down all lines for 10 minutes after receiving warning of a North Korean missile launch.

Tokyo Metro official Hiroshi Takizawa said the temporary suspension affected 13,000 passengers on Saturday morning. 

Takizawa said it was the first time service had been stopped in response to a missile launch. 

Train services are generally suspended in Japan immediately after large earthquakes. 

Earlier on Saturday, North Korea launched a ballistic missile that blew up over land. 

The main part of the missile landed approximately 35 km from Pukchang airfield, north of Pyongyang, according to CNN.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile flew for several minutes and reached a maximum height of 44 miles.

Often with stardom comes a feeling of loneliness, but not for Priyanka Chopra, as the actress

says her loved ones are always by her side.

After starting out with a Tamil film in 2002, Priyanka worked in Bollywood before making her way to the West with her

song and then the American crime-thriller Quantico.

"I am not at all lonely. I have incredible support, from friends, family and colleagues. That's why I can do so many

(things).

"Most of my career choices are a gamble. Doing Aitraaz (a negative role) as one of my first few films, doing Fashion when no one was doing women-oriented films. I did Barfi where everyone said you won't look glamorous.

Music, Quantico, no one's done that. I can only do that because I have so much support," Priyanka told.

The 34-year-old actress says she knows there will be a time when things might go downhill, but she will continue to

work as long as people want to see her. "I've known that (about downfall) since I did my first film.

There are somethings that are very constant in the world. Birth, death, up, down. It'll happen to everyone, to me, to you, to the biggest of actors. It's meant to happen at some point. As long as people watch me, I'll work," she says.

Priyanka says be it her show or her upcoming Hollywood debut Baywatch, she did not want to prove a point, but simply explore other possibilities.

"When I was new, I worked hard and have finally reached a stage where people know me because of my work. In America, people know me now because of the show. It was never that I wanted to go there and 'jhande gaad doon.' I only wanted to work."

Priyanka says like any other artiste, she has to go and audition for her roles as there is no one handing out work to her in Hollywood.

"I have no patience. I don't know if it is a guy or a girl thing but I don't wait. But nobody is standing there (Hollywood) in a queue to get a role. Your agents send you scripts and you audition. Patience and perseverance is needed in every industry," she adds. 

Scientists at IIT Roorkee have used the juicy, delectable Indian summer fruit Jamun to create inexpensive and more efficient solar cells.

Researchers used naturally occurring pigment found in jamun as an inexpensive photosensitiser for Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSCs) or Gratzel cells.

Gratzel cells are thin film solar cells composed of a porous layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated photoanode, a layer of dye molecules that absorbs sunlight, an electrolyte for regenerating the dye, and a cathode.

These components form a sandwich-like structure with the dye molecule or photosensitizer playing a pivotal role through its ability to absorb visible light.

"The dark colour of jamun and abundance of jamun trees in IIT campus clicked the idea that it might be useful as a dye in the typical Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSC)," lead researcher Soumitra Satapathi, assistant professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in Uttarakhand, told PTI.

Researchers extracted dyes from jamun using ethanol. They also used fresh plums and black currant, along with mixed berry juices which contain pigments that give characteristic colour to jamun.

The mixture was then centrifuged and decanted. The extracted coloured pigment called anthocyanin was used as a sensitiser.

"Natural pigments are way economical in comparison to regular Ruthenium-based pigments and scientists are optimising to improve the efficiency," said Satapathi, who is also a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the US.

"The increasing pressure on fossil fuels and concern of global warming has inspired continuous search for alternate energy," said Satapathi 

Uncertainty over the pace at which new large dams or nuclear plants can be built means strong reliance on solar power – an area where India has high potential and equally high ambition – to deliver on the country's pledge to build up a 40 per cent share of non-fossil fuel capacity in the power sector by 2030, researchers said.

"In principle, we have a large social need for renewable energy especially solar energy. For quite sometime, our lab is actively engaged in low cost high efficiency solar cells production," said Satapathi.

The research team, which includes Nipun Sawhney and Anubhav Raghav, is very optimistic that the process can easily be replicated for mass production of solar cells.

The simplicity and cost effectiveness of the overall fabrication process, widespread availability of fruits and juices, and ease of extraction of anthocyanin dyes render them novel and inexpensive candidates for solar cells application, researchers said.

President Pranab Mukherjee on April 29 commended the military staff deployed at Rastrapati Bhavan for carrying out their duties with professionalism and swiftness.

Addressing a reunion of Aides-de-camp (ADCs) to the President here at Rashtrapati Bhavan, he said: "Numerous functions take place at Rashtrapati Bhavan and the military staff carries out their duties with professionalism, swiftness and with a smile on their faces." 

The military staff attached to the President provides professional advice, guidance and support to him. 

"Aides-de-Camp to the President of India is a cherished legacy of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the then Viceroy House," he said, adding that he was glad to see the military staff associated with former Presidents who were there not only from within the country but across the world. 

Bonobos – the rare great ape species – may be anatomically more closely linked to human ancestors than common chimpanzees, a new study suggests.

By studying the muscles of bonobos, researchers were able to discover that they are more closely related to human anatomy than common chimpanzees, in the sense that their muscles have changed less than they have in common chimpanzees.

Researchers, including those from George Washington University in the US, examined seven bonobos that had died and were being preserved.

They said this was an extremely rare opportunity given bonobos' status as an endangered species.

Having a clear understanding of what makes humans different from our closest living relatives might lead to new breakthroughs or understandings of human health, researchers said.

"Bonobo muscles have changed least, which means they are the closest we can get to having a 'living' ancestor," said Bernard Wood, professor at George Washington University.

"Bonobo anatomy reveals stasis and mosaicism in chimpanzee evolution, and supports bonobos as the most appropriate extant model for the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans," researchers said.

"Our study has shown that there is a mosaic evolution of the three species, in the sense that some features are shared by humans and bonobos, others by humans and common chimpanzees, and still others by the two ape species," said Rui Diogo, associate professor at Howard University in the US.

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's much awaited film Tubelight might not hit the screens on Eid

in Pakistan as some local filmmakers have started a movement to stall the release of the film.

The filmmakers along with the Film Distributors Association and the Film Producers Association want to ensure better business for Pakistani films during the Eid holidays.

The distributors, producers and filmmakers say they want to protect the interest of Pakistani movies as two big films,

Yalghaar and Shor Sharaba, along with others in the pipeline, are slated for an Eid release.

"If Tubelight also releases on Eid, it will certainly hit the business of these Pakistani films and that will not help our industry," actor Mustafa Qureshi said.

Those trying to stall the release of the Salman KhaN- starrer are citing a law passed by the Federal Ministry of

Information in 2010 which forbids the release of any Indian

film on a Muslim holiday. "If required we can even go to the court," producer Altaf Hussain said.

Sohail Khan, the producer of Shor Sharaba, said, "My film is supposed to release on Eid-ul-Fitr and if the

government doesn't stall Tubelight, I will not release it as a mark of protest."

Hussain said the associations are planning to send an official letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well.

He confirmed a meeting was held in Lahore at which it was decided that the entire Pakistani film industry will join the planned protest to stop the release of Tubelight on Eid.

"It has been decided that all those related to the Pakistani film industry will support the Pakistani films that are supposed to release on Eid-ul-Fitr," Hussain added.

Chaudhry Ejaz Kamran, the chairman of the Pakistan Film Distributors Association has also supported the move.

"It is not fair asking our films to compete with big Bollywood projects on Eid and it is cruel to our industry", he said. As per the sources, the Ministry had given directives to stop the release of Tubelight and Vidya Balan's Begum Jaan well in advance.

Amid the continuing suspense on whether India will take part in the upcoming Champions Trophy, Committee of Administrators' member Ramachandra Guha on Sunday said the country “absolutely must” compete in the event.

India's participation in the eight-team tournament in England, starting June 1, is a subject of speculation after the BCCI was out-voted in the ICC over its opposition to a revamped revenue and governance structure.

The Indian board is miffed with the massive cut in its earnings from the ICC revenues after the world body opted to end the 'Big Three' domination in its governance and revenue sharing.

“Boycotting or threatening to boycott a prestigious international tournament does not become a great cricketing nation,” Guha tweeted.

“Speaking in my personal capacity, as a cricket fan, I believe the Indian cricket team absolutely must take part in the Champions Trophy,” he added.

The BCCI is expected to take a call on this matter in a Special General Meeting on May 7.

At least 11 persons were killed on Sunday when a passenger bus plunged into a ravine in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, police said.

Many others were injured in the accident near Lowari Top, The News International reported. The injured have been rushed to a hospital.

According to the police, the driver of the bus lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a sharp turn in the mountainous terrain.

The bus was carrying over 20 persons and was on way from Rawalpindi to Chitral.

Traffic accidents frequently happen in Pakistan due to poorly maintained roads, violation of road safety rules and reckless driving.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, over 9,000 road accidents take place every year in the country, killing about 5,000 people.

Traffic police officials say 90 per cent of the accidents are caused merely due to human errors.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan met his favourite star — Hollywood legend Warren Beatty.

Shah Rukh, who delivered his first speech in TED Talk in Vancouver earlier this week, tweeted on Saturday to share a photograph of himself along with Beatty. 

"After a whirlwind travelling spree, spent a quiet evening with friends in Los Angeles and met one of my fav stars…Warren Beatty," he captioned the image. 

Beatty has been nominated for 14 Academy Awards. In 1999, he was awarded the Academy's highest honour, the Irving G. Thalberg Award.

Beatty has been nominated for 18 Golden Globe Awards, winning six, including the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he was honoured with in 2007. 

Among his Golden Globe-nominated films are Splendor in the Grass, Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Dick Tracy, Bugsy and Rules Don't Apply, all of which he also produced.

Earlier this year, Beatty was part of the Oscar blunder which saw the musical La La Land announced as the winner of the coveted Best Picture accolade instead of Moonlight.

Former One Direction singer Zayn Malik had to be wheeled into his girlfriend and model Gigi Hadid's apartment here after he injuried his left foot.

Zayn's injury didn't stop him from seeing his girlfriend as he proved determined to see Hadid, reports dailymail.co.uk.

In some photographs, Zayn can be seen sitting on a wheelchair.

"Zayn has injured his foot but is doing well and will be okay," his representative said.

Zayn and Hadid started dating each other in November 2015. Since then, the two have been seen together a lot of times.

A member of the Nehru-Gandhi family and one of India's foremost writers with feminist concerns, Nayantara Sahgal returned her Sahitya Akademi award in 2015 to protest against rising intolerance in the country. Will she ever accept a recognition from the state again? Never!

The widely acclaimed author of the novel "Rich Like Us", for which she received the 1986 Sahitya Akademi Award, in fact, laughed off the idea. Dubbing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance regime as the "RSS government", she said it is not possible for them to recognise progressive writers like her.

"I have never, all my life, stood in line for any award, any job or anything. And I would certainly not do so under this regime," she told IANS in a freewheeling interview.

The 89-year-old writer further said that she has not seen any signs from the Sahitya Akademi of support for the cause of free speech in the country.

The Akademi, according to Sahgal, did not say anything when a Sahitya Akademi award winner, Narendra Dabholkar, was murdered. If they have done anything at all to protect the rights of the authors and rational thinkers, the author said, it must have been very silent.

But what do writers fear? Is there any imminent threat to the fraternity?

"It is not a threat anymore, there has been a murder. Three writers have been killed! (Perumal) Murugan was hounded out of his home, he was on pain of death, that if you stay here we will kill you, we will kill your family. People are in danger of their lives if they disagree with their Hindutva ideology and these so called gau-rakshaks," Sahgal immediately responded.

Sahgal also stressed on the need for authors to "show through their stories what they stand for" but maintained that it is "a very individual thing" as storytelling is about human beings and not about ideas. There may be a political setting or contemporary issues in many stories, but the story is about characters who live there.

The former advisor to Sahitya Akademi's Board for English from 1972 to 1975 went on to say that her writings have been inspired by the times she grew up in. With her mother Vijayalakshmi Pandit as India's first ambassador to the U.N., her uncle Jawaharlal Nehru as first Prime Minister, and her cousin, Indira Gandhi as third Prime Minister, it is not surprising that politics and history inspire and underlie much of her writing.

Beginning with her memoir "Prison and Chocolate Cake", published in 1954, Sahgal authored other political writings — "The Freedom Movement in India" and "Indira Gandhi, Her Road to Power" — along with a collection of essays, "Point of View: A Personal response to Life, Literature and Politics".

"The great thing that happened at independence was that we are a country of many great religions and we are deeply religious. And therefore we chose to be a secular republic so that all religions would have pride of place, so that all citizens would be equal, so that every man and woman would have the right to live and worship and dress and think and eat and make love as they choose. This was extremely great and progressive idea at independence and that is what is now being destroyed," she lamented.

Sahgal further said that religion is not a state affair, it is rather a matter of one's personal choice and one's personal relationship with god.

"The state can't tell you to do this and that with regard to religion. That was a very precious inheritance where all Indians felt equal and felt safe. Now I am sorry to say that the minorities do not feel safe, in particular the Muslim community is being hounded, persecuted and killed. That is not accepted by any civilised Indian," she added.

The much-acclaimed author also said that she often hears the Prime Minister making a "very fine speech", but on the ground, something else is happening.

"That which they call the fringe elements are not isolated people, they are being backed by very, very powerful people. The Bajrang Dal or the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and others back them openly.

"The ruling establishment, the Prime Minister himself, should make it very clear, and make it clear not only in speech but practice, that these things cannot be allowed to happen in a democracy where it is our constitutional right to speak and practise what we choose to," she said.

All changes from the times that she grew up in to now are, fortunately, not unpleasant. Sahgal recalled that when she began writing in the 1950s the Indian publishing industry was very small and was competing against leading international publishers. Writers today, she said, can be published more easily than ever before.

Apart from the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1986, she has also received the Sinclair Prize (Britain) for fiction in 1985 and the Commonwealth Writers Award (Eurasia) in 1987. She was also a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, Washington, from 1981 to 1982.

Maria Sharapova said more tough matches are her priority after losing in the semi-finals in Stuttgart on her controversial comeback from a 15- month doping ban.

Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one, lost 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Kristina Mladenovic in a gruelling two-hours, 38-minute showdown.

“I'm not angry, I'd have loved to have used the opportunity when I was ahead in the second set, so I had a bit of a let down which allowed her to get back in the match, gain confidence and play well,” said Sharapova, who was playing her first tournament after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.

“I didn't keep putting that pressure on her and if you allow that to happen to a player like her, it becomes dangerous.”

Sharapova also has wild cards for the Madrid and Rome tournaments and leaves Stuttgart with a world ranking of 260 having arrived here on zero following her ban.

She will learn on May 16 whether she will be given a wild card for the main draw at the French Open where she has twice been champion.

Sharapova jets to Madrid to prepare for the WTA tournament in the Spanish capital and will play in an exhibition match on Thursday.

“It's a fairly quick turn around, but this is a process for me,” she said.

“I'll be in Europe for the next couple of months, but this is what I want to go through.

“I want the matches and to see how my body responds. I want to feel the tiredness of match play, it's different and you can't train that.

“I love that feeling. This is what I asked for, this is what I am doing.”

“I am treating Madrid and Rome just as importantly as the Grand Slams at this point, because I have been out of the game for so long. They are match play and that is what I need.”

Sharapova refused to blame a lack of fitness for her semi-final defeat.

“If at the start of the week I'd said I'd be in this position, I'd be pretty happy with that,” she said.

“The way I played, I was really happy with that. You are never sure what level you are going to come onto the court with, but I feel this is a great base with which I started here.

“I actually felt physically really well, even when I was 5-2 down in the third set.

“I still hung in there, but she came up with a string of good points which cost me the match.”

With Sharapova now out, Mladenovic will now face Germany's Laura Siegemund in Sunday's final after the wild card beat fourth seed Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 7-5.

The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner took place in Washington with journalists and comedians poking fun at President Donald Trump for skipping the event.

"We are here to celebrate the press, not the presidency," Xinhua news agency quoted White House Correspondents' Association President Jeff Mason as telling a full house on Saturday.

"We are not fake news… we are not the enemy of the American people," Mason said.

The remarks were seen as a response to Trump's past attacks on the US media, in which he labelled multiple organisations as "the enemy of the American people" and accused them of producing "fake news".

Comedian Hasan Minhaj played a leading role in roasting Trump, making fun of his habit of tweeting at three in the morning and playing golf.

Minhaj also made an analogy between the media and minorities in society, as both suffer from discrimination.

Trump earlier said he would not attend this year's dinner event, the first since he assumed presidency, after the relationship between the White House and the media soured as both sides traded accusations.

The White House Correspondents' Dinner, a tradition since 1921, is an annual event that usually features good-spirited humour between the President and correspondents covering the White House.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of climate change in his monthly radio address 'Mann ki Baat' on Sunday and said this could also be a chance to be sensitive.

Modi said that climate change is not a subject confined only to the academia and people are facing its ill effects on a daily basis.

"Nature is changing its rules now, the summer heat we used to face in the month of May and June has shifted to March and April… many people who send their suggestions to me point out what should we do amid such heat," he said.

Speaking of sensitivity, the Prime Minister said that amid the increasing heat we must be sensitive towards people and birds alike.

"Ask for a glass of water for the postman who arrives at your house in the scorching heat to deliver a letter… keep water in balcony for the birds," Modi said.

Encouraging people to sensitise their children through bird feeders, Modi also pointed out a community's effort in Gujarat towards sparrow conservation.

China and Europe are planning to build the first-ever "Moon Village" that could serve as a launching pad for deep space missions such as one to Mars, or even as a spot for space tourism and lunar mining.

Representatives of the Chinese and European space agencies have discussed collaborating on a moon-base and other possible joint endeavours.

The plan was first revealed by Tian Yulong, the secretary general of China's space agency. Pal Hvistendahl, a spokesperson for the European Space Agency (ESA), confirmed the discussions.

"Space has changed since the space race of the sixties.

We recognise that to explore space for peaceful purposes, we do international cooperation," Hvistendahl was quoted as saying by the 'Independent'.

"The Chinese have a very ambitious moon programme already in place," he said.

Johann-Dietrich Worner, the director general of the 22- member ESA, has described its proposed "Moon Village" as a potential international launching pad for future missions to Mars and a chance to develop space tourism or even lunar mining.

China and Europe are planning to build the first-ever "Moon Village" that could serve as a launching pad for deep space missions such as one to Mars, or even as a spot for space tourism and lunar mining.

Representatives of the Chinese and European space agencies have discussed collaborating on a moon-base and other possible joint endeavours.

The plan was first revealed by Tian Yulong, the secretary general of China's space agency. Pal Hvistendahl, a spokesperson for the European Space Agency (ESA), confirmed the discussions.

"Space has changed since the space race of the sixties.

We recognise that to explore space for peaceful purposes, we do international cooperation," Hvistendahl was quoted as saying by the 'Independent'.

"The Chinese have a very ambitious moon programme already in place," he said.

Johann-Dietrich Worner, the director general of the 22- member ESA, has described its proposed "Moon Village" as a potential international launching pad for future missions to Mars and a chance to develop space tourism or even lunar mining.