Amid profit booking at record highs and weak Asian equity markets, domestic benchmark were trading with declines in the late morning trade on Friday. At 11.00 am, the Sensex was trading 106 points or 0.35 per cent down at 29,924 while the Nifty50 was trading 37 points or 0.39 per cent lower at 9,305.

However, broader markets registered gains, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices jumped 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Metal index registered the biggest gain with a jump of 2.9 per cent while Realty index became the top loser with a dip of 1.8 per cent.

On Thursday, The BSE Sensex ended 104 points or 0.34 per cent down at 30,030 while the NSE Nifty closed 10 points or 0.10 per cent lower at 9,342.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: Tata Steel (up 2.5 per cent), ONGC (up 2 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (up 1.5 per cent), Asian Paints (up 1.1 per cent) and ICICI Bank (up 1 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: ITC (down 2 per cent), HDFC (down 1.9 per cent), Bharti Airtel (down 1.6 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 1.4 per cent) and TCS (down 1 per cent).

Meanwhile, the Rupee was trading seven paise down at 64.22 against the US Dollar.

People in Uttar Pradesh and in neighbouring Uttarakhand are facing a shortage of cash in banks and ATMs, six months after the old currency notes of Rs 1,000 and 500 were demonetised in the country.

According to officials, they are managing with only 70 per cent of currency supply. 

Barring some big cities, cash scarcity in the state has hit a worrying proportion, a senior bank official admitted to the IANS.

The situation is bad in smaller towns and villages where the cash shortage is akin to November when all ATMs went dry for several weeks after the demonetisation.

Banks in Kanpur alone need currency flow of about Rs 400 crore every day but they have been receiving only Rs 250-300 crore for the last one week. The currency supply against Rs 15 crore needed in rural banks has also dropped to Rs 10 crore.

The Kanpur branch of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) provides cash to the banks and the 250 currency chests across Uttar Pradesh.

Officials say this was a temporary phase and would be over within the next few days.
 

Fifty-three per cent Americans favour US military action to keep North Korea from continuing its nuclear weapons programme, a new poll has found.

According to the latest Fox News poll released on Thursday, 36 per cent said diplomacy alone can stop it.

North Korea is seen as the greatest immediate threat to the US, reports Fox News. 

Some 38 per cent feel that way, while 25 per cent think the Islamic State is the biggest threat and 18 per cent said Russia. 

Five per cent thought China poses the biggest risk and just 4 per cent said Iran. 

Meanwhile, voters gave President Donald Trump mixed marks for his handling of North Korea: 45 per cent approved while 47 per cent disapproved, the poll showed. 

His ratings were a bit better on handling China (49-40 per cent) and Syria (48-45 per cent), and a bit worse on Iran (43-44 per cent). Trump's worst marks are on Russia (40-52 per cent). 

Forty-three per cent of voters approved of the President's handling of foreign policy in general (49 per cent disapprove).

Overall, 45 per cent approved of the job Trump's doing as president, while 48 per cent disapproved, according to the poll. 

The Fox News poll was based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,009 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide. 

It was conducted from April 23 to 25.
 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that China has threatened to impose sanctions on North Korea if it conducts further nuclear tests.

“We know that China is in communications with the regime in Pyongyang,” Tillerson said on Fox News Channel yesterday. “They confirmed to us that they had requested the regime conduct no further nuclear test.”

Tillerson said China also told the US that it had informed North Korea “that if they did conduct further nuclear tests, China would be taking sanctions actions on their own.”

Earlier yesterday, the senior US Navy officer overseeing military operations in the Pacific said the crisis with North Korea is at the worst point he's ever seen, but he declined to compare the situation to the Cuban missile crisis decades ago. “It's real,” Adm Harry Harris Jr, commander of US Pacific Command, said during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Harris said he has no doubt that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un intends to fulfil his pursuit of a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the United States. The admiral acknowledged there's uncertainty within US intelligence agencies over how far along North Korea's nuclear and missile programs are. But Harris said it's not a matter of if but when.

“There is no doubt in my mind,” Harris said.

The Trump administration has declared that all options, including a targeted military strike, are on the table to block North Korea from carrying out threats against the United States and its allies in the region.

“But a pre-emptive attack isn't likely, US officials have said, and the administration is pursuing a strategy of putting pressure on Pyongyang with assistance from China, North Korea's main trading partner and the country's economic lifeline.

With international support, the Trump administration said Thursday it wants to exert a “burst” of economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea that yields results within months to push the communist government to change course from developing nuclear weapons.

Susan Thornton, the acting top US diplomat for East Asia, said there's debate about whether Pyongyang is willing to give up its weapons programs. She said the US wants “to test that hypothesis to the maximum extent we can” for a peaceful resolution.

But signalling that military action remains possible, Thornton told an event hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies the Washington think tank has advocated tougher US policies on Iran and North Korea that the administration treats North Korea as its primary security challenge and is serious that “all options are on the table.”

“We are not seeking regime change and our preference is to resolve this problem peacefully,” Thornton said, “but we are not leaving anything off the table.”

Tillerson took a similar stand in the Fox News interview Thursday, saying: “We do not seek regime change in North Korea. … What we are seeking is the same thing China has said they seek a full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”

In a separate interview with National Public Radio, Tillerson said the U.S. remains open to holding direct negotiations with North Korea.

“But North Korea has to decide they're ready to talk to us about the about the right agenda, and the right agenda is not simply stopping where they are for a few more months or a few more years and then resuming things,” he said, according to excerpts of an interview that will air Friday morning. “That's been the agenda for the last 20 years.”

Multi-nation negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear program stalled in 2008. The Obama administration attempted to resurrect them in 2012, but a deal to provide food aid in exchange for a nuclear freeze soon collapsed.

After weeks of unusually blunt military threats, President Donald Trump's national security team briefed lawmakers Wednesday on North Korea's advancing nuclear capabilities. A joint statement from agency heads made no specific mention of military options, though it said the US would defend itself and friends.

Harris told the committee that the financial sanctions imposed against the North Korean regime by the US and other countries have done nothing to slow North Korea's quest for weapons of mass destruction.

He also said he's been skeptical of China's willingness to exert its influence over Pyongyang. But Harris said he's become “cautiously optimistic” following recent talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“It's only been a month or so and it's too early to tell,” Harris said. “I wouldn't bet my farm on it.”

In a show of military might, the US has sent a massive amount of American weaponry to the region. A group of American warships led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is in striking range of North Korea “if the president were to call on it,” Harris told the committee. A US missile defence system called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense is being installed in South Korea.

Harris said he has adequate forces to “fight tonight” against North Korea if that were to become necessary. But the admiral also said he lacks all the attack submarines he needs and has no capable defence against the thousands of artillery pieces North Korea has assembled near the Demilitarised Zone separating North and South Korea. There are about 28,500 US military personnel serving in South Korea.

“We do not have those kinds of weapons that can counter those rockets once they're launched,” Harris said in response to a question from the committee's Republican chairman, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. 

China is willing to work with the US to constructively manage risks and properly handle disagreements in order to propel mutual trust and seek more progress in promoting new ties, according to a defence official.

Speaking at a regular press briefing on Thursday, Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun expressed hopes that the US military could make joint efforts with China to "meet each other halfway and inject positive and constructive elements to Sino-US ties, and contribute to world and regional peace and stability."

Quoting Chinese President Xi Jinping who visited the US earlier this month, Yang said military relations make up an important part of bilateral ties between Beijing and Washington, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Chinese military will resolutely implement the important consensus reached between Chinese and US heads of state, Yang said.

It will work to maintain exchanges between the two militaries at all levels, bring into full play their dialogue and consultation mechanisms, carry out the annual exchange programmes the two sides have agreed upon, and implement and improve the mutual reporting mechanism on major military operations and the code of safe conduct on naval and air military encounters, Yang added.

India has topped the list of Dubai's 100 tourist source markets for the second time, with a total of 1.8 million visitors last year.

The Annual Visitor Report 2016 was released by Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) during this year's Arabian Travel Market.

Saudi Arabia (1.6 million) and the UK (1.2 million) were other prominent names on the list.

According to the data, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) remained the number one volume generator for tourism to Dubai, delivering the highest share of visitor volumes for 2016 with a total of 3.4 million, up 5 per cent over 2015.

Saudi Arabia contributed the highest number of travellers among the GCC countries, followed by Oman, with Kuwait in third place and Qatar in the fourth, both retaining their top 20 status and registering an annual growth of 2 and 9 per cent, respectively.

“In many ways, Dubai represents a 'home-from-home' experience for our neighbours, making both an extended holiday, quick getaway and an attractive travel proposition,” Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing CEO Issam Kazim said.

“A short flight from their home country opens up unique experiences for our guests from the GCC    who are made up of large families with children, young couples, business visitors, solo travellers and adventure-seekers,” he said.

The Centre's 'PowerTex' scheme will pave the way for the powerloom sector to make zero defect products in line with Prime Minister's vision for India and cluster development, textile minister Smriti Irani has said. She stated this to reporters after visiting the Power Loom Service Centre here on April 27, interacting with officials and some trainees.

Irani stressed the need for weavers to replace their old powerlooms with new effective Rapier shuttle less looms, so that they could produce more and earn good revenue.

PowerTex India, a comprehensive scheme for development of the powerloom sector, was launched by the union government on April 1 simultaneously at 45 centres across the country.

German lawmakers have approved a partial ban on the full-face burqa Islamic veil and a package of security measures aimed at preventing extremist attacks.

The new laws follow several jihadist attacks, including a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that claimed 12 lives, and come ahead of September elections.

The new law on facial coverings falls short of a total ban in public places demanded by right-wing parties, like that in effect in neighbouring France since 2011.

The prohibition will apply to public servants — including election officials, military and judicial staff — performing their duties.

“The state has a duty to present itself in an ideologically and religiously neutral manner,” says the text of the law passed by the lower house yesterday evening.

Germany has since 2015 taken in more than one million migrants and refugees, most from predominantly Muslim countries.

This has stoked a xenophobic backlash and boosted the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party, which has attempted to link the influx to a heightened threat of terrorism.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the social integration of immigrants requires “that we make clear and communicate our values and the limits of our tolerance to other cultures”.

The ban on full facial coverings allows exceptions — for example, for health workers protecting themselves against infections or police officers concealing their identity.

People can also be required to remove facial coverings in order to match them with their identity papers.

New security measures also include the use of electronic ankle bracelets, if approved by a judge, for people deemed a security threat, in federal police cases — such as known Islamic radicals considered potentially violent by security services.

Another law paves the way for national and state police forces to pool their data in a new integrated IT system.
Under another new measure, Germany will implement EU rules on the exchange of flight passenger data to counter terrorism and serious crime.

And physical attacks on police, emergency services and military personnel on duty will in future be punished more severely, with up to five years' jail.

The reforms follow the December 19 truck attack in Berlin claimed by the Islamic State group. The suspect, 24-year-old Tunisian national Anis Amri, was shot dead four days later by Italian police.

The Amri case sparked public anger after it emerged he had already been in the crosshairs of security services and should long ago have been sent back to Tunisia, which for months refused to take him.

National and state police and security services had monitored Amri for months, knowing that he had used multiple identities and addresses and had been in contact with radical Islamists. 

Italy can be the ideal partner to support the 'Make in India' campaign, Italian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ivan Scalfarotto said.

Italy is the second highest manufacturing economy of the European Union.

"We are actually committed and ready to contribute to it, sharing our expertise and know how in key areas such as green technologies, renewables, SMEs and infrastructure," Scalfarotto said.

The Make in India initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2014. It aimed at promoting India as an investment destination and a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation.

Being the second highest manufacturing economy of the EU after Germany and the fifth in the world "Italy is the ideal partner to support the Make in India campaign," he said here at a function today.

He also said that huge potential exists to boost two-way trade and investments.

Scalfarotto added that both the sides need to do more to further strengthen economic ties.

Talking about collaboration in the automobile sector, he said Italian component manufacturers are ready to offer their knowledge and advanced technologies for hybrid, electric, fuel cell and hydrogen vehicles.

About infrastructure development, the minister said some large Italian companies are keen to contribute in this sector.

"I sincerely wish that joint projects and training activities in this very crucial field for further economic growth will soon become one of the pillars of the economic relationships between our two countries," he added.

According to Indian commerce ministry, the two way trade between the countries stood at $8.28 billion in 2015-16.

India has attracted $2.23 billion foreign direct investment from Italy during April 2000 and December 2016.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian got emotional while talking about last years Paris robbery on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The 36-year-old was the victim of a heist in the French capital in October last year.

She feels that the incident was simply part of her destiny, reports dailymail.co.uk.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I know that was meant to happen to me. I don't want to start crying, but I know it was meant to happen. I feel like I'm such a different person," Kim said.

Kim broke down in tears as she recalled the dramatic incident. She also said that it has taught her some important life lessons.

"I don't want to cry anymore. I really feel like things happen in your life to teach you things," she said.

The Reserve Bank has asked banks to lay down a policy defining responsibilites and fixed tenure of the chief risk officer as it seeks to bring uniformity in risk management system of lenders.

As part of effective risk management, banks are required to have a system of separation of credit risk management function from the credit sanction process.

"However, it is observed that the banks follow diverse practices in this regard," an RBI notification said.

To bring uniformity in approach followed by banks, as also, to align the risk management system with the best practices, the RBI asked banks to lay down a board-approved policy clearly defining the role and responsibilities of the CRO.

Further, "appointment of the CRO shall be for a fixed tenure with the approval of the board of Directors of the banks".

The CRO could be transferred/removed before completion of the tenure only with the approval of the board and such premature transfer/removal have to be reported to the RBI.

Listed banks will have to report to the stock exchanges also.

Also, there "shall not be any 'dual hatting", meaning the CRO should not be given the responsibility of Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief of the internal audit function or any other function.

The CRO should have direct reporting lines to the MD and CEO/Risk Management Committee (RMC). The officer should not have any reporting relationship with the business verticals of the bank and should not be given any business targets, the RBI said.

"The CRO in his role as an adviser shall be an invitee to the credit sanction/approval committee without any voting rights in the proceedings of the committee," the notification added.

Pope Francis flies to Egypt on Friday for a visit aimed at fostering reconciliation with the Muslim world against the backdrop of recent jihadist attacks on the Middle East's biggest Christian community.

The 80-year-old pontiff is due in Cairo around 14.00 local time (1200 GMT) and his 27 hours on Egyptian soil will include a meeting with the grand imam of the Al-Azhar mosque, sealing a recent improvement in relations between Catholicism and the Sunni branch of Islam.

Security will be extremely tight with Egypt under a state of emergency following two bombings in Coptic churches earlier this month that killed 45 people.

All of the country's churches have been placed under additional protection because of the risk of another assault timed to coincide with Francis being in the country.

The most recent attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group whose propagandists regularly boast of their intention of mounting attacks on the Vatican, as well as Egypt's Coptic Christians.

Despite the dangers, Francis is expected to conduct most of his business in a normal vehicle and electric pope mobile- style golf carts.
“Please pray for my journey tomorrow as a pilgrim of peace to Egypt,” Francis said on his Twitter account on the eve of his departure.

Francis will meet privately with the grand imam, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, an Islamic philosophy professor who visited the Vatican last year and is considered the highest religious authority in Sunni Islam.

He is then due to give a speech as a “simple participant” in an international conference for peace organised by Al- Azhar, a seat of learning for 1,000 years as well as a celebrated mosque.

Vatican dialogue with the Muslim world, a priority for this pope, was set back significantly when Francis's predecessor Benedict XVI made a speech in 2006 in which he was seen as linking Islam to violence.

The now-retired German pontiff's 2011 comments condemning an attack on a Coptic church compounded the chill, with Al- Azhar denouncing Benedict for meddling in Egypt's affairs.

The head of world's 1.3 billion Catholics will also meet Friday with the Coptic Pope Tawadros II.

The two men are due to walk together to the Coptic church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the heart of Cairo, which was hit by a bomb attack in December claimed by IS that killed 29 people.

The attack was the deadliest targeting the Coptic community since the 2011 suicide bombing that killed 23 people in Alexandria.
The pope will be joined at the conference by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox world and a close ally.

The Argentine will also meet with the country's strongman President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has been criticised internationally for human rights abuses but is seen as something of a friend of Egypt's Christian minority.

In 2015, he became the first head of state to attend a Christmas mass.

On Saturday, the pontiff will preside over a mass for the country's small Catholic community, estimated to number around 272,000 spread across various rites.

Egypt's Copts, who make up about 10 per cent of the country's population of 92 million, are the Middle East's largest Christian minority and one of the oldest.

But they feel increasingly under pressure as a result of Islamist influence in many walks of Egyptian life with many of them saying they are treated like second-class citizens.

Reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner says that she was housebound for six years as she struggled to come to terms with her gender issues.

The 67-year-old, who was formerly known as Bruce before undergoing gender reassignment surgery, has revealed that the six years were the worst in her life, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"Through the 1980s I really struggled, there are six years in there that I go over in the book, they were probably the worst years of my life. I basically stayed in my house for six years, I didn't fit in anywhere. I didn't belong anywhere," Caitlyn, who is releasing her memoir The Secrets Of My Life, said on the TV show Lorraine.

Caitlyn emerged from her depression before she turned 40 because she realised she needed to live her life regardless of her gender and soon after, she met her future wife Kris Kardashian.

"I thought that I was going to transition before I was 40. I got to 39 and couldn't go further, you know it wasn't time.

"Three or four months later, Kris! I was open with her, now did I downplay it some. I'm sure I did. Because I had gone through hell for six years. I loved her … of course she was aware. I thought we could deal," she said.

The couple divorced in 2015 after Caitlyn's transition.
 

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Thursday criticised the Pakistani government for its "failure" to protect its borders against militant groups who recently killed Iranian border guards in a cross-border attack, Tasnim news agency reported.

Xinhua news agency quoted Spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying that Pakistan should be held accountable for the presence and operation of militant groups in its territory.

The Islamic republic will spare no efforts to follow up on the issue through all diplomatic and political channels, Qasemi was quoted as saying.

On Wednesday, 10 Iranian security personnel were killed in the clashes with the armed groups in the southeastern border region of Iran.

Four guards were injured in the clashes, which took place at the Mirjaveh border point in Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The border guards were patrolling when they were targeted, Tehran Times daily reported.

"Our border guards had been targeted from inside Pakistan's soil," Iranian police speaker Saeed Montazerolmahdi was quoted as saying by the daily.

"Our investigations show that long-range arms had been used to launch the attack," he said.

Over the past decades, Iran's eastern and southeastern border had been the scene of clashes between Iranian security forces and armed drug smugglers on the one hand and security forces with the ethnic Sunni rebels on the other. 

Jaish al-Adl, or "Army of Justice" has claimed responsibility for the attack on Iran's border guards.

The Sunni rebel group claimed to fight for the rights of Sunni Muslims in the Iran's provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan.

On Thursday, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also said Tehran will pursue the commitments of neighbouring Pakistan to the security and border agreements between the two countries through diplomatic channels.

Just weeks after they released their collaboration track, Still got time, rapper PartyNextDoor has unfollowed former One Direction star Zayn Malik on social media.

PartyNextDoor, whose real name is Jahron Anthony Brathwaite, unfollowed Zayn from the likes of Twitter and Instagram, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Besides that, PartyNextDoor has gone through his page feeds and deleted any mention of Zayn, including all promotional posts to do with their joint-release.

On his official YouTube and Spotify accounts, there are no longer videos of his remixes of the track.

Zayn, on the other hand, has remained a follower of PartyNextDoor on social media.

It's unclear why PartyNextDoor has taken this step. 

 An international team of researchers has successfully retrieved human DNA in cave sediments where no skeletal remains were found, a new study revealed.

The highly sensitive screening technique the team applied even identified ancient human DNA sequences from locations where the presence of an extinct human species called Neanderthals has been proposed but never demonstrated, said the study published on Thursday by the US journal Science.

"It's a great breakthrough," Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London, who was not involved in the study, told Science.

While there are numerous prehistoric sites in Europe and Asia that contain tools and other human-made artefacts, skeletal remains of ancient humans are scarce and they are not always available or suitable for genetic analyses, Xinhua news agency reported.

Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, have therefore looked into new ways to get hold of ancient human DNA.

Overall, they collected 85 sediment samples covering a time span from 14,000 to over 550,000 years ago.

Using tiny amounts of material, the researchers recovered and analysed fragments of mitochondrial DNA, genetic material from the mitochondria, the "energy factories" of the cell, and identified them as belonging to 12 different mammalian families that include extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the cave bear and the cave hyena.

To capture ancient human DNA in the samples, they developed a delicate DNA hook crafted from modern human mitochondrial DNA to fish out the sequences that most resembled it.

It turned out that eight sediment samples from four caves contained Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA from either one or multiple individuals, while one sample from another cave contained DNA of Denisovans, another extinct human species.

Most of these samples originated from archaeological layers or sites where no Neanderthal bones or teeth were previously found.