A government oil company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has opened the country's first solar-powered gas station in Dubai.

The Dubai-owned Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) said on April 26 that the service station on the city's main Sheikh Zayed Road thoroughfare is covered with solar panels that can generate up to 120 kilowatt hours.

The company said that is about 30 per cent more energy than the station needs, so the excess power is directed back into the city's electricity grid.

A ceremony marking the inauguration was held in the presence of Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, ENOC Vice-Chairman and Dubai Electricity & Water Authority's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

"ENOC has always been a major enabler in the UAE energy sector and made significant contributions to the Emirate's development drive," said Saif Humaid Al Falasi, ENOC Group CEO.

"The new development fits within the pioneering initiatives launched by ENOC nationwide over the past period in alignment with the government plans to make the emirate the smartest and the most sustainable in the world," he added.

The service station is planned to reduce CO2 emissions by 195 million metric tonnes annually, and will wield a number of energy consumption reduction techniques.

Relations between India and Italy are set on the path to recovery, after strains that developed over the past years, with the Joint Economic Commission slated to meet in Rome in May after a gap of eight years, it was announced here on Thursday.

Visiting Italian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ivan Scalfarotto said at the Italy-India Business Forum here that Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be leading a delegation for the joint commission meeting scheduled to be held in the middle of May.

Scalfarotto is currently in India at the head of a 140-member delegation, that includes representatives of 60 Italian companies, in a bid to boost bilateral trade and investment relations.

Bilateral relations were affected following the death of two Kerala fishermen at the hands of two Italian marines in the Enrica Lexie case in 2012.

"This India-Italy Business Forum is the official launch of a new partnership between both countries and involves the sharing of knowledge and experience," Italian Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni said addressing the packed venue.

Noting that some Italian companies like Fiat and Ferrero Rocher are household names in India, Additional Secretary Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Atul Chaturvedi said the government had asked India's ambassador in Italy to start an outreach programme to attract small and medium industry to India, on the lines of a similar programme started in Germany.

"This is the first Italian business delegation to India since 2011 and signals the revitalisation of our relationship after its slowing down over the past some years," Licia Mattioli, Vice President of the Italian Industry Association Confindustria, said.

"Despite the political and bilateral uncertainties of the last few years, Italian companies in India played a central role in keeping our cooperation going," she said.

Bilateral trade in 2016 amounted to around $7.3 billion. There are over 600 Italian companies present in India.

Italian foreign direct investment in India amounts to around 5 million euros.

The release date of the fifth film in the long-running Indiana Jones series has been pushed back to 2020.

The film, which was slated to debut on July 19, 2019, will now release on July 10, 2020 in the US, Disney confirmed to Variety.

A delay in the release comes after director Steven Spielberg decided to sneak in one more movie first.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker still has several projects in his hands, including Ready Player One, a big-screen adaptation of a best-selling science-fiction novel, and a drama about the Pentagon Papers with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.

TNPSC 2017: Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) has made an announcement for the candidates willing to apply for TNPSC Group 2A recruitment examination may now apply online on the official website www.tnpsc.gov.in.

As per the latest updates, this time officials have planned to fill 1953 personal clerk assistant post (Non-interview) through TNPSC Group 2A recruitment examination.

Last date to apply for TNPSC recruitment examination is May 26, 2017 and the last date to submit the examination fees is May 29, 2017.

Interested candidates may now visit the official website tnpsc.gov.in and follow the procedure to apply online for TNPSC recruitment examination.

It has been informed by the official website that the TNPSC examination will take place on August 6, 2017.

Candidates are advised to take the print out of the application after completing the online procedure.

In another development to the case involving Sahara chief Subrata Roy and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Supreme Court on Thursday extended Roy's parole till 19 June and warned him of imprisonment if he failed to pay the amount.

In a written undertaking, Subrata Roy told the top court that he would pay Rs.1,500 crore in SEBI-Sahara account on or before 15 June and furnished a post-dated cheque of Rs.552 crore to be released by 15 July.

The top court asked Roy to be present in the next hearing on 19 June.

As per reports, the apex court had on 17 April asked Bombay High Court's official liquidator to sell the Rs.34,000 crore worth of properties of the Aamby Valley owned by the Sahara Group and directed its chief Subrata Roy to personally appear before it on 28 April.

The top court had on 6 April said if the Sahara Group failed to deposit Rs.5,092.6 crore in SEBI-Sahara refund account by 17 April in pursuance of its order, it will be compelled to auction its property valued at Rs.39,000 crore at Aamby Valley in Pune.

Earlier, a special SEBI court had quashed a non-bailable warrant against Roy as he appeared before the court. The warrant was also quashed on grounds that Roy will appear in all hearings now as the court asked him to submit an undertaking for the same.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday expressed concern over the attack on an Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and said such attacks must be met with strategic and decisive action.

"Repeated terrorist attacks, especially on Army camps, is extremely worrying. Must be met with strategic and decisive action," Gandhi tweeted.

"My heartfelt condolences to the families of our three brave soldiers martyred in the Kupwara attack," he added.

Three Army men and two militants were killed on Thursday in an attack on an Army camp in the Kashmir Valley's Kupwara district.
 

Tracking mixed trade in Asian markets and negative trade in European stocks, domestic benchmark indices corrected from record highs and closed Thursday’s trading session with marginal declines. 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.

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices gained around 0.1 per cent each.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Realty index registered the biggest gain with a jump of 0.7 per cent while Metal index became the lead loser with a tumble of 1 per cent.

On Wednesday, the benchmark indices had closed at record highs. The BSE Sensex had ended 190 points or 0.63 per cent up at 30,135 while the NSE Nifty had closed 45 points or 0.49 per cent higher at 9,352.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: Tata Motors (up 1.2 per cent), Cipla (up 1.1 per cent), Infosys (up 1.1 per cent), Wipro (up 1 per cent) and Gail (up 1 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Lupin (down 2.5 per cent), Axis Bank (down 2.2 per cent), ITC (down 1.9 per cent), Tata Steel (down 1.9 per cent) and SBI (down 1.6 per cent).

The Rupee was trading two paise down at 64.13 against the US Dollar.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ wicketkeeper-batsman Robin Uthappa, who scored his IPL-best knock of 87 runs on Wednesday to drive his team to victory, revealed that leg-spinner Piyush Chawla is the toughest bowler he has kept wickets to, so far in his career.

“Piyush (Chawla) is an extremely challenging bowler as he has different kinds of googlies,” Uthappa said as quoted by ‘iplt20’ on Thursday.

The 31-year-old Karnataka-based cricketer added that keeping to West Indies spinner Sunil Narine is also difficult though he enjoys it to the fullest.

“It is hard work keeping to all our spinners (Sunil Narine, the third spinner in KKR), but I enjoy the challenge. It makes keeping a lot more fun,” he said.

Undoubtedly, Uthappa enjoyed his best day on Wednesday as he impressed the Pune spectators with three sharp stumpings and then smashed 87 from 47 balls with the help of six sixes and seven boundaries.

Besides Uthappa, KKR Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav took a big share of credit for their victory as he claimed two big wickets in the shape of MS Dhoni and Manoj Tiwary.

Both Dhoni and Tiwary appeared helpless while facing the deceiving googlies by Kuldeep.

Uthappa praised the young spinner from Kanpur and said that he spent a lot of time with Kuldeep in the nets to improve his game.

“Obviously, you keep to him (Kuldeep) as often as you can in the nets and that helps in understanding what he is bowling and when he is bowling it. Also, during the course of the game you understand what the batsman is doing and what the bowler is probably going to bowl,” Uthappa added.

As Aizawl FC embark on their final mission needing a draw to land their maiden I-League title in their final match against Shillong Lajong FC, coach Khalid Jamil, in an effort to keep his boys free from the tension is willing to soak in all the pressure himself.

"Kuch jitne ke liye kuch khona padta hai, aur maine toh bahut kuch khoya hai" (To accomplish something you have to lose something else and I have lost a lot till now)," Jamil told www.the-aiff.com on Thursday. 

On being reminded of his rival counterpart Thangboi Singto's quote that ‘Lajong won't allow Aizawl FC to walk away with the title,' Jamil said: "Yeah, that's football. Why will they allow us to run away with the title? We have to fight for every inch and we will."

"Nobody spared a word for us at the starting. We have seen the league through thick and thin and finally, we're down to here," he added.

"Mera players hamesha dil se khelta hai (My players always play from their heart). They never shy away from doing something which they love. Aizawl players love playing football, they don't alienate themselves from doing that," the ex-national team midfielder said.

He stressed that being the better team doesn't matter much, rather all that matters is playing better on that day.

"We beat Mohun Bagan, we also beat East Bengal. But that doesn't mean we are better than them. It just means that on that day we might have played better football than them. We churned out the result which was important for us," he stated.

"I never ever dreamt of this day. Boys are enjoying it right now. I don't want to spoil their mood now but we still need one point. We can't afford to leave it loose until we grab it," Khalid sounded philosophical.

"There can't be any margin of error. We need to get the job done. We can't afford to let it slip."

Khalid doesn't deny that it will be tough without Ashutosh Mehta and Alfred Jaryan, both of whom are suspended, receiving four yellow cards. 

"It will be very tough without Alfred & Ashutosh. But we can't just sit and think over their suspension. We have to find out how we'd overcome this. I trust my entire team and we will try to get Lajong's skin," he said.

Three days after the Supreme Court ruled in T P Senkumar's favour, the Kerala government is yet to reinstate the IPS officer as the state police chief.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered the Kerala government to restore Senkumar as the Director General of Police after noting that his removal in May last year was "arbitrary".

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has held numerous meetings over the issue since then.

On Wednesday, Law Secretary P G Harindranath submitted a report that Senkumar should be appointed without further delay.

The Vijayan government removed Senkumar in 2016 after a public outcry over alleged mishandling of a temple fire tragedy and a murder case.

The chief minister will also have to find a new post for present DGP Loknath Behra, who replaced Senkumar.

Behra is also holding the additional charge of the Vigilance Department after its chief Jacob Thomas and was asked to proceed on leave in March.

Senkumar, meanwhile, has written to Chief Secretary Nalini Netto, saying that he should be allowed to rejoin duty.

Senkumar, who is set to retire on June 30, dispelled media speculation that he may go on leave after rejoining duty. Instead, he promised to work till the day he retires.

Almost 43 per cent of business and IT leaders in India — higher than the average 38 per cent for Asia-Pacific and Japan — see employee experience as a critical aspect of achieving their business objectives, a new study said on Thursday.

According to the study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, Indian firms realise the value of technology and innovation and the importance of constantly improving customer experience better than other developing countries in the region.

This puts India in a unique position in Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ), where collectively only six in 10 (61 per cent) business leaders felt that existing technology in their organisation is sufficient to meet their business goals. 

"To establish a balance, IT and business leaders need to embark upon a workforce transformation strategy and provide employees, appropriate end user technology — the requisite devices and software — in order to attain the two-fold objective of increasing employee efficiency, as well as retaining talent," Indrajit Belgundi, Director and General Manager, Client Solutions Group, Dell India, said in a statement.

The study also found that most security breaches that have occurred in the past 12 months are because of vulnerabilities at the device level.

Nearly 43 per cent of breaches in India occurred due to lost/stolen assets by an employee, while 39 per cent occurred due to a security breach of an employee device.

Actress Jessica Biel says her husband Justin Timberlake has always been supportive of the roles she takes on.

The 35-year-old actress says she likes the way Timberlake, an accomplished musician and actor in his own right, takes interest in her career, reported Femalefirst.

“He's been such a huge supporter of this all along. He knows how much the material is interesting to me and what a great opportunity this is for me to do something really different,” Biel says.

Biel tied the knot with Timberlake in 2012. They both share a baby boy together.

Amid Intelligence warning that an ISI-trained group in the garb of Hindu seers might strike prominent religious sites in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called for construction of boundary walls around the holy spots.

The priest-turned-politician also asked the officials concerned to ensure laying of 4-lane road connecting famous temples for the convenience of visitors.

Adityanath, the Hindu hardline leader who took over as chief minister of the most populous state over a month ago, gave the directive at a presentation of Religious Endowment Department here late Wednesday.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (Security), Mathura, Siddharth Verma said they had received information that terrorists dressed as 'sadhus' could enter the state to carry out attacks.

The pilgrim town of Mathura is a sensitive area as it is situated along the state's border with Rajasthan and Haryana, prompting police to instal metal detectors, X-ray machines and CCTV cameras at vantage places, as well as carry out surprise checks at night shelters, guest houses and hotels.

"Checking is being done daily and undercover police personnel are keeping a watch at public areas after reports that a group of 20-25 men dressed as seers are planning to attack important places, especially pilgrim centres, in Uttar Pradesh," Verma said.

The group, allegedly trained by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been directed to target Ayodhya, Varanasi, Vrindavan, and the Taj Mahal in Agra, he said.

"All district police chiefs and Railway superintendents of police have been informed about the threat. We are coordinating with other agencies to thwart such attempts," UP anti-terror squad Inspector General Asim Arun said.

Central Intelligence agencies have been sharing inputs with the UP Police since February about increased activity of terrorists in the state.

According to the latest alert, the ISI is planning to launch attacks in the northern state under the code name 'Operation Krishna India'.

"The agency (ISI) has reportedly trained the group for months to familiarise them with Hindu religious practices.

Members of the module are planning to enter UP through the Nepal border in the guise of seers," the reports said.

In February, Intelligence agencies in the state were tipped off about four dozen terrorists sneaking into UP through the porous border with Nepal.

Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3 km open border with Nepal touching seven districts – Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj.

"As per the Intelligence inputs, the group has also been trained by Pakistan's ISI in Hindu religious practices, and might try to blend with the local populace before carrying out deadly strikes at prominent religious sites and other sensitive spots," police said.

The Intelligence agencies had picked up intercepts through electronic surveillance in which youths were heard discussing the deaths of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) men in Telangana as well as IS suspect Saifullah in Lucknow.

A Khurasan module was busted after Saifullah's death last month. Recently, some self-radicalised youths were also arrested by the UP Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

In 2016, eight suspected members of SIMI had tried to evade the police by adornig saffron robes in Madhya Pradesh.

The men were later killed in a police encounter.

Singer Solange Knowles says women have to go through a lot of confrontations every day and it is her art that helps her in getting over them.

The 30-year-old singer says she tries to make things easier for herself by focusing on her music, modelling or acting, reported Cosmopolitan magazine.

“We as women face a lot of challenges on a daily basis. We have to stand firm in our walk and our intentions – but there are absolutely times when that weight feels too heavy, feels like a load that I just can't bear that day.

“I try to work through that in my art, whatever medium that might be. My live performance is based around the colour red and all the things that communicates as a woman to the world…” Knowles says.

The Cranes in the Sky singer says with age she has become better at explaining the complexities of a woman.

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram bowed out of the Badminton Asia Championships, going down to Chinese Taipei's Hsu Jen Hao here on Thursday.

Jayaram, who caused an upset by defeating fifth seed Tian Houwei 21-18, 18-21, 21-19 on Wednesday, was bested by Hao 19-21, 10-21 in the second round match. 

He never seemed comfortable against Hao. The Indian shuttler somehow managed to give a little fight but it was his opponent who proved superior and clinched the first game.

The second game saw Jayaram giving up easy points. As a result, Hao took eight consecutive points and thus wrapped up the issue 10-21 in just 35 minutes of play.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme, best known for his directorial ventures Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia has died. He was 73.

The filmmaker died on Wednesday at his home in Manhattan, as a result of complications from esophageal cancer. He was surrounded by family at the time of his death, reported Entertainment Weekly.

The director disclosed that he had cancer in 2015.

Demme's most iconic film was The Silence of the Lambs, the 1991 horror-thriller that was a blockbuster, a critical success, and introduced moviegoers to Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter.

The story of a novice FBI analyst (Jodie Foster) on the trail of a murderer became only the third film in history to win Academy Awards in all the top five categories, joining the ranks of It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Born in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, Demme attended the University of Florida. He got his break working for famed producer Roger Corman, for whom he directed a clutch of exploitation movies, including 1974's women-in-prison film Caged Heat.

The filmmaker garnered acclaim for his 1980 comedy-drama Melvin and Howard. Over the next decade, Demme became one of the most admired directors in the country with films like the black comedies Something Wild and Married to the Mob.

Demme's subsequent films included Philadelphia, for which Tom Hanks won the best actor Oscar as a lawyer with AIDS, and “Rachel Getting Married”.

Demme was also a prolific documentary-maker who directed the 1984 “Talking Heads” in concert film “Stop Making Sense”, as well as docs on Neil Young and Justin Timberlake.

The Timberlake concert film, “Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids,” is Demme's last theatrical directorial credit. He also directed an episode of the Fox series “Shots Fired,” which airs Wednesday on the network.

Demme, who was previously married to director-producer Evelyn Purcell, is survived by second wife Joanne Howard and their three children: Ramona, Brooklyn and Jos.

In lieu of flowers, Demme's family asked that donations be made to Americans For Immigrant Justice in Miami.

United Airlines has said it will offer up to $10,000 to passengers who give up seats on overbooked flights.

The airline said it will cut back on overbooking and develop an automated system to gauge customers' interest in voluntary, compensated bumping at check-in.

The change comes as part of a review following an inquiry set up after a passenger was dragged off a fully booked United flight this month, ABC News reported on Thursday.

David Dao lost two front teeth and suffered a broken nose when he was removed from the Chicago-Louisville flight to make room for crew members in the April 9 incident.

The incident caused outrage and widespread condemnation of the airline. The shocking footage was shared and watched by millions online.

The offer by United comes after rival Delta Air Lines Inc said it will pay as much as $9,950 compared with a previous cap of $1,350 for volunteers to get off overbooked flights.

The latest incident to hit United Airlines's reputation came on Wednesday when it announced an investigation into the death of a giant rabbit which was being transported on one of its planes.

The 90-cm-long bunny, called Simon, was found dead in the cargo hold when the flight arrived at Chicago's O'Hare airport from London's Heathrow.

The company said it was striving to become a "better, more customer-focused airline" to win back the public's trust after a worldwide furore over Dao's treatment.

"Every customer deserves to be treated with the highest levels of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect," embattled CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement. 

"Two weeks ago, we failed to meet that standard. Today, we are taking concrete, meaningful action to make things right," he added.

Beginning on Friday, maximum compensation for voluntary denied boarding will be increased up to $10,000, said the airline.

It said there would be no more use of law enforcement officers to remove passengers from flights unless it was a matter of safety and security.

Additionally, seated passengers will not be asked to leave involuntarily and crews will be booked on flights 60 minutes before departure.

An annual training would be given to staff to handle "the most difficult situations" and customers will be paid at least $1,500 on any permanently lost bags, United said.

A "customer solutions team" will be established by June to provide gate agents with creative solutions. 

They'll explore putting passengers and flight crews on flights to nearby airports, using other airlines or providing ground transportation.