Afghanistan on Sunday observed a national day of mourning after at least 100 soldiers were killed or wounded in a Taliban attack on a military base, prompting angry calls for ministers and army chiefs to resign.

The exact toll from Friday's assault in the northern province of Balkh remains unclear, with some local officials putting the number of dead as high as 130.

The assault, the deadliest-ever by the Taliban on a military base, underscores their growing strength    more than 15 years after they were ousted from power.

Flags flew at half-mast throughout the country and special prayers were said for the dead.

The defence ministry gave a figure of at least 100 soldiers killed or wounded. It ignored media calls for a complete breakdown of casualties following the five-hour attack near the provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif.

But local officials including, Mohammad Ibrahim Khairandish the head of the provincial council, put the death toll as high as 130 and said about 60 were wounded.

Ten gunmen dressed in soldiers' uniforms and armed with suicide vests entered the base in army trucks and opened fire at unarmed troops at close range in the base's mosque and dining hall.

Ordinary Afghans vented their anger at the government for its inability to counter a series of brazen Taliban assaults, including a raid on the country's largest military hospital in Kabul in March that left dozens dead.

“Mothers lost their sons, sisters lost their brothers and wives lost their husbands. What is the government doing to prevent such atrocities, only condemning? I am so tired, I can't do anything but to cry,” a user called Zabiullah posted on Facebook.

“The best way to honour them is to fire and punish those who failed to do their jobs and/or cooperated with the enemy. Some leaders must go!” said another user on Twitter.

Many called for the resignation of Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi and the commander of the 209th Corps stationed at the base.

“This was no act of desperation. The Taliban infiltrated an Afghan military base. That's a major sign of strength,” tweeted Washington-based analyst Michael Kugelman.

A military source at the base indicated the assault was an insider attack, and the militants were “young recruits who had come for training”.

Afghan troops and police, beset by killings and desertions, have been struggling to beat back insurgents since US-led NATO troops ended their combat mission in December 2014.

Afghan security force casualties soared by 35 percent in 2016, with 6,800 soldiers and police killed, according to US watchdog SIGAR.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the consensus on Goods and Services Tax (GST) reflects the spirit of 'one nation, one aspiration, one determination'.

“The consensus on GST will go down in history as a great illustration of cooperative federalism. GST reflects the spirit of 'One nation, One aspiration, One determination',” an official statement quoted Modi as saying.

The Prime Minister was delivering his opening remarks at the third meeting of the Governing Council of Niti Aayog.

According to the statement, the Prime Minister also said GST shows the strength and resolve of the federal structure.

Modi gave credit to all chief ministers for coming on one platform for GST, keeping aside ideological and political differences.

President Pranab Mukherjee on April 13 gave assent to four key legislations on GST. The government plans to roll out the new indirect tax regime from July 1.

GST, the biggest taxation reform since Independence, will subsume central excise, service tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and other local levies to create a uniform market.

Actress Meghan Markle is reportedly allowed to visit the Kensington Palace without going through the regular identification drill.

The 35-year-old actress, who is dating Prince Harry, is 'waved right through' security at the gates of his home, according to US Weekly.

However, all other visitors are required to fill out several forms of identification and are accompanied with an official invitation from a member of the household.

“Harry has made it clear she's to be treated like everyone else who lives there.

“She's very much been accepted into the family. They are so happy to see Harry happy,” a source said.

Suresh Raina-led Gujarat Lions have won the toss and have opted to field first against Kings XI Punjab in the 26th match of the IPL 2016 at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot on Monday.

"We have been good at chasing so thought let's try it," Raina said after winning the toss.

Gujarat announced four changes with Nathu Singh, Shubham Agarwal, Andrew Tye and Akshdeep Nath coming in, replacing James Faulkner, Ishan Kishan Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni respectively.

Manan Vohra is back in the KXIP camp, while KC Cariappa and T Natarajan came in for Swapnil and Ishant Sharma respectively. 

Kings XI Punjab Playing XI: Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra, Glenn Maxwell (c), Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, KC Cariappa, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma

Gujarat Lions Playing XI: Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina (c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Dwayne Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshdeep Nath, Andrew Tye, Shubham Agarwal, Basil Thampi, Nathu Singh

Lenders are considering making a fresh attempt to sell Kingfisher House here to recover their dues from Vijay Mallya, adopting a model followed in recent sale of the defaulter businessman's posh Goa villa.

Repeated attempts to auction the Mumbai property have failed to find a buyer, which was the case for sea-facing Goa villa as well until the banks entered into direct negotiations to clinch a bilateral pact with the buyer.

Banks have the option to sell the properties under their possession through a private agreement with a buyer, if at least two auctions of such properties failed.

“With the sale of the villa, at least a process has been initiated. We may explore the option of selling Kingfisher House through a bilateral agreement,” a banking source said.

Earlier this month, the 17-lender consortium led by State Bank of India sold the Kingfisher Villa for Rs.73.01 crore to Sachiin Joshi of Viiking Media & Entertainment, after failing to sell it through auction thrice since last year.

The plush property situated at Condolim in north Goa was sold through a private deal between lenders and Joshi. It was sold at just Rs.1 lakh above the last fixed reserve price of Rs.73 crore.

Mallya owes over Rs.9,000 crore to bankers, taken for his defunct Kingfisher Airlines but alleged to have syphoned off a good portion to his shell companies in overseas tax havens.

Mallya has been declared a wilful defaulter and is wanted by authorities for default in payment of loans.

Lenders have made four failed bids to sell the Kingfisher House, the erstwhile headquarters of Kingfisher Airlines located at Vile Parle near the airport.

At the last auction of the Kingfisher House in March this year, the SBI-led consortium had set reserve price at Rs.103.50 crore, 10 per cent lower than the third auction held in December 2016 when the reserve price was kept at Rs.115 crore.

In the first failed auction of over 17,000 sqft Kingfisher House in March 2016, reserve price was fixed at Rs.150 crore but was lowered to Rs.135 crore for the second futile auction in August.

Mallya, who was arrested by the Scotland Yard last week as part of an extradition process but was released on bail within hours, owes over Rs.9,000 crore to lenders like SBI, PNB, IDBI Bank, BoB, Allahabad Bank, Federal Bank and Axis Bank, among others. He fled the country on March 3 last year and is currently in London.

Singer Lana Del Rey has been getting close to American rapper G-Eazy.

They were spotted "making out" several times during Coachella festival last week, reports mirror.co.uk.

A source said: "They were together for the entire weekend. They barely left one ­another's sides and looked very lovey-dovey. They were kissing and whispering in each other's ears."

They partied their way around the festival in Indio, California, where he was performing. They were spotted cosying up everywhere from the VIP area to the ­audience at rapper Kendrick Lamar's set.

The source added: "It wasn't just the two of them – they had come with friends. But they looked pretty hot for one another. She was dancing the whole time during Kendrick's ­performance and he was ­actually watching her more than the stage."
 

India is considering to impose anti-dumping duty on a certain type of fibre as the commerce ministry has started a probe on the imports of this commodity from the European Union, China, Belarus, Ukraine and Peru.

The ministry's anti-dumping investigation arm-Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) – has found “sufficient” evidence of dumping of acrylic fibre from these regions.

Indian Acrylics Ltd and Pasupati Acrylon have jointly filed an application for initiation of anti-dumping investigation.

Acrylic fibre is lightweight, soft and warm with a wool like feel. It is used in making sweaters, tracksuits, gloves, furnishing fabrics and carpets.

The directorate has initiated “an investigation into the alleged dumping and consequent injury to the domestic industry,” DGAD has said in a notification.

If established that dumping has caused material injury to domestic players, the DGAD would recommend imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of fibre from the European Union, China, Belarus, Ukraine and Peru.

The period of investigation covers July-December 2016.

Anti-dumping duties are levied to provide a level playing field to local industry by guarding against cheap below-cost imports.

The DGAD is also probing dumping of several other products such as certain chemicals and steel products from China.

Countries dump products in India as it is one of the most attractive markets for global producers due to its large middle-class population.

Imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. Both India and China are members of the Geneva-based body.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a- vis foreign producers and exporters.

A US Navy Fireman has been buried near his home in Joliet, Illinois more than 75 years after he was killed in a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that sunk his ship USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, a media report said.

Fireman First Class Michael Galajdik was finally buried with full military honours, which included a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps” by sailors from the Great Lakes Naval Station yesterday, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Galajdik was only 25 years old when Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,400 Americans and destroying a number of ships.

“I feel relieved and emotional,” said George Sternisha, Galajdik's nephew. “It's been a long journey.”

Galajdik had previously been interred at the Hawaiian naval base along with hundreds of other sailors. But thanks to DNA testing officials were able to identify which remains belonged to Galajdik, the paper said.

The process started in 2009 as new technology became available, Sternisha said.

He regrets his mother, Galajdik's sister, was unable to see it before she died in 1993. Sternisha said his mother, Anna, helped raise Galajdik when she was just a teenager.

Galajdik's funeral procession which traveled about a mile was lined with hundreds of supporters carrying American flags.

The procession of about 70 vehicles were led by a firetruck, several police vehicles and about two dozen motorcycle riders from various veterans organisations.

“Both of my grandfathers served in World War II,” said Michael Winbun, of Joliet, waving a flag as the procession passed. He said he wanted to show his support when he heard the Joliet veteran was coming home.

Groups dotted the route from the church to Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, where Galajdik was finally buried.

“We're all here to support veterans,” said Lee Young, of the Illinois Patriot Guard, which led the pack. “It's very touching, very happy and very sad at the same time…It's amazing they could finally do this.”

Robert Mcleod, representing the state department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said it's up to families to keep pushing for officials to bring their loved ones home.

Some government officials have been working diligently the past several years to return those killed in the battlefield.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said reports of EVM malfunctioning were coming from all over the capital during municipal elections.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader also tweeted that people with voter slips were not being allowed to vote. "What is the SEC doing?"

Delhi is voting on Sunday to elect three wings of the municipal corporation.

Actor Channing Tatum says he does not miss his former life as a stripper and insists there was nothing glamorous about it.

The 36-year-old actor, who drew inspiration from his past life as an exotic dancer for his role in the Magic Mike movies and the newly launched Magic Mike Live at Hard Rock Las Vegas, says he has no desire to return to the stage, reported People magazine.

“I don't miss anything about stripping. I stripped in Tampa for like 25 girls, at best. It wasn't glamorous whatsoever, so there's nothing that I miss about stripping. This isn't stripping. This is a show,” Tatum says.

The actor also revealed why he decided to create a live show based on the movies in Vegas.

“People in general are coming because they know the movies and they think they're going to get something like they saw in the last film, and they're going to get all that.

“But I think they're going to get something else. We don't do live shows. We don't do that. With this, we didn't have any rules so we just started creating crazy s*** and no one told us that wasn't allowed.”

Actor-comedian David Spade and Naya Rivera were spotted enjoying a dinner date.

The two, who star together in the Crackle comedy film Mad Families, were photographed near the Malibu sushi restaurant Nobu, a popular celebrity hotspot, reported E! online.

“David really likes Naya. They are still trying to keep things private, but they have hung out a couple of times since Hawaii,” a source said.

For the date night, the 30-year-old former “Glee” actress wore a sexy black dress with a thigh-high split, while Spade, 52, sported a blue shirt, dark pants and black leather jacket.

Delhi Daredevils pacer Kagiso Rabada said that his side lost to table toppers Mumbai Indians in their IPL match here due to some soft dismissals of their batsmen.

"It was a good outing. Unfortunately, we just did not pull it off. We bowled really well and had a few dismissals, run outs, soft dismissals in the first six (overs). That's when you are capable of chasing much more than that, said Rabada after the Daredevils lost by 14 runs.

Rabada was referring to the suicidal run-out of opener Aditya Tare in the fourth ball and the tame dismissals of the other opener Sanju Samson and number three and number four Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer when a more cautious approach was called for to overhaul the modest target of 143.

South African Rabada, used first-up, took 1 for 30 and also led the fightback in the run-chase later, after the Daredevils were reduced to 24 for 6, by making 44 before getting dismissed in the penultimate over.

"The pitch was nice to bat on. Unfortunately, this was not our day. They were getting wickets of decent deliveries, nothing spectacular," he explained.

"It's disappointing that we are losing. At the end of the day, we did not execute quite well. The numbers talk for themselves. But we have trust in our batsmen, we have some young talent. The tournament is far from over," said Rabada with some optimism after the Daredevils slumped to their fourth defeat of the season in six games.

He said his side would need a reassessment of their performance but certainly not out of this IPL.

"It's just that last push. We have been in a few tight situations. Actually, all our games have been tight, none of our games have been swinging either way. So, I think we just need to close that up. We are not out of this (IPL) for sure.

"Today, our game again got close whereas it should have never been. So, we are a fighting team. We play right till the end. We always throw the first punch most of the time. It's just about closing it up," said Rabada.

Rabada also had a word of praise for former India stalwart Rahul Dravid's role in the Daredevils' team.

"Rahul Dravid was a magnificent player. And he has proved to be a good mentor. He knows the game very well and his experience is priceless. He has played the game at the highest level and he has done it exceptionally well," he said.

"He is a great guy to have in the change room specially since we have a lot of youngsters and they are definitely learning from him.

Filmmaker James Cameron and Fox have set the release dates for the four Avatar sequels, with Avatar 2 arriving on December 18, 2020.

Avatar 3 will open December 17, 2021, followed by a three- year break for Avatar 4, set for December 20, 2024. Avatar 5 will then open on December 19, 2025.

The news was announced on the movie's official Facebook page.

“Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels,” Cameron said in the post.

Cameron had announced a year ago at CinemaCon that he would make four Avatar sequels, promising that the films would start hitting theaters in 2018.

The filmmaker said last year that he had first envisioned two sequels but after meeting with the screenwriters, artists and designers, he realised that he had too much material for just two films. He initially decided on three sequels, then jumped to four.

Cameron and Jon Landau are producing through their Lightstorm company. Returning cast includes Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang. The script was written by Cameron with Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Shane Salerno.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud on Sunday reinstated bonuses and special allowances for civil servants and military personnel that was cut in September when oil revenues were low.

The King signed a decree which said the pay cuts for ministers and government employees – the first in the country, where about two-thirds of working Saudis are employed in the public sector – had been in response to falling oil prices, which sank to a low of $28 a barrel, the BBC reported.

Under the cuts, ministers had their salaries reduced by 20 per cent and housing and car allowances for members of the advisory Shura Council were cut by 15 per cent.

Wage increases for lower-ranking civil servants were suspended and overtime payments and annual leave capped.

Salaries and allowances accounted for 45 per cent of government spending in 2015 or $128 billion and contributed to a record budget deficit of $98 billion, reports the BBC.

The King also ordered two months extra salary be paid to frontline military personnel taking part in Saudi-led operations in Yemen.

The sale of renewable energy certificates (RECs) has jumped by 31 per cent to 64.88 lakh in 2016-17 as compared to 49.55 lakh in previous fiscal indicating improvement in compliance of renewable purchase obligation.

Power distribution companies as well as open access and captive consumers have to buy RECs from renewable energy producers under renewable purchase obligations (RPOs) as mandated by central and state regulatory commissions.

RECs are aimed at providing an easier avenue for various entities, including power distribution companies, to meet their green energy obligations.

According to the data of energy exchanges – the sale of RECs at Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) rose by 47.14 per cent to 46.19 lakh last fiscal as compared to 31.39 lakh RECs traded in 2015-16.
Power Exchange India Ltd (PXIL) sold 18.69 lakh RECs in 2016-17 as against 18.16 lakh in the previous financial year.

IEX and PXIL, approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), used to hold auction of RECs last Wednesday of every month. From March, after a CERC directive, they have started holding the auctions on last Friday of the month.

IEX sold 6.85 lakh RECs in March, while PXIL recorded a sale of 3.47 lakh RECs.

One REC is equivalent to 1 MWh of electricity generated from renewable sources.

Under the REC mechanism, an entity can generate power through renewable resources in any part of the country. The generator receives the cost equivalent of electricity produced from any source while the environment attribute is sold through the exchanges at market-determined price.

Steven Spielbergs untitled Pentagon Papers drama, which is rumored to star Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, will open in limited release on December 22.

It will expand nationwide on January 12, 2018, a week after the Golden Globes broadcast, reports variety.com.

Hanks is said to play Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, with Streep handling the role of publisher Katharine Graham. 

The Washington Post pair made the decision to publish a classified history of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War over the objections of the Nixon administration.

The opening slot puts the Spielberg film in the hunt for Academy Awards gold along with the likes of Alexander Payne's Downsizing, The Current War with Benedict Cumberbatch, and The Greatest Showman with Hugh Jackman.

Twentieth Century Fox is distributing the film. 

The studio also announced that Red Sparrow, a spy thriller that reunites actress Jennifer Lawrence with her Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence, will open on March 2, 2018. 

It was originally slated to debut on November 10. 

Three prisoners of the Nagpur Central Jail – two of them serving life sentences and the third a death row convict – have completed BA and MA degrees from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

Narayan Chaudhary (35), the death row convict, had enrolledwith the IGNOU for MA (sociology) in 2012.

Similarly, Vijay Mahakalkar (30) and Shyamrao Waghmare (45), serving life sentences, had registered themselves with the varsity for BA and MA sociology courses, respectively.
All three inmates have completed their degrees, a senior official of the university said.

However, the inmates could not attend the IGNOU convocation held this month, where degrees were awarded to successful candidates, due to protocol and prison rules.

But they will be handed over their degrees at a function to be held in the jail premises soon, said Nagpur- based Regional Director of IGNOU P Sivaswaroop.

As many as 745 prisoners from Nagpur and Amravati jails have applied for IGNOU courses since July 2010, he said, adding most of them opted for social science disciplines.
Prisoners are provided study material by the university like other students, he said.

DIG (Prisons), Eastern Region, Yogesh Desai, said jail authorities have launched initiatives to impart different skills to the inmates.

They are trained in traditional skills like fabrication and carpentry, among others. Besides, a facility has been set up in the jail premises by a company called Sai Minda to manufacture wiring harnesses, he told PTI.

Similarly, the IGNOU, in collaboration with Hero Motors Corp, will be starting a two-month course in auto mechanics, Desai said.

He said the inmates take a lot of interest in skill development courses as these will help them to get jobs or start their own business once they are released.