An American Airlines flight attendant has been suspended for hitting a female passenger with a baby stroller onboard a domestic flight, the media reported on Saturday.

The woman had just boarded a flight on Friday afternoon from San Francisco to Dallas when the incident occurred, the New York Daily News reported.

A video posted by a Facebook user showed the aftermath.

"AA (American Airlines) flight attendant violently took a stroller from a lady with her baby on my flight, hitting her and just missing the baby," the user captioned the video.

Although, the footage does not catch the moment when the flight attendant allegedly struck the woman, but the atmosphere in the cabin gets tense as a man steps in to defend her.

"Hey bud, you do that to me and I'll knock you flat," the man says to the attendant as the distraught woman stands to the side clutching her baby.

"You stay out of this," the attendant responds, adding "Hit me, c'mon, bring it on!…C'mon, you don't know what the story is.".

The woman was eventually escorted off the flight, but the attendant was allowed back on, reports the New York Daily News.

The Facebook video quickly spread across social media, and had been shared more than 3,500 times as of early Saturday.

American Airlines condemned the attendant's behaviour and said it had launched a probe into the incident.

"What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers," the airline said in a statement. 

"We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident."

The airline said the woman and her baby boarded another flight. 

The attendant was removed from duty pending an investigation, it added.

The incident follows another high-profile clash on a United Airlines plane two weeks ago, when a passenger was violently removed from an overbooked flight.

Police in Bangladesh on Saturday found at least 17 large containers of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical used to make bombs, from a suspected militant hideout in Jhenaidah district.

The recovery was made after a team of 30 members of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit resumed their operation for the second day at a house in Porahati village, used by the suspected Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants, in the morning, The Daily Star reported.

Besides the containers, a 7.65 foreign made pistol, seven bullets and 15 to 16 jihadi books were also recovered from the militant hideout. Jhenaidah is some 178 km west of capital Dhaka.

"Around 10 a.m., police moved to the house. Some of the bombs have been already disposed…The 30-litre containers are marked hydrogen peroxide," a senior police official told bdnews24.

Based on a tip-off, the team on Friday conducted the raid at the house.

According to the police, the owner of the house was one 'Abdullah', who converted to Islam from Hinduism five years ago, and was a member of a militant group in the district.

Police on Friday claimed that the suspected militants had fled the spot before the CTTC began the operation.

Police said they also found some suicide vests in the house. 

A senior police official told bdnews24 that the Neo-JMB – the revived edition of militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh – was using the house as a "bomb-making facility".

Last month, CTTC officials busted five hideouts of Neo-JMB — two in Chittagong, one in Sylhet and two in Moulvibazar, reports The Daily Star. 

Nineteen people, including five children and five women, were killed in those incidents.

According to police, 16 of them were killed in suicide blasts.

Security has been tightened in Bangladesh since Neo JMB militants attacked a cafe in Dhaka's upscale Gulshan area on July 1 last year, killing 22 people, mostly foreigners.

Law enforcers in Bangladesh have cracked down on the Neo-JMB since then.

A sure shot formula to get the TRP high for a soap opera these days is to bring the lead couple closer in rather a steamy sequence.

One of the most good looking and sexy couples on TV, Kushal Tandon and Jennifer Winget, who play Arjun and Maya in Sony Entertainment Television’s show Beyhadh recently shot an intimate scene.

If the gossip from the sets of the show is to be believed, then what people saw on TV was not the entire scene but just a little chunk of the whole sequence. The channel had to edit the scene owing to ‘family viewing’ policy.

Reportedly, the much hyped ‘kiss’ was taken in the right spirit by Jennifer and Kushal.

Knowing well that the kiss will become a talked about topic for a long time, on and off screen, the actors purportedly kept their cool and decided to get done with it in one go.

Only a selected team, was chosen to stay back to shoot the particular scene.

Jennifer had a conversation with Kushal before the scene and the actors then came on floors and finished the scene in one straight take, sources close to them said.

Rising Pune Supergiant skipper Steve Smith won the toss and decided to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 24th match of the IPL 2017 at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Saturday.

Washington Sundar, the replacement for injured spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, will make his IPL debut for Pune.

For Sunrisers Hyderabad, Yuvraj Singh will miss out the action in Pune as he is unwell and replaced by Bipul Sharma.

Rising Pune Supergiant Playing XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Steve Smith (capt), MS Dhoni, Ben Stokes, Daniel Christian, Manoj Tiwary, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Imran Tahir.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Playing XI: David Warner (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha, Bipul Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Siddarth Kaul.

Three districts in Assam, Tripura and Mizoram got awards for the execution of the central government's flagship schemes in agriculture and the power sector, officials said on Saturday.

According to an official from the Tripura government's agriculture department, Gomati district in southern Tripura got the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) award for its success in crop insurance.

The scheme was launched in January 2016 to reduce the recurrence of agricultural distress and resolve farmers' problems in times of difficulty.

The official said that Siaha district of southern Mizoram got the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) award for its performance in irrigation.

The PMKSY was launched in July 2015 for a period of five years (2015-16 to 2019-20) to enhance the government's investment in irrigation, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation (har khet ko pani), improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water and adoption of water saving technologies.

Rs 50,000 crore have been allocated for the flagship scheme over a period of five years.

An official in Guwahati said Sivasagar district of eastern Assam got the award in implementing Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the DDUGJY in July 2015 in Patna as one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Power to facilitate 24×7 supply of power in rural areas and meet the requirement of electricity for agricultural purposes.

According to the officials, the three districts got the awards in the North-East and Hill states category.

Each award-winning district was given a trophy, a citation and Rs 10 lakh cash at a function by the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Friday.

Stray dogs, clogged sewers, mosquitoes and garbage dumps, different localities in Delhi have had their fair share of civic woes in the last ten years under the BJP governed municipal corporation. Yet, most Delhiites are willing to press the lotus button again on Sunday, putting their trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Many of the Delhi voters, from different walks of life were impressed by PM Modi’s work at the Centre and expressed confidence that the Delhi municipality too will work more effectively under Modi’s watch.

“I know he (Modi) won’t be directly involved in the MCD but we all have seen him work and I trust him enough to vote for the BJP,” said the 35-year-old Abhishek Singh, a businessman from central Delhi.

Although, there were some who had their apprehensions because of the “average” work done by the party in the last two terms in office but were influenced by the party’s decision to field fresh faces.

“It (BJP) has made efforts to bring in youth and first timers. I feel this is a message to the people of Delhi that the BJP wants to start afresh in Delhi and is serious about its intents,” said Ankita Mehra, a 25-year-old executive from east Delhi who has decided to vote for BJP.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the MCD polls in 2007 and again in 2012. The corporation was trifurcated in 2012 into North, South (104 wards each) and East (64 wards) zones and in the polls held in April that year, BJP emerged as the biggest party although its total seat share came down from 2007.

However, there were some who outrightly rejected the BJP accusing it of failing to meet the expectations of the people of Delhi.

“What has the BJP done in ten years? There are stray dogs in our locality and the streets are always dirty. MCD is a den of corruption and needs a thorough cleaning,” said 50-year-old Gulshan Bhatia, a resident of east Delhi who will be voting for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

A total of 272 wards across three MCDs will go to the polls on April 23. The results will be declared on April 26.

The Congress Arunachal Pradesh unit on Saturday described as "immature and uncalled for" Chief Minister Pema Khandu's statement that the Indian state shares a border with Tibet and not China.

"The Chief Minister of a sensitive state like Arunachal Pradesh should not make any statement before going through the political status and history of Tibet, as recognised by the Indian government," state Congress President Takam Sanjoy said.

Sanjoy, a former Lok Sabha member, said Tibet as of today has the status of the 'Tibetan Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China'.

On April 14, New Delhi said there is no change in the Indian position that Tibet is a part of China and that it will continue to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the boundary issue.

Khandu had allegedly said that Beijing has no right to threaten New Delhi on the Dalai Lama's movement within the country as India shares a boundary with Tibet and not China.

He said the McMahon Line in reality demarcates the territory between India and Tibet.

The McMahon Line, an imaginary border now known as the Line of Actual Control, is just 25 km from Tawang.

On Beijing's move to rename six places in Arunachal Pradesh, Sanjoy said: "The indigenous and ethnic people of Arunachal Pradesh have since the British Raj got integrated into the Indian mainstream.

"Some of the tribal leaders even participated in the Indian freedom struggle. Therefore, disputing Arunachal's status by China is absolutely absurd and beyond ethnic evidence," the Congress leader said.

"Arunachal Pradesh is without doubt an integral part of the Indian Union," he said.

On the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to Arunachal this month, Sanjoy said it is a non-issue and the Chinese government's opposition to the visit was impulsive.

Two days after being summoned by Delhi Police, AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran on Saturday appeared before the Delhi Police Crime Branch for questioning in connection with the two leaves party symbol row.

Dinakaran arrived at around 3 pm at the Crime Branch Inter State Cell office here for questioning in connection with an alleged attempt to bribe an EC official for retaining the two leaves party symbol.

On 20 April, the Delhi Police had summoned him at his residence in Chennai in connection with the case of an alleged attempt to bribe Election Commission officials to get the two leaves symbol for his party.

Hundreds of volunteers including students and officials of the US embassy were out on the streets here on Saturday to promote air quality awareness among people of the national capital and conduct a survey.

As part of the "Earth Day" activities, the US embassy, in cooperation with programme partner Clean Air Asia organised a two-day campaign 'Better Air, Better Earth' to promote air quality awareness. 

The campaign involved volunteers from the embassies of the US, Sweden, Spain, the High Commission of Canada and Clean Air Asia's Youth Clean Air Network (YCan), who were placed at various locations here to record PM 2.5 levels and take a perception survey.

The campaign would also be continued on Sunday when volunteers would record people's perception of air pollution in the city.

"We are proud to support Clean Air Asia's efforts to raise awareness about air quality in India. Projects like these really are at the heart of this year's Earth Day theme — environmental literacy," Richard Pinkham, Director of Programmes, New Delhi American Centre said.

Prarthana Borah, who is India Director of Clean Air Asia, said that the survey would help them to understand the views, opinion and perception of the people towards pollution.

"The campaign will also help in finding solutions for better air quality in the national capital," she said.

"The campaign is involved in creating awareness on air quality through a variety of programmes, as well as local innovative solutions to meet the challenge of air pollution."

Clean Air Asia's Air Quality Researcher Vasundhara Bhojvaid said that various teams were formed to conduct the perception survey in the city. 

"We are conducting survey in 15 locations in the city depending on the kind of pollution," Bhojvaid said.

She added that they have divided and sent the team to five locations — North Delhi, South Delhi, Central Delhi, East Delhi and West Delhi.

Bhojvaid, who was leading a South Delhi team, said that based on research, they have picked up Satya Niketan observing the occurrence of dust due to metro construction. 

Likewise, we have chosen other areas based on traffic, industry and other aspects, she said.

She said that students who have volunteered to be part of the campaign would ask people 13 different question related to pollution. 

Manaswi Singha, a student of Delhi University and Nishant, an engineering student of Delhi Technological University, who were conducting the survey, said that they chose to be a part of the campaign as they wanted to create awareness and understand the real cause of pollution.
 

In another development to the National Herald case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy submitted a fresh list of witnesses during a hearing at the Patiala House Court on Saturday.

The next hearing in this matter will be held on 15 May.

Earlier on 25 March, all the accused involved in the case, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, had filed their reply in the Delhi court and opposed Swamy's plea seeking summoning of witnesses.

The court had previously also dismissed Swamy's plea, seeking documents related to the case against Sonia and Rahul along with other accused.

Swamy had filed an application in 2012, accusing Sonia, Rahul and others associated with the Congress of conspiring to cheat in a land deal.

An application in this matter was filed by Swamy in 2012, accusing Sonia, Rahul and others associated with the Congress in the case.

He had alleged that the Congress had granted an interest-free loan of Rs.90.25 crore to the AJL, established by Jawaharlal Nehru, which was either not repaid or repaid in case.

In August 2016, the local court had issued notice to Sonia and Rahul and five other accused in the case.

India on Saturday strongly condemned the terror attack on an army base in northern Afghanistan, saying it is a stark reminder of the need to immediately dismantle safe havens sustaining terrorism from outside that country's borders.

The External Affairs Ministry, in a statement, said India remained steadfast in its support to Afghanistan in fighting all forms of terrorism.

More than 100 Afghan soldiers were killed and wounded in a coordinated Taliban attack on the army base near the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif yesterday.

"The terrorist attack is a stark reminder of the need to immediately dismantle the safe havens and sanctuaries that support and sustain terrorism in Afghanistan from outside its borders," the MEA said, in an apparent reference to the terror infrastructure in Pakistan.

It said the government and the people of India extend their deepest condolences and stand with the government and people of Afghanistan at this difficult moment.

"India remains steadfast in its support to Afghanistan in fighting all forms of terrorism and bringing perpetrators of terrorist violence to justice, wherever they maybe," the statement said.

India will continue to do more to make it easier to do business in the country while remaining one of the most open economies to trade and investment, Indian envoy to Singapore Jawed Ashraf has said.

Responding to a question on whether protectionism was on the rise in India and India was retreating from Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) at the ASEAN-India Business Forum, he reiterated, "we are open and will continue to be more and more easy to do business." 

"Openness should not be conflated with FTAs. India's openness and embrace of the global economy is evident," he said at the forum attended by some 500 delegates from the regional business community here yesterday.

"In terms of investment flows, we are perhaps some of the most open economies in the world," he said, pointing out that 90 per cent of the investments into India are placed on the automatic route and now Foreign Investment Promotion Board had been dismantled to make it even easier and smoother.

Ashraf told the forum "trading with India has become easier. There are virtually no restrictions on trade. Tariff have come down dramatically and are at a competitively low levels." 

"The sensitive list or those that have certain kind of restrictions have been shrinking very rapidly, taking into account security issues or international obligations," Ashraf said.

He reaffirmed the Indian government's daily focus on improving infrastructure and logistics and introduce trade facilitation measures, which are important for trade.

Negotiations on FTAs should not be confused with degree of openness, he said, explaining the differences between partnership and a bilateral or multi-lateral free trade agreements.

FTAs, he said, are deviations from or in addition to World Trade Organisation (WTO) arrangements, and represent negotiations on exchange of benefits between two sides.

He noted that unwarranted concerns are being raised about India's position on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement between the 10 member countries of ASEAN and six partner countries including India.

"Our position is very simple. When we call it a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, it must be comprehensive. It can't only be focused on goods. We should also be looking at services. That is India's competitive strength.

"Indeed, services and services or knowledge-linked manufacturing is really the economy of the future," which are based on give-and-take options, he said.

In his address to the forum, Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister, S Iswaran said a number of Asian markets have proven to be bright sports for business.

"Southeast Asia and India, in particular, are experiencing strong economic growth driven by growing consumption and infrastructure developments," he said.

"India's consumer market is expected to become the fifth largest in the world by 2025. Similarly, the number of middle-class households in Southeast Asia will double between now and 2025," he said.

"These are the markets that we need to engage, and Singapore is in a good position to partner both the regions in their growth," Iswaran stressed.

Supporting Singapore's central position, he also highlighted Singapore's airline connections with daily flights to key cities in India and Southeast Asia.

In addition to being a financial hub, Singapore also shares historical and cultural ties, as well as valuable people-to-people ties with India and Southeast Asia, he said.

Delegates and speakers at the forum discussed a wide range of opportunities between India and the ASEAN the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which becomes combined markets of $4.5 trillion and powerful emergence of consumers from 1.9 billion population of the two regions.

Growth in these two regions (India and ASEAN) is led by strong economic fundamentals, ample natural and human resources, as well as regional trends, rising foreign direct investment, urbanisation and increasingly affluent middle- class consumers, said International Enterprise Singapore, a trade promotion agency which organised the forum.

"In India, consumption is projected to grow four-fold by 2025, to reach $1.06 trillion in values.

This will propel India's consumer market to become the fifth largest in the world by 2025," the agency said.

Actor Chris Pratt has been awarded with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The ceremony took place on Friday where Pratt was accompanied by his wife Anna Faris and their 4-year-old son, Jack, reports aceshowbiz.com.

In some photographs, Pratt can be seen donning a gray suit while Faris appeared graceful in a navy-blue dress. 

In his speech, Pratt thanked people who contributed to his career, including his family. 

"I wanna thank my wife. Anna, I love you. You gave me the greatest star in the galaxy, my little boy. I love him and I love you. We have bonded to make this molecule that is more important to me than air or water and without it none of these means anything to me," Pratt said.

Faris had taken the podium prior to her husband. 

"He stood by me and held me and was my anchor. Honey, I want to thank you for being the most incredible person. I love you so much," she said.

The ceremony was also attended by Pratt's Guardians of the Galaxy co-stars Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff and Michael Rooker, and director James Gunn. 

Pro-Kannada outfits today called off their protest against the release of Baahubali 2 after actor Sathyaraj expressed regret over his controversial remarks made during the Cauvery row nine years ago.

"We accept the regret expressed by Sathyaraj and have decided to drop our protests. We have also withdrawn the call for Bengaluru bandh on April 28," Vatal Nagaraj, who was spearheading "Kannada Okoota", an umbrella organisation of Kannada bodies, told reporters here.

The announcement comes a day after Sathyaraj, who plays the role of Kattappa in the movie, apologised.

The decision by the outfits paves the way for the release of the second part of the epic fantasy, which the outfits had threatened to stall if their demand of an "unconditional apology" from Sathyaraj was not met.

The controversy began after a video, in which Sathyaraj made the alleged anti-Kannada comments in the context of the Cauvery river water row, surfaced a fortnight ago and went viral.

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are locked in a bitter row over the sharing of Cauvery waters.

Nagaraj said the Kannada outfits had no grouse against director S S Rajamouli or the film, but were "outraged over cheap comments" made against Kannadigas and the state by Sathyaraj.

He said since Sathyaraj had expressed regret, they did not want to press the issue or stretch the protest any further.

Nagaraj, however, warned that if Sathyaraj tried to provoke Kannadigas again, his movies will not be allowed to release in Karnataka.

Nagaraj said there were reports that Kannada films were not being allowed to be screened in Tamil Nadu.

"If these reports are true, we will stop the screening of Tamil films and Tamil TV channels," he said.

Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce President and Kannada activist Sa Ra Govindu said he had verified with the South Indian film chamber about reports that Kannada films were not being allowed to be screened in Tamil Nadu and he was told that they were not correct.

Rajamouli had also made a video appeal, saying the film should not be dragged into the matter as the comments were made nine years ago.

Uncapped Kerala pacer Basil Thampi made the difference by consistently bowling yorkers at the death, Gujarat Lions assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak said a day after his team's comfortable win in the IPL here.

Gujarat Lions cruised to a four-wicket win over hosts Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday night.

"It was a must-win game for us and the key was to bowl yorkers at the death. We had no choice but to win this. On this wicket, we knew that he (Thampi) can bowl a yorker in each delivery, and he tried some slowers ones too," Kotak said at the post-match press conference.

"(Suresh) Raina also did a fantastic job giving away just 11 runs from his two overs and taking a wicket (Sunil Narine)."

From 96 for one at the midway stage following Narine's career-best 42 from 17 balls, KKR could score only 46 runs from the last five overs, losing the key wickets of Robin Uthappa (72), Manish Pandey (24) and Suryakumar Yadav (1).

"It's a fantastic feeling. We did not do well in the last couple of games and needed a good win to bring our campaign back on track."

Having trapped Chris Gayle for his maiden IPL wicket, the in-form Pandey became the Kerala speedster's second victim.

"I got my yorkers from tennis ball cricket. I came here before the tournament, we had good practice sessions. I worked with my coaches and they gave good confidence to me, as well as my captain. I didn't have any (real) pressure to execute, that's the big thing." the 23-year-old said.

"It's a fantastic feeling because the last couple of games, we didn't do well. In fact we did well but on the matter of day, we didn't execute it (our plans) well. We needed one good win, we got it today, so we are very happy to be there." the youngster said.

Veteran cinema star Kamal Haasan today praised his former colleague Sathyaraj for apologising over the remarks made during the Cauvery crisis, calling him a "great human being".

"Congrats Mr Sathyaraj for maintaining rationality in a troubled environment," he tweeted.

The actor-director quoted from his directorial venture Virumaandi to describe Sathyaraj as a "great human being".

In the movie, the protagonist's wife tells him that a man who seeks forgiveness is a "great human being".

Sathyaraj, who plays the role of Kattappa in SS Rajamouli's Baahubali had yesterday expressed regret over his comments made during the Cauvery dispute while appealing for the smooth release of the second part of the film in Karnataka next week.

His statement came following the demand of an apology from the actor by pro-Kannada outfits, who had threatened to stall the release of the film in the state.

They had taken strong objection to some of his remarks made in the light of the Cauvery water sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Sathyaraj had said he had made the remarks nine years ago during a protest organised by the Tamil cinema industry against the 'attack' on Tamils in Karnataka over the Cauvery dispute.

Meanwhile, state BJP leader H Raja lashed out at Sathyaraj and Kamal Haasan, saying they were "bothered only about money."

"Whether it is Kamal or Sathyaraj they are bothered only about money. Their love for Tamil and their Tamil sentiment is only skin deep," he tweeted.

He described Sathyaraj's act as a "self-respectless act done for money."

A local Bajrang Dal leader was found dead close to an estuary at Alivebagilu near here, police said.

The body of Jagadish Suvarna (35), convenor of Bajrang Dal's Bengre unit was found with injuries yesterday and it was suspected to have been murdered, police said.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

Jagadish had left home on April 20 night to attend a Mehendi function and did not return.

He was working for a passenger boat, police said.