The cast of gripping Netflix series 13 Reasons Why were treated to on-set dogs to help them deal with the difficult scenes.

The drama series has had viewers sitting on the edge of their seats, weeping into their tissues and hiding behind their cushions.

But it wasn't just fans that were emotionally disturbed by the suicidal plot of the show as producers had adorable puppies brought in for the main stars to pat in between takes to ensure they didn't become depressed by the scenes, reported Contactmusic.

Dylan Minnette, who plays Clay Jensen in the series, said, “They had therapy dogs on set. There was a puppy per hour. They really tried to help out. The puppies helped.”

And Katherine Langford no doubt benefited from the pooches the most as her scenes as suicidal teenager Hannah Baker, who killed herself in the bath, were the most “emotional.”

“She (Katherine) had the brunt of the emotional stuff. I mean, we all have very emotional parts, but this is about her character.”

13 Reasons Why, which hit Netflix on March 31, is based on the 2007 novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and resolves around Hannah who kills herself following a series of heartbreaking failures brought on by a number of students within her school in California.

After Hannah's death, those individuals who contributed to her death received a box of tapes in which the troubled teen describes in detail how their actions led to her ending her life.

Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat on Thursday removed the red beacon from his official vehicle. His move came a day after the Narendra Modi government put a countrywide ban on it from May 1.

Devvrat directed the removal of the red beacons from his official vehicles along with other vehicles attached with him, an official statement said.

"Before leaving for New Delhi this (Thursday) morning, he directed to remove red beacons from his vehicles and thereafter on reaching New Delhi he directed to discard red beacons from the official vehicles made available there as well," it said.

Hailing the decision of the union cabinet to ban red beacons atop the cars of all ministers, politicians and bureaucrats, he said it would help in ending VIP culture in the country.

He said this would also help in checking the misuse of red beacons by anti-social elements.

Devvrat was himself shown removing the red beacon from his vehicle, in one of the pictures provided to the media.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput is more than happy to perform at the 18th edition of the International Indian Film Academy(IIFA) awards and says he started his career in showbiz as a background dancer for the event in 2006. 

Sushant on Wednesday took to Twitter and wrote:' I'm so looking forward to performing IIFA 2017. I started off as a background dancer in 2006 IIFA."

On the acting front, Sushant will be seen in Dinesh Vijan's Raabta, which will release on June 9. The film also stars Kriti Sanon and Jim Sarbh. The actor is also prepping for the upcoming Hindi space film Chanda Mama Door Ke, where the Kai Po Che! star will play an astronaut.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday pledged to clean up the national capital in just one year if his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won Sunday's municipal election.

In a brief video message to voters, Kejriwal said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had failed to keep Delhi clean despite controlling the municipal corporation for 10 long years.

After asking rhetorically "Are you happy with Delhi's cleanliness?" Kejriwal said that people in Delhi were greatly upset by piles of garbage, choked drains and mosquito menace.

He said he was sick and tired of telling the BJP-run civic body to clean up Delhi despite his government giving it crores of rupees.

"They did nothing. I now seek your permission to clean up Delhi. I will make Delhi a sparkling city in just one year" if the AAP wins the municipal election, he said.

The AAP, which rules Delhi, is one of the key contenders in the municipal polls, the other two being the BJP and Congress.

Ahead of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s rally scheduled on April 27, the civic body's deputy mayor has sought his intervention to relocate the rally from the historic Ridge in view of its vulnerability.

In a written communiqué to the PM, Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) Deputy Mayor Tikender Singh Panwar urged his intervention and direct the government to shift the venue to some other appropriate place, so that it becomes a precedent (similar to the ban of red beacons from the vehicles), for all other future meetings, not to be held at the Ridge.

Reposing faith in the PM, Panwar stated that his direct appeal to him stems from the anticipation that the PM will be sensitive to the issue of the vulnerability of the historic Ridge, which no other would be able to understand.

“The large drinking water storage tank below the Ridge is highly vulnerable for large congregations and even the summer festival is shifted onto the other side of the Ridge towards the Gaiety theatre,” he said.

The water storage which dates back to the British period, constructed in 1910, is already 107-year-old, he said, adding that this storage tank is a stone masonry built structure which does not have any reinforcement.

“During the recent cleaning of this tank in which both the Mayor and I had been present, we have witnessed cracks developing at one end of the tank which is towards the Lakkar Bazar area. And also, over the years of ‘developmental activities’ instead of scrapping the concrete from the top there has been more than 3 feet surcharge load of concrete in successive decades which makes this tank more vulnerable in its load bearing capacity owing to old stone masonry composition,” he said.

Double Oscar-winning composer A.R Rahman on Thursday revealed that he will perform at the 18th edition of the International Indian Film Academy(IIFA) Weekend, to be hosted in New York this July.

"It's special IIFA New York for me. Celebrating 25 years. Come join me at IIFA Festival," Rahman tweeted.

This year marks Rahman's 25th anniversary in filmdom. In 1992, Rahman made his musical debut with Mani Ratnam's Roja.

This is the first time that the event will be held in New York "described as the city that never sleeps". But the IIFA magic was first brought to Tampa Bay in the US in 2014, when stars like John Travolta and Kevin Spacey were in attendance.

The event, "the biggest Bollywood celebration internationally", will be held on July 14-15 at the iconic MetLife Stadium known for hosting National Football League games, major concerts and other entertainment events.

Apart from a plethora of Bollywood stars, southern film stars like Rajinikanth, Nagarjuna, Kamal Haasan, Allu Arjun and Jr. NTR are likely to attend too.
 

Bedeviled by gender inequality for long, world football's governing body FIFA aims to kick out for good, the ugly side of the 'beautiful game'.

It's been almost a year since years of patriarchy had been broken at FIFA with the appointment of Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura as its Secretary General, a move that had been hailed as groundbreaking.

“Over the past few years FIFA has put in a lot of efforts into developing women's football and promoting gender equality. Our aim is to break down the gender barriers in football,” Marion Mayer-Vorfelder, FIFA's head of events — U-17 World Cup –, told PTI in an interview.

The influential sports body is lending a helping hand towards the growth of the women's game in India.

“They (AIFF) have been implementing FIFA's 'Live Your Goals' campaign for three years now and have reached out to thousands of female players.

“FIFA and the AIFF have also worked on capacity building to improve the level of the game, by organising coaching — courses for coaches in women's football. In addition, the recently-launched women's league will be partially financed by FIFA forward funding over the next three years.”

The German was in India to inspect the preparedness of the venues, chosen to host matches in the U-17 World Cup, and although an age-group event for boys only, she believed it plays an important role in achieving their objective.

“In 2015, FIFA launched the Female Leadership Development programme to identify, support and develop strong female leaders and role models in football, while advocating for women to access senior decision-making positions all over the world.

“The AIFF's women's football manager Indu Choudhary was part of the first edition of the programme that graduated in March 2016 in Amsterdam.”

To name just a few issues, the women are behind their male counterparts in terms of funding, media hype and crowd turnout.

“There is still room for further improvement but providing opportunities for women and girls in football is one of FIFA's main development priorities and has been a key part of FIFA's reforms.

“Women within FIFA have always been involved in important projects and even more so now with our SG, who is a woman and a great supporter of gender equality.”

Stating that the women's game has “definitely taken a huge step forward”, Marion said her gender does not come in the way of her work at FIFA.

“Honestly, my gender is not related to any of the challenges I face. At FIFA the most difficult part is to keep up with time lines and schedules; any delay can have a big impact on deliverables.”

Alongside the U-17 World Cup's Local Organising Committee (LOC), FIFA is trying to promote the game in India, travelling to its deep interiors.

“Football is not the number one sport in India… together with the LOC, we are therefore putting in a lot of effort into promoting the tournament and into taking the beautiful game to every corner of this fascinating country.

“The FIFA U-17 World Cup will leave a positive legacy for football in India and we hope to inspire more young people to play football in India in future.”

Considering the size of the country, it has been a logistical challenge, which has been managed well till now.

Marion said, “Well, India is an enormous country and it's almost like a continent in itself. We have six venues, hence there are six state governments and stakeholders to deal with as well.

“Every part of the country is diverse and different, which is what makes the country beautiful, but yes, it also brings its own sets of challenges.

“However, the experience has been largely positive so far and with less than 200 days to go, we are confident things will only get better!”

Hosting a tournament of this magnitude, which has given the world the likes of Ronaldinho, Andres Iniesta, Javier Mascherano, Xavi, Francesco Totti, Iker Casillas and Mario Gtze, it will be a “great opportunity” for India to improve.

“The FIFA U-17 World Cup is an important platform for football development. The competition showcases the footballing talent of the future and is a big stepping stone for young players.

“I have conducted several inspections and have experienced first-hand the enthusiasm and dedication around the event here in India.

“I am convinced that the first FIFA tournament to be held in India will be a great success and will help to engage the whole country in football.”

Sienna Miller and Tom Sturridge may not be together any more but they unite every night to put their daughter Marlowe to bed.

The former couple – who split almost two years ago – are on extremely amicable terms for the sake of their four-year- old daughter, and living a few streets away from one another in New York City means they can get together every night to put the youngster to bed.

However, despite their closeness, the 35-year-old actress says things are “complicated” between herself and her ex- partner, reported Contactmusic.

“We do bedtime every day. We felt like as much togetherness as possible would be ideal, and fortunately we really love each other and are best friends, and so that works. It's not that it's not complicated, because it is,” Miller told Allure magazine.

The National Human Rights Commission on Thursday issued notice to Noida authorities regarding the deaths last week of two sanitation workers in the industrial township, official sources said.

The NHRC took suo motu cognisance of media reports that the two sanitation workers died on April 14 while working in a sewage treatment plant in Noida. They were reportedly not wearing basic safety equipment at that time.

Those issued notice are: Chairman, New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA), and the District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police of Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. They have been directed to file detailed reports in the matter within four weeks.

"The authorities are expected to submit their response specifically mentioning the steps taken for relief and rehabilitation of the next of kin of the deceased and action taken against officials found guilty of negligence that led to the death of the two labourers," an NHRC release said.

The Deputy CEO of NOIDA has ordered an inquiry into the matter and announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin of each of the deceased, to be paid by the contractor.

The NHRC formed guidelines for maintenance and cleaning of sewage systems following the death of two municipal sanitation workers in Delhi two decades ago. 
 

The Income Tax Department has slapped a fresh notice on British firm Cairn Energy, seeking up to Rs.30,700 crore in penalties for its alleged failure to pay Rs.10,247 crore capital gains tax on time.

Within weeks of tax tribunal ITAT upholding levy of retrospective tax, the Income Tax Department first sent a fresh demand note of Rs.10,247 crore and another show cause notice asking as to why penalty should not be levied for its failure in paying tax on time and filing of returns.

Senior tax department officials said Cairn Energy has sought 10 more days to reply to the show cause seeking levy of penalty.

"Capital gains was due on Cairn Energy on March 31, 2007, and due date for filing return was December 2007. But the company filed return by March 31, 2014" after the tax department on January 24, 2014 sent a draft assessment order, an official told PTI.

The assessment, the official said, got completed in January 2016 and a final order was issued raising a tax demand of Rs.10,247 crore and another Rs.18,800 crore in interest for 10 years.

The ITAT, however, in its March 9 order held that while Cairn Energy was liable to pay tax on the 2006 transfer of India assets to newly created Cairn India, prior to its listing, interest cannot be charged as the demand was raised using retrospective tax legislation.

The official said the ITAT had not barred levy of penalties and so the fresh notice is being sent.

The Income Tax Act provides for penalties of 100 per cent to 300 per cent of the tax due, the official said, adding that the notice sent does not mention of the quantum of penalties the tax department is seeking.

"It is a show cause kind of a notice and further action will follow based on the response the company files," the official said, adding that the tax department has six months from the passage of ITAT order to impose penalty.

The penalties are being sought under Section 271 (1)(c) of the Income Tax Act for failing to pay tax on capital gains made.

A Cairn Energy spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comments.

The company had earlier this month in a notice to shareholders acknowledged that it had received an amended tax demand on March 31, 2017 that also talked about late payment of interest to be charged from February 2016 — 30 days following the date of the final assessment order.

The final assessment order did not include any penalties which may also be applied to the final assessment (potentially up to 300 per cent of any tax finally agreed), it had said.

Following the January 2014 draft assessment order, the tax department had restrained the company from selling the residual 9.8 per cent stake it holds in Cairn India.

Cairn Energy had in 2011 sold Cairn India to Vedanta.

The company had in the shareholder notice stated that it strongly contests the final assessment order and that the enforcement of any tax liability deemed due by the tax department will be limited to India assets, which had a value of about USD 750 million as of December 31, 2016.

These assets comprised principally Cairn's residual shareholding in Cairn India.

Cairn also said that it had on March 11, 2015 filed a Notice of Dispute under The UK-India Investment Treaty in order to protect its legal position and shareholder interests.

The government's first PSU stake sale in the current fiscal — Nalco — got off to a solid start, with retail investors putting in bids for 1.81 times the shares on offer.

Over 1.93 crore shares were offered to retail buyers on Thursday. The issue got subscribed 1.81 times till 1445 hours.

Bidding will continue till the close of market.

The offer for sale (OFS) opened to institutional investors yesterday, wherein foreign fund houses and domestic institutions bid for 1.84 times the shares on offer.

The share sale got bids for Rs 954 crore and the government will retain full over-subscription under the greenshoe option.

The greenshoe option is a special provision which allows sale of more shares than originally planned by the issuer.

Of its total holding of 74.58 per cent in Nalco, the government is offloading 5 per cent, or over 9.66 crore, shares at a floor price of Rs 67, which was estimated to yield about Rs 640 crore.

Over 1.93 crore shares have been reserved for retail investors, who will also be offered 5 per cent discount over the issue price. Retail investors are defined as individuals who place bids for sales of total value of not more than Rs 2 lakh in aggregate.

The stock was trading at Rs 68.45, up 1.03 per cent over its previous close, on the BSE.

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is the first disinvestment of the current fiscal, which started on April 1.

For this fiscal, the government has set a target of Rs 46,500 crore through minority stake sale and Rs 15,000 crore from strategic disinvestment.

In 2016-17, the government had raised over Rs 46,247 crore from disinvestment.

The rules of showbiz do not bend even for veterans. Meaty and age-specific roles are not easy to get, says thespian Soumitra Chatterjee. Arguably, the most prominent face of auteur Satyajit Ray's films, Chatterjee says one has to wait for the right kind of roles and it's just the way cinema operates.

"This is the way of cinema. You can't get your choices (roles) every time, every year. You have to wait. This is how cinema is," Chatterjee told IANS here on Wednesday, conceding he has no qualms about being patient.

He was speaking in context of the announcement of his forthcoming film "Mayurakshi" with Bengali mega star Prosenjit.

The octogenarian who has worked with Ray in 14 of his films, says he is drawn to the "sensitive treatment of human characters" in cinema.

"I have a very special bond with Prosenjit and the aim will be to extend that relationship on screen in the film," Chatterjee said referring to the father-son characters they will portray in Mayurakshi.

Helmed by multiple award-winning filmmaker Atanu Ghosh, the venture will go on the floor later this year. It is produced by Friends Communication.

Mohit Suri is back with yet another love story Half Girlfriend, which is an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name and the director says it was difficult to translate the book into a two-hour format for the celluloid.

“It is difficult as you can't base the entire book in a two-hour film. There is a lot that you need to edit and make sure all the essential points are not lost out. We have changed certain things and Chetan Bhagat has been quite co-operative,” Mohit told.

“I have never made a film that had a story that people already knew. There is definitely pressure to living up to it (response the book got). But I have tried not to let this factor (pressure) affect me and have tried my best to stay honest to the story.”

It is the story of a rural Bhojpuri-laced Hindi-speaking boy (Arjun Kapoor) from Bihar as he enrolls himself at an English-medium college and falls in love with a rich Delhi girl (Shraddha Kapoor) who wants to be his half girlfriend.

“'Half Girlfriend' is a story about about a guy who can't speak English and despite Hindi being our national language the hypocrisy in India is that those who don't speak English are looked down upon as people who speak English are forward.

“It's an interesting concept. I wanted to show how two people come from different worlds and try to figure out whose world is a right,” the filmmaker says.

Mohit has worked with Shraddha earlier in Aashiqui 2 and Ek Villain but this romantic drama marks his first outing with actor Arjun.

“We (referring to him and Shraddha) share a great relationship that has been successful on screen. This is my first film with Arjun and he is very endearing in the film.. it was interesting to work with him.”

There were reports that all was not well between Mohit and Arjun, while they were shooting for the film.

Brushing aside the rumours, Mohit says, it is unfair to put these allegations.

“It's not true at all. It's bad to report such things. I have never had an issue with him. I don't know why people are saying we had an issue. There were reports that he used to come late on the sets, but he was there for his grandmother's funeral, he wasn't partying.

“He has been honest to the film and I would like to work with him again.” 

Produced by Ekta Kapoor, Half Girlfriend will release on May 19.

Palm leaf brooms and fans, patch work bed covers, bead jewellery and crochet lace dresses are some of the eye-catching items at an exhibition of Indian handicraft products here.

The exhibition cum sale by the Scheduled Caste artisans and weavers is on the Handloom Haat at Janpath till April 23.

It was organised to coincide with the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar by the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles.

Over 40 artisans and weavers from the nook and corner of the country are participating in the event which aims at empowering them.

Bondappally Girija, who comes from the remotest corner of down south Narsapur in Andhra Pradesh, has put up a stall of crochet lace works.

"It has been a great opportunity to sell our products directly to high-end customers," she says.

Girija works for an NGO Lace Knitting and Rural Development Association which employs mostly poor weavers by encouraging them to come out of their homes and earn a livelihood.

"Some items like shoes, table clothes and dresses got good response from the buyers," she says and hopes to participate in more such programmes.

The artisans are from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh besides the national capital.

Other products at the exhibition include embroidery such as Phulkari, Chikankari, Gota Pati and patch work, printed textiles, Chanderi items, paintings such as Madhubani, Gond and miniature, glass work, natural fibre, wooden toys and leather craft.

Sudhakar Khadse deals in palm leaf craft and has come from Sultanabad, a village 300 km away from Bhopal city. He says the exhibition has provided an opportunity for artisans like him to interact with the buyers for entering into long term business and commercial relations.

Makhna Ram has participated in such an exhibition for the first time. Around 50 members of his household are engaged in embroidery work.

He specialises in making patch work bed covers and bed sheets and cushion and pillow covers.

"We sell our products mostly at village fairs and weekly markets. This is the first time we have come to an exhibition of such a magnitude and the response has been quite good," he says.

Salman Khan, who is currently on a world tour along with Bipasha Basu, Sonakshi Sinha, Daisy Shah, had offered actor Ranveer Singh to join the team but turned down the offer.

According to sources close to the actor, Ranveer was approached eight months before the tour but he turned down the offer because he was busy shooting for his upcoming film Padmavati’.

But rumours have a different story to tell.

“Salman is at the end of the day, a huge star and Anil and Ranveer are aware of that. Neither wanted to be overshadowed by him and hence they decided to stay away from the gig,” a source revealed.

Well, only Ranveer can reveal the true reason for skipping the Dabangg tour!

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has said the victory over FC Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final tie was a decisive step on the road to Cardiff, where the final of the tournament will be played.

After taking a healthy 3-0 lead from the first leg to Nou Camp, Juventus held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw in the second leg here on Wednesday night to seal a place in the semi-finals.

"We have to compliment the lads for all they are doing this season. It's a step forward, a deserved qualification against a top level opponent," Allegri told Italin publication Mediaset. 

"We did very well defensively, less so in attack where we failed to make the most of very promising counter-attacks. We were under the normal amount of pressure here, but it was a decisive step on the road to Cardiff."

"Barcelona failing to score goals over two legs is almost unheard of. The lads need to realise that they can do even better and we are slowly improving," he added.

Allegri said Juventus must not get ahead of themselves and focus on the job at hand in the Serie A — the top division football league in Italy.

"We mustn't get ahead of ourselves, but it's right to feel enthusiasm and tomorrow we need to focus on Serie A. Celebration? Well … it's the decisive moment of the campaign, these lads have a great sense of duty and professionalism. What I like best is that I don't need to tell them off about that.

"We should've been calmer and sharper when spreading their play, but it's not easy to do that here, as Barcelona are a completely different team on home turf. They move the ball around so quickly and only a great Juventus could've qualified," Alegri said.

"I am happy with what the lads are doing, but the key is not to maintain current form, instead aiming to improve it. Everyone was extraordinary tonight and when Andrea Barzagli came on it felt like we could've played for a whole day and not conceded."

Allegri credited the club's management for roping in quality players.

"The club has worked very well to bring in players of quality who had different characteristics and it was my job to put them in a position to give their best," he said.

BJP National President Amit Shah will visit the state of Jammu and Kashmir on a two day tour from April 29.

"Shah will be visiting J-K state for two days on April 29 and 30", Arvind Menon, BJP's all departments and projects national in-charge told reporters here on Thursday.

State General Secretary (Org) Ashok Kaul said that during the two days visit of the party president, meetings at different levels would be held.