India's growth has been "impressive" in the recent years which makes room for tax broadening efforts by the government, according to a top IMF official.

"India has recorded quite an impressive growth performance in recent years. Our view is that the elimination of fuel subsidies and the targeting of social benefits has delivered in terms of allowing the union budget target to be achieved at 3.5 per cent of GDP," Vitor Gasper, Director of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department told reporters at a news conference here on Wednesday.

"We have been collaborating with the Indian authorities in terms of looking at fiscal structural measures, including expenditure rationalisation while protecting infrastructure investment, tax broadening efforts," he said.

In this context, the rollout of Goods and Services tax (GST) is an extremely important step that will create a true unified national market in India, he said.

"We see room for tax broadening efforts. We see room for more progressive income taxes in line with trends in income inequality. Perhaps more generally, we do see a case for a medium-term framework and we know that the authorities are actively working on that," Gasper said.

He also said inequality has increased in both India and China.

"As was the case for India, in China you see that inequality has increased. From that viewpoint, you could advocate, you should advocate social spending and taxation reform in order to address that issue in China.

"At the same time, it turns out that increase in social spending and change in taxation does support the transfer of expenditure from investment to consumption. That is part of the overall rebalancing of the Chinese economy," Gasper said.

Gasper said globalisation and technological change have been major drivers of economic growth and cross country convergence.

"More than one billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since the early 1980s, and most of them come from China and India," he said.

"At the same time, when you focus on country indicators, you see that inequality has increased in most advanced economies and large emerging economies. Again, I am referring to China and India," Gasper said.

"The clear perception around the world of widespread increases in income inequality illustrates the dominance of national politics shaping these perceptions. Fiscal policies, government expenditures and revenues are powerful means to ensure the sharing of the growth dividend," the IMF official added.

Actress Manisha Koirala says after her cancer treatment, she used to look like an alien as she lost her hair. Now she is "quite kicked" to play late actress Nargis Dutt, the mother of actor Sanjay Dutt, in his biopic.

Manisha, known for her roles in films like 1942: A Love Story, Agni Sakshi, Saudagar and Bombay, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012.

Being an actress, did she get worried about her look after chemotherapy?

"I knew about my hair loss, but was not sure of my look. At times, after surviving from a disease like cancer… people's look changes. All I knew was that I had to mentally prepare to fight it and I got a huge support from my family. After my chemotherapy, I lost my hair, eye brows and lashes. Looking at the mirror… I felt like an alien," Manisha told IANS in an interview.

During her illness, many Bollywood celebrities including Salman Khan and Gulshan Grover reached out to her family to know about her health. The film industry welcomed her after her cancer battle, she said.

Sharing the story behind bagging the role of Nargis Dutt, Manisha said: "Though I wanted to get back to work, I was nourishing my body and focusing on my health as chemotherapy damaged some of my body cells. I was in Nepal then, when I got a call from Raju ji (director Rajkumar Hirani). He told me about the film and my character."

So, how is she preparing for the role?

"I watched a documentary. I am watching her (Nargis Dutt's) films again and again and talking to (daughter) Priya Dutt a lot to know how she was in real life, her body language, how she used to talk, smile. I'm trying to get all the nuances right," said the Filmfare award-winning actress.

Born into a politically prominent Koirala family in Nepal, Manisha started her journey in Bollywood in 1991 with Saudagar, directed by Subhash Ghai. Since then she has worked with celebrated filmmakers like Mani Ratman, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ram Gopal Varma and Mansoor Khan.

Indian cinema has changed drastically in the last five years. Asked how she looks at the changes, the actress said: "One of the positive changes is that the audience is accepting films on experimental subjects so, these new-age films are getting financial success. It is no more those melodramatic films in Hindi cinema. So, filmmakers are ready to make films with different subjects."

She is currently going through a look test and leading a holistic life to prepare for the biopic. She will start shooting for her part from May.
 

Security officials have recovered video surveillance footage of Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first Muslim judge in the US, walking alone near the Hudson River, about 12 hours before her body was found in the water, the New York Police Department said.

The body of Judge Abdus-Salaam, 65, was found on April 12 in the river, and though no note was found, law enforcement said it was a possible suicide.

Footage from multiple surveillance cameras shows the judge walking alone in Harlem not far from the river about 9 p.m. on April 11 and again just after midnight, NYPD's Sgt. Brendan Ryan told CNN on Wednesday. 

She is seen in the footage dressed in the same clothes she was wearing at the time her body was discovered.

Abdus-Salaam was also the first African-American woman to serve on New York state's highest court. 

Her death is still under investigation after the initial autopsy completed last week came back inconclusive and the cause and manner of death are pending while additional testing is processed, according to Medical Examiner's Office spokesperson Julie Bolcer.

"Until such a determination is made, the death may be classified as suspicious, in that the circumstances have not been clearly established," the NYPD said in a statement to CNN.

Robert Boyce, chief of detectives for the New York police, told reporters that there were no apparent injuries to Abdus-Salaam's body and that her death did not appear to be criminal in nature.

Since 2013, Judge Abdus-Salaam had been one of seven judges on the State Court of Appeals, reports The New York Times. 

Before that, she served for about four years as an associate justice on the First Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court, and for 15 years as a State Supreme Court justice in Manhattan. 

She was previously a lawyer in the city's Law Department.

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar wants to portray police officer K Vijay Kumar, who is credited with killing sandalwood smuggler Veerappan.

After portraying the character inspired by naval officer KM Nanavati in Rustom, which won him the National Film Award, Akshay now wants to be the Indian Police Service officer on screen.

Kumar headed the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force that executed Veerappan in 2004, ending the outlaw's decades of terror on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.

On Wednesday, Akshay was present to show his support to security agencies by attending the launch of a book, Veerappan – Chasing the Brigand, in Mumbai.

Asked which role among the two he would like to play, he said: "Both Veerappan and Vijay Kumar's characters are really interesting but I would love to play the role of Vijay Kumar because the whole planning has been done by him and how brilliantly he executed the entire operation."

The book is a first hand account of Veerappan's end, written by Vijay Kumar himself. The book release was attended by eminent politicians and bureaucrats among others.

Akshay was last seen in Naam Shabana in which he played a RAW agent. He has three releases lined up this year: Toilet – Ek Prem Katha, Padman and Rajanikant's 2.O.

Tribal youth in a remote Madhya Pradesh region have offered their expertise in using slingshots to help the paramilitary forces in countering stone-pelters in Jammu and Kashmir.

The youths in tribal dominated district – Jhabua – in western Madhya Pradesh have offered their traditional expertise in Gofan – similar to a slingshot by using a looped cord with a knitted bag attached to the one end.

"A Gofan battalion of local tribal youth should be constituted and be posted in Kashmir Valley to deal with the stone-pelters. This battalion will be a suitable answer to stone-pelters," Prem Singh, a 26-year-old tribal youth of Lakhpur village of Jhabua district said.

The leaders from Congress and BJP also supported the formation of such a squad comprising local youth, who are masters of this art.

"Government should form a 'Gofan Stone Pelters Squad' to deal with the situation in Kashmir Valley. This would not only be effective in the present situation but also can deal with similar situations in the future," former Congress MLA from Jhabua, Xavier Medha said.

"Army can't fire gunshots at the protestors and this squad can give a befitting reply," he added.

BJP MLA Shantilal Bilwal also supported this suggestion.

"The Army personnel are protecting us but they can't fire shots at the protesters to protect themselves due to legal bindings. The government should use local youth to face this situation," Bilwal said.

However, there are some tribal voices, which opposed this kind of experiment.

"We are moving forward. Kashmiri youths are misguided due to Pakistan's propaganda. We should now talk of non- violence instead of replying in the same manner. We want tribal youths to get engaged in study," said Dr Vikrant Bhuria, a Congress leader and son of former union minister Kantilal Bhuria.

A historian, however, said that Gofan is an accurate weapon to deal with any situation like stone pelting.

"Gofan is a traditional slingshot art in this tribal dominated region and generally keep this looped cord (Gofan) with them tied either at the waist or in their turban. Gofan is used to protect the agricultural crop from birds and other animals," local historian K K Trivedi said.

Explaining its functioning, he said the cord is swerved after placing the pebble/small stone in the bag. The pebble/small stone moves towards the target at a fast pace when released.

"It is a very powerful, legal and accurate weapon. The pebble/small-stone moves towards the target at a speed 4-5 times more than that of a stone thrown using bare hands," he added.

As many as 411 stone-pelting incidents have been reported in the Kashmir Valley from October 2016 to March 2017.

Hundreds of paramilitary forces have been injured in the stone-pelting incidents in the Valley.

Scientists have used waste glass bottles and a low-cost chemical process to create high-performance lithium-ion batteries that store four times more energy than conventional batteries.

The batteries will extend the range of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and provide more power with fewer charges to personal electronics like cell phones and laptops, researchers at the University of California, Riverside in the US said.

Even with today's recycling programmes, billions of glass bottles end up in landfills every year, prompting the researchers to ask whether silicon dioxide in waste beverage bottles could provide high purity silicon nanoparticles for lithium-ion batteries.

Silicon anodes can store up to 10 times more energy than conventional graphite anodes, but expansion and shrinkage during charge and discharge make them unstable.

Downsizing silicon to the nanoscale has been shown to reduce this problem, researchers said.

By combining an abundant and relatively pure form of silicon dioxide and a low-cost chemical reaction, they created lithium-ion half-cell batteries that store almost four times more energy than conventional graphite anodes.

To create the anodes, the team used a three-step process that involved crushing and grinding the glass bottles into a fine white power.

The process also involved a magnesiothermic reduction to transform the silicon dioxide into nanostructured silicon, and coating the silicon nanoparticles with carbon to improve their stability and energy storage properties.

Coin cell batteries made using the glass bottle-based silicon anodes greatly outperformed traditional batteries in laboratory tests, and demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance.

Changling Li, a graduate student in materials science and engineering, said one glass bottle provides enough nanosilicon for hundreds of coin cell batteries or three-five pouch cell batteries.

"We started with a waste product that was headed for the landfill and created batteries that stored more energy, charged faster, and were more stable than commercial coin cell batteries. Hence, we have very promising candidates for next- generation lithium-ion batteries," Li said.

This research is the latest in a series of projects led by Mihri Ozkan, professor of electrical engineering and Cengiz Ozkan, professor of mechanical engineering, to create lithium-ion battery anodes from environmentally friendly materials.

The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique is confident that his team can shrug off the disappointment of their Champions League quarter-final defeat against Juventus and will be ready for Sunday's Spanish league clash against Real Madrid.

Barcelona could not recover from a 0-3 first leg setback against Juventus, drawing the home fixture 0-0 at Nou Camp Stadium here on Wednesday night.

"We are human, of course something is going to affect us. On Sunday there's another big match, and we'll go there to compete and try and win," Pique was quoted as saying by ESPNFC. 

"Even if we are not in our best moment, I believe we can go there and win," he added.

If they lose to Real Madrid again on Sunday, it would leave them six points behind their title rivals having played a game more.

"Picking yourself up after a defeat like this is hard, but we have the best motivation a Cule can have," Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was quoted as saying by ESPNFC. 

"It will be as special as ever and it's a marvellous stimulus: a key game against the leader, a direct opponent. We have to get ready and compete and I am sure we will do that," he added.

Self-styled cow protector Sadhvi Kamal Didi has equated one of the accused in the Alwar lynching case with revolutionaries Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad, remarks that could trigger a controversy.

A video of the Sadhvi meeting the arrested accused Vipin Yadav when he came to appear for his annual examination at a college in Behror in Alwar district has gone viral.

In the video, the Sadhvi is seen telling Yadav, "The entire country is with you. If we will not do such things in our country than who else will. You need not worry about anything."

Comparing Yadav with the revolutionaries of the freedom movement, she said, "People like Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Sukhdev did not do anything wrong.

Sadhvi is the president of Rasthriya Mahila Gau Rakshak Dal, a self-styled cow protection group which operates in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

She went on to enquire about his health and asked, "Are you getting proper meals and are you well.

When Yadav nodded, she asked him not to hesitate and speak up. "Don t worry.You seem to be scared," she said to which Yadav replied, "No, there no such matter."

The sadhvi is seen advising Yadav to not sit idle in jail, but spread the message of sacrificing lives while protecting cows.

"You must teach everyone in jail to say 'jai gau mata', she said.

When contacted, she confirmed meeting Vipin Yadav at the college.

"I just went to assure him of our support," she said.

Last month, the sadhvi and her supporters had laid siege to a Jaipur hotel over rumours that it was hosting a "beef party".

Earlier this month, a 55-year-old man died at a hospital in Alwar district after allegedly being beaten by a group of cow vigilantes.

The deceased, Pehlu Khan, and four others, including his two sons, were beaten brutally by some locals at Behror who suspected they were smuggling cows.

The government has no plans to cut back on security to VIPs, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said, a day after the Centre banned the use of beacon lights atop all vehicles, except emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire brigade.

"With regard to security, it is necessary in the interest of the country because important people have to be protected. Otherwise, there is no preferential treatment," Naidu, who holds the portfolio of Information and Broadcasting, told reporters here.

About the Centre's decision to put an end to the VIP culture, he said: "Everybody is a VIP and that is the philosophy of our government."

Though it is a small initiative but it sends a message that every person should be treated equally, he added.

He hoped that state governments will also shun the used of beacons or they will face the wrath of the people.

On a query about the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, the minister said the case has been going on for so many years and there is nothing new in that.

He did not elaborate on what could be the impact of the Supreme Court order in the Babri Masjid demolition case on the BJP.

Top BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case as the apex court had yesterday allowed the CBI plea to restore the charge against them.

The SC, however, noted that Rajasthan Governor Singh enjoys constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office. Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992.

Meanwhile, amid a debate on some of the negative impacts of social media, Naidu said it cannot be censored.

"It is a larger issue. We have to think about it and discuss because we cannot think of censoring social media. The society has to discuss and then come to a conclusion at the end of the day," he said.

The Minsiter was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a workshop on Instagram for government employees engaged in social media communications.

Team Baahubali, who are on a promotional spree, had a surprise moment at Hotel Rajwadu in Ahmedabad, during a promotional event.

The owners of Rajwadu had decided to doing something that could be the perfect tribute to the legacy of Baahubali. And what better than a Thali dedicated to Baahubali which depicts the grandness of the franchise.

The Thali is an extraordinary spread of the best delights that takes one on a royal ride. It's a war of flavours inspired from the fights of Baahubali.

"While we celebrate the foodies at Rajwadu, we at Rajwadu are sure of a stirring success of the 2nd franchise of Bahubali at the box office & look forward to hosting the team of Bahubali at Rajwadu", the restaurant owners said. 

 Directed by SS Rajamouli, the film stars Prabhas in the titular role in addition to Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah Bhatia, Anushka Shetty and Satyaraj in pivotal roles.

The film is slated to release on 28 April 2017.

Creed star Michael B Jordan has been tapped to star in the film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451.

Based on Ray Bradbury's classic novel, the TV film depicts a future where media is an opiate, history is outlawed and “firemen” burn books, reported Variety.

Jordan will also be joined by Nocturnal Animals star Michael Shannon in the film.

While, the Fantastic Four actor will play Montag, a young fireman who forsakes his world, battles his mentor and struggles to regain his humanity, Shannon will essay the role of Montag's fireman captain and mentor, Beatty.

Though in early development, sources said the project is moving toward a production commitment at HBO.

Former Commonwealth Games champion shuttler Parupalli Kashyap fought hard before going down in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the $150,000 China Masters Grand Prix Gold, here on Thursday

Kashyap lost 10-21 22-20 13-21 to former World No. 6 and third seed Qiao Bin of China in a contest which lasted an hour and 16 minutes at the Olympic sports center.

The tournament was Kashyap's return to competitive badminton after recovering from a shoulder injury. He had suffered the injury during the Premier Badminton League (PBL) in January.

Harsheel Dani remains the sole Indian in fray in the tournament and will play another Chinese Sun Feixiang in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event later in the day.

India's campaign in women's singles has already ended with the ouster of Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 gave a special treat to their Indian fans with a new trailer featuring popular Hindi track Jhoom Jhoom Jhoom Baba.

The Marvel Comics superhero characters dancing to the tunes of Bappi Lahiri's classic disco number, gives the trailer a perfect Indian touch.

Besides this, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautistan also gave a shout out to their fans in the country by sharing a special message for them.

“Namaste India, I'm Dave Bautista and I'm Zoe Saldana and here's something special from the Guardians of the Galaxy, just for you. Obviously,” the actor duo said in the clip.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, written and directed by James Gunn, also stars Chris Pratt. It also features the voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper.

A first-half strike from Javier Toledo handed Argentina's Estudiantes de la Plata a 1-0 victory over defending champions Atletico Nacional of Colombia in a group match of the Copa Libertadores football tournament.

Toledo struck from close range just before halftime at the Ciudad de la Plata Stadium here on Wednesday to give the hosts their first win of the campaign, reports Xinhua news agency.

Nacional, who have lost several players from last year's title-winning team, are yet to register a point from their first three matches.

In Venezuela, Chile's Deportes Iquique scored two goals either side of halftime to defeat Zamora 4-1. Argentine striker Diego Bielkiewicz bagged a brace while Manuel Villalobos and Felipe Reynero were also on target for the visitors. Nelson Perez scored a late goal for the hosts.

In other matches on Wednesday, Brazil's Santos held Colombia's Independiente Santa Fe to a 0-0 draw in Bogota, while Paraguay's Libertad defeated Brazil's Atletico Mineiro 1-0.

Talent shortage is acute in the IT and data science ecosystem in India with a survey claiming that 95 per cent of engineers in the country are not fit to take up software development jobs.

According to a study by employability assessment company Aspiring Minds, only 4.77 per cent candidates can write the correct logic for a programme — a minimum requirement for any programming job.

Over 36,000 engineering students form IT related branches of over 500 colleges took Automata — a Machine Learning based assessment of software development skills – and over 2/3 could not even write code that compiles.

The study further noted that while more than 60 per cent candidates cannot even write code that compiles, only 1.4 per cent can write functionally correct and efficient code.

"Lack of programming skills is adversely impacting the IT and data science ecosystem in India. The world is moving towards introducing programming to three-year-old! India needs to catch up," Aspiring Minds CTO and Co-Founder Varun Aggarwal said.

The employability gap can be attributed to rote learning based approaches rather than actually writing programmes on a computer for different problems. Also, there is a dearth of good teachers for programming, since most good programmers get jobs in industry at good salaries, the study said.

Moreover, programming skills are five times poorer for tier III colleges as compared to tier 1 colleges.

"Sixty nine per cent of candidates from top 100 colleges are able to write a compilable code versus rest of the colleges where only 31 per cent are able to write a compilable code," the report said.

The National Green Tribunal on Thursday directed Delhi government to introduce destination buses from May 1, in a bid to help improve the air quality in the national capital.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the AAP government to run the point-to-point buses on an experimental basis from Dwarka, Rohini, Janakpuri, CGO complex and Badarpur border.

The green panel said these services will start from spots where it is convenient for the public at large.

The NGT said introduction of such bus services would facilitate an individual to opt for such a service, rather than driving a car alone on highly-congested roads.

"The NCT Delhi and traffic police will duly advertise about the introduction of destination buses from April 25 for informing the public," the bench ordered and sought a status report within four weeks.

The green panel also directed the Delhi Transport Corporation to maintain these buses and engage their staff for cleaning and maintaining them.

The tribunal had earlier pulled up the Delhi government for not starting these point-to-point bus services till date despite its order. Destination buses are the ones which ply from one point to another without any halt in between.

The green panel had lambasted the Delhi government after its counsel submitted that there was shortage of buses. The panel had said "it is evident that large number of buses are standing along Yamuna at the depot. We see no reason why state authorities have not implemented our order so far."

It also said that such point-to-point buses would result in reducing jams as a large number of people from places like Dwarka and Rohini come to offices in Central Delhi.

During an earlier hearing the NGT had said "the traffic on roads of Delhi needs to be reduced by taking various measures that have already been directed to be taken by various authorities, including introduction of destination buses which could certainly help particularly the middle class and single driver from opting for destination buses rather than driving a car individually on highly congested roads of Delhi."

It had also asked the AAP government to encourage those using public transport by providing incentives to them

Actor Will Smith is in early talks to play the Genie in Disney's live-action Aladdin movie.

As Genie, the 48-year-old star would follow in the footsteps of Robin Williams, whose performance in the original 1992 animated film helped propel it to box office success and critical acclaim, reported Entertainment Weekly.

Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie is helming the new Aladdin movie, working from a script by John August.

The project comes amid a wave of beloved Disney toons being remade as live-action movies.