In an apparent attempt to strengthen ties with prominent political leaders, especially those ranged against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has started following many of them on Twitter, often exchanging pictures and pleasantries.

Recently, Banerjee re-tweeted a pictorial post of ex-Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav where they are seen together, and expressed her pleasure at meeting the Samajwadi Party leader.

"Missed this tweet a few days ago. It was so nice meeting you in Delhi recently. Thanks," Banerjee tweeted.

The two leaders, who share a good political bonding, also exchanged pleasantries on the occasion of Poila Boishakh (the Bengali New Year on April 15) on social media.

"Happy Poila Baisakh! Wishing you a delightful and fulfilling year," Yadav wrote, while Banerjee warmly reciprocated the greetings on the same day. "Thank you Akhilesh for your greetings on Poila Baisakh. So nice of you. Warmly reciprocated," she tweeted.

The Trinamool chief, who is one of the most active leaders from the state on social media, also congratulated senior Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on his re-election in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-poll.

"Congratulations to Farooq Abdullah Ji. So happy that a senior leader like you is back in Parliament," Banerjee wrote on Abdullah's son and NC leader Oman Abdullah's Twitter handle.

"Thank you didi. He has asked me to thank you for your kind words and warm message," Omar replied.

Since the past few days, Banerjee has also started following Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, DMK leader MK Stalin and the AIADMK's official Twitter handle. 

Banerjee's attempt to reach out to the regional political parties and its leaders is being seen in the backdrop of speculation about the emergence of a wider political coalition at the Centre before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to counter the BJP's seemingly unstoppable electoral blitzkrieg.

According to political analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay, while social media exchanges could increase Banerjee's rapport with the other political forces, it would take a lot more to actually bring opposing powers under one umbrella to fight the BJP's ascendancy.

"Exchanging pleasantries on social media might warm up her relationship with these leaders but the real political battles happen on hard ground. To have an allied front, one has to see if opposing political powers like Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati or DMK and AIADMK would come together or not," Bandopadhyay said.

"Mamata Banerjee is currently the only 'brave face' in Indian politics who can challenge Modi or lead an allied front to contest against the BJP. She is also trying hard for a coalition of opposition parties. But whether it would materialise or not depends on several simultaneous equations," he added.

The Trump administration is reviewing whether it should restore North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said US wants re-engage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but on a different footing than previous talks.

“Were reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang to re-engage with us, but we re-engage with us on a different footing than past talks have been held,” Tillerson told reporters at a news conference.

The National Green Tribunal on Thursday slammed the Art of Living over its founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar blaming the Centre and the green panel for damage to the Yamuna floodplains, terming it as "shocking".

"You have no sense of responsibility. Who gave you liberty to speak whatever you want to. It is shocking ," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

The observations came after advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for petitioner Manoj Misra, informed the bench about Ravi Shankar's recent statement blaming the government and the NGT for permitting his NGO to hold the World Culture Festival on the floodplains of river Yamuna.

Parikh told the green bench that the spiritual guru has gone to the extend of levelling allegations against the NGT.

The lawyer said that Sri Sri had posted the statement on the website of the Art of Living, his Facebook page and also addressed the media on the same in a written statement.

The counsel appearing for the AOL foundation, however, contested the findings of the expert panel and said that they have certain objections with regard to the findings of the committee and sought setting aside of the report.

The bench then directed the foundation and other parties in the case to file their response and objection within two weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on May 9.

On April 18, Ravi Shankar had blamed the government and the NGT for permitting AOL to hold the festival on the Yamuna river bed and said they should be held responsible if any environmental damage was caused.

The AOL head said the foundation had obtained all necessary permissions, including from the green panel, and the event could have been stopped in the beginning itself if river Yamuna was so "fragile and pure".

An expert committee had told the NGT that a whopping Rs 42.02 crore would be required to restore Yamuna floodplains which was ravaged due to a cultural extravaganza organised by AOL last year.

The expert panel has suggested that there would be two components of rehabilitation plan — physical and biological, and they would cost Rs 28.73 crore and Rs l3.29 crore respectively, besides additional ancillary expenses

In a move to reduce road accidents, road safety will be taught in Jharkhand schools, said an official on Thursday.

"The Home Department has issued a letter regarding inclusion of road safety as subject in government schools. Nodal teachers will be appointed in schools who will educate the students about road safety," said the state government official said.

The official said that the decision was taken in a meeting of Jharkhand Road Safety Board headed by the Chief Minister Raghubar Das. 

In the meeting it was stressed that seven different departments need to work together to reduce road accidents. The departments include Education, Road and others.

"The aim is to bring down the road accidents to 50 per cent by 2020," said the official.

Jharkhand has witnessed a rise in road accident cases.

A total of 4,932 road accidents were witnessed in Jharkhand in 2016 which led to the death of 3,027 people. Whereas in 2015, 5,162 accidents led to 2,893 deaths.
 

In another development to the Bihar topper scam case, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant relief to accused Bachha Rai, squashing Patna High Court's order over the issue.

Refusing to grant relief, the apex court bench said that Rai should not be released from jail at this stage.

Last month, Rai was granted conditional bail by the Patna High Court.

Rai, Secretary-cum-Principal of Vishun Rai College in Vaishali district of Bihar, where Arts and Science toppers Ruby Rai and Saurabh Shrestha studied, was arrested in June last year after he surrendered before the police.

The topper scam came to light in May last year when the Arts and Science stream toppers – Rubi Rai and Saurabh Shrestha were unable to reply to basic questions asked by a journalist.

Film: Sonata

Director: Aparna Sen

Cast: Shabana Azmi, Aparna Sen, Lillete Dubey

Based on a play by Mahesh Elkunchwar, Sonata celebrates womanhood and explores the friendship among three single middle-aged friends from college, Dolon Sen (Shabana Azmi), Professor Aruna Chaturvedi (Aparna Sen) who share an apartment while their third friend Subhadra Parekh (Lillete Dubey), is currently away living with her boyfriend Sangram, a garage owner.

Set in their swish apartment in Mumbai, the film touches upon issues which afflict women of this age – loneliness, sexuality, past relationships, impending old age. While Dolon, who works as a HOD in a multi-national bank, is a free-spirited Bohemian, who is an epicurean and enjoys her food and wine and even sexually explicit talk, Aruna is the prude. She abhors talk about physical relationships, does not drink and disapproves of live-in relationships and is happier off with her college students and her Sanskrit scriptures. Subhadra on the other hand is a liberated woman, a journalist, but at the same time allows herself to get beaten up by an abusive boyfriend.

Largely through conversations one evening at home, between Dolon and Aruna, Sen lays bare these issues, albeit several times in a forced and contrived manner. The bai for instance takes leave stating that her daughter is pregnant but not before taking a dig at the two single women that they wouldn't understand a thing about motherhood.

Another friend of theirs, Mira, who undergoes sex reassignment surgeries, is used as a reference to put forth the cause of transgenders and their right to freedom.

The dramatic moments are few and far between and the sporadic humorous lines too few to provide relief to the tedium. The film drags in parts although the conversations at times are insightful.

With a spirited and spontaneous performance from the articulate and expressive Shabana Azmi as Dolon, complete with her rendition of Rabindra Sangeet in flawless Bengali, Sen is unable to lift the basic tenor of the film which is very theatre-esque and thus becomes tedious to watch after a point. With a staid camerawork, the setting too gets monotonous, although she briefly uses a flashback and also a skype conversation, both of which appear forced and do not help.

Aparna Sen as Aruna is a bit of a misfit in terms of her UP accent, but performs with restraint which is in keeping with her character. Her expressions are measured and she never lets down her guard. Her chemistry and camaraderie with Shabana Azmi is palpable throughout. Lillete Dubey in a cameo, lights up the screen with her effervescence as always, but is a bit stereotypical.

The background score uplifts the mood of some scenes and has been used effectively.

Overall, Sonata misses the beat of an art-house film.
 

Shares of Yes Bank today slumped 6.5 per cent after the company's bad assets swelled in the March quarter.

After a weak opening, the stock further dropped 6.5 per cent to Rs.1,501 on BSE.

At NSE, shares of the company plunged 5.28 per cent to Rs.1,520.60.

Yes Bank yesterday reported a 30.2 per cent rise in net profit at Rs.914.12 crore for the last quarter of 2016-17, even as its bad assets swelled.

The private sector lender had registered a standalone net profit of Rs.702.11 crore in the corresponding January-March period of 2015-16.

Total income (standalone) of the bank grew 29.4 per cent to Rs.5,606.38 crore, against Rs.4,331.11 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

However, the asset quality of the bank slipped, with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans rising to 1.52 per cent of gross advances as on March 31, 2017, as against 0.76 per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs rose to 0.81 per cent of net loans disbursed from 0.29 per cent earlier.

Classes in colleges across Kashmir remained suspended as a precationary measure for the third consecutive day today in wake of the students' protests against the alleged high-handedness of security forces.

The teaching work in all colleges across Kashmir Valley remained suspended for the third day following orders to this effect issued by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Khan, officials said.

Khanon Wednesday issued directions for suspending the teaching work in all colleges of Kashmir division for two more days till Friuay as a precautionary measure.

After Monday's widespread demonstrations against the alleged high-handedness of security forces against students of Degree College Pulwama on Saturday, the divisional administration had issued orders for closure of Kashmir University, all colleges and higher secondary schools across the Valley for a day on Tuesday.

In the wake of the separatists' call for protests after Friday prayers, the Divisional Commissioner on Wednesday issued fresh orders for suspending the teaching work for two more days till April 21.

However, Kashmir University resumed classes on Wednesday.

While scores of students were injured in the alleged action of security forces, including army, against students at Pulwama on the weekend, Monday's clashes also left several dozen students injured.

Five police personnel were also injured.

India's star shuttler PV Sindhu is focusing on coming championships and aims to give her best to achieve her ultimate goal — becoming World No. 1.

After winning the Indian Open Superseries early this month, she was almost there, with a career-best ranking of World No. 2.

The 2016 Olympic silver medallist, however, slipped to fifth place last week following a first-round exit from the Malaysian Open. She also lost in the quarter-final of the Singapore Open Superseries.

The double World Championship bronze medallist, however, is not disappointed. "Winning or losing is part of life. Sometimes you will win, sometimes you will lose," she told IANS.

The 21-year-old Hyderabadi also doesn't want to put extra pressure on herself by bothering too much about rankings.

"If you play well and give your best, it automatically gets your ranking up," said Sindhu.

She is now focusing on Asia Badminton Championships to be played in China between April 25 and 30. "After that we have the Sudirman cup in May," said Sindhu, who hopes to do well in the two events.

Sindhu, who defeated Spaniard Carolina Marin in the Indian Open final, lost 11-21, 15-21 to her arch-rival in the quarter-final of Singapore Open.

With this win, two-time reigning world champion Marin has taken a 6-5 lead over the Indian in career meetings.

The two had been facing each other in key contests since Sindhu lost to her in Rio Olympics final.

Sindhu had avenged her defeat at Rio by beating the Spaniard in the Dubai Superseries final last year.

"I have beaten her sometimes, I have lost to her sometimes. It's all part of the game," said Sindhu.

She said off-court they were just normal friends. "On-court we fight each other because only one can win," she said.

The first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the Olympics, Sindhu also achieved another milestone last year by bagging her maiden Superseries Premier title when she won China Open. It was the only trophy missing from her cabinet.

The series of wins help the 5' 11" Sindhu become only the second Indian woman after her illustrious citymate Saina Nehwal to break into the top five of the world ranking.

The latest fatal victim of football-related violence in Latin America died while wearing a T-shirt with a tragically ironic slogan: Belgrano My Life.

Twenty-two-year-old Emmanuel Balbo, who died at the hands of a rival team's fans at a stadium in the central Argentine city of Cordoba, where Club Atletico Belgrano is based, became the 316th such fatality since 1922 in that country, Efe news agency reported.

Argentina is the Latin American nation with the most incidents of football hooliganism, according to the Buenos Aires-based Salvemos al Futbol (Let's Save Football) non-governmental organisation, but the problem is widespread throughout the region.

On September 28 last year, 21-year-old Hernan Fioritto was stabbed to death in the small Uruguayan city of Santa Lucia at a celebration to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of his favorite team, Peñarol.

He was killed by supporters of Peñarol's archrival, Nacional, Uruguay's other major football club.

Chile also has not been immune to these types of violent episodes.

On April 5, Chilean fans tore off seats and charged at Brazilian police during the Copa Sudamericana playoff match between Corinthians and Universidad de Chile in Sao Paulo.

But the incident still fresh in the minds of Chileans is one that took place on October 3, 2009, when two people died and more than 200 were arrested after the local "clasico" between Colo Colo and Universidad de Chile.

Colombia also suffers from high levels of football violence, with Bogota daily El Tiempo reporting in 2013 that one person died every 22 days from acts of hooliganism.

In one notorious incident in July 1994 that stunned the Andean nation, Colombian national team defender Andres Escobar was shot and killed outside a nightclub in Medellin by men linked to a drug gang.

He was slain just days after inadvertently scoring an own-goal during a 2-1 loss to the host United States in that year's World Cup, a defeat that contributed to Colombia being bounced from that competition in the knockout phase.

"Thanks for the own-goal," the killers said before shooting Escobar.

The most recent violent incident in Colombia occurred in the city of Barrancabermeja during a match between Alianza Petrolera and Millonarios on April 2, when Carlos Virviescas was fatally stabbed while trying to break up a fight between the rival fans.

Awareness-raising campaigns and beefed-up security measures imported from the UK have done little to curb football violence in Latin America, where a law of the jungle mentality often still prevails and narco culture is frequently glorified in telenovelas.

Chris Pratt is the main lead in two of the biggest Hollywood franchises — Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy — and is one of its highest-earning stars, but the American actor still considers himself an outsider in Hollywood.

The actor believes "Hollywood has a tendency to homogenise its men and women" and that is why entering showbiz with an outsider's perspective worked in his favour.

"I definitely felt like an outsider (when he started working in the West) and I was (an outsider). I probably still am (an outsider) in a way, although I spend more time in Los Angeles (LA) than out of LA," Pratt told during a Disney press meet for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" here.

The Disney film will release in India on May 5.

Pratt was a homeless man before he rose to stardom. He used to live in a Scooby-Doo van and worked at a seafood restaurant in Hawaii in late 1990s. It was at this restaurant he was discovered by actress Rae Dawn Chong, who then gave him his first film Cursed Part 3 in 2000.

The 37-year-old asserts that there is "great benefit" being an outsider. He says that "being an outsider is becoming more and more helpful now".

"…People who live in California and LA for a long time… They all become very similar. There is great weather, great food, easygoing attitude, it is pretty progressive, thoughtful and mindful — all that is really great but it doesn't necessarily make (for) the most diverse, compelling group of actors," said the star, who grew up in Lake Stevens in Washington state.

Appreciating the new wave of diversity in Hollywood, Pratt said: "A lot of guys become exactly the same. For me, it was really helpful to have this outsider perspective. People in LA often cast a Canadian, or someone from Australia, Britain or India or anywhere from the outside because they have a point of view that is different from the creators and the writers in LA."

Born in Virginia, his mother worked at a supermarket chain and his father was a contractor. His father died in 2014 when he was filming Jurassic World.

After taking the first step in the glamour world in 2000, Pratt went on to do TV shows like The Huntress", The O.C. and Everwood but rose to prominence as the chubby and easy-going character named Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation.

While making a career on the small screen, Pratt continued working on his Hollywood dream and auditioned for films like Avatar, G.I. Joe and Star Trek.

His filmography includes projects like Bride Wars, Moneyball, Zero Dark Thirty, The Magnificent Seven and Passengers. While working in 2011's Take Me Home Tonight, he met his wife Anna Faris, with whom he had a son, Jack. 
Pratt is one of the most bankable stars of Hollywood, and he still remembers the point from where he started his career.

He said: "I have some difficulties in life but not in regard to having a meeting with somebody. I am at a point that if I call someone they will take the phone call, but I spent many years when I couldn't get them on the phone."

Ask him how difficult it is for an outsider to get a break in Hollywood, Pratt said: "Creating the initial connection and jumping the first few initial hurdles are really tough.

"They are pretty much catch 22… Trying to get an agent, a manager, trying to get into Screen Actors Guild. That type of stuff is really difficult because you can't get a job unless you are in the Screen Actors Guild and vice versa.

"It is the same thing with representation. You can't get someone to represent you unless you have some work to show them and can't get work unless you have representation," said Pratt.

The actor says finding a way into Hollywood has become less complicated over time.

At the moment, Pratt is looking forward to the reception of his second outing as Peter Quill also nicknamed Star-Lord with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The film also stars Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot; and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket.

With the backdrop titled 'Awesome Mixtape #2',the second part of the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy will take further the team's adventures as they traverse different cosmos to protect their world. This time, the storyline will explore family values and also unravel many family truths and mysteries.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Thursday removed the beacon light from his car following the Union cabinet decision to do away with the VIP culture.

The chief minister personally removed the red beacon light from his car a day after the Union cabinet decided that beacons atop all official vehicles will have to be removed from May 1.

"From today the red beacon in my car is being removed," Palaniswami said, adding, his cabinet colleagues will follow suit.

Four other state ministers- Finance Minister Thomas Issac, Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas, Culture Minister AK Balan and Revenue Minister E Chandrasekheran also removed the beacons fitted on their official vehicles on Thursday.

Seeking to end VIP culture, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided that beacon light will be removed from all vehicles, including that of the President, Prime Minister and state chief ministers, from May 1.

Beacons, however, will be allowed on vehicles concerning emergency and relief services, ambulance and fire service, the governent stated.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Serena Williams is expecting a baby in 2017 her spokesperson confirmed, hours after the tennis great hinted at the news in a Snapchat post.

"I'm happy to confirm Serena is expecting a baby this Fall," Los Angeles-based publicist Kelly Bush Novak said in a statement emailed to AFP on Wednesday.

While Williams won't play again this year, "she looks forward to returning in 2018," Bush Novak said.

Williams' Snapchat post, quickly highlighted in US media, showed the 35-year-old in a yellow swimsuit that revealed an apparent baby bump.

But the post was quickly taken down, lending an air of mystery to its meaning.

"The GOAT herself @serenawilliams took to Snapchat to announce she's 20 weeks pregnant! Congratulations Serena!" the US Tennis Association, organisers of the US Open which Williams has won six times tweeted, using the acronym for "Greatest Of All Time".

But the Women's Tennis Association deleted a congratulatory tweet and acknowledged in a statement they had no confirmation of the news.

It was hours before they could tweet: "It's official! @SerenaWilliams and @AlexisOhanian are expecting a baby this fall."

In December, Williams announced her engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, first sharing that news on the Reddit social media site.

If Williams is 20 weeks into her pregnancy, that means she was already expecting when she won her record-setting 23rd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January — where she beat her elder sister Venus in the final.

For fans the announcement underscored Williams' superwoman status.

Williams hasn't played since her Australian Open triumph, which saw her surpass Steffi Graf for the most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era.

Only Australian Margaret Court has won more, capturing 24. The last of those came in 1973 — the year after Court gave birth to a son.

Williams cited a knee injury in pulling out of tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in March.

Her inactivity saw her drop to second in the world rankings. But she is set to regain the top spot from Germany's Angelique Kerber on Monday when the latest standings are published.

Williams wouldn't be the first top women's player to return to competition after having a baby, but she would be the oldest.

Belgium's Kim Clijsters came out of retirement at the age of 26 after having a child and won three Grand Slam titles.

Former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 27, won the Indian Wells and Miami titles in March of last year before missing the rest of the season as she awaited the birth of her first child in December.

Since the birth of son Leo, Azarenka has returned to training and plans to return to competition at the WTA tournament in Stanford, California, in July.

But Williams has proved herself capable of returning to top form after long absences from competition.

She was sidelined for almost 12 months after her 2010 Wimbledon victory, returning from a potentially life threatening pulmonary embolism.

Over the past year Williams' schedule has included few tournaments outside the Grand Slams.

Her appearance at the Australian Open tuneup event in Auckland, New Zealand, marked her first tournament since a semi-final exit at Flushing Meadows last September.

MPPSC has declared the exam result 2015 on the official website at www.mppsc.nic.in. Candidates trying to get their MPPSC results have to visit the official website and fill the blank space with the required information including roll number, registration number, date of birth.

As per the updates this year girls have outshine boys. Candidate named Ankita Tripathi from Bhopal has topped the examination.

Due to the huge number of visitors on the MPPSC website candidates might face issues in entering the website but candidates are advised to stay calm and try to revisit the website in a short interval of time.

This time the MPPSC results are really awesome and has lot of surprises like a girl named Priyanka has passed the examination in the first attempt and she will take the charge of DSP. Many other candidates from different towns have successfully passed the MPPSC 2015 exam and will be taking charges at different posts.

Global venture capital funding in the healthcare IT sector stood at $1.6 billion by way of 165 deals, including 11 Indian deals worth $61 million, says a report.

Since 2010, VC funding in the Healthcare IT sector has crossed $20 billion, Mercom Capital Group, which compiled the report, said in a release.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, VC funding, including private equity and corporate venture capital, almost doubled to $1.6 billion in January-March 2017 from $845 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.

In the first quarter of 2016, nearly $1.4 billion was raised through 146 deals. There were 11 Indian Healthcare IT companies that received VC funding and two M&A transactions in the first quarter of 2017.

Notable Indian VC transactions in the first quarter of this year include Practo-a physician search engine used to book appointments and rate providers – raising $55 million, WeHive Technologies (TinyStep)-an online parenting service that focuses on providing information, advice and a social network for parents- raising $2 million in seed funding from Flipkart.
Among other Indian VC deals, Celes Care-a virtual health clinic for women — raised $1.5 million while InnerHour — an online psychological wellness platform-secured $450,000 in funding from Venture Works and financial advisory firm Batlivala & Karani Securities.

“Digital Health funding is off to a fast start this year and there was no visible 'Trump effect' on investments in the sector, at least in the first quarter, and publicly-traded Digital Health companies fared much better in the January- March quarter than last year,” Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co-Founder Raj Prabhu said.

The top VC deals in the January-March quarter included $200 million raised by Hudong Feng Technology, $115 million raised by Alignment Healthcare, $100 million raised by PatientsLikeMe, $90 million raised by Nuna, and $85 million raised by PointClickCare.

Category-wise, healthcare practice-centric companies received 35 per cent of the funding in the first quarter of this year, raising $574 million in 50 deals while consumer-centric companies received 65 per cent of the funding this quarter, bringing in $1 billion in 115 deals, the report added.

Health IT VC funding deals were spread across 19 countries in Q1 2017 and a total of 306 investors participated in funding deals in the January-March quarter 2017 compared to 340 investors in the October-December period of 2016.

Giving a glimpse of what is going on at its secret "Building 8" research group, Facebook has said it is working on a way to let people type with their brains — at speeds faster than physical typing — via a brain-computer interface.

"We are working on a system that will let people type with their brains. Specifically, we have a goal of creating a silent speech system capable of typing 100 words per minute straight from your brain — that's five times faster than you can type on a smartphone today," Regina Dugan, Vice President of Engineering and "Building 8," told the audience at the annual F8 developers conference in San Jose on Wednesday. 

Facebook announced two projects from "Building 8" that are focused on silent speech communications. 

"Building 8" is the product development and research team at Facebook focused on creating and shipping new, category-defining consumer products that are social first.

Products from "Building 8" will be powered by a breakthrough innovation engine modeled after US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and shipped at scale, the company said.

Just like people take many photos and choose to share only some of them, Facebook's new project will decode words that people have already decided to share by sending them to the speech centre of the brain. 

"It's a way to communicate with the speed and flexibility of your voice and the privacy of text. We want to do this with non-invasive, wearable sensors that can be manufactured at scale," Facebook added.

The company also unveiled a project directed at allowing people to hear with their skin and it is building the hardware and software necessary to deliver language through the skin.

Australia has picked four fast bowlers — Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins — in its 15-man Champions Trophy squad while dropping allrounder James Faulkner, the man-of-the match from its triumph in the 2015 World Cup final against New Zealand.

Australian selector Trevor Hohns referred to the four quicks as a "fast-bowling artillery" and "a very exciting proposition for Australian cricket."

Starc returned early from Australia's tour of India with a stress fracture in his right foot, but Hohns said he was confident the left-arm opening bowler would be fit to play in the June 1-18 tournament in England.

Big-hitting batsman Chris Lynn, sidelined for two months recently with a neck/shoulder injury, was also included in the squad.

"Our medical staff will continue to monitor Mitchell and Chris' recovery from their respective injuries, but we are hopeful they will be fit in time for the team's departure on May 18," Hohns said.

All-rounders Marcus Stoinis, Moises Henriques and John Hastings were also included in the squad to be captained by Steve Smith.

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa was the only specialist slow bowler selected, although Travis Head and Glenn Maxwell offer off-spinning options.

Head and Aaron Finch are the likely contenders to open the batting with vice-captain David Warner.

Australia joins England, Bangladesh and New Zealand in Group A, while defending champion India is pooled with South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Group B.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.