Action star Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the upcoming feature documentary film Wonders of the Sea 3D as a producer and narrator.

The film is co-directed by Jean-Michel Cousteau and Jean-Jacques Mantello, and produced by Schwarzenegger and Francois Mantello through 3D Entertainment Films.

Schwarzenegger is also featured in the opening sequence of the 85-minute documentary, which will be presented and sold by Conquistador Entertainment next month at the Cannes Film Festival, reports variety.com.

"Wonders of the Sea 3D" was filmed over three years from Fiji to the Bahamas with Cousteau and his children Celine and Fabien.

Cousteau said: "From the very beginning, my wish was that the narrator of Wonders of the Sea 3D be profoundly connected to the environment, and we could not have better fulfilled that mission."

"Arnold and I share the same enthusiasm about what should be done to protect the ocean. I was impressed by his professionalism and how dedicated he proved to endow the film with his voice."

Cousteau is the son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau. He has made over 80 films and received an Emmy.

"I am delighted to be narrating the first feature documentary directed by Jean-Michel Cousteau, a man that I have admired for years," said Schwarzenegger. 

"He was an absolute jewel to work with and I love his enthusiasm. When I first saw the footage of this film, I was blown away and I immediately wanted to be involved."

The AAP on Wednesday pledged to make Delhi a clean city, abolish house tax and end corruption if it took control of the city's civic body in Sunday's election.

"It is a very important election. Delhi has been turned into a garbage dump by the BJP which controlled MCD for the last 10 years," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, referring to the municipal corporation. 

"We will make Delhi clean within a year if we come to power," he said while releasing an eight-page Aam Aadmi Party manifesto. 

Delhi will vote on Sunday to elect a new South Delhi, an East Delhi and a North Delhi Municipal Corporation. All three bodies were earlier one single entity: Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Kejriwal promised to use the best technology to clean up Delhi. 

Citing the manifesto, the AAP leader said more sanitation employees would be recruited and those on contract would get regular job. 

He reiterated his promise to abolish residential house tax and waive off all arrears in Delhi. 

He said Delhi would become free of dengue and chikungunya in three years. The civic body would start the process of "desilting nullahs" in the city within a year of its victory. 

He flayed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for failing to provide a clean Delhi, saying it had backstabbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi by not implementing his Swachh Bharat scheme. 

"It is the obligatory function of the municipal corporations to take preventive steps to stop the spread of vector borne diseases in which the BJP completely failed." 

He dubbed the municipal corporation the most corrupt in Delhi and vowed to end all corruption. 

"MCD is the most corrupt body in the city. People have to pay bribes to get their work done. We will make the MCD corruption free within one year and make it a profitable body." 

The results of the civic body elections will be known on April 26.

The Vijay Mallya case has come under the British judicial process and Indian agencies are making their best effort to have him face trial in India, the Centre said on Wednesday.

"The case (Mallya) is now part of the judicial process in that country (UK) and, as such, will function on judicial considerations," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters here.

"The government and all its agencies are certainly putting their best efforts…the investigating agencies believe an offence has been commited, for which the person is required in India," he added. 

Industrialist Vijay Mallya, wanted in India for defaulting on over Rs.8,000 crore in bank loans, was arrested in London on Tuesday. Within hours, a court granted him bail.

The court issued some stringent orders against Mallya before granting him bail, instructing "neither he can apply for travel documents nor attempt to leave the UK".

It further directed the business tycoon to live in Hertfordshire and keep his cell phone on round the clock. Mallya's revoked passport will also be retained until further orders of the court. 

On February 8, the Indian government handed over to British authorities a formal request for Mallya's extradition, saying it had a legitimate case against him on charges of financial irregularities and loan default.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is learnt, raised the issue when British Prime Minister Theresa May visited New Delhi last November.

Jaitley broached the matter with the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and May when he visited London in February. He pursued the matter with Hammond again earlier this month when the latter came to New Delhi.

The Punjab government has decided to scrap the controversial Khalsa University Act 2016 to save the historic 125-year-old Khalsa College from losing its heritage status by falling prey to privatisation. A decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, on Wednesday.

Amarinder had earlier promised to protect the glorious legacy of Khalsa College, Amritsar, which is one of oldest educational institutions in the country with a heritage status.

An official spokesperson said the cabinet termed as appalling the move by the Khalsa College Society to destroy its rich heritage status by converting this prestigious institution into University. The Khalsa University, Amritsar was established vide Khalsa University Act, 2016 by the previous SAD-BJP alliance government despite huge criticism from not only the residents of Amritsar but also from the alumni of the college and intellectuals of the state, the cabinet noted.

The cabinet decided that there was no point in establishing an additional university in Amritsar, which already had several reputed institutions of higher learning. While the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) has won wide acclaim and recognition at the national level, the Sri Guru Ram Dass University of Health Sciences and the Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar, were also amongst the institutions of national repute.

The cabinet also noted that taking away a chunk of land from Khalsa College to make a University would adversely affect the existence of Khalsa College. Further, the unique identity of its building will also be diminished, the council of ministers pointed out, expressing the firm view that in order to maintain the identity of Khalsa College, all the properties attached to it should be kept intact, thus also preserving its architectural grandeur and marvel.

The Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved fresh mine auctions through progressive e-bidding to boost the state revenue multifold, and bring greater transparency into the mining business, which had been cartelised during the previous SAD-BJP regime.

The decision, which will bring to an end the earlier practice of granting contracts of mines through reverse bidding process, seeks to fulfil Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s poll promise to destroy the sand mafia in the state.

The decision, taken by the state cabinet under the chairmanship of the CM, is expected to increase the government revenue receipt to around Rs.300 crore, according to an official spokesperson. It will also ensure uninterrupted supply of sand and bajri to the consumers at fair price, he added.

It was also decided at the cabinet meeting that the state government would soon implement the Integrated Mines and Minerals Management System (i3MS) to bring greater transparency into the system. The i3MS is approved by the Government of India (GoI) and has been successfully tried and tested in the state of Odisha, the cabinet noted.

The cabinet also decided to hike the compensation to land owners from Rs.50 to Rs.60 per tonne, the spokesperson revealed.

The state government is already working on a new mining policy, which is expected to be formulated by the end of the month as per the directives of the CM. Captain Amarinder had on April 1 reviewed the mining operations in the state, issuing strict instructions to the concerned departments to curb illegal mining.

The crackdown launched on illegal mining by the Captain Amarinder government had led to a spike in the prices of sand and gravel, which will get reversed with more legal mines becoming operational following the cabinet decision, said the spokesperson. Besides increasing the number of legal mines, the government is also mulling deployment of modern digging techniques and stringent enforcement of rules to ensure that illegal mining becomes unviable.

The new mining policy is expected to incorporate these and several other measures to free the state of the mining cartel and make the mining operations viable and lucrative for the state exchequer.

As per data shared by the concerned departments, as many as 59 mines are ready for auction and production can commence in these by May 20, with another 58 pending environmental clearance and expected to become operational by mid-August.

The tussle between Sunil Grover and Kapil Sharma has become the hot news and topic of discussions. The fight has not only affected their friendship but also the channel's TRP.

The ratings of the show channel have hit the bottom and with this alarming situation the channel has given out a reaction.

Although Sunil has refused to patch up with Kapil, the channel had suggested that if he returns to the show, his conversation with Kapil will be kept minimal. But still Sunil took a long time to decide.
 

Not only television actors like Bharti Singh, Krishna Abhishek and others, but also Bollywood actors want Kapil and Sunil to patch up.

Rishi Kapoor had tweeted: "IPL. There is a look alike of @KapilSharmaK9 in the team of Sun Risers Hyderabad. Anyone finding @WhoSunilGrover in any team?Mil jao yaaron!"

Sunil replied to Rishi, "@chintskap @KapilSharmaK9 Sir, I am not playing this season coz I am retired hurt. Best Regards."

The actor-comedian Sunil says, "He Is Retired Hurt".

Reportedly Sunil will return to The Kapil Sharma Show by April end.

If rumours are to be believed Ali Asgar, who earlier refused to continue working with Kapil, will also return to the show.

The NCP on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case and demanded that BJP leader and Union Minister Uma Bharti be sacked from the Cabinet.

"We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court. In the wake of it, Uma Bharti must be sacked from the (Union) ministry," NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

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 SC on Wednesday allowed the CBI plea to restore the charge against them.

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

"Even Kalyan Singh has no moral right to continue on a constitutional position like that of a Governor and he must step down to face the charges," said Malik.

Leading singer Sonu Nigam on Wednesday responded to trolls post his comment on "forced religiousness" in India that triggered a string of reactions online.

Nigam, who is known for songs like Abhi Mujh mein kahin, Kal ho naa ho, took to Twitter on Wednesday to respond to users who slammed him for his Aazaan comments. 

One user said: "I can only pray for you to get well soon from your mental instability so that the next time you raise an issue on Twitter with some sense and sanity."

To which Nigam replied: "Still grammatically incorrect…stick to Hindi baby."

Another user came in support of the singer and said that the previous user "has no logic and language in her replies. Needless expressions. Empty vessel".

Nigam replied to him "And apparently she's from Youth Congress. God bless our country if such is the future of our country's Politics," Nigam said. 

Another user said that Nigam had good intentions but wrong articulation.

"Perhaps you meant (Sikh, Hindu or Muslim) and (law abiding) citizen of India. Good intention wrong articulation," the user wrote. 

Nigam responded by saying: "There is only so much articulation Twitter permits… due to its words limitations. Thus you have to read the entire series of tweets."

Even Singer Mika Singh slammed Nigam and asked him to shift to somewhere else.

"Big brother I respect you lot as a singer. I think you should change your house and stay somewhere else instead of changing loud speakers," Singh tweeted on Wednesday. 

Singh also said that "Gurdwaras, Mandirs, masjids and churches aren't only for loud speakers. They represent charity, langars and honourable things". 

But filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who has made movies such as Buddha in a Traffic Jam and Chocolate, has lent his support to the singer.

"What happened to Bollywood's champions of free speech because Sonu Nigam is not a sycophant of your club, so no support to him? hypocrites," he tweeted.

The Bole Chudiyan singer replied: A Herd of Cattle, is always bigger than a Pride of Lions.

Nigam on Wednesday offered to apologise if his recent controversial tweets were found to be 'anti-Muslim'.

On Monday, Nigam blew up a controversy when he lashed out at "forced religiousness" in India after being woken up by the 'azaan' (Muslim call for prayer) from a mosque near his home.

He was trolled by Muslim community members and organisations with protests and some planning to move court against him.

India on Wednesday extended its full support to Nepal in moving the constitution implementation process forward through dialogue and taking all sections of society on board as the two countries decided to expedite work on various ongoing connectivity and development projects.

New Delhi reiterated the importance of its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and the high priority it attached to strengthening relations with Nepal in every sphere, said a press statement issued by the MEA on the ongoing visit of Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Incidentally, her visit came a day before Nepal and China began their first-ever 10-day joint military exercise, a development which has caused concern in Indian official circles.

However, India has given the visiting leader, who is on her maiden overseas visit, the status of a special guest. President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other leaders held fruitful meetings with her.

According to the Indian side, during these meetings, the Nepalese President reiterated her country’s commitment to further strengthen the age-old, close and friendly ties between the two countries in diverse sectors. She thanked India for its continued support for Nepal’s socio-economic development, in particular, its support for post-earthquake reconstruction process. She conveyed Nepal’s commitment to take forward the relationship between the two countries on the basis of goodwill, understanding and mutual benefit.

Both sides noted that India-Nepal relations derive their strength and salience from shared history, common cultural ethos, and long years of close and intense people-to-people contacts facilitated by open borders.

The Indian leadership expressed support to Nepal’s endeavours to achieve socio-economic transformation for the well-being of its people. They conveyed the good wishes of the people and Government of India to the friendly people of Nepal in their national efforts to achieve peace, stability and all-round development.

The two countries reviewed with satisfaction the expanding vistas of bilateral energy cooperation, including development of hydropower projects in Nepal, power trade and development of high-capacity cross-border transmission lines.

‘’The State visit of the President of Nepal provided the opportunity to the two sides to review all aspects of bilateral relations and to reiterate their commitments to take India-Nepal partnership to a new level across diverse sectors for mutual benefit,’’ the press statement added.

Actor Prabhas, who awaits the release of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, will next be seen in a yet-untitled full-length multi-lingual actioner. The film's director Sujeeth says major chunk of the film's budget will be used on action sequences.

"The scale on which it is being made, major budget will be spent on some extravagant action scenes. Although it will be a commercial outing, we are attempting something new and I would like to keep that as a surprise element," Sujeeth told.

The makers are reportedly spending Rs.35 crore on a single action sequence.

"Honestly, we haven't set aside the budget yet. As I said before, we will spend lavishly on action," he said.

Although he remains tight-lipped about Prabhas's character, Sujeeth says that the film will be very stylish.

"It will be as stylish as a James Bond film. When it comes to emotions and drama, it will be handled in a way it appeals to everybody," he said.

International stuntman Kenny Bates, popular for his work on films such as Die Hard and Transformers, has been brought on board.

"Kenny will be supervising the action scenes. We have already finalised locations in Abu Dhabi and some places in Europe where shooting will be done extensively. We go on the floors from the end of May," he said.

A special teaser of the film will be attached to Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.

"We will announce the title with a poster on April 23. The teaser will be released in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam with "Baahubali 2" in theatres. It has come out very well," he said.

Asked how they cut a teaser without even going on the floors, Sujeeth said: "We shot for one day. I have spent the last two years of my life prepping for this project. Working on this teaser was equivalent to work on a film for me. Work on the teaser is currently underway in Mumbai."

The movie has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. While Sabu Cyril will take care of production design, Madhie will crank the camera.

"We wanted the music to have a national appeal. We roped in Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy because they understand north as well southern sensibilities when it comes to composing music. They have also worked in the south," he said.

BJP leader Uma Bharti on Wednesday said she would not resign as Union Minister and that the charges of conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case have not yet been proven against her.

Her remarks came after the Supreme Court revived the conspiracy charge in the Babri Masjid demolition case against her and senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Kalyan Singh, who is Rajasthan Governor, among others.

"I am not one of those who is greedy for power. I resigned as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh after a case was registered against me in the Tiranga (national flag) case," Bharti, Union Water Resources Minister, told reporters.

Asked whether she would resign as Union Minister as the Congress party has demanded her resignation, Bharti said, "The charge has not been proved."

Restoring the conspiracy charge in the demolition case, a bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman also transferred the trial from Rae Bareli to Lucknow.

She also refuted any conspiracy behind the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque.

"There was no conspiracy. Everything was open. The question of conspiracy does not arise," she said.

The Goa Board of Secondary Education (GBSHSE) is expected to announce the result of Higher Secondary school certificate result 2017 in the last week of April, 2017. Candidates will be informed of the exact dates of Goa class 12 results 2017 towards the last week of April itself.

Students, who appeared for the exam, can find their Goa HSSC results 2017 at www.gbshse.gov.in. Here’s how you can get your Goa HSSC results 2017:

1. Candidates have to open the GBSHSE website

2. To get their Goa Class 12 Results 2017, students have to enter their roll number and password.

3. Once the results are out, students can download and get a print-out of their results.

The GBSHSE HSSC 2017 exam was held in March. The exam, covering Arts, Commerce and Science stream, started on 1 March and concluded on 16 March. This year, the declaration of HSSC exam 2017 results have been revised and preponed by two weeks. Last year, the results were declared in the second week of May.

The BCCI units on Tuesday passed a unanimous resolution that they would ask the ICC Board to hold on to the 'Big Three' revenue model till its Annual General Meeting in London in June.

Any decision on India's Champions Trophy participation will be taken only after the ICC Board Meeting but most of the members present at the Special General Meeting of the BCCI on Tuesday were against taking any extreme position.

It is learnt that Amitabh Chaudhary, the joint Secretary and Board representative will put the BCCI's point of view at the ICC's Dubai Board Meeting on April 27 and 28.

“A resolution has been passed at the SGM that we will ask ICC to carry on with the existing model where Australia, England and India get the lion's share of revenue. We will definitely work out a new model during London meeting. This was today unanimously passed by the forum,” a top official who attended the meeting told PTI.

Chaudhary, on his part, only said that protecting India's interest will be his primary objective.

“The COA has given a formula which is beneficial to India. We would take ingredients from it also,” the joint Secretary said.

Asked if the CT pull out was an option, Chaudhary said: “Only poets and philosophers can answer that question.”

However, it was learnt that as per the resolution, Chaudhary will come back from Dubai and apprise the BCCI of the ICC's stand and if it remains rigid, they will then revisit the old agreement signed in 2014.

Meanwhile, most of the members were of the opinion that the Board units should co-operate with the COA rather than creating hindrance to them.

“There were a lot of anti N Srinivasan voices that wanted BCCI to strengthen COA stand and also not give a notion of infighting to ICC,” the source added.

No member from Tamil Nadu Cricket Association or Saurashtra Cricket Association attended the SGM.

During the last meeting, Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah attended despite being above 70 years of age.

In Tuesday's meeting, the only 70-plus member was Odisha's Asirbad Behera.

There were also discussions on the appointment of Ombudsman.

Housing sales fell marginally by 1 per cent in eight major cities to 28,131 units during January-March over the previous quarter, with demand slowly recovering from demonetisation impact, a study says.

Housing sales stood at 28,472 units during the October- December quarter in eight major cities– Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai– according to PropEquity, a real estate data, research and analytics firm.

On supply, the report said that launches of new homes dipped 19.46 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 to 22,897 units from 28,428 units in the previous quarter.

The number of unsold inventory fell by 3.12 per cent to 4,71,855 units from 4,87,043 units as developers focused on clearing existing stocks instead of launching new ones.

“Overall the fall in demand and new launches of residential projects slowed down in the Q1 as impact of demonetisation on the real estate sector tapered down faster than the expectations,” PropEquity said.

Housing prices declined by 1.67 per cent to Rs 6,185 per sq ft from Rs 6,290 per sq ft during the period under review.

During the first quarter of 2017, the key residential markets across India witnessed a minimal variation across various market indicators except new launches.

“Housing supply across key cities declined by about 20 per cent largely on account developers anticipating dip in demand post demonetisation coupled with muted investors demand,” the report said.

The housing supply would pick up in coming quarters, it added.

“Real estate sector in India, especially housing is going through a critical transition phase post demonetisation as transaction activity has slowed down,” said Samir Jasuja, founder and CEO at PropEquity.

Many buyers, sellers, banks and private equity investors are waiting for the sector to tide over the volatility in the market, he added.

With implementation of real estate regulatory Act (RERA), Jasuja expected that delays in project deliveries would reduce with developers rushing to complete existing projects to avoid penalties.

“We strongly believe that developers with good track record, strong financials and low leverage to external debt are expected to perform better in the current environment,” Jasuja said.

Housing sales fell marginally by 1 per cent in eight major cities to 28,131 units during January-March over the previous quarter, with demand slowly recovering from demonetisation impact, a study says.

Housing sales stood at 28,472 units during the October- December quarter in eight major cities– Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai– according to PropEquity, a real estate data, research and analytics firm.

On supply, the report said that launches of new homes dipped 19.46 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 to 22,897 units from 28,428 units in the previous quarter.

The number of unsold inventory fell by 3.12 per cent to 4,71,855 units from 4,87,043 units as developers focused on clearing existing stocks instead of launching new ones.

“Overall the fall in demand and new launches of residential projects slowed down in the Q1 as impact of demonetisation on the real estate sector tapered down faster than the expectations,” PropEquity said.

Housing prices declined by 1.67 per cent to Rs 6,185 per sq ft from Rs 6,290 per sq ft during the period under review.

During the first quarter of 2017, the key residential markets across India witnessed a minimal variation across various market indicators except new launches.

“Housing supply across key cities declined by about 20 per cent largely on account developers anticipating dip in demand post demonetisation coupled with muted investors demand,” the report said.

The housing supply would pick up in coming quarters, it added.

“Real estate sector in India, especially housing is going through a critical transition phase post demonetisation as transaction activity has slowed down,” said Samir Jasuja, founder and CEO at PropEquity.

Many buyers, sellers, banks and private equity investors are waiting for the sector to tide over the volatility in the market, he added.

With implementation of real estate regulatory Act (RERA), Jasuja expected that delays in project deliveries would reduce with developers rushing to complete existing projects to avoid penalties.

“We strongly believe that developers with good track record, strong financials and low leverage to external debt are expected to perform better in the current environment,” Jasuja said.

Markets regulator Sebi is looking to grant unified licence to brokers and clearing members for operating in commodity derivative as well as equity markets.

The board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is likely to discuss a proposal to this effect next week, sources said.

To enable the integration, Sebi may amend norms pertaining to stock broker and securities contract regulations.

Under the proposal, a stock broker or clearing member dealing in the securities markets should be allowed to buy, sell or deal in the commodity derivatives without setting up a separate entity and vice-versa, sources said.

The move is expected to benefit investors, brokers, stock exchanges and Sebi as there are many commonalities between the two markets in terms of trading and settlement mechanism, risk management, redressal of investor grievances.

The unified entity offering intermediation across asset classes will provide for efficiency of capital use to investors and enhance the value to the overall financial services ecosystem in the Indian securities market.

Besides, it is expected to increase economic efficiency in terms of meeting operational and compliance obligations at the member level, potentially resulting in ease of doing business.

Also, the integration of brokers in equity and commodity derivatives markets may help in widening market penetration and facilitate effective regulatory oversight by stock exchanges and Sebi.

Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech for 2017-18, had announced that the “commodities and securities derivative markets will be further integrated by integrating the participants, brokers, and operational frameworks”.

BJP in Meghalaya has reorganised the party's state executive committee by inducting in it 12 tribal faces in view of the Assembly election next year.

"We have inducted 12 tribal executive members of the party in the executive committee at the party meeting last evening. The decision was taken in view of the party getting ready for the 2018 elections," state BJP chief Shibun Lyngdoh said.

Of the 16 executive members of the party elected on Tuesday, Lyngdoh, who retained the post of party president, said there are only four non-tribals.

He said that tribal faces were required as the party would field candidates in all the 60 seats in the 2018 elections.

Lyngdoh said that BJP national executive meeting held at Bhubaneshwar had given him the power to reorganise the state executive committee and bring in as much tribal leaders as possible.

Former MLAs Edmund Sangma and J A Lyngdoh who joined the party recently were made vice-president and spokesperson respectively.

Executive member of Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council Neil Antonio War was also inducted in the executive committee, Lyngdoh said.

Vice-president Gagan Jain was demoted to being an executive member only.

People of all religions and communities would be taken into confidence by the new executive and the party would fight corruption to bring in development for all strata of the society here, Lyngdoh said.