AC Milan’s late, late surge against Interazionale produced a remarkable 2-2 draw in the latest instalment of the Derby della Madonnina on Saturday in their Serie A encounter at the San Siro.

Billed as the first ‘Chinese Derby di Milano’, as AC had been taken over by a Chinese consortium as recently as Thursday, the 90 minutes enthralled a capacity crowd as the iconic stadium that is shared by both clubs.

Inter had raced into a 2-0 lead at half-time and looked on course to secure a remarkable smash-and-grab victory over their arch rivals before Christian Zapata’s dramatic 97th-minute equaliser forced a share of the spoils.

Despite playing at ‘home’, the Nerrazzuri were forced to sit deep as Milan monopolised possession from kick off, yet they managed to score against the run of play, with Antonio Candreva’s smart finish from an acute angle in the 36th minute.

And then Inter captain Mauro Icardi doubled the home side’s lead after a well-worked move with Ivan Perisic on the right wing. The Croatian wing laid it on a plate for the Argentine to stroke home and with Inter 2-0 up a minute before half-time, the game looked done and dusted. It was Icardi's 21st league goal of the season and perhaps more significantly, his first in the Milan Derby.

For Milan had looked bright, with Gerard Deulofeu in particular, running rings around the Inter defence but with little to show for it, Milan looked short of ideas in the final third.

Montella sent on young Manuel Locatelli in the second half and despite the Rossoneri literally camping in their rivals’ half, things looked bleak for Inter were resolute in defence.

Milan kept pressing, however, and were rewarded for their perseverance when central defender Alessio Romagnoli volleying home Suso’s cross in the 83rd minute to set up a grandstand finish.

Even the most ardent of the Rossoneri faithful had resigned themselves to a narrow loss but Christian Zapata popped up deep into extra-time to ensure both Milan derbies of the 2016-17 season ended in a 2-2 draw. The defender’s header had been cleared off the line according to Inter defenders, but match referee Daniele Orsato correctly judged the ball had gone inside the goal, aided by goal-line technology the Serie A employs, no doubt.

Both sides had squandered plenty of chances, with Deulofeu and Perisic guilty of misses in the first period and substitute Eder missing a golden opportunity to square it for Icardi who would have put Inter 3-0 up in the second half, which meant a draw was the fair result.

The arch-rivals remain where they were in the league table, with Milan in sixth place with 58 points and Inter in seventh, two points behind.

Rising geo-political tensions, along with disappointing macro-economic data points and massive outflow of foreign funds depressed the Indian equity markets during the just-concluded trade week.

Besides, lower revenue guidance from an IT major Infosys stoked concerns over the rest of Q4 (fourth quarter) results' expectations. However, short covering at lower levels restricted the downside. 

The trade week that ended on April 13, 2017 saw the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, recede by 245.16 points or 0.82 per cent to 29,461.45 points, while the wider 51-scrip NSE Nifty closed at 9,150.80 points — down 47.50 points or 0.51 per cent.

"Markets corrected this week. Sentiment in global markets remained subdued during the week as investors were cautious amid geo-political tensions in Syria and North Korea," Deepak Jasani, Head – Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

According to other observers, even the growing uncertainty ahead of France's presidential election kept market participants in a "wait and watch" mode.

"The global markets remained in the risk aversion mode driven by the geo-political risks emanating mainly from North Korea. This is evident from the rise in safe haven assets such as gold, the yen and US Treasury securities," Devendra Nevgi, Chief Executive of Zyfin Advisors, told IANS.

Besides, the US President Donald Trump's call to weaken the US dollar as it was "getting too strong" marred sentiments. 

The Indian rupee weakened by 12 paise to 64.41-42 against a US dollar from last week's close of 64.29.

Apart from geo-political tensions, investors' risk-taking appetite got eroded by a set of disappointing macro-economic data points which showed that industrial production contracted in February and consumer price inflation edged up in March.

"India's industrial output slipped to a four-month low, contracting 1.2 per cent in February, mainly on account of decline in the manufacturing sector and lower off-take of capital as well as consumer goods," D.K. Aggarwal, Chairman and Managing Director, SMC Investments and Advisors, told IANS.

"On the flip side, India's Consumer Price Index (CPI), or retail inflation, during March rose month-on-month at 3.81 per cent." 

Market observers pointed out that IT sector dragged the equity markets lower after software major Infosys on Thursday projected a lower revenue growth in 2017-18 than it posted during 2016-17.

"Stock markets have got their first taste of earnings' disappointment from Infosys. Next week will look forward to more earnings releases," Nevgi elaborated.

In terms of investments during the week ended April 13, provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed that FIIs sold stocks worth Rs.2,967.75 crore during the week, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought scrip worth Rs.1,794.9 crore.

Figures from the National Securities Depository (NSDL) revealed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) off-loaded equities worth Rs.2,178.58 crore, or $338.09 million, between April 10 and 13.

Sector-wise, the top weekly gainers were realty, infrastructure, pharma and oil and gas indices, whereas the top losers were metals, telecom, capital goods and cement indices. 

Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari has urged the people to create an atmosphere conducive for conducting local polls which is a must for implementing the new Constitution.

Nepal has entered into a federal democratic system by adopting the new Constitution, so the election is a must to implement the Constitution, Bhandari said while addressing a programme in Itahari district in eastern Nepal.

The Constitution has guaranteed sufficient rights to the local bodies, so the country would move towards prosperity by maintaining peace and stability, the President said.

Her statement comes at a time when Nepal's agitating Madhesi parties have decided to boycott next month's local elections and hold fresh protests, saying that the new Constitution amendment bill tabled by the government in Parliament has not addressed their key demand — revision of provincial boundary.

The United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), demanding more representation and re-demarcation of state boundaries, is opposing the local body elections top be held on May 14.

Prime Minister Prachanda, during a central office meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) held in Baluwatar yesterday, urged the alliance of Madhes-based parties to come to the negotiating table to sort out their differences.

He asked them to take part in the local-body elections.

Meanwhile, 68 fringe parties including the Naya Shakti Party Nepal-led by former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai today began a 'relay hunger strike' here against the rule that granted party-wise election symbols only to those political parties that have representation in the Parliament.

The leaders' strike would last until April 21.

The parties said they would obstruct the voter-education programmes of the Election Commission (EC) and other programmes by the government and non-governmental organisation if the EC turns deaf ear towards their demand.

The 68 parties have been protesting against the Local Level Elections Act that forbids parties outside the Parliament to get party-wise election symbols for the upcoming polls.

Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which they felt marginalised the Terai community.

The protest had resulted in the death of at least 50 people.

Chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Saturday launched an 'unemployment allowance scheme' and decided to regularise contract employees after three years in service, instead of the present period of five years.

Singh made this announcement at the state level function at Chamba on the occasion of the 70th foundation day of Himachal Pradesh.

Chief minister who unfurled the tricolor and took salute at impressive march past, formally launched the scheme by distributing cheques of Rs.1,000 each to ten beneficiaries.

He said all the contractual employees who have completed three years of uninterrupted service would be regularised.
Singh said the state government has decided to provide unemployment allowance of Rs.1,000 per month to youth having intermediate or above qualification where as the unemployed youth with disability would be given Rs.1,500 per month.

The state government was giving added priority to skill development of unemployed youth to raise their level of employability, he said, adding that Rs.500 crore skill development scheme had been started by the government.
He said that so far skill development allowance had been provided to 1,52,000 youth.

'Kaushal Vikas Nigam' had also been setup to implement Rs.640 crore Asian Development Bank (ADB) assisted Skill Development Project to upgrade skill infrastructure and provide employment to around 65,000 youth.

The Chief Minister said numerous measures had been taken under social welfare schemes and as many as 3,89,168 persons were being provided social security pension of Rs.650 during the last four years, which had been further enhanced to Rs.700 per month from 2017-18 and an outlay of Rs.410 crore had been made for it.

The assistance under Mother Teresa 'Matri Ashraya Sambal Yojana' has been enhanced from Rs.3,000 to Rs.4,000.
The CM said the 42 colleges were opened during past four years in the state, raising the number of government degree colleges to 119.

He said that as many 3,138 panchayats out of total 3,226 had been connected with motor-able roads and work was in progress to connect the remaining 74 panchayats.

Over 2,000 kms new roads and 204 bridges were constructed providing road connectivity to 864 villages, he said adding that the total road length in the state has crossed 37,000 Km.

The Chief Minister said efforts were being made to ensure better health care facilities to the people at their door- steps and 21 Civil Hospitals, 34 CHCs, 96 PHCs and 29 Health Sub-Centres had been opened in the state during the last four years.

He also distributed agricultural tool kits, solar lights and water purifiers to the beneficiaries.

The CM also presented State level Himachal Gaurav, Prerna Srot, Civil Service and Innovation awards.

He honoured Dr Krishan Lal Sehgal with Himachal Gaurav Award in field of folk music. Dr Rajinder Verma commandant of 17th battalion of Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) was also awarded.

The Chief Minister conferred State Level Civil Service Award on Shimla district administration, which was received by Deputy Commissioner, Rohan Thakur.

The 'Prerna Srot' awards were conferred on Dinesh Sood, Lecturer in GSSS, (Boys), Nahan of Sirmaur district.

Under the State Innovation Award Scheme, Dr Kamal Sharma from Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni in Solan district was presented a cheque of Rs.10,500 for introducing new commercial crop with early bearing technology and improved genotype for economic cultivation in monkey inhabited areas.

Dr Sanjeev Thakur of the Parmar varsity was also awarded.

Dr Sudhir Sharma, Associate Professor, department of Neurology, IGMC, Shimla was presented a cheque of Rs.21,000 for HP Tele-stroke project.

Punam Ghai of RR Enterprises for ready-to-cook spice-mix, and Principal DIET, Mandi and Director Town and Country Planning, Himachal Pradesh for e-service project were also awarded with Rs.21,000 each.

The DSP, Dalhousie, Sagar Chand was awarded for commendable services for ceasing haul of drugs, Jeet Singh Executive EngineerHPPWD, Chamba, for his exemplary work, DPO, ICDS, (Child care), Kapil Sharma for playing a pivotal role in prohibiting child marriages.

Robin Uthappa rescued Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) from their initial hiccups with a composed 68 that helped his side post 172/6 in 20 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.

Put in to bat by visiting skipper David Warner, KKR lost opener Sunil Narine (6; 9b, 1×4) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (15; 16b, 2×4, 0x6) early to be tottering at 40/2.

Coming in at No.3, Uthappa used all his experience to engineer a crafty 68 (39b 5×4 4×6) along with Manish Pandey who was guilty of a slow start — scoring only 13 in his first 18 balls — to finally score a 35-ball 46 (3×4, 2×6). The pair stitched together a 77-run third wicket partnership.

For the visitors, Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned best figures of (3/20) conceding at an economy rate of just five.

Narine failed to repeat his heroics of two days ago as a fiery Bhuvneshwar uprooted his off-stump with an in-swinging yorker to which the leg-spinner had no answer.

In the previous over, Narine had slapped Ashish Nehra down the wicket.

Bhuvneshwar looked dangerous in his first spell of two overs (2-0-7-1) getting the ball to swing away from the right hander.

Uthappa almost fell pray in his first delivery, following a away moving delivery and all but edging behind to wicket-keeper Naman Ojha.

Just when it looked like Gambhir was about to continue from where he had left against Kings XI Punjab, Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan (1/29) continued his purple patch with the KKR captain trying to cut a straight one that skidded off the surface and clattered into his stumps.

After the Powerplay, KKR were in a spot of bother at 40/2 with Pandey joining Uthappa in the middle.

Uthappa upped the ante after the break, hitting Moises Henriques and Vipul Sharma — both being inducted in the first XI in place of Mustafizur Rahman and Vijay Shankar — for two and a six respectively.

The clean-hitting right-hander from Karnataka brought up his half-century, sweeping Rashid to deep midwicket where Shikhar Dhawan misjudged a difficult catch attempt. Together with Pandey, the duo who play their domestic cricket together, tore apart Sunrisers.

Uthappa, in the process, became the third batsman after Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan to score 1500 runs for KKR.

Cutting (1/41) finally got Uthappa out — his legcutter forcing the 2007 T20 World Cup winning player to mistime his pull with Rashid running from deep midwicket to long on to take the catch.

Bhuvneshwar halted Pandey from scoring a fifty, getting the back of him as Pathan remained unbeaten at 21 off 15 with Suryakumar Yadav and Colin Grandhomme falling to Nehra and Bhuvneshwar respectively.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 172/6 (Robin Uthappa 68, Manish Pandey 46; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/20) vs Kolkata Knight Riders.

A Chandigarh district court on Saturday granted bail to the 48 out of 53 students arrested for the violent clash between Panjab University (PU) students and the police while protesting against fee hike on 11 April.​

Additional district court judge JS ​Sidhu permitted the application for the regular bail at 2:00 pm. The advocates AS Chahal, RS Bassi and Terminder Singh had filed​ the application on Wednesday for the students' ​bail.

​​The counsel who promised for free legal aid to the students have also filed an application for the bail of remaining five students.

"Names of the five remaining students names were not in the list due to which bail was not granted to them with others," said Amrit Veer Singh, district court lawyer.

In the application the advocates have clearly stated that the students have been falsely implicated by the police and there was no evidence against the arrested students for pelting stones at the policemen during the clash.

Gold prices held steady at Rs.29,950 per 10 grams at the bullion market today on (rpt) on scattered demand from local jewellers.

Silver followed suit and ruled flat at Rs.43,000 per kg.

Traders said mild demand from local jewellers in view of ongoing wedding season at domestic spot market kept gold as well as silver prices steady.

In the national capital, gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5 per cent purity ruled steady at Rs.29,950 and Rs.29,800 per 10 grams, respectively. It had gained Rs.660 in last four days.

Sovereign remained unaltered at Rs.24,500 per piece of eight grams.

Silver ready and weekly-based delivery also finished at previous level of Rs.43,000 and Rs.42,570 per kg, respectively.

Silver coins too remained unaltered at Rs.72,000 for buying and Rs.73,000 for selling of 100 pieces.

The Al Qaeda-linked rebel groups on Saturday prevented the evacuated Shias from reaching their destination in Syria's Aleppo city, hindering a deal with the government, a source said.

Around 5,000 pro-government Shias evacuated the besieged towns of Kafraya and Foa on Friday and headed towards Aleppo under a deal between the government and rebels that should also see the evacuation of rebels and their families from rebel-held areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

The convoy of the Shias made a planned stop at the rebel-held town of Rashidien as around 2,300 rebels and their families left Madaya town towards Idlib province and also stopped at the government-controlled Ramouseh area in Aleppo.

Ramouseh and Rashidien are the places for the swap between both parties, but the rebels of the Front for Liberating the Levant, previously known as the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, prevented the buses from Kafraya and Foa from proceeding towards Aleppo.

The government in return kept the rebels and their families from Madaya town from proceeding towards Idlib.

According to the source, the rebels had last minute demands and changes to the original deal.

He said the deal was brokered by Iran on the government side and Turkey and Qatar on behalf of the rebels.

The rebels' backers have apparently backed down on their pledges to see the abidance by the deal from the rebel side, he said.

Efforts were being made to see the deal through in the next hours, as there were other Shia batches from Zabadani town, he said.

"Around 500 rebels, mainly commanders from Zabadani near Madaya and 2,000 people from Kafraya and Foa are still in their places and were supposed to evacuate once the first batches arrive to their respective destinations," the source said.

The deal from Kafraya and Foa on one side and Madaya and Zabadani on the rebel side is considered the largest ever in Syria as the entire population of the Shia towns will leave.

Some of the Madaya people refused to leave with the rebels and their families and chose to remain in their area with some rebels who accepted a reconciliation with the government forces.

Now as Madaya is clear of the rebels, the Syrian Army entered the area after two years of laying siege to it.

In Zabadani, 500 rebel commanders are set to leave in the second batch.

This will largely contribute in expanding the security range around Damascus, particularly as Madaya and Zabadani are both close to the Lebanese borders and were conduits for the smuggling of weapons and radical fighters.

Still, opposition activists slammed the deal as another attempt for "demographic cleansing".

The deal's first step started on Wednesday with a detainee swap between the rebels and the pro-government fighters in Idlib.
 

A leading Mumbai NGO Harmony Foundation on Saturday appealed to Pakistani peace activists to launch a campaign to save former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan S. Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by that country's military court.

Abraham Mathai, President of Harmony Foundation — which awards the St. Mother Teresa Awards annually to prominent global citizens — has written to Pakistani peace campaigner Saeeda Diep of Lahore for help in the Jadhav case.

Following the appeal, Diep, who is Executive Director, Centre for Peace and Secular Studies, Lahore, has agreed to initiate a campaign in her country to ensure a proper trial for Jadhav, who hails from Mumbai, according to him.

Mathai pointed out how Jadhav was not arrested on Pakistani territory but kidnapped by some militant outfits working in tandem with the current (Pakistan) regime, and that all the military courts were allegedly a sham which did not adhere to principles of natural justice.

"Jadhav has been denied consular access in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. No copy of the chargesheet has been provided to him which is the fundamental right of any accused," Mathai said.

He said the worst of terrorists, when caught anywhere in the world, were given a fair trial, including India, which demonstrated the principles of natural justice by giving a fair trial to hardcore terrorist Ajmal Kasab and upholding his human rights.

"In Jadhav's case, all circumstantial evidences indicate that he was framed and accordingly, it is only fair that he be given a fair trial by a proper judicial court," Mathai urged Diep, a former recipient of the St. Mother Teresa Award.

Last Monday, April 10, Pakistan announced that a Field General Court Martial had awarded the death sentence to Jadhav, who was reportedly arrested from Balochistan's Mashkel area on March 3, 2016.

The Inter-Service Public Relations said that he was tried under Section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 and Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and found guilty of all charges including "involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan".
 

Once out of power, the Congress now wants complete ban on liquor in Uttarakhand. Considering the widespread protest by women against relocated liquor shop in the hill state, the party has possibly decided to take some political advantage.

Senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh said, “After assuming power the BJP has failed to tackle the relocation of liquor shop problem. Even changing the state highway into district highway has not helped. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured all BJP ruled states that they will not face any financial problem and central government will provide them all the help. The Uttarakhand government should put a ban on liquor in the hill state.”

The earlier Harish Rawat government had to face problem due to their liquor policy. One of the bureaucrats and close aide of Harish Rawat featured in a tv sting operation- showing some fishy deal taking place between liquor mafia and state government representative. Congress had to face the burn of Harish Rawat government promoting a particular liquor brand during state assembly elections. For establishing the monopoly of a particular brand, many popular brands were forced to go out of circulation in Uttarakhand. The process adopted by Harish Rawat government created anger among consumers. 

In the changed political scenario, Congress is asking for putting complete ban on liquor in Uttarakhand. BJP is struggling to relocate the liquor shops after the Supreme Court order to move them 500/250 mts away from the national highway. Following in the footmarks of Maharashtra, Himachal, Rajasthan and other state government, the Trivendra Rawat government denotified 64 state highway roads. Citing facing practical problem in the maintenance, development and expansion of the state highway, the change was made. But, the protest of hill women against relocated liquor shop has failed to end.

After women protest taking place in different parts of the state, Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat claimed that they will develop other revenue sources to reduce their dependence on mining and liquor. 

Even ex-Chief Minister Harish Rawat has starting mocking BJP for its liquor policy. Making a sharp comment Harish said, “When Congress was in power there was big corruption in liquor business. Now BJP is in power, the brand and suppliers remains the same. The BJP is working hard to safeguard the liquor businessmen. What a miracle!”

Alcoholism remains a big problem in the hill. Despite this both BJP and Congress have never taken any serious effort to address the problem. For every government liquor is a source of revenue. It is a general practice adopted by political party, that is out of power, starts preaching lesson of morality. The same appears the case of Congress. 

The Telangana government on Saturday decided to hike the reservations for the socially and economically backward among Muslims to 12 per cent from the existing four per cent.

The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

The cabinet also decided to increase the quota for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) from the current seven per cent to 10 per cent, official sources said.

Both the Houses of the state legislature will be meeting on Sunday for a special session to pass a bill for increasing the quantum of reservation for Muslims and STs in education and jobs.

As this will take the overall reservations in the state beyond the prescribed limit of 50 per cent, the legislature will pass Telangana Reservation Bill and send it to the Centre with a request to include it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu.

Chandrasekhar Rao said Telangana was following the model of Tamil Nadu, where the overall quota for different groups is 69 per cent.
 

The Congress on Saturday said contrary to claims by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian economy was stagnant and investments were not coming.

Citing Reserve Bank of India data, party leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said that in 2016-17, bank credit grew by 5 per cent – the lowest in 60 years, while the plant load factor – a measure of capacity utilisation – stood at 60 per cent, the lowest in 15 years. 

"Lowest increase in bank credit for the last 60 years, lowest plant load factor in the last 15 years and lowest addition to employment in the organised sector in recent years, this is the reality.

"In the first two years of Modi government, only 4.4 lakh jobs were created in the organised sector as opposed to 21 lakh jobs created during the first two years of the UPA-II government," said Ramesh. 

"These indicators, which are all government figures, belie the Prime Minister's repeated claims of the economy taking off. Modi may claim that GDP is growing at seven per cent, but other indicators show a stagnant economy," he said. 

Ramesh said lack of investments was a big threat faced by the economy and said both Modi and his Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had no answers for the problems of the economy. 

"There is no point in the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister taking refuge in GDP growth. They are meaningless. The world no longer believes India's GDP numbers," he said. 

"The condition of the economy is matter of serious concern and the government must look into the challenges faced by the economy," he added.

Prabhas underwent dual body transformation for the film and he was trained by ex-Mr World Lakshman.

“As Bahubali, Prabhas had to build a lot of muscle and for the son’s character, Shivudu, he had to look lean. His physique fluctuated for more than four years. That was difficult," Reddy, who won the title of Mr World 2010, said.

"Prabhas weighed almost 100 kg with his body fat percentage staying in the range of nine to 10. For the younger character, he had to build a toned body with minimal muscles,” Reddy added.

While describing a typical day in Prabhas’ life, the trainer said that a half hour cardio session was followed by an entire day’s shoot.

He followed a strict diet, eliminated all kinds of carbs and concentrated on proteins for Shivudu’s character, sources said..

“He would have six meals with egg whites, chicken, nuts, almonds, fish and vegetables are thrown in. For Bahubali prep, he had eight meals a day, carb-heavy with cheese and mutton. In the evenings, we had weight training sessions, which included deadlifts, squats, bench press and other rigorous exercises.” Reddy added.

Every 20 days, there was a cheat meal.

“He loves biryani, so he was allowed that. At times, he’d ask for junk food. I was strict but understood his cravings. I was continuously monitoring his food intake and workouts,” Reddy said.

Despite hectic schedule, the actor religiously followed his workout regime.

“He would shoot for hardcore stunts and by the end of it, be tired, but never missed a workout. There were days when we would start exercising at midnight. His dedication was amazing.” Reddy added.

Four youth were missing after the car in which they were travelling fell into Beas Satluj Link (BSL) canal in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, around 130 kms from here.

Police officials said the incident took place on Friday at around 10.30 pm when five youths were returning to home in Balh area from Sundernagar in Mandi district.

“The driver of the car identified as Punit lost control of the vehicle near Diyargi village after which it fell into BSL canal,” police said.

Police said Puneet managed to escape in the accident as he was a good swimmer and he informed the police about the incident. A rescue team along with divers was rushed to the spot to locate the missing youth, however, without any success.

Police said Puneet who recently got recruited in Indian Navy was partying with his younger brother and friends when the incident took place. “The missing youth have been identified as Abhishek, Himnashu, Aditya and Sonu and their parents are working at BBMB unit in Mandi district,” Police added.
 

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday condemned Khadoor Sahab legislator Ramanjit Singh Sikki for threatening station house officers (SHOs) with dire consequences if they did not obey the directives of Congress workers.

In a statement here, former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said Sikki had during a public meeting in Khadoor Sahab yesterday directed the DSP to direct SHOs to ensure no Congress worker returned “disappointed” after visiting a police station.

He said in a direct threat to SHOs Sikki also announced that if this happened he would reach the police station himself and teach a befitting lesson to the concerned officer.

Stating that immediate action should be taken against the Congress legislator under relevant sections of the law for threatening a government official and preventing him from doing his duty in an impartial manner, the former finance minister said while there was a complete mismatch in statements emanating from Chandigarh and the actions of Congress functionaries in the field showing goodaism at its worst.

He said on Thursday Cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot got piqued at his name not being mentioned in the first line of a foundation stone inaugurating an academic block built by philanthropists at Nabha.

He publicly humiliated and bullied the school principal. "Today Sikki is threatening to take away the jobs of police officers if they don’t obey the dictates of Congress workers and register false cases against the Akalis,” Dhindsa said.

He said the high handedness being practiced by Sikki was in line with the Congress policy to strike out at its political opponents by using the police force as a tool for this vendetta exercise.

He said proof of this was seen a few days back with an Akali worker was killed by a five member police party headed by an assistant sub inspector. 

The Lehra Ghagga legislator said the SAD would not keep quiet and tolerate the launch of a well-planned systematic vendetta drive against akali workers. “The SAD will launch a mass movement to stop this vendetta drive in its tracks”, he said.

Actress Priyanka Chopra can't wait to be back in India only to return to the US again to set out on promotional trips for her Hollywood debut Baywatch. Will the team come to India? She says it seems "very difficult".

Actress Deepika Padukone brought along Vin Diesel to promote xXx: Return of the Xander Cage in India earlier this year. So, one wonders if there is a chance that the "Baywatch" team visits the country too.

"I don't know yet," Priyanka said.

"It seems very difficult. I don't think we will be doing much. We will be only doing one or two countries when it comes to travelling for 'Baywatch', but I don't know yet what the marketing plan by Paramount Pictures is.

"But while I am in town, I will definitely do as much as I can. I don't know about the rest of the team," she added.

The upcoming American action-comedy film, featuring Priyanka as the antagonist Victoria Leeds, is based on the hugely popular television series of the same name. Directed by Seth Gordon, it features actors like Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.

After a short trip of 10 days to India soon, Priyanka will have to rush back to fulfil her commitments to the project.

"I've to come back (to the US) again because I'll be travelling for 'Baywatch'," she said.

The actress, whose Marathi film production Ventilator has recently won three National Film Awards, is looking forward to meet her friends and family members during her visit to India.

"I am very excited. It's been a long run for Quantico 2, and I am very tired. I am just waiting to come home," added Priyanka.

According to a source close to the actress, she will also be meeting a few filmmakers and deciding upon some Indian projects while she is here, apart from some work on her brand endorsements.
 

At least three persons, said to be agents of the Research and Analysis Wing by police, have been arrested in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Mohammad Khalil, Imtiaz and Rashid, all from Taroti village in Abbaspur, were in the custody of police in Rawalakot, the headquarters of Poonch division, Dawn online reported.

According to Poonch Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sajid Imran, Khalil is the "main suspect." He said the three were involved in anti-state activities, including the bombing of a police station, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Khalil, according to the police, had reportedly visited Indian Kashmir in November 2014 to see his relatives in Bandi Chechian village. There he came in contact with RAW which "lured him to work for them." 

Khalil had an intra-Kashmir travel permit.

Later, he is said to have recruited Imtiaz and Rashid to work with him "for handsome returns".

During preliminary investigations, according to the police, Khalil told investigators that he had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) about 14 or 15 times from different parts in Abbaspur sector.

Imtiaz and Rashid had also "confessed to crossing the LoC five to six times," the paper said.

"Khalil would take with him cigarettes and [mobile phone] memory cards, carrying pictures of bridges, mosques controlled by the Deobandi school of thought, and army and police installations," Imran said.

According to him, he had given two active SIM cards registered in his name to Indian officials.

The DSP said the arrested persons had planted an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) outside a police station in Abbaspur on September 27 last year.

"We tracked their movements and phone calls with the help of intelligence agencies and finally arrested them two days ago (Tuesday)," he said.

They have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act.

The development follows the death sentence given to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav on April 10. Jadhav has been charged with espionage and waging war against Pakistan. India says Pakistan had abducted Jadhav from Iran.