With 6.8 million followers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the world's most followed leader on Facebook's photo-sharing app Instagram, a new study revealed on Wednesday.

Modi, who was at third spot on Instagram last year, is closely followed by the US President Donald Trump with 6.3 million followers, said the study conducted by global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.

The study looked at the activity of the 325 Instagram accounts of heads of state and government, and foreign ministers over the past 12 months.

Though Modi has only 53 photos posted on his account, he has been termed as the most effective world leader on the photo-sharing app, considering that each of his posts receives an average of 223,000 interactions.

"Leaders around the world are creating online communications that convey global social and political context while also sharing a sense of personality and creativity. Leaders of business and all other sectors can learn from governments' use of Instagram," said Don Baer, CEO of Burson-Marsteller, in a statement. 

At third place is Pope Francis with 3.7 million followers, a place ahead of the White House account that has 3.4 million followers. 

With a whopping 673 per cent growth in his followers over the past 12 months, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo occupies the fifth position with 3.4 million followers.

In terms of average interactions per post, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan holds the second position with 141,000 interactions while Pope Francis' Instagram posts receive 138,000 interactions on average. 

"As of April 1, 2017, the accounts have a combined total of 48.7 million followers and published 61,281 posts in the past 12 months which have garnered a total of 371.7 million interactions," the report noted.

All the photos posted on the White House Instagram account set up under Obama in 2012 were archived on the @ObamaWhiteHouse Instagram account on January 20 this year.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will travel to Moscow on Friday for a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Syrian counterparts, an official said.

According to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi, the meeting will take place following the recent use of chemical weapons in Syria and against a backdrop of the subsequent US attack on a Syrian airbase, Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu also held talks on the latest developments in Syria.

In a telephone conversation on Tuesday, the two sides underscored the need to continue joint efforts in the campaign against terrorism and other sources of insecurity in the region.

Syria has been gripped by a civil war since March 2011.

According to a report by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed over 470,000 lives, injured 1.9 million people, and displaced nearly half of the country's pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
 

The Goa Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued notice to top state officials over the death of a lawyer-social activist who suffered a cardiac arrest in court last week and died en route to a hospital.

On a petition of Aires Rodrigues that poor health emergency facilities could have led to lawyer Satish Sonak's death, the state Human Rights Commission members AD Salkar and JA Keny have asked the state chief secretary, the Director General of Police and the heads of health administrations to respond to its notice within four weeks.

"When Sonak suffered a heart attack in the court premises at Patto Plaza in Panaji, the 108 emergency ambulance took 45 minutes to reach. The emergency ambulance was also not equipped with the much-required life-saving devices, which possibly could have helped revive and save Sonak's life," Rodrigues said in his petition.

Rodrigues sought the intervention of the commission to ensure that negligence in providing basic human rights does not result in loss of innocent lives and greater tragedies for individuals, families and the society at large.

Expressing concern over the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering issue, top leaders from the Opposition, led by Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met President Pranab Mukherjee and urged him to safeguard democracy and secularism in the nation.

"Recent allegations of EVM tampering have raised questions on electoral process," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said after meeting President Mukherjee.

“An environment of fear and hatred prevails across the nation. An attempt is being made to destroy of the secular fabric of India. The gau rakshaks, who are acting as extra constitutional elements, are being safeguarded and promoted by members of the ruling dispensation,” he added.

Leaders of various opposition parties including Trinamool Congress, Left parties, Samajwadi Party, BSP, JD-U, DMK and NCP submitted a memorandum to President Mukherjee, mentioning a range of issue such as EMV tampering and Alwar lynching.

Leaders of various opposition parties had earlier met the Election Commission demanding the scrapping of EVMs and instead re-introduce the ballot paper in the polls. The parties have also suggested various alternative measures.

Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from 2016 All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to make a positive start to her campaign at the Singapore Open here on Wednesday.

Sindhu, who had clinched her maiden India Open Super Series title earlier this month, fought back from a game down to eke out a 10-21, 21-15, 22-20 win in the opening round of a women's singles match that lasted an hour and two minutes here.

The fifth seeded Indian will face Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani next.

Runners-up at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January, B Sai Praneeth also dished out a gritty performance to prevail 17-21 21-7 21-19 over Denmark's Emil Holst.

The Indian will clash with China's Qiao Bin on Thursday.

New pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also showed their prowess in a fighting 21-19 21-19 win over Malaysian combo of Yin Loo Lim and Yap Cheng Wen in women's doubles competition.

However, it was curtains for Verma brothers — Sourabh and Sameer — as well as for Rituparna Das in singles events.

While National Champion Sourabh failed to match Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and lost 15-21 14-21 in just 39 minutes, Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold champion Sameer battled hard before going down 26-28 21-23 to Hong Kong's Hu Yun.

Chinese Taipei's Hsu Ya Ching ended Rituparna's campaign, handing her a 18-21 13-21 defeat in 58 minutes.

Mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankirteddy and Maneesha K, however, lost 13-21 21-16 11-21 to Lu Ching Yao and Chiang Kai Hsin of Chinese Taipei, while men's doubles combo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy suffered a 8-21 16-21 defeat to Japanese combo of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday urged the State Election Commission (SEC) not to use Generation 1 EVMs brought in from Rajastan during the upcoming civic polls, claiming they were all "clearly" tampered with.

Kejriwal demanded that the civic polls on April 23 be held only using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and that too after all political parties are given a chance to technically examine them randomly.

In a letter to State Election Commissioner S.K. Srivastava, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader expressed shock over the procurement of "obsolete and discarded" Generation 1 EVMs from Rajasthan to hold civic polls in Delhi.

"Generation 1 machines are most insecure with least security features. We are really surprised that you did not even ask for VVPAT machines," Kejriwal said.

"Why did you not at least make an attempt to procure VVPAT machines?" 

Kejriwal added there were sufficient number of Generation 2 machines available in Delhi which support VVPAT.

"Why are you insisting on conducting MCD elections with Rajasthan machines when it is clear that they are tampered?"

Kejriwal earlier this week alleged that 18 EVMs surfaced during the Dholpur assembly by-election in Rajasthan which voted only for the BJP no matter which button was pressed by the voters.

Earlier, another such EVM had surfaced during a mock drill in Bhind in Madhya Pradesh.

"We demand that all machines sourced from Rajasthan should be immediately withdrawn," Kejriwal wrote.

Reiterating his demand to have machines to be used in civic polls technically examined on a random basis, Kejriwal said the Commission went back on its word to allow it.

"I was happy when you said if there is a football match, the two teams have a right to inspect whether the football is in order. Now you are refusing to allow us technical examination saying you have sought permission from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)," he said.

Kejriwal added the CEC had informed him that SEC was an independent body and did not need CEC's permission for anything.

"Now your refusal to allow technical examination of machines is curious."

Kejriwal said that public faith had seriously eroded in the entire electoral process and in EVMs and the SEC would have to walk an extra mile to restore it.

Kejriwal earlier this week blamed the Election Commission for "EVM-tampering" and said its only aim appeared to be to bring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power.

He alleged that what was being dismissed as "EVM malfunction" was actually a case of tampering to ensure that the BJP gets the votes of even other parties.

According to Kejriwal, EVMs manufactured before 2006 are Generation I machines. Those made between 2006 and 2013 are Generation II EVMs and the ones made after that are Generation III EVMs.

Kejriwal says that the pre-2006 EVMs have no security features.

He's strumming the guitar and grooving. It's a happy place when he puts you in a song. He wears a black check shirt and laughs with his head back and the guitar in his hand as he sings Put You in a Song.

Keith Urban puts you in a happy, chirpy place with his songs. He does it all the time. Put You in a Song sure puts a spell on you and you can't stop smiling…
 

Well here you come again and you're lookin' so fine
You don't notice me but it's alright…
 

I wanna put you in my car and drive
And turn you up loud, roll down all the windows and shout it out…
 

Well I'd sing about your smile and your pretty blue eyes
The way your hair shimmers in the sunlight…
 

Well, turn the radio on. You would want to put this song in your car and drive. Turn it up loud and roll down all the windows and shout it out loud… Put You in a Song.

Ever wondered what causes your shoelaces to loosen even when you tie them as firmly as possible?

It is because while running, the force of a foot striking the ground stretches and then relaxes the knot, a study has showed. 

As the knot loosens, a second force caused by the swinging leg acts on the ends of the laces, like an invisible hand, which rapidly leads to a failure of the knot in as few as two strides after inertia acts on the laces.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, may help understand things like DNA that fail under dynamic forces, the researchers said. 

"When you talk about knotted structures, if you can start to understand the shoelace, then you can apply it to other things, like DNA or microstructures, that fail under dynamic forces," said Christopher Daily-Diamond, graduate student at the University of California-Berkeley.

Using a slow-motion camera and a series of experiments, the researchers assessed a pair of running shoes that were laced-up and were on a treadmill. 

They found that shoelace knot failure happens in a matter of seconds, triggered by a complex interaction of forces, as when running, the foot strikes the ground at seven times the force of gravity.

In addition, the study showed that some laces might be better than others for tying knots, but the fundamental mechanics causing them to fail is the same.

"The interesting thing about this mechanism is that your laces can be fine for a really long time, and it's not until you get one little bit of motion to cause loosening that starts this avalanche effect leading to knot failure," said Christine Gregg, graduate student at the University of California-Berkeley.

Pakistan's decision to sentence to death an alleged Indian spy can spark "a new, highly destabilizing round of covert actions" by both countries, a Pakistani daily warned on Wednesday.

Another newspaper wondered if the Pakistani military had been hasty in deciding to execute Kulbhushan Jadhav on charges of espionage and waging war against Islamabad. 

Spy wars between India and Pakistan erupt occasionally, the Dawn said in an editorial.

"But Jadhav's case is far beyond routine action and could herald a new, highly destabilizing round of covert actions by one country against the other's security and intelligence apparatus," it added. 

The Dawn hoped that back-channel communications or third-party interventions would help India and Pakistan to quickly de-escalate tensions on Jadhav — and establish new rules on spycraft.

India has warned that if Jadhav was executed, it would amount to premeditated murder. 

The sentencing of Jadhav, who Pakistan claims was arrested in Balochistan last year, had sent the "already troubled India-Pakistan relationship into deep uncertainty", the Dawn said. 

And despite Jadhav's conviction, "there remain many unanswered questions", it added.

The Daily Times wondered whether Pakistani authorities had procured all information from Jadhav "or whether they have been hasty in deciding to execute him".

Jadhav's arrest and sentencing "is a reminder that the deadly proxy wars these two neighbours like to engage in are likely to continue for the foreseeable future. 

"It is high time both sides to an end to such manoeuvrings and draw up a new outline to work on the prospect of establishing peaceful relations."

Pakistani routinely accuses India of fomenting trouble in Balochistan and Karachi. New Delhi has for years accused Islamabad of funding and supporting terrorist groups in India, including in Jammu and Kashmir.
 

Actress and model Lisa Ray is serious about the beauty business and will soon be seen in a documentary based on the beauty world.

Lisa revealed this on her Twitter account on Wednesday with an image of herself taken during a shoot.

"So empowering to get real about the beauty business. Fab shoot for upcoming doc the Beauty Machine, Hong Kong," she captioned the photograph.

The actress also shared the news that she is heading to Mumbai, her "second home".

"Going to miss my boys like crazy, but excited to jet off to my second home Mumbai for more adventures," she tweeted.

On the acting front, the 45-year-old was last seen in Ram Gopal Varma's biographical action film Veerappan.
 

Sanju Samson, who stormed back into spotlight with the first hundred of IPL 10, says he has become a better cricketer and human being after going through bad times.

“I think you need to have bad times to learn about life. If you keep on being successful, you do not learn. If you do mistakes, you learn from them and become a better person. My past has helped me become a better cricketer and human being,” said Samson after smashing 102 off 63 balls against Rising Pune Supergiant last night.

He is back to his best after a forgettable domestic season which was marred by disciplinary issues.

Samson had left the team dressing room in the middle of a Ranji Trophy match but the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) let him off with a warning with a rider that his father Viswanadh would not “interfere with his son's cricketing activities”.

An unconditional apology salvaged the situation for the father-son duo.

Asked about the significance of his hundred, Samson said it was a special knock but he has a long way to go.
“It is one of the special days of my life but every cricketer here dreams to play for India. Indian team is the world's best and to get into it, you have to do something special. I am happy that I played one big innings but there is a long way to go,” said the 22-year-old.

He is still very young but has managed to gain a wealth of experience through years of playing IPL and first-class cricket. And that has helped him deal with different match situations.

“We need to change our batting style according to the match situation. I have been playing IPL for sometime now. I have had my experience and I have learnt from it. Sometimes you need to slow down, sometimes you need to make a partnership.”

He was all praise for his longtime mentor Rahul Dravid, who both played for Rajasthan Royals before joining Delhi Daredevils.

“He has been supporting me like anything. His words before every practice are very helpful,” he said.

Movie maker Karan Johar once called her Zeenat Aman of television; the multi-talented actress Drashti Dhami has conquered the Indian television world with her charm and peculiar choice of roles.

From music videos to soap operas and reality shows, Drashti has come a long way. The actress works for 25 days a month and believes in hard work.

Dhami’s hard work and persistence has finally paid off as she is now the highest paid actress of Indian television.

She started her career as a model and featured in music videos. She came under the limelight when she played the character Geet opposite Gurmeet Choudhary in Star One’s Geet hui sab se parayi.

She was also the winner of dance reality show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa season 6 as she paired with choreographer Salman Yusuff.

The number of children used by the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram as suicide bombers tripled during the first three months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016, the Unicef said in a report on Wednesday.

From January to March, 27 children were used in suicide attacks by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, which is active in Lake Chad region, compared to nine cases in the first quarter of 2016, according to the Unicef report 'Silent Shame: Bringing out the voices of children caught in the Lake Chad crisis', the Efe news agency reported.

Unicef said the increase reflects "an alarming tactic" by the insurgents.

"In the first three months of this year, the number of children used in bomb attacks is nearly the same as the whole of last year — this is the worst possible use of children in conflict," said Unicef's Regional Director for West and Central Africa Marie-Pierre Poirier.

According to the report, 117 children have been used in the last four years to carry out bomb attacks in public places, including Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria: four in 2014, 56 in 2015, 30 in 2016, and 27 in the first three months of 2017.

The report notes that girls have been used in the majority of these attacks.

As a consequence, in addition to the death and destruction caused by the suicide bombings, children have been perceived as a threat by society.

"These children are victims, not perpetrators," Poirier emphasised.

Unicef revealed that many children who managed to escape Boko Haram keep their experience secret as they fear being stigmatised, while others are often held in prolonged custody by authorities as they are suspected of having ties with the terrorist group.

In the wake of this crisis, the organisation urged that children taken into custody for suspected links to armed groups should be immediately handed over to civilian authorities for reintegration, psychosocial support and safe spaces, so that they can recover.
 

Bayern Munich are preparing an offer to sign Brazil international midfielder Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande.

According to Brazil's Uol news service, the 28-year-old has been identified by Bayern manager Carlo Ancelotti as an ideal replacement for Spain World Cup winner Xabi Alonso, who will retire at the end of the season, reports Xinhua news agency.

But the Bundesliga outfit are likely to face competition for Paulinho's signature, with AC Milan among a host of other clubs reportedly interested in the Brazilian.

Paulinho joined Guangzhou Evergrande from Tottenham Hotspur in 2015. He has since scored 10 goals in 67 matches for the Chinese Super League club.

The former Corinthians player has been a key member of the Brazil team that shot to the top of the FIFA rankings this month after eight consecutive victories.

He scored a hat-trick in Brazil's 4-1 victory over Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier last month.

Actor Ranbir Kapoor, who will be seen essaying the role of Sanjay Dutt in a biopic on the thespian, says more than half the project is complete.

Ranbir, who was spotted at the red carpet of the fourth edition of Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year 2017 Awards on Tuesday, was sporting a different look.

He said: "As you can see, I'm in the look of Sanjay Dutt and the movie is 60 per cent complete and soon it will get over."

"It feels very proud that I'm doing the Sanjay Dutt biopic and I'm very thankful to Vinod sir (Vidhu Vinod Chopra) and Sanjay sir specially," added Ranbir.

Ranbir was last seen in the movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, a romantic drama written and directed by Karan Johar.

When asked about his upcoming film Jagga Jasoos, Ranbir said: "Jagga Jasoos is already delayed, but it will be releasing soon. I think around end of July it will be released".

He even rubbished the news about Katrina Kaif not promoting the film, in which she too appears with him.

"She will promote the film as she gets free from the shoot," said the actor, who had earlier worked with Katrina in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.

Good news for all the fans of TV heartthrob Barun Sobti. The star is all set to make a comeback with his hit show – Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon – soon.

The actor was to return to the small screen last year with the show Satya Ki Kiran with Shivani Tomar in lead. However, the show could not make it to the screen.

The channel and the production house were not on the same page owing to which some scenes were re-shot, sources said.

The show was supposed to go on air in May-end but was rescheduled to July. Eventually, a meeting was held between the producers and the channel and they decided to scrap the show.

If reports are to be believed, then the actor has been roped in to play ASR again in the romantic series – Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon.

This time Barun's name would be Advay Singh Raizada instead of Arnav Singh Raizada.

The hunt for the female lead is still on.

Tracking mixed Asian markets, domestic benchmark indices closed Wednesday’s trading session on a lower note. The BSE Sensex closed 145 points or 0.49 per cent down at 29,643 while the NSE Nifty ended 34 points or 0.36 per cent lower at 9,203.

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices declined 0.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Consumer Durables index closed with the biggest dip, down 1 per cent. Power Goods (down 0.8 per cent), IT (down 0.6 per cent) and Auto (up 0.5 per cent) indices were other notable losers. Realty and Telecom indices gained 0.8 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.

On Tuesday, the BSE Sensex closed 213 points or 0.72 per cent higher at 29,788, while the NSE Nifty ended 56 points or 0.61 per cent lower at 9,237.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: Sun Pharma (up 2.2 per cent), Dr Reddy’s Labs (up 0.8 per cent), Bajaj Auto (up 0.6 per cent), Cipla (up 0.4 per cent) and Coal India (up 0.4 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Tata Steel (down 2.1 per cent), Adani Ports (down 2.1 per cent), Wipro (down 2 per cent), Gail (down 1.9 per cent) and Tata Motors (down 1.6 per cent).

Meanwhile, the Rupee was trading 15 paise down at 64.78 against the US Dollar.