Keeping its poll promise, Captain Amarinder Singh's government has set up a Commission of Inquiry, headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Mehtab Singh Gill, to review the false cases and FIRs registered under the decade-long Parkash Singh Badal regime.

The two-member Commission has former district and sessions judge BS Mehandiratta as the member.

A notification to this effect was issued on Wednesday by the Department of home affairs and justice.

The decision to set up such a Commission was taken at the first cabinet meeting of the Amarinder government.

Amarinder had, during his election campaign promised the people of Punjab that his government would inquire into all such false cases to ensure justice for the innocent.

The promise, which followed numerous complaints by victims of such cases to Amarinder during the electioneering, was also incorporated in the Congress manifesto.

Amarinder had received several complaints of false cases being registered against the political opponents of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in connivance with the district police officials.

An aircraft coming from Bengaluru suffered bird hit while landing at the NSC Bose International Airport here on Thursday.

Airport officials said though the right engine of the Jet Airways plane was damaged, it landed safely at around 6 AM.

The aircraft was being repaired and the passengers who booked tickets for its return journey were accommodated in other flights, the officials said.

Facebook has rolled out tools to help people thwart the circulation of their intimate images without consent or 'revenge porn' on its platforms including Messenger and photo-sharing service Instagram.

In a press statement issued late on Wednesday, Facebook said these tools were an example of the potential technology has to help keep people safe. 

Facebook said that 93 per cent US victims of non-consensual intimate images report significant emotional distress and 82 per cent report significant impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of their life.

If a user notices an intimate image on Facebook that seems to have been shared without permission, he/she can report it by using the "Report" link that appears next to the post.

A Facebook team will then review the image and remove it if it violates Community Standards. 

According to the social networking site, in most cases they will also disable the account for sharing intimate images without permission.

It does not stop here. Facebook uses photo-matching technologies to help curb further attempts to share the image on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. 

"If someone tries to share the image after it's been reported and removed, we will alert them that it violates our policies and that we have stopped their attempt to share it," Facebook said.

About four per cent of US Internet users — 10.4 million people — have been victims of revenge porn or threatened with the posting of explicit images, according to a 2016 study by the US Data and Society Research Institute.

According to a report in the Washington Post, Facebook's policies on 'revenge porn' have come into sharp focus after members of the US Marine Corps were found to be sharing nude pictures of female Marines, without permission, in a private Facebook group.

A freelance journalist was allegedly attacked by unidentified persons when she was out for a walk at a park in Bharat Nagar area of northwest Delhi, police said on Thursday.

The incident happened on Wednesday evening and she is currently admitted in Fortis Hospital in a serious condition, they added.

So far, no eyewitnesses have come forward to share details about the attack and her family members are also clueless about any possible motive, police said.

Further details are awaited.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he has ordered troops to deploy on unoccupied South China Sea islands and reefs claimed by Manila, in a move that could provoke rival claimants including Beijing.

“It looks like everybody is making a grab for the islands there, so we better live on those that are still vacant,” he told reporters during a visit to a military camp on the western island of Palawan, near the disputed Spratly group.

In a major set back to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the April 23 civic polls, a panel appointed by former Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has accused the party-led Delhi government of nepotism in making appointments, including that of Health Minister Satyendar Jain's daughter as an advisor for its flagship Mohalla Clinic project.

The three-member committee headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) VK Shunglu reviewed 404 files of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government and alleged that there were irregularities with various appointments.

"Soumya, who is an architect, was made advisor of the Delhi State Health Mission. However, she asserted her expertise with regard to Mohalla Clinics even though her CV does not support her claim. Second, the memorandum of Association of State Health Society (Delhi) and rules and bylaws do not support such appointment," the panel said in its 101-page report.

"The file contained no evidence of who approved her appointment.

"These events can only be explained by the fact that Soumya is the daughter of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain."

The Shunglu Committee was set up by Jung in August last year after the Delhi High Court gave primacy to the Lt Governor in Delhi administrative affairs. The report was submitted to the LG's office in November last year, weeks before Jung resigned on December 22.

Jung's tenure was marked by a sharp escalation in tensions between his office, which reported to the union Home Ministry, and the AAP government of Kejriwal.

Jung had called over 400 files on decisions taken by the AAP government in Delhi for a review.

The committee also raised questions on the appointment of Nikunj Agarwal, a relative of Chief Minister Kejriwal's wife, as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Health Minister.

"The appointment of Nikunj Agarwal as OSD to the Health Minister on co-terminus basis is a case of violation of recruitment procedure and lack of authority. Co-terminus appointment can be only made with the approval of the Lt Governor but the matter is not placed before the Lt Governor. The case does not seem fit for ex-post facto approval," the report said.

The committee also questioned a cabinet decision of allotting government-owned 206, Rouse Avenue bungalow to the AAP as its office.

"Since land is a 'reserved' subject, this decision should be deemed null and void," the report said, referring to land in Delhi not falling in the purview of the city government.

"The elected government doesn't have any power to deal with the subject of land, let alone allot it."

The report also questioned Kejriwal's decision to give additional charges of Secretary (Services) and Secretary (General Administration Department) to Rajendra Kumar who was then posted as Secretary to Chief Minister.

"Rajendra Kumar was directed to hold additional charge of both the portfolios. This decision facilitated many subsequent actions which may not have been otherwise possible.

"It is a different matter that this order was ab-initio null and void but remained in force till Kumar was suspended in June 2016. The subject of services does not belong to the Delhi government," the report said.

The committee questioned the allotment of bungalows to Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal and MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.

"Maliwal was provided accommodation though in the ordinary course she was not entitled to it as per provisions of the DCW… a residuary provision, can be invoked in a case as an exception to the general rule but, only the Lt. Governor can approve such an exception. However, in this case Lt. Governor's approval was not taken."

The Shunglu panel said in the case of Tripathi, it was decided to allot a Type-V furnished accommodation to him. 

Survivors of a deadly chemical attack earlier in the week in Syria that killed over 70 people, say they were gassed as they slept, a media report said.

They also described that the gas bombs were dropped from planes, directly contradicting the government's version of events. 

Abdul Hamid Youssef told the CNN that the attack shook him from a deep sleep. He awoke, finding it difficult to breathe. Leaping from bed, Youssef scrambled to make sure his nine-month-old twins were still alive. 

Apparently unharmed, he passed them to his wife and told her to stay in the house. Rushing outside to check on his parents next door, Youssef passed people staggering and falling in the street, the news report said.

Youssef and many members of his extended family live on the northern edge of Khan Sheikhoun, a town in Idlib province, where the attack took place. 

On Tuesday, airstrikes battered an area near their local bakery, meters from Youssef's home. 

But it wasn't just any attack — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons in the strikes. It was meant to rattle the rebel-held area. Instead it killed many and injured more than 200.

Youssef arrived in his parents' house to find his two brothers dead. Panicked, he rushed back to his home to check on his wife and babies.

"There was foam coming out of their mouths, there were convulsions. They had all been on the floor," Youssef told CNN on Wednesday, sobbing.

"My kids, Ahmad and Aya, and my wife… they were all martyred. My entire family's gone."

Global condemnation intensified on Wednesday, the day after the attack, one of the deadliest since the Syrian war began six years ago.

The White House and the UK blamed the Syrian President Assad's regime for the attack that struck at dawn in Khan Sheikhoun when many were still asleep, CNN report said. 

At the UN, Western powers lambasted Russia for standing by the regime.

The World Health Organisation said victims bore the signs of exposure to nerve agents, and Amnesty International said evidence pointed to an "air-launched chemical attack." 

International agencies are investigating the origin of the agents used in the strike, CNN said.

"We are still receiving information. Full details are still not known," Under Secretary-General in the UN and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo said at the opening of a Security Council emergency meeting to discuss the incident.
 

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken on Thursday demanded the resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the Shunglu Committee report that has accused the Delhi government of nepotism in making appointments and abuse of power.

Maken demanded that an inquiry should be launched to probe the matter on the basis of the findings of the Shunglu Committee report. 

"If Arvind Kejriwal has any conscience left then he should immediately resign from the Chief Minister's post," Maken told reporters.

"An inquiry should be launched in this connection. Kejriwal has no right to be on the post during the investigation," he said.

Categorising the Shunglu panel report into three categories, Maken – who claimed that he got the report through an RTI – accused the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of corruption, nepotism and misuse of public money for "unsanctioned" foreign tours of AAP leaders.

Maken also said that the Congress supporters and workers on Friday would stage a protest against AAP in all 272 wards of Delhi and make people aware about the AAP government's "wrongdoing" as highlighted in the Shunglu Committee report.

The three-member Shunglu Committee, headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) V.K. Shunglu, was set up by then Lt Governor Najeeb Jung after the Delhi High Court gave primacy to the LG in Delhi administrative affairs in August last year.

The report which has been accessed by IANS, questioned the appointment of Health Minister Satyendar Jain's daughter Soumya Jain to the post of advisor to mission director in Delhi government's Mohalla Clinic project.

The committee raised questions on the appointment of Nikunj Agarwal, a relative of Chief Minister Kejriwal's wife, as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Health Minister.

The committee also questioned a cabinet decision of allotting government-owned 206, Rouse Avenue bungalow to the AAP as its office.
 

The all-time favourite and the most sought after wear, denims occupy a good space in the closets of every fashionista. This time, find new denim picks to help spruce up your collection for all seasons – summer, autumn, winter and spring. It’s time to freshen up your denim collection. Look for different stuff, quality and styles. The industry is coming up with a wide range of designs and shades.

Denims in trendy stone wash effects or ripped details reflect street style that’s apt for you to chill out. You may go for fun details like lighter washes, machine embroidery and hand work. You can swap your dark wash flares for a crisp white pair. Apart from blue, add to your cart white, ivory and sand colour. They go well with everything in your wardrobe.

Go jeans, minis, flairs and shorts. Pleated or non-pleated denim shorts are comfy as well as stylish. You may style the frayed denim mini with fishnets and a graphic tee for a trendy look. Self-designs with interesting finishes and unconventional cuts look cool and are popular. Stretch jeans are flattering alternative to the paper thin stretchy fabric that has dominated wardrobes for decades. Ankle cuts, ultra wide leg and bootleg jeans are always in trend. Today’s fashion is all about bigger, breezier hems a reminiscence of the 70s bells.

Pair them up with crop top, a clutch and high heels. If it’s cold, get an oversized sweater, carry a cool handbag and wear high boots with your pair of denims.

If the weather is warm, enjoy your denim look with cool t-shirt, sport shoes and a sling bag featuring some serious fashion flash backs. The style has become more of a classic staple rather than something that needs to be completely phased out. Don’t be afraid to do double denim with dungarees. Wear them under the buttoned denim jacket. 

Smarten up your denim with a leather coat in winter. A smart bag will do the colour pop. Layer your denim dungaree over a slouchy tee, accessorising with shades and a baseball cap. Crop top denim dungarees are also trending. Rock with your trans-seasonal denims through all the seasons. You can also pair them up with a cute polo neck top in summer and an over-coat or cropped fur jacket in winter for a gorgeous look. Why not? Blend your cool vibes with chic denim style for a quirky, homespun vibe. Make it your easy-breezy ensemble.

Your life-your rules-your glamour-youe denims!

Royal Challengers Bangalore stand-in captain Shane Watson has said that losing too many wickets in the middle of the chase led to his team's loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League opener here.

"207 was a big total. The wicket was really nice….Even half way through our batting innings, we were on target, really neck and neck with where the Sunrisers were," said Watson after the loss on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, we lost too many wickets specially through that middle period."

SRH scored a 35-run win against RCB as the Bangalore side were all out for 172 in its chase of a 208-run target.

Though the team was at par with Sunrisers in the run-rate, the run out of in-form Kedar Jadhav was a turning point, Watson said.

He also said his team's fielding and and other aspects were not up to the mark.

"The run out of Kedar (Jadhav) was a turning point. Really, he was batting beautifully. It was an amazing piece of work by Ben Cutting (referring to the direct hit from the deep). Then it really changed the game.

"There is no doubt 207 were too many… (We were) too sloppy in the field, execution with the ball was little bit off as well. More than anything else, lost wickets at the wrong time," he said.

Appreciating Yuvraj Singh, who scored 62 runs in 27 balls for SRH, Watson said mistakes like dropping the catch of the stylish southpaw cost them. Yuvraj's catch was dropped by S Aravind at deep square leg during the match.

His team chose to field first as statistics showed that the team batting second stood good chance of winning, he said.

The match was a good learning experience for him as captain, Watson said.

Watson led RCB in the match as its regular captain Virat Kohli sat out with a shoulder injury he suffered in the Test series against Australia. The Bangalore team's other members, including AB de Villiers and Sarfaraz Khan, also could not play due to injuries.

For more stories related to IPL 2017

A common antibiotic which is used to treat a wide range of diseases, from acne to urinary tract infections, may also help treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by suppressing fear memory, suggest results of a trial conducted in a group of health volunteers.

PTSD is a term for a broad range of psychological symptoms that can develop after someone experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. 

The disorder is caused by an overactive fear memory, and the new research, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, showed that a common antibiotic, doxycycline, can reduce the fear memory response in healthy volunteers.

"We have demonstrated a proof-of-principle for an entirely new treatment strategy for PTSD," said lead author Dominik Bach from the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

The theory is based on the recent discovery that our brains need proteins outside nerve cells, called matrix enzymes, to form memories. 

"Matrix enzymes are found throughout the body, and their over-activity is involved in certain immune diseases and cancers. To treat such diseases, we already have clinically approved drugs that block these enzymes, including the antibiotic doxycycline, so we wanted to see if they could help to prevent fear memories from forming in the brain," Bach, who is also affiliated to University College London, added.

"Our results support this theory, opening up an exciting avenue of research that might help us to find treatments for PTSD," Bach noted.

In the study involving 76 healthy volunteers, participants were given either doxycycline or a placebo and learnt to associate a certain colour with an electric shock. 

The screen would flash either blue or red, and one of the colours was associated with a 50 per cent chance of receiving a painful electric shock. 

A week later they were shown the colours again, accompanied by a loud sound but no shocks, and their fear responses were measured.

The fear response was 60 per cent lower in participants who had doxycycline in the first session compared to those who had the placebo, suggesting that the fear memory was significantly suppressed by the drug. 

Other cognitive measures including sensory memory and attention were not affected.

"When we talk about reducing fear memory, we are not talking about deleting the memory of what actually happened," Bach said.

"The participants may not forget that they received a shock when the screen was red, but they 'forget' to be instinctively scared when they next see a red screen," Bach said.

The findings suggest that doxycycline can disrupt the formation of negative associations in the brain.

As many as 35 functional airports in the country do not have night landing facility, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju said on Thursday.

Airlines have to apply to the Airports Authority of India to facilitate night landing facility in a particular airport and then process of offering the convenience starts.

“There are 47 licenced landing airports in the country while 35 are yet to apply for it,” he said during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.

The Minister said improving the infrastructure, including night landing facility at the airports, was a continuous process and is undertaken by the Airports Authority of India depending upon factors like commercial viability, traffic demand, operational requirements, demand from airlines and technical feasibility.

Endorsing BJP member Abhishek Singh's statement that “airports are not for cattle grazing but for the use by the aircraft”, Raju said the central government was promoting the aviation sector and it has now become fastest growing aviation market in the world.

UN is awaiting a detailed report on a chemical weapons attack earlier this week in Syria that killed at least 70 people and injured more than 200 others, media reports said.

"We are still receiving information. Full details are still not known," Under Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo said at the opening of a Security Council emergency meeting to discuss the incident.

A team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) "is actively gathering and analyzing the information", and it will be deployed to the area where the incident occurred as soon as possible, Efe news quoted Kim as saying.

Kim spoke at the opening of a session that is expected to lead to a Security Council resolution, although a vote is still pending.

The international community has strongly condemned the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a town in the northern province of Idlib.

Kim said the UN was gathering information from "all sources available" and he had been in contact with OPCW members and Syrian representatives at the United Nations.

The chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun is the most serious in Syria since an August 21, 2013 attack in Guta, on the outskirts of Damascus.

Pakistan Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq called quits on his international career, the Pakistani media reported on Thursday.

“I am announcing my retirement from international cricket. The upcoming series against West Indies will be my last,” Misbah told reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

The 42-year-old batsman, however, added that he will continue playing at domestic level and league cricket. “Regarding when I will leave domestic cricket, I will decide it later,” he said.

Having played 273 international matches, Misbah scored 10,861 runs for Pakistan in his 17-year-long span of international cricket.

West Indies are hosting Pakistan for three Test matches, to be held from April 22-May 14. 

Following Misbah’s last outing with Pakistan, opening batsman Azhar Ali is expected to take over as new Test skipper.

US President Donald Trump accused an official of the Obama administration of committing a crime by asking to "unmask" the names of Trump's associates in intelligence documents, media reports said.

Speaking to The New York Times on Wednesday, Trump said former White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice may have committed a crime when requesting to unmask the names of Trump's associates,and called this "the biggest story".

Trump offered no evidence to back his allegations or any names of other Obama administration officials he said were also involved. He did not suggest that his assertions came from new intelligence reports but said he would explain himself further "at the right time."

In response, Erin Pelton, a spokesperson for Rice, told CNN: "I'm not going to dignify the President's ludicrous charge with a comment."

It was revealed recently that during her time as government official, Rice requested names in intelligence documents detailing communications of the Trump transition team to be "unmasked". These names are usually redacted or even given vague descriptors like 'Male 1'.

The Trump associates, who were incidentally mentioned on intercepted communications during the Obama administration, were not under surveillance themselves, but had been recorded while speaking with foreigners who were under surveillance by the US.

Rice has denied any wrongdoing, saying in an interview with MSNBC the allegations that somehow Obama administration officials "utilised intelligence for political purposes are absolutely false". 
 

The news of Mahesh Babu and AR Murugadoss coming together for their new film has been a topic of discussion for quite some time now. However, the makers are yet to reveal the title. 

The team might have a big surprise for Babu fans!

The sources have revealed that they might have finalised their title.

Reportedly, the producers have registered the flick with the title SPYder at the Chamber of Commerce at Hyderabad. An official announcement is yet to be made. 

The makers planned to reveal the title along with the First Look of Mahesh 23 on the occasion of Ugadi but it was delayed. Babu took to social media requesting his fans to be patient “To all my dearest fans, I know you have been eagerly waiting for the first look of #Mahesh23. Our team is shooting day & night for the film.The first look will be out very soon…Requesting you all to be a little patient. Love you guys as always :).”

The film is said to be shot under lavish budget of Rs 110 crore. Recently, the team headed to Vietnam to shoot an action sequence of the film. 

According to the producers, the film will be a 2.0 version of Vijay’s Thuppaki. Interestingly, Vijay’s Thuppaki was also directed by AR Murugadoss and made it big on box office.

The opposition on Thursday came down heavily on the government for being "insensitive and ill-informed" on attacks on people by self-styled 'gau rakshaks' (cow-vigilantes).

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of ignorance, saying that the entire world knows about these attacks except them.

Madhusudan Mistry of the Congress raised the matter during Zero Hour and said that the self-styled 'gau rakshaks' were harassing and killing people in the name cow protection.

He was supported by the entire opposition as all of them were on their feet while he spoke on the issue.

Pehlu Khan, a Muslim man in his fifties, was brutally beaten up by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan's Alwar district on Saturday while transporting cows.

Khan succumbed to his injuries on Monday night in a hospital where he was being treated.

Mistry said that the state government was not doing anything about it.

"There is constitutional breakdown in Rajsathan. The state government should be dismissed," he added.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, dismissed the allegations, saying nothing of that sort had happened.

"It's a sensitive matter. Nothing happened on ground (as is being alleged)," he said.

To this, Azad, showing a newspaper clipping, said that entire world knows about it but the government does not know anything about it.

Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien then asked the government to provide official report to the House, so that it could be addressed.