TV actor Faisal Rashid, who stars in Har Mard Ka Dard says veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah had a lot to contribute in brushing up his acting skills.

"Before I took up TV I did a play with Naseeruddin sir and it was a great experience. I did learn a lot through him. He is very dedicated, does a lot of rehearsals and puts in a lot of hard work and expects others also to do the same," Faisal said in a statement. 

He says Naseeruddin used to help everyone and helped him too in the craft.

"Even when we repeated the same play, Naseer sir always tried and improved the scene which was a great learning experience," he added. 

Faisal, who is seen playing a lovable husband on the Life Ok show, says the veteran actor has helped him immensely. 

"I have started preparing for my roles better and always kept in mind the advice which he used to give," he said.
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit US to meet President Donald Trump later this year.

"President Trump has said he looks forward to hosting Prime Minister Modi in Washington later this year," said a statement issued by the White House on Wednesday.

"President Trump also expressed support for the Prime Minister's economic reform agenda and emphasized his great respect for the people of India," the statement added.

In a telephonic conversation on Monday, the US President congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his recent electoral success.

Earlier on January 24, PM Modi and President Trump had spoken on phone and had resolved to stand together in the global fight against terrorism.

Prime Minister Modi is the fifth foreign leader Trump had spoken to on phone after he took charge as the US president on January 20 this year.

The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday said it will increase its stake in SBI Card to 74 per cent by June end.

"Stake will be increased by first quarter of next financial year…there are few regulatory issue that is being sorted out," SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said at the launch of SBI Card Unnati here.

The board of SBI has already given approval for hike of the bank's stake in its two credit card joint ventures with General Electric Company to 74 per cent.

The bank has approval to infuse Rs 1,160 crore in the two JVs — SBI Cards and Payment Services Pvt Ltd (SBICPSL) and GE Capital Business Processes Management Services Ltd (GECBPMSL)– through purchase of equity shares from GE Capital so as to increase the bank's stake in both the companies to 74 per cent.

Asked about remaining 26 per cent stake, she said, the decision has to be taken by GE.

"Within next one month there should be finality on the remaining stake sale," it said.

The American company seeks to exit SBI Cards.

SBI currently holds 60 per cent stake in SBICPSL and 40 per cent in GECBPMSL. The balance being held by GE Capital in both the ventures.

As per an agreement between SBI and GE Capital at the time of formation of SBI Cards, it was decided that whenever any party decides to exit the JV, the decision has to be on the basis of mutual understanding.

SBI, the nation's largest lender, entered credit card business in 1998 by roping GE Capital India, the consumer finance arm of US-based GE Capital.

SBI Card, having 4.3 million user, said its latest offering 'Unnati' targeted at all SBI customers, including Jan Dhan account holders throughout the country.

As the nation progresses on the path to digitisation, SBI Card has introduced the Unnati card in an effort to bring new users into the fold of cashless transactions, thereby contributing to India's transformation towards a digital economy, she said.

The card, to be issued to person with balance of Rs 25,000, will be offered through network of 20,000 plus SBI branches.

"To encourage adoption of credit cards and facilitate expansion in the reach of digital payments, the SBI Card Unnati will be offered free, at zero annual fee, for four years," she said.

It will cater to the credit card requirements of new users and especially to those without any prior credit history, she said, adding, "we must credit empower our citizen and this is an initiative towards that." 

The nation is progressing towards becoming a less cash economy for which a slew of digital initiatives have been made available to the population at large, she said.

On the back of its features, she said, the Card company expects 300 per cent growth within one year.

After Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp got a Snapchat-like "Stories" update, users on Tuesday got access to the new Facebook Camera feature that lets them add effects to their photos and videos.

They can now share this content to a Snapchat clone called 'Facebook Stories' that appears above News Feed on mobile and works similar to Instagram's 24-hour slideshows.

Users can also share these posts to News Feed of individual friends through the new 'Facebook Direct' private visual messages that disappear after some time.

"As people mostly post photos and videos, 'Stories' is the way they're going to want to do it. Obviously we've seen this doing very well in other apps. Snapchat has really pioneered this," technology website Tech Crunch quoted Facebook Camera product manager Connor Hayes as saying.

He said Facebook was shifting away from text status updates after 10 years as its primary sharing option.

According to Hayes, the rapid ascent of Instagram Stories to 150 million daily users inspired the Menlo Park social media giant to start testing its own Stories in January, and keep expanding it to 12 countries before rollout.

"We've tested in markets with Instagram Stories and Messenger Day, and we've seen this as accretive. They end up posting more and they like using the 'Stories' format across apps," Hayes added.

WhatsApp recently received thumbs down when it changed from a text-based to a stories-based status update.

The company brought back the text-based status update feature last week.

Unlisted Indian internet companies raised $2 billion dollars through private funding during the first quarter of 2017 as compared to $2.7 billion raised by these companies in 2016, an analyst firm said on Wednesday.

Investment banking firm Jefferies also said there has been a "perceptible rise" in funding into fin-tech companies in the aftermath of demonetisation.

"We estimate that a total of $2 billion of private funding flowed into unlisted Indian internet companies in 1Q 2017 (the first quarter of 2017), marking a reversal of the weak inflows in 2016," Jefferies said in a research note.

"After a relatively muted 2016 in which private internet companies in India raised $2.7 billion, there has been a sharp surge in funding activity in 1Q2017 with $2 billion raised in the quarter, the second highest after the 3Q2015 (third quarter of 2015)," it said. 

According to the report, both Flipkart and Ola raised money at valuations lower than previous rounds which is likely to have helped them raise large rounds.

"Down rounds have likely helped the market clear – media reports suggest both $1 billion raised by Flipkart and $330 million by Ola (accounted for 65 per cent of the total funds raised during the quarter) have happened at lower valuations vs. previous round," the report said.

Other large fund raisings during the quarter included $200 million by Paytm Mall (e-tailing), $100 million by Delhivery (e-tailing logistics), $57 million by Freecharge (Fin-tech), $55 million by CarTrade (Classifieds) and $55 million by Practo (Healthcare services).

The research note also said "during the quarter over $100 million was raised" across "four fin-tech companies" namely Freecharge (Payments), CCavenues (Payments), Truebalance (Mobile recharge) and CreditMantri (Credit analysis).

The firm expects a consolidation in the e-tailing segment.

"With Alibaba and SAIF Partners infusing $200 million into Paytm Mall, reportedly at a valuation of over $1 billion, there are now at least five large players in horizontal e-tailing in India viz. Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, ShopClues and Paytm Mall.

"In addition, there have also been media reports of Alibaba independently entering the Indian market. We believe this makes consolidation inevitable in the segment," the report added.

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of US President Donald Trump, is all set to share her rules for success in an upcoming business book.

Titled "Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success" is set to hit US book shops on May 2. 

The book is being published by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House and was completed last October, just before the presidential election. 

"Our grandmothers fought for the right to work. Our mothers fought for the choice to be in an office or to stay at home. Our generation is the first to fully embrace and celebrate the fact that our lives are multidimensional. Thanks to the women who came before us and paved the way, we can create the lives we want to lead — which look different for each of us," Ivanka says while describing the book. 

The title is now expected to be far more successful than initially expected as Trump's victory in the US elections was unprecedented. 

Portfolio signed the book deal last November when her father's bid for the White House still seemed a distant dream to many. 

"I've been fortunate to be able to build my career around my passions, from real estate to fashion. But my professional titles only begin to describe who I am and what I value. I have been an executive and an entrepreneur, but also — and just as importantly — a wife, mother, daughter, and friend. To me, ‘work' encompasses my efforts to succeed in all of these areas," the author added. 

Ivanka, who now has an office in the West Wing of the White House, is currently working on a new preface for the book which takes into account Trump's victory and the family's changing circumstances. 

In the book, Ivanka shares her lessons on subjects such as identifying opportunities, shifting careers smoothly, negotiating, leading teams, starting companies, managing work and family, and helping change the system to make it better for women — now and in the future.

Ivanka is Donald Trump's daughter from his first wife, former model Ivana Trump.
 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected that Nepal's economy could grow 6.2 per cent in the fiscal year 2016-17.

The ADB on Tuesday attributed the growth to a bumper agricultural output, possibility of a pick-up in post-earthquake reconstruction and an improving investment climate, Xinhua news agency reported.

In its half-yearly "Macro-Economic Update Report", the ADB said Nepal's economy would grow between 5.2 and 6.2 per cent this fiscal year ending mid-July.

The Himalayan nation's economy grew 0.7 per cent last fiscal year, a 14-year low, due to trade blockade by India and the impact of deadly earthquake in April 2015.

If the projected upper limit of the economic growth is achieved, it will be the highest growth in the last 22 years.

Nepal witnessed a high growth in 1993-94 when the country initiated massive legal reforms towards market economy.

In that fiscal year, Nepal's economic growth was 7.6 per cent, the highest ever over the previous 26 years, according to Finance Ministry statistics.

The ADB, which had projected Nepal's economy to grow by just 4.8 per cent in August last year, said it made the upward revision in growth due to better outlook for agriculture and industrial sectors.

The higher forecast is based on the assumptions of a stronger-than-expected agricultural output growth and political situation as local election approaches, said Kenichi Yokoyama, ADB director for Nepal.

Nepal will hold local election on May 14 for the first time in 19 years.

The above average monsoon rains and the smooth availability of agricultural inputs, particularly chemical fertilizers, are likely to significantly boost agricultural output, according to the ADB.

Preliminary estimates by Nepal's Ministry of Agriculture Development show a 21.7 per cent increase in paddy output this fiscal year.

Similarly, maize, millet and buckwheat are projected to grow by 1.2 each and 1.4 per cent respectively.

Likewise, notable improvement in power supply and the resumption of manufacturing activities following a lull after the 2015 earthquakes and the supplies disruption in 2016, will underpin a robust manufacturing sector growth, the ADB said.

NASA engineers have built a stopwatch that can measure accurately fraction of a billionth of a second.

The timer is to be used for the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) scheduled for launch in 2018, NASA said.

ICESat-2 will use six green laser beams to measure height. With its incredibly precise time measurements, scientists can calculate the distance between the satellite and the Earth below, and from there record precise height measurements of sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, forests and the rest of the planet's surfaces.

"Light moves really, really fast, and if you're going to use it to measure something to a couple of centimetres, you'd better have a really, really good clock," said Tom Neumann, ICESat-2's Deputy Project Scientist.

If its stopwatch kept time even to a highly accurate millionth of a second, ICESat-2 could only measure elevation to within about 500 feet. 

Scientists would not be able to tell the top of a five-storey building from the bottom. That does not cut it when the goal is to record even subtle changes as ice sheets melt or sea ice thins.

To reach the needed precision of a fraction of a billionth of a second, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, had to develop and build their own series of clocks on the satellite's instrument — the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, or ATLAS. 

This timing accuracy will allow researchers to measure heights to within about two inches, NASA said in a statement on Monday.

ATLAS pulses beams of laser light to the ground and then records how long it takes each photon to return. 

This time, when combined with the speed of light, tells researchers how far the laser light travelled. 

This flight distance, combined with the knowledge of exactly where the satellite is in space, tells researchers the height of the Earth's surface below.

The stopwatch that measures flight time starts with each pulse of ATLAS's laser. As billions of photons stream down to Earth, a few are directed to a start pulse detector that triggers the timer, said Phil Luers, Deputy Instrument System Engineer with the ATLAS instrument.

Actor R. Madhavan on Tuesday thanked three important women in his life for bagging the Leading Role Male award at the second edition of IIFA Utsavam 2017 for his performance in critically-acclaimed Tamil sports drama Irudhi Suttru.

In the film, directed by Sudha Kongara, the Tanu Weds Manu actor played a washed-up boxing coach with serious anger issues.

Talking on the occasion, an elated and proud Madhavan said: "I need to thank three women wholeheartedly for this project. Firstly, Ritika Singh for investing four years during the most important phase of her life."

He also thanked his director.

"Not only is Sudha a phenomenal director, she's the kind of director an actor would like to surrender. I'm grateful to her," he said.

Madhavan said he couldn't have pulled off this project sans the support of his wife.

"In these last four years, I have been cranky on several occasions. Nevertheless, she was my pillar of support," he added.

The film, which has been remade in Telugu as Guru, releases in cinemas on Friday.

Life across the Kashmir Valley was adversely affected on Wednesday due to the separatist called protest shutdown against the killing of three civilians in clashes with security forces.

Authorities here and in all other district headquarters made sufficient deployment of police and paramilitary forces to maintain law and order.

"Adequate deployments of security forces have been made in law and order sensitive areas," a senior police official told IANS.

"No curfew has been imposed anywhere," the official said.

Shops, public transport, other businesses and education institutions remained closed in Srinagar city and elsewhere in the valley although private vehicles movement could be seen on roads.

Train services between north Kashmir's Baramulla town and the Jammu region's Bannihal town have been suspended.

Kashmir University has postponed all exams scheduled for Wednesday.

Three civilians were killed in firing in Durbugh village of Budgam district during clashes between protesters and security forces on Tuesday.

The clash followed a gunfight raging between the security forces and a holed up militant in the village.

The Rupee advanced 9 paise against the Dollar to breach the 65 level at 64.95 — a fresh 17-month high — in early session on Wednesday on increased liquidation of the American currency by exporters and banks.

A higher stock opening and continued foreign inflows made the going easy for the Rupee.

However, the Dollar's recovery against some currencies overseas restricted the Rupee upmove.

On Monday, scripting its second-biggest single-day gain this year, the Rupee had zoomed 37 paise to close at a 17-month high of 65.04.

Forex and money markets were closed on Tuesday for 'Gudi Padwa'.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose further by 84.92 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 29,494.44 in early trade.

The Rupee advanced 9 paise against the Dollar to breach the 65 level at 64.95 — a fresh 17-month high — in early session on Wednesday on increased liquidation of the American currency by exporters and banks.

A higher stock opening and continued foreign inflows made the going easy for the Rupee.

However, the Dollar's recovery against some currencies overseas restricted the Rupee upmove.

On Monday, scripting its second-biggest single-day gain this year, the Rupee had zoomed 37 paise to close at a 17-month high of 65.04.

Forex and money markets were closed on Tuesday for 'Gudi Padwa'.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose further by 84.92 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 29,494.44 in early trade.

Extending Tuesday’s gains amid positive global cues, domestic bourses were trading in the positive zone in the first half of trade on Wednesday with banking stocks leading the rally. Hopes of Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation on time also boosted the sentiments.

The GST Bill will be discussed in the Lok Sabha later during the day. Union government wants to implement the Bill from July 1, 2017.

At 11.25 am, the Sensex was trading 97 points or 0.33 per cent higher at 29,505 while the Nifty50 was trading 28 points or 0.30 per cent lower at 9,128.

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap index gained 0.3 per cent while BSE Smallcap Midcap index surged 0.5 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Telecom index registered the biggest gain with a jump of 1.2 per cent. Capital Goods (up 0.9 per cent), Bankex (up 0.6 per cent), Power (down 0.5 per cent) and Consumer Durables (down 0.4 per cent) indices were other notable gainers. Oil & Gas index slipped 0.1 per cent.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: SBI (up 2 per cent), Asian Paints (up 1.6 per cent), ICICI Bank (up 1.5 per cent), L&T (up 1.3 per cent) and Axis Bank (up 1 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Gail (down 0.6 per cent), M&M (down 0.4 per cent), Adani Ports (down 0.4 per cent), Sun Pharma (down 0.3 per cent) and Wipro (down 0.2 per cent).

In the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slipped 0.1 per cent, Singapore’s Straits Times Index jumped 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index increased 0.1 per cent, Korea’s KOSPI index rose 0.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.2 per cent.

Back home, the Rupee was trading 11 paise higher at 64.95 against the US Dollar.

Extending Tuesday’s gains amid positive global cues, domestic bourses were trading in the positive zone in the first half of trade on Wednesday with banking stocks leading the rally. Hopes of Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation on time also boosted the sentiments.

The GST Bill will be discussed in the Lok Sabha later during the day. Union government wants to implement the Bill from July 1, 2017.

At 11.25 am, the Sensex was trading 97 points or 0.33 per cent higher at 29,505 while the Nifty50 was trading 28 points or 0.30 per cent lower at 9,128.

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap index gained 0.3 per cent while BSE Smallcap Midcap index surged 0.5 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Telecom index registered the biggest gain with a jump of 1.2 per cent. Capital Goods (up 0.9 per cent), Bankex (up 0.6 per cent), Power (down 0.5 per cent) and Consumer Durables (down 0.4 per cent) indices were other notable gainers. Oil & Gas index slipped 0.1 per cent.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: SBI (up 2 per cent), Asian Paints (up 1.6 per cent), ICICI Bank (up 1.5 per cent), L&T (up 1.3 per cent) and Axis Bank (up 1 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Gail (down 0.6 per cent), M&M (down 0.4 per cent), Adani Ports (down 0.4 per cent), Sun Pharma (down 0.3 per cent) and Wipro (down 0.2 per cent).

In the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slipped 0.1 per cent, Singapore’s Straits Times Index jumped 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index increased 0.1 per cent, Korea’s KOSPI index rose 0.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.2 per cent.

Back home, the Rupee was trading 11 paise higher at 64.95 against the US Dollar.

Actor Matthew Morrison will guest star in popular sitcom Grey's Anatomy.

Morrison will appear in the last few episodes of the current season of the medical drama, reports aceshowbiz.com.

There's speculation that the Glee actor will play character Jo Wilson's (Camilla Luddington) abusive estranged husband.

Morrison revealed on his Instagram story that he is playing Dr. Paul Stadler on an unnamed project.

He has also been photographed filming a scene with actor Justin Chambers, who plays Alex Karev, on location here with Kevin McKidd as director.

At the end of season 12, it was revealed that Jo Wilson was reluctant to marry Alex because she was already married. And because she would run away from her abusive spouse, she couldn't obtain a divorce. 

Actor Matthew Morrison will guest star in popular sitcom Grey's Anatomy.

Morrison will appear in the last few episodes of the current season of the medical drama, reports aceshowbiz.com.

There's speculation that the Glee actor will play character Jo Wilson's (Camilla Luddington) abusive estranged husband.

Morrison revealed on his Instagram story that he is playing Dr. Paul Stadler on an unnamed project.

He has also been photographed filming a scene with actor Justin Chambers, who plays Alex Karev, on location here with Kevin McKidd as director.

At the end of season 12, it was revealed that Jo Wilson was reluctant to marry Alex because she was already married. And because she would run away from her abusive spouse, she couldn't obtain a divorce. 

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has launched a start-up which aims to connect our brains to computers to help people keep up with machines, media reported.

The existence of the company was reported by Wall Street Journal on Monday and Musk later confirmed it in a tweet.

The company, registered as a "medical research" firm, will develop so-called "neural lace" technology which would implant tiny electrodes into the brain, BBC reported on Tuesday.

The technique could be used to improve memory or give humans added artificial intelligence.

More details about the firm would be made public next week via WaitButWhy — a site known for illustrating its lengthy post with stick figure drawings.

"Long Neuralink piece coming out on @waitbutwhy in about a week. Difficult to dedicate the time, but existential risk is too high not to," Musk tweeted on Tuesday.

Instead of focussing on upgrading ordinary human brainpower at first, Neuralink will explore how brain interfaces might alleviate the symptoms of dangerous and chronic medical conditions including epilepsy and severe depressive disorder, tech website Techcrunch.com reported.