England and Leicester striker Jamie Vardy says his alleged role in getting Claudio Ranieri sacked after a terrible slump in form placed the champions in danger of relegation has earned him and his family death threats.

The 30-year-old, whose goals last season helped Leicester to win the title and the one time non-league player a place in the England team, added it was barely credible the only punishment the perpetrators of the threats on Twitter received was a slap on the wrist.

"I read one story that said it (the meeting between several senior players and the club owner over Ranieri) was straight after the Sevilla game (a 2-1 first leg last 16 Champions League defeat in Spain which saw the Italian sacked soon after).

"It said I was personally involved in a meeting when I was actually sat in anti-doping for three hours," said Vardy, who was speaking at the England training camp ahead of a friendly on Wednesday with Germany.

Vardy, whose vigour and form have returned since Craig Shakespeare replaced Ranieri, said getting at hiom he could just about handle but attakcing his family was another.

"Then of course the story is out there and people pick it up and jump on it and you're getting death threats about your family, kids, everything," he said.

"On social media, you name it — walking down the street. To be honest I get them every week. Football fans don't seem to like me. I just get on with it but when people are trying to cut your missus up while she's driving along, with the kids in the back of the car, it's not the best. It's happened plenty of times.

"It is terrifying. All that can happen is they get banned on Twitter. People get cut up but if there's no cameras you're screwed."

Bhaujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday alleged in the Rajya Sabha that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were tampered with in the just concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

"Representatives should be of people's choice and not that of EVMs," she said, raising the issue during Zero Hour.

"Democracy is being murdered," she said.

Members from the treasury benches opposed and shouted against her. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "People's mandate should be honoured."

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien tried to pacify her, saying that the matter on electoral reforms was scheduled for discussion on Wednesday and the issue can be then discussed.

Kurien also assured the Congress' Digvijay Singh that his demand for a discussion on the conduct of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha was "being examined seriously".

The Deputy Chairman said: "It is under serious consideration. You need not worry."

Digvijay Singh, who submitted a substantive motion on the issue, has been demanding a discussion for the past three days.

The Rupee weakened by eight paise to 65.44 against the US Dollar in early trade on Tuesday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to appreciation of the American currency overseas.

Dealers attributed the Rupee's fall to increased demand for the US currency from importers.

However, a higher opening in the domestic equity market capped the losses.

On Monday, the Rupee had closed at a fresh 16-month high of 65.36 against the greenback in the face of Dollar unwinding from exporters and banks.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex recovered by 56.92 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 29,575.66 in early trade.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed unhappiness over lack of quorum often causing delay in Parliament's functioning and asked BJP members to ensure their presence, saying he can call any of them any time.

He told them at a BJP Parliamentary Party meeting that attending Parliament is their basic responsibility and added wryly that he can do a lot of things but cannot be present in the Houses on their behalf.

Modi ticked off parliamentarians after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar spoke about incidents of lack of quorum in both the Houses, including yesterday, prompting the Prime Minister to say it should not be about requesting MPs to be present as it is their basic responsibility.

BJP members said he told them that it did not matter to him if they were in the Central Hall, a place to host joint sittings of Parliament where MPs often meet for informal conversation, as what is important is that they should be inside the Houses.

"I can call any of you any time," he told them, a member said, adding that Modi sounded unhappy over absenteeism.

Modi had in the past also asked members to ensure their presence but this is the first time he has spoken about in such detail and talked tough.

He recalled remarks of an RSS functionary that though the Hindutva organisation had spread far and wide, and its members had a lot of work to do but did not have time to attend shakha.

Likewise, MPs too seemed to have so much of work that they do not have time to attend Parliament, which should not be the case, he said.

As representatives of lakhs of people of their constituency, it is their job to attend the House proceedings, he said.

In his briefing, Kumar said Modi also laid out the "road map" for the party as it gears up to celebrate its foundation day on April 6 and Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar's birth anniversary on April 14.

 Actor Jake Gyllenhaal says he believes in aliens and thinks the extra-terrestrial beings could even be living among us.

The 36-year-old, who plays an astronaut in the upcoming space-based sci-fi horror film "Life" thinks there is a lot more in space that is still not explored.

"I believe there's so much yet to be explored," Gyllenhaal told nydailynews.com.

"I think absolutely, there is no doubt in my mind — whether or not they're friendly or already here — I think there's a lot left to explore," he added.

Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Life features a crew aboard the International Space Station, which has captured a sample from Mars, which backfires when the organism begins to grow stronger and smarter.

The film is slated to release in the US on Friday.

Actress Hilary Duff says the last five years of her life — since her son Luca Cruz Comrie was born — have been "the best and the hardest".

The 29-year-old took to Instagram to post a heartfelt message in celebration of his birthday on Monday, reports eonline.com.

While sharing a photograph of her son on the photo-sharing platform, Duff wrote: "Hey kid… The past five years have been the best, hardest, most blessed years of my life. I love you so much. The world is yours my love… I hope you take it Happy Birthday Luca Cruz."

Luca is Duff's only child with her former husband Mike Comrie.

In a battle against fake news, Facebook has started to roll out a new tool that fact-checks the stories a user shares.

According to a report in Telegraph on Monday, some users in the US saw a pop-up window appearing when they shared a story on their profile, reading "Disputed by multiple, independent fact-checkers."

Facebook has been severely criticised for promoting fake news and spreading misinformation. It was also accused of helping US President Donald Trump win the elections by allowing misinformation and fake stories on its platform.

"Before you share this content, you might want to know that the fact-checking sites, Snopes.com and Associated Press disputed its accuracy," the report noted.

However, the tool is not available to all Facebook users yet. The pop-window appeared on a story about "Irish slave trade" which the Facebook fact-checking team believes is a conspiracy theory.

To curb the fake news, Facebook has rolled out several tools to flag false stories. In December last year, social media giant announced to flag stories with the aim to provide more context to help people perceive the news in a proper way.

"We'll use the reports from our community, along with other signals, to send stories to these organisations," Facebook was quoted as saying.

State Bank of India (SBI), which will see five associate banks merge into it on April 1, has decided to shut down almost half the offices of these banks, including the head offices of three of them. This process will start from April 24.

"Out of the five head offices of the associate banks, we will retain only two. Three head offices of the associate banks will be unbound along with 27 zonal offices, 81 regional offices and 11 network offices of the associate banks," SBI Managing Director Dinesh Kumar Khara said in an interview.

"We will keep their structure in place till April 24 and, post that, we will start dismantling the associate banks' controlling offices, which includes head offices, regional offices, zonal offices and network offices," Khara said.

The five associate banks that will merge with SBI are: SBBJ (State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur), SBM (State Bank of Mysore), SBT (State Bank of Travancore), SBP (State Bank of Patiala) and SBH (State Bank of Hyderabad).
SBI is India's largest bank with assets of Rs 30.72 lakh crore and figures at No. 64 in the global ranking of banks (as of December 2015; December 2016 ranking is still awaited). Post-merger, with assets of approximately Rs 40 lakh crore, it will be among the top 50 banks in the world. SBI Chief Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh said that, post-merger, the bank will be at No. 45.

The shur-down move is to avoid overlapping offices in the same area and "we intend to remove any kind of duplicacy in the controlling structure", Khara said.

The five associate banks will cease to exist as legal entities and become a part of SBI from April 1, but the various merger processes will start only after April 24, once the balance sheets of the five entities are audited and added.

"We will have to get the balance sheets of the associate banks audited a day prior to the merger, that is, on March 31. The balance sheets of the banks will be drawn up and added; it takes 15-20 days. Soon after the audit is done, the branches will be completely merged with SBI," Khara told IANS.

There are currently 550 SBI offices while its associate banks have 259. The target for the number of controlling offices after the merger is 687 — a reduction of 122 offices.

Employees directly affected by these shutdowns — estimated at 1,107 — will be redeployed, mostly in customer-interface operations, Khara said.

"The net result is that people in controlling functions will be available for deployment on the ground for improving reach to the consumer," he said.

"There are about 5-7 people in every regional office and 20-odd people in each zonal office. One regional office controls 30-40 branches, while 4-5 regional offices are controlled by one zonal office," he told IANS.

The associate banks have also offered a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to employees who do not wish to relocate. "VRS is only an option, else they will be relocated. They will have a different role," he said.

Along with the winding-up of these offices, a number of merger processes will come into effect simultaneously, including the data merger of the five entities.

"Data merger will also start from April 24 and we will finish it by May end. That is the plan of action," he said, adding that the bank had given itself six months to complete all merger-related processes.

"I would rather say that within a quarter all the things should be in order. Ideally, we would like to have it in one quarter, but it will not spill over beyond the second quarter," Khara said.

SBI says the merger will be done seamlessly as it has the experience of two earlier mergers. State Bank of Indore was merged with SBI in 2010, while State Bank of Saurashtra was merged in 2008.

US President Donald Trump held his first meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and expressed confidence in defeating the Islamic State (IS) terror group, according to a White House statement.

Trump hosted Abadi in the Oval Office on Monday to affirm America's support for Iraq in the fight against the IS, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two leaders agreed to pursue a long-term partnership to "decisively" root out terrorism and strengthen the Iraqi military and other key institutions, the statement said.

Recognising that terrorism cannot be defeated by military might alone, Trump and al-Abadi also agreed to promote a broad-based political and economic partnership between the two countries.

In coming months, the US and Iraqi leaders will hold consultations on steps to deepen commercial ties and promote investment, expand collaboration in the energy sector, and seek new opportunities for cultural and educational cooperation.

Monday's meeting comes as Iraqi forces continue to consolidate gains against the IS, particularly in the battle for Mosul, which has been under the IS control since June 2014.

After declaring the liberation of the eastern side of Mosul in January, Abadi announced the start of an offensive on February 19 to drive the militants out of the western side of the IS stronghold.

The meeting between Trump and Abadi also comes two days ahead of a key multinational meeting in Washington on fighting the IS.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will host foreign ministers and senior officials from 68 nations and international organisations for a detailed discussion of priorities for the efforts against the IS.

Increased renewable capacity in post-Fukushima disaster will see Japanese thermal power generation decline to 40 per cent below 2015 levels by 2030, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said on Tuesday.

The IEEFA report — Japan: Greater Energy Security Through Renewables Electricity Transformation in a Post-Nuclear Economy — emphasises the potential for improving national energy security through renewables, most especially offshore wind and solar.

It also forecasts that many of the 45 coal-fired power stations currently in the pipeline will not get built.

"Japan is in a position now to adopt prudent policy decisions that can attract vast capital to renewable infrastructure in support of true national energy security in a way that can materially reduce its long-term reliance on imported fossil fuels and nuclear production," said an official statement quoting Tim Buckley, IEEFA's Director of Energy Finance Studies, Australasia.

The report said energy efficiency reduces demand for electricity.

"Fundamental to our assessment is the fact that increases in energy efficiency have driven down electricity demand in Japan over the past six years and will continue to do so," said the report.

"Energy efficiency in Japan supports the expansion of renewables. Falling demand, despite the probable strong uptake of electric vehicles, creates an ideal scenario for greater renewable energy investment."

The report documents how government policies adopted in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011 have favoured replacement of nuclear baseload with fossil fuel baseload — a strategy that has proven costly and resulted in lost opportunities in the development of increasingly available renewable energy.

"At stake in Japan's energy transition are issues that transcend economics," the report states. 

"Japan's very energy security is at risk. Before Fukushima, Japan had enough nuclear fuel to ensure nuclear power played an important role in long-term domestic production of electricity."

The report noted that since Fukushima and the reactor shutdowns, Japan has become deeply reliant on fossil fuel imports that has contributed to a reversal in trade balance from 30 years of trade surplus to a deficit that reached $116 billion in 2014.

The report foresees that energy productivity gains will drive down electricity demand from 1,140 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2010 to 868TWh in 2030.

With population decline limiting economic growth and Japan's world-leading energy efficiency driving further energy productivity gains, electricity demand is set to decrease until at least 2030, as it has done for the past six years.

It says Japan can meet 35 per cent of its electricity needs with renewables by 2030.

Assuming a much-needed policy push to increase solar and offshore wind capacity, and factoring in the country's probable electricity demand reduction, Japan's total renewable energy share will double to a 35 per cent share of generation by 2030.

Singer Liam Gallagher is keen to make a new documentary on his band Oasis despite his ongoing feud with his brother Noel Gallagher, says director Mat Whitecross.

Liam played a prominent role in the making of Oasis: Supersonic and is eager to make another documentary.

"Liam and Noel Gallagher were really generous. Everything we asked for they gave us," Whitecross told dailystar.co.uk.

Whitecross suggested that if Liam gets his way, another Oasis documentary could be just around the corner.

"Liam said he wants to make a sequel. I don't know if he was joking or not," he said.

Continuing intense rains in Peru have increased the water flow in the Amazon River to a critical level which could cause further flooding, according to the national weather service.

Given the weather conditions, the Amazon registered a water level of 117 metres above sea level at a Peruvian monitoring station, 1.02 metres above its normal level and edging into the "Red Alert" zone, Efe news reported on Monday.

The report added that the trend for the coming few days will be for the river to keep rising and warned about possible flooding in many districts.

At least 75 persons were killed, 20 were reported missing and more than 100,000 properties were damaged in last week's flooding.

Erasing initial gains, Indian equity markets were trading marginally lower note in the late morning trade on Tuesday amid mixed Asian cues and profit booking.

At 11.35 am, the Nifty at the NSE was trading 18 points down at 9,109 while the Sensex at the BSE was trading 68 points lower at 29,451.

Broader markets underperformed the front liners. BSE Midcap index slumped 0.7 per cent but Smallcap index lost 0.4 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Capital Goods index registered the biggest gain with a jump of 0.4 per cent while Healthcare index became the top loser with a dip of 1.7 per cent.

On Monday, the Nifty50 had closed 33 points down at 9,127 and the Sensex had closed 130 points lower at 29,519.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: L&T (up 0.9 per cent), Infosys (up 0.8 per cent), ITC (up 0.8 per cent), Wipro (up 0.8 per cent) and ONGC (up 0.7 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Dr Reddy’s Labs (down 3.9 per cent), Axis Bank (down 3.1 per cent), Sun Pharma (down 2.6 per cent), Gail (down 1.4 per cent) and Adani Ports (down 0.9 per cent).

In the Asian markets, Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 0.1 per cent, Korea’s KOSPI jumped 1 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.3 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index increased by 0.1 per cent.

Back home, the Rupee was trading three paise higher at 65.40 against the US Dollar.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian says she can't sleep without knowing if security guards are protecting her, following last years Paris robbery.

Kim was robbed at gunpoint in Paris in October 2016. The incident had a lasting impact as she is in constant fear of her safety, reports eonline.com.

In a preview of an upcoming episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians", Kim said: "I can't sleep unless I have four security guards just outside my house."

Kim and her family were having a meeting about security issues, with her mother Kris Jenner insisting she doesn't feel they currently have "enough" measures in place to protect them all.

She added: "It's my job to take care of everybody."

In the March 19 episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians", Kim, 36, opened up about the terrifying robbery.

"What I think happened now after thinking about it so much is that there was probably a group of guys that were following us the entire trip," Kim said.

"I was Snapchatting that I was home and everyone was going to out, so I think they knew Pascal (Duvier) was out with Kourtney and that I was there by myself. They had this window of opportunity and just went for it," she added.

Kim even feared she would get raped or get shot at.

Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 789. Whether this pun makes you giggle or groan in pain, your reaction is a consequence of the ambiguity of the joke.

Thus far, models have not been able to fully account for the complexity of humour or exactly why we find puns and jokes funny but researchers now suggest a novel approach: quantum theory.

In a paper, they have outlined a quantum inspired model of humour, hoping that this new approach may succeed at a more nuanced modelling of the cognition of humour.

"Funniness is not a pre-existing 'element of reality' that can be measured; it emerges from an interaction between the underlying nature of the joke, the cognitive state of the listener, and other social and environmental factors," explained Liane Gabora from University of British Columbia, corresponding author of the paper.

This makes the quantum formalism an excellent candidate for modelling humour, Gabora added in the paper published in the journal Frontiers in Physics.

The results indicate that apart from the delivery of information, something else is happening on a cognitive level that makes the joke as a whole funny whereas its deconstructed components are not, and which makes a quantum approach appropriate to study this phenomenon.

For decades, researchers have tried to explain the phenomenon of humour and what happens on a cognitive level in the moment when we "get the joke".

During the build-up of the joke, we interpret the situation one way, and once the punch line comes, there is a shift in our understanding of the situation, which gives it a new meaning and creates the comical effect, the authors noted.

Although much work remains before the completion of a formal quantum theory model of humour, the findings provide an exciting first step and opens for the possibility of a more nuanced modeling of humour, the team said.

In a major development to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering issue, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it will hear the matter on March 24.

Reports suggested that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday had said that she will move court against the alleged tampering of the EVMs by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

After the Assembly results were announced on March 11, Mayawati had alleged that the EVMs were tampered with by the BJP.

Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday also raised the EVM issue and demanded a thorough probe into the matter.

FBI Director James Comey for the first time has publicly confirmed that his agency is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Donald Trump campaign and whether any crimes were committed during the 2016 US elections.

"They wanted to hurt our democracy, hurt her (Democrat Hillary Clinton), help him (Trump). I think all three we were confident in at least as early as December (2016)," Comey said on Monday, CNN reported. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow while Russia was interfering in the November 8, 2016 presidential election.

It is part of a wider probe into the hacking of Democratic servers and the Clinton campaign.

Comey also delivered an implicit rebuke to President Trump, saying that he had "no information" to support claims by the President that he was wiretapped on the orders of predecessor Barack Obama.

"I have no information that supports those tweets (by Trump)," Comey told the committee, adding that the Justice Department, along with the FBI, had no information to support the allegations.

Comey said that no President could order a wiretapping operation against a specific American citizen.

In a dramatic hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey, once again finding himself at the epicentre of a political storm, also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a clear preference for whom he wanted to see as the next US President — and it was not Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, CNN reported.

Comey's comments represented his most explicit intervention yet in the controversy over what US intelligence agencies have assessed was a Russian attempt to disrupt the election — and a string of counter-claims against the previous administration levelled by Trump himself.

"That includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts," Comey said in his opening statement to the committee.

The hearing, which also featured testimony from National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers saw Democrats highlight publicly available information about links between Trump associates and Russia. 

Republicans tried to turn the hearing into leaks that led to the resignation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. 

Comey testified that US intelligence agencies were agreed that Russia's aim evolved into an effort during the election to aid Trump over Clinton.

The White House launched a political offensive even as the hearing was on.

Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump would not apologise to Obama for the accusations against him, adding that there were questions still remaining about surveillance that may or may not have taken place during the campaign, CNN reported.