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.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the amicable settlement of the Ayodhya Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute was a better course than on insisting on judicial pronouncement.

A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said this as BJP leader Subramanian Swamy urged it to constitute a bench to hear a batch of petitions challenging a 2010 Allahabad High Court order.

The 2010 order said that there should be a partition of the Ayodhya land between the parties to the dispute. 

Saying that negotiated settlement between the parties to the dispute was the best course, Chief Justice Khehar offered to act as a mediator provided that he would not hear the matter on the judicial side.

Pointing towards Justice Kaul, the Chief Justice said that he too could mediate.

Justice Khehar told Swamy: "Any person of your choice. You want me to mediate (but) I will not hear (on judicial side). You want my brother (Judge). There are issues. You all sit together across the table and decide."

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who will be seen playing role of a contract killer in his upcoming Babumoshai Bandukbaaz, thinks murderers can be romantic at heart also.

When asked if he will be seen romancing in the film, the Gangs of Wasseypur 2 star said: "Why not? Contract killers can also be romantic."

Nawazuddin was speaking at the poster shoot of Babumoshai Bandukbaaz on Monday.

"Romance can be done in many ways. Every person has their own way to express romanticism," he added later.

"My role is of contract killer 'Babumoshai'. He is different so his expression of love is different too. In Gangs of Wasseypur 2, my role was of a shy person who asked for permission to hold his girlfriend's hand. Here 'Babumoshai' is fearless. He romances on the basis of the gun," he told the reporters here.

The action thriller film directed by Kushan Nandy features Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Roopa Ganguly, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Biswajit Chakraborty.

Nawazuddin was also asked about his thoughts on nepotism in Bollywood, he said, "I don't think nepotism exists in Bollywood otherwise I could not have been in this position today. Good work and talent may take the time to get recognised but always earns respect."

The warming climate could make us shorter over time, suggests new research that found that mammals in the past had responded to extreme global warming events by shrinking in size.

While this mammalian dwarfism has previously been linked to the largest of the warming events, the new research has found that this evolutionary process can happen in smaller such events as well.

The findings could help shape an understanding of underlying effects of current human-caused climate change.

"We know that during the largest of these hyperthermals, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, temperatures rose an estimated nine to 14 degrees Fahrenheit and some mammals shrank by 30 percent over time, so we wanted to see if this pattern repeated during other warming events," said lead author of the study Abigail D'Ambrosia, a doctoral student at University of New Hampshire.

"The hope is that it would help us learn more about the possible effects of today's global warming," D'Ambrosia said.

In the study, published in the journal Science Advances, researchers collected teeth and jaw fragments in the fossil-rich Bighorn Basin region of Wyoming in the US.

Their focus was on several early mammals including Arenahippus, an early horse the size of a small dog, and Diacodexis, a rabbit-sized predecessor to hoofed mammals.

Using the size of the molar teeth as a proxy for body size, the researchers found a statistically significant decrease in the body size of these mammals during a second, smaller, hyperthermal, called the ETM2.

Arenahippus decreased by about 14 per cent in size, and the Diacodexis by about 15 per cent.

"We found evidence of mammalian dwarfism during this second hyperthermal. However, it was less extreme than during the PETM," D'Ambrosia said.

The researchers believe that the body change could have been an evolutionary response to create a more efficient way to reduce body heat.

A smaller body size would allow the animals to cool down faster. Nutrient availability and quality in plants may have also played a role.

Previous research shows that both the warming events considered in this study coincided with increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and that could have limited nutrient quality in plants, which may have contributed to the smaller mammal body size.

The carbon dioxide released during both hyperthermals has a similar footprint to today's fossil fuels, the study said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath arrived here on Tuesday to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a source has confirmed.

Adityanath — who became the new chief minister after his Bharatiya Janata Party won the assembly polls with a huge mandate — will meet Modi to discuss development issues in the state.

"The new UP CM will also meet BJP chief Amit Shah to discuss the distribution of portfolios among the ministers," said the source.

Singer Nicole Scherzinger says she is a "pussycat" when it comes to love, but a lion in every other space in life.

Scherzinger, best known for as band member of The Pussycat Dolls, also called herself a "fool for love". 

"I'm a lion in most aspects of my life, except for in love. I'm just like a little pussycat," mirror.co.uk quoted Scherzinger as saying. 

She added: "I'm a hopeless romantic. A fool for love. I'm not gonna be like, 'Yeah, LOVE ME!' I'm not that girl."

Scherzinger has had her fill of heartbreak, most notably from a seven-year on-off relationship with racing driver Lewis Hamilton that ended in 2015. For the past year, she has been dating tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, 25, and while she is happy to confirm it's going well, she's tight-lipped on specifics.

"Am I in love right now? I'm afraid I don't like to talk about my personal life. But I'm happy."

Singers Selena Gomez and The Weeknd enjoyed a romantic date at Ripley's Aquarium here.

Gomez and The Weeknd, who started dating each other earlier this year, documented their date via social media on Sunday.

The Weeknd posted a series of videos and photographs of their day out on Instagram, reports usmagazine.com.

In one clip, Gomez can be seen sitting on the floor and looking up at jellyfish as they swim in a huge tank, while The Weeknd also posted a photograph of himself watching the jellyfish swim by.

Some of their fans also took to the image-sharing site to talk about their favourite stars.

"Just saw The Weeknd and Selena Gomez downtown," one fan wrote.

Another user shared a video of the stars leaving the aquatic venue.

Automatic toilet paper dispensers using face scanners are put on trial at a public toilet in Beijing with the aim of reducing paper usage, a media report said on Monday.

The toilet is located at the Temple of Heaven Park, one of most popular tourism sites in Beijing, the People's Daily said in a report.

The park has provided free paper in its public toilets for 10 years but has reported seriously excessive use.

Six face scanning paper dispensers have been installed.

To receive paper, you have to stand in the facial detection area and be scanned for a few seconds. The machine dispenses paper of a certain length but to get more, users have to wait to use the scanner again. 

Personnel have been stationed to show people how to use the new system, however, it still takes about half a minute for each person to receive paper, way longer than using a normal dispenser.

The machines will be trialed for about two weeks before going into official service depending on how they perform, the daily said in the report.

Paper use at the Temple of Heaven had already been decrease in the last two years despite growing numbers of tourists over the same period.

However, it is claimed, some people still lack paper use manners. 

According to a toilet cleaner at the Temple of Heaven, some people take much more paper than needed and sometimes even take a whole roll away with them. Sometimes paper is used up in only 20 minutes.

The manager of the Temple of Heaven Park told the People's Daily that the paper has been overused mainly by residents who live around the neighbourhood instead of tourists; some people intentionally take paper here because it is free of charge.